Microsoft Pulls the Plug on Halo 2. Or Does It?

Microsoft has shut down the servers for Halo 2. Or so they thought. Some of the players found out that if they didn’t disconnect from the server then they can continue playing. A recent count had the number of players down to 14. A Bungie forums post said,

Throughout the past week, a small group of dedicated Halo 2 players kept their Xbox’s on so that they could enjoy the game for a while longer. (As long as we don’t turn off our Xbox’s, or lose connection, we can stay online. Our Xbox’s have been on for nearly 12 days straight) Each day the amount of people decreased, at a rapid rate.

A lot of us became really good friends, and it’s almost like we’re family now.
For a while, we had ‘T0 Be Continued’ Live streaming all of our games, until her Xbox regrettably froze while playing custom games. Then, ‘Mr7ankjump’ did a live stream, but he lagged out only 4 hours later.

All I can say is that this takes a lot of dedication to the game adn why haven’t you upgraded to Halo 3 yet?

Stuck in My Head

This song has been stuck in my head since I first heard it a few days back.

How Europeans See America

I found this on a blog by Nicholas R.

but then I found a better one.

See it full size here

Store Employees Fired For Catching A Shoplifter

You’d think that catching a shoplifter would award you some praise but for two employees in a Sprint store it got them fired,

Shoemaker and Mike McGee, co-workers at a Sprint outlet at the Cherry Creek Shopping Center, were heading on break when they heard a cry for help from an aging security guard as a shoplifting suspect blazed past them — and instead of ignoring this plea, they chased the guy down, caught him, and held him until mall security and police arrived.

Their reward for this heroic action? They were fired.

McGee and Shoemaker were veteran Sprint employees, having worked for the company for four years and six years, respectively — and both of them are in good shape. McGee works a side job as a security guard at Lodo’s Bar and Grill, while Shoemaker serves as a volunteer firefighter in Federal Heights.

Their awareness of shoplifting was heightened as of April 16, when the incident took place, due to the previous day’s theft of an iPad from an Apple Store a few spaces away from their shop. That incident, for which twenty-year-old Brandon Darnell Smith was subsequently arrested, wound up making headlines across the country because the victim,Bill Jordan, had most of his pinky finger torn off during the crime.

According to Shoemaker, Jordan “was attacked at 4:30 the night before” their encounter with a shoplifter. “I was working at the time, and you could see drips of blood — a trail of it on the lower level down by the food court.”

Cut to the 16th, when, McGee says, “we were heading out of the store to take our break, when we heard this security guard who was probably in his mid- to late-fifties yelling, ‘Help! Somebody stop that guy!'”

“I looked to my left,” Shoemaker chimes in, “and I see this kid running by. He’s carrying something in a black fleece jacket like it’s a football.”

They didn’t know whether the man had snatched “the purse of a single mom who wouldn’t be able to make rent without it, if he had a baby in there, or what,” McGee says. “We had no idea.”

But they knew what to do. Shoemaker says, “I looked at Mike for a couple of seconds and saw what he was thinking, and he saw what I was thinking. And we took off running.”

The chase went through one of the mall’s anchor stores, Macy’s, after which the suspect “exited out the doors by the underground parking garage,” Shoemaker says. “And right at that point, I made contact with him. If I remember correctly, I put one arm on him, and he was fighting, so I wrapped him in both of my arms, and he ended up taking me down.”

“When I first got to him, he was on top of Paul on the ground,” McGee confirms. “And I helped restrain him, got him to calm down.”

“Mike got him off me and we moved him to this little curb, because we were in the middle of the road,” Shoemaker explains. “And by then, the security guard had come out. He said he needed to run to his car to phone the police and get his handcuffs. So we sat there for a couple of minutes, until an off-duty Denver police officer came up and said, ‘Do you need any help? I’ve got handcuffs.'”

Before long, on-duty Denver cops and representatives of mall security had joined the crowd. As for the guard who’d been giving chase, he worked for the same Apple Store hit by Smith the previous day. The suspect allegedly grabbed several pieces of Apple software retailing for just over $500.

Shoemaker and McGee filled out paperwork for the mall and the police, accepted heartfelt congratulations for their quick thinking, and then returned to the Sprint store. About fifteen minutes had elapsed; their break was over.

Word soon got around about the pair’s actions, and they were treated like minor celebrities by fellow mall workers. For instance, Shoemaker says, “The lady at the Apple Store was so thankful. And she told me, ‘We’ve been sending you business over the last week,’ because a drive that Sprint supports works really well with their iPad. They were telling people to come over and get it from us.”

All was good until last Thursday, when the situation took an unexpected turn for the worse, with McGee and Shoemaker receiving corporate e-mails asking them to describe the shoplifting incident. Then, and only then, did they find out that Sprint had a policy stating that employees shouldn’t confront thieves. “It doesn’t say anything about things happening outside the store,” McGee notes. “It does say they don’t want you to detain them and hold them, but it doesn’t say doing it is punishable by corrective action or termination. It’s a very gray area, the way it’s written up.”

Apparently not. The next day, Shoemaker and McGee were called in to separate meetings, where they were told that their Sprint days were over. “They didn’t really tell us anything,” Shoemaker says. “They didn’t let us know where they were coming from. They just said, ‘We looked into it further, and you’re fired.’ They labeled it a form of misconduct.”

To McGee and Shoemaker, that’s a highly questionable conclusion. The incident took place outside the Sprint store while they were on a break, it involved a criminal who had stolen goods from another business entirely, and they had responded to a request for help. In addition, they had never been told not to intervene in a shoplifting situation, despite having been longtime employees, with Shoemaker even serving in a management capacity for a time. Taking all that into account, they believe they should have been told not to do what they’d done again rather than getting canned.

Gummy Bear Surgery

I think the head transplant is the best

What a Weird Bunch of Car Thieves

This wasn’t just any car theft,

After three years, Amanda Pogany forgot about her stolen 1996 Honda Accord, assuming it was in car heaven. But recently the cops found it at a Queens chop shop, traced it back to her and called up the Brooklyn teacher. The Daily News reveals it was “returned to her drag-race ready, with a brand-new V-8 engine, tinted windows, oversized tires with special hubcaps – and custom valve stem caps shaped like bullet casings.”

Pogany said, “When I first saw under the hood I thought it looked like, you know in the movie ‘Grease?’ Like the’Grease Lightning’ car.” Further, the car’s interim owner—apparently he bought from the thieves—also put “in a manual transmission and leather interior and [hung] a Dominican flag and a giant wooden cross from the rearview mirror.” Pogany said, “I’m Jewish. and I don’t even know how to drive a stick shift!”

Her friends are offering her stick shift lessons but the car is in her parents’ NJ driveway, where it’s the belle of the block (people have expressed interested in buying it).

My advice to her is, sell the car. If you can’t drive stick shift but have a nice car that’s stick shift. Sell it and get a nice automatic. I’d keep it. Although I would probably get rid of the cross and flag.

Mayoral Candidate Wants to Arm By-Law Officers

Mayoral candidate Georgio Mammoliti wants to give Toronto By-Law officers weapons and the power to arrest people.

A city councillor who wants to be mayor of Toronto is likely to raise some eyebrows with his latest proposal.

Giorgio Mammoliti says bylaw-enforcement officers should be armed with guns.

Mammoliti says bylaw officers are often the first to arrive at crime scenes or an emergency, but can’t do much because they don’t have the power.

He wants to give them the power to arrest people caught posting signs or painting graffiti on city property.

He says a lot of graffiti is the work of gang members and that the bylaw for defacing city property isn’t being enforced due to a lack of resources.

Mammoliti wants to increase the fine for defacing city property to $5000 dollars.

He also says young offenders nabbed painting graffiti or posting flyers on bus stops or hydro posts should be subject to community service — along with their parents.

Now I have to say that this is a load of crap. I understand that By-Law officers are in danger sometimes but I think giving them handguns is the wrong thing to do. By-law officers do not respond to emergencies and they rarely need to arrest people. The maximum penalty for breaking a By-Law is a fine or community service. Neither of these things requires the person to be arrested. Don’t forget complaints. Maybe a dog in a residential neighbourhood is barking loudly and someone calls a By-Law officer (which people rarely do). This would mean a person with a gun is going to show up to a noise complaint against a dog. I can see how people will react to that.

Then there is this part,

He also says young offenders nabbed painting graffiti or posting flyers on bus stops or hydro posts should be subject to community service — along with their parents.

I’m sorry, am I missing something? Why do the parents need to be subject to a fine or community service? Thats like someone committing murder and the police arresting their parents also because it’s somehow their fault their son or daughter turned out that way.

I believe that there are many campaigns to reduce the number of guns on city streets. This is just putting more out there whether they are in the hands of “law enforcement officers” or not.

Amazing Nikon Ad

This is hilarious. It does have some adult content though so don’d look at it if you get squeamish easily.

If you don’t get it look at the face detection on the ad.

Wow the quality of this blog has really gone downhill.

Is It Too Big? Well You Can’t Be A Cop In Papua

Yes I am talking about what you think I’m talking about. In Papua, Indonesia if you have had your junk made bigger then you can’t be a police officer according to Reuters

An applicant “will be asked whether or not his vital organ has been enlarged,” said Papua police chief Bekto Suprapto, quoted on local website Kompas.com.

“If he has, he will be considered unfit to join the police or the military.”

The ban was applied since the unnatural size causes “hindrance during training,” said police spokesman Zainuri Lubis in Jakarta, quoted by news portal Detik.com.

Indonesia’s remote easternmost province is home to Papuan tribes, many of whom are known for wearing penis gourds.

…

Papuans use a local technique to achieve the enlargement, according to a sexologist quoted by local newspaper Jakarta Globe, wrapping the penis with leaves from the “gatal-gatal” (itchy) tree so that it swells up “like it has been stung by a bee,” the expert said.

I’m still trying to understand how having a huge dick could hinder you in any way. Wouldn’t it have to be ridiculously huge (Ha, Re-DIC-ulously, get it)?

The Ash Cloud Makes It Into Magic

I know it’s just a joke but still it is really cool,