Gary Gygax,the co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons, died Tuesday. He failed to roll a save vs. abdominal aneurysm at the age of 69. Anyone who has held their breath watching 2d20 bounce across a tabletop knows what a loss we've suffered.
In other bad news, Bill Gates is no longer the world's richest guy. He was bumped by Warren Buffett, and some guy named Carlos Slim Helu. Now, Buffett doesn't surprise me, but who the hell is this Helu guy? The news reports say he's a Mexican telecommunications magnate. It kind of burns me up that Mexico has millions of desperately poor people, many of them come here just to try and feed their families, and this dude is quietly raking in the dough. I guess it's not just a sad week in Geekdom, it's a sad week in the world of human rights. The upside is that Bill Gates has slipped in the wealth rankings because he's giving so much of it away. The Gates Foundation announced this week they were handing out thousands of grants for innovative solutions in health. Having already spent 26 billion on charitable causes, I think it's safe to say Bill and Melinda are racking up major karma points. Probably worth a move from #1 to #3 in available stacks of cash.
