Black Friday gets ugly (again)

Ah, Black Friday.  American consumerism at its worst.  While most of the doorbuster sales are technically over (it's 5:13 p.m. central as I type this), the craziest shopping day is not over yet.  And we already have two news stories:

Zhu-Zhu crowds get ugly at Indy stores (Indianapolis, Indiana)

When the Toys "R" Us opened its doors at midnight Thursday, a huge line backed up into two adjacent parking lots. People tried to cut the line, not listening or cooperating; and there were reports of people fighting at the back of the line. Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department was called after a report of a fight, and dispatched at least three squad cars to the scene, said IMPD Sgt. Paul Thompson.

Wal-Mart in Upland temporarily closes after 'fighting inside' (Upland, California)

About 300 people were in the store, which had remained open all night as a security precaution after a Wal-Mart worker on Long Island, N.Y., was trampled to death last year on Black Friday when a surging, impatient crowd rushed the doors after the store opened.

But in Upland, employees said, customers began tearing into merchandise that had been shrink-wrapped and were supposed to be opened at 5 a.m.

“This was without a doubt the worst I’ve ever seen it,” said one employee, who said she has worked a dozen Black Fridays.

“They wouldn’t let people line up,” she added. “They were belligerent. They just bombarded the store.”

Several officers were sent and stood by as shoppers were kicked out and the store closed down, Etchason said. The bargain hunters were told to line up in the parking lot.

Meanwhile, the carts were emptied and all the items returned to the shelves, employees said. But they said that outside, people began “yelling and screaming,” pounding on the glass doors and trying to sneak into the store through the lawn and garden section.

The sickest part about these events?  This comment left on the page of the first article:

Hey people, just because you don't care enough about your own kids to buy them the very best don't knock those of us who are willing to do what it takes to make sure that our kids get theirs. And my kids will, as always. 

 I really hope that's sarcasm....

Fort Hood Shootings -- what NOT to do

I am writing today about the shootings that happened at Fort Hood.  For those of you who don't know me that well, I was a Medical Lab Technician in the U.S. Army.  I was on Fort Hood on September 11, 2001, and I know what that base is like on lockdown.  I also worked at SRP at Fort Lewis, Washington.


But instead of writing about the shooter, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, I am writing about the actions of a soldier at SRP named Rico Rossi who was present during the lockdown situation at Fort Hood yesterday.  What does this guy do?


He tweets.

Yes, in blatant disregard of restricted cell phone usage (see the bottom entry), he tweets.  (Yes I know people can tweet from a computer and not just cell phones.)  And he does more than just "I'm OK mom, don't worry about me".  He starts discussing what is going on inside AND outside his facility in regards to the shootings.


What happened to OPSEC?  It is still unknown if the shooter was acting alone or if he was acting with help from others.  If someone found his tweets, they could have totally been used against the victims, or to assist others in evading capture.


Additionally, if the officials at Fort Hood restricted cell phone usage, don't you think it was in an attempt to keep vital details of the shootings out of the media's attention?  But now he's the subject of an entire article, and I bet by the end of the week he'll be all over the news.


I don't know what rank Rossi is, but according to his MySpace page he has "some college", so I doubt he's an officer.  He does, in one of his tweets, say this:
my soldiers are doing well, still on lockdown, cell phone usage is restricted per LTG Cone here on fort hood. when will the nightmare end?about 17 hours ago from web
My soldiers.  That sounds like the words of a Non-Commissioned Officer, or NCO.  And since it's highly unlikely that a Dental Assistant would make corporal, I'm guessing he's at least Sergeant and has probably been through PLDC.


I noticed that one of his tweets today said this:


off to work now, SGM Potson i'll be giving you a callabout 2 hours ago from web
Well, that's interesting.  Hopefully someone will be giving Rossi a lesson in how to behave himself during a lockdown.  Maybe he should, you know, get off the computer and actually treat some patients or help out in some other way.

Absolutely disgusting -- eat ground beef at your own risk

I promise you, this isn't former vegetarian fanaticism disguised as a public service announcement.  In fact, I usually encourage my friends who enjoy eating meat to eat things like ground beef because parts of the animal that might go to waste are now being used.  But I won't be suggesting this in regards to ground beef any more.



According to this article, the parts of beef used to make ground beef are not tested for pathogens. Only a small percentage of the final product is tested. Why is this a problem?

Well, ground beef is made up of several (and I mean several) different sources of cow parts. These bits and pieces may not even come from the same slaughterhouse. So when they're ground together, each patty ultimately has a different composition.  Even in the same batch.  So testing a couple of samples from each batch AFTER they've been ground together is not effective, because each sample will have a different composition from other potential samples in each batch.

Do you see why this is a problem?

Look, if you're going to eat beef get a nice cube steak.  Or even a regular steak.  Or get a grinder and make your own ground beef at home.  But don't buy ground beef from the store, at least not until big corporations are required to test incoming ingredients.

Celebrate the birth of Gandhi with a $25,000 pen

Boy, I wish I was joking....

The limited edition pen is intended to honour Gandhi, the German premium pen maker said. "I certainly have to say, I wouldn't have thought that people would have reacted negatively," Montblanc's chief executive Lutz Bethge told the BBC.

"Yes, there were questions asked. Does it make sense to combine Montblanc and Mahatma Gandhi? But from what I noticed people were delighted that we were paying tribute to him."

Just 241 of the handmade pens will be sold, in reference to the number of miles Gandhi walked in his famous march against salt taxes in 1930.

Each comes with an eight-metre golden thread that can be wound around the pen, representing the spindle and cotton Gandhi used to weave simple cloth.

You can read the full story here.

Jay Leno and product endorsement

Is the Jay Leno Show entertainment or is it a series of advertisements? In moments taken from the September 25, 2009 show, Jay Leno spends an inordinate amount of time plugging Wendy's, Wal-Mart, Bing, MIke's Hard Lemonade, and numerous other products. How many commercials are you REALLY seeing?

Protect Insurance Companies

Protect Insurance Companies PSA from Will Ferrell

Does anyone need internet service?

Hello everyone.

I am moving to Arkansas in the middle of October to finish my bachelor's degree. (Yay!)

Unfortunately, my internet company Clearwire does not offer coverage in my new city. (Boo!)

Would anyone like to take over my account? You'd get unlimited wireless access for $29.99 a month, no set up fee, and my modem. Don't worry if you don't live near me -- I can mail the modem to you. You have to be over 18 and have a mastercard or visa (debit or credit).

Apparently, Clearwire does this a lot to keep their number of accounts up without charging customers an early termination fee. The rep told me that all I had to do was find someone willing and their department would assign everything over.

If you're interested, send an email to derpedia[at]gmail[dot]com