I think we can all agree that shopping carts have wheels and in most cases are fairly easy to move around.  Their wheeled design lends itself to easy conveyance of goods at any number of commercial establishments.  Typically, these places of business provide locations in their parking lots where customers can return these carts when they have finished loading their purchases into their vehicle.  My question is this - Why is it that some people simply REFUSE to put their cart back in the fucking corral?!  Instead they just leave them sitting there in the middle of the parking lot, usually blocking a parking space that would otherwise be available.  Not only are these abandoned carts an inconvenience for people trying to park, but they present a hazard to the other cars in the parking lot.  We've already established the design paradigm of shopping carts having wheels, so add some wind and you've got plastic and steel torpedoes whizzing around the lot.  Whizzing around, that is until it's stopped by the unfortunate placement of another persons vehicle.
Today when I came out of the grocery store I saw no fewer than eight shopping carts left strewn about the parking lot between the front of the store and my truck.  The kicker is that most of them were within four parking spaces of the corral.  Have people really become so self absorbed that they either don't understand or don't care where their cart should go?  Are people so lazy that walking the width of a few parking spaces in too much of an inconvenience?
Enough ranting, I have to go put my groceries away and touch up the shopping cart ding in the side of my truck.

What little faith I have left in humanity is waning fast.  The yearly consume-a-thon ominously called "Black Friday" has come and gone, this year with at least one directly related fatality.   A 34 year old worker at a Wal-Mart store in Long Island was trampled to death when the group of shoppers gathered outside burst through the doors as the store opened.  One account I read stated that "A metal portion of the door was crumpled like an accordion." 
Folks, I know times are tough and money is tight but a man was killed so you could save some money on a fucking plasma TV or whatever other bullshit widget you absolutely needed to have.  Words fail to express how profoundly grotesque this behaviour is.
I used to think that the blame rested solely on corporate marketing and the news media for convincing the masses to consume beyond their means.  I used to blame television networks for running ads trying to whip consumers into such a frenzy in the days leading up to the sales.  Now I'm not so sure.  Yes, the Media is partially to blame for this situation but I've begun to think that there is a fundamental problem with peoples morality and system of values.  I recognize that everybody loves getting a good deal on something, and paying the least amount of money possible is fiscally responsible behaviour especially given the present economic climate.  The problem is the lengths people are willing to go to in order to get said bargain.  Common sense would dictate that the line be drawn far before killing a person.
Obviously no one intended to kill this man; it was an accident.  The problem now is to get people to learn from this tragedy and think about their actions.  Mob mentality is a dangerous phenomenon capable of making otherwise intelligent people do very stupid things.  People need to recognize this and not go all bat-shit insane every time there's a big sale on at the local Sprawl-Mart.