And the week begins again.

[silveradept]

AAAAAARGH. Stupid, stupid Congressrats! Bill proposed in government that would require the ESRB to play through all games before assigning them ratings. Right - so they have to play through every 80-hour RPG, every possible MMO outcome, every secret ending and user-developed content unit before they can give a rating? Penny Arcade sniffs out the real reason behind this legislation. If they do this, then we're going to insist that movies also have an independent rating organizations, as well as politicians.

This is sickening and frustrating: Gunman binds, shoots young schoolgirls, then kills himself. Okay, people, here's the new rule - if you think about inflicting violence on a schoolmate or on the school, seek professional help. Don't wait, don't plan, just go talk to a mental health professional. You need it. (Although, in Russia, apparently, the health professionals find you, especially if you have unpopular views. We're hoping this isn't a slide of some sort back into previous days.)

Democrats for Torture. Attempting to shame those members of the not-so-right-leaning right-wing party on their choice to assist with the destruction of the Bill of Rights. This cartoon may very well explain the consequences the best.

A college professor talks about the necessity of maths programs. He also notes that if they really wanted to, Intelligent Design advocates could wreak fantastic havoc with scientific ideas just by making grade and high school kids mathematically incompetent. So much so that they may believe the patent medicine cards when they come in the hands of the faith healers.

Speaking of science stuff, it turns out that Neil Armostrong's did say, "One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." There was just a very fast "a" involved there.

For Banned Books Week (go read a banned/challenged book!), there's a story about a parent who wants Farenheit 451 removed from a curriculum. That's right, a parent wants a book burnt from the curriculum that's about burning books - with the celebration of reading books that were banned or burnt happening (or having happened recently). It is a coincidence, but I'm going to go roll around on the ground laughing my ass off, if you don't mind.

Cover-ups abounding! The Speaker of the House knew about the page-hunting Republican. Apparently, though, they went to protect the Representative, rather than the page. Now that the Rep had his dirty laundry aired out, he wants to bring down all the other people who knew, too.

From the Darwin Award potentials, we have this gem: There's a reason that gas stations say "No smoking" .

A cake that is Discworld. Turtle, elephants, and the Disc itself. Wow.

The last thing on this list is that a meme-y thingy's going about requesting that people affirm their support for the principle that all men and women should be free to practice whatever sexuality they feel is appropriate (within the bounds of law that is considered acceptable and moral) - this principle is extended to the idea of human rights in general, that of "an it harm none, do what ye will". This also draws out the absurdists, too, who praise our ability to live in the first place, and the cynics and sarcasm that says to repost if one hates repost memes. I note that it takes all types of views to keep a country on a semi-even keel. I also note that it is rather interesting - most people admit that there are these shortcomings, and that they wish these inadequacies were resolved. They differ on the methods that should be used to correct them. Others suggest that the problem is already resolved, and that what groups are pushing for now is a special status, to reduce others to second-class status. There's going to be a ballot issue on this sort of question regarding race relations in our state in November. Considering the manner in which the state voted on the issue of homosexuals two years ago, I do not have high hopes that this initiative will be defeated.

So, I want to pose a question, instead. It's biased, subjective, and has most likely zero value in starting a logical discussion. Here it is: If it were you whom "they" were discriminating against, would you be fighting for your rights?

Seriously. Because "they" probably are discriminating against some aspect of you, even if you're a WASP. - after all, you might have sex outside of missionary position with your wife.

(Text of original object: We would like to know who really believes in gay rights on Livejournal. There is no bribe of a miracle or anything like that. If you truly believe in gay rights, then repost this and title the post as "Gay Rights". If you don't believe in gay rights, then just ignore this. Thanks. There's probably several points of unclearness and vague language in this, enough to get people who want definitions before they argue to have a laundry list of required definitions.)

Comments

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

If they have to play through every game before giving it a rating, does this mean it will take longer to release games?

[silveradept]

Yes. Not to mention that the game industry releases go many games a year that playing through all of them would be a Herculean task.

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

I mean, I know how long it takes you to play a game, and to play all hte side games and stuff...but this would take infinitly longer with having to check over everything, wouldn't it?

[silveradept]

That's precisely the point. And then, the government will take the ESRB to task over not being able to play every single game in a timely manner, and push to have it removed and replaced by a body in their own back pocket. And then we can expect all our games to be "Bible Adventures".

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

Uhm, Ew. But you're probably right on that one. What do the raters view of the games right now when they rate them?

[silveradept]

I believe the current regulations are that the game company must provide to the ESRB the scenes and gameplay that are the most violent/sexual/et cetera, and the ESRB evaluates those scenes (and perhaps some normal ones) to determine a rating of the game. If there is new content that might change the rating, or the original rating content has since been reduced in gore/violence/sex, then the company resubmits and gets a new rating based on the new content. This is only on actual gameplay/CG - Hot Coffee, since it was not part of the actual game-as-released sequence, did not figure in the rating. The ESRB was forced by the government to re-rate the game after the modification was popularized.

In any case, the ESRB ratings already contain a warning: "Gameplay experience may change while on-line" or something to that effect. Meaning that if the game has on-line component, the rating doesn't apply, because while the game itself might be a T, other people could use M or AO-rated language and activities. The ESRB doesn't cover that, and they can't. Forcing the ESRB to take responsibilty for the actions of other on-line players in their rating will doom them, or force them to rate every game that has an on-line component AO, because there will be someone online who is loudly proclaiming their want for cybersex.

This is a Senator/Representative telling the ESRB that they haven't been censorious enough, and should be replaced, because kids play games that are clearly marked for mature audiences. As if it's the ESRB's fault that 17-year olds will buy M-rated games and then let their 13-year-old siblings play them.

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

So they already see the "worst parts" and yet they still want them to go over the whole game? That's stupid.

[2dlife.livejournal.com]

That math article is actually pretty spot-on. Most biologists accept evolution as a given. The phylogenetic tree (what evolved from what) is something we all learn and use (especially in evaluating mouse models or yeast models and how they apply to humans).

However, on the flip side, most biologists couldn't integrate a differential equation and tell you how many mutant E. coli they expect in a culture at a certain time given a known mutation rate and a known doubling time.

[silveradept]

Well, most of my higher maths are going to go to waste until my children take higher maths - by then, I may have forgotten most of it, but I should be able to relearn it.

Still, a significant number of scientists not knowing how to do the calculations they need to make their experiments meaningful is rather scary. There must be a lot of very competent lab assistants out there, then.

[idan-cohen.livejournal.com]

Two things!

One:

You express more anger in text over your country's possible corrupt and bad game rating system than you do about your country legalizing torture. Please get yourself into order.

Two:

As a member of several opressed minorities ('Jewish', 'Bisexual', 'Un Educated') and a member of several opressing majorities ('Jewish', 'White', 'Middle Class') my real problem with that meme is that it is stupid.

On at least eight levels.

That's pretty fucking stupid.

[silveradept]

Still cheesed about that part, too, Flax. More so than games, because the games will likely blow over or get crushed. It's not a matter of being desensitized to the torture - by now, it's closer to a matter of frustrated resignation, because even when told to stop, the self-styled Emperor just keeps doing what he's doing, and making the law suit his will. Combine that with the knowledge that most of the country is apathetic, and the rest seems to approve, and you have a recipe of anger that cannot be channeled into anything that appears to have an effect.

[idan-cohen.livejournal.com]

Combine that with the knowledge that most of the country is apathetic, and the rest seems to approve, and you have a recipe of anger that cannot be channeled into anything that appears to have an effect.

Have you tried?

[sulcharae.livejournal.com]

out of idle, bystander brand curiosity, what would you expect/suggest him to do?

[idan-cohen.livejournal.com]

Make a sign. Go protest. If there are no protests, organise a protest. If he cannot organise a protest, go protest alone. If he cannot protest alone, write his Senator or Congressman or whoever represents him in your wacky federal system. Write a dozen scathing letters to the editorial pages of every paper. Speak out, publicly, often, in the academic position which I believe he exists in. Speak. Speak unceasingly and with fire and rage. Go on a hunger strike. Give money. Petition the Supreme Court. Petition his State legislature. Potetion anyone who can be petitioned. Educate. Inform. Volunteer. Make a statement.

Anything.

[silveradept]

Those things, at least some of them, they are happening. I do protest. It helps, but to see that despite one's own protest, and that of thousands of others, things continue as if we weren't there. The voice of the people is ignored.

[idan-cohen.livejournal.com]

That's because the people are being too fucking polite. Jesus christ, Silv. Every time the smallest thing happens in my country, thousands of people are out on the streets blocking traffic. Every time something volitale comes out, tens or hundreds of thousands start burning tires. In a nation, what, 50 times more populous then mine, when was the last march on Washington that numbered more than a thousand or two? Are the people truly so jaded they aren't willing to go outside?

[sharpsight.livejournal.com]

N) Many useful/interesting links. *nods*

M) 'Okay, people, here's the new rule - if you think about inflicting violence on a schoolmate or on the school, seek professional help. Don't wait, don't plan, just go talk to a mental health professional. You need it.'

...