Aruba and the Methuselah Foundation  [09.24.2006]
I leave for Aruba tonight (overnight flight). By the time I come back I will be 21. That means I will never be denied the right to gamble or drink ever again because of age. It feels like an eternity has passed, and I�m just about to begin my poker career.

I made a post a while ago saying that I was going to donate a small percent of my live tournament winnings to a charity. I have been criticized some at 2+2 for saying this and �not following through�, but I haven�t played a single live tournament since January. I assure you, I am a man of my word.

I have researched many charities, and I knew that I wanted to sponsor a charity that will make a long term difference. Also, thanks to Ray Kurzweil and Aubrey de Grey (see my earlier blog about Kurzweil), I have some pretty radical views about the future, and I wanted to pick a charity in line with this.

I did some research to see what causes Kurzweil endorses, and I found the Methuselah Foundation. Aubrey de Grey is the Chairman and Chief Science Officer, as well as a co-founder of the foundation. For those of you not familiar with the name, Methuselah was a man that supposedly lived to be 969 years old. The name is very appropriate, as the Methuselah foundation is trying to fight the aging process.

They have several different projects. The most interesting is the Mprize fund which I believe currently has around $3,000,000. The prize is for a contest. It is open to anyone with the means to compete. The idea is to take a common house mouse (specifically Mus musculus), and to have it live as long as possible. In the wild, they generally live under a year, but can often live up to three years if they are removed from the threat of predators. Thanks to the Mprize, there was a genetically engineered Mus musculus that lived to be 1819 days.

The prize is set up so that anyone who breaks the world record of the longest living Mus musculus will receive a portion of the prize. There is a simple formula setup, where the amount of the prize you receive is based on how much you beat the previous world record for. For example, if you double the world record, you will receive roughly half of the prize pool. This way, the prize pool will never fully deplete, and there will always be motivation for people to compete.

The Methuselah foundation also sponsors SENS (Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence). This is currently believed to be the best route to combat aging. SENS only looks at one specific method, so the Mprize is a good way to make sure all strategies are looked at.

About a week ago, Peter A. Thiel (co-founder and former CEO of PayPal) pledged $3,500,000 to SENS research. $500,000 will be payed outright, and the remaining $3,000,000 will match 50% of other pledges. In other words, if I were to pledge $100, Thiel would pledge another $50 to match 50% of my contribution. He will do this until the entire $3,000,000 is exhausted.

Unfortunately, I am not well versed enough in this to go into the science behind anti-aging, however, you can read about it at www.sens.org or www.mprize.org. There truly is some amazing stuff that we are on the brink of applying to humans.

I will be pledging 5% of whatever I win in Aruba (and this will continue for future tournaments I play as well) to SENS research. I would feel honored if other people were to read this post, and decide to do the same, so please, check out those two websites. The potential of this foundation is too amazing to pass up.
-thanks for reading

The WPT is in Town, and I Made a Day Two Already!
August 9th, 2007

WSOP Wrapup and Bellagio Cup start
July 11th, 2007

WSOP #8 - 1k Rebuy and Ante Up for Africa
July 5th, 2007

WSOP #7 - Nobody Calls Earl a Chicken
July 2nd, 2007

WSOP #6 - 1.5k NL and the Robert Williamson Angle Shot
June 30th, 2007

WSOP #5 - 50k HORSE, and LOL Hellmuthaments #2
June 29th, 2007

WSOP #4 - Day 3 of the 50k Horse!
June 25th, 2007

WSOP #3 - Minor Cold Streak, 1.5k NL Commentary and 50k Horse
June 22nd, 2007

WSOP Update #2 - 2k NL Final Table
June 13th, 2007

WSOP Update #1 - Smokey Wins!
June 12th, 2007

It Has Begun!
May 31st, 2007

Once
May 26th, 2007

HORSE!
April 30th, 2007

Bellagio 25k Main Event
April 29th, 2007

Bellagio Update
April 11th, 2007

Brand New x3
April 4th, 2007

PoY, Reality TV Show, and Jennifer Tilly
March 30th, 2007

San Jose and some Interesting Hands
March 11th, 2007

Wynn 10k
March 8th, 2007

Alan Sass wins a tourney, and the cover of Bluff Magazine!
March 4th, 2007

Overdue Update
February 23rd, 2007

Two more huge finishes (Including a win finally)!!!
January 11th, 2007

I Am Justin Bonomo. Hear Me Roar!
December 22nd, 2006

The Dreaded TV Bubble
December 21st, 2006

Such Zees
December 17th, 2006

8th in Chips After Day 1a in the Main Event
December 15th, 2006

Doing Well Again!
December 10th, 2006

Back to Back Final Tables!
December 8th, 2006

Day 2!
December 6th, 2006

lol.
December 2nd, 2006

Slackage, SENS, and Elections
November 11th, 2006

Festa Al Lago at the Bellagio
October 12th, 2006

Aruba: non-poker stuff
October 11th, 2006

Aruba Tournament Report
October 10th, 2006

Summary of the Legislation against Unlawful Internet Gambling
October 4th, 2006

Aruba and the Methuselah Foundation
September 24th, 2006

Poker, Ebooks, and Obadiahs
September 15th, 2006

My Weekend
September 10th, 2006

My Favorite 2+2 Post of All Time
September 4th, 2006

Look! It's a blog!!!!!!!!!11!!1!1!!one!!1!
September 3rd, 2006

Overdue Update
July 13th, 2006

Random Public Service Announcement
June 16th, 2006

Brutal Downswing, Beautiful Recovery
February 23rd, 2006

The Quest Begins
February 20th, 2006

Day 1 Complete
February 20th, 2006

New Article
February 19th, 2006

Another Quick Update
February 16th, 2006

Stuff
February 7th, 2006

Random Update
January 27th, 2006

Exposing the Scammer and a Rant About Emails
January 18th, 2006

Dissecting a Hand #1
January 17th, 2006

WPT Update #2
January 12th, 2006

WPT Update #1
January 6th, 2006

Holiday Stuff
December 29th, 2005

The TLB Record and a Million Dollar Beating
December 22nd, 2005

N82 Guest Writes a Blog
December 19th, 2005

Vegas Baby!
December 15th, 2005

The Race is On!
December 14th, 2005

$137,000 and Rakeback Info!
December 11th, 2005

MySpace!
December 9th, 2005

October + November Results
December 5th, 2005

Live Long Enough to Live Forever
November 30th, 2005

Thanksgiving
November 23rd, 2005

Back to the Old Routine
November 15th, 2005

An Update! (Finally)
November 5th, 2005

The Boys Are Back in Town
October 27th, 2005

A HUGE Score!
October 22nd, 2005

Sundays...
October 16th, 2005

Another Tournament Win
October 10th, 2005

The Day the World Ended
October 8th, 2005

Aruba Trip Report
October 7th, 2005

Ding! (from Aruba)
September 26th, 2005

A Quick $20k!
September 21st, 2005

WCOOP Main Event - Jordan Berkowitz Wins
September 18th, 2005

Photo Gallery Update and 5k SNG Stats
September 15th, 2005

WCOOP, Bellagio, UB, and Some Screen Names
September 11th, 2005

WCOOP Update
September 9th, 2005

A MEGA Update
September 7th, 2005

Vegas Baby!
September 6th, 2005

Back to Work
September 4th, 2005

Victory!
August 29th, 2005

Paaaaiiiiiinn
August 26th, 2005

Veronica O, The Aristocrats, and Ian
August 25th, 2005

The Grind
August 23rd, 2005

A Terrible Day
August 19th, 2005

I'm Home
August 11th, 2005

Update from Amsterdam
July 30th, 2005

Quick Update
July 17th, 2005

An Absolutely Amazing Day
July 12th, 2005

The Quest is Complete!
July 11th, 2005

Back from Mexico
July 6th, 2005

Going to Mexico
June 27th, 2005

Quest Results After the Halfway Mark
June 26th, 2005

Party Poker Million Dollar Guarenteed
June 25th, 2005

Back from Vegas
June 23rd, 2005

Las Vegas
June 21st, 2005

I Bought a Car
June 18th, 2005

A Quest Update
June 15th, 2005

A New Quest
June 13th, 2005

Magic Players Are Taking the Poker World by Storm
June 10th, 2005

10/20 NL and SNGs
June 6th, 2005

Sneak Peak
June 2nd, 2005

Life in LA
May 31st, 2005

Stuff
May 19th, 2005

Another Final Table Report
May 16th, 2005

LA
May 15th, 2005

30 hours til LA
May 8th, 2005

Super Tuesday Tournament Report
May 4th, 2005

Taking it to the Next Level
May 2nd, 2005

A Not So Super Monday
April 26th, 2005

LA here I come!
April 26th, 2005

Turning Stone Conclusion
April 25th, 2005

Turning Stone Update 2
April 22nd, 2005

Turning Stone Update 1
April 21st, 2005

EPT Deauville on TV
April 19th, 2005

Drunken Home Game
April 16th, 2005

Catching Up
April 15th, 2005

Monte Carlo EPT Part I.
March 15th, 2005

WOW - Vienna Tournament Recap
March 11th, 2005

Sleepless in Vienna
March 10th, 2005

Going to Vienna
March 9th, 2005