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Hrm...  My own humble opinions.

If the party attacks the very evil guy and said evil guy teleports away, consider:

Did the party do anything other than rush him and start swinging?  Did the evil guy teleport away after being beaten so you can preserve him for a future encounter?  If so, call it a defeat and give 'em something.  (Me, I award lump sums at the end of the night, or every couple sessions, so I don't give the opportunity to quibble over whether X encounter was worth Y or Z amount of points.)  If him appearing is set dressing and he teleports away before any significant combat, nothing.

NPC nerfing...  Matter of DM taste.  If I have accidentally built an encounter which was intended as filler and it ends up bending the party over the table and horribly violating their characters, I'll tone it back some to let the party escape if they've got the sense to do so (and will likely promote surviving monsters to future Big Bad status). 

Treasure weeding...  If you've got established characters coming into your game from other games, always reserve the right to red-pen their gear list.  YOU decide how much is acceptable.  (Depends on edition, really, and your taste.  Rank it by exp or gold value.)  If you've gone nuts and given your party gear that you no longer want them to have, then that's a whole different issue, and you get to decide how to get rid of it in play. 

• Get it stolen (and they WILL chase it down, which can lead to all sorts of fun). 
• "I use my ring of invisibility."  "You concentrate but nothing happens."  "WTF?"  Mage:  "Huh, what do you know.  Out of charges.  Shoddy workmanship."
• Toss in quirks...  The magic sword that HAS to be kept in a jeweled sheath... and it slowly consumes GPs worth of gems per month, 'til it gets too expensive to keep.
• The ever popular rust monster/magic eater.

To simplify the rules for those who have to be pretty well hammered to get the TV channel over to Fox in the first place...

• Any time somebody on the screen lies, take a shot.
• Any time somebody on the screen says something horribly, horribly wrong, take a shot.
• Any time they put up a graphic with a factual error, two shots.

I swear, I have never run across a forum that's made me laugh as much as this one has.  Thanks, guys.

[BIIIIIIITCH.]

Oh, jebus, don't even get me started on exes' bullshittery.

OHAY, MAYBE YOU COULD PAY YOUR FUCKING CHILD SUPPORT IF YOU DIDN'T HAVE CABLE AND GO OUT DRINKING AND KEEP A CAR THAT YOU CAN'T AFFORD AND IS INAPPROPRIATE FOR A MAN WITH THRE FUCKING CHILDREN. SON. OF. A. BIIIIIIITCH.

This kinda shit makes me want to kick puppies.

Kicking puppies wouldn't help. Go kick some deadbeats.

Fuck yeah. Let me get my kicking boots on!

Puppy didn't do anything.

An explanation that siring children doesn't make you a man, taking care of your fucking responsibilities does might.  Particularly if delivered as a suppository.

I have NO patience with deadbeats... and I work in payroll.  Every time I get a wage garnishment for child support, I cringe... because it's my job to tell dear ol' Dad that the money is coming out of his check, like it or not.  (The last one was a shock.  "Yes, thank you, I was expecting it, can you get that started with this week's check?")

...Wait, you guys still get Lincoln's Birthday AND President's Day off?

Used to be Lincoln's Birthday and Washington's Birthday.  Most places have combined the two into President's Day.

Dang.

Thanks for sharing.  If you can get through that pile o' crap, I can get through mine, which isn't nearly so bad.

Everyone's tall building is a different size......  Just don't let it make you hide instead of leaping!!!

The samaritans must love you. Learn to metaphor noob!

Seriously, tho, sounds like you're almost at the end of the tunnel. Just wait'll you see how strong you are, now when you step out the other side.

Heh.  I got what she meant.

Every day, a little stronger.

Hell yeah! It's trite and shite and cliche to death but that old saying "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger"? That's the nearest thing to a mantra I have in this life.

Cliches didn't get to be cliches for being wrong.

I know I'm going to come out of this okay.  Got good friends who've got my back...  I just have to wade through the inevitable crap.

Dang.

Thanks for sharing.  If you can get through that pile o' crap, I can get through mine, which isn't nearly so bad.

Everyone's tall building is a different size......  Just don't let it make you hide instead of leaping!!!

The samaritans must love you. Learn to metaphor noob!

Seriously, tho, sounds like you're almost at the end of the tunnel. Just wait'll you see how strong you are, now when you step out the other side.

Heh.  I got what she meant.

Every day, a little stronger.

I think our capacity to process has always been in step with the technology of the day, and also linked to the overall size and diversity of the population. I'm not sure this is something we are just now discovering, I think it has always happened.  As we learn new stuff, and learn to do new stuff, it gets absorbed and incorporated into the human population. 

I still think, even on an individual level, your average joe was probably just as bewildered by all of the cool technology, gadgets, and new scientific knowledge of the day as we are today. 

Except a rock and a stick didn't come with a 3 volume instruction manual.

Way back then,the rock and the stick were rarely the cause of a lawsuit because some moron smacked himself in the head with them.  Nowadays, at least two of the volumes are "we told you not to do "X", so you can't sue us because you're an idiot and did it knowing it would cost you a limb."

Chemistry Lab was a bit tricky.  Kept melting the basketball court. 

Basketball court?  How'd they do that?  We just managed to burn the swimming pool.

Ah.  In New York we broke it up into 1-3, 4-6, 7-9, 10-12.

Which would make my high school years from 87-90.

One of the places I lived as a kid, we actually had 8th graders in the high school, varies from place to place, but, at least as far as I'm aware, the "normal" is four grades in the high schools.

I've been broke.  I've been "god, if I ever see another Ramen Noodle, I'm going to puke" broke.  It's better now, and is just going to get better once I find my feet after this move. 

Meanwhile I got treated to a whine from my soon-to-be-ex-husband that he's broke.  Maybe if he wasn't buying the whore lobster dinners, he'd have money to pay the cable bill.

Dang.

Thanks for sharing.  If you can get through that pile o' crap, I can get through mine, which isn't nearly so bad.

Phox:  First, you were in High School for five years?

Most Americans were in high school during five calendar years...

Freshman, Sept of 2001 - June of 2002.
Sophomore, Sept 2002 - June 2003
Junior, Sept 2003 - June 2004
Senior, Sept 2004 - June 2005.

I got quoted in the New Yorker calling his fans tossers

Gaiman's?  Sure, a lot of 'em are.  I worked in a comic book store during the Sandman years, had to deal with his fans on a daily basis.  The fact that many of his fans are tossers doesn't mean his stuff isn't good.

And I'm a sucker for the accent. 

Fuck black ice.  Fuck states who can't manage to clear all the crap off the roads.

Two years off the end of my life, I swear.

My car is NOT supposed to point that direction on 195.

My money is on the Washington Bridge. They still like the new River Bridge too much to let it ice over, yet.

Not on a bridge, I do not trust bridges on principle.  Nope, middle of 195 where I wasn't suspecting it'd be.  No damage to anything but my nerves (and maybe those around me).