San Diego bans Wal-Mart

Check out the article here.

While they aren't the first ones they are probably the biggest. And Wal-Mart has already challenged a similar ban and lost.


I wonder if a point will come where Wal-Mart will get too big? After all, it had a bad Black Friday and negatively impacted the stock market. The government forced the Bells to break up. Yes, I realize there is a difference between phone utilities and retail, but could someone make a case for Wal-Mart stifling competition due to their sheer size.

Just some random thoughts... I'm not a lawyer, an economist, or a politician. What do I know?

But I can still go "neener neener neener!"

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What Mental Disorder do ... oooh shiny...

What mental disorder do you have? Your Result: ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) You have a very hard time focusing, and you find it difficult to stay on task without your mind wandering. You probably zone in and out of conversations and tend to miss out on directions because you cannot focus
Manic Depressive
Paranoia
GAD (Generalized Anxiety Disorder)
OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder)
What mental disorder do you have?

I know I've had at least one mental disorder quiz, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't this one (and I don't remember how I rated). I think what I really have is Forgetful Procrastinator Syndrome.

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Good Idea and Bad Idea

Ungodly huge frickin' monitor... the present for your favorite Oz, be it X-Mas, Yule, or Pretentious Blogging Game Master Day.

Obviously, these guys didn't see Titanic or Poseidon Adventure or they wouldn't be wanting to build this.


Floating city = impending disaster

Of course, that won't keep me from stealing the idea for some game setting.

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He's the best there is at what he does...

An alternative X-Men 3


... and what he does is Broadway musicals?

(and didn't Hugh Jackman get a Tony Award? So that would make him the best?)

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"Do I have to roll for this?"

In the spirit of Fear of Girls and Gamers the Movie...

click here.


And yes... the headline is from an actual quote by a player in one of my games. A piece of advice: never give the GM and your dice the opportunity to mess with your character like that.

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Superhero psych profiles

Look here.


There were so many (easy) shots that were passed over... like the whole Bruce Wayne and young orphan boy thing.

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Black Friday = Bleak Friday for Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart started a bloodbath on Black Friday and has nothing to show for it. While other retailers are reporting sales increases of an average of 6%, the Evil Empire actually appears to have had a sales decrease over last year (see article).

So Wal-Mart had massive discounts but didn't generate any additional revenue, which means all they did was destroy their margin. While that makes me smile, I suspect almost all retailers are going to be bloody as they did similar discounts, so margins across the entire retail sector are not going to look healthy. Of course, that may be exactly what Wal-Mart has in mind, try to bleed out their competition.


I'm sure various suppliers are just enthused about this latest round of price wars Wal-Mart has started. By devaluing products, that means that means other retailers will demand lower prices for them, and while Wal-Mart may be the biggest retailer, they are not the biggest in every category and supposedly most suppliers can't afford for Wal-Mart to be more than 40% of their business. Not to mention that Wal-Mart doesn't sell the higher end of suppliers' lines. So it's not like Panasonic could tell Best Buy, Circuit City and Sears to piss off if they demand Wal-Mart's prices.

I better stop now... I feel another rant coming on.

Though I will share this: I had a shopper in the line in front of my store on Black Friday tell me that I should let them in early because they had been there so long.

"People like you are why I had to get up at 2am this morning, so I couldn't spend more time with my family on Thanksgiving," was my reply.

They stopped pestering me after that.

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61 Odd Questions

I'm copying this from MySpace...

(hopefully I've editted out all of Annie's answers... otherwise it might sound odd :) )

1.) Do you talk in your sleep?
Not that I know of

2.) Red Jello or Blue Jello?
Red... blue seems unnatural

3.) Whats the song thats getting on your nerves right now?
None that I know of

4.) Current Crush?
na

5.) What's your favorite color?
green

6.) Window seat or aisle seat?
window

7.) Ever met anyone famous?
Other than convention stuff, the original Mayor Daley in Chicago (the current one's father) when I was a kid.

8.) Do you feel that you've had a truly successful life so far?
Sometimes

9.) Do you twirl your spaghetti or cut it?
Twirl

10.) Ricki Lake or Oprah Winfrey?
I'd turn off the tv


11) Basketball or Football?
Football

12.) How long do your showers last?
I guess 5 minutes or so.

13.) Do you know how to drive a stick?
Yes. My ex-wife taught me.

15.) Are you self-conscious?
Sometimes

16.) Have you ever given money to a bum?
No

18). Where do you wish you were?
In a pub in Ireland

19. Have you ever ridden in an ambulance?
no

20.) Can you tango?
no, wish I could

21). Last gift you received?
Shot glass from Russia

22.) Last sport you played?
um... does bowling count? And I think that was 5 or 6 years ago.

23.) Things you spend a lot of money on?
DVDs and comics (depending on your definition of a lot)

26) Favorite FAST food restaurant?
Hardees

27) Most hated food(s)?
things with leaves

28) Can you sing?
Not really

29) Last person you called?
Colleague

30) What's your least fav. chore?
House cleaning

31. Favorite Drink?
Stout

32) Are you a vegetarian?
That's not food, that's what food eats

33) Do you believe in Heaven?
Depends on your definition... I'm not a Christian, so I don't believe in the Judeo-Christian "Heaven"

34) Do you miss someone?
Sometimes

35) Have you ever come close to dying?
Not that I know of, though I've had some closed calls in traffic that could have been disastrous

37)Are you eating?
No

38) Do you eat the stems of broccoli?
No, I don't eat broccli

39) Do you wear makeup?
No

40) Whats your worst fear?
Dying alone... then the cat gets hungry

41) Would you ever have plastic surgery?
Not unless I was in some sort of accident or something

42) What do you wear to bed?
Do you really want to know?

43) Have you ever done anything illegal?
no comment ;)

44) Are you a good kisser?
I've been told so, but you'd have to ask my exs

45) What kind of sneakers do you wear usually?
white ones

47) Future child's name?
Don't know, it wouldn't be just my decision (though for I son I'd try for Logan)

50) Do you snore?
I used to, but might not now that I've lost some weight

51) If you could go anywhere in the world where would it be?
One location? I guess Japan since I've been to Europe.

52) Do you sleep with stuffed animals?
No.

53) If you won the lottery, what would you do first?
Figure out how much I needed to "retire" and how much I could give to family and friends

54) Gold or silver?
Depends. I wear a silver ring and a bronze hammer

55) Hamburger or hot dog?
Burger

56) If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Burger

57) City, beach ,country?
Country (as long as I could get broadband :) )

58) What was the last thing you touched?
Keyboard

59) Where did you last eat out?
MacCool's

60) When was the last time you cried?
When my cat that I'd had for 17 years died

61) Do you read blogs?
yes

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Meme

This is the 1 word meme (although a short phrase is allowed) that has been popping up in the blogosphere. I copied this one from Nicole.

1. Yourself: tired

2. Your boyfriend/girlfriend: none

3. Your hair: uncooperative

4. Your mother: teacher

5. Your father: dead

6. Your favorite item: none

7. Your dream last night: unmemorable

8. Your favorite drink: beer?

9. Your dream car: unknown

10. The room you are in: disaster


11. Your ex: which one?

12. Your fear: dying alone

13. What you want to be in 10 years: happy

14. Who you hung out with last night: cat

15. What you’re not: ambitious

16. Muffins: eh

17: One of your wish list items: none

18: Time: gone

19. The Last Thing You Did: net-surfed

20. What You Are Wearing: sweats

21. Your Favorite Weather: storms

22. Your Favorite Book: Belgariad

23. The Last Thing You Ate: granola bar

24. Your Life: routine

25. Your Mood: tired

26. Your best friend(s): cheer me up

27. What are you thinking about right now: too complex

28. Your car: good

29. What are you doing at the moment: blogging

30. Your summer: GenCon

31. Your relationship status: nonexistant

32. What is on your tv: nothing

33. What is the weather like: mild

34. When is the last time you laughed: this morning

Read the rest!

Do people really fall for this?

I found this in my spam file today:

From Mrs. Suha Arafat
Email: ahjisuhaarafat_6@yahoo.com
Compliments of the season,

Att:
This mail may not be surprising to you if you have been following current events in the international media with reference to the Middle East and Palestine in particular I am Mrs. SUHA ARAFAT, the wife of YASSER ARAFAT, the Palestinian Leader who died recently in Paris. Since his death and even prior to the announcement, I have been thrown into a state of antagonism, confusion, humiliation, frustration and hopelessness by the present leadership of the Palestinian Liberation Organization and the new Prime Minister. I have even been subjected to physical and psychological torture. As a widow that is so traumatized, I have lost confidence with everybody in the country at the moment.

You must have heard over the media reports and the Internet on the discovery of some fund in my husband secret bank account and companies and the allegations of some huge sums of money deposited by my husband in my name of which I have refuses to disclose or give up to the corrupt Palestine Government. In fact the total sum allegedly discovered by the Government so far is in the tune of about $6.5 Billion Dollars. And they are not relenting on their effort to make me poor for life. As you know, the Moslem community has no regards for woman, hence my desire for a foreign assistance.


I have deposited the sum of 20 million dollars with a private security firm abroad whose name is withheld for now until we open communication. I shall be grateful if you could receive this fund into your bank account for safe keeping and any Investment opportunity. This arrangement is known to you and my personal Attorney. He might be dealing with you directly for security reasons as the case may be. In view of the above, if you are willing to assist for our mutual benefits, we will have to negotiate on your Percentage share of the $20,000,000 that will be kept in your position for a while and invested in your name for my trust pending when my Daughter, Zahwa, will come off age and take full responsibility of her Family Estate/inheritance.

Please note that this is a golden opportunity that comes once in life time and more so, if you are honest, I am going to entrust more funds in your care as this is one of the legacy we keep for our children.In case you don't accept please do not let me out to the security and international media as I am giving you this information in total trust and confidence I will greatly appreciate if you accept my proposal in good faith. Please expedite action and all response to my Email address below. NB / Please reply to:
ahjisuhaarafat_6@yahoo.com
My best regards,
Hajia Suha Arafat.



Do people really think that Arafat's widow is going to e-mail a random foreigner to hold onto 20 million dollars? What's scary is that they wouldn't do this scam unless it was profitable, so the answer must be yes.

By the way, I'm really a representative for Santa Claus... for $1 million I can have your child's name removed from the Naughty List. Really. Would Santa lie?

(Of course, this doesn't mean that your child will behave or receive any presents. And I didn't say which Naughty List.)

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Vorporal Bunny

Run away! Run away!

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215

Another pound gone... just in time for Turkey Day! Is that ironic or what?


It also means that I've actually hit the 30 pound mark since I started paying attention to my weight and since my family last saw me. Thirty pounds is a lot of fat... I can see it in my mind. Ugh.

I'm actually not worried about Thanksgiving doing a lot of damage. I'm more worried about the stress from this weekend (and that my reaction to sttress is to eat). Also, I'm hoping that after a 12 hour work day that starts at 3am, I won't be tired enough to talk myself out of going to the gym (Friday is a gym day).

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Harry Potter and catz in ur website

OK, this is really two subjects.

First, the new teaser trailer for Order of the Phoenix



The second is the website that may be the source for the cats pictures posted earlier. It also has many the first site didn't, so if you liked the first one, click here.

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5000 hits

Yes, I like numbers. This is my 462nd post. I've lost 29 pounds over the last year, 24 of those in 8 months.

A friend mocked Nicole and I when we were talking about weight loss (while eyeing a large bowl of candy in front of us), saying that we were to obsessed with numbers.

"Here's a number for you... the weight I've lost will probably add another 5 years to my life."

Sure, my number wasn't scientific, but he quit mocking us.

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Bond 2.0

There's been a lot of rebooting of franchises the past few years. Marvel Comics did it with their Ultimate series, WB did it with Batman Begins, Universal did it with Battlestar Galactica, word has it that Paramount will do the same with Star Trek. And then there's Bond. James Bond.

Granted, changing Bonds seems to be only less frequent than changing Doctor Who, as the franchise has been going for over 40 years. When it was announced that the new Bond, Daniel Craig, was blonde the internet went into a tizzy. It seems like people were more wrapped up that Bond was blonde, not the they were going back to the beginning of Bond.

Sure, when I first heard that the new Bond was blonde, I did a 'huh?' But if you can accept that the new Starbuck is a woman, why not a fair-haired Bond? And it turns out that Craig's hair isn't all that fair. We're not talking Aryan ski instructor blonde here... take a look at the pic. And I know of at least one friend who will appreciate the new blonde Bond's piercing blue eyes.


As for the movie itself, well it's a Bond movie, and a pretty good one. Not a great one, as the third act drags a bit and feels very different from the first two. I found it interesting that for the reboot they kept Dame Judi Dench as M. I was also glad, because Dench makes a great M. She's in charge without being bitchy and is definately someone you wouldn't want to cross. They didn't give her any great memorable lines like in previous movies though. But it would be hard to top:

General: Sometime I wonder if you have the balls for this job, M.
M: At least I have the advantage of not having to think with them all the time.

Craig's Bond is definately rougher, just getting his Double O status. He's charming, but doesn't have quite the suaveness of earlier (or is it now later) Bond's. He's still clever, but not infallible. He's tough, but not invincible.

You get to see the 'origins' of many of the Bond trademarks in this movie. I won't go into them (and spoiler territory) here, but Bond fans will appreciate them. One standard that was missing was Q. There are no supergadgets, though this isn't such a bad thing. The cloaking car went overboard last movie, and Bond is supposed to be more than gimmicks.

The 'Bond Girls' are hot, as always. The cars are fast, as always. And there's plenty of action.

My overall rating: 3.5 martini drinking, tuxedo wearing flying monkeys

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Time travel, monster crabs and nanotube blades

Nope, it's not an episode of Dr. Who. These are articles from around the net.

Ret-conning photons


Giant Russian Crabs

Nanotech in Damascus steel

I've actually heard about quantum mechanics experiments with photons that resulted in the photons striking a sensor a few microseconds before they were emitted, I want to say a year or so ago. Wrap your head around that.

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Battlestars do not fly

As Jeff Freeman pointed out, this has to be one of the coolest scenes in sci fi ever.

Another example of why you should watch BSG. And another example of why Adama needs a wheel-barrow for his brass cajones.

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Putting it in type

My friend Greg, who GMs Rolemaster, is joining my D&D campaign. I've been pretty stoked about it because I'm hoping he can appreciate the depth of the campaign world my players and I have spent something like 10 years building. It's kind of like being a cook and having another cook try your food for the first time.

Then I realized a stumbling block. A few years ago I suffered a hard drive crash which ate the files on the campaign world. At the time it was inconvenient, but I had lots of stuff on paper, and my players were so familiar with the campaign world that they didn't need references. If someone said "Hey, let's go to Morymar!", they knew it was a dangerous idea and that if they did go, they needed to be ready for Morymar.


But now things that we've been taking for granted won't be obvious to Greg. He has no idea what a vagisto is, or who Moralists serve. Unlike by-the-book D&D, my world doesn't have a Common Tongue and death isn't quite the revolving door it is in regular games (or Marvel Comics). He doesn't know that it's a bad idea to wear wizard robes to Alba or challenge a druid to a barroom brawl.

I guess it's time to get writing.

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Colonial Fleet vs. Imperial Navy

Ar! Ar! Ar!

I noticed that the Vipers, especially their weapons, were a la the original, even though the cinematography and some of the manuvers were from the new series.

Now let's see the Empire vs. the Klingons!

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Spiderman 3 Trailer + video fun

The new Spiderman 3 trailer is out.

More random video fun after the jump...

Robot-Chicken fun here and here.

Commercials that never aired in the US here. Who the hell has 90 second commercials?

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216

I finally recovered from the combination of my Halloween Party, Halloween itself, and a hell week at work (stress makes me hungry). I was really close to 215 this morning, so hopefully in a day or two I'll be able to write off another pound.


It's a good thing I started amking progress again when I did. I've been really craving an order of gridiron fries (a huge plate of waffle fries covered in chili and cheese) for that new bar near me, but now self-restraint has paid off.

A couple of friends remarked on how much better I looked in the past couple week and that is always encouraging. My family will probably be shocked when I go for Thanksgiving, as the last time they saw me was Easter, which was nearly 25 - 30 pounds ago.

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Dear Democrats...

I'm sure that you're flush with victory and celebrating taking control of Congress from the Republicans. Enjoy your moment.

But before you embark of your liberal agenda, there are some things you need to remember. Paying attention?


First of all remember that it wasn't the radical left that won you the election. And it won't be the radical left that will keep you in power in 2 years. You owe everything to the moderate vote.

Still paying attention?

So before you make the mistake of pushing bleeding-heart-left programs that will bleed our wallets, remember that we aren't all tie-dyed wanna-be socialists who think that the government should take care of everyone for their own good.

Just like we don't like right-wing scare tactics and religious right preaching, we don't like footing the bill for a welfare state and coddling criminals. Just like we don't want the church in government trying to legislate their beliefs onto us, we don't need you to protect us from our own choices, even if "it's for our own good".

We don't need more laws. We need people taking responsibilty for their own actions and for raising their children. We need schools to give children the education they need and we need the streets to be safe for our families. We don't need you to save us from media content, we can choose for ourselves and our children.

We don't need a welfare state. There's a difference between people who are in need and require the help of society and people who are lazy and take advantage of society. I know, I've seen both.

Yes, we need a strong economy, but that doesn't mean giving a free pass to your big business cronies. Sure, you can point at the Republicans and all of their big business money, but where did your millions come from for this election? Bake sales?

Don't waste our time with political theatrics. Yes, a lot of folks think that Bush is a buffoon. But unless you have a smoking gun, you don't have enough power to impeach him, so don't waste our time and money with pointless drama.

You have two years to show the moderates of this country that they didn't waste their vote and that they shouldn't boot you right back out of power in 2008.

Are you paying attention?

Because the clock is ticking.

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catz in ur internet stealin ur blog

My friend Mike sent me this. If you like cat humor, or tech humor, or are a fan of intentional misspelling, click it.


This one seemed topical...

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Oops, I meme'd it again

As my friend Nicole points out, it is easy to cut and paste these blogames floating out there LiveBlogSpace. But I like them because they occasionally make me think about and remember things I wouldn't normally think about.

Meme after the jump...


1. Explain what ended your last relationship? She didn't feel attached enough to me... probably because I kept from getting to close to keep from getting hurt.
2. When was the last time you shaved? This morning
3. What were you doing this morning at 8 a.m.? At work, doing paperwork and probably cussing.
4. What were you doing 15 minutes ago? Watching the lightsaber tribute video.
5. Are you any good at math? I'm the opposite of Nicole... I have no use for calculus and abstract math, but I'm good at the basic stuff and algebra, even if my brain leaves out steps and goes from A to D, skipping B and C.
6. Your prom night? Lost my wallet a couple of months before, so I wasn't able to get my license in time as I had to get a new permit (and you needed to have your permit something like 6 months before testing for your license) so I had to rely on friends for a ride, but my date was so beautiful that we got a bunch of free pictures because the photographer wanted to use her picture for promo purposes, but then our post prom trip was rained out.
7. Do you have any famous ancestors? Distantly related to Marlon Brando and Ann Rutledge (Spoon River Anthology). And Ozzy Osbourne... at least that's what I started telling everyone after being asked if I was related to Ozzy the first 100 times.
8. Last thing received in the mail? Bills.
9. How many different beverages have you had today? 6
10. Do you ever leave messages on people’s answering machines? I hate talking to machines/ voicemail.
11. Do you draw your name in the sand when you go to the beach? No.
12. What’s the most painful dental procedure you’ve had? Fillings when the dentist didn't wait for the novacaine to kick in.
13. What is out your back door? A bunch of landscaping work that I can ignore if I keep the blinds closed.
14. Any plans for Friday night? No.
15. Do you like what the ocean does to your hair? Not particularly.
16. Have you ever received one of those big tins of 3 different popcorns? I think.
17. Have you ever been to a planetarium? Yes.
18. Do you re-use towels after you shower? Yes. I'm a bachelor.
19. Some things you are excited about? Ummm... nothing.
20. What is your favorite flavor of JELLO? Ages since I had Jello, maybe lime (but that could give me bad "green stuff" memories).
21. Describe your keychain(s)? It has about dozen or so keys, most of which I know what they open, and a bottle opener.
22. Where do you keep your change? All over the place.
23. When was the last time you spoke in front of a large group of people? Define large... I often talk in front of 20+ at work, and occasionally 80+. Last time I spoke in front of 100+ was a wedding I performed in the 90's. Unless you count when I was on tv, or appeared in a training video.
24. What kind of winter coat do you own? It's big and warm.
25. Do you sleep with the door to your room open or closed? Open, unless I'm mad at the cat.

Read the rest!

Wal-Mart "poisons the well"

It looks like Wal-Mart is going after consumer electronics like it did toys, in what one Wall Street reporter called a poisoning the well strategy.


As he points out, using plasma tvs for a loss leader does not seem like such a sound idea, and the stock market seems to agree. All this does is push the vicious cycle, as other retailers counter. And as other retailers counter, they will push suppliers to reduce costs as well as reduce their own costs (labor) to make up for lost margin. This means more out-sourcing to third world nations by the vendor companies where labor is cheap.

Wal-Mart and its cronies claim it is good for America because it keeps prices low to save people money, but the cost of those prices are people working for low end employers (like Wal-Mart) while we import everything from China.

I also find it interesting following the news that Wal-Mart backed organizations literally paid pro-Wal-Mart bloggers that I see comments on the stock blog where I found this to sound like they are quoting company PR. Are these folks getting paid to troll the net for evil Wal-Mart bashers (like me) and post pro-Wal-Mart comments? A couple of years ago, I would have thought that the idea sounded insane. Now I wouldn't be surprised.

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Things I've Done Meme (updated)

Ok, this one is long, so I'll post it after the jump. The idea is make everything in the list that you've done bold. Then, if you're me, realize how much you haven't done yet. I found this on another blog.


01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain (not all the way up, but to about 16,000 feet)
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said “I love you” and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total solar eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk.
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe.
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Played touch football
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”(depends on how you define "expert"... and I wish I had the tape, the reporter was cute)
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Kissed on the first date
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently well enough to have a decent conversation
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised (raising) children (child)
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98 seems to be missing?
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Touched a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery (it's pretty much major anytime it's me, right?)
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours (I think, see #119 above)
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Touched a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ(I had a radio show in college)
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life

Addendum:
Out of the things that you haven't done, which one do you most want to do?

For me, it's #150, because it means that I'll have made a real difference.

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A better one...

The Political Compass

Economic Left/Right: -2.00
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -1.69

Oz's Political Compass



This one had better questions, IMO. Of course, looking at other political figures' compasses, I'd never win an election.

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Political Quiz

You are a Social Liberal (66% permissive) and an... Economic Moderate (41% permissive) You are best described as a: Centrist Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

Now, there are several issues this quiz didn't touch on that I think would affect my "social" rating (I'm not as liberal as my friend Marik claims I am), like capital punishment, gun control, and crime in general.

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A Book Meme

I found this meme on my friend's blog SchoolWorkKnit.

Of course, the closest book to me at that time... my Latin & English dictionary.


The second closest is HTML for Dummies. :)

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Lightsaber Tribute

Ar! Ar! Ar! While this isn't *all* that made Star Wars what it was, it was a big part of it. I liked the mix early on in the music between Duel of Fates and Duel of Heroes. It's also interesting to compare the lightsaber fighting from the Original Trilogy vs. the Prequel Trilogy.

Think I'll watch it again.

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