Dear Bison: September 2005

[bisonbison]

Bug,

It depends on the size of the spiller's head. In my case and yours, I'd say 20.

[JaBlue]

Dear Bisonbison,
Are you going to the Oakland Art and Soul festival this weekend? If not, howcome?

PS it should be awesome

[bisonbison]

Dear zoom,

1. Yes. Of course. All musicians are plaigarists too and no one seems to mind that.

2. If you've discussed this with the family and they want to have the sheets too, then no. Not wrong but kind of dumb.

3. The difference? Well, the man has an expected earn rate and a given standard of variance given his opponents and his level of mental fitness at the time, as well as a given ability to estimate these two factors that may be wildly inaccurate due to his desire to play and to win and so forth. The wife has a desire to buy a coat. They both end up investing a certain amount of money in their pursuit of their goals, and each gets a tangible result.

The man and woman should have a reasonable discussion about budgeting that avoids loaded terms like "blowing money on clothes you don't need" and "throwing cash down the sinkhole of your pathetic gambling jones".

[bisonbison]

Dear Matty,

I saw Christian yesterday and said "Matt is always telling me to say hi to Hammy for him."

"oh, that's what my girlfriend calls me."

I didn't push the issue.

[Matt Flynn]

Dear Losing all your skin,

Not much to be done about it now. Save the money and spend it on sunscreen and a hat. In the future, watch for new lesions on you face, or just sit across from me at a tournament.

Matt

Dear Bison:

I am a cigar noob. your advice as to what I should get? There is a cohiba store nearby so i can get mostly anything.

[captZEEbo1]

dead bisonbison,

can you start quoting what questions you are answering so it is easier to read what posts are you responding to for us flat-viewing people.

[jdl22]

here's a forum feature many aren't aware of:
when you are looking at a post that is a response you will see something like [Re: bisonbison] after the subject. You can click on the username and it will open a new window with the post to which the one you are reading is a response.

[scotty34]

Dear bison,

I usually don't ask for relationship advice, but I'm just very curious to what you think about this situation.

I dated a girl for 8 months, and was sort of unhappy in the relationship. Nice girl and everything, I had complete trust in her, attractive, but she just didn't "stimulate me mentally." Broke up with her at the end of the school year cuz we moved away for the summer. She came by the other day on her way back to school, and we went to the bar. I got drunk and told her my feelings, she basically told me she was in love with me, and didn't touch another guy all summer because of that (I did hook up with other girls and told her this). I tell her I don't feel the same way, and say that I don't think it would be fair to her if we keep going out, because she feels much more strongly towards me than I to her. She gets pretty upset, and says she can't talk to me anymore now. Since this night, I've thought about it constantly - I don't know if its second thoughts, wanting something b/c its not there for me anymore, or other reasons.

What course of action would put my mind at ease?

[BigBaitsim (milo)]

[ QUOTE ]
Dear Bison,

I am a dermatologist. I see skin cancers on random people often, particularly at poker tournaments. It's a touchy subject. I have knowledge that will help them and in some cases will save their lives, yet saying something that personal to someone breaks social rules. Some people get very angry. Many derms never say anything. My policy on this has been:

If I know you I tell you.

If it looks like melanoma (5% of skin cancer, often fatal if left alone but easily cured if caught early), I say something privately.

If it looks like basal cell carcinoma (75-80% of skin cancer, almost no metastasis, low risk), I work my being a dermatologist into conversation if talking to them and typically say nothing unless asked.

If it looks like squamous cell carcinoma (15-20% of skin cancer, 1% risk of metastasis unless it is quite large), I do the same as for basal cell carcinoma.

Do you find my strategy moral?

Matt

[/ QUOTE ]

Matt,

I had a Stage I Melanoma about 2 years ago, which was relatively thin. The nifty little web tool says I have a 94.7% chance of not dying from melanoma (and my doc concurs), which is great when it's someone else's chances, crappy when it's yours.

Although it would really upset me to have a doctor tell me that something looks like cancer while I was playing poker, it would upset me (and my wife) a lot more to die from a cancer that could have been cured if caught early.

-Milo