Hijacking
There was a pretty scary plane crash in Russia. It appears to similar planes both disappeared from radar at the same time, from the same airport. One of the pilots gave a signal (via a hidden button) to alert of a hijacking in progress. There is no proof it was a full hijacking situation yet. (it is still early Wednesday morning here in the States) but it is very suspicious..They say the planes may have both gotten a part of a bad batch of fuel. The thing is, they should have both had plenty of time to radio back to the tower if that were the case. I understand the communications systems on commercial planes have redundancies and power backups.

Friend of a Friend's Car
<her email>
[My boyfriend]'s car was broken into at my place last night. At 12:45am my phone rings, I figure it's a wrong number but want the ringing to stop so I answer it and it's an authoritative voice from the Department of Homeland Security and Office of Emergency Management asking for him!!! That'll wake you up!! Not only getting a call from them, but how did they track him down there?? Since it's an official vehicle, it was removed to the county fleet processing center. I just talked to him and luckily the only things taken were an old cell phone and the charger for the new one. Weird it was the only one broken into (Chevy Tahoe) -- it was parked between a new Cadillac Escalade and a Range Rover, right across from a brand-new, paper license plate BMW and my mustang convertible (top up).
</her email>
We went on to talk about cars and why they picked his car.
<my response>
That sounds like a smash and grab theft. I bet it was some one walking between cars who saw the mobile and charger laying on the console or seat. The car was not the target, just what was in plane sight. I had a friend who had her car's window broken for a science book in the college parking lot. They left a laptop sitting right next to it.
</my response>
<her again>
The cars on both sides of it and mine had chargers visible. And charges are cheap. The old phone wasn't visible. It was in the console along with a spare key to the car that was just made, his wallet (credit cards and cash were untouched), and a POLICE RADIO. I think they saw the police radio and bailed.
</her again>
She is probably right. I don't pretend to understand why people do the things they do.

Dungeons and Dragons
This evening I'm headed over to a friend's house for DnD. This will be the first time I've played in like a year or something. I've been going nuts. Tonight is a canned adventure he picked up at GenCon last week. Something about a bar fight. I can't wait.

Good and Evil (continued)
In Dungeons and Dragons you pick an alignment for your character. This is a combination of your willingness to follow orders and your tendency toward good or evil.
Lawful vs Chaotic
A Lawful character is one who wants to fit in order of things. I like to think of the good soldier as one who follows orders except when the orders are wrong. An example of a lawful character in a movie would be Darth Vader. He is torn between good and evil. He commanded the soldiers and submitted to the emperor. He always had the "plan" in mind.
A chaotic character is one who stands alone. Some one who might be called a "lone wolf" would be chaotic. An example of a chaotic character in a movie would be Capitan Kirk. He never followed orders. He constantly broke the rules. He had sex with a green chick. He seemed to believe rules were for other people.
Good vs Evil
Where do I begin? If you help people you are good. If you hurt people you are evil. It is a combination of your intentions and the results of your actions that measure this. I was raised a Lutheran. They believe that we are judged on faith alone, not actions. I can't hang with that any more. I believe that the ultimate judgment is determined on a case by case basis.
What am I (as a human)?
I prefer a list of simple rules to live by. I prefer working for a large, organized company. I hate it when people bend the rules. I hate it when people are lazy (even though I'm lazy) and screw up the work process. I write work processes. I am lawful.
I don't really believe there is a such thing as good or evil. I believe they are things that happen and choices people make on the fly. I believe that people who do bad things had different motivations than I and could have made a choice to be good. I believe that good people will turn bad when they are tested, or their family is in danger. I believe that I am neutral with good tendencies.
I'm Lawful Neutral in my own opinion.
Choices in DnD
People never seem to make the most accurate decision for their character in DnD. A Paladin is a class of character in DnD that is a champion of a religious order. They can be good or bad, but they must be lawful.  People in our group seem to pick paladins because they kick ass. The trouble is, paladins are supposed to live a very specific and ordered (humble) life. I believe a person (player) who could play a paladin correctly would not pick a paladin as a character because they don't feel they would live up to the responsibility. The player who just wants the bonuses of a paladin doesn't care if they will play the character properly. There for, no one will ever play a paladin properly in our group.
I almost always play chaotic characters. I almost always plan non-human characters. I almost always play fighting characters who are physically strong and "manly". All of which are things I am not in reality.