Wizard's Blog

Welcome back. I didn't even realize there was a casino scene in Panama. Did you get any kind of tour of the canal?

Yes, there are quite a few casinos in Panama City. I will have to some research on a specific number, but probably about 20 with table games, and some more that are slots only.



I saw the canal only from the Miraflores Locks, which are one set of three, and the closest to Panama City. There is a company that does boat trips through part or all of the canal on certain days, but I was not there when such a trip was scheduled. In the visitor center they show a time-elapsed video of the whole journey.

Here's an odd request: What did you think of the Panama City airport? I ask because Copa Airlines advertises itself a lot here, promoting that airport as a hub for travel to South and Central America (inc competition with Miami).

Can't wait for the reports!

The Panama City airport is quite nice. I don't know why they put it so far from town, as there seems to be a lot of empty land between it and Panama City. Airport security is tight and they frisk everybody leaving. My plane leaving was an hour late and then they unplugged the plane before turning on the engine, so they had to jump start it, which took another half an hour. So I missed my connection in Miami and had to spend the night there.



I have a first draft of the Beneto article done.

Welcome back Wiz: In Spanish the V is pronounced like our letter B, so the hotel is the Veneto Wyndham. Panama City has changed radically since they took over the Canal Zone. It is starting to resemble a tropical Manhattan with some of the densest urbanization in Latin America. Unfortunately the mass transit has not kept pace, and the streets are very overcrowded.

It has become a popular retirement place for gringos. They are attracted to the use of the dollar as currency, and the complete lack of hurricanes or earthquakes. The downside is the incredible humidity.

There were proposals to build a "dry canal" across the isthumus of Tehuantepec (narrow part of Mexico) about 1880 by James B. Eads. He reasoned that the building of the Panama Canal would come at the cost of thousands of lives due to Malaria vs normal death rate for building a "dry canal" in relatively malaria free Mexico. Of course, he was correct, but it was mostly not white people who paid the price of their lives. The "dry canal" is back in the news again, this time as a China-Columbia construction project. I don't know if things have advanced to the point that they won't try and drag the ships across the land or if they will invent a mass unloading procedure to get the goods across the land .

The same Eads who built river ironclads in the American Civil War methinks.

(1) James Eads built the ironclads in the civil war, and the bridge over the Mississippi River at St Louis. He was a respected architect which is why his plan to carry ships over Mexico on rails got a proper hearing. The decision to build the canal probably would not have been made if all lives were valued on the same level.



(2) The airports were built to guard the canal against an invasion, not for civilian transport. Panama didn't even have a million people until the mid 1950's. That would explain it's location.



(3) The Trump Hotel will be the tallest building in Latin America at nearly 1000' when completed. It is the building on the left that looks like a sail.

I saw this today in the paper - Dan Steinberg is a sports writer who has a great sense of humor for the newspaper. Congrats on another article. Hoping Russ does well today.

Good job... Plugged WOO, not WOV..



That guy is going to be working in LV by the next SB. The bookmakers want someone like him INSIDE, not outside.



SFB

Cogratulations, you have wowed us again!

Now that you are officially the world's greatest blackjack player, will you be banned from playing everywhere ?

Wizard of Odds, Wizard of Vegas and now Wizard of Blackjack. Congratulations.

A big congratulations. Very impressive.

Fantastic news! Great job!

Congrats!

I read that although the Wiz generally doesn't drink beer, when he does, he prefers Dos XX's. Congrats Wiz!!!

Thanks for all the kind words! The comment by DrWLS is from my father, by the way. To answer his question, I fly high above the radar already, so this can't make much difference. My father may remember when we went on a cruise of western Mexico a few years ago and I got backed off from blackjack in the ship casino after one session. The casino manager was kind enough to tell me that his suspicions were confirmed after he Google'd my name.

Congratualtions! But to second Croupier, will you be setting up a Wizard of Blackjack page? ;)

Would you mind telling us some of the "20 Questions" they asked, or at least some greeked examples? I assure you no one here would be bored with it.

Thats funny what your dad said, that was my first thought too.

Congrats Wiz. So was the pony board still running this year? If so, what odds did you go off at?

I just wrote this up in more detail in my Wizard of Odds blog. That mentions two of the trivia questions. Another one was, true or false, the phone number of the X casino in Jackpot Nevada is 1-800-BAD-LUCK. I don't remember the casino, but not only was it false, there was no such casino in Jackpot. That is one I got right.



I don't recall my exact odds, but I think something like 25-1 for first place.

Great job. I personally wouldnt go if invited. But I am curious approximately how many people showed up in disguise.

Nicely done Wiz

First, the NYG pick should not count, despite the fact that they won 21-3. The change of venue resulted in all original bets being cancelled, which I think should be the case here too. That is how it was scored in the contest I'm in as well. So, not counting that one I still went 4-0. Yeah for me!

I went to the game. It was more like a Giants home game than a Vikings one.

Pros:

It could be a good investment. I have no idea what the market value of this set would be. Is the reserve well below this amount?





Cons:

Based on the photo, they are not in very good shape. The real gem is "Bandit's" Trans Am plate, but it looks rusted out. Can the damage be stopped/reversed without spoiling the value?

** I would be surprised if this is the only set of plates. There were multiple cars used in the movie(s). So I would not be surprised if multiple sets of plates exist. This will affect resale pricing.

According to Wikipedia, there were three Trans Ams used in the movie.



A Trans Am that may or may not have been in the movie, but was owned by Burt Reynold's is in a museum in Deadwood, South Dakota The picture on the website shows a partial front plate, but I couldn't make it out.

The GA Flag Plate is nothing special, you could buy a nicer one easily though it is a cool-looking flag plate. (AZ flag plates are coolest IMHO.)



Is there a TX Plate missing? From watching "Dallas" as a kid I thought TX has front plates.



On the pro side, you could buy them then get on TV taking them to the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop................

That is a valuable comment about the three Bandits, thanks. It is hard to tell what is on the front of the South Dakota one, but that is where the GA flag plate would have been, which I'm sure is very common. Regarding the condition, the supposed real license plates are just movie props. I'm sure they made them look a little beat up deliberately. The Bandit plates should have looked a little dirty from driving from TX to GA and back at high speed (or did they start in GA?) That fact that they are props also makes me worry there may be others floating around. They could also be more easily counterfeited than a legitimate license plate. Even if they were real, and I bought them, the additional degree of separation between me and the original owner would cause others to doubt the authenticity, depressing the resale value.



Pursuant to my last blog entry about fraud on EBay, I'm always seem people auction the license plate that was supposedly on the Delorean in the Back to the Future movies. I mean I must have seen them auctioned at least 50 times. Somewhere, perhaps Universal Studios, I think they must sell them in the gift shop. I've also seen on EBay a license plate that was allegedly on the moon rover, but why would the lug it back here from the moon?

There may have been three "Bandits" but not all had plates. If you watch the movie and the scene where they jump the bridge you can clearly see there is NO PLATE on the car they are using at the time.



I'd find it hard to believe they would put a plate on the moon rover. Extra weight and extra bits and bobs to break loose and fly around the cabin.

Here is a brief page on the lunar license plate. Here is another page on an auction for a tiny one that was allegedly one "a small number" that were taken to the moon and returned to earth.

The good news is that I was the high bidder. The bad news is I didn't reach the hidden reserve. I sent the owner a message about how to reach me. Wish me well in the half marathon tomorrow.

I stand corrected that they did it, though given some of the other stuff they worried about I remain suprised. Suprised on the technical level, NASA guys seem to have a good sense of humor.



BTW: I work in a town called moon and never seen one! Oh, and the town of "Mars" is 30 mins from my office. I kid you all not.



Very nice link as well.

>> Even if they were real, and I bought them, the additional degree of separation between me and the original owner would cause others to doubt the authenticity, depressing the resale value.



Isn't that what Certificates of Authenticity are all about?





Regarding the Lunar license plate: Astronauts are allowed to bring several ounces (pounds?) of personal items on missions. Remeber the movie The Right Stuff? One of those guys brought rolls of dimes, and planned to use them to score with girls when he got back. The Lunar Plates were very small. Boeing built the rover and made a bunch of plates, which Commander Dave Scott had in a space suit pocket as he drove the rover. The ones being sold have a Certificate of Authenticity signed by Dave Scott. There is no evidence that one was affixed to the rover itself, but then again, I wouldn't doubt it.