eBay chips
After driving Lisa crazy with my eBay obsession, I was finally able to get some poker chips. At first, we were going to use a gift card to buy the Michael Graves set from Target, but I couldn't get their web site to take my money.
So, I ended up getting this old school set. If you look closely, you can see the top hat and cane imprint around the edges, which used to be used by one of the top chips makers back in the day. I'm looking forward to getting them (they ship today) to see how they really look and feel. I'm hopeful that I won't be disappointed. At any rate, it should be interesting to see the reaction of the other players when I pull them out. 
Small victories
In a small victory for civil rights proponents, the Supreme Court ruled that detainees have the right to challenge their detentions in the US courts. As I've mentioned here before, this is the only ruling possible in these cases. We, as a society, cannot simply lock people up without giving reason and without backing it up. Congrats to the Supreme Court for standing up to the administration.
Chips, no dip
Been looking at buying some poker chips for the semi-regular home games the guys at work play in. Makes them feel better when taking their money. Anyway, eBay definitely is the cheapest, although still not cheap enough for me (I want 1000 chips for $10+shipping, is that too much to ask for?)
So, haven't gotten any yet, but here's some resources for your research:
Thorough review of the offerings with lots of pictures
Some good links, and a review to come
Great history of chips and current offerings
Ultimately, it would be awesome to get custom made chips, like I have for my bar glasses, but those are pretty pricey. Since I'm looking super cheap, the 9 gram diamond variety looks to be my cup of tea. I think that's what one of the guys has now, but he's not always there, and we could always use some more!
No drama please
Burying this in the archives because it's been bugging me and I have to let it out somehow, but I don't want to piss off people by posting it to the current blog entries. If you stumble across this and read it and get pissed off, you've been warned.
verbal
My cousin Bill's band, Verbal is the editor's pick on the Washington Post's MP3 site. Check em out! Prepare yourself though, the name Verbal is meant to be ironic, as they don't do lyrics.
But honey, I did buy you flowers!
Very geeky article today on Gizmodo. A PhD student at Cambridge passed a methane gas over silicon carbide wires to make nanoflowers. They really are pretty too:
Laughable
Hilarious piece in Al Kamen's In The Loop column today:
"Some folks in Congress are upset by our Saudi friends' occasional hallucinatory outbursts.
Crown Prince Abdullah -- remember, he's the enlightened one in the family, the one the Bush administration is counting on -- was shown on a tape obtained by NBC News blaming a recent wave of terrorist attacks on Zionists.
"Zionism is behind it," Abdullah said, through a translator. "It has become clear now. It has become clear to us," he said. "It is not 100 percent, but 95 percent that the Zionist hands are behind what has happened."
This might be a bit perplexing, since al Qaeda has claimed responsibility for the attacks.
But not to worry. Prince Nayef, the interior minister, explained what's going on. "Al Qaeda is backed by Israel and Zionism." Ah, but of course.
So Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) has circulated a "Dear Colleague" letter asking for House members to condemn these "scurrilous and inflammatory charges."
It was only a matter of time before people figured out those obvious ties between Osama bin Laden and Ariel Sharon.
Just think of it: A Zionist wave is sweeping the Arabian peninsula. Who knew?"
Have a beer with that brunch
In anticipation of Father's Day on Sunday, here's an article from the New York Times about pairing beer with food. I had the pleasure of listening to Garrett Oliver at the Smithsonian Resident Associates beer class (held at the fabulous and inimitable Brickskeller, Guinness record holder for the biggest beer list). He definitely knows what he's talking about, and he's a fine brewmaster too (can't attest to his cooking skills though). If you see a Brooklyn brewery beer at your local store, you should definitely pick up a six-pack. The Brooklyn lager and Pennant Ale are good everyday beers. I've also had the Oktoberfest, a hearty, malty beer, and the Black Chocolate Stout, which comes very close to the top of my favorites.
Don't forget to raise a pint today in honor of James Joyce. Today is Bloomsday, the centennial of the day Stephen Dedalus and Leopold Bloom each took their epic journeys through Dublin in James Joyce's Ulysses. Really, it's just an excuse to drink, so go ahead.
Torture memo
John Ashcroft refuses to release the memo, but the Washington Post has it (pdf). If you missed it, you can read more about the background and one person's analysis of the memo.
The Constitution prevails!
Dealing a blow to the administration's anti-terrorism efforts, a jury acquitted a Saudi graduate student of terrorism charges. The jury said that there was no hard evidence that he was a terrorist, only government innuendo. They accepted the defense's First Amendment arguments, saying that just because he set up a web site on which other people posted inflammatory material, he was not responsible.
Unfortunately, the man had been held since February 2003, forcing his family to return to Saudi Arabia while he was in jail. At least the government brought charges against him instead of locking him away indefinitely with no charges at all. That pesky Constitution strikes again!
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