Skywarp!

When he wasn't responding, he probably had a chore to do or a phone call to take. You never know why people get called away from their game. I play SOCOM II a lot, and this seems to happen mid-round. Anyway, how is RS3?

As long as the difficulty of eliminations is nothing like that of Wrestlemania X-8, the tediousness of which killed the fun of playing Royal Rumble matches altogether. I went into a detailed rant about it earlier in this thread.

If they did it that way, with some players the match would never have the Rumble feel. The ring would always be clear, and then you could nothing but pose for 1:45 and build up 6 Smackdowns.

How do you have "tags" in a parking lot brawl?

I don't think CGI will be that expensive if you have some significant amount of time spent filming real cars and put the voice acting over it. Of course, if they're static in disguise mode, great. But if they're driving with no one in their cabs, then digital removal of stunt drivers is necessary. Besides, they should look into getting car companies to sponsor the movie. Like VW bugs, of course. You could also tweak Ironhide a little to make him change into a red Explorer, or more traditionally, a red Areostar, I suppose.

Flight 93 hijacker: 'Shall we finish it off?' 9/11 report reveals who was at controls before crash (CNN) -- Who actually put United Flight 93 into a death dive, causing it to slam into the Pennsylvania countryside on September 11, 2001, is revealed in the 9/11 commission report released Thursday. The passenger revolt began at 9:57 a.m., nearly 30 minutes after the four terrorists aboard launched their takeover of the Boeing 757 loaded with more than 11,000 gallons of jet fuel. As passengers charged the cockpit door, terrorist hijacker Ziad Jarrah began rolling the plane to the left and right, "attempting to knock the passengers off balance," the 9/11 commission report said. Jarrah told another hijacker in the cockpit to block the door. By 9:59 a.m., Jarrah changed tactics and "pitched the nose of the airplane up and down to disrupt the assault." "The [flight] recorder captured the sounds of loud thumps, crashes, shouts and breaking glass and plates. At 10:00:03 a.m., Jarrah stabilized the airplane," the report says. "Five seconds later, Jarrah asked, 'Is that it? Shall we finish it off?' A hijacker responded, 'No. Not yet. When they all come, we finish it off.' " Jarrah resumed pitching the plane up and down. "In the cockpit. If we don't, we'll die," a passenger is heard saying. "Sixteen seconds later, a passenger yelled, 'Roll it!' " the report says. By 10:01 a.m., Jarrah stopped his violent maneuvers and said, "Allah is the greatest! Allah is the greatest!" According to the report, he then asked another hijacker in the cockpit, "Is that it? I mean, shall we put it down?" "Yes, put it in it, and pull it down," the other responded. The passengers continued with their assault, trying to break through the cockpit door. At 10:02 a.m. and 23 seconds, a hijacker said, "Pull it down! Pull it down!" "The hijackers remained at the controls but must have judged that the passengers were only seconds from overcoming them," the report concludes. "The airplane headed down; the control wheel was turned hard to the right. The airplane rolled onto its back, and one of the hijackers began shouting, 'Allah is the greatest. Allah is the greatest.' "With the sounds of the passenger counter-attack continuing, the aircraft plowed into an empty field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, at 580 miles per hour, about 20 minutes' flying time from Washington, D.C." Struggle in the cockpit The report says Jarrah intended to fly the plane into the White House or the U.S. Capitol. "He was defeated by the alerted, unarmed passengers of United 93," the report says. The battle aboard the plane was burned into history by the story of one passenger, Todd Beamer, who used an onboard phone to call the FBI. At the end of his call, the operator overhead him say to other passengers, "Let's roll." He and other passengers had learned of the attacks in New York and Washington after placing calls to loved ones. In the weeks and months after the attacks, there were reports that officials believed passengers had overtaken the plane, forcing it to crash in the field in Pennsylvania. However, last year, officials began backing away from that theory. Thursday's report gives no indication that passengers ever broke through the cockpit door, but it makes clear that passengers' actions thwarted the plans of the terrorists. The report also gives harrowing details of the moments just before and after the plane was hijacked. The plane, which had left Newark, New Jersey, for Los Angeles, California, at 8:42 a.m. carrying 37 passengers and seven crew members, received a warning from United flight dispatcher Ed Ballinger at 9:24 a.m.: "Beware any cockpit intrusion -- two a/c [aircraft] hit World Trade Center." The message was sent by Ballinger to several aircraft to alert them of potential terrorists. Two minutes later, at 9:26 a.m., pilot Jason Dahl appeared to be puzzled by the message and responded, "Ed, confirm latest mssg plz -- Jason." "The hijackers attacked at 9:28," the report says. "While traveling 35,000 feet above eastern Ohio, United 93 suddenly dropped 700 feet. Eleven seconds into the descent, the FAA's air traffic control center in Cleveland received the first of two radio transmissions from the aircraft. "During the first broadcast, the captain or first officer could be heard declaring 'Mayday' amid the sounds of a physical struggle in the cockpit. The second transmission, 35 seconds later, indicated that the fight was continuing. The captain or first officer could be heard shouting: 'Hey get out of here -- get out of here -- get out of here.' " At 9:32 a.m., the report says, a hijacker "made or attempted to make the following announcement to the passengers of Flight 93: 'Ladies and gentlemen: Here the captain, please sit down keep remaining sitting. We have a bomb on board. So, sit.' " The report also says a woman, most likely a flight attendant, was being held captive in the cockpit. "She struggled with one of the hijackers who killed or otherwise silenced her," it says. The report says at least 10 passengers and two crew members contacted family, friends or others on the ground. They reported the hijackers were wearing red bandanas, forced passengers to the back of the plane and claimed a bomb was aboard, according to the report. Flight 93 was the only hijacked plane that day with four hijackers aboard. All other flights had five hijackers. The report says a man who was denied entry and detained in Florida a month before the attacks possibly was supposed to have been the fifth hijacker aboard Flight 93. "The operative likely intended to round out the team for this flight, Mohamed al Kahtani, had been refused entry by a suspicious immigration inspector at Florida's Orlando International Airport in August," the report says. Al Kahtani is currently being held at the detainee center at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Cell Phone Using Nigereans Fear Dying From "Killer Calls!"

Ladies and gentlemen: Franz Ferdinand's fans don't even know what they are called. That is beautiful. Would they at least get the reference to the ill-fated figure? By the way, how is that album?

It's funny. I bought Wrestlemania X-8 on its debut date 2 years ago and as a result, I STILL have an aversion to purchasing any Gamecube WWE game. I've never even tried Wrestlemania XIX. Good thing I have a PS2.

True. I am a 6 foot, 200 lb, lilly-white male, but I get pulled out of line a fair amount just so they make sure there's no bombs in my Doc Martens. They have a look like they aren't expecting to find anything, and I get the impression that they pick people they think won't have anything because they're just tired and don't want to deal with anyone that DOES. Of course they never find anything with this policy. Random screenings are just too...well, random.

Well, why don't we put you in a hijacked plane, with little knowledge of what weapons the terrorists had (I'm pretty sure they didn't brag about the fact they only had box cutters), and even less knowledge of what they were going to do with you, and see how heroic you are. Easy Tex, I already said I think they were told there were bombs on board. It was a speculation, not an acusation. No need to fly off the handle. Also, I think it was pretty alien to Americans at the time that people would willingly kill themselves for an ideal.

Could you imagine the outrage if it were released right after 9/11? People would have had those screeners' heads. It is doubtless that the footage was locked up this long since they wouldn't want anyone to see it. It would further show how the government and airline security failed to prevent these attacks. One thing that always bothered me about 9/11 though...how in 3 out of 4 cases, a cabin full of people were too afraid of 5 guys with box cutters. Then again, I think they told everyone they had a bomb on board.

I'd wager these bands have many of the same fans. There's a good cross-section that do. I'm a 311 fan that hates the Deftones, however. I was force-fed that White Pony album almost every day when I worked at a record store 4 years ago and I found it tedious. Another strange 311 bill was the "Sprite Liquid Mix Tour", where they were followed by headliner Jay-Z. Some other weird mixes of rock and hip-hop were on that bill, as well.

-Talk Show opening for Aerosmith.

-Rage Against the Machine opening for Wu Tang Clan. -DMX at Woodstock '99. -Tenacious D opening for Weezer. -Korn opening for 311. -Foo Fighters opening for Red Hot Chili Peppers.

I just picked up The Hives--Tyrannosaurus Hives and it's pretty damn good. It's like their fellow classmates, The Strokes' second album: similar to the first, but with more polished production and better all around.

Once I saw a guy in the mall with a t-shirt that said "BLOW ME!" with an arrow pointing straight downward. You could tell he was the oblivious sort--the people he was with were walking five steps behind him. On the wrestling side, I have a Kane "Welcome to My Nightmare!" shirt. It's probably overdue for the trash. The commie ones can't be as bad as when everyone was wearing "X" shirts, for Malcolm X, back in the early '90s.

Even dumber than that is the handshaking bit at the end of the article.

They need to fix the rumbles, period. Really? I think their rumbles right now are near-perfect as is. 6 men is a good number to have (though I'd welcome 8), the action is practically seamless with people getting eliminated and coming in, you can choose whatever number you want or have it random, and even edit the final list to get rid of undesirables (people who were fired/left post-release/divas/McMahons). The only thing I saw that was better was "Attitude," where you could script everyone's entrance number. But I'm probably holding it in high regard because I remember the worst application of the rumble of all time: "Wrestlemania X8". You had to push A+Y to throw opponents over the ropes, but they hung on and you had to stomp them repeatedly until their stanima turned deep blue, or they would roll back into the ring after 6 seconds. It was too tough to eliminate one person, the ring only held 4, and when there were 3 in the ring you would get double teamed. The worst part about 4 guys is, you know the CPU can handle 7 since JR and King sit at the bottom of the screen (uselessly) and the ref was present during Fatal Fourways. I love playing rumbles, so that game was a waste of $50.00.

Nooooooooooooooo! When they ditched commentary, that was an UPGRADE! DON'T bring it back! Also, I bet the long-forgotten match will be a big letdown, like a Brawl for All. Hopefully, they finally can fit 8 guys into a match and we can have Survivor Series matches and more chaos in the rumbles.

I'm going to get flamed for this, but The Polyphonic Spree's "Together We're Heavy" is worth mentioning, even if it's probably not the album of the year. Other than that, I can't think of much that I bought this year. I suppose my pick would be Weezer's "Blue Album Deluxe Edition" but that should technically be eliminated from running.

They're huge in Japan, though.

Stoned Del. student gets lost in Conn. Associated Press 07/11/2004 A Delaware college student ate a bag of hallucinogenic mushrooms and drove around in a pair of stolen cars before arriving, confused, on a mountain in northwest Connecticut police said. Paul Cunningham, 21, hiked to a nearby home Thursday night and asked to call 911, police said. "I think I stole a car," Cunningham told a dispatcher. "I'm not sure." Police said Cunningham, of Dover, Del., confessed that eating an entire bag of mushrooms, "probably wasn't a good idea." He allegedly told investigators that he had no idea how many laws he broke during a three-day excursion that took him 300 miles from home. A student at Wilmington College, he told a state trooper that he bought the drugs in Dover on Monday, according to the Republican-American of Waterbury. The next day, he went for a drive and twice got lost in Connecticut. He told police he remembers taking a train to LaGuardia Airport in New York, where he found a car with its keys in it. He's unsure where he went from there. "I once again found myself lost in Connecticut," Cunningham reportedly told police. After locking the keys in the stolen car, Cunningham allegedly stole a van from a Southbury rest stop. In Canaan, he decided to climb Music Mountain to see what was on the other side, police said. Investigators believe the exercise cleared Cunningham's head. "I want to correct my mistakes," Cunningham reportedly told Trooper Andre Roy. "In retrospect, this was a bad idea." He volunteered a written confession, police said. He was arraigned Friday and was held on $2,500 bail. Both stolen vehicles were recovered.

They were on deck to do just that, but Lynn Strait croaked. And the fact he died in a highway pileup makes me shiver every time I hear the end of "Joyride," since it ends with him screaming, screeching breaks and crunching metal and glass.

The fact that it's commonplace doesn't make it any less shocking, or any less wrong.