Shoppers kill Wal-Mart worker

In a true testament to consumer greed and corporate stinginess, a worker at Wal-Mart was literally trampled to death by unruly shoppers. Check out the article here.

Why is it Wal-Mart's fault that these idiots acted like a bunch of savages? They didn't have enough security (save those dollars). The victim wasn't even an actual employee, but a third-party temp (saving even more). So let's send the untrained temp guy to open the doors. How could a manager not know that the crowd was out of control?

And when told they had to leave because the crowd had killed an employee, they kept shopping, yelling they had been in line since the previous morning.

If this was Ozzistan those idiots would be taken out back and shot, then their corpses fed to hogs.

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4 a.m.? You greedy bastards

Some retailers are actually opening at 4 a.m. for Black Friday. I wonder how many of those companies' corporate suits are going to be in the stores with their employees? I doubt very few, as most of them will be sleeping off a leisurely Thanksgiving with their families in their multi-million dollar McMansions.

I guess it could be worse... you could work for places like the Evil Empire Wal-Mart, who was open today.

Way to give your employees quality of life time assholes. Because it won't bring in more revenue, just shift it around.

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Gen Con purchase offer rejected

Looks like the offer to purchase Gen Con is not some sort of benign attempt to save Gen Con so much as an attempt to oust owner Peter Adkinson. Gen Con is rejecting the purchase offer and proceeding with reorganization. A good sign is that the company actually turned a profit from Gen Con Indy.

You can check out an article with more info here.

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The Guild Season 2 starts

Season 2 of The Guild is up... check it out here.

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New Trek trailer with Nimoy

Full. Of. Win.

On a related note, check this PvP comic.

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Felicia Day explains how to meet girls in WoW

Felicia Day almost makes me want to jump ship from LOTRO to WoW. Almost. Even though I may have a thing for Felicia, the odds of me successfully stalking meeting her among 11 million players is virtually nil. And I have mad stalking meeting new people skills.

But you can check put her advice for the 10,900,000 guys in WoW that want to meet a girl in game. Just remember my safety tip... always assume it's a guy behind the keyboard until you can communicate live. Because that cute redhead archer chick is probably a middle-aged dude.

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Shatner on the new Enterprise

I was kind of surprised he was positive considering that I had heard he was disappointed at being left out of the project (unlike Nimoy). Given Shatner's propensity for taking up squabbles on-line, he must honestly like that the new design still holds to the original design elements.

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Official Map to the Verse

Looks like the multi-star system theory prevails, as the official Serenity Map of the Verse shows.

And the sneaky bastards made it double sided, which means you need two if you're going to mount it on a wall.

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Bailout bullshit

If $350 billion is left of the $700 billion, give $3,500 to the 100 million lowest income taxpayers. Note that I said taxpayers, which means you have to have paid taxes, so this wouldn't be a welfare hand out. But somehow I think this would do more good for our economy then letting more banks buy each other out and pay bonuses. A family in mortgage trouble might be able to stave off foreclosure with $7,000 (assuming both parents work), and $3,500 could probably knock a fair chunk out of credit card debt. Of course, not everyone would use all of it for debts, some would buy stuff... again good for the economy, plus people relieved of debt would be able to shop again.

The big flaw to my suggestion... it would require people to be halfway smart about money and just not get into more stupid debt or we end up right back where we are now.

And the Big 3...


They are asking for enough money to buy 1 million cars. But what are we going to get? A delay until they are back asking for more money. The auto industry has to fundamentally change. I say let them go Chapter 13, and if they have a viable restructuring plan that removes the gross waste they have now, then we can talk loans. That means the unions' heydays are over... no more guys showing up, clocking in, then going off to take a nap or whatever just because they are union and don't have to worry about it.

Evolve or die, Detroit, because this is your asteroid.

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People others sue for their own stupidity

One of the problems with our legal system is that people get to sue others for their own stupidity, like in this article.

How is it McDonald's fault that this bozo forgot his phone in one of their restaurants *and* his phone had nude photos of his wife on it? This case needs to be dismissed, the idiot should have to pay all legal charges for both parties, and his lawyer should be disbarred. I don't often take the side of corporations but entitlement bullshit like this just bogs the system down and tries to put money in the hands of idiots.

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Beam us to Camelot

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Someone is buying Gen Con?

It looks like a group, aptly named the Gen Con Acquisition Group, is being formed in Kentucky to purchase Gen Con lock, stock and barrel. The purchase price will be enough to pay off all debts, hence the probable reason why Lucasfilm dropped its suit.

Check out the article for more info.

So far the identities of the members of the GCAG are unknown. I hope this doesn't mean the con is going to move.

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You are being monitored

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Movie review: Quantum of Solace

My friend Marik and I corresponded regarding the new James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace. We both liked the movie, but it wasn't flawless by any means.


Marik:
I think it was good but lacking direction. I kept waiting for some big world shaking plot like moonraker or such. Gone seems to be the meglomaniacs replaced with greedy little anti-green turkeys. Ugh. I like the buildup to Specter that is taking place, but over three movies? Are fans that patient? And the hotel in the desert run with a hydrogen fuel cell in every room? Okay, now that was the first new-gen Bond movie with an old school uber-improbable twist.

Oz:

There were a few things that took away from it for me. We seem to have totally forgotten that Bond is a newly minted 00 from the last movie and everyone acts as though this Bond has been around forever. M seemed to have lost a bit of her edge. And the hotel set-piece for the climax made no sense. Why the hell was there this hydrogen powered hotel in the middle of nowhere that seemed to be abandoned except for the bad guys and 1 victim, not mention it seemed to be built out of paper-mache and conveniently have hydrogen tanks in every room.

Marik:

What I liked - Awesome extended combat scenes showing what a badass fighter this Bond is. This Bond BLEEDS, and kicks ass. The chick covered in oil was a nice homage to the Man with the Golden Gun.

What I didn't like - The stupid nuclear hotel. The weak plot (stealing water?). The lack of gadgets. And M having a mommy twist. I much liked the nasty bitch M from the previous movie.

Oz:

My nits are relatively minor against the rest of the movie. I think it is one of the better Bond movies. Great action and Craig makes a great Bond. Overall 3.5 martini-drinking hotel-burning flying monkeys.

Marik:

My rating - 3.0 falcons, licensed to kill.

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Half-Blood Prince trailer

Here's the new Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince trailer.

They need to just fill up a dump-truck with money and drive it over to John Williams' house.

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New Star Trek trailer

I don't think I've been so stoked by a Star Trek trailer since the First Contact teaser.

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Pictures taken of 4 exoplanets

What the hell is an exoplanet? It's a planet that orbits a star other than our sun. Scientists until now have just been able to detect the wobble caused by exoplanets or measure the change in a star's light when the exoplanet eclipses it. But now scientists think they have pictures, one around one star and three around another. Nothing earth-like yet. Yet.

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New Watchmen Trailer

Crap, can't find the embed code. Here's a link.

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I want my flying car

I remember when I was a kid and we thought that we'd have flying cars by now. Well it looks like we're getting a little closer.

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Lucasfilm suit v. Gen Con dismissed

It looks like Gen Con is getting one step closer to resolving their financial problems with the suit by Lucasfilm being dismissed. I found the news here.

Note that it doesn't mean Gen Con "won", it just means that the debt is expected to be settled during the bankruptcy proceedings, but Lusafilm wouldn't have agreed to the dismissal if they didn't think Gen Con would be able to pay them, so take that as a good sign.

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John Williams A Capella

Yes, it's weird and strange, but this kid is a frigging genius.

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Cats: plotting geniuses or dumb animals

Is your cat plotting to kill you as part of the feline master plan to take over the world? Check here for the warning signs.

Or maybe cats just have good PR... but not good enough to keep this video off the interwebs.

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He said what?

Somebody's getting fired.

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LCD makes fined $585 million for price fixing

Three LCD manufacturers, including big names Sharp and LG were fined $585 million for their part in a price fixing scheme. Check out the TWICE article.

Makes me wonder just how much they've kept prices inflated? Bastards. I can see 7 devices right now that use LCDs, and that doesn't include the most expensive one in the house.

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Circuit City files Chapter 11

The news is all over the place about Circuit filing for bankruptcy protection.

Given their track record and the current economic climate, I don't think anyone is surprised. Vendors started threatening to withhold product for the holiday season if Circuit didn't make good on its debts to them. Even with the Chapter 11 and a $1.1 billion dollar loan, they are still in a very hard spot. They no longer have any real leverage to negotiate good deals on product. I think the only reason CE vendors haven't just pulled the rug out from under Circuit is that they don't want to see Wal-Mart do to consumer electronics what they did to the toy industry.

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4e Damage and Healing home-brew rules

One of my beefs with 4e is that it is too focused on the mini fights and the game is designed to go from one fight to the next while skipping that whole annoying story thing that is supposed to give the fights a purpose. One of the criticisms that I agree with is that healing is too quick. There are no consequences for getting beaten, stabbed, clawed and fireballed to within an inch of your life. Characters can heal at least 150% of their hit point total in one day.

I like getting into fights to have a little more bite. Combat shouldn't be the default option and my games are rarely dungeon crawls through some insane wizard's monster-laden basement.

While I really like the condition tracker from Star Wars Saga, I wanted to keep it a little easier for now plus add some long term effects, so here are the house rules I'll be trying out for damage and healing.


Fortunately my players are indulgent in my tinkering ways. Hopefully I make the stories worth putting up with me testing new rules variants on them constantly.

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Fanboys trailer

Bande annonce Fanboys trailer
by FilmGeek-TV

Too bad they don't show Kristen Bell in the Slave Leia outfit. ;)

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VOTE

If you haven't already, vote. I have to admit I am a little excited because I don't feel like my vote is a token throwaway gesture this year, though I'm not super enthused with our choices.

But at least all the damned ads will be over.

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Nostradamus backs McCain?

There's an easy joke in there "because they're the same age", but I won't stoop... oops too late. But if this quatrain is about the presidential race, Nosty was even less kind to McCain and Palin.

(Note: this article is *not* from a reliable news source, it's just funny.)

(Notier note: the cited quatrain is indeed made up... here is the actual Century X Q78:

Subite ioye en subite tristesse
Sera à Rome aux graces embrassées.
Dueil, cris, pleurs, larm. sang excellent liesse :
Contraires bandes surprinses & troulsées.

Sudden joy to sudden sadness,
It will occur at Rome for the graces embraced:
Grief, cries, tears, weeping, blood, excellent mirth,
Contrary bands surprised and trussed up.

I'd blame those sneaky liberals given the Feeble Kept One and his Imbecile Queen, but then wouldn't they 'predict' an Obama victory?)

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Darths & Droids

In the same vein as DM of the Rings, there is another webcomic using movie caps to portray a game campaign, this time in Star Wars - Darths and Droids.

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I am Finn MacCool

Your result for The Ultimate TRUE IRISH Test...

Finn MacCool

I am honored to be in your presence. You know your stuff. You are Irish in your heart. You probably talk like an Irish person after a few pints. You sing the rebel songs. You drink, and probably bleed Guinness. You may have even been interned in British Prisions. You impress (or annoy) all your friends with your vast Irish knowledge. If you are a female, I am in love. If you are a male, we are brothers. We should have a pint.

Please don't forget to rate my test...

Take The Ultimate TRUE IRISH Test at HelloQuizzy

I scored 95 Common Sense, 69 Irish Facts, and 85 Irish Soul. I kinda sucked at some of the history questions, hence the poor showing in facts. :(

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Halloween pics

I went with the mad scientist theme this year, allowing me to recycle elements used at the BarFleet Mad Scientist Party. I went to the Vogue to see here come the Mummies and didn't think to take my camera with me, so the only pictures I have are ones where I set my camera on the shelf, set the timer, and scurried across the room and tried to get as close to where I guessed the camera was aimed.




I had several people think I was dressed as Dr. Horrible. While I do have above average intelligence and am shy around women, I lack the really cool lab coat and freeze-ray.


The Mummies show was great as usual, and Halloween in Broad Ripple... let's say the walk was worth the scenery. :)

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