Time Is a Thief: The Disappearing Thief of Las Vegas

REBLOG> Time Is a Thief: The Disappearing Thief of Las Vegas:
Amenda Steels' Original Blog

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Unsolved Crime

Gambling Tales had a good collection of gambling stories. All the tales - such as, gambling addiction, violence in the casino, crimes against gambling outlets - were not mysterious. They were reported cases in which lawbreakers were brought to justice. This story about stealing from the casino published by 8 News Now on 27 Sep 2014 had an uncanny twist. It took place at the Stardust Hotel and Casino 22 years ago and the whereabouts of the thief remains unknown today.

Bill Brennan

The thief was an employee of the casino named Bill Brennan. He worked for the casino as a sports book cashier. After being on the job for four years he decided it was time to leave. On Sep 22, 1992 Brennan simply walked away with $507,361 in cash and chips in the morning. He did not use force or violence. "It appears he left the casino without being filmed by the surveillance cameras," Metro Police Lt. Joe Greenwood said in an interview in 1992.

Brennan's Character

Race and sports writer for "Gaming Today," Richard Saber said, "He was basically a total complete loner. He lived alone with his cat." Saber was former sports book manager at the Stardust when Brennan worked there. Judy Pope, manager of Brennan's apartment said during a 1992 interview that he was "just a nice kid, that's all." When police got to the apartment, Brennan and his cat was long gone. "They never found a trace of Bill Brennan anywhere. Never a trace," Saber said.

Bad Company

Hanging around with the wrong company could be the reason this "nice kid" undergone a change of character. Brennan was known to be hanging out with a big bettor. "This was a bettor that we didn't trust. He was a shady character. He disappeared from the face of the earth too just a few months after Bill had gone," Saber said. Scotty Schettler, who hired Brennan during the boom years, said, "He got influenced by outside sources, and his attitude changed, and he wanted desperately to be a supervisor, but with his change in attitude, I couldn't put him in charge of all that money."

Tracking Brennan

Being on the FBI's most wanted fugitive list never turned up leads. Authorities said they never saw any sign of Brennan show up in his native Pennsylvania. Metro Police Sgt. John Sheahan said if new leads come in this cold case could be reopened. Perhaps after 22 years someone knows something and Crime Stoppers is taking tips. "Nowadays, we're able to track someone with their cell phone down to within feet of where they're standing," Sheahan said.

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My Comments

This guy believes you can't win money from the casino so he steals it.

Carpe Diem: Seize the Day: States Use Gambling to Save Economy

REBLOG> Carpe Diem: Seize the Day: States Use Gambling to Save Economy:
Phil Andows' Original Blog

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Gambling Addiction

Policymakers in USA is starting to see gambling as a panacea to be the cure for all economic ills but gambling addiction it the ugly side of the coin. USA Today is in the view that gambling states are addicted to easy money in its report dated 25 Sep 2014. The Editorial Board cited New Jersey are the prime example of the worst offenders in the world of gambling. "They are both addicts and pushers. They throw temper tantrums and upset settled policy when their fix of gambling revenue runs low."

Save the Economy

New Jersey began offering online gambling last year to bring in more tax revenue as Atlantic City casino revenue took a sharp dive. Since the revenue from the online gambling was not much of a help, the state will come up with more gambling products. Governor Chris Christie has given the green light for casinos and racetracks to offer sports betting. A federal judge will hear Christie's argument on Oct 6 as a 1992 federal law banned the practice in all but four states where it previously existed.

Gambling Expanded Widely

The good days are gone. Christie can't expect gambling to be the savior. New Jersey is no longer the gambling mecca of the East Coast. Adjoining states - Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York and Delaware - have all opened casinos recently. As of 2012, America had 513 state-licensed casinos, plus 466 on tribal lands. With more players, it is obviously going to be less share for the same pie.

Gambling Destroys Lives

There is a deadly social cost for gambling. Compulsive gambling habits from 1% to 2% of gamblers are known to destroy lives. People lose their jobs, families and self-confidence due to heavy losses. A study done by Baylor University in 2011 estimated the cost of gambling ill at $9,393 per compulsive gambler per year. The state should explore alternatives instead of always relying on gambling to bail them out.

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Veronica Glowsome Commented

It is like a gambit in chess. A small piece is sacrificed to gain advantage. The gambit here is 1% to 2% of gamblers who will turn into rotten gamblers.

My Comments

In democratic societies, the government will have to serve the majority.

Light and Easy Talk: Casino Regulators Ruled Unshuffled Cards in Mini-b...

REBLOG> Light and Easy Talk: Casino Regulators Ruled Unshuffled Cards in Mini-baccarat Legal:
Veronica Glowsome's Original Blog

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Golden Nugget Casino

An unshuffled card game for mini-baccarat at the Golden Nugget Atlantic City on 30 April 2012 was ruled illegal under state casino rules because the cards had been unshuffled. Superior Court judge James Isman had vindicated the Golden Nugget in his ruling on 14 June 2014. It should be noted that the New Jersey's Division of Gaming Enforcement fined the casino for the unshuffled cards.

The Incident

Gamblers capitalized on the unshuffled cards by increasing their bets from $10 to $5,000 per hand after seeing the same sequence of cards being dealt over and over again. Gamblers rode on a forty-one consecutive winning streak on this day. They were surrounded by casino security that was eager to find evidence to show that they were cheating. The security personnel was unable to spot the unshuffled cards because they were all focused on the wrong thing.

New Jersey's Consistency

The New Jersey casino regulators recently ruled that the game in which gamblers won $1.5 million did not violate any rules or laws, the Associated Press reported on 24 Sep 2014. The consistency with the New Jersey casino regulators and the Division of Gaming Enforcement should be applauded.

Timely Ruling

The call by the New Jersey case had been timely as the case had been reinstated the CBS Philly reported on 4 Sep 2014. Isman recently retired and a different judge granted a motion to reconsider the decision. Judge Allen Littlefield said that the gamblers can continue the discovery process and argue their case at trial this fall.

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My Comments

Crooked justice is very obvious. I applaud Judge Littlefield's effort to correct it.

China Corruption Blitz Hits Macau Junkets

Laundering Money

Rotten gamblers, especially the whale bettors, could be mistaken for money laundering. This may be the assumption of Chinese President, Xi Jinpin. His crackdown on corrupt officials and tycoons is starting to drain China. This almost 2 years blitz had caused the sale of luxury good to dwindle and the VIP rooms at Macau casinos to slow down. It had driven rotten gamblers to other gambling destinations. This is like sending away the goose that laid the golden egg to your fellow neighbors. The claim of coming by a windfall from the casino is not that easy to justify with the generous amount of surveillance camera covering the casino. Coming up with the bankroll to make the amass the extraordinary win would be a great question mark.

Macau's Casino Junket Squeeze

The prolonged crackdown is now starting to squeeze the junkets in Macau. As the Chinese economy dragged its feet, the whale gamblers shy away. In Macau, whale gamblers will punt HK$1 million without second thoughts. Junkets who lend them money and settle their debts are not longer as flexible as debt recovery is not as easy. Authorities are digging junkets for information on Junkets are had left the industry. Chinese officials suspected of corruption who may be laundering money through Macau. The pressure is too much that, "I can't sleep at night. There are just too many problems," said one 54-year-old junket operator who didn't want to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue. "I'm not optimistic for the future of the VIP junket industry here." Of Macau's 220 licensed junket firms, at least 15 have shut up shop in the big casinos this year the Reuters reported on 24 Sep 2014.

Filling Bottles: Restaurateur Drugged Customers with Poppy Laced No...

REBLOG> Filling Bottles: Restaurateur Drugged Customers with Poppy Laced Noodles...:
Sue DaJi's Original Blog

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Addictive Noodles

A restaurant owner in Yan'an, Shaanxi province cunningly added an addictive ingredient into his noodles to keep his customers coming back. Zhang uses poppy buds, which he crushed up into powder and mixed into meals as his secret recipe. An anti-narcotics police agent said that chemicals from poppy, even poppy seedpods, could build up in the body to be tested positive for opiates on a drug test. When ingested over long period, it could cause addiction. Zhang was detained for questioning for 10 days. He confessed that he purchased 2kg of poppy shells for 600 yuan.

Poppy Laced Noodles Exposed

Zhang's plot was exposed when Liu Juyou was tested positive for drugs during a routine urine test under an anti-drink-driving check. The 26-year-old patron of the restaurant was shock by the test result because he never touched illegal substances. He was detained for 15 days. To clear himself Liu asked his family members to do a urine test after eating noodles from the restaurant. After confirming Liu suspicion, the authorities investigated the restaurant.

Poppy Users

Being an unconscious user and victim of Zhang's unscrupulous profiteering practice, Liu appealed against his detention. The police dismissed the case on the ground that laws were design to detect drugs and punish drug users. Opium, heroin, morphine, marijuana and any other anesthetic and psychotropic drugs which can be addictive are illegal in China. "Poppy shells used to be an ingredient in a popular hot pot sauce until the product was banned", the South China Morning Post reported on 24 Sep 2014.

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My Comments

Good ethics is necessary to build good business. Underhand tactics will bring short terms gains at the loss of reputation.

Jack of All Trades: iPhone6 Bends in Your Pocket

REBLOG> Jack of All Trades: iPhone6 Bends in Your Pocket:
Jack Omnitrade's Original Blog

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Warped iPhone6

Being the first to use the iPhone6 turns out to be a disadvantage. The launching of the new Apple product was greet with the same enthusiasm. People were willing to camp overnight to get a good spot in the queue to buy it. Others would pay an exorbitant premium just to be early user of the product. These users are not complaining that the phone warped under pressure.

Design Flaw

The unexpected design has been widely reported on the Internet and has already been dubbed "bend-gate." Users complained that the metal is too soft and it bends under pressure after being carried around in their pocket for long periods of time. With a thinner and larger aluminum body, the phone just don't stand up to the wear and tear of staying in a pocket, the CBS News reported on 24 Sep 2014.

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My Comments

An article dated 25 Sep 2014 in Bloomberg says you could just bend it back to shape. I am sure there will be very little dents that can't be seen.

On Empty Thoughts: Alcohol Ban at Stratford Supercasino

REBLOG> On Empty Thoughts: Alcohol Ban at Stratford Supercasino:
Guerrilla Gamblers' Original Blog

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Violence at Gambling Outlets

p>I will update Gambling Tales Facebook and Google Plus Page with this article on Violence at Gambling Outlets. Alcohol never ceases to cause trouble for Aspers Casino in Westfield Stratford City. Since they have so much trouble handling their drinks, it had been taken away from them.

Alcohol Ban

A recent news dated 23 Sep 2014 from the Newham Recorder the Supercasino has had its alcohol license revoked by Newham Council after security staff allegedly "beat up" a punter. A Newham Council spokesperson said: "The decision was made in view of the seriousness of the incident and the police and licensing sub-committee’s concerns about the casino’s ability to prevent crime and disorder. The suspension will remain in force until a full licensing review hearing." Aspers Casino will not be able to serve alcohol or food from 23:00 to 05:00.

The Incident

The incident took place on Saturday night of 20 September. CCTV footage of the assault on the customer by a security staff showed that the customer sustained "severe injury". The involvement of alcohol in the attack was not mentioned by the press. Aspers Casino did not comment on the incident.

Banning Use of Glasses

Two week ago the casino was banned from using glasses to serve drinks and the casino resorted to using plastic cups. This was following two serve cases of glassing. One resulted in an inch long cut to the victim’s head which required gluing. In the other case, the glass used to commit the crime was thrown away by casino staff, leading to the loss of vital evidence (see Newham Recorder's report on 9 September).

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My Comments

Managing drunken gamblers is not easy. Aspers Casino had a hard time doing it.

Light and Easy Talk: Funny and Confusing City Signs

REBLOG> Light and Easy Talk: Funny and Confusing City Signs:
Veronica Glowsome's Original Blog

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City Signs are Fun

Guardian Cities asked readers to share photos of the most silly, confusing and dangerous signs. They posted the good ones on GuardianWitness. I have commented on some of the photos.

1) You will be the big garbage dump when that happens.


2) Berlin loves this park so much that they wanted everybody to know it!


3) I wondered about the source of the water.


4) They made one sign for the cats but these stray cats can't read.


5) This sign was intended for the police.


6) Tennis on this court is played without balls.


7) Car park with a penalty for parking: make up your mind!


8) Two linguistically independent ways to Brussels.


9) On this planet the pedestrians drive.


10) This must be the place for stress relieve.


11) Sign in a cave near Valletta, Malta.


12) Recyclables in the small bin. Dog heads in the big bin. Sign in Milford, Connecticut, USA.


13) The plants may catch you.


14) Carrying reptiles must be a common thing on this street.


15) A slightly puzzling street sign in Luxembourg.


16) This was painted on a road on the East Coast, Australia.

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My Comments

Picture 8 is kinda racist. Those who read English travel 18 km but those who read the European language travel 22 km.

Pest in Midst: Laggard to the Casino Industry

REBLOG> Pest in Midst: Laggard to the Casino Industry:
XingCai's Original Blog

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Casino Industry in Asia

Singapore is considered a laggard to the casino industry in comparison to her neighbor, Malaysia. To make up for being half-a-century late Singapore decided to have two casinos. Other Asian countries - Vietnam, Korea, Sri Lanka, Cambodia and Japan - are joining the bandwagon to intensify the fight for gamblers patronage. Like good foodies, gamblers will travel the extra mile for a wager.

The Singaporean Stunted Growth

Macquarie, a leading financial services provider in Australia, "think the Singapore gaming market cannot grow." They noted that the gross gaming revenue (GGR) for the nation had plateau around $6 billion a year since 2011. "After three big years, tourist arrivals in Singapore have started to decline (down 3 percent year-to-July) and most importantly, Chinese visitors who form more than 50 percent of Singapore VIP volume have fallen by 29 percent year-to-date," Macquarie said. VIP volumes make up around 80 percent of the city-state's total gaming volume, it said [CNBC 23 Sep 2014].

Singaporean Senseless Optimism

Carey Wong, an analyst at OCBC, is optimistic about the situation. He sees the drop in overseas visitors to be temporary as it is partly due to China's economic slowdown and corruption crackdown. He said, "Once things die down, we'll see the return of these high rollers," he said. "From an Asian perspective, Asians will gamble regardless of good times or bad. It's different from a Western perspective, where gaming is more for leisure." Wong does not seem to make much sense when he claimed that economic slowdown was the cause of decline in Chinese visitors yet advocating that bad times will not stop Asian gamblers. Singapore's strong currency and lack of tourist attraction in their tiny island is more likely the cause for their failure to attract foreigners.

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My Comments

Being a laggard is as good a business failure.

Time Is a Thief: Taxi Fares Lowest in Beijing

REBLOG> Time Is a Thief: Taxi Fares Lowest in Beijing:
Amenda Steels' Original Blog

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Highest Taxi Fares

Taxi fares for Beijing is the lowest in the cheapest among international cities. Survey shows that Tokyo had the highest taxi fares in the world the China Daily reported on 23 Sep 2014.

International cities highlighted by the daily are a per table below.

International Cities	Fare for 10km in Euros
Tokyo	25.39
Hamburg	22.60
London	22.39
Dortmund	18.10
New York	13.98
Paris	12.20
Beijing	3.78

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My Comments

Cabs are mostly used for emergencies and special occasions in many Western countries. In China, it is a mode of transportation that some may use on a regular basis.

Seeking Enlightenment: Sugar Babies Meets Sugar Dadies at Seeking Arrange...

REBLOG> Seeking Enlightenment: Sugar Babies Meets Sugar Daddies at Seeking Arrange...:
Sophia Logica's Original Blog

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Internet Prostitution

Sugar Babies goes to Seeking Arrangement to meet Sugar Daddies. Seeking Arrangement is a website that brokers the meeting of pretty young women with rich older men under the guise of providing social escort services. Tammy Castle, a professor at James Madison University, said "[The administrators of the Seeking Arrangement] are trying to avoid the negative stigma of prostitution by advertising this as just another dating website, but money is exchanged for arrangements that may include sex," the Atlantic reported on 19 Sep 2014.

In High Demand

As in the case with any search engine, the most important part is to be listed on top of the page. Men with annual incomes of over $5 or $10 million get the most attention. The site encourages women in higher learning institution. If women register with a ".edu" email account, they receive a free premium membership, something the guys have to shell out as much as $1,200 for.

The Ideal Product

Some men use the site entirely for sexual services. Most of them wanted sex and something else. They want a companion who understands and appears interested in what they have to say. A suitable mate to tag along for business trips or company events, and even meet their friends. Most importantly, they want someone who will help them pretend that the relationship is not a transaction.

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My Comments

Fast and easy money is the preferred path these days.

Carpe Diem: Seize the Day: Sex Change Surgery in the 18th-Century

REBLOG> Carpe Diem: Seize the Day: Sex Change Surgery in the 18th-Century:
Phil Andows' Original Blog

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Hermaphrodites

Hermaphrodites is the biological term for an organism that has reproductive organs of both male and female sexes. Hermaphroditic plants are called monoecious, or bisexual. Hermaphroditic animals are mostly invertebrates and usually parasitic or slow-moving like snails. In humans, hermaphroditism is an extremely rare sex anomaly. A true hermaphrodite is an individual who has both ovarian and testicular tissue [Encyclopædia Britannica]. Today we have a rich knowledge on the subject but back in 1997 it was a different scenario.

Thomas Brand's Report

A 7-year-old girl came to the Soho Square Dispensary for the Relief of the Infant Poor with her parents for treatment. The doctors' opinions differs. The first doctor's opinion was hernia but the second doctor's opinion was hermaphrodites. This case was documented as "the case of a boy who had been mistaken for a girl; with three anatomical views of the parts, before and after the operation and cure." The paper was sitting in the college's rare books library in the University of Kansas. In the early 2000s, Carol Warren — then a professor of sociology of the university — stumbled upon the report.

Thomas Brand's Surgery

According to Brand's report, published in 1787, he noticed an "irregularity" in the patient’s "external parts." After further examination, he concluded that the child’s "part, which had the appearance of the labia pudenda, was in fact the scrotum," and suggested an "operation to free the penis from its confinement." He went ahead and made some alterations, enabling the child—whose name is unknown—"to urinate standing up, wear trousers, and enjoy the privileges of being a male." Brand, who practiced at the Royal Hospital at Greenwich, was "not a quack," according to Mary Fissell, a professor of the History of Medicine at Johns Hopkins [Alice Robb, New Republic]. This may be may describe one of the earliest instances of sex-change surgery. For Dr Brand he actually corrected the child's gender. Was it possible for Dr Brand to correct the child sex to female?

Gender Roles

The child that Dr Brand operated was a girl for the first 7 years of her life. After having his penis freed from its confinements, this child led a life of a boy and goes into manhood. It show that gender roles can be trained or taught. In am curious about the initial gender adjustment period that this child went through.

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My Comments

After being a father, it must had been though to think that you were once a female capable of bearing offspring.

Pest in Midst: Women of West Point

REBLOG> Pest in Midst: Women of West Point:
XingCai's Original Blog

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Brave Heart

The heart of a hero is the essence that drive a person to join the jihadis or serve the army. For women jihadis, "potential recruits are told their main role in the Islamic revolution will be through matrimony and childbearing, not martyrdom," [Daily Beast, 3 Sep 2014]. In contrast the American military will be opening combat positions to qualifying women by 2016.

Admission of Women

Since West Point opened its doors to women in 1976, there had been some women with outstanding achievements. Lindsey Danilack was the the top cadet at West Point, Class of 2014. She was not the first women to hold this position but the fourth. This article on New York Time Magazine takes a peek into the aspiration of the Women at West Point.

Leadership

Women had long been in position of leadership in both political and commercial arena. “If someone tells me I can’t run as fast as the guys running the two-mile, I say, ‘You’re right.’ ... But if they say that I can’t be as good a leader as them, oh, I’ll challenge them on that,” Danilack said.

Physical Fights

According to biologically, males are suppose to be stronger than women so I had always wonder about a physical fight between the genders. This was answered by Cadet Oriana Ellis. She said, “I always came in here with the mind-set that anything a guy could do, I could do. . . . I never really got the mental check until combative, when I had to fight a guy that was the same weight as me, and my M.C.L. was sprained within the first couple seconds, because I didn’t realize that guys were actually more dense than girls.”

Expressing Affection

As much as woman strive for equality, the law of nature that the opposite attracts could not be ignored. Here is a glimpse on romantic life at West point. “When you go into someone’s room, you have to leave the door open because you’re always being monitored. It’s hard to ‘cadate.’ There’s no hand-holding, no affection and no getting away. . . . West Point does discourage dating in the same company,” Alexandra Efaw said.

Bonding

Bonding is paramount for the military. Without esprit de corps any military group will breakdown. “What I like most about West Point is the relationships you make here because of what you go through and how stressful it is. A week is like a month in real life. . . . We have this unique experience that we’re all sharing with each other, which is why a lot of the people get engaged and married at West Point. And they might not even be dating for a year,” Anastasia Efaw said.

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My Comments

There will be no end to women trying to prove themselves in a traditionally men dominated field.

Pest in Midst: Bolivian Catholic Witchdoctors

REBLOG> Pest in Midst: Bolivian Catholic Witchdoctors:
XingCai's Original Blog

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The Aymara Communities

The CNN, 17 Sep 2014 reported about the parallel between Bolivian-witchdoctor and Catholics. The findings were taken from Raphaël Verona's new photography book. Verona is a Swiss photographer who lived among the traditional Aymara communities. The Aymara is an ancient indigenous race found in Bolivia, Peru and Chile. They live in the Altiplano plateau, the most extensive area of high plateau on Earth outside of Tibet. The plateau lies within Bolivian and Peruvian territory while its southern parts lie in Chile and Argentina. In this region people believe in magic.

Pachamama or Earth Mother

Pachamama is their goddess of fertility. She presides over planting and harvesting and can cause earthquakes. She is typically depicted in the form of a dragon. She is an omnipresent and commands an independent deity who has creative power to sustain life on this earth. In their conversion conquest regime, the Spaniards tried to use the Virgin Mary as Pachamama's substitute but the concept did not go well with the Peruvian. Mary's role as an intercessor could never equate with the independent power of Pachamama. As a result the Virgin Mary is a separate deity on its own

Supai

Supai is the god of death and the underworld. Supay is associated with miners' rituals. He is described as having horns and a scarlet face. Spaniards tried to equate his with the devil but it did not work. The Aymara do not fear Supai but believe in getting on his good side to be spared from harm. Supai is a reflection of power which can be used for good or evil. Satan, unlike Mary did not fit into the bill, was not included as a deity.

Hybrid Faith

Catholic gods were added into the Aymara pantheon due to their ability to accept the existence of spiritual beings. Christian rituals were easily added to traditional beliefs to arrive at a hybrid faith. "The Aymara people have an approach to life that seems paradoxical from the outside," says Verona. "In Europe you are either one religion or another, either traditional or modern. But in Bolivia people live with both Catholicism and animism, both in modernity and in their ancestral traditions. They visit the Yatiri, the priest, to pay homage to deities or give prophesies when they are applying for visas, or for assistance in businesses matters."

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My Comments

The stuff here sure look Chinese. This would support the idea that Chinese traveled the world in 1423 written by Gavin Menzies.

Pest in Midst: Bomb-Making Recipe on ISIS Forums

REBLOG> Pest in Midst: Bomb-Making Recipe on ISIS Forums
XingCai's Original Blog

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After beheading David Haines, a few people saw the message as provoking American and its allies to war. Yet, President Obama had given no indication of waging or not waging war. He continued to push his of ideas supporting the opposition of ISIS in the area to do the job. David Cameron, UK Prime Minister, was outraged by Haines' execution and vowed to bring justice. Although Obama pledged his support to Cameron, the scale in which forces were deployed were not in tandem with the expectation of the American public. The people wanted something to the magnitude of the "war on terror" type of deployment.

Provocation to War

There is no doubt that ISIS wants to engage the US and its allies. They see this as a revenge for their predecessor, the Al-Qaeda. They tried to push the agitation further by setting up forum offering a tutorial on bomb-making to attack American high-profile tourist locations. New York, Las Vegas and Texas were the proposed targets. The purpose is to stir up sentiment to provoke a full scale attack as such threats would cause panic to the residents of these locations.

The Awaited Rematch

The ISIS wants a rematch. As the Al-Qaeda engaged the Bush-Blair team in the past, the ISIS wants to engage the Obama-Cameron team today. Their purpose is to show themselves and world that they are more equipped for this war than their predecessor. Although Obama knows this, the American public is totally unaware of it. All the people wanted were for the ISIS to get their ass whipped. For Obama, this butt-kicking engagement is not due yet because the enemy's morale is high and they are more prepared than ever.

The War Manual

To the American public Obama is seen to be taking a passive stand on in this "war on terror". Looking at the Chinese ancient war manual, Obama's actions are obvious. He wants to wait it out until the morale is low and the enemy had let down its guard. This is will enable him to spring a surprise attack on unmotivated troops.

Virtue is Might

The ruler with virtues is an important variable in winning a war. This is a point the ISIS's "convert or die" philosophy will lose out to the America and its allies. Troops' morale will not last long if they are against virtues. If America strikes now they would lose virtue. The issue at hand is to send rescue teams to save the hostages and not wage war when provoked.

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My Comments

This is a strong tactical analysis.

Pest in Midst: Reblog: Pinoy to Pay Hefty Casino Entrance Fee

REBLOG> Pest in Midst: Reblog: Pinoy to Pay Hefty Casino Entrance Fee:
XingCai's Original Blog

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This article look at how people in Singapore goes around being put on the casino's exclusion list by their family members.

REBLOG Light and Easy Talk:
Every nation wants a casino to tap the super profits but they don’t want their citizens to gamble. This is just like robbers want to rob people but they don’t like it when they are robbed. XingCai Gambling Tales has interesting thoughts on gambling issue.

REBLOG On Empty Thoughts: Pinoy to Pay Hefty Casino Entrance Fee:
A proposed bill in Congress will impose a P3,500 entrance fee for all Filipinos patronizing casinos. Addicts to Hell looks at the consequences of barring your citizen from the casino ...

Light and Easy Talk: Man Commits Suicide after Ramming Truck into Casin...

REBLOG> Light and Easy Talk: Man Commits Suicide after Ramming Truck into Casin...:
Sophia Logica's Original Blog

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Suicide Attempts

Ryan Brown ramped a pickup through the glass front doors of the Stratosphere Casino on Sep 10, a Las Vegas police arrest report showed. The 40-year-old electrician was arrested on suspicion of reckless driving and possession and use of cocaine, the Reuters reported on 19 Sep 2014. Brown was released without restrictions after prosecutors failed to file criminal charges on 15 Sep. Toxicology reports were required to pursue charges and the judge set a status hearing in October. On 18 Sep Brown was found dead at the Rio All-Suite Las Vegas Hotel and Casino. The Clark County coroner’s office reported that Brown died of asphyxia and hanging, police spokesman Larry Hadfield said. According to arrest report, Brown was fired due to a domestic dispute with his wife. He told the police in a drug-fueled diatribe that he had been on cocaine and speed for six days and had smoked crack about two hours before deliberately crashing into the casino. Brown said, “He intended to run up to the top of the Stratosphere and jump off.

Doubtful Released

Brown was preoccupied with Suicide. He thought of jumping off the Stratosphere Casino but ended up crashing into it instead. He contemplated on an idea that would hurt himself but performed an act that could hurt others. “Darren Richards, assistant Clark County public defender, whose office was not involved in the case said, “I don’t know what the District Attorney was thinking, why they didn’t file some charges against someone who had been caught driving through the lobby of a casino.” The Clark County District Attorney’s Office, which provided the arrest report, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Brown’s release. “It is not against the law to be mentally ill,” Hadfield said when asked why Brown was not arrested after his release.

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Veronica Glowsome's

Gambling Tales had a good collection of gambling stories. This is good stuff for the Bizarre Section. My guess is he blown a fortune, quarrel with his wife, felt miserable and thought of suicide.

My Comments

It is sad that some gamblers have to chose this path.

Filling Bottles: Gamblers Go to Vegas to Avoid Macau Corruption Bli...

REBLOG> Filling Bottles: Gamblers Go to Vegas to Avoid Macau Corruption Blitz:
Sue DaJi's Original Blog

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Nations Bow to Gambling

Gambling Tales claims that banning casinos would cause black market to flourish or drive gamblers to casinos in a neighboring country in the article "Nations Bows to Gambling". On Chinese soil, gambling is legal only legal in Macau but China would not sanction their own citizen gambling on their soil. Corruption blitz had been carried out at Macau to rid the activity on their sovereignty.

Corruption Crackdown Affected Gambling and Luxury Malls

SavySeph's blog on Tumblr covered the news on the Chinese anti-corruption crackdown of gambling in Macau and shopping outlets specialized in luxury good in Hong Kong to rid the stench of corruption from the land. Here is a reblog of SavySeph.

Reblog Savy Seph

Beijing’s intensifying crackdown on corruption is hitting the VIP rooms at Macau casinos and luxury shopping malls in Hong Kong hard, the Wall Street Journal reported on 1 Aug 2014. “This anticorruption crackdown in China is much more widespread and deeper than the VIP community had anticipated and as a result there could be prolonged weakness in the market,” said Union Gaming Research analyst Grant Govertsen.

Sales of luxury goods fell by nearly a third in the second quarter, including a 40% decline in April. With Beijing monitoring conspicuous consumption and capital flight closely, it would not be kool to be seen buying diamond-encrusted watches or punting millions at a baccarat game.

A New Playground

XingCai a tumblr user commented that these Chinese gamblers will find a new play ground soon. I have just found the new about their new playground as reported by Sidney Morning Herald on 17 Sep 2014. Junket operators, which organise casino trips for wealthy Chinese VIPs, are bringing those gamblers to other locations such as Australia, Europe or the US, according to Credit Suisse analysts Kenneth Fong and Isis Wong.

Viva Las Vegas

Casinos' revenue on the Las Vegas Strip has increased 3.7 per cent to $US3.7 billion ($4.1 billion) in the year to end-July, driven mainly by a 14.4 per cent jump in baccarat revenue, according to Robert Shore, a Las Vegas-based analyst at Union Gaming Group. This indicates "an inverse correlation" with the weaker performance from high rollers in Macau, he said in an e-mail. "Las Vegas is a brand that is clearly world-renowned and that people continuously want to come to," Dan D'Arrigo, Chief Financial Officer of MGM, said via telephone when asked about Chinese gamblers.

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Ohio Approves Preshuffled-cards

Green Light for Pre-shuffled Cards

Ohio Casino Control Commission (OCCC) has approved the use of pre-shuffled cards in the state's casinos. It made me reflect on the unshuffled cards causing a casino millions and Brogata accusing Phil Ivey for collaborating with the card manufacturer to mark cards to be used in play. While the unshuffled card at Golden Nugget Atlantic City may be a one in a lifetime affair, Brogata's wild accusation could possibility become a regular affair with this new regulation.

Casinos Wants Red-tape Cut

Dealers would spread out all 312 cards in the six-deck stacks to carefully inspect before use. "It can take 30 minutes to get the first table going and up to 90 minutes to get all six tables going," said Tosha Tousant, Horseshoe Cleveland’s director of table games. With such procedure to ensure fairness, casinos need to cut down the red tape as the Horseshoe Cleveland uses a total of 16,000 decks a month. Hollywood Casino uses about 20,000 decks a month, the Columbus Dispatch reported on 16 Sep 2014.

Protecting the Integrity of the Games

For Matthew Schuler, executive director of OCCC, the integrity of the games would be his main concern. He was skeptical when Ohio casino executives requested permission to use pre-shuffled decks. He sent his staff to inspect the United States Playing Card Co. in Erlanger, Kentucky. He was convinced as cards were shuffled so thoroughly and randomly that there’s no way for dealers or players to know what card will come up next. The company became the only card manufacturer the OCCC has approved to supply pre-shuffled cards. The application of other card factory are being processed, Schuler said.

United States Playing Card Co

United States Playing Card Co is equipped with a fully automated production line. "We load sheets of printed decks at the front of the production line. They are cut and then shuffled automatically by our approved equipment, and then we load finished and secured, pre-shuffled cartons of cards into a shipping carton," said company spokesman Scott Madding.

Human Intervention

Schuler's investigation was based on the machines ability and credibility. The machine can mechanically and methodically shuffle the cards thoroughly and randomly but the aspect of human intervention is ignored. For the right price a motivated individual will make the necessary alteration to the advantage of any players who will pay the price. Schuler made no remarks on the security procedures of the factory that monitor the intervention of these motivated individuals.

Watchdog to Named and Shamed Bookies

Saving the Gaming Industry

Bookies who break promises on advertising will be "name and shame" by a new watchdog. This watchdog should also penalize those who admit minors. This ruling is often violated and never taken seriously. The four biggest bookmakers in Britain pledged to set up an independent body to ward off any further heavy-handed clampdown on the gambling sector.

Exposing some Scapegoats

Big industry players - Gala Coral, Ladbrokes, Paddy Power and William Hill - came up with this self-policing measures to save their own hides. They want to toss the little guys out of the game so that they can glorify themselves. Humiliating a few small players to save the industry is a good strategy. In view of the increasing political and public pressure, particularly over the controversial "crack cocaine" gaming machines, a few scape goats would be sufficient to pacify public rage.

Independent Policing

This independent body is scheduled to be up and running in January with "multi-million pound" budget funded by the big four bookies. The promise of independent comes with an independent "standards commissioner". The commissioner will adhere to the "Nolan Principles" - a set of standards for those working in public office - the Telegraph reported on 14 Sep 2014.

Responsible Gambling

Promoting responsible gambling is another feature of the voluntary measures of the new independent body. All advertising for fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBT) or any electronic casino games described by campaigners as the "crack cocaine" of gambling, will be removed. Responsible gambling messages will comprise 20% of advertising in betting shop windows.

Legalize Casino Gambling in Japan

In light of the recent media reports that the health ministry is pushing to ban Japanese nationals from the legalize casino in Japan due to fears about addiction, Toru Mihara said he wants local gamblers to be allowed. Mihara, a Professor at the Osaka University of Commerce and legal adviser to the Japanese lawmakers seeking to legalize casinos, was involved in drafting the casino bill. He told reporters the government should tackle the issue of problem gambling through counseling and other means, and not by imposing a ban.

Asked whether he thought casino gambling should be limited to foreigners, Mihara said: "It would be entirely out of the question. I would estimate that about 80 percent of all visitors will be Japanese. The remainder will be foreigners." Companies including Las Vegas Sands Corp and Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd are vying to win the first licences to operate casinos in Japan, a market that brokerage CLSA estimates could generate annual revenue of $40 billion. [Reuters, 28 Aug 2014].

Casino resorts were identified as the key feature under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's economic growth plan. Any delays in the process could dampen the hopes of global casino operators intention to capitalize on the gaming market in time for tourism peak during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Thieves Raid Poker Game in Montreal

Police are investigating following an armed robbery at a poker game on des Patriotes in Terrebonne early Wednesday morning, the CTV Montreal published on 3 Sep 2014 .

Three armed suspects took the till and emptied the wallets of the eight players.They thieves fled from the tiny street of 25 houses but police do not have a description of an escape vehicle. No injuries were reported.

This there is a similar case in which 15 people, most of them Norwegians, were robbed at gunpoint as they played poker in Strömstad, Sweden last week by a gang of four masked men armed with guns, (see Amenda Steels) Blog. The Sweedish event took place on 22 Aug 2014.

Military Baked Pizzza that Last Years

Food scientist told the Associated Press that they developed pizza that can be eaten in 3 years will soon become a soldier's ration. Michelle Richardson from the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center said pizza is one of the most requested items when soldiers are asked every year what they'd like to see in their rations. Although scientists at the Natick labs also are responsible for developing equipment and clothing that improves soldiers' combat effectiveness and their survival, pizza had become the holy grail there due to its popularity.

Richardson had spent nearly two years developing the recipe that doesn't require any refrigeration or freezing in a large kitchen full of commercial equipment. To prevent moisture in tomato sauce or cheese from migrating to the dough, ingredients called humectants — sugar, salt and syrups — were use to bind water and keep it from getting to the dough. To keep the pizza fresh for three years at 80 degrees, the acidity of the sauce, cheese and dough were tweaked to make it harder for oxygen and bacteria to thrive.