Mike “Mad Dog” Bell was found dead in a rehabilitation center in Costa Mesa. Perhaps best known for his professionally wrestling performances with the WWE (formerly WWF), he is more dubiously known as one of the subjects of the “Bigger, Stronger, Faster” documentary exposing substance abuse. In Mike’s case, it was painkillers (for obvious reasons) and alcohol.
While a substance-related death is suspected, an autopsy was performed, but an exact cause of death has not yet been determined.
Mike Mad Dog Bell took some serious punishment during his WWE performances, He was never a star, but his job was to make the stars look good. Check out this video to see how brutal his work could be.
This is one of Mike “Mad Dog” Bell’s more memorable matches. This is Professional Wrestling, but this match got out of hand and got pretty brutal. Check out 2:30 to 3:00.
Mike’s brother, Chris Bell, said that Mike was battling with substance abuse and voluntarily checked himself into the rehab facility where he was found dead on Sunday. He was reportedly 60 days clean when his body was found.
It’s another tragedy for professional wrestling. While these are more performances than an actual competition, the lifestyle, training, and wear and tear on a body add up over time.
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Bully: Scholarship Edition is ready to roll! After being available for the PS2 for two years now, and Bully: Scholarship Edition being released on the Xbox 360 and Wii in March of 2008. All of Rockstar’s games are controversial in nature, but wildly entertaining and almost universally well-received by gamers. Rockstar’s Bully: Scholarship Edition will likely be the same.
Featuring exclusive content that never made it on the PS2 version 2 years ago, the PC release of Bully: Scholarship Edition includes new unlockable items, eight new missions, more characters, and four new school subjects (Music, Biology, Geography, and Math). Another edition to Bully: Scholarship Edition is the single system 2-player minigames that were added, which promises to make this an entertaining game for all types of gamers.
Check out Rockstar’s official Bully: Scholarship Edition site here:
Bully: Scholarship Edition Problems on Wii and Xbox 360
Both the Wii and Xbox 360 versions of the game generally received positive reviews with IGN giving the Wii version an 8/10, while the Xbox 360 version received 8.7/10.
The Xbox 360 version of Bully: Scholarship Edition was found to be unstable on some players’ consoles, resulting in glitches, crashes, and performance issues. The problems included audio issues, animation issues, and inability to complete Music classes due to differences between the Wii and Xbox 360 controllers. The most prevalent and common problem with the game is the unexplained freezing of the console, but not music being played on a connected mp3 player or hard drive.
Bully: Scholarship Edition History
Bully is a third person action-adventure video game released by Rockstar Vancouver for the PlayStation 2 on October 17, 2006 in the United States, and October 25, 2006 in the United Kingdom. The game was re-released as Bully: Scholarship Edition on March 4, 2008 for the Wii and Xbox 360 and October 24, 2008 on PC. The Scholarship Edition was later ported to Microsoft Windows and released on October 24, 2008. The PlayStation 2 version of the game is also available in the United States as a special edition that includes a limited edition comic book and a dodgeball of the same style as the ones used in the game, with the word “Bully” embossed on it.
Bully is a sandbox game set in a school environment. The player takes control of teenage rebel, Jimmy Hopkins, who from the opening scene is revealed to be a difficult student with a criminal background. The game concerns the events that follow Jimmy being dropped off at Bullworth Academy, a fictional New England boarding school. The player is free to explore the school campus in the beginning and later on in the game the town, or to complete the main missions. The game makes extensive use of minigames. Some are used to earn money, others to improve Jimmy’s abilities or get new items.
School classes themselves are done in the form of minigames, broken into five levels of increasing difficulty. English, for example, is a word scramble minigame, and as Jimmy completes the level, he learns to apologize to bullies, deliver better taunts, apologize to prefects and finally to apologize to the police.
Jimmy Hopkins has a multitude of weapons available, although they tend to run along the lines of things a school boy might actually attain, such as a slingshot, bags of marbles, itching powder, fire crackers, stink bombs, and later in the game, a bottle rocket launcher and a potato cannon/spud cannon. He also has an assortment of vehicles to operate — mainly a skateboard, but also a scooter, a gokart(for racing), a lawn mower (for money), and bicycles.
Bully has caused controversy among parents and educators. Criticisms are due to the adult nature of previous Rockstar games, in particular, the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Hot Coffee minigame controversy and certain aspects of the game, for example, its title. Most of these criticisms were voiced before the content of the game was available to the public. In 2006, the United States-based Entertainment Software Rating Board officially gave Bully a rating of “T” (suitable for ages 13 and up), the BBFC gave Canis Canem Edit a 15 rating and the New Zealand OFLC restricted it to persons 13 years of age and over.
Golden orb weavers, known for spinning beautiful and strong golden webs, are well-known to each large insects and the occasional small bird, but pictures that surfaced recently of a golden orb weaver eating a finch in an Australian garden have taken locals by surprise.
The photo shows the golden orb weaver with its long legs wrapped around the finch (a Chestnut-breasted Mannikin). Experts have said that it’s likely that the golden orb weaver is using its venom to break down the bird for easier eating.
It’s speculated that the bird flew into the orb weaver’s strong web and became entangled. Because of the size difference, experts believe that the bird struggled for quite some time, and when it became weak, the golden orb weaver moved on the offensive.
About the Golden Orb Weaver
The golden silk orb-weavers (genus Nephila) are a genus of spiders noted for the impressive webs they weave. Nephila consists of numerous individual species found around the world. They are also commonly called golden orb-weavers, giant wood spiders or banana spiders. In North America, the golden silk orb-weavers (see also Nephila clavipes) are sometimes referred to as writing spiders due to occasional zigzag patterns (stabilimenta) built into their webs, though these occur much more frequently in the webs of Argiope, such as the St Andrew’s Cross spider.
Golden Orb Weaver
The name of the golden silk orb-weavers refers to the color of the spider silk, not the color of the spider itself. Yellow threads of their web shine like gold in sunlight. Xanthurenic acid, two quinones and an unknown fourth compound contribute to the yellow color. Experimental evidence suggests that the silk’s color may serve a dual purpose: sunlit webs ensnare bees that are attracted to the bright yellow strands, whereas in shady spots the yellow blends in with background foliage to act as a camouflage. The spider is able to adjust pigment intensity relative to background light levels and color; the range of spectral reflectance is specifically adapted to insect vision.
Update: I find it immensely amusing that “golden orb weaver” references and photos are popping up all over the web as another example of a dangerous Australian species, when in fact, these spiders are actually quite common in many areas of the world, including the eastern United States. I’ve actually gone trail riding in early mornings and finished the ride with three or 4 “stowaways.”
Microsoft has three basic versions of the Xbox 360 console: the Xbox 360 Arcade, the standard Xbox 360 and the Xbox 360 Elite system. The base system is the same for each with added benefits to enhance gameplay and media enjoyment for each different console bundle.
The Arcade version has limited storage for arcade games. It would not be gamers first choice for a video game console. The standard Xbox 360 has a 20 Gb hard drive, which is sufficient storage for games and a few songs and a video or two. The Elite has 120 Gb of storage and comes included with a HDMI digital audio-video cable. This is for those users who expect downloading and storing many video, photos, game data or music. The HDMI cable is convenient for those that need that type of connection for their home theater system. The Elite is the only system that is all black as well.
All the systems have Silver Xbox live memberships and a wireless controller included. Game compatibility is the same for the regular and Elite consoles. They are compatible with all Xbox 360 games plus over 300 original Xbox games. The Arcade version is compatible with all Xbox 360 games.
Obviously the prices for the consoles are different. The arcade machine can be had for around $280. The standard sells for around $350. The Elite goes for $450.
The Xbox console is not that large when compared with the Nintendo Wii and Playstation 3. It is sleekly designed and has interchangeable faceplates that allow it to be fitted into a home cinema rack. The wireless controller is really cool and wonderfully convenient. The Xbox console supports four wireless controller devices.
The Xbox 360 has amazing graphics. All the games are optimized for high definition output. In addition, it has USB 2.0 ports for attaching accessories. Accessories include a steering wheel for driving games and a chat messenger that allows you to send instant messages to your friends while you are playing. These accessories are not included with the console bundle and must be purchased separately. The Xbox 360 console is HD ready for games and has Dolby Digital sound to give players a complete surround sound gaming experience.
The console will play on any television, high definition or not. You just need to have the video and audio inputs for the TV or home theater system. The Xbox 360 console plays audio CDs, as well as DVDs, stores photograph and will play mp3’s. The Xbox 360 truly represents a big leap forward in next generation gaming technology.
Guitar Hero 3 is one of the world’s most popular games, but mastering it will take a bit of time. The typical guitar hero strum involves one push of the strum button while holding down the fret buttons associated with the notes. While this strategy works well for songs on the lower level difficulties, as you begin to push yourself to the next level, you’ll want to begin incorporating pull offs.
A pull off is one of the most difficult techniques to master in Guitar Hero 3. It requires precision timing and quick reflexes. Only certain song sections have pull off sections in them. The sections will be denoted by notes that have a white border, as opposed to the typical black one.
If you have 3 notes, let’s say green, red, and yellow, in order one right after another you could complete these notes using the pull off technique. When the first note hits, you’ll want to have all 3 fret buttons pressed down. This is the start of the pull off, and the only time during the technique that you will press the strum button.
As the notes ascend the scale you simply “pull off” the already completed fret notes as they pass across your screen. This type of action allows you to play songs and note combinations that would otherwise be too difficult to strum manually. If you want to start playing the most difficult songs on the hardest levels in the game then pull off is a technique you will need to add to your tool belt and master.
The most difficult aspect of nailing your pull offs is getting the timing down pat. On the more difficult songs, the note combinations are quite literally flying by you on the screen. You’ll have to slowly memorize the location of the pull off note combinations to really make this technique effective. But with a little bit of practice and persistence there’s no question you can start nailing those pull off’s and shredding the scales.
Another technique you may consider is the hammer on.
A hammer on is basically a pull off in reverse. Instead of pressing all of the buttons initially, you simply hold down each fret button as the new note comes onto your screen. Much like the pull off, this allows you to play increasingly faster and more difficult note combinations.
While it may take you some time to get accustomed to these new techniques, once you have them mastered and burned into your muscle memory, you too can be a guitar hero!
