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alChandler's Halls
Serving dozens since 1999
Two bits of Stuff
The first bit of stuff is I'll be on vacation for a couple of days. Probably no positing ad definitely no Newsfeed.
Secondly, Blizzard released an apology for the problems with Diablo 3. Allow me to reproduce it for you:
Diablo Players:
We'd like to extend a very sincere thank you to everyone who joined the global Diablo III launch celebrations this week, as well as to everyone who was ready to jump into Sanctuary the moment the game went live.
To that end, we'd also like to say that we've been humbled by your enthusiasm -- and we sincerely regret that your crusade to bring down the Lord of Terror was thwarted not by mobs of demons, but by mortal infrastructure. As many of you are aware, technical issues occurring within hours after the game's launch led to players experiencing error messages and difficulty logging in. These issues cropped up again last night for the Americas and Europe servers. Despite very aggressive projections, our preparations for the launch of the game did not go far enough.
We've been monitoring the game 24/7 and have applied several optimizations to help our systems better weather the global rush. As of late last night, specifically 11:50 PM PDT on May 15, all systems have been online and running relatively smoothly. We're continuing to monitor performance globally and will be taking further measures as needed to ensure a positive experience for everyone. This includes some maintenance to implement additional improvements for each region.
In order to make sure everything is continuing to run as it should, we've decided to move out our target launch for the real-money auction house beyond our original estimated date of May 22. We'll post further updates on that in the near future.
Aside from the tremendous number of players simultaneously logging in to the game, one of the launch-day service issues was linked to the achievement system. Some players began to notice early on that achievements were either not being earned properly, or not being saved between multiple logins. We're investigating this issue and will provide a specific update as soon as possible.
We greatly appreciate everyone's support, and we want to sincerely apologize for the difficulties many of you encountered on day one. Please visit the Battle.net Support site or Support forums for the latest service-related updates or for help in troubleshooting any technical issues you may be having downloading, installing, or while playing the game.
Thank you again for your patience while we reinforce the gates of Sanctuary and further strengthen it for your onslaught.
Respectfully,
Blizzard Entertainment
Had a bunch of stuff posted here but in retrospect a game, in the scheme of things, isn't important enough to justify the bile. I'll just leave you with the update.
Update: A classier, and even more brutal take on Diablo 3:
May 17, 2012
Finally Got In
It took until 4:30 but I finally made it into the game and took a screenshot to prove it. I'm the bald guy in the center of the shot. Got to say that I'm not impressed with Blizzard's ability to manage the player load, at least so far. Still it's Diablo and it's late and I just turned level 7 and I'm calling it a night.
May 15, 2012
Eight Hours to Go
Soon, old enemy.
May 14, 2012
When Dial Came to Town
We tend to forget that as disruptive as technological are for us, previous generations had their fair share tech upgrades too. This film Dial Comes to Town features a crotchety grandfather wondering why he has to learn how to use a rotary phone The reason, never really discussed in the movie, was so that AT&T could start laying off telephone operators. By the way, how many people under 30 do you know who can even operate a rotary phone?
May 14, 2012
Pirate Pay
Pirate Pay is a Russian start up company that claims it can stop the distribution of copyrighted works via BitTorrent. Microsoft is investing in the company and Sony said that the technology successfully defended its film Vysotsky: Thanks to God, I'm Alive.
I'm not going to defend my right to pirate episodes of Sherlock. But I do wish to point out two things. The first is that BitTorrent does have legitimate uses. Some people who don't have the money for a lot of bandwidth use BitTorrent to distribute their works. Indeed, Leo Laporte used BitTorrent to distribute This Week in Tech when he was just a little baby entrepreneur.
And the second thing is that if media companies spent more time trying to come up with alternate legal methods of distribution and less time trying to prop up their current business models there would be a lot less piracy to worry about. May I point you to an article called HBO Has Only Itself To Blame For Record 'Game Of Thrones' Piracy?
This article isn't on Boing Boing or Techdirt, it's on Forbes. Forbes may be many things but a bastion
of piracy it's not.
May 13, 2012
Time to Start the Day
It's 7:00 PM. A friend just called and that has moved me to consider a shower and perhaps some beer. For his part Jack attempted to prove that he's not too sick yet by getting into the trash in the bathroom. That's the spirit.
May 11, 2012
Fuck Horses
As this Penny Arcade cartoon points out, those of us who have purchased Diablo 3 and downloaded the complete game are
being held hostage to the needs of Gamestop and Best Buy. There's no reason why I can't be playing the game now, other then the fact that Blizzard doesn't want to piss off brick and mortar retailers.
I realize that as an old union man, this is heresy but making physical copies of software in 2012 is a fairly wasteful process. I'm not calling for its abolition. Some people
don't have access to high speed internet and some folks like the stuff that comes with a boxed copy, maps and things. Hell, I bought a boxed copy of Skyrim for the map. But those of us who
prefer the etheral, electronic edition shouldn't be held hostage to the needs of Best Buy.
And those folks who are involved in making DVD copies of games should be planning an exit strategy. Sooner or later an A list PC game will be released through online distribution channels
only. Then the next genreration consoles will start releasing A list titles via their online stores. Trust one who knows, that exist strategy thing is vital, start now.
May 10, 2012
The State of the Cat
Last month I took my cat to the vet's. He had gone through a series of colds and the vet said that he had four infected teeth. So the teeth
were pulled, Jack was given antibiotics, problem solved. Except this week he got another cold.
So he went back to the vet's yesterday. Dr. Grossman indicated that Jack had a sinus tumor. He's not 100% certain but he is 99%. The fact that Jack had a nosebleed last week
is one heavy mark in the tumor column. He gave me stronger antibiotics. If his cold goes away and never return then Grossman was wrong and Jack lives. But if he finishes the antibiotic and
he starts wheezing again then were dealing with irritation from the tumor. If that's the case then I put him on antibiotics for the rest of his life until they stop working or the tumor spreads causing different symptoms. In fact, though he's a lot better, he's still a little congested, not a good sign.
The bottom line is that Jack's life is coming to an end. The vet gives him six month to two years but, given that the antibiotics aren't completely knocking the secondary infection out, under six months is a possibility. And that kind of sucks.
It's like anything else, we know that have short lives compared to our own, but we just file that knowledge away until we're confronted with their deaths. Then we remember, "Oh yeah, they have a short lifespan."
In Jack's case, every year after Dan's death was a gimme. He was going to the ASPCA until dl begged me to take him. He's had a good life and my last duty will be to make sure he doesn't suffer. In other words, know when to pull the plug.
May 10, 2012
Newsfeed 5/10/12
Starting to day the Newsfeed will only be posted on the Newsfeed page, not the front page. In the meantime, stay tuned for a drunken post about my cat, to be written after I go out and buy beer.
May 10, 2012
The Fall of the Old Republic
Perhaps that's a little strong, but the numbers for EA's Star Wars MMO are going down rapidly. They were at 1.7 million in February and by the end of April the number of subscribers stood at 1.3 million. EA has got to have at least a million subscribers
to break even.
I haven't played the game but from what I'm hearing people are playing the individual storylines for each class and then when all of their characters have hit the level cap they're
cancelling their accounts. The solo content is extraordinary, as befits a Bioware game, but the high level stuff is arena combat and raids. After all the game is an MMO. But a lot of Star Wars' players joined the game because they were already capped in EQ2 or whatever and wanted a new experience. If the high level content consists of raids, why stick around? Thing is,
I want this game to succeed, big time. First of all because if it does fail, EA will throw Bioware into the sarlac pit. That can't happen because I want more Bioware games.
The more unselfish reason is that if Star Wars tanks, a lot of people will loose their jobs. EA already announced layoffs for this year and if they have to take a $150 million hit for The Old Republic things will get a lot worse.
In the end, the bane of any developer working on an MMO is that people are getting too good at them and are hitting the level caps to quickly. Which isn't too bad if you're using
the free to play model. In that case players will just wait for the next expansion. But if you're charging $15 a month and the majority of your players hit the cap within the first six months of the game's release, you're fucked. Perhaps City of Heroes has the right idea, they now feature player designed quests. Even so, when Star Wars was released last year, pundits speculated that it would be the last major MMO with a monthly fee. They could be right.
May 7, 2012
Meanwhile In South Korea
South Korea says it will increase customs inspections targeting capsules containing powdered human flesh.
The Korea Customs Service said it had found almost 17,500 of the capsules being smuggled into the country from China since August 2011.
The powdered flesh, which officials said came from dead babies and foetuses, is reportedly thought by some to cure disease and boost stamina.
It's a small world after all.
May 7, 2012
Newsfeed: 5/7/12
In response to the Greek elections the Greek stock market lost 7.7% of its value. It might be in reaction to fears that Greece may abandon all attempts to get its deficit under control. Then again it might be in reaction to the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party winning 6.8% of the vote.
Valdimir Putin was sworn in as President of Russia for the third time today. There was a second day of demonstrations in Moscow and the Moscow police were rather testy after yesterday's violence.
Hey! It's election day in Syria! Really! The government is billing this as proof that they listen to the will of the people. Voting was light in the city of Idlib because the Syrian army was executing people, burning their bodies in the streets and then setting their homes on fire.
As long as we're talking elections, in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein election results indicate that Chancellor Merkel's Christian Democrat/Free Democrat coalition did not gain enough votes to remain in power. The Christian Democrats won 30.5% of the votes, the Free Democrats got 8.5% and the Pirate party (think Pirate Bay not the guys in Somalia) won 8%.
Warren Weinstein was kidnapped from his home in Pakistan by al Qaeda.
Today al Qaeda released a video of Mr. Weinstein pleading for his life.
al Qaeda is threatening to kill him unless the United dates releases all al Qaeda and Taliban prisoners and stops airstrikes in Somalia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen. Weinstein was in Pakistan because he was the country director for J.E. Austin Associates, a consulting firm.
And coincidentally, a US drone staged a strike in Yemen and killed Fahd al-Quso. Fahd al-Quso was an al Qaeda leader and had something to do with the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000.
The White House is trying to deal with Vice President Biden's statement that he's cool with gay marriage. The Obama administrations wants the whole gay marriage issue to go away until the day after the election.
In some good news, gas prices are down seven cents a gallon across the country. The blame or praise goes to the continuing economic problems in Europe. Thank you EU!
The University of Maryland School of Medicine Conference is investigating the death of Vladimir Lenin. Once a year they try to figure out the cause of death of a historical figure. Lenin died in 1924 after several strokes but the cause of the strokes is unknown.
On Saturday the five defendants accused of planning the 9/11 attacks pretty much made a shambles of their arraignment. It's going to be a long trial. For its part, the US prosecutor promised not to use evidence obtained by torture. I'm sure that's a relief to the world community. The trial will probably start next year.
Governor Christie is going to refuse to reappoint several Superior Court judges. Here's the way the system works in New Jersey. A judge is appointed for a seven year term. At the end of the term, they can be reappointed by the Governor. If they're reappointed, they're in until they turn 70. Christie is upset at "activist' judges and plans not to reappoint them. The Legislature may baulk at that and that will lead to a royal pissing contest.
May 7, 2012
Word Clouds
Word Clouds Text Analyzer will analyze your site and make a picture of the words you use most commonly:
Interesting but the newsfeed makes the site look smarter then it really is. I'll have to try it in a couple of weeks when the feed is no longer on the front page and my site is dominated by words like Avengers and Diablo.
May 6, 2012
Newsfeed 5/6/12: Truncated Edition
François Hollande is the new President of France. He promises higher taxes on the rich, to deal with France's deficit and to stimulate the economy. Meanwhile in Greece, far left and right wing parties won gains in Parliament at the expense of the two main parties that agreed to the hated austerity measures. It doesn't look like any party will be able to form a government. The EU markets should be fun to watch tomorrow.
A Moscow demonstration against Putin turned violent yesterday. Three opposition leaders have been detained by the police. Putin starts his term as President on Monday.
Vice President Joe Biden told "Meet the Press" that he's comfortable with gay marriage. So am I and the ironic thing is both our statements carry the same weight in the real world. More important in the grand scheme of things is whether the voters in North Carolina approve a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman this Tuesday.
Yesterday Obama started his reelection campaign. Obama is trying to link Romney to Congress, a branch of government that isn't too popular right now. For his part Romney claims the economy should be adding 500,000 jobs a month and unemployment should be at 4%. Cool, I'd like that myself.
This weekend "The Avengers" broke the record set by "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" and took in $200 million in North America.
That means that Joss Wheldon's next film an be about anything he wants.
NJ was planning to implement the federally mandated TRU-ID standards for drivers licenses on Monday. That's not going to happen because the ACLU is filing a legal challenge.
And that's all I got today. Please note that in the next few days the feed will no longer be cross posted here, just at its new home on the Newsfeed page.
May 6, 2012
The FBI, Facebook and Others
The FBI is planning to ask that Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act be amended to force companies like Facebook and Google
to build backdoors into their software that would allow the FBI to perform the 21st century equivalent of wiretapping. If I'm a really
bad person, what's the point of tapping my land line when I'm using Skype to plan my nefarious deeds? The FBI is hoping that tech companies
will go along freely and by their own will.
Of course, setting aside any EFF civil liberties stuff, tech companies see it this way:
"If you create a service, product, or app that allows a user to communicate, you get the privilege of adding that extra coding," an industry representative who has reviewed the FBI's draft legislation told CNET.
Because this is the second decade of the 21st century, goddammit.
May 4, 2012
Windows 8
Microsoft may not be the biggest kid on the block anymore but they still have a lot of money and they also have a new operating system they
want to push. That's why their decision about Windows 8 and Windows Media Center baffles me. Windows 8 won't include Windows Media Center, you'll
have to pay extra for it. So you won't be watching DVDs with Windows 8 unless you pay Microsoft a little extra.
I can't imagine this will cause a lot of pain and suffering. It looks like the cost will be marginal and to tell you the truth, I've never watched a DVD with Windows 7.
Viewing habits are slowly shifting towards streaming. But Windows 8 has a lot of hurdles to overcome, why add one more?
May 4, 2012
Newsfeed 5/4/12
Remember Chen Guangcheng, the dissident? He escaped from house arrest, hid in the US embassy in Beijing and then left when the United States and China brokered a deal. Except right after leaving he changed his mind and wanted to come to America. Except that now he doesn't want to immigrate to America after all, he just wants to study at New York University. China is processing his application to study outside of the country and it looks like this time the crisis is over for real. But in a joint statement Mr. Chen, Ms. Clinton and the Chinese Foreign Minister resolved that if there's any possible way to fuck up the latest deal they will work cooperatively to do just that.
Russian General Nikolai Makarov doesn't seem to like the idea of NATO missiles in Easter Europe, even though NATO has told Russia that the missiles are only going to aimed at bad people and that so totally doesn't include Russia. Makarov said that if the missiles are installed and there's a crisis between Russia and NATO, Russia might have to launch a first strike to take them out. That's the Russia we old timers remember.
This Sunday there's a presidential election in France and a parliamentary election in Greece. Both will be taken as referendums on the EU's austerity policies. In France it seems to be a forgone conclusion that Socialist François Hollande will be the new French president. In Greece it's expected that no party will receive a majority and that will require another parliamentary election.
And speaking of elections, Britain just had local elections. Results aren't completely in yet but it looks like it looks like the Conservative coalition got its ass kicked by Labor. Speaking with the dimwitted, brutish intelligence that has endeared him to British voters, Prime Minister Cameron vowed to continue his policy of austerity that has just been repudiated by the voters.
Cardinal Sean Brady, senior prelate of the Catholic Church in Ireland, is facing calls for his resignation over his role in the cover up of evidence in the matter of Father Brendan Smyth. Smyth was a pedophile who was moved around the island in an effort to cover up his crimes. Smyth was eventually convicted and died in prison. Brady is positioning himself as a mere note taker who had no idea that evidence was being covered up.
The good news is unemployment in the US went down to 8.1% last month. The bad new is that was because a lot of people stopped looking for jobs. The really bad news is that the economy is a lot more productive then it was before the recession began with far fewer workers. That means a lot of those laid off/retired/under employed are never coming back to the economy.
New York Yankees' relief pitcher Mariano Rivera tore his anterior cruciate ligament yesterday. At 42 that may mean the end of his career. Rivera is considered to be one of the all time great relief pitchers.
Scott Thompson is CEO of Yahoo and, until recently, had a Bachelor's in accounting and computer science from Stonehill College. Turns out he just has a Bachelor's in accounting. Granted, that's cooler then my history degree but I'm not running Yahoo.
And in my favorite news of the day, Governor Christie was rebuked by the Rutgers University Board of Trustees when they voted not to turn over any property of Rutgers Camden to Rowan. Christie was, and still is, pushing to merge Rutgers Camden with Rowan University, creating a truly world class university. But Rutgers hated the idea and the legislature wasn't too keen on it either. However Christie insisted he had the authority to order the merger by executive decree. But the Trustees control the actual property and with their vote, it looks like the proposal is dead.
May 4, 2012
Diablo 3
A couple of years ago I played Splinter Cell: Conviction. It was a solo game but Ubisoft required a net connection, if your internet went down you couldn't play.
Ubisoft knew that we PC gamers were nothing but a bunch of thieves and pirates and this was their way of fighting back. I didn't like it but I still bought the game and I
respected them for their honesty.
Diablo 3 also requires an always on connection, even if your just playing the solo game. For some time Blizzard insisted this was for the player's own good.
Lots of people claimed they didn't want to play online then wanted to transfer their solo characters to online with all their stuff and found out they couldn't. But Diablo
3 will take care of all that so when you finally do realize you want multiplay it will be a seamless experience for you.
I guess this story didn't fly because now Blizzard has a new story. Diablo 3 isn't a single player game. it's never been a single player game. Hell
they don't even know why the put in an option called Single Player.
Look guys, Blizzard wants an always on connection because they're hoping to tempt us to spend money in their auction house. Money that Blizzard gets a 15% cut of right off the top. You know it, I know it and they know it. All the rationalizations just make them look silly. Shit I bought the game already, give it a rest.
May 3, 2012
Newsfeed 5/2/12
Chinese authorities have assured Chen Guangcheng that he will be well treated and so the lawyer has left the American Embassy and is now in
a hospital in Beijing. Mr. Chen never wanted to leave China although he will be leaving Shandong Province. He will be relocated elsewhere in
China and plans to return to school to get a law degree.
President Obama was in Afghanistan to sign an agreement with President Hamid Karzai. The document establishes a strategic partnership between
America and Afghanistan and fixes the date for American withdrawal as 2014.
11 people are dead in violent confrontations between anti-military protestors and army supporters. Egypt's first round of voting begins this month
and the violence has prompted some candidates to temporarily suspend their campaigns.
President Evo Morales of Bolivia plans to nationalize the country's power supplier, Red Eléctrica Corporaciión, a Spanish owned company. Last
month Argentina nationalized YPF, an oil company owned by Spain. It's looking like a rather poor year for Spanish energy companies.
Yesterday was May Day and throughout Europe there were anti-austerity demonstrations. Even in Germany workers demonstrated against the austerity budgets that the EU is imposing.
Speaking of May Day, Yesterday President Dmitri A. Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin, marched in Moscow's May Day Parade. They're the first Russian leaders to make an appearance since 1996.
Nest week SpaceX plans to launch a capsule loaded with supplies to the International Space Station. If it successfully docks with the ISS it will be a major
victory for privately funded commercial space travel.
Wal-Mart has been ordered to pay $4.8 billion to employees who were wrongfully denied overtime. This good news comes on top of the continuing investigations into the bribery of Mexican officials.
Comcast made a lot of money last quarter, most of it from Super Bowl advertising and their high speed internet. However they're still loosing cable television subscribers, 37,000 left Comcast last quarter.
Last month the Romney campaign hired Richard Grenell for his foreign policy expertise. This month he resigned because of conservative Republican bitching about his homosexuality. To be
fair to the Romney campaign, the folks at the top tried to get Grenell to stay but Grenell thought that the controversy would overshadow any good he could do.
If you and your four friends plan to strike a blow for anarchy by blowing up the route 82 bridge in Ohio, try to make sure that the guy who built your
bomb isn't an undercover FBI agent. Anthony Hayne and his friends forgot that tip and now they're in jail.
Finally, Sony has joined Netflix in criticizing Comcast's 250 GB data cap. The cap doesn't apply to Comcast's own offerings just everybody every other company.
Sony would like of offer its own movies for viewing on the net but Comcast's caps make that difficult.
May 2, 2012
Newsfeed 5/1/12
Editorial note: The Newsfeed will be moving to its own home in a couple of weeks, once I finish tweaking the new page.
A British Parliamentary Committee released a report declaring that Rupert Murdoch was unfit to run an international media company. Where were those guys twenty years ago?
The nephew of Chinese lawyer Chen Guangcheng, Chen Kegu, has gone into hiding. Chen Kegu is afraid for his life. His mother has been arrested and the rest the family has been
subjected to some pretty heavy handed government harassment. The sticking point seems to be that Chen Guangcheng wants to remain in China and continue practicing law. Adding to the
fun is that Republicans are pointing out that the Obama administration hasn't exactly been forceful in dealing with China's human rights record.
Gareth Williams worked for MI6. He was found dead, naked, inside of a sports bag in his bathtub. Police would very much like to see the contents of a several memory
sticks MI6 confiscated from the scene. The cops assumed Williams' death was some kind of bondage scene gone wrong until MI6 started lumbering about.
Ben-Zion Netanyahu, father of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu died at 102. It shouldn't come as a surprise that Ben-Zion Netanyahu had rather strong views on Middle Eastern peace deals.
The Obama administration confirmed that it uses drones in military attacks. Later on they shut down Rick's Cafe American because of gambling.
In India a ferry capsized in the Brahmaputra River. So far more then 103 people drowned and divers are still recovering bodies.
Shukri Ghanem was the former oil minister of Libya. Former not only because of the change in government but also because his body was found in the Danube. He died
from drowning and Austrian authorities are insisting that there's no evidence of foul play. They managed to keep a straight face for almost 43 seconds during the press briefing.
Just for the record the John Edwards trial is still going on. Edwards is accused of using campaign funds to cover up an affair. If convicted he could go to jail for like a bazillion years.
The NY Times has a shocking (get it?) story that tasers could cause
heart damage: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/01/health/research/taser-shot-to-the-chest-can-kill-a-study-warns.html?ref=us film at eleven.
The Dow and S&P 500 are down on the news that Spain has entered a recession. Ok, Spain's unemployment rate is 23.6% and the Dow is just finding out there's recession over there? Man if I were an
evil genius I'd be running this fucking planet.
Here's an important tip for anybody looking into a career as a government regulator, don't mouth off about how you're going to crucify the industry you're regulating. Al Armendariz
worked for the EPA and talked about crucifying the oil and gas industries while he was being filmed. For the record, during my 28 year career as a gaming regulator, not once did I
threaten to crucify the casino industry, and believe me I was tempted.
Governor Christie admitted that if Mitt Romney asked him to be the vice president he'd consider it. For the record, I'm also open to the job.
May 1, 2012
Newsfeed 4/29/12
I'm playing with the idea of giving the feed its own url. For the next week or so it will still show up here but it will be crossposted to its own page, imaginitively titled Newsfeed. There's a new item at the top of the contents page and I'll stop posting it here on the main page. Or not, we'll see how it goes.
***
Yuval Diskin used to be the head of Israel's intelligence agency, the Shin Bet. He's raised an incredible stink over there by claiming he has no faith in
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, at least when it comes to their competency as war leaders. If that weren't enough, Israel's
top general, Benny Gantz, stated on Wednesday that he didn't think Iran was trying to get nuclear weapons. His argument is that they'd be crazy to risk war with
Israel and the United States and he doesn't think their that stupid.
Meanwhile the United States is doing its best to diffuse tensions in the region by moving an unknown number of F-22 stealth jets to an unknown base in the
Persian Gulf. That should keep things simmering for a bit.
There was a huge demonstration in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia yesterday. More then 25,000 people were demanding election reform. The government
insisted that the electoral process is free, fair and then they arrested a lot of people and used tear gas on the rest.
Chinese activists are claiming that Chen Guangcheng, the blind lawyer who escaped from house arrest last week, in under American protection.
The US isn't commenting and Chinese authorities are rounding up the usual suspects.
Saudi Arabian authorities arrested Egyptian lawyer Ahmed el-Gizawy for either trying to smuggle drugs, insulting the King or working
for the rights of Egyptian workers in Saudi Arabia, depending on who you talk to. For the last several days Egyptians have been demonstrating
in front of the Saudi embassy. The Saudi government has responded by recalling its ambassador. The King doesn't take kindly to constructive criticism.
Peter Keller was wanted in connection with the death of his wife and daughter in King County, Washington. He had retreated to a fortified bunker and
yesterday authorities decided to jettison the let's wait him out strategy by blowing a hole in the bunker's roof. Keller was found dead.
President Obama appeared at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner and did the traditional stand up routine. One of the celebrity guests was Lindsay Lohan, seriously.
A lot of people were upset that George Zimmerman's bail in the Trayvon Martin case was set at $150,000. Prosecutors asked that the bail
be increased when they learned that Zimmerman's website has raised over $200,000 in contributions. So far, Judge Kenneth Lester is cool
to that idea but he is looking into the matter. When the bail was set, Zimmerman's family claimed they'd have trouble raising the cash.
The AP reported that 53.6% of college graduates under 25 are either unemployed or underemployed. Many of them have to start repaying their studen loans six months after graduation. Bubble, meet pin.
Several high ranking NJ State Troopers were transferred in the wake of the "Death Race" affair. If you came in late the death race consisted of two
state troopers escorting a caravan of rich folk to Atlantic City down the NJ Parkway at speeds that hit 100 mph.
Finally, Governor Christie is campaigning for Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. Walker was recalled and is facing an election this November.
Walker became nationally prominent last year when he and the Republican legislature stripped Wisconsin state workers of their collective bargaining rights.
April 29, 2012
This has been a Whenpigsfly production.
Any questions or comments can be directed to kaliban13@comcast.net.
Logo courtesy of Mrs. Silverman.