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Concerns raised over Taser safety - As Taser begins to market its product to the general public, human studies are finally addressing the health effects of being "tased"
[New Scientist - Breaking news]

Don't tase me, Bro! I find it funny that that's the "quote heard round the world" right now. I'm not even going to sit here and debate the finer points of the whole tasing incident (dude... that was totally harsh), but I have to admit that I'm surprised that most of the outrage over the incident comes from outside of the US... unless you count John Kerry. That's the part I found totally bizarre - Kerry, the guy those cops were supposedly protecting, wanted to answer his question. Whatever.

On a lighter side, am I the only one who continually thought of Dean from Code Monkeys while watching that "dude gets tased" video? Or is it more that I'm the only guy to find something funny about what happened there, at all?

I sort of wish the latter were true, but I suspect that's not the case.

The issue of taser safety - that f'd up incident in Florida aside - is an interesting one. I posit that they ought to be treated just like guns in terms of how their use is scrutinized. I think they've become the "screw the hassle just tase him so we can go home" crutch for a haggard and overworked police force. (Cops are haggard and overworked the world over, don't read anything into that.) I think it's sad that our police are underpaid and overworked, but I think it's sadder that they'd resort to using tasers on just about anyone to cope.

To use a totally left-field analogy: There's an easy way to avoid wiping out on the double black diamond run when you hit the ski slopes: Don't ski the double black diamond run.

Don't sign up to be a cop if you can't handle the pressure. It's a shitty job, you'll get no recognition, no reward, no laurels and you sure as hell won't find any relief on the job, so why sign up if that's going to be a problem for you? There are a certain percentage of people on this planet who can handle that, but I think in our press to "bulk up our police forces" we've begun attracting people who are not within that certain percentage and I think things like willy-nilly tasing, and tasing people after 4 cops have pinned them down rendering them a non-threat, are a result of this.

Games are similar with this whole "blue sea market" thing. (how's that for a seamless, yet totally absurd, segue?) The number of gamers grows every year, but it's ridiculous to assume there are billions of "yet to be converted gamers" out there just waiting for Nintendo to make them all happy.

The Wii, my dear readers, is a fad. Yep. You heard it here. I'm not on the Wii bandwagon. I think it's a cool platform and I love what I've seen, but I don't believe it's the messiah, I don't believe it's not a "piece of shit" and I don't believe it's going to bring peace to the middle east by including everyone in its "Target demographic."

Nintendo found and exploited an interest, but how long does that last before the people who wanted it simply because they were swept up in the hype realize the only game they ever play is Wii sports? A console that only sells one game, is doomed.

Meanwhile the Xbox360 is over there kicking total ass with an amazing game library and the best online service out there right now...while the market's loudest voices kick sand in its face, call it a 90 pound weakling and steal its girlfriend. The RRoD sucked. Hell my poor box is RRoD'd right now and that really sucks, but I'd still rather have a 360 than a Wii for the simplest and most important reason:

More [and better] games.

You can't convert me to the Wii because it's new - the hype spell was broken when 6 months went by with no games I have to have on the platform. When I finally am coverted, I have no doubt I'll find that I'm a shitty fit for the Wii because of the lack of games I like to play - meaning that Nintendo's "blue sea market" has left me back on the shore, wondering what's out there (cue the bioshock intro and "Beyond the Sea" on a tinny gramaphone). You can't make games for everyone any more than you can make everyone into a good cop.

The sooner we realize these two facts are true, the fewer of us will get hurt.

(But, I sure as hell don't fault Nintendo for making a few billion dollars in the meantime)

- Snipehunter