Week in review for 05.14.05
The top news this week is the release of an academic paper on the topic of internet gaming in the United States from the University of Toronto Law School. The paper focuses on current legislation and how it theoretically could impact on-line gambling; vis-a-vis, what it has actually been used for. The paper examines several laws which I mentioned in an old article on internet poker legalities, and goes into far greater depth, as well as covering other pieces of legislation I had not considered. At about 40 pages it's well worth the time it takes to read. This is the most consolidated resource on the legal state of internet gambling I've seen. I found this passage especially poignant:
In order to attempt to curb the ease and accessibility of Internet gambling sites for US citizens, several technical methods have been attempted or are under development. For the purposes of this report, the two most widely discussed techniques; credit card authorization codes and a potential ban on Internet gambling advertising on websites hosted within the United States are discussed.
In other news, Wil Wheaton has a few poker book recommendations, which I agreed with (although, I prefer the McEvoy beginner series over Lee Jones). Also, I've expanded my blog horizons with blog explosion, a blog surfing engine which I don't have time for; but, it is an excellent way to explore the world of blogs. An added bonus is getting something in return if you're a blogger. Sign up and surf, then, other BE surfers will stop by to visit your blog. I occasionally like to taste a random sample from the blogosphere and now I'll do it exclusively through blog explosion. An interesting feature of this service is it forces you to stay on a page for 30 second to receive surf credit. I have to admit this requirement is a big positive. I'm forced to look at several posts and have found some blogs which, at first, appeared to be 100% hooey are in reality only about 86% hooey.
Finally, from the world of pure poker blogs, check out the old world master art from Otis', Anisotropy's "What's going on?" and the latest BG/Al Can't Hang (e-mail) experience.