Day: June 27, 2006

Jeans designed for “conceal carry” use

(via BoingBoing)

toters.gifI know some folks who might like a few pairs of these. Of course, I have no idea if these are any good, but the company does make a write-up done well enough to have me curious. Since I don’t carry, I don’t really need these myself, but I’m sure someone who sees this story can post a comment about the jeans and let the world (in as much as people who read my ramblings constitute the world) know whether these are any good.

TOTERS ™ were conceived and created by veteran holster and knife designer Blackie Collins as an innovative alternative to the various – albeit limited – options one has to choose from when looking to purchase concealed carry clothing. The concept is simple: Create an extremely comfortable and durable item of clothing that effectively provides a means for concealed carry, but does so without any of the extreme bulkiness or expense that is often associated with other concealed carry garments.

Aside from the long run-on sentence there, that sounds like a good concept. The company also offers concealed carry vests, in case jeans aren’t an option.
[tags]Concealed carry, gun control?[/tags]

Buffett to give away most of his fortune

(via CNN Money)
That would be Warren Buffett, and not Jimmy Buffett (who, by the way, was born in Pascagoula, Mississippi – the same place where that squirrel went berserk – but back to the story).

FORTUNE EXCLUSIVE: The world’s second richest man – who’s now worth $44 billion – tells editor-at-large Carol Loomis he will start giving away 85% of his wealth in July – most of it to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Notice that this will still leave him with somewhere around $4 billion after all is said and done. I just thought I’d point that out for folks who aren’t as cynical as I am. Actually, though, I think this is a great thing Buffett is doing, and don’t want to belittle the upside. I know that $4 billion doesn’t buy what it used to, but I think Warren will still be able to live quite comfortably after giving so much away to help others. And remember that the man is an investing genius – he’ll still grow his wealth after this, and have figuratively tons of money to leave for more good works when he dies.

Buffett has pledged to gradually give 85% of his Berkshire stock to five foundations. A dominant five-sixths of the shares will go to the world’s largest philanthropic organization, the $30 billion Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, whose principals are close friends of Buffett’s (a connection that began in 1991, when a mutual friend introduced Buffett and Bill Gates).

For all the bad things I say about Microsoft and Bill Gates, this foundation is truly a great work, and with Buffett’s extra donations, even more good can be done.

[tags]Warren Buffett[/tags]

Top 20 game innovations we take for granted

(via Joystiq)
1UP has it’s list of important gameplay innovations up.  These are things we take for granted now in gaming but that seemed revolutionary when first introduced.  I won’t steal 1UP’s thunder by listing them all now, but here are a few.

  • Life Bar / Hit Points
  • Power Ups
  • Combos
  • Cooperative Play

I particularly remember the first time I played co-op in Descent.  Man, that was awesome.  For me, that combined the co-op play and the online feature, which was most unusual at the time.  I remember playing Descent co-op with 2 friends over a 28K modem connection.  We didn’t even think of trying to use voice chat at the same time – the available bandwidth at the time wouldn’t have supported it.

[tags]1UP, Gameplay innovations, gaming innovations, Descent is the greatest game ever[/tags]

Good Irish music

If you happen to have a chance to travel to Dublin, try to find where The Naked Fiddler (Brendan P Lynch) and his friends are playing.  My wife and I saw him at a pub in Dublin Friday night, playing with Joe Brennan and Paul O’Sullivan and again found where he was playing on Saturday night.  These two nights are easily the most memorable of many great things we saw and did on this trip.

[tags]Naked Fiddler, Brendan P Lynch, Irish music, Ireland[/tags]