Where will the bailout madness end?

The timeline of bailout events this year has been very interesting (in Chinese-curse kinda way):

March, 2008 US Government offers $29 billion of credit in the form of guarantees for the toxic mortgage-backed debt held on the books of Bear Stearns. The credit was made available as part of a deal where JPMorgan Chase acquired its smaller rival. US Federal Reserve also extends the availability of cheap financing to investment banks as well as commercial banks

September 6, 2008 The US Government takes control of mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Promises to inject up to $100billion into each

September 7, 2008 Silver State becomes eleventh US bank to collapse. The lender had $1.7 billion of deposits

September 14, 2008 Lehman Brothers files for bankruptcy protection. It controlled $600 billion of assets

September 16, 2008 US Government nationalizes AIG. We (yes we... it's government of the people, for the people and by the people, right?) lends the insurer $85 billion for two years, during which time it is expected to break itself up, raise new capital and pay back the American taxpayer

September 16 - 30, 2008 Washington debates the bailout plan.

October 4th, 2008 House voted 263 to 171 to pass the $700 billion bailout bill, and President Bush signs it into law shortly thereafter.

And now...

November 12, 2008 US Automakers ask for (another) $25 Billion "loan" as part of the bailout money. They passed a $25 Billion loan earlier in the year, which is intended to fix up facilities, and produce more fuel efficient vehicles (Can you say... "Goodbye Hummer" ?)

Seriously. Isn't this a Democratic, free-market economy? Why are my tax dollars helping to prop up companies that drove themselves into the ground with either:

a) Poor financial oversight (Banks)

b) Greedy executives, willing to lend money to less-than-stellar risks in order to turn a higher profit.

c) American car companies apparently unable to create a low-cost, quality product to compete with Japanese imports. Unions? Maybe. Laziness? Certainly.

So, stop the bailout madness! Tell your congresspeople to not support additional bailouts. Don't support propped-up banks.

Real Manners in the Kaneva Virtual World

Our friend the Wikipedia defines manners as, "The unenforced standards of conduct which show the actor to be cultured, polite and refined. They are like laws in that they codify or set a standard for human behavior, but they are unlike laws in that there is no formal system for punishing transgressions, other than social disapproval."

So, in short, be polite to others, or there will be some informal punishment, like shunning.

These rules are as true in the Virtual world, as they are in the real world. Avatars are berated, kicked or banned for a variety of offenses, some real... some imagined.

To your left, you see a Kaneva party. Notice how many avatars are jammed in a reasonably small space. This sort of thing happens in the Virtual World every day. Like real life, some rules apply:

• Don't dance with another avatar uninvited. There's nothing worse than a pissed-off player because "Dildor5000" is dancing too close to her.
• Don't jump up and down on other avatars. Again, personal space bubble stuff. No one like strangers that close.
• No swearing in public places
• Don't dress like a homeless person or a hooker in a public space
• Do not impersonate a Virtual World employee or Game Master. Like real life, you cannot impersonate a cop or a judge.
  
• Do not hack into the client, exploit any bugs that are found or cheat the system
• Don't use hate speech in any form. There are no 1st Amendment rights in a Virtual World.
  

Furthermore, as it was pointed out to me by a dear friend recently... It is NOT okay to just teleport to people directly in the Virtual World. You don't just open up closed doors without knocking in RL, so you should do the same in a VW. It's sad, actually that I do this without thinking. I am the one who enforces the rules of the road in Kaneva, yet I was constantly breaking this particular rule.

I kick idiots.
I ban racists and bigots.
Yet, even I break some of the rules that I am supposed to uphold.

No more. I will never again 'port without asking, and I will apologize if I infringe on other peoples' space bubbles.

Why I love Kingdom of Loathing. Part 1 (of many)

Dear Blog,

If you didn't know, I play a game called Kingdom of Loathing. OK, OK. It's more of an addiction. KoL is a Browser-Based, Stick Figure, humourous Role Playing Game (BBSFHRPG ?) You create a character from one of the following archetypes:

1. Disco Bandit (A combination of a thief and archer)
2. Accordian Thief (Bard-type)
3. Seal Clubber (Barbarian-like fighter)
4. Turtle Tamer (Another fighter-type. With some great Ranger-like skills)
5. Pastamancer (Spell-slinger. With pasta. Um... Rotini?)
6. Sauceror (Another spell-slinger, but saucier)

You then take on various, assorted and sundry quests, given to you from the Council of Loathing
Which leads up the the ultimate quest of killing the Naughty Sorceress:

Spooky isn't she?


At that point, you free the King (Did I mention the quest was to free the king?), do something called Ascending (which is a Reincarnation experience) and start out again at level one. But slightly more powerful the next time around.

It can be a grindfest, of sorts, depending on how you play, but the creator, Zach "Jick" Johnson has done an excellent job of keeping the content fresh and exciting.

I'll go into specific parts of KoL (and other games) in future posts.

For now... Go visit! Create a character! And at level 3, you can join a clan. Might I recommend "Rotini's House of Pasta". Best damn clan in KoL ;)

Thanks for reading!

Do we really care with whom Lindsay Lohan is sleeping?

I mean seriously. I know she's cute. She used to be stunning, but years of cocaine parties et al takes a lot out of a girl.

Today, Yahoo "News" reports that Lindsay officially "Came Out" and admitted that she and Samantha Ronson are indeed a couple (and in love..)

a) I don't care.
b) Have you seen a pic of Samantha Ronson? She did VERY well for herself by scoring Lindsay...

On your left is Samantha Ronson (with former Paris Hilton BFF Nicole Ritchie)
(Samantha is the one that looks like a boy.)


On the right is Lindsay.

Outpunt the defense much, Sam? ;)




So, what does this all mean?

Not much, really. I just hope the womynz are happy with each other. I still don't care that they're a couple, though.

There must always be a first!

Welcome to my Blog!

For those of you who have yet to meet me, I'm Mike a.k.a. Rotini. I'm the Director of Operations for a Virtual Worlds company, Kaneva, and a video game junkie. To wit: Our household has three computers, a Wii, a PS3, two Nintendo DS, three MP3s and a PSP in operation at any given time.

And I spend my spare time in Kaneva, playing Kingdom of Loathing, on Facebook, reading or watching movies.

Yeah, I'm a nerd.


This blog will give you a window into my brain-box, and maybe you can figure out what makes me tick.

I wish someone would fill me in when they figure it out ;)