Rayne Shikama, of Abstract Gender, came home the day after Christmas to discover he’d been robbed. Not only did the burglers steal electronics and DVDs and the like, they also stole the contents of his refrigerator – close to $100 worth of groceries. More details can be found in this forum thread.

While he’s not asked for any money or anything, it might be a nice gesture to donate some money to him. I’m unsure if he has insurance or not… but even if he does, I doubt everything would be reimbursed (seeing that insurance companies go out of their way to screw their customers when possible – after all, if they pay for lost goods, then they’ve not made a profit off of you. A donation button can be found on his website on the left-hand column.

On a side note, Rayne did mention that this incident did teach him of the need to become better friends with neighbors, and let them know he was going to be gone. If they’d known, they might have helped keep an eye on his apartment, and perhaps notice something wrong and call the cops. We as a society are growing increasingly insular and separate from our neighbors. But this only opens us up to incidents like this. After all, if you don’t keep an eye out for your neighbors, who’ll watch your own back when you’re away?