I do know that when the big card shufflers first came out, they had a bit of a flaw. They could shuffle the cards so much that the cards essentially might become un-shuffled. Then some math guy to figure out the optimal number of random shuffles per X decks to ensure maximum randomness of each card dealt. Naturally, they then fixed the deck shufflers. I remember learning the story in a college math class. It had something to do with chaos theory. Pretty cool stuff. Card counters can't beat it because it shuffles between every hand.

You mean, the lottery is a tax on stupidity.

Gambling is part of life. You can't walk out your door without gambling that a satellite won't fall out of the sky and strike you on the head.

Seriously though, I like sports betting. My favorite bet to make is when two teams are fairly even matches, but the odds are very lopsided. Like the Super Bowl, the Cardinals were going to give the Steelers a good game. But the Steelers were a heavy favorite, cause... they are playing the Cardinals. It was easy money with the 6.5 point spread.

Point being, if someone bets you 3 to 1 that a coin will land on heads and you know your odds are 2 to 1. Then you take the bet. Its still gambling, but it is far from stupid. In sports gambling and all variety of casino games, the astute gambler can make it pay.

The one big exception to this is the lotto. (Though, at one point I believed the lotto was beatable. Then I found out that they switch out the balls regularly). Regardless, I find it especially puzzling that this is the only legal form of gambling in most states. Both the lotto and slots have a guaranteed percent on house odds. However, the lotto stands alone in that there is no way you can game it to your advantage. I have often said that the lotto is a tax on people who don't know math.

I disagree with the gripping realism. One has to ask, "Would a mother of 37 year old man be so off kilter as to argue that the son was a growing boy?" If so, "Would she be capable of making soup?" As she must clearly be suffering from severe mental illness.

Reminds me of this skit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQHX-SjgQvQ&feature=related

When I was in college, I wrote and marketed my first retail software program. I sold about 100 copies before I realized I was in over my head. One day I got a support call from a guy who had ordered the software and had just got his copy in the mail. His problem was that the software would not install. So understanding, that for some reason it didn't autorun the setup file, I tried to walk him through running the setup file himself. But we could never get that far. Finally, I figured his disk drive had gone bad, or maybe the disk he was sent was bad. Cause no files were showing up at all. Yet, he claimed the disk drive was in working order. When he clicked on the A: the little light would come on (yada yada yada). OK, 20 minutes into the phone call... I tell him to mail the disk back and I will send him a new one. Then he was like, "Ok hold on. Let me find it." I was like "find what?" He said, "The disk." I was like, "Isn't in your drive?" He sincerely says, "No, here it is on my desk." *dead silence from me* He then proceeds to ask if he should put the disk in the drive, maybe that's the problem. YEAH, maybe that's the problem!