Day: November 23, 2005

Remember this? (don’t miss the riot at 2:25 seconds in)

Well now, it’s this. People are punching each other out over Xbox 360 which was released today. 

From the AP via CNN – Melee Cancels Local Xbox Sale

A melee erupted among a crowd of shoppers in the rush for the new Xbox 360 video game console at a Wal-Mart Supercenter in northeast Maryland.

It took 10 police officers to restore order.

A crowd of about 300 people waited as much as 12 hours for the game, considered a must-have item this holiday season, to go on sale at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday. But an announcement from a store manager that the Xboxes would be sold on a first-come, first-served basis, instead of using a number system devised by customers, triggered the mayhem.

“That’s when all hell broke loose,” said Ben DiSabatino IV, a 23-year-old Bear, Delaware, resident, who had been waiting in line since 4 p.m.

Some customers were knocked down and trampled, though there were no serious injuries, said Elkton Police Lt. Lawrence Waldridge.

Wal-Mart canceled the sale and police ordered everyone to leave.

Mentors, all of them. Teaching the young about what’s important in life. Can’t you just hear the kids talking to their friends when they go back to school on Monday?

“Hey man, yeah, my dad, like he was da bomb. Weez rollin into Walmart last week to pickup my Xbox 360 and people started cuttin in line, shovin and swearin. My dad popped a couple of other guys upside the head just to get inside. I was kickin the smaller kids, pushin ’em away. This other kid, his dad was big and mean. He pulled out his personal tech nine you know and started wavin that roscoe in the air threat’nin to cap anyone who got near his 360. Boo-Yaa!”

I weep for the future.

Fan Reports: What a fan will do for an Xbox | My Experience in Line at Walmart |

MORE Xbox 360 Violence: Ski-masked duo rob Florida man of new Xbox | Boy assaulted, robbed of new video game | Man steals Xbox 360s at gunpoint |

Other: X marks the spot for giddy gamers | Xbox 360 sells out quickly |

If you’ve ever had to fly somewhere the day before Thanksgiving, you know that the reports are true. Airports are jammed, flights are delayed, and believe me, people aren’t ‘giving thanks’. If you can manage it, my advice would be to fly two days before the holiday.

Arriving at Philadelphia International Airport yesterday around 1:00 PM, I walked right up to the Continental ticket counter and looked around at the other carriers – there just weren’t that many travellers. I waited in the security line for about 20 minutes, but that was due to the TSA only operating one metal detector. If they had a couple of others running, the wait would have been negligible.

My flight from Philly to Houston was full, and our departure was only about 30 minutes late. Given the difficult weather in the Tri-State area, I was expecting to sit at the gate longer. I landed in Houston around 6:30 or so, and the travel load at Bush International was light. My flight to Seattle had empty seats all over the plane, and I was lucky enough to snag an exit row seat. The extra leg room made the 4 hour flight seem like 2.

The only problem in Seattle was fog. Not the hazy, “I can still see pretty well” kind, but the pea soup kind. It’s incredible how precise airline navigation systems are these days. Descending into Seattle was an eerie experience. The lights of city glowed through the thick blanket of cloud. Looking out the window, I couldn’t have known where we were. The buildings, streets and the busy sea-port were invisible. All I knew is, we were drifting through the air, falling lower and lower with every second that ticked by. It got really wild when we penetrated the foggy mist. The plane was swallowed up, and no one could know how far we were from the ground. Down, down, down…and suddenly, there they were – the runway lights – only about 100 feet below us. The plane landed in a very normal way, just like it does on a clear night with unlimited visibility. No big deal. The first word that came to my mind was, ‘amazing’.

As I exited the plane, I saw the pilot and said, “nice landing”. The guy smiled and replied, “I can’t wait to do it again”.