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Conference 7.286::humor

Title:Humor - Read Note 2.*
Notice:Laughter - The World's Greatest Medicine
Moderator:TIMAMP::SULLIVAN
Created:Fri Oct 20 1989
Last Modified:Tue Jun 03 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:947
Total number of notes:13381

940.0. "How to rule the galaxy" by KERNEL::FISHERC () Mon Apr 21 1997 15:32

If I ever become an Evil Overlord:

1.      My legions of terror will have helmets with clear plexiglass visors, not
face-concealing ones.

2.      My ventilation ducts will be too small to crawl through.

3.      My noble half-brother whose throne I usurped will be killed, not kept
anonymously imprisoned in a forgotten cell of my dungeon.

4.      Shooting is _not_ too good for my enemies.

5.      The artifact which is the source of my power will not be kept on the
Mountain of Despair beyond the River of Fire guarded by the Dragons of Eternity.
It will be in my safe-deposit box.

6.      I will not gloat over my enemies' predicament before killing them.

7.      When the rebel leader challenges me to fight one-on-one and asks, "Or
are you afraid without your armies to back you up?" My reply will be, "No,
just sensible."

8.      When I've captured my adversary and he says, "Look, before you kill
me, will you at least tell me what this is all about?"  I'll shoot him, and
then say "No".

9.      After I kidnap the beautiful princess, we will be married immediately
in a quiet civil ceremony, not a lavish spectacle in three weeks time during
which the final phase of my plan will be carried out.

10.     I will not include a self-destruct mechanism unless absolutely
necessary. If it is necessary, it will not be a large red button labelled
"Danger: Do Not Push".

11.     I will not order my trusted lieutenant to kill the infant who is
destined to overthrow me -- I'll do it myself.

12.     I will not interrogate my enemies in the inner sanctum -- a small hotel
well outside my borders will work just as well.

13.     I will be secure in my superiority. Therefore, I will feel no need to
prove it by leaving clues in the form of riddles or leaving my weaker enemies
alive to show they pose no threat.

14.     I will not waste time making my enemy's death look like an accident:
I'm not accountable to anyone and my other enemies wouldn't believe it.

15.     I will make it clear that I _do_ know the meaning of the word "mercy";
I simply choose not show them any.

16.     One of my advisors will be an average five-year-old child. Any flaws in
my plan that he is able to spot will be corrected before implementation.

17.     All slain enemies will be cremated, not left for dead at the bottom of
the cliff. The announcement of their deaths, as well as any accompanying
celebration, will be deferred until after the aforementioned disposal.

18.     My undercover agents will not have tattoos identifying them as members
of my organisation, nor will they be required to wear military boots or adhere
to any other dress codes.

19.     The hero is not entitled to a last kiss, a last cigarette, or any
other form of last request.

20.     I will never employ any device with a digital countdown. If I find
that such a device is absolutely unavoidable, I will set it to activate when
the counter reaches 117 and the hero is just putting his plan into operation.

21.     I will design all doomsday machines myself. If I must hire a mad
scientist to assist me, I will make sure that he is sufficiently twisted to
never regret his evil ways and seek to undo the damage he's caused.

22.     I will never utter the sentence "But before I kill you, there's just one
thing I want to know."

23.     When I employ people as advisors, I will occasionally listen to their
advice.
T.RTitleUserPersonal
Name
DateLines
940.1Longer version from http://world.std.com/~olorin/peter_overlord.htmlGIDDAY::GILLINGSa crucible of informative mistakesTue Apr 22 1997 03:22523
This Evil Overlord List is Copyright 1996-1997 by Peter Anspach
<anspach@aftermath.math.uoknor.edu>. If you enjoy it, feel free to pass it
along or post it anywhere, provided that (1) it is not altered in any way,
and (2) this copyright notice is attached.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Being an Evil Overlord seems to be a good career choice. It pays well, there
are all sorts of perks and you can set your own hours. However every Evil
Overlord I've read about in books or seen in movies invariably gets
overthrown and destroyed in the end. I've noticed that no matter whether
they are barbarian lords, deranged wizards, mad scientists or alien
invaders, they always seem to make the same basic mistakes every single
time. With that in mind, allow me to present...

                          The Top 100 Things I'd Do
                      If I Ever Became An Evil Overlord

  1. My Legions of Terror will have helmets with clear plexiglass visors,
     not face-concealing ones.

  2. My ventilation ducts will be too small to crawl through.

  3. My noble half-brother whose throne I usurped will be killed, not kept
     anonymously imprisoned in a forgotten cell of my dungeon.

  4. Shooting is not too good for my enemies.

  5. The artifact which is the source of my power will not be kept on the
     Mountain of Despair beyond the River of Fire guarded by the Dragons of
     Eternity. It will be in my safe-deposit box. The same applies to the
     object which is my one weakness.

  6. I will not gloat over my enemies' predicament before killing them.

  7. When I've captured my adversary and he says, ``Look, before you kill
     me, will you at least tell me what this is all about?'' I'll say,
     ``No.'' and shoot him. No, on second thought I'll shoot him then say
     ``No.''

  8. After I kidnap the beautiful princess, we will be married immediately
     in a quiet civil ceremony, not a lavish spectacle in three weeks' time
     during which the final phase of my plan will be carried out.

  9. I will not include a self-destruct mechanism unless absolutely
     necessary. If it is necessary, it will not be a large red button
     labelled ``Danger: Do Not Push''. The big red button marked ``Do Not
     Push'' will instead trigger a spray of bullets on anyone stupid enough
     to disregard it. Similarly, the ON/OFF switch will not clearly be
     labelled as such.

 10. I will not interrogate my enemies in the inner sanctum -- a small hotel
     well outside my borders will work just as well.

 11. I will be secure in my superiority. Therefore, I will feel no need to
     prove it by leaving clues in the form of riddles or leaving my weaker
     enemies alive to show they pose no threat.

 12. One of my advisors will be an average five-year-old child. Any flaws in
     my plan that he is able to spot will be corrected before
     implementation.

 13. All slain enemies will be cremated, or at least have several rounds of
     ammunition emptied into them, not left for dead at the bottom of the
     cliff. The announcement of their deaths, as well as any accompanying
     celebration, will be deferred until after the aforementioned disposal.

 14. The hero is not entitled to a last kiss, a last cigarette, or any other
     form of last request.

 15. I will never employ any device with a digital countdown. If I find that
     such a device is absolutely unavoidable, I will set it to activate when
     the counter reaches 117 and the hero is just putting his plan into
     operation.

 16. I will never utter the sentence ``But before I kill you, there's just
     one thing I want to know.''

 17. When I employ people as advisors, I will occasionally listen to their
     advice.

 18. I will not have a son. Although his laughably under-planned attempt to
     usurp power would easily fail, it would provide a fatal distraction at
     a crucial point in time.

 19. I will not have a daughter. She would be as beautiful as she was evil,
     but one look at the hero's rugged countenance and she'd betray her own
     father.

 20. Despite its proven stress-relieving effect, I will not indulge in
     maniacal laughter. When so occupied, it's too easy to miss unexpected
     developments that a more attentive individual could adjust to
     accordingly.

 21. I will hire a talented fashion designer to create original uniforms for
     my Legions of Terror, as opposed to some cheap knock-offs that make
     them look like Nazi stormtroopers, Roman footsoldiers, or savage Mongol
     hordes. All were eventually defeated and I want my troops to have a
     more positive mind-set.

 22. No matter how tempted I am with the prospect of unlimited power, I will
     not consume any energy field bigger than my head.

 23. I will keep a special cache of low-tech weapons and train my troops in
     their use. That way -- even if the heroes manage to neutralize my power
     generator and/or render the standard-issue energy weapons useless -- my
     troops will not be overrun by a handful of savages armed with spears
     and rocks.

 24. I will maintain a realistic assessment of my strengths and weaknesses.
     Even though this takes some of the fun out of the job, at least I will
     never utter the line ``No, this cannot be! I AM INVINCIBLE!!!'' (After
     that, death is usually instantaneous.)

 25. No matter how well it would perform, I will never construct any sort of
     machinery which is completely indestructible except for one small and
     virtually inaccessible vulnerable spot.

 26. No matter how attractive certain members of the rebellion are, there is
     probably someone just as attractive who is not desperate to kill me.
     Therefore, I will think twice before ordering a prisoner sent to my
     bedchamber.

 27. I will never build only one of anything important. All important
     systems will have reduntant control panels and power supplies. For the
     same reason I will always carry at least two fully loaded weapons at
     all times.

 28. My pet monster will be kept in a secure cage from which it cannot
     escape and into which I could not accidentally stumble.

 29. I will dress in bright and cheery colors, and so throw my enemies into
     confusion.

 30. All bumbling conjurers, clumsy squires, no-talent bards, and cowardly
     thieves in the land will be pre-emptively put to death. My foes will
     surely give up and abandon their quest if they have no source of comic
     relief.

 31. All naive, busty tavern wenches in my realm will be replaced with
     surly, world-weary waitresses who will provide no unexpected
     reinforcement and/or romantic subplot for the hero or his sidekick.

 32. I will not fly into a rage and kill a messenger who brings me bad news
     just to illustrate how evil I really am. Good messengers are hard to
     come by.

 33. I won't require high-ranking female members of my organization to wear
     a stainless-steel bustier. Morale is better with a more casual
     dress-code. Similarly, outfits made entirely from black leather will be
     reserved for formal occasions.

 34. I will not turn into a snake. It never helps.

 35. I will not grow a goatee. In the old days they made you look diabolic.
     Now they just make you look like a disaffected member of Generation X.

 36. I will not imprison members of the same party in the same cell block,
     let alone the same cell. If they are important prisoners, I will keep
     the only key to the cell door on my person instead of handing out
     copies to every bottom-rung guard in the prison.

 37. If my trusted lieutenant tells me my Legions of Terror are losing a
     battle, I will believe him. After all, he's my trusted lieutenant.

 38. If an enemy I have just killed has a younger sibling or offspring
     anywhere, I will find them and have them killed immediately, instead of
     waiting for them to grow up harboring feelings of vengeance towards me
     in my old age.

 39. If I absolutely must ride into battle, I will certainly not ride at the
     forefront of my Legions of Terror, nor will I seek out my opposite
     number among his army.

 40. I will be neither chivalrous nor sporting. If I have an unstoppable
     superweapon, I will use it as early and as often as possible instead of
     keeping it in reserve.

 41. Once my power is secure, I will destroy all those pesky time-travel
     devices.

 42. When I capture the hero, I will make sure I also get his dog, monkey,
     ferret, or whatever sickeningly cute little animal capable of untying
     ropes and filching keys happens to follow him around.

 43. I will maintain a healthy amount of skepticism when I capture the
     beautiful rebel and she claims she is attracted to my power and good
     looks and will gladly betray her companions if I just let her in on my
     plans.

 44. I will only employ bounty hunters who work for money. Those who work
     for the pleasure of the hunt tend to do dumb things like even the odds
     to give the other guy a sporting chance.

 45. I will make sure I have a clear understanding of who is responsible for
     what in my organization. For example, if my general screws up I will
     not draw my weapon, point it at him, say ``And here is the price for
     failure,'' then suddenly turn and kill some random underling.

 46. If an advisor says to me ``My liege, he is but one man. What can one
     man possibly do?'', I will reply ``This.'' and kill the advisor.

 47. If I learn that a callow youth has begun a quest to destroy me, I will
     slay him while he is still a callow youth instead of waiting for him to
     mature.

 48. I will treat any beast which I control through magic or technology with
     respect and kindness. Thus if the control is ever broken, it will not
     immediately come after me for revenge.

 49. If I learn the whereabouts of the one artifact which can destroy me, I
     will not send all my troops out to seize it. Instead I will send them
     out to seize something else and quietly put a Want-Ad in the local
     paper.

 50. My main computers will have their own special operating system that
     will be completely incompatible with standard IBM and Macintosh
     powerbooks.

 51. If one of my dungeon guards begins expressing concern over the
     conditions in the beautiful princess' cell, I will immediately transfer
     him to a less people-oriented position.

 52. I will hire a team of board-certified architects and surveyors to
     examine my castle and inform me of any secret passages and abandoned
     tunnels that I might not know about.

 53. If the beautiful princess that I capture says ``I'll never marry you!
     Never, do you hear me, NEVER!!!'', I will say ``Oh well'' and kill her.

 54. I will not strike a bargain with a demonic being then attempt to
     double-cross it simply because I feel like being contrary.

 55. The deformed mutants and odd-ball psychotics will have their place in
     my Legions of Terror. However before I send them out on important
     covert missions that require tact and subtlety, I will first see if
     there is anyone else equally qualified who would attract less
     attention.

 56. My Legions of Terror will be trained in basic marksmanship. Any who
     cannot learn to hit a man-sized target at 10 meters will be used for
     target practice.

 57. Before employing any captured artifacts or machinery, I will carefully
     read the owner's manual.

 58. If it becomes necessary to escape, I will never stop to pose
     dramatically and toss off a one-liner.

 59. I will never build a sentient computer smarter than I am.

 60. My five-year-old child advisor will also be asked to decipher any code
     I am thinking of using. If he breaks the code in under 30 seconds, it
     will not be used. Note: this also applies to passwords.

 61. If my advisors ask ``Why are you risking everything on such a mad
     scheme?'', I will not proceed until I have a response that satisfies
     them.

 62. I will design fortress hallways with no alcoves or protruding
     structural supports which intruders could use for cover in a firefight.

 63. Bulk trash will be disposed of in incinerators, not compactors. And
     they will be kept hot, with none of that nonsense about flames going
     through accessible tunnels at predictable intervals.

 64. I will see a competent psychiatrist and get cured of all extremely
     unusual phobias and bizarre compulsive habits which could prove to be a
     disadvantage.

 65. If I must have computer systems with publically available terminals,
     the maps they display of my complex will have a room clearly marked as
     the Main Control Room. That room will be the Execution Chamber. The
     actual main control room will be marked as Sewage Overflow Containment.

 66. My security keypad will actually be a fingerprint scanner. Anyone who
     watches someone press a sequence of buttons or dusts the pad for
     fingerprints then subsequently tries to enter by repeating that
     sequence will trigger the alarm system.

 67. No matter how many shorts we have in the system, my guards will be
     instructed to treat every surveillance camera malfunction as a
     full-scale emergency.

 68. I will spare someone who saved my life sometime in the past. This is
     only reasonable as it encourages others to do so. However, the offer is
     good one time only. If they want me to spare them again, they'd better
     save my life again.

 69. All midwives will be banned from the realm. All babies will be
     delivered at state-approved hospitals. Orphans will be placed in
     foster-homes, not abandoned in the woods to be raised by creatures of
     the wild.

 70. When my guards split up to search for intruders, they will always
     travel in groups of at least two. They will be trained so that if one
     of them disappears mysteriously while on patrol, the other will
     immediately initiate an alert and call for backup, instead of
     quizzically peering around a corner.

 71. If I decide to test a lieutenant's loyalty and see if he/she should be
     made a trusted lieutenant, I will have a crack squad of marksmen
     standing by in case the answer is no.

 72. If all the heroes are standing together around a strange device and
     begin to taunt me, I will pull out a conventional weapon instead of
     using my unstoppable superweapon on them.

 73. I will not agree to let the heroes go free if they win a rigged
     contest, even though my advisors assure me it is impossible for them to
     win.

 74. When I create a multimedia presentation of my plan designed so that my
     five-year-old advisor can easily understand the details, I will not
     label the disk ``Project Overlord'' and leave it lying on top of my
     desk.

 75. I will instruct my Legions of Terror to attack the hero en masse,
     instead of standing around waiting while members break off and attack
     one or two at a time.

 76. If the hero runs up to my roof, I will not run up after him and
     struggle with him in an attempt to push him over the edge. I will also
     not engage him at the edge of a cliff. (In the middle of a rope-bridge
     over a river of molten lava is not even worth considering.)

 77. If I have a fit of temporary insanity and decide to give the hero the
     chance to reject a job as my trusted lieutentant, I will retain enough
     sanity to wait until my current trusted lieutenant is out of earshot
     before making the offer.

 78. I will not tell my Legions of Terror ``And he must be taken alive!''
     The command will be ``And try to take him alive if it is reasonably
     practical.''

 79. If my doomsday device happens to come with a reverse switch, as soon as
     it has been employed it will be melted down and made into
     limited-edition commemorative coins.

 80. If my weakest troops fail to eliminate a hero, I will send out my best
     troops instead of wasting time with progressively stronger ones as he
     gets closer and closer to my fortress.

 81. If I am fighting with the hero atop a moving platform, have disarmed
     him, and am about to finish him off and he glances behind me and drops
     flat, I too will drop flat instead of quizzically turning around to
     find out what he saw.

 82. I will not shoot at any of my enemies if they are standing in front of
     the crucial support beam to a heavy, dangerous, unbalanced structure.

 83. If I'm eating dinner with the hero, put poison in his goblet, then have
     to leave the table for any reason, I will order new drinks for both of
     us instead of trying to decide whether or not to switch with him.

 84. I will not have captives of one sex guarded by members of the opposite
     sex.

 85. I will not use any plan in which the final step is horribly
     complicated, e.g. ``Align the 12 Stones of Power on the sacred altar
     then activate the medallion at the moment of total eclipse.'' Instead
     it will be more along the lines of ``Push the button.''

 86. I will make sure that my doomsday device is up to code and properly
     grounded.

 87. My vats of hazardous chemicals will be covered when not in use. Also, I
     will not construct walkways above them.

 88. If a group of henchmen fail miserably at a task, I will not berate them
     for incompetence then send the same group out to try the task again.

 89. After I captures the hero's superweapon, I will not immediately disband
     my legions and relax my guard because I believe whoever holds the
     weapon is unstoppable. After all, the hero held the weapon and I took
     it from him.

 90. I will not design my Main Control Room so that every workstation is
     facing away from the door.

 91. I will not ignore the messenger that stumbles in exhausted and
     obviously agitated until my personal grooming or current entertainment
     is finished. It might actually be important.

 92. If I ever talk to the hero on the phone, I will not taunt him. Instead
     I will say this his dogged perseverance has given me new insight on the
     futility of my evil ways and that if he leaves me alone for a few
     months of quiet contemplation I will likely return to the path of
     righteousness. (Heroes are incredibly gullible in this regard.)

 93. If I decide to hold a double execution of the hero and an underling who
     failed or betrayed me, I will see to it that the hero is scheduled to
     go first.

 94. When arresting prisoners, my guards will not allow them to stop and
     grab a useless trinket of purely sentimental value.

 95. My dungeon will have its own qualified medical staff complete with
     bodyguards. That way if a prisoner becomes sick and his cellmate tells
     the guard it's an emergency, the guard will fetch a trauma team instead
     of opening up the cell for a look.

 96. My door mechanisms will be designed so that blasting the control panel
     on the outside seals the door and blasting the control panel on the
     inside opens the door, not vice versa.

 97. My dungeon cells will not be furnished with objects that contain
     reflective surfaces or anything that can be unravelled.

 98. If an attractive young couple enters my realm, I will carefully monitor
     their activities. If I find they are happy and affectionate, I will
     ignore them. However if circumstance have forced them together against
     their will and they spend all their time bickering and criticizing each
     other except during the intermittent occasions when they are saving
     each others' lives at which point there are hints of sexual tension, I
     will immediately order their execution.

 99. Any data file of crucial importance will be padded to 1.45Mb in size.

100. Finally, to keep my subjects permanently locked in a mindless trance, I
     will provide each of them with free unlimited Internet access.

Of course, these are merely the Top 100 Things I'd do. Other suggestions
have been sent to me which didn't quite make the Top 100 List. But they are
still so good that I couldn't bear to throw them out. Therefore, as an
expression of gratitude, I have tossed them into...

                              [The Dungeon.]

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This web page has been given the award of Cruel Site of the Day for Friday,
December 13, 1996.  [Go to the Cruel Site of the Day site]

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If you have any other tidbits of advice that you would like to contribute to
this list -- you're too late! The list is full. However there is still
plenty of room left in The Dungeon. Feel free to e-mail me with your advice
or visit the Evil Overlord Homepage at
http://world.std.com/~olorin/peter_overlord.html. (Suggestion may be
summarily rejected or edited without your permission. What do you expect
from an EVIL Overlord?)

I wish to thank the following contributors to this list who, if I ever
happen to become an Evil Overlord, will be named as lieutenants -- but not
trusted lieutenants -- in my Legions of Terror:

   * Peter Ashen <pash@netspace.net.au>
   * Vance Atkins <glacier@nwlink.com>
   * David Borcherding <lestat@one.net>
   * Ian Bell <ibell@cix.compulink.co.uk>
   * Devon Black <magedoug@isu.edu>
   * Bill Campbell <bcamp23@airmail.net>
   * Torgeir Christiansen <torgeir.christiansen@fys.uio.no>
   * Paul Dietrich <paulmd@efn.org>
   * Mario Di Giacomo <mdg@ids.net>
   * Chris Dunham <chameleo@ebtech.net>
   * Jon Fowlkes <jon@ahcg.com>
   * Tony Gowland <ag120@york.ac.uk>
   * James Grannon <JGRANNON@mail.starledger.com>
   * Ward Griffiths <gram@cnct.com>
   * Dave Harper <dharper@mustang.uwo.ca>
   * Paul J. Henry <clyde@moose.org>
   * Julie Helmer <AnnieKey@aol.com>
   * Greg Huffman <huffmang@gsg.eds.com>
   * Lynn Irwin <jalyn@nanosecond.com>
   * Curtis M Johnson <Curtis_M_Johnson@celcorp.com>
   * Noah Johnson <streak@well.com>
   * Ramin Kamal <ramin@sidefx.com>
   * Edmund Kao <kao@cems.umn.edu>
   * SEK <SKemp@formmaker.com>
   * Terran Lane <terran@ecn.purdue.edu>
   * Bill Lee <bill_lee@qmgate.corp.apple.com>
   * Michael Lorton <mlorton@microsoft.com>
   * Mike Marano <profmike@dnai.com>
   * Christy Marx <moonfire@cybergate.com>
   * Andy Mcdermott <andymc@paragon.co.uk>
   * David Mcelfresh <dmcelfre+@pitt.edu>
   * Angus McIntyre <angus@pobox.com>
   * Kevin Meehan <kaliban@ix.netcom.com>
   * Meteor <sirius@fl.net.au>
   * Pete Meyers (Wasser) <a-petem@microsoft.com>
   * Mark Minisi <ccs473@webspan.net>
   * Eric Minton <minton@planet.earthcom.net>
   * Jesse Mundis <jesse@Internex.NET>
   * CL Murphy <CL@ncgwpc.syntellect.com>
   * Mark Musante <olorin@world.std.com>
   * Sunil Narayan <anarayan@tpts1.seed.net.tw>
   * Francesco Nicoletti <francesco.nicoletti@tafensw.edu.au>
   * Daniel Palivec <XPALIVEC@rtime.felk.cvut.cz>
   * Joel Polowin <polowin@silicon.chem.queensu.ca>
   * Zed Rational <zedrational@geocities.com>
   * Peter Scott Rogers <psrogers@owlnet.rice.edu>
   * Lisa Rose <rosita@igc.apc.org>
   * Sara <Ommonkey@aol.com>
   * Yuri Schimke <yuri@zip.com.au>
   * Lucas Schofield <lschofie@eagle.wbm.ca>
   * Kathryn R. Smith <s898@hopi.dtcc.edu>
   * John & Donna Spert <jjs@io.com>
   * Katherine Teague <kteague@nortel.ca>
   * L. J. Tomsho <Caducom@ix.netcom.com>
   * Taldin the Blue Unicorn <taldin@netcom.com>
   * Jae Walker <walkerj@pilot.msu.edu>
   * Monika Weikel <weikel@rohan.sdsu.edu>
   * Justin Wiley <juwiley@vt.edu>
   * Bill Woods <wwoods@ix.netcom.com>
   * baldycotton@mindspring.com
   * g.kenter@genie.com
   * miles@kurland.com
   * rsledge@spry.com
   * tjeerd@xs4all.nl

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I would also like to proclaim "Hercules", "Xena", "Sinbad", "Tarzan", and
"Robin Hood" to be the Official Television Shows of the Evil Overlord List.
Their repeated efforts to illustrate why Evil Overlords need such a list
serve as examples to us all.

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Back to the parody home page...
940.2NNTPD::&quot;schwenken@mail.dec.com &quot;Wed Apr 23 1997 21:482
Looks like a helluva business plan to me!
[Posted by WWW Notes gateway]