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Last weekend I was going to go home to Pittsburgh to visit family and friends, but a little hurricane got in my way. Ivan dumped 6 inches of rain on the Burgh in a matter of 24 hours, and this a week after over 3 and a half inches in another 24 hour span. I think I’ve finally convinced my mom that all it does in Pittsburgh is rain. Bushy had his chance for a pre-emptive nuclear (or nucular if you’re into metathesis) strike to take out Ivan while it was in the Atlantic. Maybe he was hoping that nuke they found off the coast of Georgia might spontaneously explode and save Florida, Louisiana, and the rest of the East coast.

Via Mark, some amazing pictures of the flooding and damage in Pittsburgh.

Yeah, I think I’m still here, I’ve just been busy driving around visiting people. Two weekends ago I had to go clean out my PSU apartment, which my roommates had managed to completely destroy in the 3 months I’ve been gone. We did a pretty good job cleaning, I’m just waiting on the security deposit to see how bad they rip us off. It was nice being back in State College for a couple days, its hard to believe I won’t be going back for the fall semester.

Last weekend I ventured back up 70W, beyond the “Welcome to Pennsylvania: home of gray skies, non-stop rain, and miles of pointless orange barrels” and through the cattle chutes of the unpaved, newly jacked up prices Turnpike. At the end of that wonderful journey, I arrived at my house, and stayed in the new guestroom (a.k.a. my old bedroom, my parents didn’t waste any time getting rid of me). Saturday, my friends and I went down to the Pirate game, which was sold out thanks to fireworks night, but we managed to get standing room only tickets. We stood on the lower level right behind home plate, not bad for $8. The Pirates even managed to surprise me and beat the Rockies 6-1. After the game and fireworks, we headed over to Tequila Willies to celebrate Mike’s bday. Sunday was family day; we went over to the Shadyside arts festival to check out the works of art. I have to say, the Penn State Arts Festival was much nicer and more open than Shadyside, but we did manage to find a photo for in my old bedroom. I’m still trying to find something for the walls in my new apartment. I’ve found some I like, but I haven’t bought any yet. Monday, I took a vacation day and went dahn ta Primanti Brudders for lunch with Diane and Dave. I still can’t believe they don’t have Heinz ketchup there, and they consider themselves a Pittsburgh institution. In the evening, I began my trek back south below the Mason-Dixon line. Mike’s family was visiting D.C., so I met up with him on Tuesday night in Clarendon. Wednesday I got a call from Pooch saying he was crossing through VA on his way to surf the Carolina coast with a couple of his old roommates, and we hung out and played pool in Arlington. The rest of the week was pretty much the usual work week with no more visitors.

This past weekend was mostly spent relaxing by the pool and reading. I just finished White Noise by Don DeLillo, now onto Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. I’m not sure how much I’ll enjoy this, but The Fountainhead is one of my favorites, mixing architecture, ethics, and idealism in one.

I did see one interesting thing while at the Tyson’s Corner mall, an Aston Martin Vanquish in Bloomingdales. I can’t say I’ve ever seen a quarter of a million dollar car just sitting in a department store being used as a slide for little kids. It was amazing seeing one up close, but I could never spend that much money on a car, besides, that would buy five different M3s, or a mixture of M3s, M5s, and Porsches, or something a little more reasonable like a house.

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

Forbes magazine released their Best Cities For Singles 2004, and for the third year running, Pittsburgh ends up in last place. Luckily, I made my escape to the number two city, and one of the fastest growing counties in the country.

I feel bad for Pittsburgh, but the city is going bankrupt, jobs are fleeing the area, and tech companies refuse to move in. For now, D.C. will be the Silicon Valley of the East. If only the days of the tech boom would came back, I could go back to playing with Legos.