I am guessing that this will be the most serious tourney that you have played in so far...

Second place is for pussies.

Tuesday night P-money will attempt to parlay his $24 into a 25K seat at the WPT Bellagio championship, after winning his way into the $325 satellite with a 3rd place (of 135) finish in the super satellite last week. Picture Pauly bluff raising Gus Hansen all-in at the final table of the WPT championship. Mind-boggling, and possible. Good luck my man. TV ain't ready for you Pauly!

My best advice would be to lay back and do nothing for as long as possible and let the field winnow itself down. That, and, resist the temptation, even with AA or KK to go all in before the flop.

You have a lot of players you'll have to get through. Just because you double up and knock someone out with AA or KK holding up early on hardly guarantees you a WPT slot. I would let the fools and their money part themselves without your involvement, and concentrate on stealing blinds and working with good flops for as long as possible.

The architects of quantum theory, Erwin Schrodinger... devised a simple thought experiment to make plain the absurdity of one of these implications (in quantum physics).

He imagined a closed room, or box, in which was contained a live cat and "a hellish contraption" which consisted of a phial of cyanide and a tiny amount of radioactive substance. The amount is so tiny that maybe within an hour one of the atoms decays, but equally probably none of them decays. If an atom decays then a Geiger counter triggers and via a relay activates a little hammer which breaks the container of cyanide, killing the cat.

In the everyday world, there is a fifty-fifty chance that the cat will be killed, and without looking inside the box we can say, quite happily, that the cat inside is either dead or alive. But, according to quantum theory, neither of the two possibilities open to the radioactive substance, and therefore to the cat, has any reality unless it is observed. The atomic decay has neither happened nor not happened, the cat has neither been killed nor not killed, until we look inside the box to see what has happened. Theorists who accept the standard interpretation of quantum mechanics say that the cat exists in some indeterminate state – a "superposition of states" – neither dead nor alive, until an observer actually looks into the box to see whether the cat is dead or alive.

Unfortunately for Schrodinger, not only did this imagined experiment not cause physicists to realise the absurdity of certain features of quantum theory, for the majority it became an example par excellence of the extraordinary and remarkable implications of the theory. Rather than being an embarrassment to quantum theory, a superposition of states became a defining feature of it.

Those who took Schrodinger’s thought experiment in the spirit in which it was intended could take some solace from the fact that the absurd situation in which a cat can be both alive and dead at the same time cannot actually be re-created in the lab.

The reason for this is quantum decoherence – the phenomenon by which a superposition collapses into one state or another. The rate of decoherence of a physical system depends upon its size. Whilst atom-sized entities may exist in a superposition of states, larger entities, especially those the size of cats, which are made up of billions of atoms, are fixed to a single, definite state.

Consequently, those sympathetic to Einstein’s position could claim that although quantum weirdness may apply to the sub-atomic world, in the day to day world of cats, books, people, and so on, to all intents and purposes God does not play dice.

Anyway, we don't know if the cat is alive or dead until we open the box. Therefore, the cat manages to be simultaneously alive AND dead (and not in a flesh-eating zombie kind of way). This is patently absurd, and proved Schroedinger's point - that people who study Quantam Mechanics not only are unable to fix your car (unless it's capable of going at the speed of light), they are more or less mad.

Current Standings
1 Nietzsche's Bikini Babes (Pauly) 880
2 My iPOD made My picks (Gil 2) 810 Oklahoma St.
2 PotO gold (Spider) 810 Duke
4 buzzer beaters (d. wallowicz) 800 Connecticut
5 Sheer (Ang Sheer) 790
6 Capital Jay (Jay Sheer) 780 Georgia Tech
7 Engel Entry 1(Jerry) 770
7 Homer's Hard Wood (Derek) 770
9 I Hope I Win (Matt Huey) 760
10 Inside the Paris Hilton (Pauly 2)720 Connecticut
10 Stein Entry 2 (Signor Ferrari) 720
12 Chico's Bail Bonds (Derek 1) 710 Duke
13 The Brooklyn Embeds(Gil 1) 690 Duke
14 Coach's 4corners (Coach) 650 Connecticut
15 Oyster Bay Orangemen(Joe Moore) 640 Duke
16 Come on Last Place (Al cANT hANG 2) 630
17 Sheer JODDMaDNeSs (Jodd Sheer) 610 Oklahoma St.
18 Sheer SHeErMAdneSs (Senor) 600
18 Stanford killed me (Al Cant Hang1) 600
20 Don't Mess With Ugarte (Ugarte) 510 Connecticut
21 Shaved and Barely Legal(Haley & Jenna) 470

With Matsui back in the ballpark where he became Japan's biggest baseball star, Yankees manager Joe Torre moved him into the traditional Japanese spots of honor -- cleanup in the batting order and center field.

"We allow someone to be bigger than the team today, which isn't our nature," Torre said.

With flashbulbs popping and small orange flags with his number "55" waving, Matsui stepped into the batter's box leading off the second to cheers of "Go Matsui!" Then, just after he fouled off a 2-2 pitch, the chant changed to, "Home run, home run, Matsui."

And on the very next pitch, he complied. He took a 63 mph hanging changeup from Hisanori Takahashi, leaned into it and sent it about three-quarters of the way up the bleachers in right-center field. Fans jumped and cheered. A woman in front of the press box bowed to him.

The World Trade Organization, in its first decision on an Internet-related dispute, has ignited a political, cultural and legal tinderbox by ruling that the United States policy prohibiting online gambling violates international trade law.

The ruling, issued by a W.T.O. panel on Wednesday, is being hailed by operators of online casinos based overseas as a major victory that could force America to liberalize laws outlawing their business.

But the Bush administration vowed to appeal the decision, and several members of Congress said they would rather have an international trade war or withdraw from future rounds of the World Trade Organization than have American social policy dictated from abroad...

Elite 8 - Day 1 Results
1 Nietzsche's Bikini Babes (Pauly) 800
2 Homer's Hard Wood (Derek) 770
3 buzzer beaters (d. wallowicz) 720
4 Engel Entry 1 (Jerry) 690
5 I Hope I Win (M. Huey) 680
6 My iPOD made My picks (Gil 2) 650
6 Coach's 4corners (Coach) 650
6 PotO gold (Spider) 650
9 Stein Entry 2 (Signor Ferrari) 640
9 Inside the Paris Hilton (Pauly 2) 640
11 Chico's Bail Bonds (Derek) 630
11 Sheer anGmaDNESs (Ang) 630
13 Capital Jay (Jay Sheer) 620
14 The Brooklyn Embeds (Gil Shapir) 610
15 Sheer SHeErMAdneSs, (Senor) 600
16 Oyster Bay Orangemen (Joe Moore) 560
17 Come on Last Place (Al Can't Hang 2) 550
18 Sheer JODDMaDNeSs (Jodd Sheer) 530
19 Stanford killed me (Al Can't Hang 2) 520
20 Don't Mess With Ugarte (Ugarte) 510
21 Shaved and Barely Legal (Haley & Jenna) 470

No one would've blamed the Yankees for wanting to sleep in, at least for the first day or two. The physical surcharge of flying so far deeply concerned club officials, and trainers began transitioning players a week ago. That's when Tokyo-time clocks were posted in the Legends Field clubhouse, along with reminders about the dangers of in-flight dehydration.

Players were encouraged to drink at least 16 ounces of water for every hour in the air. Alcohol was not served and players who use contact lenses were forbidden from wearing them on the plane. Furthermore, everyone was prodded to stay awake for the last eight hours of the flight, so that upon arrival -- late Friday night, local time -- the first instinct would be to sleep and align the body-clock for a Saturday morning wake-up.

It's a huge price to pay, obviously, but the Yankees are marketing their logo, their attachment to Japanese culture through (Hideki) Matsui and, perhaps, their own history in the Far East. Even though American teams have been touring Japan since 1908, the Yankees created their own legacy in 1934. That's when Babe Ruth was the player-manager of a barnstorming team that played 21 games against Japanese All-Stars...

Babe Ruth played his last game in a Yankee uniform in Japan. Lou Gehrig played with him. It was 1934, and the Japanese were falling in love with baseball. The visit by the storied Yankees has reverberated ever since.

The Yomiuri newspaper chain sponsored that all-star tour, and its popularity inspired the first professional baseball team in Japan, the Dai Nippon Baseball Club. That team would become the Yomiuri Giants, the Japanese equivalent of the Yankees.

"This is the Giants' 70th anniversary, and also the 70th anniversary of Japanese professional baseball," Kota Ishijima, the manager of United States and Latin operations for the team, said. "And for that 70th, who comes back? The Yankees, and our beloved son, Hideki Matsui."

Similarly, both Western and local targets in Iraq have been victimized by terrorist attacks over the past year. Iraq's security forces, once they are fully operational, would do well to learn from Yemen, which has not experienced a terrorist attack since the October 6, 2002, bombing of the Limburg. Yemen has deported hundreds of illegal immigrants and suspected terrorists, expended greater efforts in monitoring mosques and Islamic organizations, stepped up its border control efforts, and launched a domestic public relations campaign warning of terrorism's cost to the economy. Yemen provides a good example of how an Arab security force can be trained and influenced by the United States while still maintaining its strong national and Arab identity.

Current Standings
1 Nietzsche's Bikini Babes (Pauly 1) 640
2 Homer's Hard Wood (Derek 1) 610
3 I Hope I Win (Matt Huey) 600
4 My iPOD made My picks (Gil 2) 570
4 PotO gold (Spider) 570
6 Inside the Paris Hilton (Pauly 2) 560
6 Oyster Bay Orangemen (Joe Moore) 560
6 Stein Entry 2 (Signor Ferrari) 560
6 buzzer beaters (d. wallowicz) 560
10 Chico's Bail Bonds (Derek 1) 550
10 Sheer anGmaDNESs (Ang Sheer) 550
12 Capital Jay (Jay Sheer) 540
13 Engel Entry 1 (Jerry) 530
13 The Brooklyn Embeds (Gil 1) 530
15 Sheer SHeErMAdneSs (Senor) 520
15 Stanford killed me (Al Can't Hang1) 520
17 Coach's 4corners (Coach) 490
18 Come on Last Place (Al Can't Hang2) 470
18 Shaved and Barely Legal (Haley & Jenna) 470
20 Sheer JODDMaDNeSs (Jodd Sheer) 450
21 Don't Mess With Ugarte (Ugarte) 430

The nomination-process of Sigg3 dot net's FEMALE OF THE YEAR 2004 has begun. Rules at: http://www.sigg3.net/index.php?m=200403#242.

Xavier +3
Illinois +7
UAB +5
Nevada-Reno +5

"I'd like to punch three holes into that guy and take him bowling..."

I had a package waiting for me when I got home from work. Except for a quick break for dinner, I read right through and just finished it up. I'm really impressed. I really enjoyed it. I'm going to give it another read on Wednesday.

So guess what I spent my Sunday doing? Reading my own, personal copy of "The Baby & Winky Movie"!

First off, I tremendously enjoyed the script. As far as PGL scripts go, it was far better than the 12 I reviewed last year and the three I reviewed this year. (And last year one of the ones I reviewed placed in the top 250.) But forget PGL - back to B&W. It is an immense script. Even at 150+ pages it reads quite heavily (I don't mean that in a bad way) - and I was conscious that I was reading an adapted novel. I think you've got enough stories in there for a mini-series! But even at the heart of it, you have two very strong stories. Both Baby and Winky's current story, as well as Baby's back-story with Dixie Lee were engrossing. The back story in particular played out very well - and I found myself waiting for the next "installment" every time we left it. The two stories did play well against each other, though - Baby's back-story fleshing out the current one. It's too easy to dismiss her as a pink-haired, punked-out, junkie - without knowing what she went through. As we learn about her past it informs us why she's so intesnely self-destructive. And when she crashes Winky's car - and then goes back to work at McD's (my favorite moment in the movie) - it has so much more impact - when we know what brought her to this moment.

I thought the script was tremendously original. It had flavors of Sid and Nancy, Trainspotting, Betty Blue - and any dozen of Robert Altman's films (would love to see him film it)! But still it was it's own movie, it's own story. There was never any sense of contrivance or cliche. I even came to care about Crackhead Stu! How's that for character development?!

It's easy to see how the Blog and Truckin' have helped you develop your "voice" as it comes across in this script. It is a very natural, nuanced, character-driven story. Yet, even after 150 pages there is still a sure sense of structure driving the script. (And I hate opening quotes. But your use of Wm Burroughs is simple and perfect here.)

Okay, enough logrolling. I have some constructive thoughts, too. I think you could significantly decrease the Voice Overs for Winky. It does seem essential in telling Baby's back-story - but then again, maybe not. In the first quarter of the script, the VO seems completely unnecessary. As I think the biggest challenge to the script at this point will be editting - I would consider killing the VO. The characters and the story are strong enough without having Winky's VO spelling everything out. (I'd experiment with killing it for the back-story, too - but that could go either way.)

The structure of the script in total is strong - but as you're covering so many character and events - you might want to pick and choose a bit more. (It's hard to tell, though. Amy and Slick are strong. Crackhead Stu is strong. All of the backstory is strong. Hmm...)

Lots and lots and lots of great bits. The constant cutting away for a moment at a time - as a device to show something - is hysterical (.e.g showing Dixie's - and later Baby's numerous lovers). The comedy and use of cutting, in general are terrific.

I have to say I was a bit upset by the turn of events at the end of the script. I thought Dixie's return - which I didn't expect - was great (sorry for the spoiler) - but I was surprised how quickly Winky did what Winky did (w/Dixie). I understand it being a strong dramatic/plot point- but after everything he and Baby had been through, it seemed callous. It seems like the backstory serves, not just to inform the audience, but to inform Winky. We are so taken with the struggles that Baby's gone through - that it's surprising that Winky - essentially a good guy makes the hasty decision he makes.

The FINAL decision he makes - in the last pages of the script - regarding Baby - is also extremely strong. Not sure whether I agreed with it or not, but it was more believable (ala Sid and Nancy). Please note, I wouldn't have questioned all this had I not come, over the course of Sunday, to care about Baby and Winky. Esp. Baby. We ALL have a few Babys in our life. (Junkie or not.)

Anyway, thanks for passing the script to me! Please take all comments with a huge bag of salt. Just one dude's opinion. You should definitely post it and let others weigh in. And I can't wait to hear what you do with it next! It's absolutely worth developing! There's just too much cool stuff going on in it.

March Madness Pool - Sweet 16 Part I - Update
1 Nietzsche's Bikini Babes (Pauly) 600
2 Homer's Hard Wood (Derek) 530
3 I Hope I Win (Matt Huey) 520
3 Sheer SHeErMAdneSs (Senor) 520
3 buzzer beaters (d. wallowicz) 520
6 Engel Entry 1 (Jerry) 490
6 My iPOD made My picks (Gil 2) 490
6 The Brooklyn Embeds (Gil 1) 490
6 PotO gold (Spider) 490
10 Inside the Paris Hilton (Pauly) 480
10 Oyster Bay Orangemen (Joe Moore) 480
10 Stein Entry 2 (Signor Ferrari) 480
13 Sheer anGmaDNESs (Ang Sheer) 470
13 Chico's Bail Bonds (Derek 2) 470
15 Capital Jay (Jay Sheer) 460
16 Coach's 4corners (Coach) 450
17 Stanford killed me (Al Cant Hang 1) 440
18 Shaved and Barely Legal (Haley & Jenna) 430
19 Sheer JODDMaDNeSs (Jodd Sheer) 410
20 Don't Mess With Ugarte (Ugarte) 390
20 Come on Last Place (Al Can't Hang 2) 390

Not long ago, a three-year-old tape surfaced of her having sex with her then-boyfriend at a Las Vegas hotel. Since then she's generated an even greater firestorm of publicity. For the 20th week in a row--coming in at number one this week--she's made the Lycos Top 50, an online list of the most popular global Internet searches. Ebay is selling T-shirts that say, "I've seen Paris." This month she made the cover of the upscale women's magazine Elle. Why? It's a good question.

Syracuse -1 1/2
St. Joe's -2
UCONN -9
Oklahoma St. -2 1/2

Prizes: As many $27,000 WPT Packages as possible. Any extra money will be paid to the next 3 places (50%, 30%, 20%). One ‘WPT Package’ will be awarded for every 90 participants. (If there are less than 90 entries, the money will be paid out according to our standard Multi-table Payout Schedule.) Each WPT Package will contain a paid entry into the WPT championship tournament ($25,300 entry fee), 5 nights accommodation at Bellagio (April 18-22) and $1000 in cash, Package value = $27,000.

3:33pm EST... Pauly gets pocket aces!

There's a Nepalese (or possibly Tibetan) proverb that says it is better to live one day as a tiger than one thousand years as a sheep. My life falls somewhere in between.

The job interview went pretty well. All the usual stuff - what are your weaknesses (well, I'm an alcoholic with a short temper) give an example of a time you made a mistake and how you fixed it (well last month a 14 year old claimed I was her baby's daddy so I chopped her up in pieces and fed her to my stable of ilegal fighting dogs), what are your interests (well, ever since I had to give up ilegal dog-fighting, I've found that sniffing glue while cleaning my collection of throwing knives gives me a buzz).

The painful truth about Kentucky's defeat at the hands of UAB is that the Wildcats played like drunkards trapped in a frozen hockey rink. They committed 16 turnovers, three in the last two minutes, and missed three life-or-death shots in the final 12 seconds. They couldn't even get the ball in-bounds, much less take it to the other end of the court and score like the champions they used to be. The committee tabbed Kentucky the team to beat. UAB did just that Sunday night. It was disgraceful, and Tubby Smith should be run out of Lexington.

Any No. 1 seed that blows a four-point lead in the last two minutes of any game -- and especially in the early-exit stages of the NCAA Tournament -- is a team with a second-rate coach. That is well understood in Kentucky, and Tubby Smith will be fired before Labor Day.

Where he goes after Lexington, I don't care, just as long as it's not in the state of Kentucky. Not after embarrassing the school, the state, his own players and everything Kentucky stands for, by not preparing his team for this Tournament. The team was lazy and slow and careless -- more like a family of obese morons than big-money athletes. It was sickening. I felt humiliated and betrayed by a gang of losers with no pride...

"SEPPUKU" is defined in my huge leather dictionary as "ceremonial suicide, by ripping open the abdomen with a dagger or knife, formerly practiced in Japan by members of the warrior class, when disgraced or sentenced to death."

That is the word I was looking for when my boys from Kentucky went belly-up and disgraced the whole state by losing ugly in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. It was a terrible shock to every cell in my body. My heart went limp and the air rushed out of my lungs for 20 or 30 seconds when I saw the final score, and I fell sideways into a plate of watermelon. It was like being whacked from behind with a baseball bat.

The shot that sent Kentucky home and the Good Doctor into a state of shock.I blacked out momentarily, but the room had already emptied except for two girls who were snickering at me as they backed out the door. I was so swollen with shame that I felt like a Japanese Fugue fish in heat -- and that was when I thought about Seppuku. It was the only honorable way out, so I reached for my gold-handled Samurai sword...

So . . . is Mike McDermott (Matt Damon) gay? Let’s examine the evidence. First, we never see him get it on with Gretchen Mol. Now, admittedly, she appears to be a high maintenance, controlling, “I take law school way to seriously” type. But still, she’s kind of cute. Sure, there is a scene where Mike kind of indicates that he wants some action, but he doesn’t try very hard. And remember that line about the first time he has felt alive since he got cracked was sitting at a poker table? She sure thought it meant something – and it wasn’t that she was making the earth move for him. Then, after Gretchen Mol moves out, Famke Jenssen shows up in a short skirt, collects a $1000 from Matt and then makes her intentions quite clear. Matt turns her down cold. Rick said “now that’s discipline.” No, discipline is laying down top two pair when you know you are drawing against a straight. Turning down a roll with Famke Jenssen after your girlfriend leaves you is a sign of something else. Finally, at the end of the movie, Mike gets a little too excited over Teddy KGB’s butt fucking taunting. Verdict – playing for the other team.

A lesbian university student who auctioned her virginity on the internet to pay for her studies is reported to have had sex with the highest bidder.

I never sleep with a married man unless I actually want something back in return, often specific items – I’m a 7 in Blahniks, you know – and I’d encourage other ladies to think about this when cursorily reviewing their bank statements as well. Have you seen something you particularly want – handbag, shoes, mini break to Bora Bora? And is there someone you can fuck to get it? Not everything will actually require you to actually sleep with them, you know and sometimes I would even highly recommend never putting out.

After the show, there was a little meet-and-greet down in the bar, mostly for the fans, who were still buzzing. I asked one girl what she thought Courtney had been doing that made her almost two hours late for the gig, and the girl, not missing a beat, said, "Oxycontin." Then Courtney walked into the room. She didn't seem to be drunk or high or anything, but she was, of course, very Courtney. "This is Lisa," she said, introducing one of her guitarists, Lisa Leveridge. "We used to be teenage prostitutes together." Lisa appeared to have heard this before, possibly many times.

PROM ON MARS the free, weekly webcomic chronicling the adventures of Liz and the Seniors of Liberty High on their way to Mars for their Senior Prom reaches it's 100th strip today at www.promonmars.com! And for this special celebration we've got a holo-truck full of conchtastic features! Here's what's going on:

* Prom, in association with www.PopImage.com, presents "The Remix Gallery." The Gallery features other artists take on Prom characters and scenes - and features incredible art by Danielle Corsetto, Michael G. Sivak, Monica Gallagher, Tim Fish, Adam Ford, Liam Johnson and Jason Thompson!

* "Total Losers!" - a completely new webcomic starring Marc, Sid and Bick!

* The long-awaited print version of "PROM: VOLUME 1" (which is already getting rave reviews)!

* Polling functions to vote for Prom King and Queen! (Winners of the poll will win in the comic!)

* Updated FAQs!

and of course...

* Strip 100!

All features can be accessed directly from the home page at www.promonmars.com! So grab your oversized ties and corsages and climb aboard the USS Apollo Creed - for a rock-a-diggy-doggin' time on Mars!

Even so, the accidental taping of the raid, and the investigation that followed, offer a rare view of the perilous intersections of police, drug dealers and cash. At times, drug dealers have been able to use false allegations of wrongdoing as a weapon against aggressive police work. It is also true that corrupt police officers have been able to steal from drug dealers, assured that any accusation could come only from criminals whose stories of wrongdoing would be viewed with the utmost skepticism.

Spalding opened the door for hundreds of artists to make live events out of their own experience; he gave permission for the theater of Tim Miller, Holly Hughes, Lisa Kron, Dael Orlandersmith, and so many others. It was a theater of identity - personal politics - a way to unearth stories that had not been told.

Now we take the solo performance form as a fact, but Spalding was the original. The master. Sliding down his own slippery slope of a life, taking us with him.

2. Go on a bender. I don’t mean a weekend binge. I’m talking a full-bore, hooch-bent, screw-work hoolihan. Dangerous, yes, but so is getting out of bed in the morning. True benders have gone the way of the snap brim fedora, which makes them all the greater currency in the world of drunks. It won’t be easy. You must start drinking the moment you wake up and carry on until you go under. Then start over again. In your grandfather’s day you had to drink two weeks straight before you could officially declare yourself on a proper jag, but that’s when a mug of beer cost a nickel. These days four straight days and nights will give you all the bragging rights you need.

36. Try absinthe. Do the full ritual with the spoon and sugar. Drink enough to feel the full effect. Stroll the path that Hemingway, Van Gogh, Degas, F. Scott, and myriad other geniuses spent their lives pounding flat. Just don’t cut your ear off.

Breakfast with Hunter is a feature length documentary starring the infamous outlaw journalist Dr. Hunter S. Thompson. Edited by director Wayne Ewing from cinema verite film and digital video that he shot over many years on the road with Dr. Thompson, Breakfast with Hunter follows several story lines in the trials (literally) and triumphs of this cultural icon who created his own genre of writing - Gonzo journalism.

The film chronicles Dr. Thompson's successful attempt to avoid being placed in the system - jail and/or rehabilitation - by rogue Aspen City cops that conspired to bust him for drunken driving on the eve of an important local election. This political story interweaves with his struggle to bring his book "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" to a proper life as a feature film starring Johnny Depp and Benicio Del Toro. The cast of characters he meets on his odyssey, in addition to Depp and Del Toro also include songwriter Warren Zevon, actor John Cusack, artist Ralph Steadman, and fellow journalists George Plimpton and P.J. O'Rourke.

Sunday's Best Bets:
Georgia Tech -6 over BC
Illinois -1 over Cincy
OK St. -6 1/2 over Memphis
Xavier +5 1/2 over Miss. St.
Big Bet: NC St. -3 over Vandy

My favorite building in Bangalore, India's Silicon Valley, is a corporate complex called the "Golden Enclave." In some ways, the whole tech sector in Bangalore could be called India's "Golden Enclave" - disconnected from the country's bad governance, as companies create their own walled enclaves, with their own electricity, bus service, telecommunications and security, and disconnected from the countryside, where many Indians still live in abject poverty.

As long as these two liabilities of inept governance and endemic poverty are not addressed, India can't really take off and become a big-time technology competitor of the United States. The information revolution, though, has given India, for the first time, some real resources and tools to address its chronic ailments. Will it seize this opportunity? This is India's "to be or not to be" question.

India has not been linked to a major international terrorist incident since the Air India bombing in 1985 (the suspected bombers were mostly Indian-born Canadian citizens). Neither is the 81 percent Hindu country an Al Qaeda hotbed; in fact, India has been named by the terrorist network as "an enemy of Islam." But never mind the details. In Friedmanworld, call centers are the front lines of World War III: The Fight for Modernity, bravely keeping brown-skinned young people out of the clutches of Hamas and Al Qaeda.

This phenomenon of highly Westernized Muslims and converted Christians becoming radicalized believers has happened throughout Western Europe. Relatively few Turks have joined radical Islamic organizations allied with Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda, even though Turkish fundamentalists are numerous and often hardcore. At home and abroad, they are perhaps more numerous and better organized than are fundamentalists of any other nationality. But the Turks who have been arrested for association with al Qaeda usually share one bond: They were either born or raised in Germany and are culturally more German than they are Turkish Muslim. These young men are part of what the Iranian-French scholar Farhad Khosrokhavar has called the néo-umma guerriere--"the new holy-war community of believers" that recognizes neither national nor ethnic identity nor traditional Islamic values. Their Islam is "a new type of Nietzscheanism" where suicide and murder become sacred acts of an elite, self-made race of believers who want to bring on a purifying Apocalypse.

More than a million antiwar protesters have poured into the streets of cities around the globe on the anniversary of the invasion of Iraq to demand the withdrawal of U.S.-led troops. From Sydney to Tokyo, from Santiago, Chile, to Madrid, London, New York and San Francisco, demonstrators on Saturday condemned U.S. policy in Iraq and said they did not believe Iraqis were better off or the world safer because of the war. Journalists estimated that at least a million people streamed through Rome, in probably the biggest single protest.

The obvious reason to fake is to please your partner. But what about a woman who doesn't particularly care about her partner? Might she still fake? Mialon concocts a scenario—though a contrived one—where the answer is yes. Suppose Adam is very insecure and always suspects Eve of faking. Suppose the one thing Eve really hates is having a partner who's always wrong. Then since Adam always thinks she's faking, she has to fake to make him right. Eve's fakery reinforces Adam's skepticism and Adam's skepticism reinforces Eve's fakery, so we have what economists call equilibrium.

In what must have been a five-minute monologue, he spilled everything behind those incredible eyes. A car accident in Ireland fractured his hip, a rib, and his skull, and he was only in the city tonight because he had been called to a recording studio to redub one line from a movie where he was a psychiatrist and the line was about antidepressants and now, because of the accident and the house, and Oh! the house! he was on those same antidepressants, and did I know anything about antidepressants because he didn't remember if he was supposed to be drinking wine with them, and, and, and ... I was exhausted hearing it, particularly because so many of these things made him cry.

Ben sleeps five hours a night; the rest of the time he sits at his desk in his Brooklyn apartment playing online poker. He won $55,000 one recent evening, but in his tireless ambition for the $2.5 million world championship, this mild-mannered college graduate has become an outlaw in hiding and a twisting thorn in the side of Eliot Spitzer, the New York attorney general.

Ben quit his teaching job five months ago and now makes around $100 an hour. Five days a week, he clocks 10-hour shifts of Texas Hold 'Em on his Dell laptop computer. With reggae in the background and coffee mug in hand, he studies his competitors who sit in London, Copenhagen, Los Angeles and elsewhere, while the dealer in Costa Rica tosses cards.

A couple of blocks away, a slightly less-skilled friend of Ben's named Jimmy also works busily. While Ben plays high-stakes tournaments with pots topping $70,000, Jimmy is what is known as a "grinder" - he works the smaller virtual tables, specializing in cheaper and less risky play, but keeping three games going at all times, nickel and diming his way to decent earnings. In the past four months, Jimmy says that he made $30,000.

My Friday Picks:
East Tenn. St. +10 1/2 over Cincy
UL-Lafayette +8 1/2 over NC State
Xavier +2 1/2 over Louisville
Providence -7 1/2 over Pacific
Georgia Tech -12 over N. Iowa
Western Michigan -1 over Vandy

Hey Pauly - So, from Wil Wheaton’s blog I ended up at Tao of Poker… just wanted to say hi, and thanks for pointing out Party Poker. I've been playing on Yahoo, which just sucks Great stories too, incidentally - I didn't realize there were so many poker blogs out there! Yesterday was a bad day for me on Party Poker... the luck of the Irish was not with me. I'm not playing for money yet (not confident enough in my play, and can't afford the $50 min first deposit) but I managed to wipe out all the gains I've had on Party over the last couple days in one fell swoop.

Was I ever wrong... I didn't realize that the UF women's team was going to play today instead of the men's team. I have never seen so many pussies on the same court.

I poke a lot of fun at Courtney Love on this blog. 'Cause she's ... a little loopy. But she totally won me over last night, despite her guitar-throwing tantrums. She's a ROCK STAR. I can't get enough...

Hot damn, it is tournament time again... we will have another desperate showdown between Kentucky and Duke. With Kentucky losing again because of injuries. I hate to hear myself saying this, but I cannot tell a lie. Duke has a faster backcourt and a deeper stronger bench. The only way Duke can lose is by missing free throws, or by committing 18 more fouls than Kentucky, and that is a sucker bet. I am shocked and disgusted to hear myself saying this. I think I just broke my own heart. Am I stupid? Three minutes ago I was telling Anita that Kentucky would mangle Duke in the final...

I publicly predict a Duke-Kentucky final -- which is not so desperate at all, really. The numbers out of Vegas say it is probably that best bet on the board, at nine or 10 to one. So why not? I have studied the brackets carefully, and so should you. If you see a better shot, let me know.

I will bet heavily on every game, for many reasons and with many people. But in my heart I crave beating Duke even more than I crave the national championship.

As for who wins that game ... well, you could flip a coin, but I won't. No, I will live or die with Kentucky, as always. But I will wait for the injury reports until the very last moment before committing totally. Until then, it is all a matter of personal fouls and foul shots...

THE STRONGEST REACTION to the deadly terrorist attack on a hotel here last night won't be in Baghdad. Here, the explosion was no surprise. The U.S. military and Iraqi police responded quickly and professionally. A bigger reaction may be felt in Washington and Europe, still reeling from the Madrid attack that killed several hundred and prompted Spain to look to pull its troops out of Iraq.

The huge explosion on a very soft target is what the Iraqi insurgency has come down to. The consensus is the attack was the work of radical Islamists, perhaps al Qaeda or an affiliate. They are the only folks capable of pulling off such an attack. Angry Iraqis either couldn't or have lost the desire to.

The American military has already turned back part of the insurgency. The diehard supporters of Saddam Hussein have largely been stymied, leaving the fight against the U.S. occupation and the Iraqi Governing Council to foreign terrorists.

THAT'S THE GOOD NEWS. The bad news is that military leaders believe the attacks by outsiders will continue through the handover of sovereignty on June 30 and probably for months afterwards. For the time being, they are a fact of life in Iraq. The country seems inured to occasional bombings with significant death tolls.

Here's an enchanting series of emails, in which a young woman applies for the job of publicity assistant at an "extremely well-respected paperback house" here in New York. This exchange took place last Friday -- let's just say she's lucky she didn't get the job.

My Thursday Picks:
1. Texas Tech - 2 over UNC-Charlotte
2. Daytpn +2 1/2 over DePaul
3. Manhattan College +6 1/2 over Florida
4. Princeton +11 1/2 over Texas
5. UNC -7 1/2 over Air Force
6. Southern Illinois +2 1/2 over Alabama

Murray State over Illinois
East Tennessee St. over Cincy
Princeton over Texas
BYU over SYracuse
UTEP over Maryland
Western Michigan over Vandy
UL-Lafayette over NC State
Illinois-Chicago over Kansas
Utah over BC
Manhattan over Florida
RIchmond over Wisconsin

The Girl Next Door is Hollywood's latest reprise of a time-honored theme, the teen movie. During the last 30 years, the industry has churned out one enterprise after another, producing standouts such as Risky Business, Dazed and Confused, Porky's and Fast Times at Ridgemont High, to name just a few of my favorites. Director Luke Greenfield makes an admirable attempt to vault The Girl Next Door into the realm of these cult classics, and although he falls well short, his film provides enough hi-jinks, romance, and cleavage to be a box office favorite this spring.

Elisha Cuthbert plays Danielle, a porn star (stage name--"Athena") who, for some unknown reason, has moved in next door to Westport High School's student council president, Matthew Kidman (Emile Hirsch). Despite Matthew's success in the world of student body politics, and his admission to Georgetown, he carries the heavy burden of virginity, which in the fantasy world of the teen movie is roughly equivalent to cancer. Fortunately for us, this cancer can be cured--and how.

This formula was more successfully employed in Risky Business, where Tom Cruise breaks out of his preppy conformity and retains the services of a prostitute (deftly played by Rebecca De Mornay). Having been intimate with a call girl, he is then met with the more formidable challenge of financing the restoration of his father's Porsche, lately retrieved from the bottom of Lake Michigan. By turning his house into a brothel and himself into a pimp, Cruise fixes the car, gains admission to Princeton, and becomes a legend in his own time. Substitute hookers for porn stars, pimping for producing, and De Mornay for Cuthbert, and you've got The Girl Next Door....

Fifteen seconds left on the clock. Your team's down by one or two in an NCAA Tournament game. Who would you want to have that last shot, if you had your choice of any college basketball player in history? Easy question, but a hard answer for a coach who has the deepest bench of all time

Work and social commitments (ugh) have kept me off of the poker tables for the last couple of days, although I did manage to eek out a couple of short, barely-winning sessions on PartyPoker. I did get to engage with a thought provoking session with a reader via email, who brought me back to the question of "Why do people play poker?"

The reader astutely pointed out that although PartyPoker may be the most profitable place to play, it may not be the best. If our goal is not to win the most money, but to challenge ourselves intellectually, then most likely the site with the most fish is not the best place to play.

But memory was a part of him that he couldn’t contain. It wound around him and choked his head with regret. This he told us many times. Onstage, where he sat with his tabletop set-up of a microphone, glass of water, a pen, and a notebook, he rehearsed his life over and over for us. He gave it shape and projected what he saw into the darkened theater. He breathed faster. He didn’t look at the notebook. In his head, he could see everything so clearly. He stitched together what he saw and threw those naked pieces of himself into the audience, who went for it, like lions. He had enormous pain that he turned into laughter. Why did he do this with his life? Maybe, if he threw enough out to the audience, there’d be nothing left to throw.

I'm not a huge fan of making out with a guy after he's gone down on me, either, but some girls find the whole situation a little, well, easier to swallow...

Infosys said all the walls have been blown away in the world, so now we, an Indian software company, can use the Internet, fiber optic telecommunications and e-mail to get superempowered and compete anywhere that our smarts and energy can take us. And we can be part of a global supply chain that produces profit for Indians, Americans and Asians.

Al Qaeda said all the walls have been blown away in the world, thereby threatening our Islamic culture and religious norms and humiliating some of our people, who feel left behind. But we can use the Internet, fiber optic telecommunications and e-mail to develop a global supply chain of angry people that will superempower us and allow us to hit back at the Western civilization that's now right in our face.

Hmmm... The top three are the best:

Pauly is basically like every other character Pauly Shore has ever played
Pauly is totally stupid
Pauly is trying to impress the girls

I'm on the tube today twice talking (the Madrid bombings) - CNN at 1pm and then FOX at 3:20.

It just goes to show you what patience and cards can do for you. Both those guys were nearly dead in the water at the final table. And amazingly, they both clawed their way back from the precipice of doom to crack Pauly’s big stack and knock the once powerfully McGrupp out in third.

Kudos, my man. Go read about Pauly's wild rush and bullying at the end.

We all seem to have a similar approach to the game. And that's what makes the WPBT such a hit -- it combines the best of both worlds. We know we're testing our skills against people of similar talent, although they may range from the high end of that spectrum (HDouble, Iggy, Pauly, Felicia) to the low end (me) we all have an idea of the kind and quality of competition we're going up against there. That's why the whole thing has been so satisfying for us, collectively.

Thank you, Pauly, for the compliment on my play in the tourney - high praise indeed and a shot in the arm...

By the way, who really fucking cares about Project Greenlight? I didn't see the movies. Did anybody? Boasting about winning Project Greenlight is like bragging about getting laid in a whorehouse.

I thought you were going to win it all. A superb writeup! I just have to say your post about the tourney was the post of the year. Funny, funny shit.

Y'know the trick with adapting a screenplay from a novel (esp. your own) - is that boiling down all that stuff to action-dialogue-action is difficult enough without trying to beat the clock to do it. Like the writer who makes the first comment - that's all well and good - if you've got six months to work on the thing! (And easy for him - all he had to do was edit the one scene you posted. How long did that take him?)

In the case of PGL - where they're not even informing you that the contest has started A WEEK AGO! - what are your options? You want to put your best foot forward. Submit an old script? Write a completely new script in two weeks? Adapt a novel? In any of these scenarios you've got to make some kind of concession. In the case of B&W - if the worst concession is that it's too long - and you're leaving excessive scene set-ups in - you could do a lot worse. At least you've got a story and characters you've put time into. Most likely the readers will skim through the scene set-ups and just concentrate on the dialogue. So, they should still get the story. None of the scripts I read this time around did much for me. Like last year - people still don't seem to have any idea about story structure or characters.

And that old, ethereal mistress - originality - seems as distant as ever.

I am fairly new to this whole blog thing and, for the most part, when I have clicked on other blogs linked from Rick's I have not found them all that interesting. However, I have found yours more interesting and since I know you and find you to be fairly interesting, I figure it is worth checking and that is good for all of us to support each other.

The final table was exciting, and features a lot of bluff steals by both big-stacked Pauly and short-stacked Felicia.

I hung around to watch the final table, full of very good players. Pauly, who at one time had a nice chip lead, busted out in 3rd when colder cards ran up against his hot aggressive style.

Pauly struck the fear of Jesus into me as he amassed a huge stack on the final table and (correctly) pushed around all the shortstacks. When push came to shove and he had to show his cards, a couple times he was found to have nothing. Noted for next time, bully Pauly!

My first look around the table didn't fill me with a lot of confidence. Starting on my left... Grubby, Iggy, Pauly, Grubbette, and Felicia... I saw these guys and thought, this should be a nice short tournament.

Pauly made some good moves and went up to 21000, making him the heavyweight. Then he started some hardcore bullying that didn't fly, and he started bleeding back down.

Plenty of table talk, including rampant speculation at the final table that Pauly=Wil Wheaton... I heard one or two players speculate, but Pauly would not confirm or deny.

Pauly had a huge chip lead. He then took his big stack and used it to push people around. He was raising from UTG, late position, the blinds - and he was building a superhuge stack.

The Money Winners:

1. $196 - Otis B Dart - Up for Poker
2. $140 - ChrisHal - Chris Halverson
3. $112 - PaulyMcGrupp - Tao of Poker
4. $84 - STICKandMOVE - Stick and Move
5. $28 - FeliciaLee - Felicia

I got to watch some Pauly, though. Pauly was at Rick's table, so I didn't see him until after I busted. By the time I got there he had a decent stack, and with a couple of solid wins he moved into the chip lead. By the time the game moved to the final table, Pauly had a huge chip lead. He then took his big stack and used it to push people around. He was raising from UTG, late position, the blinds - and he was building a superhuge stack. Unfortunately you could se it coming - when somebody finally raised Pauly, you could be damn sure that they had a hand you didn't want to mess with. Just as I suspeced, Pauly was tilty enough that he didn't survive very long when StickandMove and Chris Halverson were finally dealt good cards. (On the other hand, third place is nice, so I don't think I'll give any more shit to Pauly.)

Hey Real Screenwriter,

Saying you have a small penis is way too generous, you dickless piece of shit. Real writers don't ambush, they come subtle. Real writers don't flail anonymously, they come in proud. Real writers put their NAMES on their work. Paul is fearless, he puts himself out there. And you, you hide behind a thin, dispicable veil of bilious sputum. In short, you suck. My name is Jessica. I'm a writer. What the fuck are you?

I betcha Mr. Hollywood REAL Screenwriter hasn't gotten laid with anything other than his sister or his dog in several years.

My take is that this guy's life is Project Greenlight, which is very sad.

The betting was capped. Om wasn't going anywhere. The pot was well over $160. I had no business staying in and then I got lucky. Om folded. He sighed and said, "I believe you have a better low."

I let out a monster sigh of relief. I almost got an erection stacking up my chips because it was such an amazing bluff. There's nothing like the adrenaline rush that siezes your entire body after you bluffed at a huge pot in poker... and won. It felt like I snorted enough cocaine to kill three baby elephants. I felt like Kirk Gibson after he hit that walk-off homerun in the World Series, when he could barely walk. Man. That was one sweet move I put on Om.

Uncharacteristically, I played A2o and even called Pauly's preflop raise. In my defense, I thought that Pauly was only raising at me because I accused him of paying the homeless for sex. The flop was A-x-2 and I bet like crazy, as did Pauly. I had him pegged for AK or AQ and was thrilled to have caught him. We capped on the turn and the river and Pauly showed me a pair of bullets. A kevlar vest won't prevent the pain when someone fires bullets at you during the showdown. I was betting my ass off, but I was essentially drawing dead from the flop. Ouch. But bonus points to Pauly for pulling off the illusion that the preflop raise was "revenge." It probably doubled the size of the pot.

This weekend, I saw the most expensive snuff film ever made.

For starters, let me say that I didn't find it anti-semitic. Sure, the Temple Elders were a touch unsympathetic, but so were the British in Braveheart, the Romans in Gladiator, the Germans in . . . well . . . pretty much every movie. Remember, folks, this is a movie -- and a Mel Gibson picture, at that. Hollywood meets the Vatican: think Braveheart, without a storyline or epic battle scenes or even a terribly sympathetic hero, and you get to see the drawing and quartering. Actually, think Braveheart where the drawing and quartering lasts two and a half hours.

And it is his dry humor that may have the last word. In a 1997 interview he offered his own epitaph: "An American Original: Troubled, Inner-Directed and Cannot Type."

Pauly briefly tried to front Bronx tough, but failed miserably as he had already copped to (a) growing up in Riverdale and (b) attending the top academic Catholic school in NYC. While the chances that he can kick my ass are still decent, that is not a particularly high bar.

I also found Citizen Kane to be remarkably timely, with many modern parallels. For example, the examination of a media mogul (modeled on William Randolph Hearst) is relevant to considerations today of media titans such as Murdoch and Bloomberg. The corrupt and unscrupulous Boss Gettys' use of Kane's affair to topple his run for governor -- with Kane believing, incorrectly, that the people wouldn't care -- brought to mind the Clinton witch-hunt. And Kane's retreat to his reclusive fantasy world of Xanadu still only scratches the surface of the King of Pop. Also, Welles' examination of the degree to which money, power and the media can dictate what people think is relevant to this year's election. Welles suggests that while people can be greatly influenced by such things, there is a point where 'the people' will see through the bullshit, but that those who spout it often fail to realize this point exists (let's hope Welles is right).

Seat 1: Coach (Our Host)
Seat 2: Ugarte
Seat 3: Swish
Seat 4: Matt
Seat 5: Doug (Coach's brother)
Seat 6: Mike
Seat 7: Pauly
Seat 8: Signor Ferrari
Seat 9: Kathleen

America is the greatest engine of innovation that has ever existed, and it can't be duplicated anytime soon, because it is the product of a multitude of factors: extreme freedom of thought, an emphasis on independent thinking, a steady immigration of new minds, a risk-taking culture with no stigma attached to trying and failing, a noncorrupt bureaucracy, and financial markets and a venture capital system that are unrivaled at taking new ideas and turning them into global products.

What happened in Haiti was a coup d'etat, and it's almost funny to hear Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell and Scott McClellan call that claim "absurd" and "nonsense." The coup didn't come in one fell strike, which fact camouflaged it for a time; we're used to a coup being a coup--which means a cut or blow in French--something sudden. But the coup against Aristide, and by extension against the Haitian people, was prolonged, a chronic coup. It began when Aristide was first elected at the end of 1990 and continued right up until he was hustled aboard a plane and flown to what he was told would be a place of his choice but that turned out to be the former homeland of fabled killer and diamond collector Jean-Bedel Bokassa, a country where, according to the CIA country report available on the web, a ten-year elected civilian government was recently replaced by a military coup d'etat. Sound familiar?

The typical citizen of Seattle would feel more at home, ideologically speaking, in Paris than in Dallas. Yet, even a liberal Seattleite would be shocked by the images of America drawn by French schoolchildren.

In January, a cartoon festival was held in the town of Carquefou, just outside of Nantes in the northwest corner of France. Students of all ages competed in a contest to illustrate their vision of the United States. They drew obese Americans devouring Coca-Cola and McDonald's hamburgers. They drew the Statue of Liberty with fangs or in chains or being run over by a wicked Uncle Sam on a motorcycle. And they drew George W. Bush: Bush riding a tank to war; Bush taking over the world; Bush as a liar; Bush as a monster. 

There were a few lighthearted drawings of Hollywood and Las Vegas and fast food (hamburgers, always hamburgers) but, predominantly, from ages 8 to 18, the French students sketched images of a fierce and fearsome country. One cartoon summed up American villainy with a series of three hands. The first was a fist representing Stalin's Russia. The second was a saluting palm, representing Hitler's Germany. The third was another fist clutching a cross, representing Bush's America...

For all the one-liners about McDonald's trimming Supersize servings from its menu, filmmaker Morgan Spurlock doesn't think fat is anything to joke about.

Spurlock directed Super Size Me, a dark comedy that skewers America's fast-food culture. The film is being shown at the 10th U.S. Comedy Arts Festival, which will run in Aspen through Sunday.

Super Size Me chronicles Spurlock's experience of eating only fast food for a month -- breakfast, lunch and dinner. Spurlock said he gained 24 pounds and his cholesterol soared 65 points during the 30-day experiment.

Senor raised when he tossed a $20 bill into the pot! The dealer made change for him.

"What the fuck? Why are you raising me?"

I peek at my cards. I got a trips. Does Senor have A-K? How about K-Q? He's on the button. What could he have? I see he doesn't have many chips left. Was he trying to steal the pot? I re-raised Senor! He thought for a second and said, "I only have $6 left. I'm all-in."

Senor had all his money in the pot and I turned over...

Sad Amy might not be that sad. I really have no idea. She always looks like one of her four cats just died. At any moment she could burst into tears. I wondered if she had a copy of Sylvia Plath's "The Bell Jar" in her locker, because she walks around with a blank, yet suicidal stare and a gaze that illicits a sympathetic response from Pauly.

Her Merrill Lynch stockbroker claimed the sale was based on a pre-existing agreement to unload her stake if the price fell below $60. Prosecutors alleged Ms. Stewart was given a secret tip from Mr Bacanovic that another client, ImClone founder Sam Waksal, was selling his shares.

Martha Stewart made millions by being a control freak over the minutiae of the perfect dinner party and decorating the finest house, but that same trait could now land her in jail...

I am obviously distressed by the jury's verdict...

1. Cigarettes are your friend. The more you have, the easier life will be.
2. On your first day in the Big House, beat the shit out the first fish you see.
3. And don't drop the soap.

uesday's attacks against Shia targets in Baghdad and Karbala during Ashura, the holiest day in the Shia calendar, have all the markings of the simultaneous and co-ordinated attacks now associated with al-Qaeda. At first glance, it would appear that al-Qaeda is succeeding in its quest to destabilize Iraq. The attacks, however, may have been a dangerous gamble for the world's most dangerous terrorist network...

I commend you on the undertaking - I would not know where or how to begin such an endeavour.

Still, this is suspciously close to what I could've done. Or will do. I usually just give them the finger when I pass by, but lately, because of my work here at FAFO (www.fafo.no) I've put this hilarous hobby aside, since I often get calls from the American embassy etc. etc....

It was one of the most enjoyable hands I've ever watched at Signor Ferarri's home game -- Not least because I wasn't in it....

Now, it is helpful to understand here that although Pauly's been playing pretty tight, he's also run some monster bluffs, and called in the face of absurdly high cards to prevail over equally bold (but less successful) bluffs, inclluding a hugely expensive one by yours truly. Swish, on the other hand, has developed a table image of being willing to see almost anything to the river, and has an erstwhile tell that may or may not be reliable anymore.

I stuck to the basics and followed through on my specific game plan. The result: a $210 win. Yep, I walked away the big winner on Monday, enacted a little revenge on Swish, and stopped the serious bleeding in my game.

The players:

Seat 1: Swish
Seat 2: Sam (Rick's brother)
Seat 3: Signor Ferrari
Seat 4: Coach
Seat 5: Christian
Seat 6: Rick Blaine
Seat 7: Pauly

Medical marijuana advocates dipped into burlap sacks filled with cannabis seeds and planted a pot crop on the City Hall lawn Sun- day to protest a proposal to tighten restrictions on "Oaksterdam" dispensaries...

Ibogaine has a number of strikes against it:

*It doesn't come from a modern laboratory, but from an ancient plant.
*It was discovered not by a scientist, but by a heroin addict.
*It is mildly hallucinogenic and completely illegal in the United States.

However, when it comes to curing addiction, a reputable scientist believes ibogaine is nothing short of a miracle...

In all of the searches and all of the rounds, Herbert never saw her partner act so strange. Apparently, the tiny baggy of heroin in the letter opened up. Bow got a nose full and got sick...