Things That Stick In Your Craw

Canterbury has moved it's live racing from Th-Sun to T, W, TH, Sun. It seems counter intuitive, but they are looking to get more money bet on their races on T-Th from off-track simulcast betting than from live, on-site betting due to less mid-week simulcast competition. They figured out during Covid that crowds are not all that important.

It's sad that horse racing is more about online gambling than racing in front of people. I wonder if this will eventually bite them in the arse when people in MN stop caring about horse racing altogether.

It's also weird I can bet on horses in other states, but not on sports teams.

Because horse betting is skill, but sports betting is chance. No, I am not kidding. That is the legalese they are using. Fantasy Sports fell under the same thing (that has changed) and online poker is still under that stigma.

Agree... There is some skill in horse betting, as doing your homework on the horse and jockey. Though there is some luck involved. I know some people pay attention to when the last time the horse took a whiz or dump before betting on the horse.

We planted a sour cherry tree in our yard about 6 years ago. Last year was the first year we got a bounty of cherries; pie, cherry almond cake, sour cherry vodka. Yippee!

This year we had a huge number of cherries developing, BUT between the birds and now the chipmunks we’re :censored: out of luck. They’re snagging them before they’re even ripe. Our tree is full of stems!! Little :censored: !

There’s no way we’re going to have enough for a pie, I’m hoping we can pick a supply for the vodka.

My grandpa had that problem with his raspberries. Then he figured out he could keep a bb gun by the bedroom window, slide the window open a crack, and ..... suddenly the squirrel problem went away.

If I was out in the country I might do that, I’m a damn good shot BUT living a few blocks from Uptown I think sticking a gun (even a BB gun) out the window of my house would cause a bit of a ruckus. Just saying.

I did find one idea I’ll try next year…wrap sticky tape around the trunk and larger branches. They hate that. Won’t do much for the birds, but it’s really those darn little adorable chipmunks causing most of the problem.

Plus, they could be suspended ten games, with pay.

The same with fantasy sports, and frankly, poker. Anything outside of chess has some sort of luck factor to it. However, there is a certain level of skill required in anything you do, outside of flipping a coin.

My grandpa lived in Crystal.

Could do what my great-aunt did, after she was busted with a BB Gun: get skills with a slingshot.

The Rube wrote:

Could do what my great-aunt did, after she was busted with a BB Gun: get skills with a slingshot.

Wrist Rocket and shot in a square of toilet paper and fire away.

My buddy in Coon Rapids did the same. Fined for the air rifle, started using a wrist rocket.

That’s why grandpa opened the window just a crack. Nobody ever saw him or heard him do it. Stealthy sniper with gallons of raspberries.

Arguing there is skill in betting on horses is a lame argument for why it's allowed vs. other types of betting. There's a reason race tracks allow betting on horses in the first place - because just like at the casino the house still win in the end. In fact the house edge in horse race is higher than say the edge for blackjack for instance.

The true difference is that with horses and poker, you're betting/working against the other players, not set odds. Yes, the house take on those is higher than if you're playing blackjack correctly, but what's really happening is that the house is taking a percentage off the top, then the payouts to any winning bets is set completely based on how much money was bet on which horses. So, if I bet on horse races, I'm not betting against the track, I'm betting against the other bettors.

Not much if a difference with sports betting as the odds change with the ratio of bets. House takes the juice.

Horse racing is easier to rig than a football game. That's the real skill, and the people good enough at it make enough money to buy their way around the law.

Yes and no. The difference with sports betting is that you're betting directly against the house. The house is adjusting the odds to try to ensure they still make money on all the bets. With horses, the tracks don't do that, they take 5% (or whatever the number is) off the top, then the rest of the betting pool simply gets split up amongst the winners

As I understood it they try to create odds so the bets balance on each side of the line since they take 10% juice from the winners.

That's definitely the intention, but mechanically, you're betting directly against the house. They have a staff of people (generally contracted outside the book itself) that analyzes the betting patterns and makes the adjustments. Overall, they do a really good job of balancing that out, the people that set/adjust the odds that sports books offer are VERY good at their jobs.

For horses, though, other than the 5-10% or whatever the vig is being taken off the top, the rest goes into the betting pool, and how much is bet on which horse directly and automatically sets the odds. Also, the racetracks and off-track betting sites are all linked (casinos notably are NOT linked in, but all use the parimutuel odds for their payouts) so about 2-3 minutes before betting is cut off, you generally see the off-track money come in which can make a huge difference... so you wait for that to happen before placing your bet so that you have the best possible odds data to decide if you're going to bet or not.

The marine industry right now and salespeople that don’t follow through on ANYTHING.

Traffic at intersections... Your light turns green for you to proseed and either approaching traffic is still turning left or cross traffic is still crossing the intersection. Most of the times it one or two vehicles running the red light. Though, no lie... the other day 5 vehicles kept coming on a red arrow while my lane had a green arrow. No one in my lane got to proceed cause of those 5 cars. It's crazy... I tell my wife and folks all the time. When the light turns green look all three ways. What well take a second or two beats getting hit by someone running a red light.

Good advice.

https://twitter.com/SteveInmanUIC/status/1406323728191922177

Ride a motorcycle and you learn that lesson quickly......

Or you die.

There’s an intersection near my work (Hwy 13 and cliff) that’s a very large intersection and the lights, especially during non-peak hours can be very short. Like one or two cars sitting at the light (or half a semi) can make it through on green kind of short. People run it all the time. There’s usually no less than five cars that run the red light to get through the intersection on a turn. I’ve seen a lot of near misses when people just trust the lights and don’t check for those stragglers. You’re right, it only takes an extra two seconds to check and could save a life.

I’m convinced the pandemic made most Minnesotans even worse drivers than they already are.

I've been singing this song for many moons for all those bad drivers in a hurry. The title 'I'm in a Hurry (And Don't Know Why)' sums it all up... lol!!!

And btw... Alabama shreds!!!

I believe there was a study, and it's not just MNs...due to less traffic during the pandemic, it made everyone crazy on the roads, and it hasn't ebbed, now that things have opened up, and traffic is more normal.

https://visvolunteers.com/pandemic-has-shown-an-increase-in-dangerous-driving-behaviors/

Doing a google search, there are more articles about this.

It ain’t just driving.

Agreed, and that's all I'll say about that, (c) Forrrest.

Further on down the road....

https://twitter.com/SteveInmanUIC/status/1405360989193654274

https://twitter.com/SteveInmanUIC/status/1405744987447336975

When seeing videos like this I just hope the motorcyclists only hurt themselves and not anyone else. I know it's callous but I can't help but think "serves him right" when seeing the video above.

Here it is in slow motion:

https://twitter.com/SteveInmanUIC/status/1407426437959745538

My softball team had a new kid one year. He was 21-22 and thought he was the world's greatest motorcyclist. He would not stop talking about how great he was. Once he found out one of our teammates was a cop, he would spend hours trying to convince him they should allow special permits for riders, like him, who can do wheelies and other tricks so the cops won't harass them for it.

Then one day he was in an accident. Non-life threatening, but scary. I never had to listen to that BS again.

MOST bikers are good bikers. It's mainly the crotch-rocket bro-dudes that are complete idiots and give bikers a bad name (outside of the 1%ers, of course )

The Rube wrote:

MOST bikers are good bikers. It's mainly the crotch-rocket bro-dudes that are complete idiots and give bikers a bad name (outside of the 1%ers, of course )

Interestingly I notice that most sport bike riders wear helmets. Harley riders don’t wear helmets, yet often wear full leather. :conf2:

But yea when you see someone fly by at 150 miles an hour on a motorcycle, it is usually a sport bike.

Cowgirl wrote:

The Rube wrote:

MOST bikers are good bikers. It's mainly the crotch-rocket bro-dudes that are complete idiots and give bikers a bad name (outside of the 1%ers, of course )

Interestingly I notice that most sport bike riders wear helmets. Harley riders don’t wear helmets, yet often wear full leather. :conf2:

But yea when you see someone fly by at 150 miles an hour on a motorcycle, it is usually a sport bike.

The helmet is a thing. The book "American Biker" explains it as a helmet provides a visor (usually) so it's like looking through a tv screen. It's not "open air."

The Harleys/Indians/Honda Goldwings...those riders generally feel that same sentiment. But they leather up for safety. It's an odd mentality but I get it.

The Rube wrote:

Cowgirl wrote:

The Rube wrote:

MOST bikers are good bikers. It's mainly the crotch-rocket bro-dudes that are complete idiots and give bikers a bad name (outside of the 1%ers, of course )

Interestingly I notice that most sport bike riders wear helmets. Harley riders don’t wear helmets, yet often wear full leather. :conf2:

But yea when you see someone fly by at 150 miles an hour on a motorcycle, it is usually a sport bike.

The helmet is a thing. The book "American Biker" explains it as a helmet provides a visor (usually) so it's like looking through a tv screen. It's not "open air."

The Harleys/Indians/Honda Goldwings...those riders generally feel that same sentiment. But they leather up for safety. It's an odd mentality but I get it.

But won’t wear the one thing far more likely to save their life? Ooookay.

As I said, it's an odd mentality.

I would say I ride more than 90% of motorcycle riders.

At present I have a Harley Road Glde Ultra, AKA The Geezer Glide, & a Dyna that I have built the engine on and it is very very very quick ( torque monster).

I always wear my helmet. I hardly ever wear chaps because they are hot and restrict access to front jean pockets. If a jacket is needed, it will be leather, if needed only. I own a vest but don't ever wear it.

The reason I wear my "Brain Bucket" is for a 5 MPH incident, not a 70 MPH crash.

*sigh* attention whores:

[media] https://twitter.com/i/status/1408796172702060544 [/media]

I'm sure this lady's grandpa and grandma are super proud.

I’m surprised this doesn’t happen more often. Whenever I see a race there is always fans running along the bicyclist, padding them on the back and hanging out in the road.

I hope that asshat gets in big trouble.

We have wood siding (house was purchased that way). There is a nest of baby woodpeckers living in the wall in our kitchen. They aren’t quiet.

Who thought wood siding was a good idea for a house - in the woods??!!

It’s on the long term plan for replacement. At least we haven’t heard any red squirrels in the opposite wall for a couple years….

Chirp chirp, motha f :censored:

Is there really a worse outfit in business than TicketMaster? We bought tickets to see Frozen the Musical back in the Fall of 2019 then COVID happened and it’s finally coming back this Fall.

The performance dates got changed and we were automatically assigned a new date which doesn’t work. I tried to get through to do an online exchange all weekend and both their phone support and online chat support were down. I finally just requested a refund and bought new seats after I was able to confirm that I wouldn’t be charged their ridiculous fees a second time.

I just hate dealing with them so much

They are looking for the dumbass who caused the big bicycle crash.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/police-looking-spectator-who-sparked-chaotic-tour-de-france-crash-n1272495

It's weird they have to search for her - you'd think she'd have been immediately detained.

They're the worst, they basically just buy up all the tickets via bots and sell them at exorbitant prices. And like any monopoly they tell people to get bent if there's a customer service issue like yours with zero recourse. Xfinity is probably a better company than ticketbastard.