News Chum

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

  • As everyone (and their brother) has observed today, Gary Gygax has died. This actually doesn’t touch me as much as others, because (for whatever reason) I never got into roleplaying games. Yes, D&D was big in the UCLA Computer Club, but I was always into the Board and Card Games — Diplomacy, Cosmic Encounters, Junta, Bridge, Nuclear War. The closest I’ve come to roleplaying was Superhero 2044.
  • There’s a fascinating blog piece at the New York Times about people hit by falling objects. In this case, it was someone attending the new production of Gypsy:

    Toward the end of the show, as Ms. LuPone’s Mama Rose was about to launch into her show-stopping number, there was a crash in the balcony. A huge metal plate, about 30 inches in diameter and part of the ventilation system, came crashing down from the ceiling. It hit a young woman in the head and ricocheted into the back of my friend’s neck before rolling into my seat.

    The discussion then turned about who has had objects fall on them and hit them. Fascinating reading.

  • On the drive home, I was listening to the 2/9 Quirks and Quarks. They had a fascinating piece on barnacle penises, which are the longest in the animal kingdom. You never know what you will learn from the news.
  • Appropos of what I mentioned yesterday, there are now cases of folks losing their homes because the banks overcharged them on fees. Perhaps this is why the Fed Chair is making statements about perhaps writing off some of the loan amounts, because what the banks are proposing just doesn’t address the problem — it just brings more income to the banks. There’s a good article in the SF Chronicle about how mortgage modifications are rare, even though they may prevent the foreclosures in the first place.
  • And lastly, a warning to those in the north. One of our crazies down here, Tom McClintock, is running for congress to replace Doolittle in a district near Sacramento. He lives in Thousand Oaks. As one who has seen some of what McClintock has tried to pass in the assembly — ‘da guy is crazy. You have been warned.
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