randburg

I'm up here in beautiful Denver, CO. It's getting quiet again now that the dems and the press are gone! But that pic was taken while I was in Cancun. I love Mexico and most years get down there at least once or twice.
I did use to live in Victoria - that's a little ways south of you there in big D. Didn't have any hurricanes while I was there, but we sure payed attention when they entered the gulf!
I didn't have any $$$ on McCains VP - I had but I cashed in as soon as it went up!
Good luck on your rain and I sure hope that Gustav doesn't wreak too much havok down there!
Kenny

first let me aplogise if your mad, i shoulda ask you before doing it. doing what you ask? i recomended you for a superuser. you don't make many questions, but you seem to know a good or bad one when you see it. when you comment its also respectful and with correct grammar. if they offer the SU to you i'm sure you don't have to take it. have a nice day.

Thanks John. I hope you get your rain. I've been through a couple of droughts and it is no fun. Just hope you're not too close to the coast!
And yes, I did well during the olympics. It's pretty much all just dumb luck though! But I'll take it! I wish I was as lucky when I gambled with real money!
Have a great day and good luck on the rain!
Kenny

Thank you, twice.

Thanks - it was a lucky bit of effort with betting on typhoons hitting the Olympics. Only one struck, with one more striking one day too late - thankfully :)

Thanks John,
Click on this link:
http://www.motorcyclemaniac.net/PhotoDump/Riding_Goldwing.jpg
to see a larger version of this image. I may use this image on my homepage,
as I want to change the home page a little.

I have always used the philosophy that my website was about the things that I have seen, rather than being about me, as I am really a boring person, when viewed live and up close.

For the first time, since I created the website in 2002, I am losing traffic this year. While I have had over 1/2 million page views so far this year, it is not as high as I had hoped for. Last year, I did a major rework of my website because I was finding my photos being used without any permissions or credits. I think perhaps my stopping the right click - copy attribute has turned away some fans of the website.

Anyhow, thanks so much for your kind remarks!!!!!

Great idea about posting a photo of me riding one of my bikes.

Actually it is the only bike I own at the moment. If I was in better financial shape, I would like to own a stable of bikes, but right now, I will settle for the one.

First vehicle I ever bought new and it is a 2003 Honda Goldwing with nearly 46K miles on it.

Hey Randburg, thanks for the shout, perhaps you are thinking of my previous market that compared the combined age of the Rep vs. Dem ticket, I'm checking now to see, assuming Obama/Biden/McCain all hold up till election day... the magical birthdate needed for the Rep ticket to be less in accumulated years than the Dem one, perhaps the LA governor would qualify, still checking...

Hubdub lexicons
"Spitzer"- literally "screwed"
"fistinction"- it's gonna be my way or it's "to the moon Alice, to the moon"
"pics4ded"- "i'm gonna take my toys and go home"

and now

"cognositis" - to intentionally lose all of one's net worth so that one can try a different tact

is this a new addition to the hubdub dictionary?
"cognositis" - to intentionally lose all of one's net worth so that one can try a different tact

I do a lot of business with Australia and like the symbol.

thanks for the invite.....

Thanks for the shout. I noticed that nobody had requested any friendship requests since I posted my mug shot. Hmmmmm..... lol

So... my Phelps vs. the world question was odd to you? I'm simply trying to compare the athlete who will likely get the most US medals with the rest of the field, many countries will earn some medals, but less that he does as an individual. Was it unclear?

No problem. I wish I had time to create more. Sorry I was voided today.

Hey Randburg! Thanks for the shout and well wishes. Yep, there's now a mrsprfct (notice neither one of us can spell!). I figure that if I can get her on here, then she can't give me as hard of a time for playing on the computer! lol

Happy hubdubbing!

i wondered if anyone would notice the progression. no it's already finished

just an interlude between finishing a piece and wiating for my next load of rawk (soapstone) to come in next week. i keep kidding the soapstone distributor that he is my dealer and i'm jones'n for my next fix

Hey randburg! Thanks for the comment and validation about that question. Guess I have my opinions and need to keep in mind that hubdub is still in beta version. I'm still here though (and losing lots of H$ lately!). Looks like you're doing pretty well though! Keep it up!

Hey thanks randburg. I remember when I use to look at the leaderboard alot when I had next to nothing as far as $HD, but now that I have a good amount I hardly if ever look at it. The only time I really do is if someone comments on it. Thanks for noticing me amongst all your massive amount of friends.
I see you have almost all your $HD in predictions. Thats crazy! I've seen a few like that and dont know how you do it. There are very few questions out there I'm willing to put a few thousand on, but not many. I like to keep mine spread out in lower incriments but making predictions on more questions.
Talk to you later, GL predicting.

Nice indeed! When I tell my boys that a treat for me growing up was when the babsitter brought over a little B&W 6" TV for me and my sistems to watch they look at me I've lost my mind. If something like you've proposed ever happened I'd be in.

Nice indeed! When I tell my boys that a treat for me growing up was when the babsitter brought over a little B&W 6" TV for me and my sistems to watch they look at me I've lost my mind. If something like you've proposed ever happened I'd be in.

I see the merit in your comments and have to agree.

Thank you so much, I'm grateful and appreciative.

Thanks. More of an obsession than an achievement though.

My pleasure, I like to mix up the predictions a bit, I appreciate your comments.

YES! That's precisely what I was going for. Life's too short to have bland avatars.

Will do!

Randburg, Thanks very much for your note. And I appreciate your assesment of my creativity. On further review I think your point is well taken, even if I'm trying to be 'cute' which is what I was doing with the Sandra Day O'Connor market, I should leave more room than just 5%. One of the things that I'm trying to stimulate on the site is some more creativity and originality as I think this will encourage new members. Sometimes when I'm surfing I find such silly stuff that I have to create a market. You have to admit, 80ish Sandra Day O'Connor is not what one thinks in word association if you say.."Video Game Designer".. I've also had this idea in the back of my mind that Nintendo will try to work on the couch-potatoeness of our socienty by offering more and more wii active games. What could be less active than a court proceedinig, maybe I was just up too late but the thought of a couple of sweat-banded teen agers competing on a Court based wii game just seemed too funny.

But anyway, I will endeavor to not be ridiculous in my odds making, thanks again very much for the feedback, please keep it coming, and thanks for so frequently wagering on my musings.

Thanks again Randburg, if they have to void it I'll just start from scratch, thanks for catching the error.

yeah i lucked out
i came within 30 seconds in teh hockey game (they tied it with 30 seconds left and then went on to win)
if they had not scored i would be at about 20 dollars
ill be careful

YESSS
10000 won last night....barely
soo now im going to be better off

haha im down to 2 predictions
one is the hillary one which i refuse to give up on

and the other one is regarding the nhl playoffs tonight
if the penguins win than i get a boatload (boosting me up to about 10000)
the odds were just too good

i cleaned house and went all in

I have some great friends.
My Hubdub Friends are outstanding.
On the Qtrly-Gain Ldrbd (friends only) I'm in the bottom 50% of users.
On the Qtrly-Gain Ldrbd (all users) I'm in the top 10% of users.
I've some ketchin' up to do!

haha
hillary is an idiot

oh mannnn i could lose out big time
i just put about 700 on the penguins to beat the detroit red wings in the stanley cup
its a best of seven so first to 4 games
and the red wings are up 3-1 soo thats a huge wager but has a gigantic payroll if the penguins win the next 3 games
soo im either further down in teh dumps or way up
but iguess thats how you make a lot of money soo ill wait and see

also
can i ask you as to why your predictions are kept private?
i would love to see the things that you are predicting on and try and compete with YOU!!!

i also made that dumb move that you did
and i completely regretted it
though im sure there could have been gaming involved soo im talking with an admin about that

it wouldnt have been too hard to create a bunch of questions to push it over the limit
it wasnt suspended until like 11 this morning soo someone could have easily swayed the results

which was the good one?
and i think ive stopped losing money and i am starting to make my come back

i took your advice and i have cleaned house!!!
yay
except i left my prediction that 'no one drops out' in the democratic race until the convention
i just cant bring myself to drop that one

but yeah thats my only long term prediction left!!
which is exciting
i thought id share the good news

Randburg,

Since I finally have a weekend when I do not have to work, I thought I'd touch base with my recently ignored HD friends. Let me know how your HD life is going .. it seems that your H$ wealth is much enhanced!

thing is that if hillary stays in (shes quite stubborn and an idiot)
then i make over 10000 compared to cashing in at what is now 91 hubdub dollars

haha well the thing is that when i was new i made a bunch of long term predictions
and i still have them bc they decreased so much in value that it wasnt worth cashing them in to get the money
so im holding them out until things look up
but when i make predicctions now they are usually short and one at a time wagering the money i have right now since it is so minimal

also,
i thought it was a no brainer to put a bunch of cash in on a 'who will drop out of the race first question", i put about 5000 on no one drops out, but now it looks like hillary clinton will drop out
soo my 5000 is at about 200 soo its not worth cashing in sooo i sticking to it, hoping she will stay in to the convention

i get hit everyday bigtime
im terrible at predicting

My parents wanted to name me after my grandfather, but his name was Claude and they didn't like that (thank god) and so they asked him what his favorite movie was and fortunately it was Destry Rides Again. So that is how the name was chosen.
I do have the play on record and cd. I also have the movies Destry and Destry Rides again on DVD. I am still trying to find an original movie poster, I have a replica but the originals are hard to find.

One of the things about having my name is that I know all the stories. Plus I have all the memorabilia from the plays, movie, and tv shows. I even have the book. And what is worse is the my sisters name is Tenille, so you can imagine all the Captain and Tenille jokes I have lived through.

My pleasure Randburg! Your comments mean a lot to me, like I was telling one of the admins the other day, I work from home and take care of a one year old baby while my wife works a crazy schedule, so this is a nice diversion for me.

Ooops, sorry John. I meant to deselect you! Will try harder in future. ;-)

hey randburg...
I`m glad you`re interested in the questions..
When I said `spiking` I was referring to the graph that Nigel provided comparing hubdub to other sites. After holding my monitor up to my nose I`m beginning to think that hubdub may indeed become the leader before the end of May.

I would love to see your artwork. If it took 3 months to complete, it must be quite a piece. I really enjoy artwork and think that YOU have one of the most interesting avatars on Hubdub. I recently changed my avatar from an owl, to the bikes. I lost about 30K in the week I was using the Owl avatar and decided it must be the unlucky owl - and not any bad decisions on my part. He he he

As for posting photos onto a website, you can google "free photo hosting" and find over 5 millions results. I think the top 3 are probably PhotoBucket, Webshots and Flickr, although I have never used any of them. I have often thought of opening an account on those sites and posting some of my best photos with links back to my website - to increase exposure and traffic to my site.

I ride a Honda Goldwing now and love it, although it is much better as a highway bike than for riding around in the city. Goldwing has a dry weight of 796 lbs (which is a lot to hold up while waiting for the red light to change). I have ridden to 43 states so far. I think Honda makes the best motorcycles, but that is frequently and sometimes vociferously up to debate. I don't have the personna to really fit onto a Harley, as I do not look, act or sound like a biker.

Not a dumb question at all - it looks so oversized that it is hard to imagine those flags attached to a motorcycle.
I took those pictures on 5-17-2008.

Actually, the flags are mounted on the 2 bikes. (I was almost as surprised as you were. LOL)
These pictures are of the "Central Route" riders. The bikes with the huge flags were the first 2 bikes to follow a police escort as they led about 200 motorcycles through town. They "collect" additional bikes as they ride eastward and the procession continues to grow until they reach their final destination at "The Wall" which is the Viet Nam War memorial. At that point 3 different routes and groups of riders converge and then they will have a quick photo opp with the President while making a statement about our armed forces.

These bikes travel from Los Angeles, CA to Washington DC each year to raise awareness of our POW & MIA armed forces.
http://www.rftw.org/index.asp?lg=1&w=pages

Thanks. The avatar comes from a picture I took of Rolling Thunder - Ride to the Wall, as they passed through Limon, Colorado.
You can see a slightly larger picture of it here, and a few others I took that day (at my website)
http://www.motorcyclemaniac.net/Pictures/RollingThunder2008/slides/IMG_8461.html

Hey Randburg - I sent you an email Wednesday and haven't heard back...did you get it? All ok?

Lx

personally i like the celtics winning the nba championships
but who knows?

some day im going to hit a streak of luck and have a bunch of cash
but for now im stuck with like a couple small bets at a time (loan?haha)
AND HOW BOUT THOSE CELTICS

yeah i was just doing sports bc it had the quickest turn around on the money
it was either won or lost in about a day
but right now im waiting for some money to clear up bc i bet it all

well im not doing well at all right now
i went from about a 10000 net worth to about 3000 in about a week
but right now im doing extremely quick payout bets
mostly sports
like a put 1000 on the team with the least likely odds bc upsets happen all the time
still not going all too well
good luck

thanks, i enjoyed it too
i got it yesterday

Thanks for pointing me at my voided question and arguing for me. I've been off-line a few days so I could not get into it myself.

Visit my blog at http://rohanm33.wordpress.com/

Rohan

thanks for that

haha im having a lot of trouble finding any sure bets anymore
at one point i got up to a net worth of about 10000
now im down to around 5000
but im actually from maine
and i have no idea about that film

it is nice to be missed in a good way. for this i thank you

hello my friend, i have been busy with mistakes of the past, planning the futre, raising children, farmers market season has started and we sell my art works there, you know just life in general. i still check in daily to see how the site is progressing. interesting how one can start a train of thought (i.e. the earthquake questions are almost a daily feature) and how hubdubbers can get tunnel vision and stop following the news (i.e. if i had posted on the cyclone that hit myanmar before the event there would have been a train of thought on as to the foresight required to accurately predict the news). this site has been an interesting insight as to the thought processes involved in intellectual competion. i hope to find some time to actively play the game again soon. until then take care
bob

No worries. I'm a lot less prickly than lucid (which is safe to say of almost everyone here!) but thanks for the note anyway.

I left most of my boys at home and took my son to his Great Grandma's 90th birthday party in Dallas. It was great fun but 6 hours on a plane with a one year old is exhausting! Its also pathetic how desperate I was to get home to my internet connection and hubdub...

haha
well ive got about 5000 thousand on no one drops out
and it has kept dropping and is now worth about 500
sooo im praying she is stubborn or else i will be way down in net worth
good luck man

I log in every day to get my daily $H20, and somehow (DJIA) I lose it by the end of the day.
The DOW just isn't listenin'

ya google told me the solution. I have to admit it gave me the creeps at first though.

Check this out... http://www.exstatica.net/flash/psychic.swf

btw: thanks for mentioning me as question creator to "have a special style" (is that positive or negative?). And you saw junky_1 saved us from the deathpool thing (http://www.hubdub.com/m6842#comments)? puh, that was close!

I hope no epileptic saw it.

it is a little much isn't it.

Randburg,

Do not EVER say I played a dirty trick on you again! I did NO such thing, and you do me a severe disservice by alleging that I am somehow a crooked question creator!

You do not create many questions and maybe that is why you are soooo quick to the trigger, whatever the reason, you have totally misjudged me, made me look like a jerk, called me a trickster!
You said "Do we need to read your film questions for hidden tricks in the future? We don't want to have to add a "lucid question" to the hubdub lexicon."
First I will answer, YESSSS YOU NEED TO READ MY FILM QUESTIONS!!!!!!!! That is WHYYYYYY I have a description, however, you need NEVER look for tricks in them, a simple looking at THE DATES I GAVE would suffice! As May 9th is the 2nd weekend of Iron Man....... You have really done a disservice to me Randburg, I try reallllly hard in my questions and if all you are going to do is dig at me for legalistic wording, then I suggest you refrain from betting on my questions at all!

I am sorry if you lost money, noooo wait, that's right, you got it Voided, so you got your money back, that's right, almost forgot that part!

lucidstates

http://getsatisfaction.com/hubdub/topics/problem_settlement_new_dehli_torch_rally_was_it_peaceful

Hey Randburg. Long time no hear. Hope you're ok.... Wanna pitch in your opinion here?

http://getsatisfaction.com/hubdub/topics/give_us_some_hubdub_love

Thank you! Yeah, I've had a decent restart.
Heck no, keep jers as a friend. ;)
This way, you get two friends for the price of one. (no really, I will not respond to any shouts, challenges, etc.) As far as that account is concerned, it is simply a marker of where I once was, and is a challenge for me to overcome with the cognos acct.

Note to self: never settle questions on a saturday night after a couple of glasses of wine....

thank you for your wonderful JOLLY OLD SAINT NEW QUARTER wishes and clever poem.

shucks!

I know there is a Randburg in Suid Afrika, probably a bigger town LOL.

How do you know about this..? Randburg is a northern suburb of Johannesburg...

Ha, wish I were living in Orange County, it's much classier than Los Angeles Co. where I am. In reality I think most of California should secede because they are too radical for my taste. When I retire I'm going to move to some other state anyway, to get away from the traffic, too many people, all the craziness.

Randburg hoi nieuw vriend! (I probably spelled something wrong there). Actually I'm not Dutch-Swiss-German, that's kruis. Ik woon in amerika. Born and raised and now living again in California. Actually I'm just a secret Raiders fan; people will laugh at me if I cheer on such a losing team. But I remember the good old days when they were very good, and so I hope they will be that way again someday.

Hey did you know there is an old gold mining town in the California desert named Randburg; not much there these days. I know there is a Randburg in Suid Afrika, probably a bigger town LOL.

thank you for the compliment on my english, btw

oh, sorry, i thought, you as an english native speaker tried to make a funny sentence in dutch.
i didn't recognize that it is actually Afrikaans - although i surely know the historical aspects of that language.
hehe, so that has been proven again: Afrikaans is actually a melange of english and dutch

haha, nice try,

*switchspellcheckertodutch*
ag NIE, man! Wat kan ek se? TWEE KEER nogal, eh?
*switchspellcheckertoenglish*

randburg, stay with english, please :)

I started a new account after some heated debate on getsatisfaction.com.
The short story ...
Some predictions that I had made back in February were based on odds incorrectly computed by hubdub's software.
I couldn't enjoy Hubdub to it's fullest if I was using tainted funds. So, I shut down jersjusttrolling, and started cognos. It has been a joy to start over! I suggest it to anyone doubtful of their own hubfortunes.
:)

Thanks pal!
And welcome back from your haitus.
Yes, I've got a different account. Thanks for friending me so quickly.

Mork and Destry have pledged to NOT play this game any further until a satisfactory conclusion is made concerning Satyaki's cheating ... PLEASE follow this link and ask ALL of your (friends) to use this link to send hubdub's admins an email of protest over this unethical situation!

http://www.hubdub.com/public/contact
^ There's an email form on that page ^

Please do not be mean, or cruel, or obscene, or anything like that, but please make it clear that this situation MUST be resolved and resolved ASAP!

A sample letter may be as simple as this (please send whatever you feel, this is just an outline):

To HubDub Administrators: In Protest of the "Satyaki" problem.
I (username) proclaim at this moment, that I will not wager another Hdollar nor create any further questions on Hubdub, until this matter is settled.
I believe that it is my right as a member of this site, to expect the highest level of integrity on the part of hubdubs administrators and that even though it is still in beta form, this does not make right the decision on your parts to allow cheaters to prosper at the expense of the rest of the hubdub community.
I believe that cheating is wrong and any known cheating must be disciplined as soon as it becomes known and not allowed to fester. This lack of ethical conduct on the part of the cheater in question is not being dealt with ethically by hubdub, therefore, I am renouncing my support of hubdub.com entirely, until a fair conclusion to this matter has been decided and acted upon up to and possibly including the removal of (Satyaki) from membership.
It is my concrete belief that the legitimacy and reputation of this entire game is at stake and I will no longer participate in a game that is "fixed" against the ethical and rules following players, and placed in the favor of unethical and rule breaking members.
I declare to you admins, that you have treated ALL legitimate hubdubbers in an unethical manner, you have disrespected those who love and support the game and have potentially fed a "gaming" environment that actually encourages cheating against the upright in this hubdub community.
Until this issue is resolved in an agreeable manner, you have lost (username) as a loyal member of this site and I will no longer sing the praises of hubdub.com to anyone, nor invite anyone I know to join, until this matter is resolved.
Sincerely,
(username)

******
I do not know if that is a good letter, but I do encourage ALL members to send "A" letter to hubdub immediately, or else we are just spinning our wheels and I desperately do NOT want to lose this awesome site, especially do to a punk like (Satyaki)!!! If this was any other social networking site, he'd have been banned by now!

And then go to this link and post a protest as well and HELP the HubDub Community regain it's integrity!
http://getsatisfaction.com/hubdub/topics/i_am_on_strike

lucidstates (dismayed)

Randburg (friend),

Haha, I looove these (you) and (friend) too :-D Hahahaha, too funny, like I didn't know you are a friend .... That reminds me, does that mean I could have (enemies)? hehehe :-D

See (you) later (friend),

lucidstates (friend)

Randburg,

Okay, I'm a monkeys caboose! Haha, so yer not from Dallas eh? ... Well, fine, BE THAT WAY, oh, and take yer yankee sneekers with ya when ya leave pahtna! Hehe J/K :-P

Really though, I am kinda sad you're leaving my home city and so I must ask why? Is it cause Tony split with Jessica? Please don't blame the boy, he is young and naive and she was a slut, so yeah, not the lil' Romo's fault man, he was bamboozled into that "relationship" ... Those young hormone's will getcha every time :-P

Okay seriously, why are you leaving? Job or just tired of the hot summers, and springs and falls and the drab winters? Hehe :-D ... As for me, I was just a mere tyke when I left, just 2 years old, however, I am from a 4 generations Army out of Fort Hood and almost all my sisters and my parents were from there, so I am a Texan alllll the way, and I loooove the Cowboys, so I better not hear no dissin' man! :-D

Actually I whole heartedly agree with you about being on the move, I am a traveler myself, not in the vacation sense, but in living. My Dad transfered around allot when I was growing up so with the family, I've lived in 7 different states, but I've also moved myself to 2 more, so I have been an official resident nearly of 20% of all US states, hahaha, seriously, here's a quick rundown:
Born in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas
Moved to Minnesota
Moved back to Dallas, TX
Moved to Illinois
Moved to Wisconsin
Moved to Montana
Moved to Las Vegas, Nevada
Moved to Colorado
Moved back to Las Vegas, NV
Moved to Hawaii
Moved back again to Las Vegas, NV
Moved to Seattle, Washington

So yeah, I like moving around allot, and I'm only 26 years old, :-P So that's what, an average of less than 3 years in each state :-D

So where are you moving to Rand? I highly suggest Hawaii or Seattle, but NOT Las Vegas, that place has changed sooo much since I was little and it's turning really crime ridden and broken down! I know, I know the Strip looks sparkly and the waters flow like crazy, but I mean when you get down into the actual neighborhoods of the city and see the infrastructure, it is made with ultra cheap materials and expanded TOO quickly and is now just crumbling, in some places that is literal, haha :-D

lucidstates

Randburg,

Okay, I'm a monkeys caboose! Haha, so yer not from Dallas eh? ... Well, fine, BE THAT WAY, oh, and take yer yankee sneekers with ya when ya leave pahtna! Hehe J/K :-P

Really though, I am kinda sad you're leaving my home city and so I must ask why? Is it cause Tony split with Jessica? Please don't blame the boy, he is young and naive and she was a slut, so yeah, not the lil' Romo's fault man, he was bamboozled into that "relationship" ... Those young hormone's will getcha every time :-P

Okay seriously, why are you leaving? Job or just tired of the hot summers, and springs and falls and the drab winters? Hehe :-D ... As for me, I was just a mere tyke when I left, just 2 years old, however, I am from a 4 generations Army out of Fort Hood and almost all my sisters and my parents were from there, so I am a Texan alllll the way, and I loooove the Cowboys, so I better not hear no dissin' man! :-D

Actually I whole heartedly agree with you about being on the move, I am a traveler myself, not in the vacation sense, but in living. My Dad transfered around allot when I was growing up so with the family, I've lived in 7 different states, but I've also moved myself to 2 more, so I have been an official resident nearly of 20% of all US states, hahaha, seriously, here's a quick rundown:
Born in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas
Moved to Minnesota
Moved back to Dallas, TX
Moved to Illinois
Moved to Wisconsin
Moved to Montana
Moved to Las Vegas, Nevada
Moved to Colorado
Moved back to Las Vegas, NV
Moved to Hawaii
Moved back again to Las Vegas, NV
Moved to Seattle, Washington

So yeah, I like moving around allot, and I'm only 26 years old, :-P So that's what, an average of less than 3 years in each state :-D

So where are you moving to Rand? I highly suggest Hawaii or Seattle, but NOT Las Vegas, that place has changed sooo much since I was little and it's turning really crime ridden and broken down! I know, I know the Strip looks sparkly and the waters flow like crazy, but I mean when you get down into the actual neighborhoods of the city and see the infrastructure, it is made with ultra cheap materials and expanded TOO quickly and is now just crumbling, in some places that is literal, haha :-D

lucidstates

Randburg,

You from Dallas man? I was BORN IN DALLAS!!!! Wooooot :-D ... GO COWBOYS!!!!!

I hope you are a Texan, otherwise, I've just made a total texas longhorn ass outta myself ;-P

lucidstates

You said this in the comments:
"Hehe..Yes, I love the rohan (you) bit.

Every time I look at a leaderboard and see randburg (you), I wonder how they think we are smart enough to be ON the leaderboard but dumb enough NOT to know who we are...".

Given the poor structure of most Hubdub questions, and the remember my username and password features on modern browsers, I'd be surprised if there weren't Hubdub users who need to be reminded of who they are 8^) Not that I think this shout applies to any of _my_friends!

input we need input
http://getsatisfaction.com/hubdub/topics/suspend_v_settlement_times

I saw you at #3 on the overall sometime yesterday. Whooo, hooo!

Numero 3!
your on quite a roll! now go get #1.

Your "Talk, Think, Vote" thoughts were very interesting.

no, i'm second generation canadian. the japanese has been an experience to learn as my father and grandparents were interned during the second world war. as my grandparents were embarrassed by their not being recognized as being canadian we grew up to be assimilated into canadian society. so there was no cultural aspects to my childhood. it was when i found that there is a spiritual aspect to everyones persona that they need to explore, that i found that sharing positive thought can be a fulfilling experience. ihave done galleries and juried shows but i find that it is a too closed community for my works. i am prone to giving away pieces that have meaning to someone and this does not sit well with some people. while they complain about the money that "we" could have made, it is the smile, and sometimes tears, that make the pieces have meaning for me. the stones with the japanese symbols are called "kindle stones" and they are meant to kindle a thought. when we set-up a display we always have a few done up that have sobriety on them. we don't sell them to anyone who makes light of the tought of sobriety as being a positive thought. but if someone wants one , because they understand the meaning of the thought, then we give them the stone as the have already paid the price.

randburg, I believe I have deduced another objective of the HubBusiness; social networking. Yet another web business that requires a self-sustaining community be built before success can be achieved. It seems that Hubdub is succeeding in building a small, though tightly bound, social networking site. Personally I find the shout system problematic because it is difficult to follow a thread of conversation, but it is in keeping with other social networking sites, and follows upon the principles of designing a shopping mall ... on the shopping floors make it difficult for anyone to escape without at least walking past all the stores. So, the social networking sites force us to repeatedly visit all of our friends' site to try to piece the conversation together. OTOH, it might be the advent of asynchronous conversation ... maybe I'm too old school.

no unfortunately my background is japanese and british. i am known as a poet, artist, philosopher, and warrior. i carved those pieces about 4 years ago. i have had a problem in the past where i would not keep records or pictures of my works but have been more mindfull lately. if you would like to see a few more pieces, check out
www.myspace.com/meanderingsearcher

It would be too depressing to see how far down all 743 leader boards I am, so not I haven't looked 8^). Hubdub is doing a good job of rolling out new functionality, and most of it is pretty well thought out and implemented. It does seem that they are tightening up their QA and configuration management as well, since new releases are getting less buggy. I have a very good understanding of how time consuming it can be to design, develop and follow rigorous QA and configuration management practices ... and how rarely it _is_ done.

I don't know any more than you do about Hubdub's ultimate objectives; possibly I know less. My intuition is that they are on to a concept that could become successful, but if the content doesn't keep up with the technology, and the seemingly arbitrary actions of the admins alienate too many users, they will miss their opportunity. I think there are lots of ways to address these issues: power-user question vetting, rules for the admins to follow regarding voiding, suspending and settling markets, an enhanced interface for creating questions (as jersjusttrolling suggested below), and more that doesn't spring immediately to mind.

It all has to, and could, work together. For example, if power-user question vetting is successful, then the actions of the admins will appear less arbitrary, because the discussion of and need to take action on contentious questions will decrease, because the questions will be less likely to provoke a controversy.

Thanks for your kind words and observations.

I'm very sorry for you best friend's family and all others his life may have touched.

I just received a similar call this AM, that my Uncle Gary has passed on. He was a wonderful soul, full of life, gifted with music, and brought smiles to so many faces throughout his life.

Oh, yeah, I'll get to work on some questions too. See you in Hubdubspace!

I appreciate that they are beautifully hand carved and finished: the four soapstone carvings that you use for your avatar? Where do they come from? Are they possibly African carvings?

yes soapstone is carved, preferably by hand and no technology, you asked where these were carved. did you mean the ones i use in my profile ?

where which ones were carved?

You are WAY cool.
It's like you read my autobiography (not yet published :).
Just got over the empty nest syndrome (2 boys, 2 girls), youngest 2 left home at the same instant. One to college, one pursue the art of womanizing .... :(
However, Youngest son has returned! And alas, he has built himself quite a business. Now, we're partnering on a few projects, and it's the absolute best that a man can expect in life. A Son to follow in his footsteps.

And YES!, the 'project', while a hobby at heart, is nearing completion, and will be published online (new web site), in the next few weeks. (Call it a beta, but not really, because we worked out the bugs in the design phase and prototype phase.). However .... I'll definitely send you a link once it's live, and hope to get some quality feedback. :)

Good night from Houston.

"not quite a real job" ...
Turning 50 this April, I'm riding a purely speculative wave in my career. I'm developing what I believe will be some truly signifcant software (web 2.0), and while I don't have a Boss, per see, I find myself driven harder than any boss (including Sgts Majors of Marines) has ever driven me.
So, gotta tell ya,
Hubdub has been my one and only 'relief' from that endeavor, and quite an enjoyable one, I might add, thanks to folks like you.

this was a piece which I named "together", it is the first of a four part series of soapstone carvings. the series was named after the four pieces "Together, Azwun, wee'R', Walking away together" The new one up today is "Azwun" I named this piece as when a couple are "together" they are never closer than when they are pregnant, hence "Azwun"

way to go randburg!
yes, of course I'd step up to vet questions. Always have, always will.

like aaamerican, i also have (while not quite a "real" job), a job nonetheless.

It seems, with a few exceptions, that those who've started early with Hubdub, now understand what it takes to make a 'good' question. As more folks get involved, that segment will grow as well, (hopefully).

I've been playing with some ideas (using notepad.exe), as to question questionaire. Not necessarily "what" makes a good question (subject matter), but "how" to compose a good question. Kind of like a checklist.

Is the subject a matter for public discourse?
Has the subject been brought up in mainstream news?
Can the subject be settled via conventional news sources?
What are the ...
suspend date/time?
possible outcomes?
improbable, but possible outcomes?
impossible outcomes?

you get the picture.
maybe this thread should be posted at getsatifaction.

whatever, however it is formed, I'd love to step up to help!

I have contributed time to some othe websites because I believed in what they were trying to do, and wanted to assist the communities they were trying to build. Several times the sites pulled unexpected moves, which caused me to question their motives, and I ceased volunteering my time. Hubdub has had a lot of start up issues, and is still having them, but I have no reason to suspect the motives of the founders; their execution may prioritize technical advances over content quality, it's certainly easier to achieve. I feel that the long-term success of Hubdub requires that the questions be of impeccable quality, and if questions that are created by admins are ambiguous, I'd like to see the community step up.

BTW, I never responded about Webster's vs. Oxford dictionaries; my comment was intended to tease 8^). I agree that Oxford is probably a better choice for an international site.

Kind regards,
An AverageAmerican

Wow, what a thoughtful and well-considered response you left for me. I definitely understand that Hubdub is a both a business and a community, but it has been my experience with web sites that it is often, but not always, the involvement of the community that leads to the success of the business. A good example of this would be YouTube, which would have no content if not for the involvement of the community. A good counter example is Ebay, that was such a compelling idea, that the community developed around the concept. Regardless, I am willing to volunteer _some_ of my time vetting questions for Hubdub, in order to help them succeed, because I have been enjoying the site and the generally convivial comments and discussion. I don't think I'd ask for a salaried position, I'm already working 60-70 hours a week at the one I have 8^)

Happy (whatever you said) to you too..

howdy ho, friend.
thanks for clueing me in on the fistinctive festivities yesterday.
I'm with you and aaamerican on the commitment to vetting the questions. and yes, i'd commit to screening in the manner outlined by aaamerican.

randburg, I think it is evident that the community can "vet" questions better than the editors. I'm not sure I agree with all of your points (let's use Webster's rather the the Oxford dictionary; the site is oriented towards the USA after all 8^). If even the admins create poorly structured questions, I think it is up to the community to step up and volunteer to screen questions for ambiguity, poor structure, and whether it is possible to settle them objectively. I would agree to not participate in questions I have screened in order to prevent so many poorly structured questions from making it onto Hubdub.

There has been discussion about power user vetting of questions, but I haven't seen any action. I would be happy to vet questions, and as an active user, participant on GetSatisfaction, frequent flagger of dubious questions, and location in the middle of the leader board, I'm a perfect candidate. I think there are other reputable Hubdubbers, like me, who would be willing to administer potential questions in order to prevent so many ambiguous and poorly constructed questions from appearing on the site.

Nice poem randburg. I thought it was InfernalMachine who claimed to be a poet.

I hope your enjoying your weekend friend!
End of Quarter is just a day away. Hope your wagers prove right!

Thanks! If you look at the "net worth" view, you'll find you're sitting on top of an apple ;-)

Hey there. I don't use the new sorting tool, I don't like the look of the screen nor do I like the feel of the page. It takes to long to load and I don't care what percentage up or down I am on a position.
I love questions like the Obama question, when the result is so certain (unless you are a follower of jersjustrolling) I can invest 10k, cash out some lower positions with the new profits and then the market will fix itself up to the low 90's. I just keep opening and closing those positions so I can turn my money over. I am most impressed with crudsy and his constant climbing up the ladder.

cnn ...

The letter comes one day after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid seemed to suggest Democratic leaders were in the process of working out a deal to ensure the party's nomination fight does not go all the way to the convention.

"Things are being done," Reid told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

I've reviewed the gratitude movie. just lovin' it.
I've passed it around to my non-hubdub friends, who also dig it, and will start using that hand gesture any chance they get. so will i.