hybrid minivans

I’m in the market for a hybrid gasoline-electric minivan, but there are none on the North American market. (They do sell them in Japan.) Toyota and Honda (and possibly Dodge/Chrysler with its new “two-mode” hybrid system) could be manufacturing them for the American market if they had the inclination, but apparently they don’t. Toyota has shown the most interest over the years.

In 2003 Forbes expected to see a hybrid Toyota Sienna in 2004. In 2004 USA Today predicted a hybrid Sienna for 2005. In 2005 the Capital Times (of Madison, Wisconsin) reported that a hybrid Sienna was due for 2006. When I asked some Toyota guys at an auto show in January, they thought I wouldn’t be able to buy a hybrid Sienna until August 2008.

Today’s (or, it seems, actually tomorrow’s) Wall Street Journal says Tokuichi Uranishi (Toyota’s head of global sales, though they misspell his name since corrected) “strongly suggested he favors offering a hybrid minivan in the U.S. market” but that

Folding the Nuts

Earlier today I was playing 5¢-10¢ no-limit hold’em with a three-dollar cap.

My hole cards are 7d 9d. I decide to call the 10¢ blind on the button with these suited gappers. Four players to the flop.

The flop is 4d 6d 3d. It’s checked around to me, and I bet the pot with my made flush. Two callers.

The turn is another diamond, darn it. Now my 9-high flush is vulnerable to any high diamond. It’s checked to me and I check also.

The river is a high heart, a blank for this hand. The first player bets out $1.50, slightly more than the pot. The second player raises to $2.55, the cap. Obviously my 9-high flush is no good, so I fold.

The first player shows Kd 8d for a king-high flush. It turns out my 9-high flush on the flop was no good anyway.

The second player shows 2d for a six-high straight flush. You see, that diamond on the turn was the 5d. When I saw that it was a diamond, I didn’t even look at its value. But I should have because that means I folded a seven-high straight flush on the turn. Argh.

I was distracted by what was going on in another window at the time, but that’s not much of an excuse for making the worst fold of my life. I’m glad it didn’t cost me more than it did. $6.45 is a lot for small-stakes me, but at least I can afford it.

here’s the hand history:

Babylon 5: the Lost Tales

I was a fan of the Babylon 5 television show, though I started to lose interest during the final broadcast season in 1998. Soon afterward there were a couple made-for-TV movies (which were ok) and a short-lived spinoff series (Crusade, which I didn’t care for at all, though I did watch all the episodes).

After eight years of nothing, production started on another Babylong 5 series: a direct-to-DVD follow-up called the Lost Tales. The creator, Straczynski, implied it would be an anthology series (like the Twilight Zone) set about 8 years after the end of the original series. Each episode would feature one B5 character. It sounded like a good idea.