the indian wind along the telegraph lines

It’s All Fun And Games Until Someone Buys An Island

The Beeb is reporting that some frickin’ idiot … uhhh … online gamer … has paid US$26.5K to purchase an island. That exists only in an online game.

I know there has been a steady economy for characters and equipment in other MMORPGs like Everquest and WoW, but this raises the bar. Or lowers it, depending on your point of view. I mean, ye gods people. Go outside. Read a book. Interact with another human being. Something.

And could the name Project Entropia be more apropos?

If this is the wave of the future, I ain’t surfing. Words fail.

Thanks Garamond.

Good Kamma Whilst Shopping

This summer I bought my nephew Noah a used Nintendo64. He’s 4, and the cartridge format makes sense. Plus, the console is cheap and so are the games.

For Christmas I got him a copy of Mario Tennis off of eBay for about US$10 including shipping. Not bad when you consider it usually sells used for US$25 or so.

The game supports four players, and as my sisters are spending the holidays together with their families, I thought that the sons and fathers playing one another (David and Noah are the same age) or even a spouses doubles match after the kids went to bed might be fun. I couldn’t remember how many controllers I had bought for Noah, so I called Rachel and asked. She reminded me I had bought two, and when I told her I was going to buy two more to allow doubles play, she said, “If they have a purple one Noah would love that. It’s his favorite color.”

N64 controllers are usually gray or black. Nintendo made some color ones, but the only ones I have seen were red, yellow, blue and green. No purple. So I held out little hope.

Wednesday I went to three different used gaming stores. Two had no used controllers whatsoever, and one store only had a single used controller. New ones are like US$17. Blah.

Today, on a whim, I went to Goodwill. Not only did they have a few controllers, but they were US$2.99. Some were in great shape. One of the ones in great shape was … purple. Sweartagawd. Purple.

I must be doing something right. Thanks, universe.

P.S. I made the mistake of trying out Mario Power Tennis for the Gamecube while looking for controllers. Bad idea. I’m hooked. It’s on my wish list, if Santa reads this blog.

A Bunny Gets His Wings

Ever seen Frank Capra’s It’s A Wonderful Life?

In 30 seconds? With bunnies?

Here’s your chance!

Brilliant.

Sugar Babies

The dollar store had boxes of Sugar Babies near the register. I loved these as a kid. I was always super-ecstatic when I got some at Halloween. Among my favorite candies of all time. Hadn’t had any in years.

Apparently they’re still among my favorites, and no less addictive. I can’t stop eating them. Stupid dollar store.

Who Guards The Lifeguards?

A group of New Zealand lifeguards was recently saved from a great white shark by a pod of dolphins. Here’s the full story.

Dolphins kick booty. Period. That is just so, so cool.

A marine biologist insisted that dolphins … “like to help the helpless.” Humanity could take a lesson here.

From The Tautology Newswire

“Man Stabbed in Melee at L.A.-Area Rap Awards Show.”

In related news; water is wet, outer space is cold and listening to rap music makes you into a violent, posturing, uneducated idiot.

Evidence to the contrary? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

My Spine Is The Bassline

This week a tree service removed a large, dead birch tree from our front yard. In the process they unearthed yet more soaker hose from a defunct irrigation system. Yesterday I decided to try to yank it out of the ground.

Less than a minute in, I threw my back out. First time that’s ever happened. And yow, it hurts. It feels like my spine is going to shoot out of my bum like some kind of Chinese yo-yo. I woke up about every hour last night to gingerly change sleeping positions. Getting out of a chair or off the sofa/futon is like scaling Everest. Ibruprofen is my new best friend.

Youth is squandered on the young. Waaaa …

My City Was Gone

I went back to Ohio
But my city was gone
There was no train station
There was no downtown
South Howard had disappeared
All my favorite places
My city had been pulled down
Reduced to parking spaces
Hey, ho, way to go Ohio

Well I went back to Ohio
But my family was gone
I stood on the back porch
There was nobody home
I was stunned and amazed
My childhood memories
Slowly swirled past
Like the wind through the trees
Hey, ho, oh way to go Ohio

I went back to Ohio
But my pretty countryside
Had been paved down the middle
By a government that had no pride
The farms of Ohio
Had been replaced by shopping malls
And muzak filled the air
From Seneca to Cuyahoga Falls
Said, hey, ho, oh way to go Ohio

Chrissie Hynde

Note: Posted before any results returned. Non-partisan. No matter the election outcome … way to go, Ohio.

Gahd Loves Bahstahn

Oh my Gahd! Tha Bahstah Red Sahks won tha World Series! Wikked pissah! Fathah Bahb, my dahtah, the cahps, even my dahg, we’re ahll supah ovahjoyed with pleasah! Winning the Series! It’s, like, ahgainst Gahd’s Lah!

And in the midst of the Series win a full eclipse of the full moon. Coincidence?

Hahdly.

Congratulations to the Red Sox. And congratulations to all us Sox fans, who have put up with years of disappointment. John Peel, between songs tonight could you let Charlie Leonard know his Red Sox won? And that his grandson thought of him while looking at an eclipsed moon and trying to wrap his brain around the news.

Man, Heaven got the best DJ just in time for the big party!

RIP John Peel

The music world has lost one of its best champions. John Peel, BBC DJ, agent provocateur and the force that launched a thousand careers, has gone to his reward. I mourn his loss more so than I have most individual musicians. While the individual musician takes a soul of talent with him, John Peel takes the springboard. David Bowie, The Sex Pistols, Joy Division, The Smiths … Peel launched them all. He leaves not a hole in the music world, but a giant gaping crater. As one fan put it, “Music is the water, John Peel was the quirky little man working the pumping station.”

Thanks, John. For all you did for music. For all you did for this listener on the other side of the pond. You will be sorely missed, and by bigger names than mine.

Rock on.