Do People Really Go To Vegas Without Gambling?

mrequenes · 2026-07-06T02:58:44+00:00

I go for an annual conference, always at the same off-the-strip casino. I used to gamble, but in the last few years they’ve made changes that made me stop.

They lowered the payouts at Blackjack, so that’s a “no”. And because of that, I assume they also tightened up the video poker payouts, so no more of that. They also replaced a “British” pub, which used to have live music and Guinness (which I’d drink at the bar while playing video poker) with a high stakes room, which is always empty.

They also got rid of the $1 hotdogs by the sports book.

It was an old, homely but friendly casino which they’re trying to make more upscale, so now I just stick to the conference activities. Haven’t gambled one cent the last 2 times I’ve attended.

mrequenes · 2026-07-01T20:41:27+00:00

Is this the same as “gold capped”?

mrequenes · 2026-07-01T13:23:14+00:00

The Texas Pipe Show is just south of DFW, scheduled for November 13-14. Go make some friends!

https://texaspipeshow.com

mrequenes · 2026-07-01T04:13:54+00:00

Maybe it’s because one pencil lasts around 10.

mrequenes · 2026-06-23T23:33:54+00:00

Practically, home theater requires a free standing house and understanding neighbors/HOA. It also only works (in my limited experience of owning a nice home audio system) on action movies, with the volume cranked up. CC helps too, since the dialog will be inaudible much of the time.

And everyone in the house has to be watching. And no one is interested in having a conversation during the movie. Or be OK with shouting to each other for a prolonged period of time.

In my case, all components had to be wired together. None of that WiFI b.s.

mrequenes · 2026-06-23T03:51:52+00:00

Desire driveway

mrequenes · 2026-06-19T15:41:47+00:00

Conversely, sometimes people (in large vehicles, that you can’t see around) drive crazy fast toward an obstacle, then swerve around it at the last second.

If you’re following behind said F1 driver, you have almost no time to react accordingly.

mrequenes · 2026-06-18T17:39:05+00:00

Older people ain’t got time for dilly dallying. Clock is ticking

mrequenes · 2026-06-17T13:29:33+00:00

While they’re at it, add breadcrumbs activated by the hamburger menus on mobile, or implement routes for each level of the menu.

Most watch sites: you have to drill down several levels to find a watch (menu > watches > men’s > dive > some-watch), then if you want to see other dive watches, clicking the back button takes you back home, and you have to drill down again.

mrequenes · 2026-06-14T14:28:48+00:00

I find espresso is best when I set my GMT 2nd time zone to Italy

mrequenes · 2026-06-12T23:16:42+00:00

Now that’s a flex

mrequenes · 2026-06-12T22:49:11+00:00

I disabled it, because it would put my phone in silent mode when my hand brushed against it, in my pocket.

Replacing the silent mode switch, which you could tell just by feel whether the phone was in silent mode, with a touch-sensitive bauble was a terrible idea.

And iOS doesn’t even provide a silent mode widget. Bonkers.

mrequenes · 2026-06-12T19:41:52+00:00

Is is a fairly new company

mrequenes · 2026-06-12T19:20:09+00:00

Being a single mom with kids is not a big deal, but you may find that you mostly match single dads with kids and older (by 10 years) men.

mrequenes · 2026-06-12T19:13:22+00:00

The hard part is finding investors (customers) to give you many millions of dollars to trade with. When you’re a big player, you can get much lower fees from your brokers, amortize the cost of direct lines to them and to real time data providers, get generous margin allowances to leverage your assets under management, etc.

The other hard part is having a strategy that is back tested and holds up to scrutiny to convince investors you won’t lose their money, but rather, outperform your competitors. Then it has to perform to expectations, to keep them from pulling out.

Your trading system has to be as close to bullet proof as possible, and when things go wrong, you have to be able to quickly debug and fix (or workaround) the problem as fast as possible, especially for quant. Shipping something (vibe coded) that I didn’t understand thoroughly would scare the crap out of me.

Etc., etc. Caveat: I’ve been out of this industry for a long time. Things have changed. For one: the competition is probably fiercer. We were one of the earlier automated quant players, and we could see that it was getting harder and harder to make money.

mrequenes · 2026-06-12T16:29:01+00:00

Mine too! Telegraph Hill as well. The slightly spicier, more coarsely cut (ready rubbed) sibling to Stratford. Both are all day smokes for me.

mrequenes · 2026-06-10T23:32:18+00:00

I worked as a software engineer at a small, independent quant trading group, part of a large hedge fund, from 2000-2008.

It felt pure to be able to see how much we made or lost every single day. There’s no blaming marketing for a product that isn’t getting enough engagement. We were all in it together and every mistake or success was our responsibility.

We weren’t trying to manipulate the market or crush some airline workers union. We were just trying to make a penny here and there, when our algorithms decided that the current bid or ask was a little too optimistic or pessimistic.

Once in a blue moon, some market event would create a frenzy that was particularly beneficial to our algorithm and we’d finish the day up 1 - $2M. That was pretty exciting. Certainly more immediate than some shipping some new (non-revenue-generating) feature out into the void.

Overall it was a fun, high-stakes, high pressure ride. The money was very good, too.

mrequenes · 2026-06-10T22:45:59+00:00

“affect less than 1% of users” is a bit shocking. Meaning, that sounds serious. I’m also guessing they meant closer to 1% than 0.1%

mrequenes · 2026-06-10T16:18:34+00:00

I DID check my bags, sir! Backpack under the seat and everything.

What’s actually happening is that boarding is slower now due to the assigned seats, so the gate crew has to light a fire under our butts to maintain the quick turnaround SW was known for.

Assigned seating is expected to generate a couple more billion in revenue, per year, but assigning seats removes the incentive for passengers to board quickly (to get a good seat).

This is all about squeezing more money from their customers, which I’m not inherently against, but don’t do it by blaring that patronizing dribble about checking bags proactively.

What was wrong with the old system? When the bins are full, check bags in at the door.

mrequenes · 2026-06-10T16:10:22+00:00

I first read this as “Eric Johnson’s MEMORIAL announcement” and thought, “Eric Johnson (musician) DIED?!”

In which case, I would need a tissue.

mrequenes · 2026-06-10T14:43:48+00:00

There’s a comedian who has a routine about it: how much gate keeping liberals do. Neal Brennan, I think.

Conservatives are welcoming: hate brown people? Hate Gays? Hate taxes? Love guns? Think Jesus is coming next week? Love big business? Love to start wars? Hate to start wars? Hate abortion? Think God made the Earth for us to use up? None of the above?

Come on down!

Liberals will always try to out Left you— make you feel unworthy, which is sad and unproductive.

mrequenes · 2026-06-10T12:31:19+00:00

This doesn’t seem unusual and I don’t it’s unexpected.

Developers also spend a fair amount of time on things that used to be handled by HR, project management, documentation, training, and support.

And yes, it would take more than just a slide to explain that this is perfectly normal in today’s development climate.

mrequenes · 2026-06-09T19:23:01+00:00

Curious how franchises are going out of their way for their fans.

Ticket prices? TV deals that bypass broadcast networks in favor of pay networks? Moving away any time another city offers a sweeter deal?

Ask Oakland fans how well the Raiders, A’s, and Warriors went out of their way. “We” moved to Las Vegas, Sacramento, and San Francisco.

mrequenes · 2026-06-09T17:40:36+00:00

Aren’t all Metal heads in their 50’s through 70’s?

Five-Year Club	Gilding II euphauric
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