It sucks that you got everythnig stolen, but eventually the sob stories have to be pointed back at the neglegence of the owner as well.

Why didn't you put it in your trunk? Unless you are Superman nobody knows what's in your trunk be it Magic cards or dead hookers. Not to mention people aren't usually going to go through the trouble of busting into a trunk just to see what you have, were as breaking a window takes about 2 seconds and you know what your getting.

A mutual friend of thror and myself had his binder stolen at our local community college. Couldn't find it, couldn't find any proof of who took it, no one would speak up. It's fairly common for that group to just carelessly pass around binders so it's likely someone just took his and shoved it into their backpack while he got food at the cafeteria. As if I wasn't paranoid enough...

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Originally posted by MagicPatty:
heh ^ Dane has no heart.

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Shrug. Just every time something like this happens there are two types of people, one that just says "sorry about your collection, hope you get it back" and the other that just says "sorry about your collection, hope you get it back, but you were a complete idiot." (Some people actually offer ideas on how to catch the people that stole the cards, so I guess maybe three types.) Anyway, I'm not totally sure why people do the latter, it's not like people don't know that, but it's already too late to call them idiots and doesn't help at all. Theoretically it could help other people, but it's honestly unnecessary. Most people can think objectively about it and be like "oh crap, I'll have to remember to keep my stuff in the trunk" but whether they'll actually do that when they think they're only going to be gone for a minute or two, when they're actually out there, is different.

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Wow, I feel bad for all you guys that live in a place where theft is so common that you don't feel your things are safe in your own car.

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Originally posted by stu55:
I feel like some one has to say this:

First off, yes it sucks to have stuff stolen, I had a $6k binder stolen from me at a PTQ in like 2006. It taught me to be careful and not bring more things than I need.

However, I feel like only half the blame can be given to the thief and the other half has to go to the victim (me in the past and you now).

I left my bag out where some one to get to it, just like you left your bags out to be seen in your car. Although, in my case thievery was not as rampant as it is now. You even had the knowledge that just 1 week or so earlier in Baltimore something redic. like that cube being stolen happen.

That being said, I think that the magic community needs to be more proactive in preventing the opportunity for theft more so than finding the thieves after they have struck.

I want people to realize that blame needs to fall on both parties, but I wish you luck in finding your stuff.

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My worst loss was my white-weenie casual deck 1999. I was playing and someone wanted to see my trade binder. I handed the binder to him and focus my attention there. When I checked back, my deck was missing. It had 1 Mox Pearl and 4 Cursed Scroll. The whole deck was worth 2.5 months of my allowance then so I felt real sad then.

As a result, I rarely carry lots of cards with me. The binder I carried around had 0 dual and I only put stuff where I had a lot of extra stock in it. Looking at the recent incidents, I felt I was lucky. My loss in 1999 made me more careful.

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Originally posted by MTDetermine:
Btw, every time I do something "a bit bad", karma will strike me more or less immediately. So I never steal or cheat as I know the person up there will nail me straight away.

But I am curious. How do the people who do all these stealing fare? Do they become richer or will they also get karma where someone else along the way will steal/cheat from them?

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However I do share sentiments with Daner. Always leave stuff in your trunk never on the seats or carry it with you. People often contribute to their own victimization.

I no longer play vintage because I never had fun at vintage tournaments. I spent the entire day wondering if my deck is going to get stolen instead of contemplating the awesomeness of playing cards. At one point in time I had 9 of 10 (everything but Timetiwster) power with a beta Timewalk and an alpha mox along with a lot of other Alpha/Beta staptles (Tutor, Fastbond, StP, etc). So I would conservatively evaluate my deck at about $7000 at its peak.

In general people are nice as long as you are watching but I found that a significant number of people, at larger tournaments, would not let you know if you left something of value on the table after a trade. They would just scoop it up and say "You snooze you lose."

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Originally posted by simbayu:
Look at huge corporations, pharmaceuticals, banks, etc and you have your answer.

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First, I wouldn't consider any of these to be people. So how could karma play a role on them? Second, look at what is happening to many of our countries corporations ((going bankrupt)), pharmaceuticals ((being recalled for adverse side-affects)), and banks ((again going bankrupt)) and they still are affected by Karma. You do have to realize that although many of these things are evil, many also still do a lot of good as well. I'm sure none of us are perfect enough to be immune to Karma's grasp. Just because you don't believe in it, doesn't mean that it's still not there, =).

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Originally posted by Timmy!:
First, I wouldn't consider any of these to be people. So how could karma play a role on them? Second, look at what is happening to many of our countries corporations ((going bankrupt)), pharmaceuticals ((being recalled for adverse side-affects)), and banks ((again going bankrupt)) and they still are affected by Karma. You do have to realize that although many of these things are evil, many also still do a lot of good as well. I'm sure none of us are perfect enough to be immune to Karma's grasp. Just because you don't believe in it, doesn't mean that it's still not there, =).

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Originally posted by HandicapParking:
If karma was real the people who ran these companies would be homeless, dead, and/or diseased. They wouldn't be able to transfer the pain to us ants via layoffs and bailouts.

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Originally posted by MTDetermine:
But I am curious. How do the people who do all these stealing fare? Do they become richer or will they also get karma where someone else along the way will steal/cheat from them?

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Believing in an external, supernatural force is disillusionment, but figure a lot of the people with poor morals to society's standards probably associate with a lot other people with poor morals. Know what i mean?
In my old area there was always some piece of crap getting ripped off by some piece of crap they previously trusted. I'm sure it is everywhere.

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Originally posted by Sovarius:
figure a lot of the people with poor morals to society's standards probably associate with a lot other people with poor morals. Know what i mean?
In my old area there was always some piece of crap getting ripped off by some piece of crap they previously trusted.

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Btw, every time I do something "a bit bad", karma will strike me more or less immediately. So I never steal or cheat as I know the person up there will nail me straight away.

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Originally posted by rats60:
It goes both ways. Maybe if those ants didn't steal from their company, worked hard, didn't have their friend punch them in while they were at the bar, didn't sleep on the job, ect they'd still have their jobs. People who are assets to their company generally don't get laid off.

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Not that it matters, but that is the biggest falseness stated on MOTL is quite some time. Especially when the boss of the person laid off has to came out and say "it had nothing to do with performance, just the direction the company is moving". It happens all the time and anyone who thinks otherwise is foolish.

__________________
MOTL's Most Likely to Play in the Pro Tour - 2007, 2008, and 2009
(My 2008 Nationals)

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Originally posted by Nitelite:
So the only thing keeping you in check is the "person up there"? That isn't reassuring.

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Well, you can always avoid trading with me if you feel it is not reassuring =)

I think Sovarius help to answer part of my question, that people who do bad stuff usually are in the company of other bad people who may rip them off sooner or later.

Back to the topic, it is a bad idea to leave anything valuable clearly visible from a car window. In Singapore, there are many cases of car window being smashed because the thieves want to steal the "Cash Card" (usually stored value of US$40-80) that is visible from the front windscreen. Car owners were jumping that they had to spend so much money to replace the windscreen due to a US$40 "Cash Card". It got quite bad and the newspapers had to remind people to put the "Cash Card" inside the car's drawer instead of lying in plain sight at the front windscreen.

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Originally posted by MAB_Rapper:
Not that it matters, but that is the biggest falseness stated on MOTL is quite some time. Especially when the boss of the person laid off has to came out and say "it had nothing to do with performance, just the direction the company is moving". It happens all the time and anyone who thinks otherwise is foolish.

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LOL. That was just the boss trying to be nice. Anyone who thinks otherwise is an idiot.

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Originally posted by Broilier:

We had moved off campus. I moved in with my roommate and 2 of his friends. He just vanished near the end of the semester, about a month before the lease was up. It wasn't just the magic cards, we had to cover his rent and bills. The 2 remaining people had no idea what had happened, or why he had left. I had no contact information for him. I knew his name and he was from elmhurst, NY(I think). We had mutual friends, but they never heard from him or saw him again. I don't know if he took them, or one of my other roommates used his absence to shift the blame to him. Unless I become alot more successful, I will never get those cards back. At least at the time (It was actually '97) they weren't worth what they are now. Because of the theft, I stayed completely away from magic until about 5 years ago when I found some cards that weren't with me at my apartment. All of the value was gone, but magic came back for me. It sucked, and I feel bad for all the people with similar stories.

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Originally posted by rats60:
LOL. That was just the boss trying to be nice. Anyone who thinks otherwise is an idiot.

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Do you work in corporate America? If not, stop being the idiot you made yourself to be with that statement. I do work in this world and yes, people's jobs get eliminated for no reason ALL THE TIME!

I have watched countless bosses and friends jobs been pretty much sacrificed when they have done nothing wrong.
I have to be constantly told to stop having too much pride in my own work because it doesn't matter how good I am at my job or not.
To the same extent, I have to be told all the time to not let this job stress me out, to stop being my own worst critic on my work, and to not complain because my job does keep my occupied every minute I am in this office.

So now, who's the idiot? It sure as hell ain't me, except for maybe going about my job the wrong way. Though it sure as hell looks right to me.

EDIT: Because you obviously won't get what I just said, here is the definition of layoff.

The temporary or permanent removal of a worker from his or her job, usually because of cutbacks in production or corporate reorganization.

__________________
MOTL's Most Likely to Play in the Pro Tour - 2007, 2008, and 2009
(My 2008 Nationals)

Long list of items stolen....sold them to the local game shop...lol...