During those bygone halcyon times of console gaming, when a system failed, the oft reaction was to raise one’s hands toward the sky and curse the God’s of every pantheon for having smote your system. There was little in the way of diagnostic options leaving most to wonder vainly what condition had stricken their beloved console, snatching it from this mortal coil. The power would be activated and nothing would occur and there’d be little choice beyond cursing nefarious fortune and her ambiguous design, frequently plunging into a void of existential woe. Nevertheless, with the most recent generation of consoles, there is at least some onboard indication of what evils have befallen your system, most infamously the X-box 360 and the Red Ring of Death.

One can’t help but wonder if this knowledge has been of greater use to mankind, or if the question of console demise is one best left unanswered, for where tragedy once came like a breath of wind and left as little trace, it now bears a face and a name to be loathed by mortals. Four times divided, each of the ring’s quadrants on the face of the X-box 360 displays a vibrant green hue when in good health. Nonetheless, when hardware failure or pestilence or an ancient curse has marked a console with its wicked taint, the four lights will glow a hellish fiery red to indicate the source of its ailment. The configurations of these cursed runes are telling of the specific affliction and are interpreted as follows.

When the ring is solely aflame in its southeastern most quadrant, facing the same direction as the flight from the migratory birds, the X-box 360 is then victim of hardware failure, the exact nature of which is alluded to only by the apocryphal two-digit sequence of symbols that appear upon the connected display. When the ring is cleft in twain from scalp to groin by the red hue, a great fever has taken your console causing its components to overheat.

When cloaked entirely in the Masque of the Red Death, you possibly just forgot to plug the AV cables in, jackass. Or some greater malevolence has seized some vital aspect to your console, for which you may seek the guidance of a soothsayer, an apothecary, or even… Microsoft. But seriously, just check to make sure it’s plugged in. Most feared, however, among we mere puppets on this earthly stage are the red lights that seize the ring in all quadrants save for that between north and east.

Glance but for only a moment to confirm your sickly apprehensions, then avert thine eyes for what stares back is the eye of the devil whose red gaze will indelibly sear the soul. General Hardware Failure, plight of men and Gods alike and bane of all things good and sacred, has corrupted your X-box. Abandon all hope, for even among sorcerer’s alchemy and mystic’s incantations there’s naught that men of earthly constitution can summon.

But one option remains, to relinquish your console to the ethereal high court of Microsoft or perhaps a trusted third party hardware technician whose tangible connection to the divine can provide the steel of nerve, the authority of conviction, the edge of wit, the fortitude of soul required to perform the ritual exorcism that will rid your X-box of its demons. Please allow two to three weeks for repairs.

College flags rank amongst the most collectible of memorabilia, with a wide variety of designs that reflect the distinctive heritage of each individual institution. Officially licensed college flags and pennants guarantee authentic insignia as well as top quality design, and they provide a source of earnings that goes back to support the school. You can purchase flags or pennants to hang by the door of one’s house or display in one’s garden as well as banners that may be streamed over an entrance or across the yard. Two-ply constructions allow designs to be seen properly from either side.

But most types of college flags are usually to be found at intercollegiate games, particularly football games. They are utilized by the fans to cheer on their team, and waving them is a symbol of the school spirit. One well-known activity while waving them is to sing the school’s fight song en masse. In fact, it is hard to conceive of a college flag apart from that college’s fight song. One would seem incomplete without the other.

Thus, you can find hundreds of fight songs, just as there are hundreds of flags. At times both are equally old and hallowed, and sometimes each is of vastly different vintage. The oldest fight song in generally recognized to be Boston College’s “For Boston” of 1885, but it is not certain which is the oldest college flag. Indeed, it is not certain when the tradition of college flags and pennants began, though one may safely imagine that their origins roughly coincided.

Speaking of origins, a lot of flags have changed over the years owing to cultural developments that made it unacceptable to feature mascots based on racial stereotypes or designs incorporating the old Confederate Battle Flag. Many alumni protest, but ultimately new generations of students with no sentimental attachment to old symbols make the revised styles their own.

Heard the good news that unlocked cell phones have received something of a huge nod from the American judiciary lately, thanks to a ruling that will allow the unlocking of someone’s own handset totally legal. Wireless network service providers generally lock the mobile handsets they give their subscribers so that those handsets will only operate using the provider’s network. The upshot of it all is that mobile phones are instantly made unusable whenever customers switch carriers, and so a cottage industry has developed around those individuals who wish to take their mobile handsets with them to a brand-new carrier. And right now the courts just provided this practice its blessings, but with one fatal caveat – while unlocking mobile handsets is allowed, the means mandatory to accomplish it is not!