Leferd

Had a pear, gorgonzola, arugula, and carmelized onion pizza at CPK last week. It works very well.

Tomatoes, cheese, anchovies, capers, and olives actually go into one of my standby pasta sauce recipes. Then again, I'm a sucker for salt and umami.

I never understood the disgust from some people of brined tiny fish in general.

The correct answer is gorgonzola, kalamata, basil, sliced tomatoes, anchovies, and a drizzle of olive oil on a thin crust baked over a wood burning oven.

Next Monday: The Spurs.

Air strikes are impacting ISIS's ability to wage conventional warfare with the explicit purpose of taking and holding new territory. They can still go on raids, but the days of blitzes like Mosul are done, Syria is a quagmire and is in worst shape and this may be where ISIS will retreat to. However, putting U.S. Or coalition "boots on the ground" is not the solution. There will certainly be a ground major offensive in Iraq to take back the remaining ISIS held territory, but it'll primarily be Iraqi forces and nothing will be resolved until the Shiite government makes some concessions with the Sunni minority --that's ripe recruiting ground for ISIS. And things certainly won't improve until Wahhabism has been tempered by the more moderate and mainstream Sunnis in the ME.

False. The current strategy is beating back ISIS. Realizing they're losing in Iraq and the Levant, they're advocating more terrorist type attacks. ISIS has lost 40% of their territory in Iraq and 20% in Syria. Ever since coalition air strikes have begun en masse, ISIS has not gained any new territory. http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-terror/isis-lost-40-percent-territory-iraq-20-percent-syria-coalition-n490426 However, because of the effectiveness of the airstrikes, ISIS is pivoting their strategy in Syria which may complicate coalition strategy. Atleast according to a hawkish think-tank. http://www.npr.org/2015/01/15/377527015/is-u-s-gaining-or-losing-ground-against-isis http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2015/11/19/456600398/hitting-isis-where-it-hurts-by-striking-oil-trucks Cutting off ISIS financing is an important element of strategy against the group. The U.S. has targeted ISIS oil infrastructure — wells, pipelines and the like — for more than a year, but these are often quickly repaired by militants. The U.S. bombed ISIS oil facilities last year, but waited until now to make its first attack on the trucks that actually move the crude. It's a war of attrition at this point. 1) Militarily, airstrikes are greatly impacting ISIS' ability to wage war. They're not going to gain any new territory. Meanwhile the Iraqi army is building up and training for a more sustained and overwhelming offensive on the ground. 2) Hitting their ability to raise money. Oilfields have been discussed. Their next big moneymaker is in the dealing of black market antiquities. Various U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies are specifically targeting this market in conjunction with allied intelligence agencies and international police. Lots of behind the scenes work. Wahhabism and general terrorism is going to continue to be an international security issue for the next several decades as the Muslim world is in a period of significant transition, but ISIS as a major threat to U.S. or western security is overstated.

Another Top 50 list...this time from PC Gamer. 50 Most Important PC Games. A couple blurbs by MCA included.

Trump's not gonna win. Especially when his net favoribility scores are this bad: Donor metrics:

This is something powerful. Vocals only.

Dammit. He was original.

Because he deserves his own thread.

NOOOOOOOO!!!! R.I.P. Davy Jones.

Ha! I never made the connection. V. Lols.

Were they progressives? And if so, gotta always MAXIMIZE the s***t out of each bet! Otherwise expected value of ROI goes down. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_jackpot #gambling101

When I first started at the cardrooms and didn't know any better, I had a stop-loss strategy where if I am up or lose a certain pre-determined threshold, I would just get up and leave. But as you gain experience and get better, the optimal strategy would be to just keep on going as long as the game is good. Definition of good being, you aren't about to pass out and there's plenty of fish/meat at the table. Being a poker regular is a grind. Even pros can get hit by luck or chance and lose a bunch of money. That's what makes poker so fun and fresh, especially with new players rotating in-- there's always the belief that "I'm gonna get lucky!" Because you know what, there's that 1/4 odds that you're gonna hit that flush on the river! I went to see a Cirque show once years ago. It was the one with the Beatles. Really enjoyed it, but disappointed by the lack of clowns.

Deadwood is coming back! Albeit in movie form. One of the best things to come out of HBO along with Rome, The Larry Sanders Show, and Band of Brothers. Oozes character. Wild Bill Hickok Al Swearingen Seth Bullock Calamity Jane The Pinkerton's Charlie Utter General George Crook George Hearst Sol Star Wyatt Earp That coward, Jack McCall Wu Wu's pigs.

I tend to rate Vegas by their cardrooms. Some of my favorites... Binions. Home to the original Horseshoe Casino and the original World Series of Poker. They got their Poker Wall of Fame. LEGEND. The Mirage. Used to be THE Destination. More sentimental than anything else now. My first legal age poker cardroom. Cache Creek doesn't count when I can get in with no problems after midterms from Davis. The Bellagio. The gold standard. Maybe when I win Powerball, I'll sit down at their super exclusive hi-stakes games. RIO. Home of the WSOP. Too hyped for my tastes but lots of good touristy fish.

Wait, Gamersgate was a social justice issue? I thought it was about ethics in video game journalism? Surely one can't equate a sex scandal in the U.S.A. with wealth distribution in developing countries, or autocratic rule marginalizing those without a voice, or worldwide access to affordable health care and medicines, and the damage to our ecosystem caused by the rich, and the legacies of colonialism? You know, the REAL social justice issues?

A sandbox Pro-Wrestling game where you can venture outside the ring and arena --into the outside world and do some real public mayhem. Carjack my way up to a tank and face off against some superheroes.

The Food Network is now garbage. They're like MTV and VH-1 once they stopped playing music videos. Where the cooking shows at?

Many of us would like a KotOR 3 from Obsidian but it's not likely to happen. EA has the exclusive video game rights to the Star Wars franchise from LucasArts/Lucasfilm/Disney and if another Star Wars RPG were to come out, it's mostly likely going to be in done by EA's in-house RPG studio --BioWare. It's not like Obsidian hasn't tried. They've publicly lobbied for the opportunity and have made several pitches over the years but it looks like it's just not in the cards.

RIP

Happy New Year! Has PoE2 been announced yet?

Well played, Dinosaur. Well played. Free throws.