Hello again, Dear gamblers! Today I am going to talk about another roulette system, which I have thought to be really neat, but it has proven it's self to be silly! The system is called "Force the zero", and it consists in betting one unit on black and one unit on red, along with 3 units on zero, for 10 spins, the next 10 spins same 1/red, 1/black, but 4/zero, the next 10 6/zero, then 8/zero and +2 units on zero after each 10 spins.
The system is explained very thoroughly in the package I've made available for download in the Download section of this blog, or more easily here. The idea is good, but in my opinion it could be any other number from 0-36 , not necessarily zero. Anyway, after a win or two, the system that generates the sequence of numbers also analyses the win/loss balance of the Casino, so you have all the chances in the world to lose all your money, if you don't have a consistent balance, or simply if the software considers you have had enough. I have seen times when 0 has not come out for more than 150 spins, so imagine what amount you will have to bet in order to keep to the system strategy. In the document where the system is explained in detail you are also instructed to log out from the casino after you've won once. This may work a few times, but rest assured that they will catch you, and they will get their money back.
Download the package an analyse the strategies there yourself, then come back and leave a comment to this post, so we can all learn from what you've discovered.
I'm at my parents' house in Fruita, Colorado, leaving for Vermont today.
Travels and Such
Since I blogged last in Seattle, Mark and I went to a reading in Olympia, and our last one together in Bellingham. We then went back to Missoula, Montana where I stayed a couple days. My friend Katie (who was on the panel discussion with me last time I was in Missoula) wanted a mini-vacation out of Missoula and took me back to Moab. We camped several days at the "guest cave", and I gave her a tour of most all the caves and camps I've lived at over the years. Having her company was splendid, hanging out, cooking foraged and dumpstered foods, drinking spring water, and playing guitar together. I'm feeling very close to her.
I didn't get a chance to see many folks this time back in Moab, but, shortly after Katie left, I thumbed here to Fruita. I had to be here for a satellite interview with Dylan Ratigan from a TV station in Grand Junction. It turns out the station's signal was down, so we had to cancel. But it got rescheduled a couple days ago, and then the signal went down again. So I ended up interviewing over my parents' phone while Mark Sundeen was there in person:
Okay, for being a moneyless dude, I've not been my usual and been a bit busy these days. Here are also a couple print articles I've done from the past few weeks:
Tomorrow my friend Leslie is swinging through from LA to whisk me away to Vermont. No interviews, no book readings... just visiting one of my best friends, Michael, his wife, Sarika, and their new baby girl, Satya. They're having an ecumenical christening ceremony and asked me to be Satya's godfather!
Considering A New Economy: the Ancient, Everlasting Economy, the Only Economy Proven to Work
Okay, I thought this was going to be short and I'd stop here. But I'm just too excited to keep quiet.
Yeah, I'm recalling an epiphany I had after long philosophical discussions with our host friend, Laura, when Mark and I were in Seattle. She beautifully challenged my ideas on nature, gift economy, and barter, helping me refine them.
(I'm hitting the road soon and don't have time to refine and simplify these ideas to a few words. So bear with me as I spit them out here).
In the above articles I talk about the Pay-It-Forward economy of nature being the only economy that works. But as Laura questioned me on these things, and shared her ideas, it dawned on me that there is a perfect barter system happening simultaneously with the Pay-It-Forward system.
Barter?
Now this might sound as if I'm back-tracking, since I'm, after all, supposed to shun conscious barter. But I do still shun for myself what we usually define as barter. The barter we think of is most often is not just, not even, not equal. But now I'm going to say that all true gift giving is perfect barter! Yes, giving, expecting nothing back, is the only perfect and just barter!
In gift giving, we think of the giver and receiver being two different things, when, in true nature, the giver is also the receiver and the receiver is also the giver. How so?
First, ask yourself: are you as able to receive a gift as you are to give a gift? Think of how you feel if a stranger gives you something. Can you accept it or do you feel too proud, or do you feel too guilty in taking it? Now think of how you feel when you give a gift to a stranger you think is in need. Do you feel equal with that person? Or do you feel frustrated if that person is too proud to accept your gift?
If we give a gift out of a sense that we are doing a charity for some poor soul below us, or that we are going to get some praise or reward in heaven for being "good", then our giving is corrupt, not just. Just means exactly even, level. To justify means to make level, even, equal. To not give freely is to not be equal, equitable. If we are not giving freely, we are living in injustice, inequality, iniquity. Iniquity is the true meaning of sin. Sin means debt. Inequality means one side is in debt to the other.
When somebody gives to you and you receive their gift with joy, then you and the giver are experiencing simultaneous joy, simultaneous benefit. By accepting freely, you are giving joy to the giver. If you are playing guilt or pride games, you are depriving the giver of joy. The free giver and free receiver are bartering an exactly equal service toward each other. The giver is the receiver and the receiver is the giver. "It is more blessed to give than receive," especially when the receiver realizes he or she is also the giver.
Now, think of this. When you "give" to another person, and you think that person "owes" you, you have immediately created iniquity, sin, debt. Conversely, if somebody freely gives you something, and you can't accept it out of a sense of debt, guilt, or pride, you have immediately created inequality, iniquity, sin, debt. In a "sinless" (debtless) world, then, every single action and interaction must be a completely equal and simultaneous barter in the exact present moment!
Now you might think that is impossible, and we, hence, live in a world of iniquity. However, "to the pure, all things are pure," which is a quote from both the Buddhist and Christian scriptures! Is this being naive? This would mean if our minds are pure, we see all things as pure, sinless.
Re-Examining the Pay-It-Forward Raspberry and Bear Scenario
Now let's go back to that raspberry bush scenario I'm always harping on, which I call an example of the perfect pay-it-forward economy. A bear eats a raspberry, with zero sense of debt or guilt toward the rasberry bush. And the bush demands absolutely nothing back from the bear. It is totally freely given and freely taken. Then the bear later poops out digested raspberries, providing food for soil organisms. And, not only that, raspberry seeds in the poop propagate more raspberry bushes. Both the bear and the raspberry bush are paying it forward, with zero sense of credit and debt. There is no accountant sitting by the bush tabulating who owes what to whom. It is precisely because there is no consciousness of credit and debt that this economy is in perfect balance. Credit and debt exactly balance out because nobody is controlling it. As soon as we become conscious of credit and debt, as soon as we take on the knowledge of good and evil, we lose balance.
Up until now, I have not recognized any barter, but a pay-it-forward system that works perfectly. Then, it dawned on me that perfect, simultaneous barter happens in the present moment also simultaneously with the pay-it-forward system!
At the exact moment the bear takes a raspberry, the raspberry bush is receiving an equal and opposite service from the bear! The bush needs, in that very moment, for the bear to take a berry. The organisms in the soil need the bear's poop in the very moment the bear needs to poop. There is absolutely no delay between thing bartered and thing bartered for.
All things are One in the Present Moment.
This is fundamental the law of every particle in the universe: for every action or force there is an equal and opposite reaction or force. Every single particle in every single moment is bartering simultaneously with another particle.
Every positive barters exactly and simultaneously with negative. Every sincere male is matched with an equal sincere female.
We have lost faith in this most fundamental law of all the universe! And this loss of faith, this desire to control positive and negative, yin and yang, is our fall from Grace.
This Economy of Grace Hidden in the World's Religions
Anyone who sincerely practices Tai Chi or any martial art knows that it is about giving up control. Focus on the center (Chi), and yin and yang reach automatic equilibrium.
"Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing."
Jesus says this in reference to good works. Don't do deeds for credit, to be seen of others, or for reward, but do them in secret. Do you see it? It's all one principle! The more self-conscious you are, the more you stumble, fall from balance!
In the Hindu Baghavad Gita, the fundamental message is to do for the sake of doing, not for the sake of reward. The Gita says you are deluded if you think you are the doer. Nature is the doer, if you but sit back and observe. You are not even your body, but your body is nature, and you are the observer in the body (nature). It says that all of nature is made up of three modes: Rajas (positive), Temas (Negative), and Satva (Neutral). As in Buddhism and Judaism, the Gita says if you keep to the middle path, not straying to Positive or Negative, you realize the 3 modes of Positive, Negative, and Neutral automatically do, and you are not the doer. This is also Tai Chi, fundamental Taoism.
A Jew or Christian who has learned about Moses' Ark of the Covenant in the Torah knows there are two archangels (cherubim) on top of the ark, facing the center invisible throne, where invisible Yahweh dwells (The Hebrew Yahweh literally means Eternal Present). One archangel is Right and one is Left, the Two Witnesses. When both have their focus solely on God in the Center, they are in perfect balance, "Do not stray to the right or to the left.". But when either takes focus off God in the Center and compares self to other, envy and imbalance happen. Knowledge of good and evil, consciousness of credit and debt, happen. Left Hand knows what Right Hand is doing. But balance happens only from the Center. The Center takes care of Credit and Debt. ("Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says Yahweh"). 'All Credit to Jah' is the meaning of Hallelu-Jah. All debt, all credit, resolve themselves in the Center, the Middle Way of Buddha.
Later in the Tanach (Old Testament), in the books of Isaiah and Ezekiel, we learn that one of the two cherubim, Lucifer, is lifted up with pride (self-credit) and falls from Grace, falls from Heaven, and enters the garden as the Serpent of Credit and Debt. The Perfect Angel becomes the Devil. And notice how Lucifer, the fallen angel and antichrist, in both the Tanach (Old Testament) and the New Testament, is the Spirit of World Trade, Commerce, destroyer of the earth.
Every pair of brothers, every pair of spouses, every pair of partners, in the Bible, are earthly manifestations of the two cherubim, the two archangels on the ark of the covenant. Everything in the universe is perpetually a manifestation of Yin and Yang, the Two Witnesses. Cain and Abel are incarnations of the two cherubim. Every positive and negative particle in the universe is the two cherubim.
The Hebrew word for envy and jealousy is Cain, as in Cain and Abel. This word Cain also means 'purchase'! After Eve had eaten of the Serpent's fruit, she bore Cain and said, "I have purchased (Cain) a man from Yahweh" (Gen. 4:1), a play on words showing that Cain was the son of Purchase (the Serpent) while Abel was the son of Grace (Gratis, Free).
Now, check out the Genesis story: when Cain starts comparing himself with Abel, envying Abel, Cain falls from Grace, outcast from Eden. He is Purchase, Envy.
Envy is what persecutes and kills the just.
These two witnesses are manifest as Two Sons in Jesus' parable of the Prodigal Son. One remains good, one is lost, then returns. This is the great mystery of this whole credit and debt mess we're in. It's another subject I can discuss later.
Conclusion
For the non-religious, simple observation of ourselves and of nature teaches us that if we keep our minds on the present moment, staying grounded in the here and now, without worry, se see that credit and debt take care of themselves in perfect balance. Stay in the present, and Past and Future balance themselves out. In nature, we see giving without sense of credit and debt. This is something you don't need to find out through books, but simply by direct experience, self-observation. Give, expecting nothing in return and receive without sense of debt, and you'll see for yourself.
For the religious, the world's religions teach us to keep our focus on the Eternal Present, i.e., stay grounded in the Here and Now, without worry. When we do, credit and debt take care of themselves in justice, as they have for zillions of years.
What goes around, comes around, in the pay-it-forward economy of all nature. At the same time, every action of every particle is a perfect barter. In other words, the fundamental law of the universe is that, for every acton or force, there is an equal and opposite reaction or force. Trust that law.
As waves calm on the water, so nature brings to everything to justice (even-ness, equality), automatically. Trust that law.
Hello, gamblers! Today I am going to talk about a strategy that helped me win lots of money at online roulette. We all know that the numbers at roulette are generated by a random number generator (Doh!). This random number generator (RNG)has to generate both even and odd, red and black, high and low, numbers in approximately equal amounts.
But the RNG can't generate sequences of red,black alternatively, because it would be too obvious, and everyone will win (except for the casino owner). So the RNG has to generate sequences of number where red is predominant, followed by sequences when black is predominant, so the balance will be kept, and no one can complain that 800 out of 1000 numbers were red and only 200 black. After the time red was predominant, comes a time when black is predominant. The idea is to wait for a sequence when red has come more often than black, then bet a unit on black. If black comes up, you get 2 units. If red comes up, you lose one unit. You keep on betting one unit on black until you've won a few units. Then, you get some blank spins and determine which color (or any other 2/1 bet you want) was predominant, and bet on the other one.
There is no way of getting wrong with this one, given a healthy balance at the beginning, because the RNG will always have to compensate for the numbers that it generated previously, so the balance will be kept. You will just have to bet one unit (10 cents, or a dollar) until you have more than you've had initially by some units (not too many).
Comment below if you think this will work for you as well!
We get calls all the time from families coming to Las Vegas looking for fun and safe places to take the kids. They want something that wont break the bank just for a few house of enjoyment, and yet provides something new and different from the same old Strip. To make this an easy task for parents, we have compiled and excellent list of great activities for families with children coming to Las Vegas.
As parents, we understand what it means to find something that's not too far out of the way, is fun, doesn't cost a lot, and will be something everyone in the family can enjoy. Now surely the Las Vegas strip offers a lot of great activities for kids and some cool places to visit too.
But just a few miles from the main casinos is a virtual plethora of adventures waiting to be discovered. Our list Las Vegas for Kids is our list of the best possible choices for family outings. You'll find everything from free to nearly free and all of the adventures listed are wholesome and fun for the whole family. Be sure to check it regularly as the list is updated constantly to keep pace with our ever changing town.
We're in Seattle now, staying at the house of Mark's friends, Jim and Laura. Our book tour is almost done (at least for now?). We plan to go to Olympia, Washington today, then to Bellingham on Friday. Then it looks like I'm riding back to Missoula, Montana with Mark, hitching to Moab, Utah, and probably snagging a ride with a friend to Vermont, to see another old friend.
Before I go on, please, before making general comments or questions about my life, please read the FAQ on Living Without Money. Then, if your question or comment is not addressed, I'll try to answer it. I hope to add more FAQs when there's opportunity.
A big one that I haven't addressed yet in the FAQ is about publicity and the book:
Are you making profit from this book, and a media whore promoting yourself?
Yes I do have an ego, and I feel sure I'll be okay if I acknowledge and admit it, and then I won't become a slave to it. And I am human, I do have a mouth and like to speak. Speaking draws attention to ourselves, even as crying did when we came out of the womb. I don't believe it's right to suppress our nature of speaking, to hide our lamp under a bushel. Lights shine and flowers bloom for a reason, and why be a liar by pretending I don't enjoy it? I enjoy quiet anonymity also, for which people condemned me equally in the past, too! And we all recede into quiet anonymity in the end - every one of us.
That said, the book is not and never was my idea, and I am making zero profit from it. In 2009, after an article was written about me by Chris Ketchum in Details Magazine (also not something I sought out or asked for), Penguin/Riverhead books initially asked me if I wanted to write a book back in 2009, and I told them I'd only do it if it could be totally given away for free and I, of course, make no profit. They then asked Mark Sundeen to write it, and I agreed to it after he wrote to me and told me his vision of what the book would be. Mark was already going on this book tour and invited me along in his car. We have been staying at friends' houses and camping out. I have not once stayed in a hotel. Mark is making money from the book, because he works in the money system and has to make his very, very modest living as a writer. Contrary to public opinion, he is not rolling in the dough and makes way less money than most average Americans I know.
Also, Penguin/Riverhead has honored my request and given hundreds of books away for free at many events, as well as to libraries all over.
What I find comical about the thousands of negative comments is I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't. Before, when people decided I spent most my days hiding out in a cave, there were thousands of comments condemning me for being a recluse, not "contributing." Now that I'm more in the spotlight, thousands say I'm both a mooch living off society as well as a media whore trying to get attention and profit, and that if I were truly living moneyless I'd be hiding out in the wilderness away from society!
A seed falls to the ground and dies, hiding in the soil. It grows up into a plant that flowers in fluorescent color, attracting bees and hummingbirds and humans. Condemn it for hiding. Then condemn it for blooming. Condemn it for wilting. Then it might produce fruit. What condemnation then? Are we resentful because the plant knows only to follow its own nature, both hiding and blooming in glory and bearing more seeds? I don't know how any of it works, it just does, and it's beautiful and I'll enjoy it, whether or not people like to crush plants under their feet.
What if we spoke as fact only what we know, and not what we assume, in every part of life? How lovely life would be if everybody were innocent until proven guilty, huh?
What if we saved our anger and venom for actions that are actually bringing harm to the world?
But I have to admit I get a kick out of the negative shit. It's comical and entertaining, even wiping away my doubt. Even Taiwanese capitalists have jumped on the bandwagon. Might as well enjoy it:
Positive Response
If most anonymous Internet comments have been negative, most human-to-human response Mark and I have gotten have been positive. And the negative criticisms to our face have been constructive and helpful. People who have the guts to give face-to-face criticism have an integrity and courage that I'm grateful for.
Yeah, we've been astonished at the turn-out and the openness and receptiveness of people at all these book events and media interviews. There have been lots of hugs and even tears from "strangers." The love I've felt has been indescribably heart-warming. Every one of them through-out the west have been standing room only, except in Eugene and Seattle. Seattle, in fact, had the smallest turn-out of all, which surprised us.
The Second Leg of Our Tour
Our event in Missoula was splendid, and I feel like Missoula has become another home. We had a Quit Money Day panel discussion at the Missoula Public Library with Kate Keller (Missoula Community Food Co-op), Pastor Christian Cryder (Imagine Missoula), Bob Giardano (Free Cycles), Josh Slotnick (Garden City Harves), Mark, and me. What was beautiful about this was that this wasn't about a single dude living in a cave, but about getting heads of experience together to discuss ways of bringing out cooperation and gift economy into community! And I got to hang out a bit with all four of these Missoula folks in the following weeks that I stayed in Missoula, & be a little part of some of their projects. Kate & I became close friends, I got to attend the All Souls Church that Christian pastors, help out a little with one of Bob's Free Cycles events, and play in the dirt at Josh's farm, as well as strike up a friendship with the librarian, Molly, and the dude working in the library coffee shop, Evan (who also happened to work at Free Cycles). And Evan's friend, Drew, had a wonderful 2 hour discussion with me on his morning radio show on KBGA. I even ran into a couple old friends from Moab passing through, Val (scout for the Rainbow Gathering), and Dan (son of my good friend Roberta)!
After Missoula, we had events in Boise & Ketchum, Idaho. Then we went to Santa Cruz, a farm in Pescadero, San Francisco, Arcata, up to Ashland, Eugene, and Portland, Oregon, then to here.
In San Francisco we stayed a few days with Mark's childhood friend, Tim Bluhm, and Tim's spouse Nicki. Little did I know this was the Nicki with the band Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers, and Tim plays with her as well as in his own band, The Mother Hips.
In San Francisco I was also was overjoyed to see my twin cousins, Sue and Annie (and her boyfriend Mark), as well as my old friends Kristen, Felix, and their Mother, Louise. In Arcata I didn't expect to see anybody I knew, but an old friend named Mystery, who lived in Moab years ago, showed up!
After Arcata, we went to Ashland, Oregon and stayed at the house of my friends, Frank and Sara and kids, joined by my old friend Tim Wojtusik and his daughter, Logan (Tim is one of the two Tims who provided years of my letters for Mark's book). After Ashland we went to Eugene, where I was overjoyed to see my old friend Jennifer.
Then it was Portland, which turned out another grand event. I stayed with my old friends Satya and Sara at the house of Alex (who so generously has opened up his house for wandering penniless folks, including me, for years, and happens to be the son of Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi). Sara and Satya cooked up a big feast for Food Not Bombs friends beforehand. Then we all made a street procession to Powell's bookstore for the book reading. Food Not Bombs folks even served free food on the sidewalk after the event. The love I felt was astounding. It was grand seeing and hanging out with so many other old and new friends, but I'm out of time and space to mention them.
We talked to an Everett Community College class, taught by Mark's friend Cobi, the day before yesterday. They had already read and wrote analysis of the book, and taking their questions and comments was fun but also strange. It feels quite bizarre having whole classes study things I used to only tell my closest friends.
Though our Seattle event was the smallest of all, my inspiring friend Irv Thomas showed up, as well as a friend from my days in Ecuador I haven't seen for 25 years, Melissa! It's amazing seeing friends from my distant past coming out of the woodwork!
Now we'll see what's next. I'm excited and sometimes a little nervous about the wonders that keep unraveling. Part of me has visions of moneyless community unfolding (and I still don't know how, but with so many heads and hearts together, we'll see). But the other part of me warns me not to have any expectations. Maybe my life will go back to quiet obscurity, or maybe not. It's really out of my hands. What is natural will unfold naturally, without our manipulation, if we're open to it. So Be It. Nature is absolutely splendid, isn't it?
How is all this publicity affecting me?
I still say the same as in my last blog post, Fickle Fun.
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If you ever want a masterclass in true rhythmic polyrhythmic complexity allied to one of the best ever swing grooves, have a listen to Elvin's playing on 'Transition' - if you have a proper stereo system, as opposed to an iPod player, use the stereo balance to just listen to Elvin - the separation is so extreme you can hear everything Elvin is playing, it's like standing beside him. Then listen to the whole track again with the full band, and hear the full context of what Elvin is playing and how he's responding to, and playing with Trane, McCoy and Garrison. Then lie down with a cold towel on your forehead....
Jazz drumming doesn't get any better than this......... Music doesn't get much better than this........
