Buzz Bin

by MICHAEL BOWEN & r & & r & A Night in Jazz-nesia & r & & r & Our favorite part of the Whitworth jazz concert every year is when the local kid who's most proficient on whatever instrument the guest artist plays gets to solo alongside his hero. It's like watching somebody's dream come true. On Saturday night, Jared Hall (a Riverside High grad and now a Whitworth senior trumpeter) got to stand alongside Terence Flippin' Blanchard and trade fours on "A Night in Tunisia." May his grandchildren grow bored listening to him retell the story.





Bot That's Not Fair


So you're in a chat room, and she sounds young, blonde and gorgeous. Then again, she might be wearing a wife-beater and a four-day stubble.


You just never know in those chat rooms.


The same goes for online poker parlors: For all you know, you're getting taken by a poker bot -- a program designed to play poker almost flawlessly. Or at least way better than you can.


Already, before you ante up, every major poker site will scan your RAM and installed software for signs of a poker bot. But cheaters know how to evade capture, and it's only a matter of time until the bots rule online gaming.


Owners of casinos -- where they play poker the old-fashioned way, face to face -- are smiling.





Friendship: No Day but Today


Midmorning Monday, cold, rainy. Binster stops into Rockwood Bakery to pick up a croissant and salad for lunch, bumps into friends, chats briefly then leaves, sans bag of goodies. Gets to the office, realizes what happened, no time to go back -- much wailing and gnashing. Ah, but then remembers friends. Calls Rockwood, the bag is found, the friends are located. They deliver the goodies on their way home. All is well.





No Culinary Adventure?


We've got plenty. Check out Whitworth's International Banquet: Saturday, 6 pm, HUB, $10, 777-4509.





Paging Mr. Bennett


Lots of local matrons' hearts are all a-flutter this week over the imminent arrival of that famous octogenarian crooner, Mr. Tony Bennett. But what we wanna know is: How is it that with his busy schedule, Tony Bennett still somehow finds time to act as head coach of the ninth-ranked WSU Cougar men's basketball team?