This month’s Wired carries a great article about a Cuban-Latvian who figured out how to hack–and then counterfeit–slot machines. The main story is great, but even the windup is awesome:

By 1990, slot machines accounted for a full two-thirds of Las Vegas’ gaming revenue, a percentage that has remained fairly constant ever since. Slots took over the prime casino real estate previously reserved for blackjack and roulette; three-quarters of gaming-floor acreage in Las Vegas is now inhabited by slots. And IGT grew into the industry’s Goliath, with annual revenue of close to $2 billion and a coveted spot on the S&P 500 index. Roughly half of America’s 833,000 slot machines are produced at IGT’s manufacturing plant in Reno.

Armed with detailed intelligence regarding gamblers’ behavior, IGT’s designers now tailor each new machine to appeal to a specific type of player. “One of the things that really defines how a game plays is volatility of the math model,” says Chris Satchell, the company’s CTO, who previously filled the same role at Microsoft’s videogame division. Some games, he explains, are based on algorithms that produce frequent but small payouts, ensuring that risk-averse players are able to play for long stretches before losing their bankrolls. High-volatility games, by contrast, offer large jackpots but long odds of winning and are thus designed to attract gamblers who want a quick shot at a big score. Creating those varied experiences, while still ensuring that the house always wins a predictable amount over the long run, requires the expertise of professional mathematicians. IGT scours the nation’s graduate mathematics programs in search of talent who would rather develop slots software than devise Wall Street trading algorithms.

Slots manufacturers have recently come to view game consoles as a serious threat to their business; they fear that younger gamblers in particular might prefer to stay home and play L.A. Noire than trek to a casino. So to give players the illusion that they’re doing something more interactive than clicking on a random-number generator, many slots now offer periodic bonuses like free spins or minigames. These can be customized to an individual player’s preferences, based on information stored on their casino loyalty cards, which are inserted into the machine during play.

I’ve reviewed Grant Morrison’s new book, Supergods, over at the WSJ. It is, I think, the most embarrassing piece of writing I’ve ever seen released by a mainstream publisher. Just as a technical matter, it’s filled with typos, repeated sentences, and trivial errors–if this is the finished product, I can scarcely imagine what the submitted manuscript must have looked like. And that leaves aside the meandering self-indulgence and lack of any structure, conceptual spine, or through-line. And that leaves out the soul-destroying tedium of Morrison’s page after page of drug stories, including a long description of his being whisked into the fifth dimension and given a talking to by supernatural/alien beings while on a trip to Kathmandu–at the conclusion of which he gets all surly with readers who might suspect that this experience, too, was probably a drug trip. But it wasn’t. It was real, man. The realest real thing that’s ever been. Dude.

None of this is spoiler territory for the review, mind you, in which I basically argue that the failings of Supergods are really just exemplary of why Morrison is a failure as a comic book writer.

Galley Friend M.L. sens along this clip of a guy getting a tow-in ride on a wave created by a glacier calving. It’s pretty crazy.

Glenn Reynolds has the story of a man being illegally arrested (twice!) for legally videotaping police officers. Awesome.

But Radley Balko points us to a genuinely great moment in law enforcement: A cop writing in favor of recording on-duty police work. Some of his key points:

Aren’t we known for saying, “If you’ve got nothing to hide, what are you worried about?” This same mentality should also apply to us. If we’re doing our job professionally and within the law, what’ve we got to worry about if someone’s filming us — especially if they’re doing so without getting in our way? If we decide we don’t like being filmed and take our attention away from what we’re doing, we are the ones delaying ourselves, not the person filming us. If the person is making snide comments, ignore it unless the comments are inciting a riot, but there again it will all be caught on film, right?

Should we ever expect to have a right to privacy when we’re in public? I don’t think so; cops are public employees. We can record comments and statements made by suspects/arrestees sitting in the back of our police cars where there’s no expectation of privacy. . . .

I think back at the number of times I was made aware I was being taped and I can’t recall ever giving a rat’s ass about it. I was also never hauled into IA to watch a video of me misbehaving either. So maybe those of us getting our skirts up over our heads about this should take a long hard look in the mirror before crying foul.

The reality is, cops have very public jobs, like it or not. We’re expected to behave professionally even when faced with overwhelming challenges. The public generally knows we’ve got a tough job, but no one is forcing us to do it. Some people have an axe to grind with police tactics, there’s no changing this mindset, and they’ll do their best to catch us making mistakes, misbehaving, abusing our authority or losing control. It happens sometimes to the best of us. It’s best to admit our mistakes and take our lumps.

Well said.

Via Galley Friend B.W.: There are worse ways to spend $300.

Hint-hint.

Jonah Goldberg has another excellent column. He focuses on Obama’s claim to pragmatism, but mentions in passing something that should be a line in the stump speech for whoever the Republican nominee is.

Goldberg notes the following line from Obama:

Earlier last week, referring to the fact that he is rich, the president said: “I do not want, and I will not accept, a deal in which I am asked to do nothing. In fact, I’m able to keep hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional income that I don’t need.”

He then adds, “the man lives in public housing and has a government jet at his disposal.”

But that’s not going far enough. The Republican nominee should quote this line of Obama’s often, and then follow it with some of the extravagant expenses Michelle Obama has racked: the $500,000 trip to Africa, the pleasure trip to Spain with 40 of her friends, the $100,000 “date night” in New York, the extensive and expensive personal staff she requires.

All of these expenses were picked up by taxpayers. The eventual nominee should note all of this and then tell voters that perhaps President Obama would “need” more money if the rest of us didn’t have to pay for his wife’s lifestyle.

Here’s an idea: She can call clothing companies and get them to pay her for not wearing their stuff. I bet Ralph Lauren would have spent $20K to avoid this picture.

The Czabe puts it all in perspective: Yes, it’s soccer. Yes, it’s women’s soccer. And yes, it’s always better when America wins stuff. But on the other hand, Japan’s victory yesterday is the sports equivalent of Hoosiers meets Rocky meets Silkwood–it might be the greatest underdog story of all time:

Japan reportedly has only 25,000 registered female youth soccer players, compared to more than 1 million in the U.S. The Japanese never had advanced beyond the Women’s World Cup quarterfinals. Several members of the current side personally were affected by the March earthquake and tsunami, including defender Aya Sameshima, who worked part time at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant and played professionally for the team sponsored by the company

That is awesome. By the time they were down 2-1, I was actually kind of pulling for them. When their goalie made that unbelievable save on the first penalty kick, it was clear that they were a team of destiny. If you can’t get pumped up by their win, you don’t love sports.