Jeff's Life In Retrospect

Together with this rich heritage these decks of cards created for education purposes. In 1662 the German publisher Johann Hoffmann published a book “Reproduced antique art cards with 36 figures created by Johann Pretorio”. The Bavarian National Museum in Munich stores the cards issued by Johann Schtridbeck in 1685 and they can be related to the series “Worthy Men”. These cards present outstanding men of the Ancient Rome and Greece. Other cards have pictures of the Roman emperors starting from Caesar. In 1936 issued a pack of cards called “History” in honor of crowning of the English King Edward VIII. The cards were hand-painted and with English text on them. The cards depict 53 rulers of England. A very beautiful pack is stored in Victoria and Albert Museum: the picture on the sleeve is a scene in front of the Coliseum with the Latin inscription – “Testis Temporum”. Each of the four suits is devoted to one of the monarchies: coins refer to Assyrians, cups correspond to Persians, swords to Greeks, warders to Romans.

Events of the Bible history were also reflected in decks of the playing cards. The Church did not approve cards and the artists who chose Bible scene as subjects of their works, found an interesting interpretation of symbols of card suits. For example, on German cards called “spiritual deck”, the jack of leaves (many eastern and southern Germans prefer decks with hearts, bells, leaves, and acorns (for hearts, diamonds, spades, and clubs) is presented as Jonah under a green tree and the ace of acorns symbolizes the prodigal son who fell as low as that he had to eat acorns together with pigs.

Cards with religious pictures were probably intended to entertain the clergy who as a rule were forbidden to play cards. One pack of this type is known and it was produced in Germany in XVI century. It depicts monks and nuns, cardinals and lower clergy. The queen in these cards is presented as abbess. (probably the influence of Tarot).

The Geographical decks of cards.
The British museum has a pack of cards with counties dated back to 1590. We have already mentioned the pack “Geography” used for teaching Louis XIV. Probably the childhood impressions of Louis XIV were so strong that in 1701 he issued a law on uniform canon of gaming cards for each of nine provinces of France (this way making all the French cards somewhat geographical). In 1678 Nurnberg publishing house published a book called “European geographical card game”. Fifty-two pages of the book demonstrate all exiting kingdoms and countries with the main cities in Europe. Besides the description of the countries, cities and the most interesting sites, it also tells about the most significant events in these places. The Frankfurt Museum of the Applied Art has a deck of another type of cards: each card has a picture of a representative of a particular population group.

In general context any game is educational as in the course of the game the person performs cognitive activity. Virtually every game either commercial or gambling incarnates the basis of many sciences: the theory of probability, mathematical logic, and of course, arithmetic and elementary logic. You cannot play the bridge, poker or chuck-farthing without the latter. Besides the game indirectly teaches you the basics of law and ethics and helps to develop your memory, attention and intelligence.

In the ongoing battle of Internet poker and online casino gambling, the state of Washington passed a law banning online gambling making it illegal for any resident inside of the state to participate in online casino play.

If you are a resident in the state of Washington, and you are caught in the act of online wagering, you could face a penalty of up to 10 years in prison.  The legislation, Senate Bill 6613, has turned online gambling into a Class C Felony.  This severe type of felony is generally reserved for the prosecution of sex offenders who fail to register with the state.

Poker players across the state are angry, confused, and even slightly offended about the passage of the legislation.  The state of Washington has 65 casinos and card rooms  spread across the state, and even a state lottery, yet online gambling has been axed.  There is much confusion and debate revolving around the fact that the state has both brick and mortar casinos and a state lottery.

Things seemed to move very quickly when the bill was put on the fast track and sent up to the governor, Democrat Christine Gregoire.  The House received the bill on February 16th, and a mere few weeks later, it was passed by a vote of 93 to 5, and put into effect. In addition to banning online wagering, the bill also put a halt to the effort to allow the state lottery to be offered online.

Overturning the legislation probably won’t be easy.  To overturn the bill and get the law changed would require a 60% majority vote by both houses of the state legislature, which would not be easy.  Both residents and onlookers from other states feel that the ban of online gambling is a ban on freedom of choice and is an insult to poker players everywhere.

The issue of banning online gambling has been floating around Congress for a while now, but it seems that Congress decided that these types of decisions are better suited for government control on the state level, as opposed to the national level.  In the past several weeks, a handful of well respected professional poker players have gone before Congress and stated their arguments in terms of supporting online gambling for any American who wishes to participate, whether it be for recreation or on a more serious level.

The thought of online poker players in the state of Washington receiving the same punishment as sex offenders is extremely offensive, not to mention absurd, and it’s causing a stir in the online poker community.  There are plans in action to attempt to overturn the legislation, but, as of now, the bill has been passed.

The Phoenix Suns are playing tonight and that means I will be loading up with both hands when I bet on the Dallas Mavericks to extract some serious payback on the Steve Nash led Arizona boys. I’ve lost count on how much Phoenix has removed from my savings account as they mowed down first the Lakers, then the Clippers and now the Mavs in game 1!

If I was smart and we all know I’m not I would not have taken a peek at the morning line which shows Dallas as being a very heavy -7 ½ favorite in tonight’s tilt at the America Airlines building.

Dallas was strolling along with a large lead in game one when Phoenix came storming back behind Nash who finished with 27 points and 16 assists against his former team, finding his shooting range after struggling from the perimeter against the Los Angeles Clippers in the semifinals. He went 11-of-18 from the field and hit a pair of 3-pointers during the pivotal fourth-quarter run.

Unfortunately the injury bug has hit the Suns as midway through the fourth quarter G Raja Bell went down with what later was diagnosed as a left calf strain. Bell started hobbling after releasing a jumper and was on the floor for a pair of possessions before the Suns called timeout. He had to be helped off the court by teammates. Shortly thereafter, F Shawn Marion came up limping with a sprained left ankle. He remained in the game but had to be carted to an X-ray room afterward. It is the same ankle he injured in the conference semifinals vs. the Los Angeles Clippers.

Bell’s injury is now a torn calf muscle and he is gone for a while, but look for Marion to gut it out, while Dallas will lose talented Josh Howard with an ankle injury.