- the girl who told me to wake up is my best friend/"sister." known her for 17 years. her husband strikes me as being one of these "tenther"/"birther" chumpstains (a "tenther," BTW, is a person who has suddenly determined that the tenth amendment renders most government programs unconstitutional - which is a gross misreading of the amendment) - a union guy who hates his union, even though he wouldn't be able to afford the house/wife/kid if his union hadn't kicked some ass before he got there.
- the "socialist" guy is a guy i've known for 22 years. also a close friend, he's the guy who co-hosts my (maybe never-coming-back...) political radio show. he thinks this new hatred for islam is his "jewish heritage" kicking in, which is ridiculous (some of our friends think he's doing too much cocaine, which is far more likely an explanation). i told him repeatedly during our discussion that i was physically sickened and repulsed by his sudden and fervent hatred of islam.
i posted up a comment on my facebook that read, "...was today stunned many times by people of varied political persuasions having such seemingly hateful and/or willfully ignorant positions (because it's easier to simplify and hate than to comprehend and rectify). Comprehension and derivation of a solution require people to move beyond differences to see their similarities. In other words: It takes work... but we're lazy Americans! So, we deserve what we get. :(" ... fortunately, a few of my other friends came out in support of me, so i don't feel like i'm in the ****ing twilight zone anymore
EDIT: the "socialist" didn't learn from our three hour shoutfest, and spewed on the facebook message above.
FML indeed.
"just do what ya feel and never follow." 
who cares if it's a sorcery in draft? its interaction with scepter is much more problematic. chant is enough! ...this is coming from someone who played scepter-lock in standard (w/boomerang, early frost, hokori and yosei) - turn 1 land-chrome mox-scepter-boomerang was good times...
at least one will be joining my (single) copies of vitu-ghazi and sunhome at the brooklyn zoo, for sure. just the card to bring the beatdown ferociously...
:symw::symu::symb::symg: could have :symwu::symbg:, :symwb::symug:, or :symwg::symub:-related abilities, for example... though i think they'd mix the combos to try and prevent a card from covering 2 dissension guilds...
look back, we've already considered that. i think it will be one, but we won't know for a while...
(hopefully, not a long while...)
i think matt cavotta's quote there is more of a convenient and appropriate pun (...that would be all too cruel/gruul.) than any hint about the upcoming set.
maybe 7 artifacts is a low number, but i think the only way they can increase it is by multiples of 5 (as they would essentially have to knock out 1 rarity level across all 5 colors). however, izzet would then get more toys to play with than the other guilds. i think the "gizmo"s we will see in guildpact will be their devices that the other guilds use (e.g. the wojek mana sticks) and not so much devices that predominantly help them.
perhaps, also, some of the izzet "gizmo"s will be printed as enchantments (maybe with an ability that uses whatever the izzet ability will be).
i still can't get over someone trading a firemane angel for a PP card, though... duh!
come on, we're magic players. if we can prove that we have a specified amount of mana in mass-mana combos (like heartbeat/harvest into maga), i don't think it will be that incredibly complicated to keep track of. probably the easiest way to do it is to tap for each symbol, in order, to demonstrate to your opponent that the payment is valid. keep in mind that any ability that costs you 10 mana WILL be winning you the game, so surely all concerned will pay close attention.
re: activated abilities - yeah, no way even on the unglued cards would they fit 10 abilities with regular mana symbols. it could, though, have 5 2-guild-mana activated abilities.
could be that, too, though i'd suspect there would be some sort of extra drawback...
my money's on the game-ending artifact...
if it is an artifact, and it has a game-winning ability, that ability should cost :symwu::symub::symbr::symrg::symgw: :symwb::symbg::symgu::symur::symrw:...
not having the :symrb::symwu::symug: guilds in guildpact would not stop them from using the symbols in guildpact if necessary. they have "foreshadowed" like that in the past (see shield of kaldra).
flavorwise, the cost would make sense. the least you can pay here is 4 colors (once you cut one color, you're forced into it), which is like requiring 6 guilds - 50% + 1 - to "break" the guildpact.
i can't pass judgement on a mechanic until i see the rest of the cards that work with it... at least it looks like it has potential to be fun.