TotD: The Future of Warfare...

"Target acquired. Would you like to fire missile? Yes, No?"

"Are you sure? Yes, No?"

"Windows User Inventory Control: Windows needs your permission to continue - If you started this action
  - Initiate Missile Launch - Subtract Missile from Inventory
    Microsoft Windows DND

To continue, type an administrator password and then click OK"

"McAfee/Intel Security Scan
We have detected and blocked an non-certified program attempting to access secure code.
  - Missile Firing Sequence

To unblock this program..."

Lazy Friday: It's a Kitty Halloween

WoW: Soloing Lieutenants - The Easy Way

In short:

Charge!

<Monty Python>Run Away!!!</Monty Python>

Charge!

Collect kill.

TyL: There's a new section coming to your bookstore...

If it's not there already because apparently 'Fantasy' is too apt a term for books in which a passive teen female "outsider" completely flukes into the true - and totally non-sexual - love of the hottest teenage boy in school merely by existing. Especially when said boy is a vampire/werewolf/zombie/etc...

While the term has apparently been around for a bit, Barnes and Noble is in the process of rolling it out to their stores now in an effort to subdivide this out of the Fantasy section so the No-Kissy-Kissy Fantasy Nerds and the Kissy-Kissy Fantasy Nerds can stop throwing daggers at each other whilst tripping over opposing turf. This is probably also where I should point out my amusement at the reality that the two places you'll most often find Harry Potter in a bookstore are the Kids section in it's colourful "children's" format, and then stashed in the straight up Fiction section in it's more subdued "Adult" skin; not in the Fantasy section either.

These kinds of shelving decisions largely come down to targeted re-branding designed to avoid the social stigmas attached to Fantasy and Science Fiction as genres - especially amongst Youth where simply reading is a good way to end up mocked as a nerd before you get caught with something "geeky". Now, if the store says it's Paranormal Romance... well... you're not reading one of those skeevy Fantasy books that oddball girl or the boys like are you? You're reading Romance. With Vampires. There's an entirely other set of social stigmas assigned to Romance as a genre, admittedly, but most of those don't get applied until you're 30, have 12 cats, and no romantic options are forthcoming. For teen girls who need to be fed up a bunch of completely unrealistic parent-pleasing expectations about how relationships work they're A-OK! Especially since teen Fabio never makes a play for or gets in your panties.

After all, you've got to be 18 before you're fit for Harlequin. And Married.

TotD: Looking back at history...

... is the rate at which Women gain power directly proportional to their perceived need within a society outside the "traditional role" of "Easy-Babe Oven"

Or, to spin it from the other direction, do Men often only cede equality ground when faced with the reality that they need to augment the labour force due to lack of... well.. Men...

Guilty Pleasures: There was a pie in this box...

Sadly, it's gone to a better place now...

Just to extend a bit, when I was growing up we had strawberry bushes on one part of the property and rhubarb on another (also: blueberries across the road), so I had lots of this kinda thing for the few years my mom was into making preserves/jams/etc... Tremendous soft spot for it.

Not so much for rabbit. Which my dad also... farmed... for a bit. Nor the racing pigeons. Which we didn't eat, but feeding a coop full of the shit machines is not high on the list of things you want to do at 6 years old.

On the other hand, I do miss the kennel of Irish Setters. Awesome dogs - Setters and Retrievers are the only Dogs I'd ever have - but I'd never own one in the city. They need room to run.

WoW: All Flight Trainers aren't Equal...

In one of the 3.x.x patches they updated riding trainers so that they'd give you discounts based on your reputation with them. The gotcha is that the most readily available trainers - the one sitting on Dal and the ones in SMV you got used to going to in BC - aren't members of any faction and, therefore, don't give a discount. In other words, if you're lazy you get screwed. Why?

Well, if you fly out to Hellfire Peninsula or Borean Tundra you'll find Flight Trainers near your Flight Masters in the starting fortifications of these zones. These FT's are members of specific factions (Honour Hold/Valiance Expedition for the Alliance, Thrallmar/Warsong Offensive for the Horde), and, given that you should at least be able to make Revered with the former of those by 70 and Exalted with the later is easy to get grinding dungeons sans tabard at 80, scoring a 15-20% discount on your 5K Artisan (280%) and 5K Master (310%) Riding costs is a breeze. So, for a little Flight Time, you're saving 750-1K Gold on each of those; a nice little sum of money to keep in your pocket for Cataclysm and really adds up when you've multiple toons to buy Master for.

You might also want to remember this when 4.0.3 hits and you've gotta put out 250G a toon for "Old Weather Flying"

PS: For those that don't read patch notes: all your mounts that ride now go the speed of your fastest land training - 60-100% at max - and all your mounts that fly now go the speed of your fastest air training - 150-310% at max regardless of what their original limiters were set at. So, grab your favourite mount and ride free :)