Pi Day 2026 –PI and the Horse Races

 

Pi Day 2026 –PI and the Horse Races

Since I have been playing around with picking the ponies lately, I thought I might try to look into any PI Day angles for that. So, I settled on examining how the circular nature of a racetrack affects the horse-races, in this case the harness races. However, the general sense of this would apply to any sort of race run around a track, including thoroughbred horses.

 

The above is a plan view of a simplified racetrack, comprised of two circles connected by straight lines, such that the lines intesect the circles, tangent to the radii (more or less, given the limitations of a spreadsheet construction).

The blue inner radii and connecting line represents the path of a horse that runs inside, along the rail. It is meant to be one-mile, the distance of many harness-racetracks. The green outer radii and connecting line represents the path of a horse that runs on an path to the outside of the first horse. The distance between the two paths is exagerated.

As the diagram shows, it is obvious that the outer horse will run a greater distance than the inner horse, which will be related to the difference in the radii of the inner and outer circles.

Since the simplified track is composed partly of circles, PI is bound to come into the calculations. That is shown in the cut/paste of some calculations from a spreadsheet. The main result is that the outer horse runs about 10 yards farther than the inner horse, if is it parked outside the inner horse on the turns. The phrase "parked out" just means that it is running outside of the innermost horse and remains "parked" in the position for the bulk of the race. That is the case when it is parked out by one horse. If it is on the outside of two horses, the extra distance will be nearly 21 yards, and so on. Note that this extra distance is on the turns; on the straight sections, both horses run the same distance.

The next set of calculations related to times and velocities. If the inside horse finishes the one-mile course in 2 minutes (a typical standard for harness horses), that implies a velocity of 14.67 yards per second (that’s 30 miles per hour). Were the horse that is parked one wide to go that same velocity, it would take 120.71 seconds, so a difference of about 7 seconds.

 

A typical length for a horse and sulky is about 12 to 14 feet, or about 4 yards. At about 15 yards per second, a horse would cover nearly 4 seconds in the time it takes to travel that distance. So, that would imply that the outside horse would finish the race about 2.6 lengths behind the winner.

In order to finish in a dead heat, the outer horse would have to step up its average velocity from 14.67 yards per second to 14.75 yard per second. That doesn’t sound like much, but over 2 minutes it adds up. For a horse that was parked outside for more widths than this, the numbers would scale appropriately.

So, where position the horse and when to challenge for the lead is significantly impacted by the extra distance to travel, due to the differing radii in the corners for inner and outer horses. And since corners are partial circles, PI comes into play.

This is one of the main factors that a driver must consider. Of course there are many other nuances. Some horses just naturally want to run in the lead, while others prefer to close at the end of the race. There can be advantages to running second, just behind the leader, in a similar way that this occurs in bicycle races ("drafting"). This can save a lot of energy, for that final sprint to the finishing line. But there is also a chance of being "boxed in" (stuck in traffic), and being prevented from making that move.

So, there is a lot of math in this, including PI, so I will go to the harness races on March 14 and have some PI.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

So, now that you have dutifully read some Pi Day math, you should read a science fiction book, or even better, a whole series. Book 1 of the Witches’ Stones series even includes a reference to pi.:

The Witches’ Stones

Or, you might prefer, the trilogy of the Witches’ Stones (they’re psychic aliens, not actual witches), which follows the interactions of a future Earth confederation, an opposing galactic power, and the Witches of Kordea. It features Sarah Mackenzie, another feisty young Earth woman).

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008PNIRP4

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B008PNIRP4

 

 

The Magnetic Anomaly: A Science Fiction Story

“A geophysical crew went into the Canadian north. There were some regrettable accidents among a few ex-military who had become geophysical contractors after their service in the forces. A young man and young woman went temporarily mad from the stress of seeing that. They imagined things, terrible things. But both are known to have vivid imaginations; we have childhood records to verify that. It was all very sad. That’s the official story.”

A short story of about 6000 works.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0176H22B4

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0176H22B4

 

 

The Zoo Hypothesis or The News of the World: A Science Fiction Story

In the field known as Astrobiology, there is a research program called SETI, The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. At the heart of SETI, there is a mystery known as The Great Silence, or The Fermi Paradox, named after the famous physicist Enrico Fermi. Essentially, he asked “If they exist, where are they?”.


Some quite cogent arguments maintain that if there was extraterrestrial intelligence, they should have visited the Earth by now. This story, a bit tongue in cheek, gives a fictional account of one explanation for The Great Silence, known as The Zoo Hypothesis. Are we a protected species, in a Cosmic Zoo? If so, how did this come about? Read on, for one possible solution to The Fermi Paradox.

The short story is about 6300 words, or about half an hour at typical reading speeds.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076RR1PGD

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B076RR1PGD

Race Track Diary, Entry Number Eighteen Billy Budd’s (Dec 22, 2025)

 

Race Track Diary, Entry Number

 Eighteen

Billy Budd’s (Dec 22, 2025)

Introduction

This blog and some following blogs are sections from an informal diary of “visits to the race-track” at a particular time and place, by a person who has followed the races with varying levels of participation over a long period. These relate primarily to some visits to the track and/or off-track betting venues in the 2025 period and onward. They contain observations about the activity, both specific and general. Although these remarks are personal, they also reflect general cultural and historical trends, as they have impacted horse-racing, wagering and culture in general.

The setting is Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (population of about one million plus). However, I imagine that the observations would apply to many places in the world, as they are a reflection of how changing trends in technology, globalization and culture in general have affected this ancient and honourable activity of horse-racing.

For now, I will use what I call “polished point-form” for the narrative.

======================================================================

• 18 – Billy Budd’s (Dec 22, 2025)

  • Due to the exigencies of weekend-before-Christmas preparations (shopping, tree decorating, visiting, wrapping presents, etc.), we had to reschedule our horse-racing venture at Billy Budd’s to a Monday, rather than within the more usual Thursday to Saturday window.

  • This has its issues, relating to the days of the week on which the various tracks run. The higher quality tracks (i.e. those with higher purses) tend to run later in the week, from Thursday to Sunday. Using racetrack terminology, Monday to Wednesday are ‘dark days’ for these tracks. That leaves Monday to Wednesday for the less prestigious venues.

  • In addition, the early week has a higher percentage of tracks that feature harness races than thorougbreds. It seems obvious to me that the majority of horse players tend to prefer the thoroughbreds over the harness races (sometimes called bucket-pullers), so the pickings for a thoroughbred fan are rather slim on a Monday.

  • Given these factors, it was a rather sparse crowd at Budd’s when we arrived, at about 1:30 or so. Not too surprising; Monday is a working day for most people.

  • The horseracing section of the bar only had a few people in attendance, including a couple of older gents enjoying a mid-afternoon breakfast (they were not together). Craig and I are at that in-between age; just past working-age but still keen on getting out in the world for a bit of sport. I guess these guys were the same.

  • The waitress was a pleasant young lady, who used the expression ‘my love’ a lot, something like you might hear in England. That, and a pleasing appearance, probably resulted in some extra tips.

  • I chose Delta Downs and Turf Paradise to follow. Craig followed them as well, but also threw some money at bucket-pullers.

  • Delta Downs is a course in Louisiana and Turf Paradise is a course in Arizona. The Delta Downs card was well into it, by the time we arrived.

  • We were set up by the 7^th race, but I had no time to bet it after working out my numbers. That was just as well, as the horse I liked didn’t win. Instead, the third fastest horse won, with the first fastest second and the second fastest third. The winner was a huge longshot, paying out $82 on a $2 bet.

  • The 8^th race was a pretty classy affair, the 18^th running of the Boyd Rewards, with a $100,000 purse. The horse my system chose finished dead last, with a favorite taking the big purse.

  • The 9^th race was a cheap $10,000 maiden claming race. My system’s pick actually won at $14 on a $2 bet, but I foolishly bet the favorite, being seduced by the crowd. That horse came in third. The thing about a winning system is that you can’t chicken out, being scared off by the high odds. Those are the races where you make your decent profits. That’s an easy policy to state, but a hard one to follow.

  • That was the last race of the day for Delta Downs. Usually there are at least ten races, but perhaps the nearness of Christmas was forcing the tracks to scale back a bit.

  • It was mid-afternoon by then. A couple of loquacious drunks were being pretty loud at the bar, but in a friendly sort of way, so that was fine. They added to the ambience, I guess.

  • We segued into the races at Turf Paradise, begining with the 5^th race. That was a cheapie $4500 maiden claiming race, with an $8500 purse. It was a short race at 4.5 furlongs (just over half a mile). Many of the horses had no racing history (just workouts), with other having very unspectacular records. For my purposes, that means unbettable (I don’t know how seriously to take workouts), so I passed. A longshot with one in-the-money race in ten races came in; that would have been hard to pick.

  • A newcomer to the track might wonder why I called the 5^th a $4500 claiming race, then said it had an $8500 purse. The first number is the claiming number. That means that a horse that is entered into that race can be claimed for that price by some other person. The second number is the purse, the money earned for prevailing in the race (winning or coming in second or third). The idea is to discourage owners from entering their horses in much lower quality competition, where they might pick up an easy purse, but lose their horse in the process, if it gets claimed.

  • In the 6^th race, my horse had nice numbers, with one monster-race where it must have set a track record, but it came in third. The win and place horses didn’t seem to be anything special by my accounting, but that happens sometimes.

  • In the 7^th, my system had three different horses at the same level. I picked the horse with the best odds, but a different one came in, this time the favorite. Mine came in next-to-last.

  • I finally scored a hit on the 8^th race. This race had a couple of horses with the same rating in my system, but one of them had better early speed. I chose that one, as I figure at least you get to experience some buzz from an early speed horse, even if it fades (though that can be demoralizing). It was an easy winner, though it trailed at the start. Go figure.

  • It paid $5.40 on a $2 bet. That seemed a bit low, given its morning line and late pre-race odds. I expected better. That gave me a chance to rant for a bit about Turf Paradise’s high takeout rate (25% on W/P/S compared to 15% at Woodbine, for example).

  • In my actual betting, I came close to breaking even, but didn’t quite get there. The system did actually do better than break-even. However, I ignored it on the race where it really hit a longshot. So it goes.

  • That was the last race of the day at Turf Paradise. There was a funny delay between the 7^th and 8^th races, of nearly an hour. Normally, races go off every half-hour or even faster. One wonders if they had to cancel a race or something like that, so they dragged out the interval to account for that.

  • I should note that it looked nice and warm in Arizona. We, on the other hand, were experiencing -20 to -25 temperatures (that’s Celcius, in Farenheit that would be about ten below zero).

  • Around suppertime, the place began to fill up again. A Chinese couple behind us told the waitress that it was their wedding night. They didn’t stay too long or drink any alcohol. Perhaps they had other things on their minds.

  • The Monday Night Football game was now on, over the bar. Some fellow was pretty excited about the San Francisco Forty-Niners winning the game – there was plenty of yelling in jubilation and that sort of thing. Craig was a bit dismissive. He agrees with Vince Limbardi – "when you score a touchdown, act like you’ve been there before". Craig figures that should apply to fans as well as players.

  • I ran into the guy in the men’s room later. Some guys insist on chatting. Anyway, he mentioned that he was from PEI and would have been playing the harness races if the football game wasn’t on. Craig ought to like him for that.

  • We killed an hour or two with the bucket-pullers at Woodbine in Toronto, now that the thoroughbreds were over. I kicked in some money on exotic bets (triactors, win-3, etc.), which Craig and I went in on. I did some impromptu speed handicapping, by estimating how much each horse was over or below 2 minutes per race, over the last 3 races. Craig took those into consideration, adding some of his own theories on how the races are rigged and/or whether favorites or longshots are ‘due’.

  • We came extremely close on one Pick 3 bet. The horse we needed in the final leg lost by a nose. In fact, its hoof was clearly over the line more than the other horse’s nose was, so I wondered why they didn’t declare it the winner. But Craig said that the judges always go by the nose – the nose knows.

  • I don’t include the harness races in my personal handicapping score. It is just to kill time after the ‘real’ races, but it is kind of fun and can really pull you in. Especially after you’ve had a couple of beers, which we generally do towards the end of a session, being careful to stay well under the limit.

  • We stayed a bit later than usual, as we were alive on a pick-3, right up to the final race at Woodbine. Sadly, that one didn’t come in. It was quite snowy in Toronto by then.

  • As we were leaving, the horse races in Australia had began. It was already tomorrow there.

  • Our wives were a little concerned by our relatively long session, worried about car accidents and such. It is good that someone worries about you.

A Dark Horse

In “A Dark Horse”, a gambler’s desire to hit a big win seems to lead him to make a Faustian bargain with a supernatural evil.  Or is it all just a string of unnaturally good luck?

The story is just $0.99 U.S. (equivalent in other currencies) and about 8000 words. It is also available on Kindle Unlimited and is occasionally on free promotion.

U.S.: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

U.K.: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Germany: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

France: https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Italy: https://www.amazon.it/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Netherlands: https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Spain: https://www.amazon.es/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Japan: https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

India: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Mexico: https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Brazil: https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01MDMY2BR

Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Here’s an interesting review from Goodreads

(BTW, the writer has never met the reviewer and was not even aware of the review until very recently – You can look up the review on Goodreads, if you like)

A Dark Horse

Every gambler is bound to run out of luck eventually, right?

By far my favourite type of horror is psychological horror. I was quite pleased with how Mr. Olausen frightened his audience without spilling a single drop of blood or so much as hinting at anything gory. He knew exactly what hints to drop for us that made us deliciously dread the next scene simply by throwing out hints about who or what the dark horse might actually represent. This is the kind of stuff I love getting scared by, especially as Halloween approaches.

It would have been helpful to have more character development in this short story. While I certainly wouldn’t expect to see as much time spent on this as I would for a full-length novel, I did have trouble connecting to the main characters due to how little I knew about them and how much their personalities seemed to remain the same no matter what happened to them. If not for this issue, I would have felt comfortable choosing a much higher rating as the plot itself was well done.

I must admit to not knowing much about gambling at all, so I appreciated the brief explanations the narrator shared about how placing bets works and why some people have so much trouble walking away from a bet. While I will leave it up to experts on these topics to say how accurate everything was, I did enjoy learning more about the main character’s addiction and what he hoped to gain from betting on just one more game or race. It gave me a stronger sense of empathy for folks in his position.

A Dark Horse – A Gothic Tale was a deliciously chilling story for the Halloween season and beyond.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And here is an account of a summer job on the railroad, during my undergraduate years.

One Summer Working on the Railroad

What follows is anaccount of a few weeks one long-ago summer, when I was 19 and was working for the Canadian National Railway (CNR) on a railroad construction gang, in the wilds of north-central British Columbia, Canada.

The journal is in the form of a letter, that was never sent. Decades later, I think it has an interesting historical resonance. At times I come off like a callow youth – I plead guilty as charged. I swore a lot more in those days than I do now, but in places the writing is surprisingly good, at least in my humble opinion. And the story has a compelling narrative arc.

There were a lot of interesting and dramatic events that occurred – a number of industrial accidents being the most serious. There were also some colorful characters on the crew, which resulted in some dramatic and at times amusing conflicts and altercations. I perhaps flatter myself by including myself in that number. Or perhaps I condemn myself – I’m not sure.

So, if you want to be reminded of one of those summer jobs that was kind of life-changing, read on. My story may just kick-start some memories of your own.

The memoir/journal is about 9,000 words, a length that can usually be read in an hour or so. It is priced at 99 cents U.S. (equivalent in other currencies) and is free on Kindle Unlimited. Periodically, it will be offered as a free promotion.

U.S.: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CN661P8Z

UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CN661P8Z

Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0CN661P8Z

Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0CN661P8Z

India: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0CN661P8Z

Germany: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0CN661P8Z

France: https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B0CN661P8Z

Spain: https://www.amazon.es/dp/B0CN661P8Z

Italy: https://www.amazon.it/dp/B0CN661P8Z

Netherlands: https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B0CN661P8Z

Japan: https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B0CN661P8Z

Brazil: https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B0CN661P8Z

Mexico: https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B0CN661P8Z

Race Track Diary, Entry Number Seventeen Billy Budd’s (Dec 13, 2025)

 

Race Track Diary, Entry Number

 Seventeen

Billy Budd’s (Dec 13, 2025)

Introduction

This blog and some following blogs are sections from an informal diary of “visits to the race-track” at a particular time and place, by a person who has followed the races with varying levels of participation over a long period. These relate primarily to some visits to the track and/or off-track betting venues in the 2025 period and onward. They contain observations about the activity, both specific and general. Although these remarks are personal, they also reflect general cultural and historical trends, as they have impacted horse-racing, wagering and culture in general.

The setting is Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (population of about one million plus). However, I imagine that the observations would apply to many places in the world, as they are a reflection of how changing trends in technology, globalization and culture in general have affected this ancient and honourable activity of horse-racing.

For now, I will use what I call “polished point-form” for the narrative.

======================================================================

• 17 – Billy Budd’s (Dec 13, 2025)

  • With mid-winter upon us, Billy Budd’s on the south-side is becoming our favorite haunt. This was an extremely wintry day. There had been some snow on the previous day and the temperature was a cool -24 C overnight (thats -11 F). It warmed up somewhat over the day, though, to about -11 C (that’s about +12 F).

  • The racetrack section of the place was rather crowded, moreso than usual, though it was a Saturday, so maybe normal for that day of the week. In fact, to begin with we had to take the final booth at the back of the section. That was rather far from the dozen or so TV screens and the lighting wasn’t great. So, at the first chance we got, we migrated a ways closer to the screen, in the arc-shaped section with undermount lighting.

  • The early crowd was quite enthusiastic, for an off-track betting site:

    • One guy shouting at the top of his voice "Come on Noro, come on Noro!" (or something like that). His race ended in a photo finish, nearly a dead heat. My brother said "I hope he loses, I don’t care for shouters." But he won, and I think it was at a rather nice price.

    • Another guy shouting, shouting, shouting: "Fuck off, fuck off! Shit horse!" I’m guessing his horse didn’t win.

    • Then there was another guy was just below us, dropping a lot of F-bombs, in a gravelly voice. Swearing isn’t so bad, but it is a good idea to use some discretion while doing so, unless you know a lot of colourful and unique cusses (my dad was an expert, probably because of his time in the Canadian army, Royal Canadian Engineers). Otherwise it is just boring.

  • Though it was still fairly early in the afternoon (about 1:45), most tracks in the east were well into their cards. Woodbine was pretty far gone, as were Gulfstream and Auqaduct. I chose to bet on a place in New Mexico, Zia Park.

    • This track has a mixed quarterhorse and thoroughbred racing schedule. Whether it qualifies as Class A or Class B is open to debate, which makes a difference for takeouts. It seems to have a takeout of 19% on WPS and 21% on exotic bets. That’s rather on the high side, but not as high as some.

    • It was rather different, as the races were all short sprints, often involving no turns. 870 yards was common (just under half a mile or four furlongs). Some races were as short as 300 to 400 yards (under a quarter-mile).

    • That would negate any advantage based on pole position (e.g. a track bias for horses running from an inside pole, if the ground is unusually firm along the rail). Furthermore, early speed seems to be almost meaningless, if a race is only a quarter-mile.

  • Zia Park was also fairly far into its card, with the 6^th race being the first I could bet. I tried an exactor, no luck. One of my picks was in the money, but the other was far down the track.

  • The seventh didn’t seem bettable, 2 year-old maidens (i.e. never won a race), most of whom had never even been in the money (a couple had placed third in a previous race). My system only includes "in-the-money" races, so I skipped this race. (I had written in my notebook ‘Maidens, no form to speak of. Only in the money occasionally)

  • The eighth race had a couple of horses with decent speed, handily better than the rest. I bet the 9 to win, which had good odds, but it came in third.

  • At that point I was honestly feeling pretty tired and a little depressed, wondering if I was coming down with something. Here is an amusing anecdote about that:

    • The night before, I had dreamt that I was back at some university sociology seminar course and the instructor served something she called "sallow beef soup", which was supposed to be a delicacy, some place or another. I had a few spoonfulls, which were alright at first, but then started to make me feel sick. The instructor said "does anyone know what sallow refers to in this context?". I said "salty". Upon awakening, I did feel kind of sick.

    • A few days later I looked it up on google and its AI said:

      • "Sallow beef soup" appears to refer to salted beef soup, a traditional Caribbean dish often served with ground provisions and various vegetables. The term "sallow" is likely a transcription error for "salted" or might be a regional variation of "swallow," a starchy side dish like fufu or pounded yam that is often served alongside the soup "

  • On top of the weirdly accurate dream, the unsuccessful betting wasn’t helping matters, in terms of my perceived health and energy levels. Nonetheless, I worked out my numbers for the 9^th race, and determined that the 7 horse should be a decent bet at 3-1 odds. With some trepidation, I went and placed a larger than usual bet on it.

  • And indeed, that horse did come in, paying $5.40 to win (on a 2 dollar bet). So, that erased my losses for the other two races and put me well over the top (I had upped my usual bet for this race, since it looked so good).

  • Suddenly I felt great! The incipient sickness went away almost immediately. A nice craft IPA beer followed, which only made my mood even better.

  • I skipped the 10^th race (my notebook said "Not enough time to work out numbers").

  • By now the crowd had dwindled down to a hearty few souls. With the racing at Zia Park done, my serious betting was over.

  • We then settled in for an hour or so of betting on the bucket-pullers (harness races). I don’t handicap those, so I don’t count that in my serious horseracing endeavours, but I do shoot my brother Craig a few bucks, to go in on one of his bets, just for the action.

  • Craig won a nice exotic bet, but the machine didn’t cut the voucher properly. So, I went to the bar and the bartender used her handy pair if scissors to snip it cleanly. She was was very helpful and used to the problem, since that particular machine tended to be a bit wonky.

  • With a big win, Craig bought me a beer. He abstained from anymore himself, having had a couple already, since he had to drive home within the hour.

  • The waitress could have easily scored a job at Hooters (does that even exist anymore?). I couldn’t help noticing – that’s what winning bets and having a beer can do to you. The wife of a friend of mine waitressed for some years and said ‘you can’t be too shy about this if you want to make decent tips’. In general, the waitresses and other staff at this place are quite good; efficient, friendly and usually in a good mood. Tips must be good.

  • Woodbine/Mohawk had a match race between Santa and the Grinch. Santa won, but it was obvious to me that the race was fixed. There was not betting on the race, so no bother about that.

  • About that time, a big snowstorm was hitting eastern North America:

    • Races at Turfway Park in Kentucky were cancelled due to weather.

    • Sleet was coming down hard at the Meadowlands in New Jersey, but the bucket-pullers kept going anway.

    • At Laurel Park in Maryland, great clouds of water were thrown up as the thoroughbreds came out of the turn.

    • Woodbine/Mohawk in Toronto was snowy and very wintery looking, very appropriate for the Santa/Grinch race.

    • Evangeline Racetrack in Louisiana had rain and sleet.

    • Northfield Park, in Cleveland Ohio, had a monster snowstorm, with snow and sleet just hammering down. I suppose that was the famous ‘lake effect’ from Lake Erie. But the bucket-pullers there would not stop. We watched as one race paid $115 to win, a 60 to 1 long shot. Had it not won, Craig and I would have won a sizable bet ourselves. So it goes, with the vaguaries of the weather usurping the Sport of Kings.

  • Craig started looking through his tickets to see if he had missed any winners. Lo and behold, it turned out that he had bet his $140 winner twice, so he had another ticket worth the same amount. Earlier in the day, he had picked up a $110 win. It was like that old Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoon: "Hey Rocky, watch me pull a rabbit out if my hat."

  • On hockey night in Canada, the Oilers whipped the Leafs 6-3. I watched that from the racing section, as it was on some of the televisions over the bar. They had their new goalie, after trading Skinner for Jarry. He did ok, at least so far.

  • I had mentioned to my wife that complaining about Skinner had become a sort of bonding ritual between me and my brother, so now we won’t have that. She said: "I guess you’ll just have to take more interest in the bucket-pullers now." Very astute and very amusing.

  • And that was a day that ended very well indeed.

     ======================================================================= 

Here's a short story that involves horseracing: 

A Dark Horse

In “A Dark Horse”, a gambler’s desire to hit a big win seems to lead him to make a Faustian bargain with a supernatural evil.  Or is it all just a string of unnaturally good luck?

The story is just $0.99 U.S. (equivalent in other currencies) and about 8000 words. It is also available on Kindle Unlimited and is occasionally on free promotion.

U.S.: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

U.K.: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Germany: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

France: https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Italy: https://www.amazon.it/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Netherlands: https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Spain: https://www.amazon.es/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Japan: https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

India: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Mexico: https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Brazil: https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01MDMY2BR

Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Here’s an interesting review from Goodreads

(BTW, the writer has never met the reviewer and was not even aware of the review until very recently – You can look up the review on Goodreads, if you like)

A Dark Horse

Every gambler is bound to run out of luck eventually, right?

By far my favourite type of horror is psychological horror. I was quite pleased with how Mr. Olausen frightened his audience without spilling a single drop of blood or so much as hinting at anything gory. He knew exactly what hints to drop for us that made us deliciously dread the next scene simply by throwing out hints about who or what the dark horse might actually represent. This is the kind of stuff I love getting scared by, especially as Halloween approaches.

It would have been helpful to have more character development in this short story. While I certainly wouldn’t expect to see as much time spent on this as I would for a full-length novel, I did have trouble connecting to the main characters due to how little I knew about them and how much their personalities seemed to remain the same no matter what happened to them. If not for this issue, I would have felt comfortable choosing a much higher rating as the plot itself was well done.

I must admit to not knowing much about gambling at all, so I appreciated the brief explanations the narrator shared about how placing bets works and why some people have so much trouble walking away from a bet. While I will leave it up to experts on these topics to say how accurate everything was, I did enjoy learning more about the main character’s addiction and what he hoped to gain from betting on just one more game or race. It gave me a stronger sense of empathy for folks in his position.

A Dark Horse – A Gothic Tale was a deliciously chilling story for the Halloween season and beyond.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And here is an account of a summer job on the railroad, during my undergraduate years.

One Summer Working on the Railroad

What follows is anaccount of a few weeks one long-ago summer, when I was 19 and was working for the Canadian National Railway (CNR) on a railroad construction gang, in the wilds of north-central British Columbia, Canada.

The journal is in the form of a letter, that was never sent. Decades later, I think it has an interesting historical resonance. At times I come off like a callow youth – I plead guilty as charged. I swore a lot more in those days than I do now, but in places the writing is surprisingly good, at least in my humble opinion. And the story has a compelling narrative arc.

There were a lot of interesting and dramatic events that occurred – a number of industrial accidents being the most serious. There were also some colorful characters on the crew, which resulted in some dramatic and at times amusing conflicts and altercations. I perhaps flatter myself by including myself in that number. Or perhaps I condemn myself – I’m not sure.

So, if you want to be reminded of one of those summer jobs that was kind of life-changing, read on. My story may just kick-start some memories of your own.

The memoir/journal is about 9,000 words, a length that can usually be read in an hour or so. It is priced at 99 cents U.S. (equivalent in other currencies) and is free on Kindle Unlimited. Periodically, it will be offered as a free promotion.

U.S.: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CN661P8Z

UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CN661P8Z

Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0CN661P8Z

Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0CN661P8Z

India: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0CN661P8Z

Germany: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0CN661P8Z

France: https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B0CN661P8Z

Spain: https://www.amazon.es/dp/B0CN661P8Z

Italy: https://www.amazon.it/dp/B0CN661P8Z

Netherlands: https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B0CN661P8Z

Japan: https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B0CN661P8Z

Brazil: https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B0CN661P8Z

Mexico: https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B0CN661P8Z

Grok’s mistaken report on X for Oilers-Sens game, March 3, 2026

Grok’s Version

Bouchard's OT Winner Caps Oilers' Wild Comeback Over Senators

Last updated 1 hour ago

Evan Bouchard fired the power-play winner at 1:50 of OT after Brady Tkachuk hooked Connor McDavid, securing Edmonton's 5-4 comeback victory at Rogers Place. Draisaitl scored twice and added three assists in a five-point night, while McDavid notched two helpers to hit 105 points; Zach Hyman tied it with an empty-netter. Bouchard, the first defenseman to 70 points this season, extended his hot streak with seven goals and 15 assists in 11 games, drawing praise from Draisaitl as elite company with Makar and Hughes. The win lifts Edmonton to 30-24-8, two points back in the Pacific with games in hand.

This story is a summary of posts on X and may evolve over time. Grok can make mistakes, verify its outputs.

 

Official Oiler Website version

Hyman scored with the net empty late in regulation & Bouchard completed the comeback 1:50 into OT for the #Oilers to cap off a 5-4 victory over the Senators.

 

Comparison and Analysis

Grok's report said "Zach Hyman tied it with an empty-netter", which made no sense. I think it took "scored with the net empty late in regulation" and "tied it with an empty netter" to mean the same thing. Shows that there is no real understanding in LLMs, just stringing together likely word correlations, based on input data.

Also, the Oilers do not have "games in hand". In fact, the other teams in the division have played from 1 to 3 fewer games than the Oilers, at the time of this Grok summary (first column below).

I just like to point these things out, occasionally.  It is worth keeping this in mind, when reading LLM summaries of serious news, though.

 

My experiences with Windows 11 vs Linux Mint:

• Printer:

  • Woudn't work under Windows 11 (was discontinued by version 11)

  • Worked immediately on Linux, didn’t even have to install drivers, done automatically by Linux.

• Vintage Radio (radio and bluetooth based mp3 player (audio files).

  • Quit working after a Windows 11 update (killed the bluetooth link).

  • Worked immediately on Linux (no need to manually install drivers).

• Micro-Speak Plus (voice recorder and audio playback):

  • Quit working after a Windows update (would not recognize the device),

  • Worked immediately on Linux (no need to manually install drivers).

• Updating Operating System:

  • Linux Mint - quick, does it in the background, no "restart the computer and pray that Windows update doesn't delete your Bluetooth or other devices". Also, no half-hour wait for the Windows update to complete. No forced updates.

  • Windows 11 – frequently clobbers bluetooth and other drivers. Often takes a long time to update. Sometimes causes major errors/failures (not to me, yet, but there are many reports of this). Many forced updates.

• LibreOffice Calc:

  • Often has some cursor lag, when switching to the program on Windows.

  • Haven’t noticed this on Linux.

• Intrusive Behaviour:

  • Windows - pop-ups and side-screen messages, usually some sort of sales pitch. Co-pilot and other AI pushes (this has been reduced lately).

  • Linux - No sneaky messages popping up, reminding you that Microsoft, HP, Dell etc are out there, watching you. No constant sales pitches.

Generally speaking, Microsoft seems to be in the process of sacrificing (via neglect and/or abuse of its customers) its dominance in the Operating System space, in favour of focussing money and intellectual capital (i.e. the best programmers and data scientists) on its AI initiatives. The high-handed comtempt that it showed (and continues to show) for its customer base is an extreme example of this (you must throw away your 4 year-old computer for Microsoft’s convenience and related induced-profits).

Many computer manufacturers are now shipping with Linux and charging extra for Windows, according to multiple Youtube channels. And once Microsoft loses dominance in the OS space, they risk the same happening in the productivity space (i.e. Microsoft Office) and in the data space (Azure, SQL Server). It seems like a classic case of a business neglecting its foundations in a gamble on an uncertain future.

Race Track Diary, Entry Number Sixteen Billy Budd’s (Dec 6, 2025)

 

Race Track Diary, Entry Number

 Sixteen

Billy Budd’s (Dec 6, 2025)

Introduction

This blog and some following blogs are sections from an informal diary of “visits to the race-track” at a particular time and place, by a person who has followed the races with varying levels of participation over a long period. These relate primarily to some visits to the track and/or off-track betting venues in the 2025 period and onward. They contain observations about the activity, both specific and general. Although these remarks are personal, they also reflect general cultural and historical trends, as they have impacted horse-racing, wagering and culture in general.

The setting is Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (population of about one million plus). However, I imagine that the observations would apply to many places in the world, as they are a reflection of how changing trends in technology, globalization and culture in general have affected this ancient and honourable activity of horse-racing.

For now, I will use what I call “polished point-form” for the narrative.

======================================================================

• 16 – Billy Budd’s (Dec 6, 2025)

  • It was time for another trip to Billy Budd’s on the south-side. It was a much more wintry day than it had been for some time. That included some snowfall and considerably colder temperatures. But nonetheless, we soldiered on.

  • Christmas was not far now. That included an Ugly Christmas Sweater Night. Sadly, we missed that interesting experience.

  • The horse-racing section of the pub was fairly full, as it was Saturday afternoon. However, we managed to take some seats at a table on the lower level, near the screens, rather than at the long arc-shaped counter section a few steps above. Craig’s son Tyler was accompanying us once again, so we needed a bit more space, given that there were three people. Besides, Tyler wanted to eat, so we needed table space.

  • The light levels there were not as good as they were in the section above, as that long bench type arrangement has undermount lighting, which lights up the working area. That is very handy for doing calculations (the numbers on the program are rather small and the printing is not always crisp, so decent light levels are needed).

  • My calculations previously had been "by inspection", as they say in higher math. Basically that means eyeballing and estimating the average of a series of numbers. If there aren’t too many numbers, you can usually find the mid-point of the min and max, then the midpoint of that number with an intermediate number, and so forth until you converge on an estimate for the mean. I have tested it – it works surprisingly well for this purpose.

  • Nevertheless, I wanted to try using an actual calculator for this trip. I had purchased a programmable calculator recently, but that seemed like overkill for this job. I also had an intermediate calculator (Casio) from some previous lifetime requirment, which has a statistics mode, so I brought that instead, thinking to use that.

  • In addition, I had also downloaded a backup calculator onto my iPhone– it is a nifty little free calculator app which was specifically designed to take a list of numbers and output univariate statistics (count, sum, mean, median, mode, max, min, variance, standard deviations and sum of squares). That’s all it does, but that’s all I need.

  • It is called StatCalcLite. There is a free version (which I have) and a paid version (which I don’t have). I don’t know how much more functionality the paid version has compared to the freebie, other than that the free version expects whole numbers (no decimals) for the input. I imagine it was limited in this fashion to get people to cough up some money for the paid version. But most handicapping stats start off with whole numbers anyway, so that’s not a problem for me.

     

    
    
    

  • As it turned out, the light was a bit dim for the Casio, so I used the iPhone app, since it had a lighted screen. Data entry was fast, with a big virtual number keyboard. Output was also very quick and the screen was easy to read. So, score one for the iPhone app.

  • On the subject of numbers, so far my luck/handicapping has been scarily good, with 10 out of 15 trips yielding a profit. But even if my handicapping was responsible for that, I was fairly certain that the "regression to the mean" phenomenon lay in store for me on this day.

  • I’ve programmed a simulation in R to analyze this situation; this is a highly unlikely result if you assume random chance betting (i.e. just a lucky streak). I’ll give some further details about the simulations in some later blog, or maybe put it in a book.

  • We got to Budd’s in time for the sixth race at Woodbine, which I keyed on. Craig and Tyler bet on a number of tracks, including Woodbine. Craig hit on some low-paying exotic bets (mostly favourites coming in the money), but no real scores. Tyler didn’t hit on any races but got lucky anyway (more on that later).

  • My premonition about regression to the mean was correct – I didn’t win even one race. My numbers said 7-3-6 on race seven, it came in 6-3-7. I had a contender in the ninth, but it died in the stretch. Those two are about as close as I got on this day.

  • One interesting thing did occur, while watching the ninth race at Gulfstream. It looked like the 4 horse had won, because the 6 horse went way wide on the final turn. But then, when the winners were shown on the TV screen, the 4 was showing up as coming in fourth with the six finishing behind at fifth. What had happened? Was there an inquiry, with these horses being dropped down, for the purpose of betting shenanigans? Or had we watched a replay of a different race? We kept watching the screen for clarity, but it never did come. Weird.

  • Watching the replay a couple of days later on Youtube didn’t solve the mystery either. We were either in the Twilight Zone or we just misidentified the race. It would be interesting if it was the former but dreary old reality says it was the latter.

  • Outside of horseracing, we discussed a variety of things.

    • Lots of rumours about the Oilers trading one of their two inconsistent goalies. Craig is definitely of the opinion that they have to do so. So am I, but I haven’t lost as many bets on the Oilers as Craig has, so I’m a bit more chill about it. However I did have a C-note on a Canadian team winning the Stanley Cup last year, so I guess the Oilers goalie problems did cost me then.

    • Related to that (i.e. performance), Tyler and I discussed the problems of supervising people at work and judging their performance. We agreed that it is difficult, as you tend to judge people by how well you would do the job that you assigned to them. But that’s a problem, since you wouldn’t be in a supervisory role if you weren’t very good at your job (well, hopefully that’s true), so you have to bear that in mind when judging others. Obviously, that doesn’t apply when a regular person is judging professional athletes, though.

    • I mentioned to Tyler that his brother Corrie had reminisced to me about going to the track with his dad (my brother) on a recent email. To quote Corrie:

      • "I have very interesting and quite fond memories of visiting different horse-racing tracks with my dad as a kid. I used to find myself almost in a daze, standing in the middle of a floor riddled with ripped up race programs, the smell of cigar smoke, staring up at endless white semi transparent plastic cups filled with draft foamed up beer...shouting and endless chants with colorful obscenities at old TV monitors anchored from the walls. As a young kid, I used to think...when will I get to do this...lol."

      • Tyler then added (loosely quoting): "Yeah, we loved visiting Northlands while we were kids. Teddy (a friend of Craig’s and a racing enthusiast) would have a big win and come and toss a 20 dollar bill at Corrie and me saying ‘I had a big win, have some fun kids’. Cliff (another friend and racetrack enthusiast), would sometimes do the same. We would play the arcade games and eat potato chips, we loved the experience."

  • Shortly thereafter, Tyler started looking at his cell phone every now and then. Finally he told us that a woman he knows was messaging, wanting to come over to his place for a visit. Apparently it was someone he knew from elementary school. He told her he was at the track with his dad and uncle, so he was busy right now and he and she could watch the hockey game together later. Shortly thereafter, she messaged him again, saying that she would pick him up once the races were done. Then, she messaged again saying that she was on her way, and finally she messaged that was waiting in the parking lot. It wasn’t even supper time yet, the races weren’t over, but he reluctantly had to leave us early (well not very reluctantly, he had an impish grin).

  • He did mention that her dad owned a couple of racehorses, so I guess there was still a connection to the races. Now, if he would just marry her, we might get some inside dope on the horses...

  • Craig and I bet a few more races and checked out the odds on some hockey games. Before leaving, Craig made a few bets on the upcoming harness races. We also checked out the futures on the Stanley Cup. Denver was at about 3.5 to 1, the Oilers and Panthers were both at about 8.5 to 1. Avalanche seems way overbet, Oilers are a good bet if they get a new goalie, Panthers are a good bet at those odds, though at threepeat seems like a tough row to hoe.

  • Then it was time to go. No profit on the day, but a few laughs, which is just as good.

  • P.S. It turned out that one of Craig’s Superfecta bets on the harness races came in later that night (he found out the next day on the internet) and paid a nice price that made up for all his losses of the day, and then some.

  • P.P.S. It turned out that the Oilers did trade for a new goalie a few days later. We’ll see how that goes. Maybe we will make that futures bet on the Oilers now.

  • P.P.P.S. Here’s a link to a blog that I did much later on the goalie trade results.

  • https://dodecahedronbooks.blogspot.com/2026/02/updated-goaltending-since-oilers.html

A Dark Horse

In “A Dark Horse”, a gambler’s desire to hit a big win seems to lead him to make a Faustian bargain with a supernatural evil.  Or is it all just a string of unnaturally good luck?

The story is just $0.99 U.S. (equivalent in other currencies) and about 8000 words. It is also available on Kindle Unlimited and is occasionally on free promotion.

U.S.: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

U.K.: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Germany: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

France: https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Italy: https://www.amazon.it/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Netherlands: https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Spain: https://www.amazon.es/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Japan: https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

India: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Mexico: https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Brazil: https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01MDMY2BR

Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Here’s an interesting review from Goodreads

(BTW, the writer has never met the reviewer and was not even aware of the review until very recently – You can look up the review on Goodreads, if you like)

A Dark Horse

Every gambler is bound to run out of luck eventually, right?

By far my favourite type of horror is psychological horror. I was quite pleased with how Mr. Olausen frightened his audience without spilling a single drop of blood or so much as hinting at anything gory. He knew exactly what hints to drop for us that made us deliciously dread the next scene simply by throwing out hints about who or what the dark horse might actually represent. This is the kind of stuff I love getting scared by, especially as Halloween approaches.

It would have been helpful to have more character development in this short story. While I certainly wouldn’t expect to see as much time spent on this as I would for a full-length novel, I did have trouble connecting to the main characters due to how little I knew about them and how much their personalities seemed to remain the same no matter what happened to them. If not for this issue, I would have felt comfortable choosing a much higher rating as the plot itself was well done.

I must admit to not knowing much about gambling at all, so I appreciated the brief explanations the narrator shared about how placing bets works and why some people have so much trouble walking away from a bet. While I will leave it up to experts on these topics to say how accurate everything was, I did enjoy learning more about the main character’s addiction and what he hoped to gain from betting on just one more game or race. It gave me a stronger sense of empathy for folks in his position.

A Dark Horse – A Gothic Tale was a deliciously chilling story for the Halloween season and beyond.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And here is an account of backpacking in Northern Ontario, that a friend and I did some years back. It also has a bit of canoing and some day hikes with my wife.

A Summer Working on the Railroad

What follows is an account of a few weeks one long-ago summer, when I was 19 and was working for the Canadian National Railway (CNR) on a railroad construction gang, in the wilds of north-central British Columbia, Canada.

The journal is in the form of a letter, that was never sent. Decades later, I think it has an interesting historical resonance. At times I come off like a callow youth – I plead guilty as charged. I swore a lot more in those days than I do now, but in places the writing is surprisingly good, at least in my humble opinion. And the story has a compelling narrative arc.

There were a lot of interesting and dramatic events that occurred – a number of industrial accidents being the most serious. There were also some colorful characters on the crew, which resulted in some dramatic and at times amusing conflicts and altercations. I perhaps flatter myself by including myself in that number. Or perhaps I condemn myself – I’m not sure.

So, if you want to be reminded of one of those summer jobs that was kind of life-changing, read on. My story may just kick-start some memories of your own.

The memoir/journal is about 9,000 words, a length that can usually be read in an hour or so. It is priced at 99 cents U.S. (equivalent in other currencies) and is free on Kindle Unlimited. Periodically, it will be offered as a free promotion.

U.S.: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CN661P8Z

UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CN661P8Z

Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0CN661P8Z

Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0CN661P8Z

India: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0CN661P8Z

Germany: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0CN661P8Z

France: https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B0CN661P8Z

Spain: https://www.amazon.es/dp/B0CN661P8Z

Italy: https://www.amazon.it/dp/B0CN661P8Z

Netherlands: https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B0CN661P8Z

Japan: https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B0CN661P8Z

Brazil: https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B0CN661P8Z

Mexico: https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B0CN661P8Z