9 - Plastic Corrupts

Here's another unfortunate case of tech journalists not doing the research. I could say a number of things about the entire article, but that would be talking about politics and I don't like talking about politics. What drew my attention was this:

"I personally believe these are addictive games, because you have kids playing them for many, many hours a day, and putting their lives on hold basically to play some of these, like World of Warcraft and Warhammer," said Black.

Warhammer is a strategy game played on a tabletop. Players meticulously build and paint entire armies of little model soldiers. They set these up and play battle scenarios against each other based on elaborate rules and dice rolls. I've never played it or had any friends who did; this is just something I knew. And it's not even my job to know it, either.

After finding this, I did a little checking and found out that there was indeed a MMORPG made based on Warhammer. It was released a year after this article, so the possibility remains that the author instead believed that kids were hooked on a game that didn't exist yet.

8 - They're More Afraid Of You Than You Are Of Them

Demons 'harmless', says Vatican

Well, that's quite the policy change.

What do you mean, it's a film review?

7 - No Membership Cards There Either

I found this today.

Now, you may be thinking 'that's not stupid, that's horrible!' and perhaps you're right. The act isn't the Stupid Thing of the Day. The thing that jumped out of the page for me was this:

4Chan is an organised group that describes itself on its website as the "home of the sickest, strangest, and most horrifying stuff on the internet".

4Chan, for anyone who doesn't know yet, is a very large bulletin board where visitors can post images of whatever they like. There are some general categories that cover just about any topic you can think of, including some you probably wouldn't want to think about. Users can comment on pictures, but they don't have to identify themselves (and indeed, most don't). As a result, it's just about the least organized thing imaginable, not a group. Of course, there are plenty of groups based there, and these can be good or bad or very bad, but the whole thing is no more a group than, say, any given large city.

I don't expect news organizations to have knowledge of obscure internet goings-on, but 4Chan's visible enough that I hoped that technology reporters would know what it is. Apparently I was wrong.

6 - Where did I leave that membership card?

I want to know who certifies Christians. And, for that matter, is there a certification board for other religions? Are their stamps different colors? We shall never know.

Delays

I had something really good to post today, but it's a newspaper clipping and my scanner and my computer have decided to express their mutual disbelief in the existence of one another. I'll see what I can post while I resolve this crisis of faith, but I was really intent on posting this specific thing.

5 - Wise choise, bad alternative

Today, I have no pictures. Instead, I give you the description of this Youtube video (which is relaxing to listen to, by the way):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlsA0G7Dg8g&feature=related

I decided to create this slideshow from clips off of the Internet because I don't have any pictures of myself that describe this song.

Thanks for making the right decision, whoever you are...but the fact that that that was the first option is terrifying.

4 - Under The Sea

Yes, this is a real story. It's remarkable what can be done with prosthetics these days, and there are probably millions of little girls who would do anything for something like this. Still, I have to say that whoever wrote subtitles here was a little bit overzealous.

3 - The Romanovs Never Had It So Good

My university has an ongoing public Green initiative. The idea is to improve the sustainability of the school by raising awareness of waste and inefficiency, as well as more concrete actions like improving the energy efficiency of buildings and setting up recycling drop boxes around campus. One of the services this initiative provides is an energy-saving tip of the week. Here's this week's tip. Apparently I should protect the Earth by ruling with an iron, yet comically inept fist before getting overthrown by the Bolsheviks. I'll get right on that.

I have to wonder just how surprised the author of this tip would be to find out what a Czar actually is.

2 - Call to Arms

Here's another banner ad. I actually think this one is pretty clever in its appeal to its target audience. Still, I suspect that whoever made this didn't think about the message that the unfortunate juxtaposition of giant words sends for everybody else.