February 05, 2010

Contact:  Tobi Quintiliani, Senior Director, 1736 Family Crisis Center (310) 543-9900 ext. 210

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The Annie Duke Texas Hold-Em Poker Tournament to Benefit

1736 Family Crisis Center

April 3^rd,  2010 2:30pm

Los Angeles, CA – Please join Annie Duke, Poker Celebrity famous for her poker victories and contributions to promoting the game, and Celebrity Tournament Director Dianna Donofrio-Trigatzi along with sponsors Toyota Financial Services, TB Wineries and Gallery of Dreams, for a fun-filled evening of poker, laughter, an international dinner buffet and celebration – and victory against domestic violence.  Annie will be hosting a Texas Hold-Em Poker Tournament and each hand played will be a strong step forward in ending domestic violence.  All proceeds from this tournament will go to benefit, 1736 Family Crisis Center.

“On Saturday, April 3, 2010, I will be hosting a poker tournament with all proceeds going to 1736 Family Crisis Center.  This tournament will take place at the Bicycle Club Casino in Bell Gardens, CA.  I invite you to consider joining me as a sponsor, player or spectator and help this nonprofit agency whose work I admire. 1736 Family Crisis Center offers life-saving services to domestic violence victims and abused, homeless youth.  I firmly believe that every man, woman and child has the right to live their lives in a healthy and safe environment and to conduct their lives without emotional, physical, or sexual abuse or the fear of such abuse.” Annie Duke

1736 Family Crisis Center operates an emergency youth shelter in Hermosa Beach and four shelters for domestic violence victims and their children who are escaping severe abuse, located throughout Los Angeles County in confidential locations.  Through the Center’s five shelters, three clinics, five 24-hour emergency response stations and outreach services, 25,000 abuse victims and children were helped in 2009.  The most severe cases seen in hospital emergency rooms, courts, public protective services and social service agencies throughout LA were taken into 1736 Family Crisis Center’s Care.

1736 Family Crisis Center relies 100% on grants and donations to provide these much-needed services to domestic violence victims and abandoned youth.  In this uncertain economic climate, the nonprofits are being hit the hardest, and sadly an unstable economy statistically fuels domestic violence across the country.  So help out by joining in to play poker, and with each hand played, be a part of the progress of peace as we help to end domestic violence.

Annie’s Texas Hold-Em Poker Tournament will be April 3^rd at 2:30 pm at the Bicycle Club Casino.  The buy-in is $350.00 with $100.00 re-buys available for the first hour.  1^st prize is $10,000.00 cash, 2^nd prize is a private poker lesson with Annie Duke.  The final 10 players will receive prizes.  Buy-Ins or donations can be sent to 1736 Family Crisis Center, 2116 Arlington Ave., Suite 200, Los Angeles, CA 90018, Attn:  Poker Tournament.   Buy-ins or spectator admissions can be purchased by accessing 1736 FCC’s website – www.1736fcc.org or at the Bicycle Club Casino’s website www.thebike.com.

Please contact Tobi Quintiliani, Senior Director, for more information on tournament buy-ins or sponsorship opportunities. (310) 543-9900 ext. 210.  www.1736fcc.org

By total coincidence, I happened to see the latest in these commericial abominations right as I was finishing up this book about why processed foods are so bad for you. The latest commercial from the high fructose corn syrup people goes something like this:

Mom 1 is pouring some sort of neon red food colored corn syrup filled water concoction into cups that are clearly for her child’s birth day. mom 2 sees this.

Mom 2: Wow! You must not really love your kid.

Mom 1: Why?

Mom 2: Because you are serving that stuff and you know what they say about high fructose corn syrup.

Mom 1: What do they say?

Mom 2: (looks confused) Um…Um…Um…

Mom 1: That it is made from corn. It is all natural, just like sugar? That just like sugar it is fine in moderation?

Mom 2 then smiles, embarrassed, and picks up a cup of the corn syrup water and begins drinking it.

When I saw this the first time sitting alone in my hotel room at Caesars I actually yelled at the tv. I mean there are so many things wrong with this bullshit commercial but I will highlight a few here.

1) Somehow there is an assumption here that because Mom 2 can’t actually articulate what it is that is wrong with high fructose corn syrup that the HFCS is not bad for you. That her lack of knowledge about the metabolic problems with the stuff some how takes away any validity to her initial assertion that it is bad for you. First, that is like saying that because I don’t know exactly what it is that cyanide does to you other than that it is poison that somehow it can’t harm me. Second, and more importantly, this really speaks to advertisers ability to prey on people’s lack of critical thinking skills. They are counting on the fact that many people actually will believe the BS that because Mom 2 can’t explain the problem that the corn syrup is then fine to eat.

Her answer should have been something like, “I don’t know the exact metaqbolic processes that are involved here but I do know that since the introduction of HFCS America has gotten super fat and 1 in 3 people have Type II diabetes now which is directly related to the introduction of high fructose corn syrup in our diets. The fact that I don’t know why that is doesn’t mean that the relationship just goes away.”

2) I think that regardless of what you think about HFCS an appropriate response would have been, “Hey…you could have fed your child JUICE instead of this crap sugar water. Are you seriously trying to tell me that you think water dyed and filled with HFCS is the BEST choice for your child? Over JUICE? Really, lady?” Now, I know juice has its issues. I don’t let my kids drink juice almost at all. But that aside, juice..made from actual fruit, is surely better than fake sugar crap regardless of your take on corn syrup or whether you can express that it is bad for you. I mean…seriously…the lady is choosing empty sugar water over juice. Come on, people.

2) I am very angry at the misuse of the word “natural.” The ad people are manipulating that word equating natural with good for you. But hemlock is natural. poison mushrooms are natural. HEROIN is natural. Could you imagine a commercial where the mom 2 says,”I can’t believe you are giving your child heroin” and mom 1 says, “Why? Because it is natural? Because it comes from a plant, just like spinach?” That is basically what they are saying here. HFCS comes from corn which is natural and, they are implying, therefore good for you. But natural does not mean good for you. It just means occurring in nature. Like big, angry hippos that charge and kill you.

(BTW, there is a similar issue with the label “multigrain” on packages. We assume that means whole grain and, therefore, better for your health. But it actually just means more than on type of flour, all of which could be bleached and white and stripped of all nutritive value).

3) In saying that high fructose corn syrup is just corn there is an implication that the effect on the body HCFS has is the same as corn. But that is patently ridiculous because that asserts that the form in which a substance is delivered to the body does not change the effect it has. So that assumes that chewing coca leaves, for example, has the same effect on the body that smoking cocain has which has the same effect as shooting up cocaine. Cocaine…all natural because it comes from coca leaves. Retarded. Snorting heroin is not the same at shooting it. Eating an apple has a different effect on the body than drinking apple juice. Cheese and milk are not the same. The sugars in the corn delivered in absence of the corn itself (with all its fiber and other nutrients) have an effect on the pancreas that is quite different that eating corn whole. And according to Mark Bittman, there is at least one study that has found a compound in HFCS that directly causes diabetes. Not so for corn alone. If you are interest in Mark Bittman’s books check out

Now, I am not saying that corn itself doesn’t have problems. It does. You can read Bittman or Pollan to learn more about the problems with corn and soy and the subsidies and whatnot. But corn is certainly much better for you than high fructose corn syrup just like juice is certainly a better choice than some crazy neon red water filled with sugar.

Anyway..the issue I am having with the stupid commercials is that they just assume most Americans are stupid enough to throw all critical thinking skills out the window. They assume we are not smart enough to figure out that juice would surely be a better choice, that we are too dumb to know that an inability to articulate why a product is bad for us does not prove that it is not bad for us, that we don’t get that natural does not equal good for you and that we are so dumb we couldn’t possibly figure out that the solid form of a food (corn) might have a different effect on the body than the liquid form of its distilled sugars.

These commercials are, in a word, insulting.

So, what was the TSA’s response to this? Well they decided they would stop people from being able to do ANYTHING during the last hour of a flight. And by anything I mean using laptops or playing games on your phone or getting up to go pee (yes, no peeing no matter how urgent during the last hour of the flight). Why is this so stupid? Because it is classic resulting. You can’t fight terrorism by putting policies in place that only prevent attacks or attempted attacks that have already happened. Trying to protect against specific scenarios doesn’t work. First, someone can certainly blow up a plane in the first hour of a flight too (and still be near dense population). They could also blow the plane up in the middle of the flight or 61 minutes before the flight ends. Second, if you protect against very specific attacks you are being ineffective because terrorists will just work around whatever security you have in place because there are too many ways for terrorists to attack. Third, and probably most importantly, the threat of terrorism is actually quite small. The chances that you will die by terrorist attack are minuscule. So to inconvenience so many to protect against some specific scenario makes no sense and is, in fact, just fear mongering. Because aside from making us all afraid the protections don’t really do anything.

Take the example of the prohibitions on liquids put in place as a reaction to an attempted attack on a plane with a liquid explosive (resulting again). The prohibition against bringing liquid in a container more than 3 oz doesn’t do anything. Someone could bring many 3 oz containers of liquid and mix them up into enough explosive to bring the plane down. We all know that. If it takes 12 oz of liquid to create an explosive, the rules don’t prohibit 12 oz of liquid from coming on board. They just prevent it from all being in the same container. So the rule it silly and just an inconvenience to all the people not trying to blow up planes because it doesn’t do anything to stop the people that are. On a more important note, just because one person tried to blow a plane up using a liquid doesn’t mean that someone won’t try to blow a plane up using a solid (see underpants guys for details). So the prohibition on liquids doesn’t really keep us any safer, just more inconvenienced.

The fact is that there are too many specific targets and specific plans to protect against. The only way to really keep us safe is to use all the money wasted on these silly procedures borne of resulting and put that money into intelligence and surveillance. That is how you actually prevent attacks because if you have good intelligence and surveillance you can catch the bad guys no matter what they are targeting who how, even if it is a target you never thought of or a completely new method of attack. Good intelligence is blind to method. And that is why it actually works where resulting does not.

Part of the reason that resulting is so bad is that terrorists don’t care if they get caught. That is because there are only two results to attempting an attack: 1) it works which is a win for the terrorists. 2) The terrorist gets caught which that becomes a huge news story which then freaks out the public and makes the target country or population terrified and scared. That is also a win for the terrorists. Security measures only really work if the perpetrator does not want to ever get caught.

Anyway, there is a fantastic article on this here

It is really a good read.

Oh…and Happy New year!

I can’t get enough of that picture.

Anyway, Joe had been really down lately because he just got tested for food allergies and, not surprisingly, he is allergic to dairy. He also happens to be allergic to a few other things like malt and baker’s yeast and tomato but it is the dairy that has been really bumming him out because it really eliminates a lot of food that get served in restaurants and we all know how much Joe loves going out to restaurants.

So, for his homecoming I decided I would bake up a vegan storm so he would have lots of yummy goodness to eat and maybe he would feel a little better about his dairy allergy. I started off with a ridiculously good marble cake and then made these pumpkin chocolate chip cookies:

I posted that picture to twitter and facebook and got a ton of requests for the recipe so I am posting it here. I adapted the recipe from this awesome book I found at Barnes and Noble this weekend which really inspired the baking frenzy.

These cookies are so yummy and 100% dairy free. You wouldn’t guess it as my kids have declared them amazing. Even Maud, my 14 yr old, who is hardly effusive with her praise told me tonight that they were the best cookies ever. I am sure it pained her terribly to do so

So here is the recipe:

2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup margarine (softened)
1/2 cup unbleached cane sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.

In a large bowl bowl cream the sugar, brown sugar and margarine with an electric hand mixer. Add the pumpkin and vanilla and mix well.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just incorporate then fold in teh chocolate chips.

Grease your baking sheets or line with parchment paper. Drop heaping tablespoons of the dough on the baking sheets 2 inches apart. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned on the edges. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets about 15 minutes then finish cooling on a rack.

If storing the cookies, make sure to store in a container with a loosely fitting lid as the cookies are very moist.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Don’t ask But I love him!

Anyway, so in my surfing I happened upon Jason Calacanis’ blog and while surfing through that discovered Improv Everywhere. If you aren’t familiar with them you should check out their You Tube page but basically the idea is that they do guerrilla  improv out in the world. It is pretty cool.  Here is my favorite:

Click here to view the embedded video.

I just love the concept of doing basically art installations but using people. The reactions of the crowds to the guerrilla improv is probably the best part. People really enjoy it in a completely unexpected away.

This morning when I woke up my daughter, Lucy, shared this video with me which made for an awfully nice way to start my day. Enjoy!

Click here to view the embedded video.

As you can see, I get a lot accomplished when Joe is out of town.

My son just started 6th grade and he has 2 hours of a homework a night which I think is completely bananas. Whatever happened to study hall? What happened to family time? What happened to after school activities? I can tell you what happened to after school activities: when we went in for orientation this year they told us to strongly consider eliminating after school activities so that the kids could get their homework done before dinner. That’s ridiculous but in LA the school my son goes to actually assigns less homework than other schools so I feel like I don’t have much of an option outside of homeschooling which is not an option for our family.

Being subversive I still have Leo in woodworking and a fitness class after school and my ex husband often plays racketball with him in the afternoons. I guess we are just rebels

So here is my Momversation episode about it.

Anyway, I want to blog all voer the place about The Feast but that will have to wait till later as I am getting ready right now to head out to San Manuel Indian Bingo and Casino to announce our next big Ante Up for Africa event. ON October 29th we are having a celebrity filled and poker pro filled tournament that starts at 7pm. The tribe is donating $500K to our cause! It is going to be amazing so I hope everyone can find the time to come out and support the event.

In the meantime, I don’t really watch the late night talk shows but I just found this video from Jimmy Fallon and it is definitely worth sharing. Enjoy!

So today I made homemade cornbread which I will serve with the pork chops for dinner tonight.

Yum! Dairy Free/Egg Free Cornbread!

And then for good measure I also made pumpkin cupcakes with crunchy streusel topping.

Joe has already declared these delicious!

Joe had one warm, right out of the oven. mmmmm.  I am cleansing today so I have to wait till tomorrow to try them but they smelled good anyway I have to say, it was all better than working. I need to finish the curriculum for the new cash game academy I am teaching the 19th at the Bicycle Club in LA. Ali Nejad will be there and I only have the first day written. When faced with the challenge of writing the second day’s courseware, baking seemed like the obvious answer.

By the way, my favorite go to cookbooks for cooking for these allergy laden kids are:

This has the best cupcakes ever. Most people who try them like them better than cupcakes made the regular way. Even if my kids were not allergic I would use this book for my cupcakes. They are ridiculously good.

I don’t actually use this book much for baking but it has some amazing recipes for entrees and appetizers that are all dairy free. The herbed shrimp is amazing and the book has one of the best chicken parmesan recipes I have ever seen…yes…dairy free!

This is my go to baking cookbook and is the book I used to make the cornbread and muffins today. It does have entree recipes but I haven’t really ever used it for that. The banana bread recipe in this book is amazing as is pretty much everything else I have made from the baking section. I swear, dairy free baked goods are actually better. I know it sounds crazy but I really believe that.

Anyway, thanks to a heads up from Rafe Furst, here is a TED talk about processed foods that is pretty eye opening:

Click here to view the embedded video.

So I was showing it to someone today and I started exploring what Mitchell and Webb have on youtube. These guys are funny as hell and I particularly liked this sketch…

Click here to view the embedded video.

I am not sure why I have never heard of these guys before but they are as funny as Mr. Show with Bob and David which no one seemed to know about while that was on either. Here is my favorite sketch ever from that show…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Obviously, you recognize David Cross in the sketch. That is the first place I became aware of him. I think you can get the DVD’s of the Mr. Show with Bob and David.and I would highly recommend that for anyone who loves off the wall comedy. Kids in the Hall is awesome, too.  Speaking of which…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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