Why I don't watch baseball, part 2: Concussions, and now, a suicide

Former MLB player Ryan Freel committed suicide in December 2012.  Since then, he has the dubious distinction of being the first Major League Baseball player diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, which has been diagnosed in dozens of dead ex-NFL players and some ex-NHL players.

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/12/15/health/baseball-ryan-freel-cte-suicide/

Freel committed suicide last December at the age of 36.

Testing of his brain tissue after death -- the only way to definitively diagnose CTE -- found that he had Stage 2 CTE, which is associated with erratic behavior and memory loss. Stage 4, the worst possible expression of the disease, is associated with full-blown dementia, aggression and paranoia.

Prostitution is effectively decriminalized in Canada, but it could be worse

The Surpreme Court of Canada has struck down all laws regarding prostitution, most of which were based on "nuisance laws".  By striking down the laws, the court has effectively decriminalized prostitution (there's a difference between decriminalization and legalization).  If you think this decision is bad, it could be worse.

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2013/12/20/supreme_court_of_canada_strikes_down_federal_criminal_prostitution_laws.html

I'm no fan of legalized prostitution, though I'm also onside with full protection - legal and physical - of those who sell sex.  Those who sell should be allowed to work (yes, it is work) in positions of safety.  Legalized brothels with security guards would prevent violence and other crime perpetrated against sex workers.  And it also protects the Johns, since they don't have to worry about "some psycho with a knife".  (Then again, if they're so worried, why aren't they buying a porno magazine and servicing themselves in safety?)

Those who sell sex are not the cause of the problem.  Prostitution exists because there is a demand for it.  If you want to stop prostitution, if you want to prosecute someone involved in it, target the Johns.  No Johns, no prostutition.

Happy New Year

The Julian Calendar may say December 21st, but to me, this is the start of the New Year.  This is the day of the winter solstice, the day when the Earth is at its perihelion, its closest point to the Sun.

Yes, we are closest to the Sun now.  So why is it winter in the northern hemisphere?  Because the northern half is pointing away from the Sun, thus receiving less heat and light.  It is summer in the southern hemisphere, which is actually warmer than summer in the north.

We are definitely exhibiting a northern bias, aren't we?

Buck the trend.  Start your year on the winter solstice, not eight to ten days after.  Calendars are arbitrary enough, make the starting point of the year meaningful.

Male privilege sucks: Maasai women who refuse FGM are refused marriage

In a disgusting display of arrogance, males in the Maasai tribe in Tanzania are refusing to marry women who have refused to subject themselves to the horrors of Female Genital Mutilation.

No, FGM is not "clean".  The mutilation is actually less hygenic than women's natural genitalia.

No, it is not a "minor issue".  The violent cutting of highly sensitive skin leaves women with a lifetime of pain and discomfort, and most of the time it is done to girls too young to consent.

No, it is not "cultural" or "religious", it is an act of violence.  The fiction of religion does not trump the reality of nature.

No, male genital mutilation is not comparable.  The only way it could be compared is if the head of the penis were cut off with an axe, leaving only the shaft.  And even then, it's still not an apt comparison.

Toyota put the brakes on because their cars won't

Toyota has been fighting tooth and nail to avoid any liability for injuries and deaths caused by their cars.  Toyota has wanted the plaintiff to prove their cars are faulty.  However, Toyota is conceding defeat because the judge in that case has ruled that circumstantial evidence will be considered.

There are a huge number of unrelated incidents, with drivers who have no history of reckless driving nor suicidal behaviour, and they all suddenly decide to drive at 160 km/h through cities?  Sorry, Toyota, that's not plausible.  The judge has made the right call.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-12-16/toyota-enters-settlement-talks-over-sudden-acceleration-lawsuits

Charity starts with selfishness

The rich repeatedly claim that "We give a lot to charity!" but you never hear who exactly is getting the money or for what purpose.  So somebody decided to take a close look.

Do the rich give to food banks?  To help the underprivileged go to college?  Help the homeless?

Oh, puh-leeze, don't be so naïve.

http://www.salon.com/2013/12/14/the_wealthy_give_to_charity_elite_schools_and_operas_partner/

Rich people’s idea of charity: Giving to elite schools and operas 

Hypocrisy, thy name is America, part 1: CIA spies are exempt from laws

When countries spy on the US - from WITHIN the US - you'll Americans get into a tizzy and whine about "treason", despite the fact that only citizens can be traitors.  Foreigners who do it are spies, effectively engaging in acts of war.

So why is it when Americans spy on other countries, commit crimes within other countries on the US's behalf, they're "not criminals" and should be returned to the US?  Then again, the US is the country which whined about the Lockerbie bombers while protecting Orlando Bosch, a CIA stooge who bombed a Cuban airliner, killing 75 civilians.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/12/robert-levinson-iran-missing-cia-secret

American missing in Iran since 2007 was working for the CIA

Why I don't watch football, part 7: “This was an investigation of a rape victim”

Patricia Carroll is the lawyer of a young woman who was raped in Florida. She said, “This was an investigation of a rape victim, not an investigation of a rape suspect."

She says the Tallahassee Police Department and Florida state attorney Willie Meggs were more interested in clearing Jameis Winston of the rape charge than of finding out if he did it despite the evidence they have. Given the history of sports figures with rape accusations (e.g. Roethlisberger) and a failure to prosecute, I have no reason to doubt her.

But hey, Heisman trophies and the possibility of winning a "national championship" are so much more important than ensuring justice is carried out. Lucky for him he plays for Florida State (13-0) playing in the BCS title game and not Florida Atlantic (6-6) playing tiddly winks. Or are all football players exempt from prosecution in Florida?

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/accuser-s-attorney-says-authorites-failed-to-properly-investigate-jameis-winston-case-185538536.html

Twenty years on, I'm still in the MOOD for DOOM

On December 10, 1993, a two megabyte file was uploaded by a six-person software company in Texas onto the computer systems of University of Wisconsin–Madison.  What was done as a favour by U W-M's sysadmin turned into an event which crashed their system.

DOOM was released.  And the world would never be the same again.

DOOM was remarkable as a computer game in four significant ways:

1) It was the first widely-popular First Person Shooting game (FPS).

Yes, there were others before it (Catacomb, Wolfenstein 3D), but it was DOOM that popularized the genre and changed gaming.  The sense of being in the game was unlike any other on the market.  The only other widely player first person types of games at the time were car racing games.  DOOM added fear and paranoia, sound and lighting to make gameplay seem almost real.

2) It proved that shareware was a viable and profitable method of distribution

DOOM's shareware release (today, it would be called demoware) meant people could download the program and play before paying, able to get a taste without buying the whole meal.  And because the meal was so tasty and new, people did pay.  Sure, there was a shareware market and distribution system, but it was used mostly by individual programmers, not large computer companies who continued to sell programs in packaged boxes.

3) DOOM introduced modding to the world

Other people had modded games before id (e.g. Ms. Pac-Man), but DOOM made it easy for less technically proficient people to create and insert their own graphics, sounds and level design into the game, something never before possible for most.  Modding spawned (pun definitely intended) its own industry of add-ons that people made and sold.

4) DOOM introduced networked gaming

Before DOOM, "multiplayer gaming" meant either taking turns (playing until you "died" and then handed the controller to another player until that person "died") or two players looking at the same screen with the same view (or worse, a top/bottom split screen with a smaller view).

DOOM's appearance meant that two people could now play against each other with full computer power to themselves.  And not just separate machines, but separate viewing and playing.  It meant you could play someone across a room, in another room, another building and eventually, another country.  DOOM make the internet a near necessity for multiplayer gaming.

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Whether you like DOOM or not, you have to respect its place in history and its influence.  Just as the Lord Of The Rings movies could not exist without Dungeons and Dragons, so too could today's gaming not exist without DOOM.

DOOM is likely to remain popular for the next decade given John Carmack's decision to release the source code.  There are many high quality ports of DOOM still in development, with additions of sound, graphics, player movement and many other features.  And with the plethora of fan-made WAD files to use, there's no end to customization.  DOOM is nowhere near the end of its playability.

DOOM World has a list of ports to various computer systems including DOS, Windows, Macintosh, Linux and several others.   ZDOOM, Brutal DOOM, and Chocolate DOOM are among the more popular and recently updated versions.

http://www.doomworld.com/classicdoom/ports/

One genius maniac obsessed individual person went so far as to create a Flash side scrolling verion that can be played in a browser.

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/470460

Three women held as slaves for decades were victims of religion

Why am I not surprised?

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/uk/man-accused-of-london-slavery-claimed-he-was-christ-and-took-thousands-from-followers-29791349.html

Man accused of London slavery 'claimed he was Christ and took thousands from followers'

The head of the Maoist sect accused of keeping three female slaves tried to convince his followers he was like Jesus Christ and persuaded them to hand over thousands of pounds for the revolutionary cause, a former activist claimed yesterday.

The women are a 30-year-old Briton, named in reports as Rosie Davies, 57-year-old Josephine Herivel from Belfast, and a 69-year-old Malaysian, confirmed by that country's police to be Siti Aishah Wahab.