The Pirates Stand

James Hill for Congress (Iowa)

Honesty as a practice
What you see is what you get. I am the only drunken Pirate seeking office in this great nation. What a sad testimonial to our political system when a degenerate like me, feels like the most honest candidate on the ballot. I am not talking the chrome plated crap my opponents throw out. I am talking about deep from the heart honesty. This pirate believes that holding public office demands real sacrifice. Every aspect of my personal life must be laid to the blade and exposed. My medical history. My financial history. My employment history. My family history out in the open for your scrutiny. It is my offer to you. It will be my way of showing real sacrifice to serve you. We as voters have not asked enough of candidates. For the $150,000 annual salary, candidates should be subjected to intense public scrutiny.

Should have an interview with James Hill to post Real soon.

The Kyle MacDonald Interview - One Red Paperclip

TDK: What was your best trade ever ?
KYLE: red paperclip for a fish pen.

TDK: What was your worst trade ever?
KYLE: haven't made a bad trade!

TDK: Do you ever play poker?
KYLE: I've played it once or twice. Don't really like it. Much more of a "Go Fish" or "Crazy Eights" fan myself.

TDK: Why the paper clip?
KYLE: first thing I saw when I thought of the idea.

TDK: Was it all your Idea?
KYLE: no, I stole it from a kids game called bigger and better. I just put it on the internet.

TDK: Did this start out as a personal wager between you and a friend?
Like… I bet you can't do it
KYLE: no, I just wanted to see if it was possible.

TDK: Name something that you have in common with most of the world?
You know, what can label you as normal.
KYLE: My mom still cuts my hair.

TDK: What makes you different from the rest of the world?
Yeah, what would make people say Freak.
KYLE: My mom still cuts my hair.

TDK: With 14 trades from paper clip to house, that is a pretty good take.
Ever consider becoming a stock trader?
KYLE: nope.

TDK: What is the biggest selling item on your site?
KYLE: i dont' sell anything on my site.

TDK: If you could choose any profession in the world and instantly assume the talent or skills required to be successful. What would you want to be or do professionally?
KYLE: Freelance internet trader.

TDK: What do you think about Mark Cuban? http://sharesleuth.com/ He is going to influence stocks by his investigations and reports.
KYLE: I read his blog because he "shoots from the hip" and speaks for real. I have no idea about his outlooks on stocks or investments.

TDK: Favorite villain?
KYLE: Skeletor.

TDK: If you could pull of one crime, one time, with absolutely no chance of getting caught. What would it be and why?
KYLE: Speeding.

TDK: Who do you admire in the internet world?
KYLE: It's easy to answer email questionaires on the fly. I'm in Northern Ontario right now. Kenora. My girlfriend is driving. I'm riding shotgun. Trees are flying past. Way better than standing at a phone booth or something.

TDK: Do you plan on doing another trading adventure soon?
KYLE: Sure, we'll see!

TDK: You said that you were going to write a book?
a) More than one?
b) About what?
KYLE: About trading a red paperclip for a house.

TDK: About the paper clip trading, do you think anyone else could do it now?
I mean, it's been done, been there done that type of thing. Do you think there is still enough interest out there for someone to make it happen again?
KYLE: Sure, somebody'll figure out a way to do it again. They'll have to innovate to make it catch on though.

TDK: If you could have kept one of your other trades with the house what would it be and why?
KYLE: Nothing. It was all about trading up to the house.

TDK: Plans for the future. More trades, stocks maybe, merchandise, writing books, retire?
KYLE: You name it, I'll probably end up doing it. Trading stocks is probably my lowest of priorities though...

kyle

Thanks for the email interview Kyle!
The Dollar Kidd.

THE RED PILL INTERVIEW

Franny: I guess to comment on the Redpill, I first have to give a little background on myself. I play online poker as a hobby. Nothing serious, I just enjoy it. Well the best way to learn anything is through internet groups and forums. I found myself lurking on poker forums for hours on end. I was spending more time on forums than actually playing poker. I never participate in the discussions…just lurk.
Well, The Redpill was a controversial character on every popular poker forum. He was often banned for flying off the handle, and mistreating other members. I started reading his blog a little over a year ago. His humility is priceless. His writing skills, in my opinion, are very good. Whether he is writing about living in his brother's “crummy” house, or getting robbed while delivering pizzas, he usually has something interesting to say. His views are skewed, but he is pretty passionate about them, which holds some merit. Lately, the Pill’s Blog is lacking something, but it is still one of the first things I check in the morning. His blog was a huge hit, his forum was a huge hit, though short lived. Quite a few people will probably disagree with me, but in my opinion, this blog is one of the must reads on the internet. Now unleash all of the HEAD>>>>>OVEN comments on me. Good luck trading Pill!
- Franny

THE RED PILL INTERVIEW

TDK: What was your best rake in:
a) A Day?
Redpill: I think $400. Playing some headsup NL matches on Pokerroom. It's been so long. Hard to remember.
b) A Week?
Redpill: $950. It was the week where I made $400 in one day I believe then I had a good next few days to finish the week.
c) A Month?
Redpill: I never really kept track but the first month I started, I did well since I was putting in so many hours. I wasn't very good at keeping records. I did write down my withdrawals and deposits involving Neteller, though.

TDK: What were your worst losses in:
a) A Day?
Redpill: I lost $1000 in one day playing NL heads up matches. LOL. I think it was the week or month after winning $1000. It should be in my blog I think. In blackjack, I lost $2500 in about 30 minutes time back in my card counting days.
b) A Week?
Redpill: $1000 since after the $1000 loss, I pretty much stopped playing after that. I take losses pretty hard.
c) A Month?
Redpill: Same as above.

TDK: What made you say the Hell with Poker?
Redpill: I think I just really hate the game. It's something about competing directly against other people that really makes me angry. Also, I just couldn't figure out the proper way to play certain hands. I would win some money and then stop playing immediately. I think the appropriate thing to do is to keep playing when you are winning but after I would win a little, I would get so scared to lose it back that I would stop. After about 6 months of playing and having even less bankroll than in the beginning, I just finally wanted to move on. I could see that I wasn't going anywhere.

TDK: Why stock trading?
Redpill: I never thought I'd get into it but someone was sending me these spame-mailers but they had strange titles on them like "Jill just broke her back" or something strange like that and I would open them to see what it was and it turned out to be recommendations on what stocks to buy. I like mysteries so this tugged at that part of my brain. If they would have made the title, "YOU'RE A WINNER!!! $5000 FOR SIGNING UP!!!". I would have completely ignored it. Upon investigation, I found out that it was scam but I ended up finding out that I could possibly really get into trading and do something there. Of course, if I'm not any richer in a few months, you'll find out that I'm probably flipping burgers now.

TDK: Did you research this a lot or just dive into it?
Redpill: Dive in.

TDK: Name something that you have in common with most of the world?You know, what can label you as normal.
Redpill: My parents are divorced as are many other people's. Actually, that's about it. I've lived a very strange life that some aren't completely aware of and that I don't talk about. There came a time in my life when I had to reject the bullshit of the world and live the way I wanted to live. It was actually very necessary to my survival. Some won't be able to understand that, and your imagination may not even be able to figure out how I could say that but it's true.


TDK: What makes you different from the rest of the world?
Yeah, what would make people say, Freak.
Redpill: I think I've either figured out some things that others haven't through circumstances in my life OR

TDK: Name your favorite 3 conspiracies
Redpill: 9/11 conspiracy. This is a recent thing for me. I used to have apoker forum and someone wrote about the 9/11 conspiracy. At the time, I gave no thought about it at all. I thought it was nuts. Then after that, a month or two later, I watched a couple youtube.com vids on the subject. I called my mom up and talked to her about it and told her what they were saying. She told me that it was a bunch of nonsense and they can say anything they want on there. I left it at that and thought that my mom was probably right. Well, a few weeks later, something said to go back and watch some more videos and read more info on the subject so I did. Then something happened to me one morning after a full weekend of watching 9/11 conspiracy videos and reading conspiracy websites. I felt like I had a revelation of some type. I stood up out of my chair and stared at the TV and cupped my hand over my mouth in absolute horror. I think I finally understood what was really happening. I think understood why all my life, I had internally wrestled with the idea that something just wasn't right about our country and about the world we live in. It just didn't make sense that I was born into some strange world where 40 hour work weeks were the norm. What the hell is that? That's not God. And it was certainly against whoever created me. Seems to me that all these investions are things to keep us blinded from the truth. The invention of the automobile was not good for mankind. It is keeping us apart from each other. My other two conspiracies I guess are also related to the Big Brother government that we live in. What happened to Nicolas Berg? Also, look up information on Oklahoma City Bombing. I'm not saying there is or isn't a cover up but it could be. I used to watch Unsolved Mysteries and I guess these things appeal to that part of me as well.

TDK: Are you religious?
Redpill: After knowing what I think I know, I think religion is actually something created by the machine to make us believe that we are living right and good when in reality, we are actually supporting the machine. I don't believe the Bible is all there. I think some parts are missing and I think some parts might have actually been re-written. Whether I'm right or not, I think Jesus would want me to question things. Only ones who doesn't like information and knowledge is the evil ones. I'm talking real information, not the crap that is fed to you in your schools and on TV. I think it's funny how we kill off the Indians and take their land and we call it "Manifest Destiny" but if that happened in the Middle East, it's called "genocide".

TDK: Do you think religion is a conspiracy?
Redpill: see above comment

TDK: Well I mean it could be, science is proving evolution every day.
TDK: I read an article today that said they are closer to solving the evolution of earth with each new discovery.
Redpill: What???

TDK: Do you think just maybe like the old saying that; If you say it, hear or see it enough that you’ll believe it. What about this theory? The bible could have been written by Stephen King’s ancestor, obviously Stephen was not around when it was written.
Redpill: What?

TDK: I have a couple of Blogs, mostly for my own entertainment. This is my first one http://thedollarkidd.blogspot.com/ A million Ideas, a Dollar a Piece. Maybe you have checked it out, maybe not. Anyway, I wrote a post on there about Red Pill Gear. What the hell most athletes make more off endorsements than the sport.
TDK: Would you try something like that?
Redpill: Sure but as far as getting filthy filthy rich off something, I think there would come a point that I would start giving some people some money, too. I wouldn't just accumulate like Bill Gates. I think once I became a millionaire, the next amount of money after, I would start looking for people to give it to. I would look for poor people, to give money to. I wouldn't give it to charity since they seem to be apart of the machine. I'd bypass the middle man, and hand it right to them.

TDK: What types of things would you want for merchandise?
Redpill: lol. You are getting serious with this thing. Maybe T-shirts. Idon't know, man. I like taking money from people who have a lot of it. I'd hate for someone to spend their last few bucks on redpill merchandise. I'm just saying.

TDK: Any catchy slogan you would use?
Redpill: "I'm anti-slogan".

TDK: If you could choose any profession in the world and instantly assume the talent or skills required to be successful. What would you want to be or do professionally?
Redpill: I'd be President of the United States. Once I became president, Ithink I'd change a lot of things. I think everything would have to be re-done. Just tear everything down and start brand new with new people in there and with checks and balances so that what is happening now could not ever happen again. In my way of thinking, though, being a professional that makes a lot of money and being a poor person that has nothing, is the same thing. You know, I don't really want to be anything anymore because this world makes me sick.

TDK: What do you think about Mark Cuban? http://sharesleuth.com/ He is going to influence stocks by his investigations and reports.
Redpill: I have no idea.

TDK: You made a comment do not vote republican or democrat in the upcoming 2008 presidential election. Are you suggesting Red Pill for President?
Redpill: No.

TDK: Outside of occasional poker games, will you get back in hard and heavy?Some comments say, play poker and show ‘em how it’s done “Pill Style”
Redpill: Whether I do or not, it's the same thing. Success and failure are one and the same.

TDK: Women. What is the Red Pill’s ideal woman?
Redpill: Someone who is very much seeking to be like Christ. Someone who loves good and hates all forms of evil.
TDK: If you could pull of one crime, one time, with absolutely no chance of getting caught. What would it be and why?
Redpill: Next question.

Franny: Who do you admire in the poker world, who is your favorite professional?
Redpill: Probably Barry Greenstein since he gives to charity at least. I like Phil Hellmuth, too.

Franny: Why, in the past, did you have so much animosity toward Daniel Negreanu?
Franny: Why so much animosity in general?
Redpill: They banned me from their Poker forum for no reason. They never told me why. Daniel Negreanu has his head so far up in the clouds that I doubt he's ever coming back down. He supposedly runs his poker forum without actually running it. That's pretty funny. He has no idea what is happening in his own forum. I don't even post there anymore or on any poker forums anymore because that part is over for me.

TDK: What is the deal with hating your dad?
Redpill: If you are mean to me, I won't like you. It's that simple. My dad was mean to me almost everyday. It was like living with Adolf Hitler.

TDK: Plans for the future? Poker, Stocks, Merchandise, What does the Pill have planned?
Redpill: I have something in the works now that I'm excited about. Like I said, though, if I make too much money, I'll start giving it away. Right now, I don't have any money. I'm in the red actually.

Thanks Pill for taking the time to do this, so far exclusive, interview.

Controversy, poker, conspiracy or whatever. We both say link it, not for the quality or quantinty, but for a view that most do not bring to the forefront. This is a mad site, that keeps you on the edge of your seat. That is as long as your not afraid to hear someone's opinion because the Pill definately has one of those.

TDK

One Red Paperclip

This,One Red Paper Clip, and the Red Pill is where it all started.
By Franny and I going back and forth with arguements about his trades.


Take a look, read the comment. This was actually all on my Blog to start. Franny made a comment about my comment on the red pills Blog. Then I brought up the paper clip guy, and it was back and forth from there.

TDK

An Act of Love

An act of love or Putting a Loved One to Sleep

This is truly an amazing Story that Franny stumbled on, click on the title (above) to read the article.

This is really about suicide as most people see. I had an uncle 10 years my senior who was a mentor to me, and he committed suicide at 34. No note or nothing, so to me it is suicide. His back was fused together and had possibility of landing in a wheelchair, though he never did. He received SSI, as he started paying taxes at 13 years old, and due to his broken back at 23 or 24 could no longer work. He often told me of switching back and forth between booze and pain killers, as after so much of either they lost their effect on the pain. Like I said I don't know his reason so I call it suicide.

This story is more about ending you life because you have out lived the quality of life. This also was an elderly woman, and had lived the most of her life not that it makes death is any easier on her family. This is a story of a family helping a loved one pass. This was done with proper guidlines and professionals at her side. It was also several steps, so that she had a chance to go back, or quit at any time. Governed properly, I believe this has a place in our society.

To me this is should be a legal option. We have the right to put our pets to death without being able to communicate or gain their consent. We constantly battle whether or not it should be legal to abort a pregnancy, that too is a life without a voice. Well that's another story, and to stay on track, this is a person of sound mind who does not want to suffer and chooses death over the struggles of immobility or other permanent conditions depleting the quality of life. This is a very touching story of a family that pulled together to do what nobody wanted to do, but what was best for the person that they all loved.

Over a year ago, after 3 days of my dog not being able to walk, and a trip to the local vet. I went 100 miles for another opinion. I was told, after an MRI, that my 7 year old dog would never walk again (due to his hind legs having no feeling) by a specialist in Chicago. They said he had a tumor that grown into his spine and surgery would only gain him a couple of months at best. I went there hoping to find out it was only a ruptured disc. He said that they could put him down before I picked him up, or they could also dispose of him as well. I said let me make this clear I will be there first thing in the morning and he better be alive. My dog was walking again 3 days later. They called 3 months later and asked if I had put him down yet, I said no he is walking. The very same Doctor, said oh, I must have incorrectly diagnosed him. I hung up. He is now 8 and can jump into my truck and stand against a tree.

I say Link it!

TDK

What it's All About

Franny and I will post Blogs on various topics and random blogs and if we both like the site or whatever it is we will "LINK IT" right here on our Blog. If not, we "SINK IT" and encourage people to forget that it exist.

Of course our own blogs are linked because... Well becuse they are our blogs so they must be good...

Join in comment if you want, it's mostly for fun but who knows how heated it could get... Send us a link or for a new topic. We'll check it out and "Link It" or "Sink It"

The best part is you can be our critic, by posting comments. Even try to persuade our views...

TDK