A student blows up at a teacher, drops the F-bomb. The usual approach at Lincoln – and, safe to say, at most high schools in this country – is automatic suspension. Instead, Sporleder sits the kid down and says quietly: “Wow. Are you OK? This doesn’t sound like you. What’s going on?”
He gets even more specific: “You really looked stressed. On a scale of 1-10, where are you with your anger?” The kid was ready. Ready, man! For an anger blast to his face….”How could you do that?” “What’s wrong with you?”…and for the big boot out of school. But he was NOT ready for kindness.
The armor-plated defenses melt like ice under a blowtorch and the words pour out: “My dad’s an alcoholic. He’s promised me things my whole life and never keeps those promises.” The waterfall of words that go deep into his home life, which is no piece of breeze, end with this sentence: “I shouldn’t have blown up at the teacher.” Whoa.
“Even when the console’s turned off, users can simply say “Xbox On” to power up — which means the new Kinect will be listening to you in your living room at all times.”
(via frompawntoqueen)
Source: theverge.com
Alright, if you’re a consumer and you’re considering picking up the new Xbox One console, then please, take a moment to listen to me. Before we begin, no, I am not a fanboy or a hater. I have no console Bias. I have a PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, and a Gaming PC. Each has their pros and cons but now onto business.
DO NOT BUY AN XBOX ONE. Why? See the reasons below:
Xbox Requires an internet connection. Here’s how it works: Every 24 hours your Xbox will try to connect to Microsoft’s servers for verification. If it is unable to connect, sucks to be you. You’re blocked from playing even single player games until it can connect.
Source: http://kotaku.com/xbox-one-does-require-internet-connection-cant-play-o-509164109
Do you like renting games, lending them to a friend, or even borrowing them from a friend? No longer possible. Every Xbox One game you get must be registered to your Xbox live account to be played. After that point it will only work for you. No one else can use it unless they pay a fee. Essentially it works like this. You pick up a used Xbox One game from somewhere or someone, pop it into your console. The system verifies it’s been registered to your account. Uh-oh, it isn’t! In order to play it, you have to pay Microsoft a fee, which is currently slated to be full retail price. Doesn’t matter how scratched up it is or how cheap you got it at gamestop or from a friend. You aren’t just buying the physical copies anymore. You’re paying Microsoft for a LICENSE to be allowed to play that game.
It is worth mentioning Microsoft is exploring ways for you to trade in and resell your used games. This is rumored to mean that you can sell your digital license to play the game (registration) back to microsoft, likely for microsoft points. You can then trade in the game at gamespot for some cash if you like. Either way, as it currently stands, the new owner would still have to pay a fee on top of the price of actually buying the physical copy.
Source: http://www.technobuffalo.com/2013/05/21/xbox-one-fee-for-buying-used-games-full-retail-price/
Is it worth mentioning that Microsoft if shafting Indie Developers as well? Where as on Playstation Network or (whatever the Wii has) Indie Developers can self publish their content easily. Playstation even encourages this. Microsoft however forces these Indie Devs to enter publishing deals with them to be allowed to market their content. You don’t go through them, you don’t get to sell what you developed.
Source: http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/05/22/indie-devs-cant-self-publish-on-xbox-one
I’m not quite done yet! Now, I’m sure you heard a lot about “TV TV TV TV SPORTS TV TV SPORTS SPORTS TV.” Yes, the Xbox is slated to be able to stream live tv, live sports, etc. So let me ask you this. You obviously already have something like cable or DirecTV. Do you really want to shell out hundreds of dollars more and pay a monthly subscription fee to have another television provider? Yes, I said hundreds of dollars, and I don’t mean the cost of the console. To view live TV from the Xbox you are required to purchase ANOTHER separate device for it to work. Why would you even consider shelling out more money for something you already have anyway? Even if you didn’t, DirecTV is cheaper. Or you could even subscribe you Hulu.com and watch live tv on your computer. FOR MUCH CHEAPER. You essentially have to buy another cable box if you don’t have one. And if you do… what do you need the Xbox One for?
Source: http://www.vg247.com/2013/05/21/xbox-one-live-tv-available-in-us-only-at-launch-requires-separate-device/
So far we’ve discovered that the Xbox One is not really a gaming console, at least… not a consumer friendly gaming console. It’s being marketed as an all-in-one home entertainment system. Something to replace all of the other devices in your house. But there are drawbacks even to that. Put on your tin foil hats for this part folks. Take from it what you will, all I’ll say is… possibilities…
The Xbox One’s features will not function unless the Kinect is plugged in and active. This is not an optional piece anymore.
Source: http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/05/21/xbox-one-will-not-function-without-kinect-attached
So imagine your Kinect piece breaks? Tough luck, no more Xbox for you. But you know what’s worse?
Pay attention, because this is important. The Kinect is always watching. Always listening. Even when the system is off.
Yes. One of the ways to turn the system on is to audibly say: “Xbox On” while the system is off. The Kinect, which is always on, hears you and turns it on. Now this might seem like a cool feature, but did you know Microsoft patented a feature that would allow the Kinect’s camera (It’s no longer just a sensor, but a camera) to spy on you for the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America?) While they may not actually do this, it is actually possible for them to do this now. It has a camera, and a microphone. The Kinect is always on. It is ALWAYS listening, ALWAYS watching.
An idea has been tossed around that by using this feature, it will allows game developers and movie produces to set a limited amount of how many people can be allowed to view the entertainment. So as a hypothetical example, you and three friends are watching a movie, which is the maximum allowed. A fourth friend enters the room and the Kinect’s sensor registers the fourth individual. The movie stops and you a prompted to pay a fee so that the extra individual may also view the film. Again, that is NOT currently the case, but these are the ideas currently being tossed around with the system’s current capabilities.
Source for listening: http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/21/4352596/the-xbox-one-is-always-listening
Source of spying: http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/139706-microsofts-new-kinect-patent-goes-big-brother-will-spy-on-you-for-the-mpaa
Now, just two more things and I’ll be done here!
This isn’t really a good or bad thing, but it’s annoying. It also explains how they can prevent you from playing a used game if you didn’t pay their fee. Xbox one no longer plays games off the discs, you HAVE to install them to the hard-drive in order to play them. I believe PS3 also has you do this (on a number of games but not always it seems), except that PS3 isn’t trying to Nickle and Dime you at every corner. It also seems according to this article there is something related to the Online portion at the beginning of this post. The option is there for Developers to require the Xbox to always be online to play their particular game. Well, it seems PC gamers and console gamers have one thing in common now… DRM.
(At least pirates on PC can bypass DRM easily. Not an option for Consoles.)
Source: http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/21/4352314/xbox-one-hard-drive-game-installs
And last but not least, another annoyance… Xbox One will not be compatible with any and all current headsets. Nope, companies will either have to make new headsets altogether specifically for the Xbox One, and they have to adhere to what Microsoft wants. Look forward to price gouging.
Source: http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/05/22/xbox-one-incompatible-with-current-gaming-headsets
Oh, one more thing… If you have an Xbox 360, don’t get rid of it. Why? Well if you want to keep playing your old 360 games you’ll need it. The Xbox One isn’t backwards compatible. At all. Not only that, but President of Microsoft’s Xbox Division Don Mattrick insults the very notion of backwards compatibility! He calls it: “Backwards thinking.”
Source: http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/21/4350662/new-xbox-has-no-backwards-compatibilty
Source of insult: http://www.polygon.com/2013/5/22/4355984/xbox-one-backward-compatibility-backwards-thinking-don-mattrick
That is all I have to say currently folks, and I hope you took the time to read this far. I’ll conclude with the following… please… PLEASE do not buy this console. Paying for this supports greedy and anti-consumer business practices. Speak with your wallet, and pass up the Xbox One. No matter what games it might have that you want, even if they are exclusive. Do the right thing and make a statement. Refuse to be nickle and dimed like this. Refuse to be seen as a mindless consumer who will buy anything tossed to them.
We won’t know much else until after E3, but as it stands now, the PS4 or a decent gaming PC is the best way to go.
If you are willing to do so, please spread this post around. Liking is not even remotely necessary, but do please share it if you agree with and acknowledge what you’ve read here. The more people know, the fewer of them waste their money.
Thank you, kindly.
~Dylan Jordan
(Originally posted on Facebook by one of my friends. He brings up many valid points. Mind you, I haven’t been a fan of Xbox in a long time and I will most likely get a PS4. But this confirms further for me that I won’t be getting an Xbox one any time in the foreseeable future.)
(via pearlescent-starscape)
Source: angelfire93
Roland Mesnier, who worked at the White House for 26 years beginning with the Carter administration, said when President Bill Clinton came into the White House in 1993, he had a “scary” appetite.
“He could eat five or six pork chops.” He recalls the episode of a strawberry cake he made one evening. Clinton devoured half of it all by himself, and the next morning he wanted more. ‘No one could find the cake,’ says Mesnier, who had a face-to-face with the distraught commander in chief. ‘Clinton was pounding on the table and shouting, “I want my goddamned cake.”’
spirit animal
Source: frickyeah1990s
OH COOL LOOK A NEW MESSAGE!
WRONG!
THAT BAD BOY RIGHT THERE IS A VIRUS.
YEP, YOU HIT THAT TEMPTING LITTLE CIRCLE AND YOU HAVE A ONE WAY TRIP TO VIRUS-VILLE ON THE MY COMPUTER IS NOW CRASHED BUS!
DON’T CLICK IT.
CLICK IT AND YOUR HACKED.
CLICK IT AND YOUR COMPUTER DIES.
CLICK IT AND BASICALLY YOU’RE SCREWED.
Signal boost for my followers. I hate this kind of virus :S Then again, I hate ALL viruses.
Remember: Anything with an email attached IS A VIRUS.
omg i got this and i wass gonna open it
Since when do YouTube videos have viruses? It’s not worth watching — it’s a crappy wannabe “viral” ad campaign for Graceland on the USA Network (I made it six seconds in before realizing that and stopping it and flagging the YouTube account for spamming me and blocking the sender here on tumblr), but I’m really not worried that I got a virus for watching it. It’s annoying, and USA Networks should know better than to try to manufacture fake buzz like this, but I highly doubt that it’s dangerous.
(via lodeman)
Source: captain-america-steve
Teen Who Was Expelled From School For Science Explosion Receives Full Scholarship U.S. Space Academy
“Kiera Wilmot made an honest mistake, but the police were trying to throw away her life with a felony. After the community stood up for the girl, the charges were dropped, and she was allowed to move on with her life. Well, her greatness is really starting to shine, as she was recently granted several extraordinary opportunities through scholarship offers she has received.
Dr. Christopher Emdin, a professor of education at Columbia University, says that the schools are now very similar to prisons in terms of how they are structured, and how the inhabitants are treated. Kiera overcame her situation, but there are thousands of kids across the country who aren’t so lucky. Maybe it’s time to attack the system that is attacking us.
Check this out from Gawker:
“Kiera Wilmot, the 16-year-old honor student expelled from her high school after she allegedly ignited a chemical explosion on school property, received a full scholarship to the U.S. Space Academy, courtesy of a NASA veteran who, as a teenager, was accused of starting a forest fire during a science experiment.”
The lessons here are simple: Black kids have potential, and we can’t allow this system to destroy them. Also, hard work always pays off, especially when it comes to education. Dr. Boyce Watkins and Minister Louis Farrakhan recently held a forum called “Wealth, Education, Family and Community: A New Paradigm for Black America.” In the forum, Dr. Watkins and Min. Farrakhan both agree that African Americans are going to have to think differently when it comes to deciding what it means for your kids to be educated.”
Just when I feel like all hope is lost :) may she grow up to become another awesome woc scientist, we need more of those too.
I’m so happy that the charges were dropped, and that her future remains bright.
(via tin-pan-ali)
Source: thescienceofreality
Every time I see a food post tagged/referred to as “porn,” I picture that hamburger’s mother sobbing and wondering where she went wrong, and the Pizza’s father getting angry and heading out to kick some chef ass because that bastard must have lied to it’s pizza son/daughter and offered them a “modeling” job that turned out to be way more than modeling.
And by the time the father pizza gets there, the son/daughter pizza has been eaten. And when the mother hamburger shows up to confront the fry chef, her little hamburger is gone.
So the food parents collapse in grief, which of course gives the chefs an opportunity to serve them to another set of customers, who take pictures of them and post their prone pizza and hamburger bodies on the internet before eating them too.
It’s tragic, really.
Source: ronpaulproblems
I don’t keep track of stars on twitter like I used to, but it’s kinda cool getting one from an anchor for KING 5 news in Seattle. Sometimes I forget that a few reporters follow me.
Also, turns out they have at least two hovercrafts:
(photo source)
The Seattle Times is reporting three minor injuries, no fatalities in the bridge collapse, and say that everybody is accounted for.
Investigators, at least at this point, think that a truck with an oversize load* struck the bridge, causing the collapse, but that finding is not final.
*According to this tweet, this is the truck that hit the bridge:
I’m going to stop monitoring it actively now that we know that injuries aren’t extensive. We now return to your regularly scheduled angsty blogging.
