Halloween has always been big at Blizzard Entertainment, and this year, they celebrated in World of Warcraft in grand style. The fun included masks, candy that cast different magical effects, trick or treat quests, vandalism quests (including stink bombs and making beer in a bar go rancid) and so on.
Here are some screenshots that Jenn took:
Some treats from Blizzard holidays past.
A sure sign that The Sickness is returning, as if the shooting pains and stiffness in my joints weren’t enough: Two people in the space of 30 minutes today raved about how much weight I had recently lost.
Yeah, loss of appetite and fatigue will do that. It’s the diet craze destined to sweep America.
The pain isn’t too bad yet. Imagine some sadist jabbing your joints with needles, especially your knuckles and toes. My left hand, which was one of the most-affected set of joints last time around, feels like someone’s just given it a bonecrusher handshake and ground all the bones of my hand together more or less constantly. And my left kneecap feels like some wag is trying to slip a disc up underneath my kneecap, prying my knee apart.
The good news, though, is that November and December are traditionally the slowest part of the year in the newspaper biz, so if I end up on my back again like I was this spring, it won’t greatly interfere with my work.
Due to space constraints, only two pictures accompanied the article about the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department’s new helicopters. Here are the rest:
Sultana High School from the air.
The Interstate 15/Main Street overpass picture in color (note the In-N-Out at the top). City officials are saying it’ll be fully open at long last on November 15.
Hesperia High School from the air.
The High Desert Primary Care shopping center, including the Hesperia Star, from the air.
Last year, when our apartment (well, duplex, but they insist on calling it an apartment) was new, we had no bug problems. Zippo. This year, the exterior defenses, whatever they might be, have been penetrated. Ants first showed up in my bathroom. I was surprised, but I figured the ants would realize they’d made an awful mistake and leave in despair.
A few days later, they came out through an electrical outlet in the kitchen. So much for them leaving in despair. As you might imagine, finding the kitchen is essentially jackpot for the ants, and we’ve been waging a losing battle against them. We didn’t want to spray the kitchen down with Raid, because of the elderly cat. I went and got some ant bait traps (also by Raid) from Rite Aid, but the ants seem only vaguely interested and certainly still quite alive.
Well, Joe the Orkin Man, who just left the paper after a monthly visit, may have the answer: Windex. Apparently, spritzing with Windex will kill the ants dead due to the ammonia, and also disrupt their scent trails, meaning we won’t have little lines of them all over. He also schooled me on bait traps: Apparently, there are sugar-based traps and protein-based traps, and depending on what time of year it is, the ants will have different needs, and the wrong sort of trap (i.e. the kind I have) will do zippo. There are “dual bait” traps, though, that have both types and he recommended a brand (Grant).
Today, we declare our independence (from ants).
Ray Pryke, the publisher of the Hesperia Resorter and other Valleywide Newspapers, has been ordered to pay $3 million dollars to the wife of San Bernardino County Sheriff Gary Penrod:
Citing “malicious and salacious” journalism, a Superior Court judge awarded more than $3 million in damages Friday in a libel lawsuit against newspaper publisher Raymond Pryke, owner of the Hesperia Resorter and Valleywide Newspapers.
Superior Court Judge Christopher J. Warner awarded psychologist Nancy K. Bohl $750,000 in actual damages and $750,000 in emotional damages for libelous articles. The judge awarded Bohl’s company, The Counseling Team, $500,000 in damages for past and future lost earnings. He also awarded Bohl $1 million in punitive damages plus $10,839.60 in costs, according to the judge’s written decision.
Bohl and The Counseling Team sued the Hesperia Resorter and Pryke for libel in connection with newspaper articles written by reporter Mark Gutglueck. The judge ruled that Gutglueck’s articles “demonstrate ‘malice’ and are capable of causing ‘severe emotional distress.’ ”
The newspaper articles accused Bohl, who is the wife of San Bernardino County Sheriff Gary Penrod, and her company of violating confidentiality in psycho-therapeutic relationships for the purpose of personal and financial gain.
“The accusations were bold print front page headlines,” wrote Warner in his decision. “Particularly malicious and salacious was ‘Sleeping with Penrod Pays Off.’ Mr. Pryke personally selected this headline, according to his deposition testimony.”
The lawsuit against Gutglueck was dismissed early in the case.
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