david-s.net - David Schlosnagle's Words, Photos, and Links

All four of you out there might have noticed that I haven’t been posting lately, and there is an obvious reason (excuse) for that, I have been super busy these past few weeks. I’ve been traveling (Penn State) and entertaining. Last weekend my parents came down to visit on their way to Virginia Beach. I took them to the new Smithsonian Air & Space Museum by Dulles. It is very cool place, and I wish I had more time to explore. I forgot to take my camera, but luckily I borrowed my Dad’s to take some pics of the SR-71 Blackbird and Enola Gay in five megapixel glory. As soon as my parents manage to figure out how to email pictures, I will have to post a few here. We also went out to dinner (mmm, Maryland crab) with my Aunt and Uncle, who I hadn’t seen in forever.

This past weekend John and Tom drove down, and Andy stopped on his way back from Myrtle Beach to visit for a couple days. Friday night was just a chill and play cards night after John and Tom showed up. Saturday was a big day of exploring D.C. We took the Metro in around 3 p.m. and went on a massive sightseeing tour starting out at the National Mall. In all we saw:

• Capitol Building
• Washington Monument
• Rubble of construction that is Pennsylvania Avenue
• Front of the White House
• Back of the White House
• Reflecting Pond
• Lincoln Memorial
• The little bit of the Vietnam Memorial that wasn’t fenced off
• Korean War Memorial
• The new World War II memorial
• The liquor store across the street from the American Bar Association (how fitting?)
• The 2 miles of sidewalk between downtown and Georgetown
• Old Glory Restaurant
• More sidewalk up and down M Street NW
• The Third Edition Restaurant (where Erin and some of her friends met up with us)
• Rhino Bar

Needless to say, we were all exhausted by the end of the night, so we slept in ’til noon, had a steak dinner with pototoes and green beans, and my friends were on their way back to PA.

Somewhere in between those two weekends, I did a little work to put food on the plate.

Well, I’m ready to cast my vote for Bill Clinton this November. Uniter, not a divider. I think I’ve heard that before recently, but I can’t quite place it. It certainly couldn’t have come from anyone in the current administration, as we much more united right now than ever before. It would be nice to have someone in office who could run this country properly instead of running it into the ground. It would be nice for the leader of the free world be able to read English and understand the daily security briefings. If this isn’t possible, we could always translate to one of his many other proficiencies such as Farsi or the much more popular Igpay Atinlay. It would be nice for the CEO of the USA to grasp the differences between +5,000,000,000,000 and (5,000,000,000,000). I’ve had thoughts about getting my MBA, and if our comptroller can pick up a Harvard MBA with only a C average Yale undergrad, it should be a snap.

I guess it’s about time I post again. Life has been keeping me busy. Today was the first day of work in over a month that I didn’t have to spend in front of a computer monitor for eight hours, so I decided now was a good time to update.

Instead, I had the first day of a three day training seminar for the project I am working on. It was a whirlwind of accrual and cash based accounting, appropriations and apportionments, credits and debits, internal and external offsets, JFMIP certification (we’re one of only six out there), and many other fun federal financial topics. I learned a lot about how the various government departments and agencies allocate their funds, and the ways our software makes their lives easier.

This past weekend was Artsfest at Penn State, and I already miss the place. It felt really weird driving back into town being an alumni now, but at the same time it felt just like home. I had a great time seeing most of my old friends, going out, walking around the town to see all the booths. As my old roommate Dave said while we were all walking around artsfest:

“I’m an artist, I just haven’t found my medium yet.”

Aren’t we all?

In other news, it appears John Kerry will most likely announce his Vice Presidential candidate in Pittsburgh tomorrow. I honestly wish it would have been McCain, but according to ABC, McCain will appear in a Bush ad. (Aside: It’s interesting to see the Fox Chapel dateline on that article, if only because one of Heinz Kerry’s homes is there) I hope Bush doesn’t tarnish McCain’s reputation the way he did with Colin Powell. If Kerry wins, and I hope to God he does, Pittsburgh could see a lot of attention thanks to Mrs. Teresa Heinz Kerry.

If nothing else, maybe we could get a national law passed banning all non-Heinz ketchup from restaurants. This is a problem that plagues the south. Down with Hunts, give me Heinz!!!

(By the way, the title is not really aimed at the candidate selection as much as it is ketchup in a bottle)

Pennsylvania is finally getting casinos with slot machines. Some people think this is a bad thing. Personally, I am all for Pennsylvania generating revenue using slot machines. The state needs rejuvenation, and this may be just the stimulus needed. Pittsburgh needs any financial help it can get, as its budget battles continue. The Penguins are struggling to stay in the city, and a slots license could pay for a much needed new arena. This would be a great way to provide community growth, while not using public money to pay for a commercial arena (after building the new PNC Park and Heinz Field with public funds). If I had stayed in the Burgh, I would most likely have been working between those two new stadiums, and possibly had slots in the same building. I would have been a lot more excited if this had been a full-out casino with blackjack and poker tables, where at least some skill is involved, but it is a beginning for such a conservative state.

So,, what are the downsides to the casinos? From the New York Times:

[G]ambling would increase corruption, crime and social problems like gambling addiction and bankruptcy.

I’m not sure I can really argue the first point, corruption runs rampant anywhere money and power are involved. Corruption is an ethical issue that runs much deeper than just gambling. Look no further than Enron, Tyco, and Martha Stewart for excellent examples of greed and gluttony. Unfortunately, people in power often make poor decisions that can affect many others in adverse ways.

On the other hand, I think I can argue the crime and social problems with one simple concept: education.

How does crime fit into the slots picture? My guess is that crime would increase as a function of the gambling addiction and bankruptcy of individuals, as people start gambling and run out of money, they will turn to crime to fuel their addiction. The key is to prevent the gambling addiction in the first place, and if that can’t be done, try to rehabilitate them, and if that doesn’t work, ship them out to Atlantic City, New Jersey so they can get their real fix. (No, that last part isn’t really a solution, but it might just work)

What does education have to do with preventing and rehabilitating addiction? Simple, it’s called odds. Most Pennsylvanians are already familiar with gambling in the form of the lottery, and the elderly past time of BINGO. Both of these are setup to rake in cash, and payout a cut to the winner. Millions play, few win, now why could that be. The lottery is setup so that no matter what, the state always wins, its the same reason casinos exist, over a long enough period, the house always wins. The odds are stacked against you in almost every type of gambling (There are some exceptions, but the house generally takes a rake of the pot in those cases, so they still win). Just this past Friday, there was the $290 million dollar Mega Millions lottery in Virginia and several other states. The VA lottery has a nice little analysis of the lottery numbers. The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 135,145,920. To put it another way, if everyone in the USA bought one ticket, two would split the jackpot. Now the only reason the jackpot climbed to $290 million was that no one hit all six numbers in a long time. If 270,291,840 tickets were sold, that would almost pay off the entire $290 million jackpot, excluding smaller claims (If paid as a lump sum, the jackpot wouldn’t even be that high, it would probably be around $150 million). It’s easy to see that the only winners here are the lucky people who won, and the states that get a cut of the revenues.

I keep bouncing back and forth about odds and education, but the fact is that if you’re a gambling addict, you just can’t do the math. Over a long enough time period, you will lose money, simple as that. If you’re not smart enough to realize this fact, and continue to gamble, the elderly folks who benefit from the lottery and now Pennsylvania property owners will thank you. Luckily, your stupidity is funding education to teach future students basic probability and statistics, therefore escaping the “evils of gambling.” Until then, I’ll enjoy playing cards with my friends as something I like to call entertainment. If I lose, it’s not a loss; it’s all in the name of fun.

Various articles about the slots:

• Post-Gazette article
• NY Times article
• Washington Post article