Maximianus I Ae Follis, 305 A.D. London Mint. Choice, good VF.

Pretty sweet roman coin. You can get it for 450 bucks at Nemisis ancient coins. Here is the link, click here.

Poker

I play poker sometimes, and I like to watch poker on tv. There is a website kind of like youtube that just plays poker stuff called pokertube. This clip is an interview with Daniel Negreanu where some punk starts giving him a hard time and Daniel pushes the guy backwards into a pool that is behind them. Pretty funny.

Two Prickly Hair on Your Arm Musical Clips

I heard about this clip while listening to WNYC radiolab. It is a clip of Gregory Warner playing a Johnny Cash song to a crowd of Afghanis and getting a really amazing response. Gregory won a competition that allowed him to travel anywhere in the world to work as a journalist, he chose Afghanistan, and he brought his accordian. Turns out many Afghanis were familiar with western songs because a Afghani pop star from the 70s, Ahmad Zahir, used many western melodies to create songs that are still very popular. If you listen to the Radiolab podcast you will find out that it likely Zahir was assasinated by the Communist government in Afghanistan in the 80s.

I personally enjoyed this clip because I was a soldier in Afghanistan, and if I have the authority or the power to say one thing about the Afghanis is that they are people. I know that sounds ridiculous, you say: Of course they are people Bill, but I counter: do you think of them as people who are important and equal to people from other places. I think not, because these people have been dehumanized in the media, and that dehumanization is most disheartening for someone like me and the guys in my unit who got to know and became friends with Afghanis.

I enjoyed this clip because you can not fail to see their perfect humanity.

This is a clip I found on Blogginbindoggins, and he found on Yiekes.

Unsecured Loans

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The stronger your credit history the less documentation you will need to provide, Ezunsecured.com has an entire network of lenders that they deal with which can help you finance your business. They help you prepare your loan request packages in the best way possible.

Their website has many helpful sections which can answer any questions you have about securing credit for you or your business.

Bought some Roman coins on Ebay with my blogging money

Bought these five coins in an Ebay auction, paid with money I made on this blog through advertising.

Get Ready to Move!

I am in the process of moving. If you know me as a human being and not as just a blogger shoot me an email and I will send you a pic of the new place, it is pretty spectacular. It is on the south shore of Long Island, and the backyard ends with a boat dock.

If you did not know I have spent a lot of time overseas, part of it was in the Army, part of it was travelling, and some of it was when I stayed with Laur in Grenada. One thing that was difficult about living in all these places was figuring out the logistics of moving to them.

I found a really great site that gives quotes on international moving from inexpensive moving companies. If I ever move overseas again I will surely use a service to help me make the move. Carrying everything you are moving with through an airport is difficult because of two reasons, one it is heavy, and two when you get to where you are going too two underneath bags and a carry on are not going to fit enough stuff to make your apartment comfortable.

Internationalmovers.com also has several extensive, great guides about how to pack, make the move, and handy moving tips as well.

Internationalmovers.com also has many other moving resources like information on Apartment Hunting, Insurance to help you move, and Home Improvement tips.

Trip

Freebie

I belong to a lot of email groups that discuss, barter, and sell ancient coins. I just read one of the newsletters, and Kevin who runs Noble Roman Coins, is giving away a free download of a 250 page powerpoint about cleaning ancient coins. I know that it is not everyones cup of tea, but here it is, click here. I have read the first 45 pages, and it is good, the advice is well organized and thorough.

If you do not know I wrote a pretty popular guide to ancient roman coins on ebay, click here. I wrote the guide during my last semester of grad school in Iowa, so that was in 2006, the information on pricing is out of date mostly due to the bad exchange rate with the Euro.

New Paintings, The Thinking Maps

Elephant Paints Self Portrait

At first I did not think this was real. How did they get the Elephant to paint a picture of an elephant, and does it understand what it is doing?

Best Link I Have Ever Found

Click Here

It is a Japanese girl's face who follows your cursor arrow with her eyes, and makes beguiling expressions.

Click Here

I found this animation on Pushapixel.

Air Guitar

I read the first few essays in Dave Hickeys Air Guitar today, and he really struck a chord with me that previous readings had not.

When Hickey writes about the small stores that serve as places where people exchange things they love for money, but really they exchange these beloved things for the privilege of talking about them with other interested parties, it seemed true. I feel like that may be true. I have a prejudice against the idea of money. I much prefer things to money, and I prefer ideas to things. In my Utopia I would not live in a futuristic jungle with a treetop house made from biodegradable plastic sheets that capture solar power, my Utopia would be having a situation where I would not have to worry about this primate body and could live in a world purely made up of ideas and images. Maybe with my entire personality existing on a tiny computer chip, that had access to all the information available anywhere to that point: I would exist as the tiniest physical presence and roam the most massive world available, economy at its best. Just thinking about things at my leisure. I guess that is what the internet is like, but unfortunately I have to be in a human body. I think eventually they will make technology that allows people to become machines, and that the people who remain people will be left behind while the machine people spread through the Universe like dandelion seeds.

Wow, that took a turn I did not see the previous paragraph taking.

I have had different escapist fantasies my whole life. The two most recurring are one where I bike across country on a ten speed bicycle with a back pack and one of those little one person tents. The other is finding some independent income and then going off the grid living in a Winnebago, parking it at truck stops, state parks, Wal Marts, and Casinos.

A close third is a house boat, but I am not sure if I would get sea sick or not so this never gets that far as a fantasy.