Happy Halloween

Misc. Friday Ramblings...

Happy Halloween

• It's Photoshop Phriday.
  Ah yes, kiddie books.


• Jackson Denies Claim She Has Secret Child.
  

  On Friday, Young DeBarge, the brother of Jackson's ex-husband, James DeBarge, said Jackson and his brother had a child named Renee who was living with Rebbie Jackson, Janet's oldest sister.
  Young DeBarge, 28, is promoting his debut album.

  Nah, ya think?


• Test your drawing skills with your mouse.
  Thank you Coors.


• New Bond: I hate guns.
  "But I like the millions I make by acting like I like them."


• Astros roster has no black players.
  Basketball and Football only needs to ball to play, takes less time, and is easier to start a game with. It's all about personal choice and market conditions.


• Wal-Mart memo: Unhealthy need not apply.
  They only want the shoppers to be rednecks, old, or fat asses.


• God has a message for you.
  Stay out of the damn plane!


• Mr. Sulu, Rump factor 1.
  Where no man has gone before, crossing the neutral zone, etc. etc.
  

Friday FIREPOWER!

One more for the good guys.

A 38-year-old man with a permit to carry a concealed firearm shot one of two men accused of trying to rob him at a car wash late Monday, Reno police said.

Luis Alfredo Aguirre, 18, of Reno was booked into the Washoe County Jail on suspicion of attempted armed robbery.

His cousin, Jorge Aguilar, 21, of Reno, was treated Tuesday at Washoe Medical Center for a bullet wound in his liver, Reno police said. Sgt. Doug Evans said Aguilar would be arrested on suspicion of attempted armed robbery when he leaves the hospital.

Police said the the cousins are known gang members and withheld the identity of the shooter.

About 11 p.m. Monday, a man with a souvenir wooden bat approached a man washing his Mini Cooper at a car wash at 690 Booth St. and demanded his money and keys, police said. Another man appeared at the other side of the car wash, yelling and holding his hands up.

Police said the second man began to charge at the owner of the Cooper, who pulled out a small-caliber semiautomatic pistol and shot him. The suspects ran to a waiting car and drove to Saint Mary's Regional Medical Center.

Hmm, some thoughts on this. First off, he shot the guy charging him. Unfortunately, according to the letter of the story, that person was unarmed. Could be trouble. Secondly, if you are going to take a firearm to the car wash, you better make sure it is stainless incase it gets wet. No sense carrying a rusting firearm. :)

One of the funniest Halloween comics.

Sorry, I'm front loading this week's crap spewing cause I'm pretty slammed at work and home.

Roles reverse as the matress covered her ass.

A woman whose home was ripped from the ground and tossed into Highway A1A by a tornado said a mattress saved her life after winds lifted her into the air as she clutched her pets, according to Local 6 News.

One of several tornadoes spawned from Hurricane Wilma Monday hit a neighborhood in Floridana Beach, Fla.

Dawn Lindsay was clutching her two pets inside her home when winds ripped the second floor from the structure and tossed it into A1A.

Lindsay and her pets were then pulled out of her home by the winds and dropped in another part of her home.

"Dawn was on her bed watching the news of the impending storm in her rental home when out of no where she was flipped in the air, animals and all," Local 6 reporter Donald Forbes said.

She said she a mattress landed on her and acted like a shield from the flying debris. She said the mattress saved her life.

"I feel it is a miracle and that there is a purpose for me to do something with my life," Dawn Lindsay. "I'll never look at things the same again."

The tornado ripped off Lindsay's second floor and flattened all of the walls in her home.

Lindsay said everything she owns was destroyed or lost in the tornado.

She said she is leaving Florida and moving to Connecticut after the latest hurricane to hit the state.

You know, I always thought that the old saying of hid in the tub with a matress on top of you was just something of a wive's tale. She's living proof that it isn't. However, it sucks for people with waterbeds.

Never bring a sword to a gun fight, unless it is this sword.

Without knowing any information about the sword or the bullet, hard to judge what exactly is being proven here.

Wrasslin's back.

A little bit of history. I was/am a big professional wrestling fan. I have been ever since Gordon Solie was with Championship Wrestling of Florida, live from the Sport-a-torium.

I guess I lost interest in it after the heyday of the three major leagues, WWF, WCW, and ECW. Once the WWF, now known as the WWE, swallowed those guys up, it just wasn't as fun anymore, because there were no alternatives. Now there is.

Spike TV has started running TNA wrestling on Saturdays at 11pm. I happened to catch it this past Saturday. It was refreshing to see old and new faces wrestling with little fluff to get in the way. On a lark, I watched the PPV last night. I can say I'm thrilled about watching wrasslin again.

It was a good show, with a mix of wrestling, street fighting, extreme, japanese, and luche libre styles. I knew it was going to be a good PPV when the first match had a guy named Samoa Joe (who looks like a big, evil Emeril Lagasse)was taking on Jushin "Thunder" Liger. RAH!!!

Anyway, you can catch the recount of the matches on the TNA website. All I can say is that in business, competition is a good thing, because the consumer wins.

Misc. Friday Ramblings...

Suckage taken to a whole new level...

• "You are all going to die. I hate to remind you, but it is on your schedule." George Carlin Calendar 10-18-05


• It's Photoshop Phriday!
  You got your Sci-Fi mixed up with my Sci-Fi.


• Northwest Airlines to charge smokers more for insurance.
  I'm screwed with the fat tax kicks in.


• Woman surprised to find pork of such caliber at her local grocery store.
  Gives a new meaning to cooking blackened food.


• PSP Porn.
  For when you gotta go, on the go.


• Dregolas. Maybe Legolas has a loser cousin who shops at K-mart or something.


• When the game you love playing changes...
  

  Enhancement Diversification:
  
  This is a new system being implemented into City of Villains and City of Heroes (when City of Villains launches) to promote the use of more different types of Enhancements in powers. Using a system of diminishing returns, when slotting the same type of Enhancement into a power, you will begin to see less effect of that Enhancement when the bonus reaches a certain threshold. The effectiveness of Enhancements you are slotting in can now be seen in the Enhancement Slotting screen.
  
  What does this mean? Simply, if you are slotting Enhancements and your bonus to a single attribute reaches 70% through Enhancements, you will begin to see a drop in the amount each Enhancement should be giving you. If you exceed 100% bonus, then the drop will be more severe.

Now, as with most MMOs, there will be changes that will negatively affect currently gameplay. This is generally called a nerf. I think the following poster pretty much sums up my feelings towards the upcoming (and previous) changes.


Quote:
---------------------------------------------------------------
this is a wounderful game (if not why are you playing)
---------------------------------------------------------------
Good question. Actually, I’m not playing the game right now.

I’ve played CoH almost every evening for a year & a half but now I haven’t logged onto the game since Oct 9th. I just have no desire to play CoH at this point in time.

I’m still planning on playing CoV for the content once, so it’s nice that the subscriptions are connected but I feel very apathetic towards CoH and Cryptic right now.

I never liked lower power at levels where your enhancements go yellow (ie lvl 26, 31, 36, etc) so obviously I don’t like the nerfing of ED which will be even worse then going through those levels. I won’t like the mobs left with a fraction of health after a pre-I6 “normal” set of my blaster's attacks, I won’t like the lower defense on my tanks and I won’t like my Emp healing for less.

Also, the fact that I built my 1st hero in a ED-friendly manner and that he was not fun at all to play once he got into the 20’s obviously colors my thinking. I feel like by not knowing how to build a strong hero when I 1st got the game and by not knowing a good strategy for slotting, I’ve already played an ED-type game and I didn’t like it.

Even more than the impending nerf that is coming like a train down the tracks, though, I’m just tried of constantly re-learning and respecing all my heroes all the time. Maybe CoH will stabilize some day and maybe it won’t. But I don’t want to keep redesigning all of my heroes and changing them every time a new issue comes out. Maybe if I don’t like all this change all the time then I need to focus on single player games.

I don’t know all the answers, but I do know is that a game should be fun and it should be something you look forward to logging on & playing. Unfortunately CoH is neither of those to me at this point in time.

Because I did find it such a fun game to play for a long time I am, of course, sad by this turn of events and by my lack of desire to log on and play. All things come to an end eventually, though, so while being sad that I would like to play a different game than the developers want to publish (relatively stable rules, powerful heroes, etc), I should probably thank Cryptic for a fun ride and wish them all well in their future endeavors.


All I can say is thank God Quake 4, Resident Evil 4, and Soul Calibur 3 are all coming out soon.

Friday FIREPOWER!

Rhineland Arms R22 Target Rifle.

The R22 rimfire rifle represents the ultimate achievement in the design and manufacture of a modern semi-automatic 22LR carbine. By combining high strength aluminum, steel and plastic, Rhineland Arms has created a modern 22 with near perfect ergonomics, high accuracy capability and very reliable. The R22 uses a proven bolt, magazine and trigger system, for a reliable and modular rifle.

The receivers and trigger housings are machined from solid billet aluminum. The barrels are made from ordinance grade 4140 steel. The rifles have coatings of Military-Spec Hard Anodization on the aluminum and Black Oxide on the barrels. The hand guards and scope rail are of a one piece design for maximum strength and to facilitate a bipod while retaining the free float barrel. The barrels use a locking ring system, allowing for easy removal.

When karma meets dog, ma.

The author of a new state law that allows felony charges against owners of dangerous dogs was hospitalized over the weekend after his own dog attacked him.

Bob Schwartz, who also is Gov. Bill Richardson's crime adviser, was hospitalized at University of New Mexico Hospital on Sunday night with bites on both his arms, said Pahl Shipley, a spokesman for the governor.

A hospital spokeswoman declined to release Schwartz's condition, but Shipley said Schwartz is "going to be fine."

Schwartz has three dogs registered with the city: a boxer and two English bulldogs, said Denise Wilcox, who oversees Albuquerque's animal care centers.

Schwartz was instrumental in getting a law passed during this year's regular legislative session that would allow felony charges to be filed against owners of dogs deemed dangerous or potentially dangerous and that seriously injure or kill another animal or person.

The law was designed to make dog owners accountable, said Sen. Sue Wilson Beffort, who worked with Schwartz to pass the bill.

"But I guess when it happens in your own family, that's another story," she said. "That's tragic."

Wilcox said Sunday her office had not received a bite report from University hospital, which is required when a dog bite leads to medical attention.

Build a game system on a budget

You want to build the ultimate gaming machine, but like most of us, you don't have thousands of dollars in discretionary income to spend on the latest and greatest gear. So what will $500 worth of components get you? You would be surprised.

Pleasantly surprised, I might add.

But the dead deer with an IV made it weird

Cops in North Carolina thought it was odd enough a Jacksonville man was driving an ambulance reported stolen hours earlier.

Odder still was that he was wearing a makeshift doctor's uniform consisting of a stethoscope, a pager-like gadget and latex gloves stuffed in his back pocket.

But then things started getting really strange when they saw a dead deer, fully stretched out and wedged in the back. Some said there was an intravenous line attached to the animal and there was evidence a defibrillator had been used.

Apparently love knows no bounds.

Mistaken identity: guilty until proven innocent.

The 17-year-old from northern New South Wales was stunned to discover students had copied footage from an X-rated website featuring an actress she looked like.

The 10 seconds of film was then circulated by email to dozens of other students, wrongly claiming she was the star.

The girl's parents have had to become members of a US porn site to track the original video and clear their daughter's name.

"As her parents we were astounded at the resemblance of the porn star to our daughter and, had we not recognized the difference in body features, we would have thought the same as everyone else – that it was her," her father said.

"She was crying in her room. I asked her if she had ever been drugged at a party because the video shows the porn star with eyes rolling and acting in a possible drug-induced state. She replied, 'No, never'."

It was discovered the actress had a tattoo on her shoulder, proving their daughter was not involved.

Her father also sounded a warning about cyber bullying.

"Some parents may not have had the time and money to find the original video and their child's name would be under a cloud because they could not have proved them innocent."

You know, it sucks to be accused of something you didn't do all because of circumstantial evidence. Innocent until proven guilty is a noble concept, but one that people just don’t have the time for anymore. Society is fast to deem a person guilty based on anecdotal data, when the true evidence has yet to be seen. It takes time to track down the truth, and what you say can and will be used against you. Then you have to fight hard against a biased audience to even attempt to prove your innocence and reclaim your standing. That is why plea bargains are so darn popular. It's easier to give up, than fight for right against wrong.

Misc. Friday Ramblings...

Same shit, different Friday.

• It's Photoshop Phriday.
  Video game crossups...er, crossovers.


• Man coughs up screw after operation.
  Talk about getting screwed by the doctors.


• Watch 'em wiggle.
  See them jiggle.


• People do strange things for halloween.
  Please, think of the dogs.


• Southern Hospitality.
  Or the definite lack thereof in Jacksonville.


• The F in football doesn't stand for fun.

  East Irondequoit Eastridge quarterback Kenny Rogers will sit out Friday's game against Victor following a one-game suspension.
  

  I guess he didn't know when to hold 'em.

Friday FIREPOWER!
Get those checkbooks ready. A few new evil black rifles will be coming soon. Check out the discussion on The High Road.

• FN SCAR.


• FN P90 Civilian


• Robinson Armament's XCR.


• Steyr AUG

In America, you usually send court papers.

A WOMAN whose bitter hubby demanded a divorce on a road banner got her own back yesterday — by publicly branding him a love cheat.

The wife, called Wendy, was last week confronted with the poster on a bridge over the A27 near Brighton, East Sussex.

But yesterday she replied to her fella, known as JBS, with a 10ft sheet at the same spot reading: “No way — YOU are the cheat!”

Commuters have been captivated by the feud. But marriage councillor Trish Owen warned: “It’s not very constructive.”

The best teen girl squad ever....

Politics Test

Hat tip to Ken for this one.

You are a Social Conservative (38% permissive) and an... Economic Conservative (73% permissive) You are best described as a: Republican Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

The Box Of Truth: Body Armor

A while back, my friend Michael contacted me, he said, "I am sending you some "shootpacks" (18"x18")
The one condition is that you not mention my name or the supplier. Because your setup is informal, they would not want to have their name connected with the testing since you don't have a NIJ-certified laboratory setup.
For your information, body armor material is designed to work when worn by a human.
Humans are compressible.
IIIA material will work when put on a person or over 4" of ballistic clay, but if you just put IIIA material over concrete or over boards, it will fail."

Is this a great job or what!

The box contains Modeling Clay from Hobby Lobby.

I hung the armor over the front.

Don't look at the 7.62x39mm, it isn't pretty.

City of Villains pricing announced.

NCsoft® North America has announced that customers will be able to subscribe to two of its massively multiplayer online games, City of Villains(TM) and City of Heroes®, for the subscription price of one. Subscribers to City of Villains and City of Heroes will have only a single subscription fee of $14.99 per month to have full access to both games.

City of Villains, a stand-alone sequel to last year's hit, City of Heroes, is expected to be released on October 31, with a subscription price of $14.99 per month. The pricing plan means that current City of Heroes subscribers need only purchase City of Villains to play and enjoy features from both games. The games were developed by Cryptic Studios(TM).

Along with the value of being able to play the two games for $14.99, players will receive four additional character slots per game server, and access to crossover areas from both games such as player-versus-player zones in City of Villains. Additionally, City of Heroes' players who subscribe to both games will have access to the base building and base raids featured in City of Villains.

Good times had by all, if they would just hurry up and get the new tech from CoV into CoH.

Welcome to Florida. Liquid Sunshine State.

Property rights: Your gun in your car.

Florida businesses could soon face criminal charges if they try to stop employees from bringing guns to work in their cars, thrusting the state into a growing national debate pitting individual freedom against job safety.

Backed by the National Rifle Association, two state lawmakers have filed bills that would allow workers to have guns at work, as long as the weapons remain locked in their vehicles.

Debate about guns in workplace parking lots erupted in 2002, when 12 workers at an Oklahoma paper mill lost their jobs after managers found guns in their vehicles parked on site, a violation of company policy.

The state's Legislature responded by passing a law giving employees the right to keep guns locked in their cars at work. Several companies filed suit in a case still winding its way through federal court.

The Florida bills will likely face similar opposition from businesses.

"We would be opposed to any effort that would prevent us from determining who can or cannot bring weapons onto our property," Universal spokesman Tom Schroder said.

Bill Herrle, a vice president for the Florida Retail Federation, said the group questions whether the proposal would conflict with existing employment law and property rights.

Boys and girls, that is the crux of the issue. Do the employers have the right to tell you what you can and can't have inside your private property, if such said property is on company premises. Where I work, I remember a passage in the handbook banning weapons from company property. Fine and dandy. However, the passage made mention of any vehicle parked on company property.

Whoa! Wait a second. I've done some research and can't find where an employer has the right to tell you what you can and can't have in your private conveyance. The next year, that employee handbook was updated to say company vehicle instead of any vehicle. Understood, that's their property.

So, who's property rights win out? Tell you the truth, as long as they have no right to search my conveyance, I'll tell them anything they want to hear. Otherwise, they better have proof.

Boobiethon. Go. Donate.

Sometimes, you just need that little push to get you going in the right direction. A good person needs no incentive, but being rewarded for good behavior is always nice. :)