ChipThaMac

Funny people running in slow motion, plus a pretty cool song.

But this song is just catchy, and there is some pretty sweet dance moves in thar!

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm is the next expansion for World of Warcraft. Dark and forgotten threats that have long stayed out of sight have finally arrived on our shores, unleashing a cataclysmic event upon Azeroth and now preparing more nefarius plans to take it back.

Level Cap

The level cap in the next expansion will be slightly lower than expected this time around; 85.

This suggests Blizzard wants more room for expansions before hitting the level 100 cap. With less leveling to do (along with the revamped leveling listed below likely to increase the speed and ease of leveling), leveling a new race remains appealing for new and existing players alike.

Leveling from 80-85 should be a much bigger deal, the idea is to make sure that gaining a level really means something and doesn’t make you feel like you just have 4 more levels to go.

New Classes

Cataclysm doesn’t introduce any new classes to the game. Instead, Blizzard have offered more race and classes combinations to players. The Some of these have alreadly been datamined from the 3.2.2 Test Realms. The An Injured Colleague quest and it’s new Night Elf counter-part help to introduce the lore for these new race and class combinations, so we can probably expect to see more of these for some of the less traditional ones.

* Human Hunter

* Orc Mage

* Night Elf Mage

* Dwarf Mage

* Blood Elf Warrior

* Dwarf Shaman

* Undead Hunter

* Tauren Paladin

* Tauren Priest

* Gnome Priest

* Troll Druid

New Races

The events of the cataclysm has caused two new races to seek new allies. The Goblins for the Horde and the Worgen for the Alliance.

Goblins

Deathwing once again sought the services of the goblins, as slaves. Unable to refuse such an offer, the goblins were enslaved by him. A large group have resisted however. With their previous homes devastated by the cataclysm, they escaping to an island off the coast of The Barrens. As they strive to recover, they come across an Orc captured on an Alliance ship and rescue him. The Orc turns out to be none other than Thrall himself, and in return offers the Goblins a place within the Horde. These events are carried out in a quest line, allowing players to experience first-hand the reasons behind the Goblins’ shift from neutrality.

Worgen

The cataclysm has cracked open the Greymane Wall, finally revealing what has happened to the kingdom of Gilneas and its citizens. With the Worgen curse taken hold, they have found a partial cure, allowing thme to retain their Human minds even when transformed. Venturing forth from Gilneas and seeking help from the Alliance, they have decided to join them, to combat the new threats of Cataclysm.

Gilneas will make extensive use of the phasing system (much like the Death Knight starting area), to show what happened while the kingdom was cut off from the rest of the world and lead up to present day.

Worgens will have two forms, a Worgen form and a Human form. Players will be able to customise the look of both forms.

New Content

Cataclysm will be the first expansion not to introduce a new continent, instead making use of previously unreleased zones and revamping existing ones.

Classic Azeroth Revamp

A cataclysmic event caused by Deathwing and Azshara will change the face of Azeroth as we know it. Most of the new content for Cataclysm will take the form of a revamped Azeroth, taking advantage of newer additions to WoW such as phasing and daily quests. Most of the quests and mobs in the classic zones will also be redesigned to make leveling less painful. With the revamp, a greater narritive and sense progression will be offered to players. Some zones and dungeons will change drastically to fit this, e.g.,

* The Barrens will be split into two separate zones of two different level bands.

* Azshara will become a low level (~10-20) zone.

* Some of the zones like the Thousand Needles will be flooded.

* Durotar is wrecked and apparently Orgrimmar could be destroyed. A new Orc city is rebuilt over the course of the expansion.

* Gnomeregan will be part of the expansion as well and gnomes might be able to reclaim their capital. (The last part is still unconfirmed)

* Wailing Caverns will be become a lush tropical area as a result of the druid’s magic.

* The Blackrock Spire will erupt and a new version of Blackrock Mountains will be available, apparently Ragnaros will be back too.

In the aftermath of the cataclysm, and the new conflicts on the horizon relief efforts can be found in many zones and new open PvP areas similar to Lake Wintergrasp.

Flying in Azeroth

Part of the redesign of the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor is the introduction of flying to the two continents, allowing access to many new areas and quicker travelling across the large continents.

Classic Dungeon Revamp

Redesigning Onyxia’s Lair in Patch 3.2.2 was just the first step. As most of the leveling will take place in revamped areas of Azeroth, so too will the dungeons, allowing players to use them to level from 80 to 85.

Unreleased Zones & Dungeons

With the addition of flying mounts to Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms and the redesign of many zones, most of the previously unreachable or incomplete zones will now be made available to players. This is where most of the new content from 80 to 85 will take place. Some of these are,

* Hyjal (present)

* Gilneas – The Worgen starting Zone.

* Uldum

It is unclear if the old Goblin locations such as Kezan and Undermine will be included in Cataclyms with the revelation of the goblins’ plight, but several new islands have also been risen from the seas by the events of Cataclysm, some on the backs of giant sea turtles and whales, with the addition of several underwater zones.

Characters and Events

Deathwing

Deathwing the Destroyer / Neltharion the Earth-Warder will play a major role in Cataclysm. Having been driven mad by Old God whisperings and turning against his own kind only to be fail in his attempts, Deathwing has sunk into the shadows. While the Horde and the Alliance were busy fighting back the Burning Legion only to then be beset with the Scourge, he has been lurking and moving things into place. After Lady Sinestra’s failed attempts to create a Twilight Dragonflight, he again retreated to Grim Batol and succeeded where she failed. With his results seen in the Obsidian Sanctum, he has finally created the supreme Dragonflight he sought and plans to unleash it upon the world. But what of the Old Gods’ sway over him?

Azshara

Queen Azshara will also play a major part in Cataclysm. Unknown to many mortal races, long forgotten by others, and believe to be dead by her own kind, she has not been dormant in depths of the Maelstrom. Having those around her transformed by the Old Gods into Naga after her failure in the War of the Ancients, she has become far more powerful and a greater threat than she once was. Not content with just Nazjatar and the depths of the sea, Azshara seeks to reclaim power and reign once again. With the true plan behind Lady Vashj’s support of Illidan remaining a mystery we do not know what hand Azshara has yet played. The big question remains, is she now serving her “saviors”, the Old Gods?

The Cataclysm

I’m still not sure who is the true end boss of Cataclysm is, but the cataclysm appears to have been caused by attempts to incantation to summon extremely powerful beings using an ancient incantation by Deathwing and Azshara. They’re both very powerful, but the cataclysm itself suggests something more powerful is behind it, perhaps their shared past of Old God influence?

The Guardian of Tirisfal

Malfurion Stormrage will be returning to Azeroth to aid in the creation of the new Guardian of Tirisfal – Thrall! Med’an’s role in these events is currently unknown.

The New (New) Horde

Thrall will hand over the leadership of the Horde to Garrosh Hellscream, while he serves as a coordinator for both the Horde and Alliance forces in and effort to combat the new threat of the Naga and Black Dragonflight. Without Thrall to keep Garrosh in check, he declares open war on the Alliance. In the political upheaval Cairne Bloodhoof is implicated as a traitor to the Horde and murdered by Garrosh. Cairne’s son Baine takes over as the new Tauren chieftan. This could explain why Baine was removed from the game in Patch 3.2.2, you can find more information about this in Ahmo Thunderhorn – replacement for Baine Bloodhoof?

WoW, what a bitter little man.  I especially like the part where he says he isn’t violent.

Malika, who was initially arrested for auto theft, kicked her shoe at the deputy in a manner that does not appear to be very threatening before the deputy rushes in and kicks the teenage girl, slamming her to the floor and striking her and pulling her hair.

Deputy Schene has pleaded not guilty to assault charges. According to Chen, the deputies claim the girl was “real lippy” and called them “fat pigs.” Malika says the deputies had attitude and were being rude to her, which is why she kicked off her shoe at the deputy, which does not appear to actually hit him. The deputy told her this was assaulting a police officer, and then charged in and began beating her.

Here is the shocking video, transcript from interview with Julie Chen below.

Deputies say the girl was, quote, “real lippy,” and that she had called them, quote, “fat pigs.” Paramedics were called after Calhoun had complained that she had difficulty breathing, but she did not require hospitalization. Calhoun and another 15-year-old girl were arrested after they were found in the other girl’s mother’s car, which had been reported stolen.

[Transcript]

CHEN: Joining us now for an exclusive interview, Malika Calhoun and her father, Curtiss. Good morning to you both.

MALIKA CALHOUN, POLICE BEATING VICTIM: Good morning.

CHEN: Malika, let me begin with you. What do you remember about the beating?

M. CALHOUN: I remember the way he just came in after I kicked my shoe off, and we were arguing back and forth all night since the arrest happened. And just…

CHEN: What were you arguing about back and forth all night?

M. CALHOUN: Just the way he was talking to me, and we were just, I don’t know, he just had an attitude…

CHEN: Which was how?

M. CALHOUN: … with everything.

CHEN: How was he talking to you when he arrested you?

M. CALHOUN: He was being — just talking about us in rude ways, making rude comments about things, like, oh, you guys steal cars, and it wasn’t

– technically, we didn’t steal the car. We were just borrowing my friend’s mom’s car without permission. We used it without permission.

CHEN: And then what was the exchange going on between you and the officer in the cell during the beating?

M. CALHOUN: He first, when he first came in, where I kicked the shoe off at him, and I was about to take my other one off, he said, you know, it’s assaulting an officer. And that’s when he charged in and started beating me. And I was yelling. I was like, this isn’t — I’m not resisting. I’m not resisting. And he said, whether you’re resisting or not, that was assault.

Then he just kept doing it and kept going and going.

CHEN: Why did you kick the shoe off at him?

M. CALHOUN: Because my arms were folded, and I was upset with the way he was talking to me. And I was talking back to him. And I just took it off. And I was ready to take off my other shoe, and then that’s what happened.

CHEN: Did the shoe hit him?

M. CALHOUN: No, it didn’t hit him at all. I was standing in the inside of the door, and he was standing holding the door open. Didn’t hit him, and he was saying that it made blood pockets and stuff, and it didn’t even hit him at all.

CHEN: Tell me about the beating. How hard was it?

M. CALHOUN: It was horrible, like my head hit the wall when he first came in and kicked me. And then my head hit the wall in the back. And then he kept — threw me to the ground, was pulling my hair constantly.

And it was just horrible.

CHEN: Were you screaming for him to stop?

M. CALHOUN: Yes. I said, I’m not resisting. I’m not resisting.

CHEN: And what did he say?

M. CALHOUN: He didn’t say anything back until after, when I was like, I didn’t resist. And he said, well, it was still assaulting an officer.

CHEN: Curtiss, let me turn to you. This video’s so difficult to watch. What did you think the first time you saw it?

CURTISS CALHOUN, FATHER OF POLICE BEATING VICTIM: I didn’t see it the first time until Friday evening, when I got home from work, and it was very disturbing. I didn’t know it was this severe of an assault.

CHEN: What do you want to see happen to this officer? He’s currently on administrative leave. If he’s found guilty, he could spend one year behind bars. What do each of you want to see happen to this officer?

Curtiss?

C. CALHOUN: As far as what happens to him, I wouldn’t like to see him work as a police officer anymore. I don’t think that’s the job for him, based on the way he reacted. Dealing with people, I don’t think he can respond that way and still be an officer.

CHEN: Malika, in the last five seconds, what do you want to see happen to him?

M. CALHOUN: I just want to — I don’t know — justice. I don’t want this to happen to anyone else.

CHEN: Malika and Curtiss Calhoun, thank you.

M. CALHOUN: Thank you

 [End Transcript]

The cop pleads not guilty? Really?  People, and especially cops need to be accountable for thier actions.  How can he possibly think he is not guilty?
The Deputy’s name is Paul Schene, and the incident occured in the Seattle-Tacoma City Hall holding cell. Malika the girl, is a young 15 years old.
I am fed up with seeing reports/videos/testimonies of police abuse.  It’s our fault as the public, because until we make a united stand, this crap will continue.  The minimum punishment this officer should get is 2 years in prison.  Why so severe?  I would say because he is an officer of the law, and put in a position of power.  Every officer should know that if they take part in abuses of power such as this, then there will be a hefty price to pay.

At least the pictures and text will be.  No luck on the flash until apple decides to allow flash plugin.
peace and nachos,
-chipthamac

WTF is wrong with people?  This video is disturbing on so many levels.  It seems they clearly know it’s wrong, as from this video they are hiding thier faces.  Are parents not giving children enough consequenses for thier actions these days?  How could someone enjoy hurting another living creature.  It’s just sad on so many levels.  This video shows very graphic animal abuse. 
Here is some additional info and links related to the video, seems they are from Texas.  Other people seemed outraged as well.

It should update my twitter! Also looking for media embedding plug-ins. rawr.