March 28, 2012

Sim City Is Back — With Shades of Instagram and Occupy Wall Street

Sim City Is Back — With Shades of Instagram and Occupy Wall Street [PREVIEW]



“And here, at City Hall, you can see we’ve got a little Occupy movement going on.”

Kip Katsarelis gestures at the giant flatscreen, where a rowdy bunch of Sims have gathered to wave signs in front of his mayoral office. Their main beef? Unemployment under Katsarelis has hit a whopping 66%.

While some of the protesters want him to build more parks, that’s not going to help hiring. But the offer from a coal executive to build his corporate HQ over one of those parks — for a mere 1,000 simoleons — just might.

Luckily, Katsarelis is a senior producer at games company Maxis rather than a real mayor. And this is just a game, although we are in Emeryville, just across the San Francisco Bay from the real Occupy movement.

More:
http://mashable.com/2012/03/28/sim-city-preview/

March 28, 2012

No more ‘yes, sir’

No more ‘yes, sir’
March 28, 2012|By Mac D’Alessandro

WHEN I was a kid growing up in Chicago in the 1970s, my two white parents told their two adopted black children that the only words we should ever utter if stopped by Chicago Police were “yes, sir.’’ This was not out of some insidious desire to raise black men who “knew their place.’’ Instead, it was a defense mechanism - a precautionary measure to the very real danger that the slightest bit of expressed indignation, even if legitimate, could result in being physically assaulted or worse, if you encountered the wrong police officer.

I remembered that advice all too viscerally in the past couple of weeks as I read about the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, the 17-year-old African-American who was killed while carrying a bag of candy and an iced tea by a Hispanic neighborhood watch captain. I tried to figure out why I seemed incapable of doing what I’d successfully done so many times before, step far enough back from an unpleasantness to ensure my role is that of observer, not participant. Then it hit me: I’ve been a participant in this story my whole life.

The first time I remember using my parents’ precautionary measure, I was 12 and waiting for the school bus in front of my house. Instead of a bright yellow bus pulling up to take me to school, a police cruiser pulled up. I was grabbed by my hair, tossed into the back of the car, and taken several blocks to a crime scene. Then, I was pulled out of the squad car, again by my hair, and thrust in front of a white woman who was sobbing hysterically on the ground while being tended to by police and paramedics.

I realized much later that this woman had been assaulted, but I had no clue at the time because I was a victim myself. The officer holding my hair asked the woman, “Is this the one?’’ to which she managed through trembling sobs to respond, “No.’’ I don’t remember much from that day other than the wave of relief that washed over me after I’d been exonerated; the rage I felt when that officer grabbed my hair again to pull me into the car to take me home, where I was dropped off as though nothing had happened; and the confusion I felt after being invaded by injustice and rage for the first time. At no time during this entire incident did I utter anything other than “yes, sir.’’

<snip>

And now, I fear, these costs can no longer be contained. In light of the death of Trayvon Martin, I am left to wonder what my response would be to being stopped by some fellow citizen and asked what I’m doing in a certain place at a certain time. It is one thing to have borne the cost of all that swallowed pride and lost dignity and pent up anger deferring, albeit as a precaution, to those who we are all supposed to defer to - police. It is something entirely different if this country now expects me to walk around saying “yes, sir’’ to anyone who thinks I don’t belong on a street or in a neighborhood. There’s no more room inside to swallow any more pride or dignity, and I have found that anger and confusion have become indigestible.

More:
http://articles.boston.com/2012-03-28/opinion/31245278_1_squad-car-defense-mechanism-chicago-police

March 28, 2012

The (Only) Five Basic Fears We All Live By

1 - Extinction
2 - Mutilation
3 - Loss of Autonomy
4 - Separation
5 - Ego-death

The (Only) Five Basic Fears We All Live By
We're all afraid of the same few things.
Published on March 22, 2012 by Karl Albrecht, Ph.D. in BrainSnacks

<snip>

Medical experts tell us that the anxious feeling we get when we're afraid is a standardized biological reaction. It's pretty much the same set of body signals, whether we're afraid of getting bitten by a dog, getting turned down for a date, or getting our taxes audited.

<snip>

There are only five basic fears, out of which almost all of our other so-called fears are manufactured. Those five basic fears are:

Extinction - fear of annihilation, of ceasing to exist. This is a more fundamental way to express it than just calling it the "fear of death". The idea of no longer being arouses a primary existential anxiety in all normal humans. Consider that panicky feeling you get when you look over the edge of a high building.

Mutilation - fear of losing any part of our precious bodily structure; the thought of having our body's boundaries invaded, or of losing the integrity of any organ, body part, or natural function. For example, anxiety about animals, such as bugs, spiders, snakes, and other creepy things arises from fear of mutilation.

More:
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brainsnacks/201203/the-only-five-basic-fears-we-all-live

March 27, 2012

Shooting takes place in Walmart parking lot in Avon, Mass.

Shooting takes place in Walmart parking lot in Avon, Mass.

(NECN: Josh Brogadir, Avon, Mass.) - Police are on the scene of a shooting outside of a Walmart in Avon, Mass.

Police received several 911 calls around 4 p.m., and no one is in custody.

Police say they think a man was injured, and then taken to Good Samaritan in Brockton, Mass., but not by authorities.

A witness told NECN that two people standing near separate vehicles shot at each other before one of them drove off.

More:
http://www.necn.com/03/27/12/Shooting-takes-place-in-Walmart-parking-/landing_newengland.html?blockID=678160&feedID=4206

March 27, 2012

Not For Profit! Trayvon Martin's Parents Fight Off Trademark Accusations (DETAILS)

Not For Profit! Trayvon Martin's Parents Fight Off Trademark Accusations (DETAILS)

Last week, Trayvon Martin’s mother Sybrina Fulton, filed applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to trademark two slogans associated with her son Trayvon Martin: "I Am Trayvon," and "Justice for Trayvon."

<snip>

The trademark attorney, Kimra Major-Morris, said in an email that Ms. Fulton merely wants to protect intellectual property rights for "projects that will assist other families who experience similar tragedies."

According to the lawyer, the family’s trademark efforts have no profit motive, which is why they sent us this statement on the issue:

More:
http://globalgrind.com/news/trayvon-martins-parents-fight-trademark-accusations-details

March 27, 2012

Athiest Symbol Rejected By Capital One, But Jesus Is Preapproved - The Consumerist

Consumerist reader Mike has a Capital One credit card. He'd hoped to get one of the bank's customizable "Image Cards" printed with a big red "A" for atheism. His initial upload was rejected by Capital One, which sent him a long list of possible reasons. And when he called to appeal, things just more bizarre.

<snip>

But why, Mike asks, does the card-making interface on Capital One's own website have 34 photos in a category it labels "Spiritual" and which includes several options to put Christian and Jewish imagery on your card?

There are also categories like "Patriotic" and "Holidays" that likely contain images one could deem as political or religious.

"When I asked about the Spiritual section, the man responded that he didn't have access to the gallery so he couldn't comment on it," Mike tells Consumerist. "He also mentioned that the rules are handed down to them from VISA and Mastercard and that this latest appeal was final."



More:
http://consumerist.com/2012/03/capital-one-says-it-doesnt-allow-religious-images-on-credit-cards-apparently-hasnt-looked-at-its-own.html

March 27, 2012

A Bald Eagle, a Fox & Cats Hanging Out on a Porch in Alaska

We see in this video uploaded by pla1554alaska, that a bald eagle, a fox and two cats are found hanging out on a porch in Unalaska, Alaska.

See how the fox, eagle and cat are all just fine hanging out and no one is trying to attack anyone and they are getting along just fine? Notice the eagle in the background on the lamp post down by the street. That is the partner to this eagle. They aren’t always out to attack and kill each other. Our fox and eagles and cats basically get along just fine here. Sometimes if there is food they might fight over the food some. I live in Unalaska, Alaska in the Aleutian Islands. Also, earlier in the day when the fox first came Gizmo my cat went right up to the fox and told him to leave. It was too funny! But the fox came right back!

This isn’t the first encounter with the eagle at that porch, there are several videos showing the same bird with the cats:



More:
http://laughingsquid.com/a-bald-eagle-a-fox-cats-hanging-out-on-a-porch-in-alaska/

March 27, 2012

Christians: Don’t Vote, Pray Instead!

Christians: Don’t Vote, Pray Instead!

Just a friendly reminder to our godly brethren. Since prayer is so powerful and effective, it should be used to further God’s cause in America. So don’t vote; pray!



More:
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/unreasonablefaith/2012/03/christians-dont-vote-pray-instead/

March 27, 2012

Tom Lehrer - Wernher von Braun

March 27, 2012

Why Conservatives Are Smearing Trayvon Martin’s Reputation

Why Conservatives Are Smearing Trayvon Martin’s Reputation
by Michelle Goldberg Mar 27, 2012 4:45 AM EDT

Conservatives are focusing on Trayvon’s tweets, appearance, school suspension over marijuana traces, and the hoodie he was wearing to blame him for his own death—and to show that his killing had nothing to do with racism.

First, there was the discussion of what Trayvon Martin was wearing. “I think the hoodie is as much responsible for Trayvon Martin’s death as George Zimmerman was,” Geraldo Rivera said on Fox & Friends last week, later suggesting that the sweatshirt made him look like a “wannabe gangster.” Then conservative bloggers started digging through Martin’s Facebook page for information that might raise doubts about his character. It turns out that one of Martin’s friends had written, under a happy birthday message, “damn were you at nigga needa plant;” according to Dan Riehl at Riehl World View, “Some may interpret that as Martin having somehow been involved in selling [marijuana].”

<snip>

I’m far from the first to notice the similarities between the way people talk about Martin and the way they talk about rape victims, whose clothes and histories are often subject to scrutiny no matter how cut-and-dried the case seems. Like a rape victim, Martin’s past is being excavated for evidence that he might have provoked the harm done to him. It hardly matters that even if Martin had gotten high every day, it would have had zero relevance; it’s not as if marijuana use is linked to violence. Nor that it’s not unusual for a teenager to come across as obnoxious on Twitter. People were looking for some tenuous justification for treating him as complicit in his own death, and now they’ve found it. (For the record, I was also suspended from high school, though in my case for smoking cigarettes. I trust that should a stranger shoot me in the street, no one will treat this as a mitigating factor.)

<snip>

But as of right now, some things are not in dispute. Martin was unarmed save for a pack of Skittles and an ice tea. Zimmerman, who repeatedly called the cops when he saw young black men in his gated community, trailed Martin after the police advised him not to. He called Martin either a “coon” or a “goon.” Martin had no documented history of violence. Zimmerman, on the other hand, was previously accused of hitting his ex-fiancé; in response, he said that she was the aggressor, which means he doesn’t deny that there was a physical fight.

More:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/03/26/why-conservatives-are-smearing-trayvon-martin-s-reputation.html