Tiny Iowa County Takes on the King of Online Defamation

In Gunfight at the OK Corral, a U.S. Marshal from the prairie is called to Arizona to help his brother stand his ground against a band of cattle thieves. The character is an American archetype that is alive and well in the last untamed frontier -- the Internet.

Ben Smith, District Attorney for Sac County, Iowa is a modern Wyatt Earp. Unlike Gunfight, he was not summoned to Arizona, but rather Arizona came to him when Tempe-based RipOffReport.com and others sought to exploit a pending murder trial as part of a proxy war against an Internet security expert seeking to expose them. RipOffReport.com ("ROR") is the nation's leading "gripe" site, where consumers and others post various complaints about individuals and businesses which feature prominently in Google searches due to ROR's search engine optimization capability.

To say this is a David versus Goliath battle is an understatement since Sac County has a population of 10,071, whereas ROR has that many unique visitors every 45 minutes. Yet this tiny county is about to have a major impact on the future of the Internet.

As detailed extensively in a 124-page application for a search warrant recently unsealed by a Sac County court, the origin of this battle begins in 2011 when Smith tried and convicted Tracy Richter for murder. Richter was the ex-wife of Michael Roberts who ran a reputation management company. Roberts had disclosed details of an opportunity to license an existing illegal malicious SQL browser developed by Matthew Cooke to Darren Meade and Adam Zuckerman which, when deployed, could effectively remove webpages from the Internet.

Smith explains that Zuckerman hoped to emulate Cooke's business model of "reputation racketeering" which used one web property to generate defamatory content that his reputation repair property would then use to solicit removal services with people paying thousands of dollars to remove the posts. Smith notes that this is the same business model followed by revenge porn purveyors recently indicted by the California Attorney General.

According to the application, fallout between Meade and Zuckerman in Southern California led Meade to turn to ROR who worked jointly with Meade in launching a smear campaign against Roberts. As Meade testified in a civil proceeding, ROR is "the perfect place to defame somebody because it will always stay up, and [has high Google rankings]. So if you want to destroy somebody's reputation, that's a great place to do it."

The application details how the smear campaign escalated and stumbled into Sac County by including witnesses in the Richter trial and even Smith himself, as his face is on every one of the 1.8 million pages of ROR content. Smith argues that ROR and Richter engaged in a conspiracy that includes extortion, obstruction of justice and witness tampering and warns that:

No greater threat to our criminal justice system exists than allowing convicted, incarcerated murderers (criminals), and their friends and family, to destroy the livelihoods and personal reputations of the people brave enough to testify against them in open court.

The application and arrests that may follow is significant since Smith is not only taking on the most hated site on the Internet (and its founder Ed Magedson), but Smith raises serious questions about the online reputation industry itself. Smith notes that a number of online reputation companies had at one time licensed Cooke's SQL technology by way of an "affiliate-partnership" program prominently listed on many of his former websites including Reputationmanagementpartners.com (the company in which he was partnered with Zuckerman). Topping the list of "partner" companies on that website was Reputation Defender, which is now known as Reputation.com.

Have online reputation companies merely mechanized and optimized online defamation to generate business for themselves? I have firsthand experience that demonstrates that, at least in some cases, the answer is "absolutely." As a lawyer who represents victims of online harassment (including one of Mr. Zuckerman's victims), I have encountered one defendant who responded to a lawsuit filed against her with death threats and a nearly five-year campaign of cyber abuse. Yet in a matter of weeks after she consulted with Reputation Fighters last year, she made the first of her six entries about me on ROR in violation of a criminal protective order -- a most unlikely coincidence.

Speaking as an advocate and commentator in this space, Smith should be applauded for having the courage to step into this potential minefield from such a tiny county. His investigation should trigger a much larger review of the industry by the media, state attorneys general and Washington. Like Wyatt Earp before him, Smith is trying to make sure that the rule of law takes root in a wild frontier and it is important to the success of the Internet that he succeed.

Ben Horowitz: The Pain and Passion Of Fight Club Management

I just had a beer with Ben Horowitz. Actually we had a few. We sat in a dark bar, long into the night and swapped stories that only Startup CEO's can tell each other. The deepest, darkest, scariest moments when you're walking the tightrope between success and failure. The moments when you have two options - bad, and worse. The times when you are both excited about the prospects and honest about the challenges.

It was a great, honest, therapeutic beer. And the funny thing is - I've never met Ben. But he did something remarkable, he wrote a book and told the truth. It was like sitting across from him over a beer.

He said some words that Entrepreneurs don't usually say out loud.

Fear? Never had had to face it.
Terror? No way.
Dread? Impossible.

And yet - reading his book, you can't help but know he's telling the truth. Horowitz was the CEO of Loudcloud, Mark Andreessen's company that created the concept of the 'cloud' and then - with all the opportunity and risk that comes along with being first - ran headlong into the internet crash of 2000.

The book, The Hard Thing About Hard Things, is a take-no-prisoners tell all. But Horowitz isn't spilling the beans on any of his co-workers, or competitors, or customers. He's turning the harsh honest light on himself. And he's brutal - because, come on folks lets face it, CEO's are human. We make mistakes. We miscalculate, misjudge, and sometimes we're just plain wrong. From Horowitz's perspective it's not about being perfect, it's about how you respond - and it's about a word I'm not sure I've ever read in a business book before: courage.

The book begins in Berkeley - and with him as an engineer at NetLabs, the shift to Netscape to work with Marc Andreesen, and the launch of Loudcloud as a rocket ship. And as Horowitz makes clear, no one is born a CEO or goes to CEO school. It's all on the job training. The Loudcloud IPO, the Opsware battle to survive, and the extraordinary meeting with Herb Allen all would be a nail-biter of a dramatic novel, if it wasn't all true.


As Horowitz told Techcrunch; "I would have never wanted to write another management book. There are so many of them and everybody says the same thing about them, and they are all the same -- they give the exact same advice. It's like a diet book, they all say eat less calories, exercise more, and every single book has the same conclusion."

But there was a book he hadn't read. Not the happy talk, rah rah business book. But an honest telling of all the things that go wrong; "I really felt like there was a missing book, which was what happens when everything goes wrong, and you have set it all up right."

The power of the book is its honest, blow by blow telling of the battle to control his own psychology. He calls it "Fight Club Management." And - as we know, the first rule is that we don't talk about it. Writes Horowitz; "the first rule of the CEO psychological meltdown is don't talk about the psychological meltdown. At risk of violating the sacred rule, I will attempt to describe the condition and prescribe some techniques that helped me. In the end, this is the most personal and important battle that any CEO will face."

He calls this battle 'The Struggle' - describing the daily battles between vision and reality, between the bright road ahead and the daily twists and turns of the startup life.

There's no doubt that Ben wrote this book so that you could have a beer with him. Hear his stories of disaster and near disaster, and share some of your own. There's a reason why being a startup CEO is hard. It's supposed to be. And if you're not cut out for all the twists and turns, ups and downs, better to know that now. Sure Horowitz survived, and his company today is doing well - but the pain and passion that drives us is part of the magic of being a Startup CEO. You don't ever forget the hard parts, which secretly, is probably part of what makes us tick. Winning when it seems like the odds are stacked against you. It makes the winning worth the journey - and setting your sights high.

I suspect depending on who you are, The Hard Thing About Hard Things is either inspirational or daunting. For me, Ben's honest and spirited portrayal of being a startup CEO simply made sense. You have to love the whole the ups, the downs, and in-betweens. If you're up for the journey - then every part of it is worthwhile.

5 Essential Tools for the Solopreneur

Thanks to technology, living life on your own terms is easier than ever. In fact, technology has contributed to the rise of the solopreneur. Solopreneurs aren't interested in building the next large cap company. Instead, most solopreneurs are interested in creating lifestyles that work for them. It's about building a business -- even a small one -- that funds the freedom and flexibility to live the way you want to.

My freelancing business allows me to live a solopreneur lifestyle, providing me with the freedom to work when and where I want. A solopreneur still has to remain connected to his or her business, though. If you want to more effectively manage your business, giving you more time to do the things you want, consider using the following five essential tools for solopreneurs:



1. Any Task Manager

Do yourself a favor and get a good task manager. For the longest time, I resisted task managers. However, it became difficult to manage my work and my life when I had to try to remember everything. A number of task managers, from Any.do to Things to Wunderlist, can help you manage your projects, meetings, interviews, and important life events.

Even just using iCal or Google's Calendar can help you better manage your life. My life is much better organized since adding a task manager.

2. Evernote

I still use a Moleskine notebook for jotting down thoughts, and making notes. However, I am slowly moving over to note-taking apps like Evernote. You can snap pictures, create sticky-notes, highlight, share, and even add audio thoughts. Plus, Evernote makes your thoughts and scribblings searchable so you can easily find what you've been looking for.

Evernote recently announced a partnership with LinkedIn to create the ultimate portable business card organizer. Snap a picture of a business card, and Evernote will bring up the person's LinkedIn information. This makes networking, organizing contacts and creating useful partnerships easy for the solopreneur.

3. GetReponse

Many solopreneurs rely on the Internet, and on email, to drive sales and revenue. With GetResponse, it's easy to to create and monitor sales materials. One of the things GetResponse does especially well is A/B testing. This allows you to figure out which email messages, setups, and other items are leading to the most conversions.

You can also get access to a landing page creator and to smart autoresponders. For solopreneurs offering courses, ebooks and other useful products, the right landing page and autoresponders can be a boon.

4. Social Media and Analytics

Essential to the solopreneur lifestyle is the ability to get out and enjoy life. You can't really do that if you have to sit at the computer all day posting on social media. While you can outsource some of this, another option is to use a social media scheduler like Hootsuite or TweetDeck.

I like Hootsuite quite a bit because it also allows me to interact via social media. I can check responses, and respond back -- no matter where I am. There are also some valuable analytics when you use social media schedulers as well.

It also makes sense to use analytics tools. If you want to see where your traffic is coming from, and track the effectiveness of a campaign, the right tools can make all the difference. Using your analytics tools can provide you with an easy way to see what the signals are saying -- and then make the necessary adjustments that result in increased profitability.

One of the best analytics tools available is Cyfe, which allows you to monitor business data from multiple sources all in one place, whether it's sales or social media. You can also customize your experience to help you better analyze the data. You can also use tools like Google Analytics and Crazy Egg.

5. Skype

Another great tool is Skype. It allows me to stay connected quickly and easily with clients and business partners all over the world. Any sort of meeting application can be a great help to the solopreneur, whether it's Skype, Google Hangouts, or a full-on collaboration app like Glassboard. All of these apps are available on a mobile device, so you can collaborate no matter where you are.

As a solopreneur, I find these tools essential to the success of my business. The fact that they are easy to use, and that they keep me organized, means that I can be just as profitable without spending all day cooped up in my home office.

Being in Sync means your Data is safe

What is data synchronization? This technology synchronizes data between two or more computers and/or the cloud and automatically copies changes that are transacted between devices.

File synchronization is used for home or small business backups when the user copies files to a flash drive or external hard drive. The syncing prevents creating duplicate files.

For superior syncing, take a look at GoodSync with its 30-day free trial. After which, for $30 (or use 33% of discount code “rsici”), you can continue using its battleship of features. GoodSync provides remote service and also syncs with many online services.

Now let me tell you how well GoodSync works for me. Like most, my operating system resides on my C Drive. I keep my C Drive clear and free of all data so all it has to do is operate my system and contain updates, drivers and security patches. My D Drive is the DVD/CD Rom drive and My E: drive has all my data, taking up over 75 percent of the three-terabyte internal drive. My primary data is on Drive E, and this is backed up by a cloud service and then synced to my external three-terabyte F: drive.

Now, every two hours, GoodSync automatically syncs my external F: and internal E: drives. Even though all my data is in a cloud, what if my internal drive crashes? Downloading everything would be a pain. That’s where GoodSync comes in. Plus, though the cloud has its virtues, assessing data from it on a daily basis is surely not one of them.

You’ll be pleased with GoodSync’s efficient main window. Some of GoodSync’s offerings include file filtering, bidirectional/unidirectional syncing, syncing of deletions, and job scheduling.

Version 9 can include numerous sources and single files in one job. If you create files on your mobile, GoodSync will automatically download them. It supports SkyDive, Windows Azure, Google Docs, Amazon Cloud Drive and Amazon S3.

Don’t let the lack of flamboyant design fool you; GoodSync is as good as they come, and for tech savvy users, is a breeze. In particular, not-so-tech-savvy users will be quite impressed with the many options but will need more time to catch on. Read more about that here.

GoodSync stands out from other syncing programs because it displays files from both destination and source on the right side of its main window, while the status shows on the left side. It’s best to use a dedicated destination folder for your sync.

As for connecting to online services, GoodSync supports SFTP, FTP and Webdav.

Another point is that for every PC that you wish to remotely sync, you will need a license.

There really isn’t any reason why you shouldn’t download GoodSync and take advantage of its 30-day free trial.

You have nothing to lose (literally!) with GoodSync. Get going on it.

Robert Siciliano is a digital life expert to GoodSync discussing identity theft prevention on Youtube. For Roberts FREE ebook text- SECURE Your@emailaddress -to 411247. Disclosures.

What Type of Tech Job Applicants Offer the Best Performance

As the tech job sector continues to grow in the United States there is a constant competition going on between employers to get the best talent available. However, there is a true disconnect between many businesses looking to hire talent and what the high tech worker really wants from a job. Many businesses are undervaluing culture and overvaluing wages. Many believe this leads to lower retention and production. I thought it would be interesting to dive into a recent report done by The JDL Group and a technology consulting firm, Paige Technologies. The February 2014 data and study focused on a survey of 275 high tech job candidates. Many of the key takeaways were very interesting and should be eye-opening for c-suite level employees. All of the results and assessments have a direct effect on predicting job performance.

1. Tech Job Applicants Value Projects Over Profits And Power

Yes, tech job seekers would rather work on interesting projects over jobs that pay them higher. Tech workers in demand would much rather build cool things that function well and look good than make more money. They truly enjoy science and aesthetics way more than affiliation and commerce. A focus on quality is very important, as well as the surroundings they work in. Tech job applicants have a deep desire for knowledge and real enthusiasm for curiosity. They are motivated by the value of security and entertainment of the work rather than the power and recognition from peers, as well as public praise the work brings to them. Employers need to understand motives and values of the tech job seeker if they want to recruit the best and the brightest in the tech world.

2. Tech Job Applicants Are Conscientious

The best of the best in the tech industry are prudent individuals who are inquisitive. They are imaginative and quick-witted. They are visionaries who have self-control and are organized. They are not status seekers and act more often than not as team players. They share the ideals and believe in the big picture of the project or business. The top tech job seekers tend to be quick and independent book and theory learners rather than practical and hands-on.

3. Tech Job Applicants Are More Cautious Than You Think

Many think top tech talent employees are bold individuals. However, they are not overly self-confident and are willing to listen to advice. They are very cautious and resistant to change and reluctant to take even reasonable chances for fear of negative evaluations. The best of the best tech performers are not dramatic and do not need to be noticed. They are not always eager to please and are not reliant on others opinions. They believe in making sure all data and pieces of the puzzle are in place before moving forward and never push the envelope.

4. Tech Job Applicants Are Analytical Thinkers

Tech talent is made up of analytical thinkers. Employers should be looking to hire innovative individuals who hone in on logic and analysis. They will not get as high of performance out of individuals whose judgment is impacted by action or interpersonal motives. Past experience and carefulness is very important.

So what does all this mean and what should an employer's key takeaways be from tech job trends? Compatibility is key. Positive tech job fits are based on many factors, however as more and more assessments are done and this market continues to grow, cultural fit is key. Chris Wood, the Managing Partner of Paige Technologies, believes people create culture, which ultimately becomes what differentiates one organization from the next. "Organizations are really only a representation of the people in them, with stakes high, employers must be diligent about identifying traits and mapping culture," says Wood.

Employers who want the top tech talent should look at assessment results like these to find the best "true fit" for their organization that will lead to the best performance on the job. These individuals will stay the longest and be the most loyal to the organization thus making the business have more appeal to other potential tech job applicants and be more profitable in the long run.

In a world where the tech job market continues to change, employers need to continue to evolve culturally if they want to find employees who are more than just a set a skills, but rather the complete package.

Disclosure: JGrill Media is a consultant of Paige Technologies.


About the Author: Jason Grill is an attorney and the founder of JGrill Media. He is the co-founder of Sock 101 and the host of the Entrepreneur KC Show. Jason contributes regularly to national publications, radio and TV stations. Follow Jason on Twitter @JasonGrill and on Facebook.

"Inspiration Porn" Objectifies People With Disabilities

Click here to watch the TEDTalk that inspired this post.

When my husband and I visited Yosemite National Park to celebrate our first wedding anniversary, we took a hike up to one of the park's waterfalls. The hike was easy enough that the trail was crowded, but it was still an uphill slog requiring strength and stamina. As a young man and his companion blew by us, he turned to me and said, "Good for you for doing this. I really admire you." Those words didn't make me feel warm and fuzzy, nor did they give me a burst of newfound energy. Rather, they made me angry. With those words, that young man treated me as an object, a "disabled person" instead of just a "person" -- worthy of admiration although he knew nothing about me apart from the fact that I walk with a limp and was working harder than others to get up that hill.

All my life, I have been admired, called brave and inspirational because I live with a disability. And, all my life, I have found that admiration and those labels ridiculous. Admire me for what I do -- for writing well, raising decent kids or having a lovely garden. But don't admire me just for existing, just because I live a mostly unremarkable life with scars and a limp and a history of dozens of broken bones. Admiration of this sort is really just pity in disguise. The implication? "If I had a body like yours, I would hide myself at home all day. You must have huge reserves of courage, to bring this body out into public every day."

Australian journalist and comedian Stella Young, who has the same genetic bone disorder I do (called "Osteogenesis Imperfecta" or OI), calls the misplaced admiration of disabled people because of our disabilities "inspiration porn." In this TEDx talk, she does a terrific job of explaining how "inspiration porn," like other kinds of porn, objectifies people. I don't agree completely with Young's contentions that disability is solely a social construct, that nothing about a disability is intrinsically a "bad thing," and that social and cultural barriers are the only obstacles people with disabilities face. I think that dozens of broken bones, chronic pain and many other aspects of OI are intrinsic bad things -- which is not to say that I deserve pity or that my life is miserable.

But I agree with Young that naming and eradicating the social and cultural barriers that objectify people with disabilities is, indeed, a matter of justice. She makes a convincing argument with a good dose of humor.

We want to know what you think. Join the discussion by posting a comment below or tweeting #TEDWeekends. Interested in blogging for a future edition of TED Weekends? Email us at tedweekends@huffingtonpost.com.

China's Internet Giants' Lottery Apps Linked to Spate of World Cup Suicides

A 24-year-old surnamed Zheng ferried his ailing father to a hospital 100 miles from home in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, the official Xinhua news agency reported on July 10. After paying the deposit for the hospital bed, he had $800 leftover -- not quite enough to pay for all his father's medicine. Then he had an idea. Using an app on his phone, he legally bought an $800 lotto ticket betting Brazil would defeat Germany. In the early morning hours of July 9, he watched Brazil lose 7-1 and swallowed all his father's pills. When he came to, he began crying, and reportedly told the officer who had found him unconscious near the hospital, "You should not have saved me, I don't deserve to live."

Ten Chinese bettors have not been as fortunate as the 24-year-old Zheng. The first man to commit suicide jumped from a building in Shanghai after the tournament's first match. Oscar's goal in the 91st minute had brought the score of the Brazil-Croatia game to 3, 1; he lost $48,000. Then on June 18, a woman surnamed Wang lit a pile of charcoal in a hotel bathroom in Haikou, Hainan. Her young child, left outside the door, found her dead sometime later. A suicide note revealed she had borrowed and lost more than $16,000. The list continues. 26-year-old Little Xu was the tenth World Cup suicide. On July 5, he jumped and was found dead on the fourth floor terrace of his apartment tower. He was reported to have lost $69,000 betting on World Cup matches.

The spate of World Cup suicides coincides with the advent of newly legal online gambling in China. In October of 2012, the Ministry of Finance awarded the first online lottery sales licenses. Now China's Internet giants, Alibaba and Tencent, and a slew of other service providers, offer easy-to-use mobile and online applications that connect users to China's provincial Sports Lotteries. Alibaba's Taobao, China's third most visited website, uses its homepage to promote its online betting platform. Tencent's WeChat, with 355 million users, the majority in China, allows users to make in-app "lotto ticket" purchases.

It is now easier for Chinese to buy World Cup "lotto tickets" than cans of Coke. And it is a "lotto" in name only. Bettors can legally place the same World Cup bets that are made inside any Las Vegas sports book.

Vincent Chen, a 24-year-old IT engineer in Guangzhou, is one of China's newly established legion of online lotto ticket buyers. During the group stage of the World Cup, he bought a number of 2-team parlay lotto tickets through NYSE-listed 500.com's online platform. "During the last World Cup I was in college, I bet with my friends," he said. "This time I have been using 500.com to buy tickets." Thus far he has lost about $325 dollars, roughly a third of his monthly salary, and is still debating whether or not to bet on Germany in the final.

Users of China's Twitter-like Weibo have taken to joking "the roof is crowded" when matches come to an end. After finding a man lying naked in the middle of the Baomao freeway, on July 10, the Hunan Highway Patrol tweeted a picture and wrote, "More than a few soccer fans have taken to the roof, this man was the first to take to the freeway. Rationally watch soccer, no more using your life to make bets." The man told police he had lost all his family's money betting on soccer and wanted to die.

500.com incorporated the newly coined phrase into its marketing materials. "Rescue the Fans on the Roof. Free Score Guessing," ran the tagline for its new quarter-final promotion offering users free 4-team parlay lotto tickets.

Millions of Chinese have been drawn in by the online betting platforms' ease of use and extensive marketing campaigns. According to the China Daily, Taobao saw 4 million users bet on its online platform on the first day of the World Cup. Three days later that number grew to 6 million bettors. At a recent media event, 500.com CFO Zhengming Pan said lotto ticket sales had spiked 3 to 5 times when compared with prior weeks.

As of July 5, three weeks into the World Cup, China's National Sports Lottery Center calculated $1.5 billion in "lotto tickets" had been purchased. That figure is triple what was legally wagered on the entire 2010 World Cup. Li Jian, head of the online lotto consultancy Caitong, told Caixin that 70% of World Cup bets had been placed through online channels.

While online betting on World Cup matches has resulted in enormous profits for the gambling platforms, and a windfall for the provincial sports lotteries, it has taken a toll on Chinese society. Come the end of the World Cup here on Monday morning local time, Chinese officials may be rethinking the societal costs of legal online betting.


______

List of Suicides:

On June 13, a man in Shanghai jumped to his death after he was reported to have lost $48,000 betting on the Brazil - Croatia match. He had wagered the final score would be 2 - 1. Oscar's goal in the 91st minute brought the score to 3 - 1.

On June 18, a woman surnamed Wang checked into a hotel room in Haikou, Hainan, shut herself in the bathroom and lit a pile of charcoal. Her child, left outside the door, found the mother dead sometime later. A suicide note detailed the more than $16,000 she had borrowed and lost betting on World Cup matches.

On June 19, Liu Jialin, a renowned 30-year-old chef in Hong Kong, was found dead beside a pile of spent charcoal in his locked bedroom. He was reported to have bet consecutively on Spain as the team lost to the Netherlands and then Chile.

On June 22, a sophomore at Guangzhou University surnamed Lin, jumped to his death from a building in the city's university district. He was rumored to have lost more than $3,000 betting on the World Cup.

On June 23, Yu Chi-hung, a 48-year-old wine sales manager in Hong Kong, was found dead in his wine shop's bathroom beside a bottle of wine, pills and burned charcoal. He left a note that read, "The pressures in life are heavy" and was known to be an avid gambler.

On June 24, 24-year-old Li Zhihao, jumped from the fifth floor of his office building in Hong Kong after friends refused to lend him more money for World Cup betting.

Also on June 24, a security guard surnamed Li, who worked at the Lianjiang People's Hospital in Lianjiang, Guangdong jumped to his death from the top of the hospital building. He was reported to have had an argument with his family over his sports betting debt then gone to work.

On June 25, a 26-year-old man, surnamed Ding, jumped from the sixth story of a building under construction in Quanzhou, Fujian. He was rumored to have lost over $48,000 betting on soccer matches and a suicide note on his iPad admitted to having recently bet on the soccer matches.

On July 5, a 25-year-old man in Xian, Shaanxi got in a physical altercation with his bride of two months after she lost money betting on soccer matches. He then fled to his car where he slashed himself with a razor blade. Still alive, he shut the car doors, turned on the air conditioning and used a lighter to start a fire.

Also on July 5, 26-year-old Little Xu was found dead on the fourth floor terrace of his apartment building in Ruian, Zhejiang. Earlier in the morning, he had paid a $69,000 World Cup gambling wager and argued with his mother over his gambling habit.