The World Series is upon us

…no, not that World Series.  The one that matters.

The World Series of Poker 2006

Tonight starts this year’s coverage of the WSOP season on ESPN, which actually starts with "circuit" tournaments played across the country.  The shows are hosted, as always, by Lon McEachern and Norman Chad, who, along with Gabe Kaplan (yes, Mr. Kotter!), are the most hilarious and insightful color commentators in poker… or any other sport.

Web + Episodes = Webisodes

… get it?!  ehhh…

Anyway, The Office Webisodes are now online.  You can watch the first two, posted today.

Frankly, they’re a bit lame.  Averaging only a little better than 2 minutes, and featuring the secondary characters, these poorly-acted vignettes were a bit of a letdown.

But hey, don’t listen to me, go see for yourself.
(then come back and agree)

Federer – the player to rule them all

Jolly Roger has done it again.

From the first time I saw him play — I believe it was at Pumpernick’s Deli — I knew this kid (20 at the time) was going to be good great one of the best ever.

When the world was fawning over pretty boy Andy Roddick, I was watching the unbelievable speed and mistake-free play of one Roger Federer.

Miss Independent

How to do exactly the right thing at all possible times

Harvard psychologist Dan Gilbert recently gave a fascinating talk at SXSW entitled "How to do exactly the right thing at all possible times".  At just under 50 minutes, it’s a lengthy discourse, for sure.  But once you start listening, you’ll want to hear every minute.  It is eloquent and entertaining.

Using tons of everyday, real-world examples, Gilbert illustrates the many fallacies we make with our human minds.  Minds which persistently steer us towards making the wrong decisions.  Minds that tell us "the terrorists" matter and that somebody has to win the lottery (right?!)  Minds easily tricked by deceptive marketing practices into misperceiving value.

My suggestion:  download this MP3 to your iPod and give it a listen on your next walk.  Or burn a CD for your commute to work.

A review of his new book can also be a good descriptor for his presentation:

"Not offering a self-help book, but instead mounting a scientific explanation of the limitations of the human imagination and how it steers us wrong in our search for happiness, Gilbert, a professor of psychology at Harvard, draws on psychology, cognitive neuroscience, philosophy and behavioral economics to argue that, just as we err in remembering the past, so we err in imagining the future."

 

I guarantee you will learn something from this.

Post your thoughts in the comments.