Friday Reads

 Taken by Brianna Paciorka for The Advocate at the funeral of Allton Sterling on the campus of SU.

C’est meme pas une chanson triste

It’s one of those days where you begin to wonder if having all this information and connectivity is good for your mental health.  You hear and see things first hand that make you sad and make you cringe.  The sad headings today include the memorial service for Alton Sterling and the horrible slaughter of innocents by a mentally anguished man driving a truck through the busy, celebrating streets of Nice, France.

The worst thing was the sheer number of children coming in, the nature of their injuries – serious head trauma and broken limbs – and the emotion felt by the children and their families,” said Frederic Sola, a paediatric orthopaedic surgeon who worked in the hospital emergency room through the night. “The children were physically very injured but also emotionally very hurt.”

Some relatives were in such shock they were unable to talk. “The psychologists have heard terrible things, there are awful stories that children are telling,” said Stéphanie Simpson, head of the hospital’s communications team.

She said 39 people hit in the attacks had been brought to the children’s emergency department. A total of 30 children were treated at the hospital after the attack – the youngest only a few months old and the oldest was 18. Two children died in the night after being admitted. Several children were still in intensive care on Friday.

That is a horrible thing to have to witness and see.  A French student teacher taught at my high school when I studied there. He lived with two of my best friends’ family and I’m in contact with him still.  He and his family run a small restaurant in Nice.  His son witnessed some of aftermath; the carnage.  The glorious bastards known as the right wing are taunting people that the weapons remained in the car while the truck mowed down people simply celebrating Bastille Day. There is some debate on the motivation for the attack as the man was experiencing a number of personal difficulties.  The driver was a 31 year old native of Tunisia.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, and authorities did not release information about a motive. But Molins said Friday that the attack fits with calls that “terrorist organizations regularly give out on their videos and elsewhere.”

Bouhlel was known by police because of allegations of threats, violence and thefts over the last six years, and he was given a suspended six-month prison sentence this year after being convicted of violence with a weapon, Molins said.

But he was “entirely unknown by the intelligence services, whether nationally or locally,” Molins said.

“He had never been the subject of any kind of file or indication of radicalization,” Molin said.

The attack was launched on a popular street that would normally be packed with tourists and residents on a sunny afternoon in July.

Miles gets a Pikachu.

Eighty Four people have died as a result so far and as mentioned above, many of them were children enjoying a day of celebration.  Why is it that when men melt down they feel the need to take so many others with them?  Can’t they just go jump off a bridge or something?

Meanwhile, I did sign up for Pokemon Go last weekend and went out last night for my first Pokestop to pick up some of those pesky free balls.  Yes, I was out trolling the streets for balls and critters. The game is one of those things now that can only be described as a phenomenon.

I can explain it because I’m one of those parents of a kid of a certain age that obsessed about taking pictures of Pokemons on their primative Nintendo.  Youngest Daughter is an avid player as is her friend from here that’s now chasing them around the Jersey Shore.  An entire new bunch of kids and parents are out chasing them around parks and neighborhoods confusing many “get off my lawn” types.    I had a friend whose game of Golf was interrupted at city park by a group of Pokemon chasing children. Frankly, I think that’s cute and healthy.  Better outside gaming like this than on the couch.  Right FLOTUS?

Now, you shouldn’t be doing this while driving a car or in the middle of some one’s funeral at a cemetary.  There’s also some question as to the level of identity theft that might be attributable to the ap.  I don’t really care.  I’ve always been up for a good scavenger hunt and I’m an Anime fan from way back.

To fully understand Pokémon Go, you have to go back to the canonical beginnings of Pokémon. Around 1990, a video game designer named Satoshi Tajiri began hammering out the concept of Pokémon, which combined his childhood hobby of insect collecting with his love for video games.

“Places to catch insects are rare because of urbanization,” Tajiri told Time in 1999. “Kids play inside their homes now, and a lot had forgotten about catching insects. So had I. When I was making games, something clicked and I decided to make a game with that concept.”

Six years after Tajiri came up with this initial concept, with the help of Nintendo and designer/illustrator Ken Sugimori (Sugimori drew the initial 151 different Pokémon himself), the first Pokémon game was released on Game Boy.

The word Pokémon itself is the Americanized/Westernized contraction of “pocket monsters” — which, yes, can sound sort of inappropriate — and the original first-person game centered on a young trainer capturing 151 different types of Pokémon, ranging from ones that vaguely resemble turtles (Squirtle) to humanoid ones (Jynx) to the most recognizable Pokémon in the world, Pikachu.

That this combination of Nintendo 8-bit processing magic and lack of color was so magical is a testament to the ingenuity of Tajiri’s initial idea.

So, I’ve battled a few of the wild pokemon.  Visited a pokeman stop and know where the local gym is by looking at my ap which connects with the local GPS and Google maps.  There are some interesting stories coming up about the game from all over.  Here’s a few to get our minds to the idea that we can move around our neighborhoods, interact with our neighbors, and have some good clean fun while forgetting there are crazy people out there that wish us harm.  My favorite story is that Hillary Clinton is “using Pokemon to get votes.”

The Cincinnati Enquirer’s Mallorie Sullivan reports that Clinton’s Ohio staff spent the past weekend going “from Cuyahoga to Athens to seek out players in their communities to register them to vote.”

There’s even an official Hillary event scheduled in Lakewood, Ohio, pegged to the game. “Join us as we go to the Pokestop in Madison Park and put up a lure module, get free pokemon, & battle each other while you register voters and learn more about Sec. Hillary Clinton!!!” the event description says. “Kids welcome!”

Lure modules, for context, are items in the game that attract a large number of Pokémon to a given area. You can acquire them for free, but to use them for any length of time usually requires shelling out for additional lures, meaning the Clinton campaign could be spending funds on attracting Pokémon (and players) to its events.

Clinton has even mentioned it in campaign speeches. She suggests we Pokemon Go to the Polls!

I battle a wild pokemon on the streets of New Orleans with the virtual “help” of a neighbor.

There is even a really lame  attack ad on Hillary now from “millenials for Trump” with a player named “crooked Hillary”.  It’s not particularly clever and probably isn’t going to gain any kind of real attention.

Well, it was only a matter of time before the U.S. presidential candidates started trying to capitalize on the nationwide phenomenon that is Pokémon Go. A new attack ad posted yesterday by Donald Trump imagines his opponent, Hillary Clinton, as a Pokémon to be captured and, presumably, locked away forever.

Clinton’s Pokémon name is, of course, “Crooked Hillary,” and she’s listed as a Career Politician-type creature with a CP (combat power) rating of 1. The clip describes her as “often found lying to the American people, rigging the system, and sharing TOP SECRET emails.” The ad also imagines Clinton’s next evolution as “unemployed.”

To be clear, while Trump posted the brief video on his Facebook page, it does not appear to be an ad that his campaign created. The required “I’m Donald Trump and I approve this message” notice is nowhere to be found, and the video doesn’t say that it was paid for by the Trump campaign.

What’s far more likely, considering how much time the candidate spends retweeting messages from his supporters, is that one of the Trump faithful — someone who’s a bit more savvy when it comes to social media — made the video. We’ve reached out to the Trump campaign for clarification, and will update this article with any information we receive.

In what is perhaps a coincidence, Trump posted the video on the same day that Clinton herself invoked the name of Pokémon Go. During a campaign stop yesterday in Annandale, Virginia, Clinton joked that app developers could make a mobile game to increase voter turnout: “I don’t know who created Pokémon Go, but I’m trying to figure out how we get them to have Pokémon Go to the Polls!”

So, I’m not sure how long this is going to be a big deal, but for the moment it’s a good distraction and I’m really curious to just observe the entire thing from both the standpoints of a business product, strategy and marketing and a psychological thing.   Perhaps it’s a Michelle Obama conspiracy to get people moving?

Pokemon Go has gained massive popularity lately for its fun interface and use ofaugmented reality. But the app is also providing a few unexpected health benefits for gamers.

While playing video games is typically a sedentary activity, Pokemon Go requires users to walk around and explore their real-life surroundings in search of Pokemon to capture. This has apparently inspired gamers to get outdoors and get moving.

There’s some anecdotal evidence that suggests the game is promoting more physical activity (and some people are even reporting spikes in activity on their fitness trackers). The app’s users are taking to social media to share their experiences of getting exercise while playing …

There have also been some Pokemon mishaps.  This includes car wrecks. 

Tuesday, Texas A&M University Police tweeted that on Monday, an illegally-parked car was hit from behind, causing the second car’s airbags to deploy. Police say the driver of the illegally-parked car had left it to catch a Pokemon.

Just before that post, UPD sent another tweet noting that Monday, a suspicious vehicle was reported to them about 1:00 a.m. driving on campus. Police responded, and found the occupants were playing Pokemon Go.

In addition to traffic concerns, law enforcement has asked people not to go to unsafe or unfamiliar areas to play the game.

There is something on my desk! Wait! Don’t I have two cats that are supposed to deal with this? No wonder today’s post is so damned late!!!

This also includes a few inventive robberies, a found dead body, and a fall from a cliff.  I did have a friend venture out into the street last night with my phone but we were watching out for traffic and him even if he wasn’t.  I got in the middle of a long discussion about the PokeStops last night at J&J’s Sports Bar up the street from the kathouse. The stops seem to be located in the places most likely to be the busiest in the neighborhood.  They must’ve been chosen on the number of folks on line there at some point or doing reviews or something.  The places are free now, but will the company try to monetize this access eventually and change stops based on cash payments?

I told my friend that owns the BBQ Joint which is the Gym for a huge swath of the game zone that he should try to figure out if he can monetize it first to determine if it’s worth paying a fee eventually should that occur. My friends at the bar where I hung out last night have already been celebrating their stop status on their social media.  I did watch a bunch of tourists stop  on their way places last night.   There are also local, more public things like statues, historical signs, and churches–all outside of buildings–that are designated stops too.  You really can walk around your neighborhood and hit a stop every five or six blocks somewhere.  I live in an urban hood though.  I’m sure it’s different if you’re out in the boonies somewhere or burbs.

Some unlucky Pokémon GO players are getting more than they bargained for when they fall off cliffs, get mugged, or even find a dead body while searching for Pokémon.

Here’s a round-up of some of the biggest Pokémon GO-related incidents so far:

7/13/16 Encinitas,CA CA -0.31%: Two Men Fall From Cliff While Playing Pokémon GO

Two men fell 75 feet from a cliff while playing Pokémon GO,local news reports say. The men apparently became distracted while attempting to catch a Pokémon. A rope team was involved in the rescue of at least one of the men, neither of whom was seriously injured.

7/13/16 Anaheim, CA: Man Stabbed Multiple Times While Playing PokémonGO

A man playing Pokémon GO followed the game right into Schweitzer Park around midnight Wednesday morning, only to be set upon by multiple attackers and stabbed in the torso, according to NBC Los Angeles. It does not appear that the attackers used the game to lure the man to that location, but rather that he was distracted and unaware of his surroundings when the attack occurred.

7/13/16 Lake Ronkonkoma, NY: Teen Playing Pokémon GO Robbed By Three Attackers

A 19-year-old man was playing Pokémon GO when three men, at least one of whom was armed with a handgun, pulled up alongside him in a sedan and then robbed him and stole his phone, local reports say.

So, this is a weird, shortish open thread post for a weird, longest Friday. If you’re gonna catch them all, or if you gonna walk the streets for any reason, be careful out there!!!

What’s on your reading and blogging list today?

"so i just press the red ball and catch that pokemon over…there.."

"that is wolf blitzer ma'am" https://t.co/De9QvzDyoF—
darth™ (@darth) July 14, 2016