Hit You With a Rock

I played Star Wars: The Force Unleashed almost to the end. It’s a frustrating game to begin with, and it loves nothing more than to take away what little control the player has. In the last two fights, the game decided to take its already unwieldy user interface and use it to trick the player. Eventually, I hit it with a rock.

As Joe points out, someone needs a rock.

Cullman Times staff writer Patrick McCreless points out that Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) didn’t get the memo about Obama’s well-and-truly proven American citizenship. He also missed a bit of math. Five Trillion is more than 800 Billion.

Senator Shelby, go outside and get a rock.

Link: http://www.dogsofthedow.com/etradefeed.htm

As those who know me are already aware, I was affected by last month’s layoffs at Adobe Systems Inc. Adobe was extremely good to its separated employees, and my severance package included two months on the payroll. One huge benefit of this was that my employee stock purchase had time to take effect, and I found $8000 worth of stock in my E-Trade account. Having learned my lesson about such things, I sold the stock as soon as I could.

This morning, the proceeds of the sale landed in my account, and I tried to transfer the money to my checking account. Before E-Trade could allow any such activity, I had to prove that I was me, by answering three vague and completely arbitrary questions. Had I associated with Kaiser Permanente? Who in California hasn’t? In what month was my step-mother born? I don’t know! I wouldn’t remember my own birthday if my mother didn’t pester me for wish-lists! In the end, I failed to answer the questions three, and was cast into the Sea of Fate.

To extract myself from my fate, I had to take the train into San Francisco and present my photo ID in person at an E-Trade office. I then had the office manager contact the service department directly and order the transfer, because I didn’t trust them out of my sight any more.

I’m gonna hit E-Trade with a rock.

Robert Mugabe has decided that there is no cholera in Zimbabwe. For his next trick, he’ll outlaw gravity, and register the Heavenly Host for compulsory military service.

The news media is up in arms over Blagojevich. It’s apparently news that a Chicago politician might be corrupt. I have news for the news: This news is not news.

I’m going to hit the news media with a rock. Just give me a minute to find one big enough, I don’t want anyone to feel left out.

And before you tell me that the capital of Illinois is Springfield, check where Blagojevich is from.