Entertainment

He’s supposedly the “Smartest man in America”. I tuned in late to this show and kept asking who this guy was, he’s the stupidist contestant they’ve ever had. I just found out it was Christopher Langen, the Intelligent Design proponent.

To give you an idea of how dim witted he is, his last question was “In Abbott and Costello’s “Who’s on first”, what is the name of the second baseman? The answers were Who, What, and I don’t know. Even if you had never heard of Abbott and Costello, the common nematode would have said “well, the title is “Who’s on first, so we know who is not on second”. Apparently he is not as smart as a nematode. He had to ask the “mob” for help and the answer “I don’t know” was eliminated. That now leaves him with TWO choices Who and What. We know the name of the skit is “who’s on first”, so we know “who” is on first, that only leaves “what” as the answer. This slow witted ( and believe me he sounds very slow witted) person, unable to see that the answer has already been given to him, then uses another “ask the mob”, where 20 out of 23 people said the answer was “what”. So he decided to go with the majority.

This guy was absolutely pathetic on all the answers, which were unusually easy. If you have a chance to see a rerun of this, do it.

MANCHESTER - Democrats approved the town committee membership of 101 residents last week, after working this month to fill slots on the local political group.
Members include: from District 1, Albert J. Gionet, Karen J. Gionet, Francis A. Maffe Jr., Kathleen R. Maffe, Thomas Stough, Sandra Stough, Patricia A. Griffin, James M. Griffin, Michael F. Cappucci, Jared W. Kupiec, and Ellen Graham; District 2, David M. Dumaine, Michael E. Pohl, Julian Stoppelman, Edward B. Rowe, Mary Moynihan, John Rowe, William Cherry, John Topping, Andrea H. Cherry, Peter Mason, and Dominic Dubaldo.
From District 3, James R. Stevenson, Stephen Penny, Mary C. Tierney, Dominic M. Cutaia, Warren J. Packer, Theodore R. Cummings, Robert T. Haley, Thomas A. Robinson, Ryan P. Barry, Kevin Zingler, and David M. Sheridan; District 4, Michaele O’Neil, Joseph V. Camposeo, Margaret Hackett, John Didonato, Malcolm F. Barlow, Joel E. Janenda, Stephanie Knybel, Mary Ann Handley, and Craig Lappen.
From District 5, Barbara Weinberg, Stephen T. Cassano, Patricia Ladd, Lisa O’Neill, Jason Doucette, John W. Thompson, Colin O’Neill, Terry Bogli, and Geoff King; District 6, John W. Little Jr., Douglas Norwood, Donald R. Mayo Jr., Peter M. LaBelle, Wayne Rautenberg, Marie Negri, Gladys Rivera, Sam Norman, and Randell Perry.
From District 7, Eric Prause, Teresa W. Ike, James R. McCavanaugh, Raymond F. Damato, James Morancey, Diana Santacroce, Anthony Walter, David Wichman, Mary A. Gelinas, Carl J. Stafford, and Geoffrey Luxenberg; District 8, John S. Foley, Loretta Andrews, Dorothy Brindamour, Geddes Clarke, Jo-Ann Dorn, William Dorn, Nilsa Dorsey, Mary N. Foley, Roderick F. O’Connor, and Algenon Brown.
From District 9, Joanne Hachey, Joseph S. Hachey, Stephen Shanbaum, John T. McMahon, Joan H. McMahon, Nathan White, Rita McParland, Linette Small-Miller, Kevin O’Brien, Sandra Lok, and Dennis Schain; District 10, Susan Shanbaum, Edward J. Slegeski, Bettye Kramer, Margaret R. Churchill, Jessica Bonafine, Robert Shanbaum, Annette Odom, Maria Cruz, and Enrique Marcano.

Hi, I’m currently doing my assignments for my new extension course (eek - excitement). One of the questions is about functions and I’m a bit stuck with the lunula…. I have “The lunula (half moon) is at the bottom of the nail. It links the nail plate and is the visible part of the matrix.”

I peeled off a dollar bill, slipped it into the slot machine, pulled the arm, and lost my money. Viva Las Vegas.
Gambling is everywhere in Vegas; slot machines are in the airport, in 7-Elevens – even in casinos.

As I left the airport I was struck by a billboard that mischievously read: “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas”, which I assume referred to gambling losses, which last year totalled $US10.6 billion ($12 billion).

On arriving at my hotel on The Strip, I began to understand why 87 per cent of visitors to this place gamble (and lose an average of $480 a pop): to get to my room I actually had to walk through the casino. There was a total absence of ID checks, natural light and clocks, and the place was chock-full of liquored-up losers who had the look of defeat written all over their faces.

No way was I going to get sucked in again by the slots. But as I walked through the valley of darkness I noticed that a pretty cocktail waitress (wearing a Madonna-inspired get-up) was handing out free booze. Papa don’t preach – I’m about to get free booze!

Comfortably seated, I pulled out a $20 bill, fed a Kenny Rogers-themed slot machine, and ordered my free Corona beer. Right from the get-go I got the feeling that Kenny was working against me.

The Gambler kept on urging me to bet, condescendingly calling me “partner”. He never once offered me any advice on when to hold ‘em, when to fold ‘em, when to walk away, or when to run – which should have been about five minutes before my $20 Corona arrived.

With 21 bucks down the drain, I decided to jump on the monorail, which in some parts of The Strip stops every 100m (any more than this is too far to walk for your super-sized, calorie-consuming American).

It took me around the world – past the Eiffel Tower, the New York skyline, the Statue of Liberty, the pyramids of Egypt, and, for a touch of medieval history, King Arthur’s digs.

Yet, wanting to lose my money somewhere that captured the essence of US culture, I headed to Hooters Casino – a place famous for, well, hooters, and the $13.99 all-you-can-eat ribs.

Alas, it was the same story. The blokes sitting around the table appeared to be afflicted with the epidemic that runs rife in Vegas – the urge to get something for nothing. After a run of bad hands, the punters were having a communal pep talk, insisting that luck would soon swing in their favour. Which, of course, is Vegas logic at its best.

The odds are always stacked. That’s how they get the money to build these billion-dollar monuments to bad taste.

. In any gambling game, the longer you punt the more you lose (which explains the free beer).

Of course there are exceptions to the rule – such as the person who wins the jackpot and walks away (permanently), or someone who can count cards without getting their arms broken. Neither was happening at Hooters the night I visited.

One of the few people in Vegas to ever really hit the jackpot is casino mogul Steve Wynn – a gambling addict’s son who revolutionised The Strip. He was quoted as saying that “the only way to make money in a casino is to own one”.

He should take a trip to our sunny shores. He’d be happy here, given that we hold the illustrious title of having the highest percentage of gamblers in the world.

Despite being the 52nd most populous nation, we have a fifth of the world’s pokies. We don’t have all-you-can-eat buffets or free beer – in the average suburban pokie place you’re lucky if you get cold cups of Nescafe – but we still manage to blow $15 billion a year.

Just like porn, vices tend to head online, and gambling is no exception. A study by Juniper Research estimates worldwide revenue from online and mobile gaming is expected to top $19 billion in 2009 – which appears to be enough fat for Richard Branson.

So much so he relaxed his famous Virgin criteria for starting a business (it must be high quality, innovative, good value, challenging to existing alternatives, and have a sense of fun) when he started Virgin Online Poker – possibly coming to the back of a Virgin Blue seat near you.

I’m not flying Virgin home, so I should have enough bucks to be back soon. Tread your own path!

Scott Pape is a licensed financial adviser and director Barefoot Investment Management.

“Minutemen” likely won’t hit the ratings stratosphere of “High School Musical,” but it’s still a zippy and entertaining trip through time that’s liable to attract lots of kids to the Disney Channel again.
    There are a couple of things this new made-for-TV movie does have in common with the other Disney phenomenon that broke cable records and created a national fever for Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens: “Minutemen” also was filmed in Utah and was produced by Utahn Don Schain and his Salty Pictures production company.
    And it does have some of the infectious likability of “HSM,” thanks to a trio of young actors who spice up the comedy.
    The movie premieres tonight at 9 on the Disney Channel.
    Virgil and Charlie (Jason Dolley and Luke Benward, respectively) are two nerdy students at Summerton High (which looks suspiciously like Murray High School) who meet when they become victims of a football team prank and are hung by their undies from the giant statue of the school’s ram mascot.
    Charlie may be small and young, but he’s a genius inventor. His latest creation is using any light source (in this case, a slide projector) to bend time. With the help of Virgil and a loner biker boy named Zeke (”Sky High’s” Nicholas Braun), they build a time machine that can send them back a day or two.
    While buying a lottery ticket is the first thing they think of
(who wouldn’t?), the boys decide to use their invention for good instead of evil and go back in time to help other nerds avoid being the targets of pranks by the cool kids.
    But when they travel back too far, it creates a disruption in the time continuum. A black hole appears in the high school’s football field and starts sucking in the whole planet (which means Salt Lake County is toast, for sure).
    “Minutemen” is a nicely paced, simple comedy that, unlike other time-splitting stories, keeps the paradoxes of science at bay. Think of it as an undemanding version of “Back to the Future.”
    It all works because the heart of the movie is the three boys and their comic chemistry. Benward, in particular, who starred in “Because of Winn-Dixie” and “How to Eat Fried Worms,” has a spunky presence. Moms everywhere will just want to pinch his cheeks.
    More important, the movie ends up saying something about the value of friendship and teamwork. Yes, those might be overused messages, but if the Children of America are going to rule this country one day, they’d better start learning to be nice to each other.
    As a Utahn, I’m pleased with the kind of work that Schain and his Salt Lake City-based Salty Pictures have done after shooting 40 movies in the state, 19 for the Disney Channel. (He has another one coming up later this year called “Dadnapped” that was filmed mostly in Magna.)
    His movies, including both “High School Musicals” he produced, have shown audiences the beauty of this state better than any travel bureau could ever do.