So I dont watch tv much, but im living with friends who do, and im of course totally bewildered by half of it.

so today im watching cash-cab, and this group of four tourist retiree types get in the cab. i am of course initially pre disposed to hate on them as they are all loud, overweight and not new york city model hot like 60% of the ppl on the show, and are wearing mumu type garments and fannypacks, but i digress.

premise of the show is that you get in a regular yellow nyc cab and declare your destination at which point the car erupts in psychadelic lights and you are on a game show. the deadline is when you arrive at your stop the questions end, or if you get 3 wrong you get booted onto the sidewalk, they ascend in difficulty and go up to maybe 150$ a pop from 25$ at the beginning,

the retirees are actually quite strong players and bink I believe 13/15 questions, ending in a 950$ win as they reach their destination, at this point you can go for video bonus question for double or nothing which is on average marginally harder than your previous questions. this smug fcking lady stares down the camera with her southern drawl and goes "Oh, well, we aren't gambin' types" and they run wiht the money. as this is a poker blog i will not discuss the EV of their decision, but what i found so infuriating was that they justified their retarded decision not with any kind of logic but just immediately as a moral certainty, these ppl must have elected george bush....

so i begin to tilt visibly to my friend who is watching it and explain the precious ev they are giving up, however, not satisfied to stop at the end of my traditional rant; i had to swing for the fences. my friend attempted to justify their decision like this "if the happiness ev they lose by gambling is greater than the happiness ev of doubling through, and the money isn't particularly large or small, then their quit is fine". though, i must add, my friend was a girl, so it was phrased a lil differently.

I say no! not taking such a logically imperative gamble just displays a profound ignorance about the way probability operates in everyday life. Or, to put it more succinctly "Lady, do you realize you're driving in a FCKING CAR RIGHT NOW". every time you get in a car, you deliberately risk your entire life in exchange for some value, whether it's getting to work quickly, seeing a friend, etc. whenever you smoke a cigarette you lose whatever it is, 10 min on average of your life i forget, what im getting at is just the fact that risk taking (read:gambling) is inextricably bound up with living, by blinding yourself to the relatively large risks you are assuming daily you are living a dream. gambling should be defined as what this lady and people like her have been doing their whole lives:: making unreasoned decisions without considering the myriad possible outcomes, both material and emotional of the things they take for granted.

im gonna need another non- 1am blog to flesh this one out, but i wag my finger at you, cash cab lady, don't judge me! grrrrr