Someone once said that, to make politicians more fiscally responsible, there should be a sign in every legislator’s office reading, “It’s Not Your Money!” In reality, the sign should read just the opposite — because they know it’s not their money, spending it freely doesn’t hurt them personally. Case in point: today’s New York Times […]
Rationality and reason were under attack again this week on many fronts. In Phoenix on Monday night, thousands of people reported seeing some eerie red lights floating in the sky, and many assumed it must be some sort of alien spacecraft. By Wednesday, a man came forward and admitted that it was all a hoax […]
Just before 4:40am, I was awakened by a noise. The closet door was banging against its frame, and the handles on the dresser were clinking against the wood. In my sleepy condition, I didn’t know what was going on, but surmised that some heavy truck was rolling by, or the wind was blowing so hard […]
In 1999, on the eve of Y2K, I was talking with my longtime friend Bill Sobel — one of the most connected media people I’ve ever known — about the technological advancements we expected to see in the first decade of the new century. Bill foresaw the advent of easier-to-use video cameras, made small enough […]
I’m just back from a weekend in Louisville, where a World Series of Poker circuit event was taking place at Caesar’s Indiana, and I went to play in some of the cash games around the tournament. The drive to and from Kentucky offered a shocking view of the damage done by the recent flooding. Driving […]
In late 2002, I read Ben Mezrich’s terrific book, “Bringing Down The House,” about the MIT blackjack teams that went to Vegas with a team card-counting system and made millions. I was so fascinated by the story that I read it in a day, and then spent an hour talking about it with Mezrich on […]