http://cbs2chicago.com/local/fight.girlfriends.father.2.698553.html

Man Killed In Fight With Girlfriend’s Dad

CHICAGO (STNG) ? A 23-year-old man was killed in a fight with his girlfriend’s father Saturday afternoon on the West Side.

The 40-year-old father was taken into custody after the incident, and the case was initially being investigated as a homicide, but the father was later released without being charged.

Swantell McKinley, of 1416 S. Karlov Ave., was pronounced dead at 1:48 a.m. Saturday at Mount Sinai Hospital, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.

McKinley was the aggressor in a domestic battery incident with his girlfriend in a second-floor apartment in the 4000 block of West Harrison Street about 1 a.m. The woman’s father attempted to stop the incident, a fight ensued and McKinley was injured, police said.

A Saturday autopsy determined McKinley died of multiple injures from an assault and the death was ruled a homicide.

I know it probably sounds vicious and unmerciful of me, but my first thought upon reading this was, “Go, Dad!” The man tried to stop the “victim” from beating his daughter, and when he wouldn’t, the dad defended his daughter. If more families would stand up to domestic violence, maybe there would be fewer men, women, and children who die as a result of the abuse they endure every day.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080408/ap_on_re_us/toddler_beaten_5

Police: Pa. girl dies after beating

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/newssun/news/883757,WA08_escort_s1.article

Man out $8K after making ‘date’ with escort

BUFFALO GROVE– A man is $8,000 poorer Tuesday after providing his debit card and PIN number to an escort he hired.

According to a report from Buffalo Grove police, the man, a resident of the 500 block of Vernon Lane, told police he hired an escort last week and gave her his debit card and PIN number to complete the transaction.

Sometime between 6 p.m. last Wednesday, April 2 and 3 p.m. Monday, more than $8,000 in purchases had been made with the debit card, without his consent, the report said. He was alerted to this after his bank contacted him to advise him that his account was negative by $2,000.

The man has closed his account, police said. No other information was provided whether charges are pending against the man or the escort.

You know, it seems like it would be common sense not to provide a prostitute with one’s debit card and pin number.

Besides, where in the heck was he expecting her to scan it? Escorts come equipped with a few things, but I have yet to see one who has a credit card reader anywhere on her person.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/884257,womanshot040808.article

Woman shot after threatening deputies with sword

UNINCORPORATED ANTIOCH — A 54-year-old woman was shot by Lake County Sheriff’s deputies Tuesday afternoon, after police said she threatened to harm deputies with a sword following a disturbance near far north suburban Antioch.

Lake County Sheriff’s deputies first responded to a call of a woman throwing objects at cars near Route 83 and Eagles Nest Road in an unincorporated area near Antioch about 2:09 p.m., according to a release from the Lake County Sheriff’s office.

When deputies arrived, they were told that the woman had gone into a home in the 40300 block of North Route 83. The deputies went into the home and found the woman in the back of the home holding a sword-type weapon, the release said.

The deputies tried to make contact with the woman, asking her to drop her sword. When she refused to do so, deputies attempted to Taser her, the release said.

The Taser attempt did not stop the woman, and she continued to approach the deputies with the sword. Authorities then shot the woman, the release said.

The woman was transported to Condell Health Network in Libertyville, where she is awaiting Flight for Life to take her to another hospital for treatment, the release said.

Lake County Sheriff’s Department and the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force are investigating the shooting.

Ladies and gentlemen, there can be only one…and this one’s most likely headed for a psych ward.

But I’ve been too tired, frustrated by the blogger format, and insanely busy to update the blog as much as I like.

I’ve also lost much of my taste for writing due to a writing assignment that is asinine, pays poorly, and is about as much fun to write as it would be to receive a high colonic.

I will try to do better now. I have set a goal for myself to post at least once a day, even if it is just my opinion on whatever news story happens to catch my eye.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080406/ap_on_en_mo/obit_heston_3

Charlton Heston dead at 84

By BOB THOMAS, Associated Press WriterSun Apr 6, 12:23 AM ET

Charlton Heston, who won the 1959 best actor Oscar as the chariot-racing “Ben-Hur” and portrayed Moses, Michelangelo, El Cid and other heroic figures in movie epics of the ’50s and ’60s, has died. He was 84.

The actor died Saturday night at his home in Beverly Hills with his wife Lydia at his side, family spokesman Bill Powers said.

Powers declined to comment on the cause of death or provide further details.

Heston revealed in 2002 that he had symptoms consistent with Alzheimer’s disease, saying, “I must reconcile courage and surrender in equal measure.”

With his large, muscular build, well-boned face and sonorous voice, Heston proved the ideal star during the period when Hollywood was filling movie screens with panoramas depicting the religious and historical past. “I have a face that belongs in another century,” he often remarked.

The actor assumed the role of leader offscreen as well. He served as president of the Screen Actors Guild and chairman of the American Film Institute and marched in the civil rights movement of the 1950s. With age, he grew more conservative and campaigned for conservative candidates.

In June 1998, Heston was elected president of the National Rifle Association, for which he had posed for ads holding a rifle. He delivered a jab at then-President Clinton, saying, “America doesn’t trust you with our 21-year-old daughters, and we sure, Lord, don’t trust you with our guns.”

Heston stepped down as NRA president in April 2003, telling members his five years in office were “quite a ride. … I loved every minute of it.”

That same year, Heston was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. “The largeness of character that comes across the screen has also been seen throughout his life,” President Bush said at the time.

He engaged in a lengthy feud with liberal Ed Asner during the latter’s tenure as president of the Screen Actors Guild. His latter-day activism almost overshadowed his achievements as an actor, which were considerable.

I start at my WAHM job today, and I’m majorly stressing out. I don’t get paid until April, which really bothers me a lot. in the meantime, I’m trying to pick up extra work to offset the cost of living while I’m waiting on that paycheck. If you feel like supporting a starving mother-to-be, feel free to drop me a donation anytime. My paypal address is rloaks79@yahoo.com.

Wish me luck!

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=152072&src=109

Fire death blamed on smoking while on oxygen

A blaze that killed a South Elgin man likely started as he smoked while using an oxygen tank to breathe, authorities said today.

Edwin C. Kudsk, 73, died from inhaling lethal levels of carbon monoxide as his living room filled with smoke and soot in the Jan. 11 fire at his home in the 600 block of Kenilworth Avenue, according to testimony at a Kane County Coroner’s inquest.

Suffering from lung cancer, diabetes and heart disease, Kudsk used a walker. Firefighters found him lying near the front door. They initially were unable to enter the home because of flames and exploding oxygen tanks inside, South Elgin police Detective Anthony Martinez said.

“It appeared he was trying to attempt to get out,” Martinez told jurors, who ruled Kudsk’s death an accident.

Kudsk’s wife, Rose, told investigators her husband had taken pain medication and planned to sleep in a reclining chair in the living room. She was in the bedroom when she awoke about 4 a.m. to screams and saw the fire.

Rose Kudsk said she couldn’t reach her husband. She tried to extinguish the flames with water from the kitchen sink and then ran outside the duplex and banged on her neighbor’s door, Martinez said.

Rose Kudsk and her neighbors escaped without injury.

Firefighters said they found no signs of faulty wiring in the home or problems with the oxygen tanks.

The blaze appeared to originate in the chair where Kudsk sat, and an ashtray full of cigarette butts was found nearby, Coroner Chuck West said, adding investigators think the man was smoking when the fire started.

Okay, let’s go over this one more time: Oxygen is a highly flammable gas. It is so flammable that there are WARNING LABELS on oxygen tanks that state that one should NEVER smoke or expose the oxygen tank to open flame. Why? Because the

I swear, we have the worst UPS delivery person ever. Because we have to buy so much merchandise online for both the store and our other jobs, we have to have it delivered to our home. Most of the time, the companies we use choose UPS, and the people that deliver our packages don’t seem to understand the concept that the things that we have delivered are actually worth money.

For example, the normal operating procedure for our UPS delivery person is to leave the package at the back door. This wouldn’t be such a bad thing, if the back door that is visible from the street were actually our back door. Unfortunately, we share that back door with three other units, so there’s a distinct possibility that one of the other tenants would be tempted to run off with the package. (Fortunately, we only have one psychotic neighbor, and she’s usually not around when UPS does their “deliver and dash” routine.)

I think that we may have gotten a new UPS delivery person, though, because the delivery style has changed. For the last few deliveries, the UPS delivery person sets down the package, rings the doorbell…and then runs like hell for the truck. Every time I hear the doorbell, I get to the door in time to see the UPS truck speeding away, leaving behind my package right next to my front door. I swear, the man delivers packages like he’s dropping off bags of flaming dog poo. Our most recent package was sitting at such a bizarre angle when I opened the door that I wondered whether or not he just threw the package from his truck and happened to hit the doorbell in the process.

Perhaps UPS is understaffed; however, they only ever seem to advertise for package handlers in their local shipping and receiving facility, so I think that the UPS delivery people just don’t care that much about doing a good job around here. In my home state of Missouri, the UPS delivery person actually knocked on the door or rang the doorbell and waited for someone to answer and sign for the package.

On the other hand, maybe the UPS drivers are just scared that they will get robbed and/or get shot if they stay in any residential area for too long. I know that there are some places that are really bad in this village, but there haven’t been any local shootings for several months, and none of them were in my neighborhood. The worst we’ve had around my neighborhood has been domestic violence and vandalism to a couple of abandoned businesses. I realize that the problem is only going to get worse over time, but until that happens, there’s no real excuse for UPS to provide such poor service. After all, my front door is visible from the street, and there’s very little stopping someone from stealing my package if I don’t happen to be home to pick it up.

While I realize that delivering packages for UPS is a dangerous job, I still feel like there’s no excuse for putting down the package, ringing the doorbell, and running away as if there’s an explosive in the box. Many of the things that my partner and I purchase are things that we would prefer not to have stolen. Until UPS starts getting drivers that care about doing their jobs correctly and not just abandoning packages wherever they please, I think I’ll be taking my business to the post office or DHL.

Who was Gary Gygax? To some people, he was a creative genius, taking tabletop games in a previously unexplored and unused direction that changed the face of gaming and led to legendary games such as tabletop gaming’s Magic: The Gathering and video gaming’s Final Fantasy series. To others, Gygax was a monster of depravity, luring innocent Christian youth down a road of fantasy and paganism with his phenomenally popular game, Dungeons and Dragons.

To me, Gary Gygax was one of two innovative geniuses who changed the face of tabletop gaming forever. He and his former friend and co-creator, Dave Arneson, worked together to create Dungeons and Dragons after both had achieved limited success on their previous roleplaying games. Gygax and Arneson combined Gygax’s success in fantasy roleplay (with the Chainmail medieval wargame) with Arneson’s success in military strategy wargames (particularly naval strategy) to create the basis for modern Dungeons and Dragons.

Dungeons and Dragons was first sold in 1974, and it found enormous success with people who enjoyed wargames and roleplay, as well as people who were fans of fantasy literature such as Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings series. What started out as a small venture for Gygax and Arneson turned into a worldwide phenomenon, with BBC News estimating that over 20 million people play Dungeons and Dragons as of 2006.

Not everyone was happy with Gygax and Arneson’s success, though. Jack Chick, Patricia Pulling, Bill Schnoebelen, and many religious groups raised a furor about D&D being a “gateway” to Satanism, the occult, witchcraft, suicide, homicide, sexual deviance, necromancy, demon summoning, and many other potentially problematic actions, beliefs, or behaviors. Fortunately, Christian authors such as Tracy Hickman have done much to dispel myths and fears surrounding the concept of playing Dungeons and Dragons.

The creation of Dungeons and Dragons opened up a whole new world in tabletop gaming. Gygax and Arneson’s combined skill created a viable fantasy gaming world where mythos came to life and people could roleplay as various fantasy creatures, be they from fairy tales, mythology, or even the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. Because of the advances that Gygax and Arneson made in tabletop gaming, game ideas that would have previously been discarded were scrutinized more closely. It was because of the success of Dungeons and Dragons that tabletop games such as Magic: the Gathering (which was developed as a portable game for convention attendees to play between events) and the d20 gaming system were able to be exist and thrive. The success of Dungeons and Dragons was even instrumental in the creation of Final Fantasy, which is one of the best-selling video game franchises in the world. Final Fantasy’s success, in turn, opened up the way for the modern roleplaying video game genre.

Would the world have tabletop games and roleplaying videogames without Gary Gygax? Of course it would, but the landscape of gaming would be vastly different. Fantasy tabletop games such as Dungeons and Dragons may have evolved eventually from early war and military strategy games, but the course of that evolution would have been vastly different. If it weren’t for the work of Gary Gygax, fantasy adventures might still be solitary, lonely mental exercises done after reading an H.P. Lovecraft or Anne McCaffrey story, and video gamers could still be relegated to arcades, playing Super Pac-Man XIV. Because of the changes that he brought to the gaming landscape, Ernest Gary Gygax will be forever remembered by gamers of every stripe as one of the founding fathers of modern gaming.