Most People Are Depressed For a Very Good Reason

http://www.violentacres.com/archives/169/most-people-are-depressed-for-a-very-good-reason/

One man's life changing moment

http://www.upworthy.com/it-only-takes-7-images-to-see-things-that-might-have-been-invisible-to-you

Assange: Google Is Not What It Seems

http://www.newsweek.com/assange-google-not-what-it-seems-279447?piano_t=1

The Role Of Men In The Fight Against Sexism

http://thefbomb.org/2012/07/the-role-of-men-in-the-fight-against-sexism/

Ornish Diet Ranked First For Heart Health By U.S. News

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/06/ornish-diet-heart-health-us-news_n_1188205.html

Obama Is a Republican

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/obama-is-a-republican/

"Invisible Electrostatic Wall" at 3M adhesive tape plant

http://amasci.com/weird/unusual/e-wall.html

Good People Don’t Get Good Jobs

http://www.alternet.org/speakeasy/leowgerard/good-people-dont-get-good-jobs?page=0%2C1&paging=off&current_page=1

Help, We're in a Living Hell and Don't Know How to Get Out

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/congress-living-hell-1114

Why encouraging intimacy between men might save lives

http://www.dailydot.com/opinion/elliot-rodger-intimacy-masculinty-crisis/

Bisexuals Passing As Gay

http://harriefarrow.blogspot.ie/2014/10/bisexuals-passing-as-gay.html?m=1

3 Examples Of How "It's Policy" Has Become An Excuse For Absolutely Unspeakable Acts

http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=35933

Not Simply Double Standards

I've read complaints that when men are abused by women, it's not treated as seriously as when women are abused by men. They complain about double standards. That doesn't really explain what's going on.

When a woman is in trouble, the socially accepted solution is for a man to help/save her. When a man is in trouble the socially accepted solution, is for him to solve the problem himself. This is why people will react so very differently depending on who does the oppressing, and whom is being oppressed.

People will laugh when a man is abused, not because they think it's okay to abuse the guy, but because they think it's absurd for him to not fight back. They will try to goad him into standing up for himself, condemn him for his weakness, and demand that he solve his own problems.

People don't laugh when a woman is abused, because what happens is exactly what they expect to happen. They expect women to just take the abuse and not fight back. They expect men to abuse. It's not funny, because everything is exactly how they believe things are supposed to be.

It's not that men and women are held to different standards, it's that there's one standard being applied to everything: Men are in charge. It's not Feminism refusing to help the men. It's the Patriarchy refusing to.

http://www.robot-hugs.com/strip/

War

http://www.reddit.com/r/television/comments/2hrntm/last_week_tonight_with_john_oliver_drones_hbo/ckvmq7m

Deconstructing Masculinity

http://www.thefword.org.uk/features/2006/02/deconstructing_masculinity

Out of Sight, Out of Mind.

http://drones.pitchinteractive.com/

What's Going on With Social Security?

http://economixcomix.com/home/social-security/

How Playing Good Christian Housewife Almost Killed Me

www.alternet.org/belief/how-playing-good-christian-housewife-almost-killed-me?

Exploring the Implications of Moral Anti-Realism

http://adversusapologetica.wordpress.com/2013/09/15/exploring-the-implications-of-moral-anti-realism/

Buddha seems to bring tranquility to Oakland neighborhood

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/johnson/article/Buddha-seems-to-bring-tranquillity-to-Oakland-5757592.php

ELI5: Why do all animals, even insects, seem to go nuts over the red dot?

http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2gemn1/eli5_why_do_all_animals_even_insects_seem_to_go/ckielrb

How A Foot-Powered Washing Machine Could Change Millions Of Lives

http://www.fastcodesign.com/1670355/how-a-foot-powered-washing-machine-could-change-millions-of-lives

Almost All the Books People Say Influenced Them Were Written for Children

http://www.motherjones.com/mixed-media/2014/09/people-like-to-sleep-with-people-who-were-affected-by-great-books

Years of Rape and ‘Utter Contempt’ in Britain

www.nytimes.com/2014/09/02/world/europe/reckoning-starts-in-britain-on-abuse-of-girls.html?_r=1

An amusing little story.

http://theuserpool.squarespace.com/journal/2007/11/7/suicidal.html

Saves Go In the Save Place

http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=21611

ELI5: Why do humans cry during emotional distress?

http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2f0gch/eli5_why_do_humans_cry_during_emotional_distress/ck4ropd

'The useless organ': Maggie Lee tells of the devestating effect her hysterectomy had on her sexuality and more

http://www.thefword.org.uk/features/2008/11/the_useless_org

France is ditching the ‘Islamic State’ name — and replacing it with a label the group hates

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/09/17/france-is-ditching-the-islamic-state-name-and-replacing-it-with-a-label-the-group-hates/?tid=sm_fb

The Most Amazing Lie in History

http://mentalfloss.com/article/58468/most-amazing-lie-history

Radical Opacity

http://www.juliandibbell.com/articles/radical-opacity/

Dungeons and Dragons: Players vs Dungeon Masters

http://community.wizards.com/comment/51039976#comment-51039976

An insightful post about the nature of running a D&D game, and how player and game master desires can conflict.

Ship Happens - AMV

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Tc7MH5ZXbg

Was browsing AMVs, this one made me laugh.
If you don't know what Shipping is in this context, check out TV tropes: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Shipping

No-Win Situation: The Troubled History of Firefall, Part 1

https://web.archive.org/web/20160422234139/http://www.gamefront.com/no-win-situation-the-troubled-history-of-firefall-and-red-5-studios-part-1/

Essential Truths of Corporate Business

http://www.friesian.com/corpor.htm

Why the US Government Is Hated All Over the World

http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=22083

What Emotional Intelligence Reveals About Your Personality

http://www.laraequy.com/blog/personal-leadership/emotional-intelligence-reveals-personality/

I am not Anonymous - but they have a point.

http://www.graphictruth.com/2011/06/i-am-not-anonomous-but-they-have-point.html

They are mine, they are mine, they are mine

http://zeroatthebone.wordpress.com/2009/08/07/they-are-mine-they-are-mine-they-are-mine/

Not Everyone Has the Tools to Become Rich: How Our Childhood Shapes Our Ability to Succeed

http://www.alternet.org/economy/not-everyone-has-tools-become-rich-how-our-childhood-shapes-our-ability-succeed?paging=off&current_page=1#bookmark

Suicide vs. Love

https://medium.com/meaning-meaningfulness/suicide-vs-love-a01df4bed3b

One Little Piggy Had Birth Defects: Is Monsanto's Roundup to Blame?

http://www.alternet.org/environment/one-little-piggy-had-birth-defects-monsantos-roundup-blame?paging=off&current_page=1#bookmark

What Happens to Police Officers Who Shoot Unarmed Black Men

http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/heres-what-happens-police-officers-who-shoot-unarmed-black-men

Why Guys Like Asian Girls

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=zWFQ1uiD8LA

Employers Can Legally Lie to Workers, Court Rules

http://www.mainstreet.com/article/career/employment/employers-can-legally-lie-workers-court-rules?page=1

Placebos Are Getting More Effective. Drugmakers Are Desperate to Know Why.

http://archive.wired.com/medtech/drugs/magazine/17-09/ff_placebo_effect?currentPage=all

Ferguson Feeds Off the Poor: Three Warrants a Year Per Household

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/08/22/ferguson-s-shameful-legal-shakedown-three-warrants-a-year-per-household.html

People are basically stupid

http://everything2.com/title/People+are+basically+stupid

When Authorities “Don’t Give a Shit”

http://thecurvature.com/2008/05/20/when-authorities-dont-give-a-shit/

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Ferguson, MO and Police Militarization (HBO)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUdHIatS36A

Neverwinter (the MMO)

I tried playing Neverwinter. It made me laugh, and also confused me. What I found so funny, was how the game tried so hard to look and feel like an action game, yet underneath the surface it was clearly using standard MMO mechanics. What I found confusing, was that the animations seemed much worse than I'd expected. Champions Online has better animations. Both games were made by the same company: Cryptic. Aside from the animation issues (mainly the run/walk animations and the tails... and the fact that archers don't shoot like that...) Neverwinter was very pretty.

Sadly, I'm not a big fan of standard MMO gameplay, so I didn't play Neverwinter very long. It felt very much like a standard MMO, with some heavy instancing, and tons of polish. It also, really, did not feel like DnD. It felt like a standard MMO paying lip service to DnD ideas.

P.S. Not being able to move and attack at the same time was frustrating. Not being able to fire my cone attack unless an enemy was under the targeting cursor was even more annoying. I have to stop attacking if I want to dodge anything... I liked TSW better.

Even atheists have sacred cows

http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2014/08/13/even-atheists-have-sacred-cows/

Defiance (the game, not the behavior)

Started playing some of the game Defiance. I'm not really sure what to think. Many of the game mechanics and design I'd wanted to see done in an MMO are there, yet the overall quality of the game is somewhat lacking. It's like there's a lot of good ideas executed poorly.

The core element that really sets Defiance apart, and makes it special, is the way everything is built with open missions, which anyone can show up and help with. If someone else is already doing a mission I've been sent to do, I can join them, and we'll both get credit when it's done. I've never had to wait for a boss to respawn because someone else beat me to it.

The core problem with the open mission structure, is how easily it leads to certain missions being swarmed by players in such numbers that the missions become trivial. Other missions are simply ignored, and I end up having to avoid them because I can't handle them solo. Thankfully, most of the plot missions I did were both soloable, and often one or two other players would help out.

Personally, I'd like to see MMOs take advantage of the ability to give each player different mission requests to try and spread players out more. Would probably require a kind of AI director (*cough-L4D-cough*).

P.S. while I have enjoyed the shotguns that shoot grenades, I don't really understand why they are in the game, when there are also grenade launchers. Wouldn't it make more sense to just have a larger variety of grenade launchers instead?

P.P.S. I'm running out of articles to link. I guess I'll have to write more stuff myself. Unfortunately, all I really have to write about, is video games. My life isn't very exciting, and I don't do anything of importance.

Chris Hedges: Why Israel Lies

http://www.filmsforaction.org/articles/chris-hedges-why-israel-lies/

Harassment, male privilege, and jokes that women just don’t get

http://www.feministlawprofessors.com/2011/11/harassment-male-privilege-jokes-women-dont/?t=1320806691

When Catcalling Isn’t Just an Annoyance

http://www.racialicious.com/2008/05/25/when-catcalling-isnt-just-an-annoyance

How Reality Caught up with Paranoid Delusions

http://aeon.co/magazine/altered-states/how-reality-caught-up-with-paranoid-delusions/

Murphy's Law and its progeny

http://zira.home.xs4all.nl/murphy.html

About Alcohol Depression

http://aboutalcoholdepression.com/depression-from-alcohol/

Most Republicans Think Jesus Would Denounce Universal Healthcare

http://www.alternet.org/belief/most-republicans-think-jesus-would-denounce-universal-healthcare

"Evolution-like," wisdom of crowds systems

http://karmatics.com/docs/evolution-and-wisdom-of-crowds.html

How one judge single-handedly killed trust in the US technology industry

http://www.zdnet.com/how-one-judge-single-handedly-killed-trust-in-the-us-technology-industry-7000032257/

Reddit, tell me your "glitch in the Matrix" stories

http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/oeo0h/reddit_tell_me_your_glitch_in_the_matrix_stories/

Circadian Rhythm and Blues: The Interface of Depression with Sleep and Dreams

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/mindful-sleep-mindful-dreams/201103/circadian-rhythm-and-blues-the-interface-depression-sleep-a

Divinity: Original Sin

I recently played Divinity: Original Sin. It proved to be a better game than I had expected.

One of the simple mechanics introduced in the game very early on, is something I've realized is missing in most games. I can spill oil on the ground, then light it on fire. The green ooze/poison stuff is explosive if burned. If I hit an enemy that is on fire with poison, it will explode causing extra fire damage. A spell available in the first town, that can be cast (theoretically) by someone at level 1, makes it rain. The rain makes characters wet. Wet characters are harder to burn. These are all really simple concepts that make a much richer game mechanically.

Objects can be moved around. I beat a boss by abusing this. Arranging the vases in the room, messed with the Boss' AI so that instead of starting the fight by blasting me with a big spell, they ran around all the vases and swung a sword. Another time I managed to place a bunch of oil barrels around a room, before starting the fight by attacking them with fire. The fight was basically over as soon as it began.

The game certainly isn't perfect (it seems to reward save-scumming rather heavily) yet it seems very much like a big forward leap for it's genre. It isn't simply more of the old stuff, like so many other indie RPGs have been. Divinity: Original Sin has raised the bar, providing new mechanics and ideas for everyone to (hopefully) raid and pillage for their new games.

The Gervais Principle, Or The Office According to “The Office”

http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-or-the-office-according-to-the-office/

My problem with Hearthstone

If I try to just enjoy playing ranked, I end up running into a wall I can't pass, because I don't have enough good cards. To get better cards I need gold. To get gold at a reasonable rate, I need quests. To do quests I must log in and play a short while on whatever hero it tells me to play every day or two. So, either I get annoyed by the task I'm given, or I get annoyed when the task ends. Either way, I lose interest after a short while and stop playing.

It's frustrating to not be able to make progress when I just do what I want, and frustrating to not be able to do what I want when I try to make progress.

How To Deconstruct Almost Anything

http://www.fudco.com/chip/deconstr.html

Ten Mind Control Distinctives

http://www.spiritwatch.org/mincon10.htm

Du bist Terrorist (You are a Terrorist) english subtitles

http://vimeo.com/4632310

Things I Learned By Spending Five Thousand Years In An Alternate Universe

http://slatestarcodex.com/2013/04/15/things-i-learned-by-spending-five-thousand-years-in-an-alternate-universe/

Floating Point - Computerphile

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZRI1IfStY0

The Truth About Pavlov's Dogs Is Pretty Disturbing

http://io9.com/the-truth-about-pavlovs-dogs-is-pretty-disturbing-1591853321

How extreme isolation warps the mind

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20140514-how-extreme-isolation-warps-minds

“The Door Problem”

http://www.lizengland.com/blog/2014/04/the-door-problem/

Why “I love you” is not the best reason to commit (& what is)

http://beyourwholeself.com/why-i-love-you-is-not-the-best-reason-to-commit-what-is/

​When Your College Is Being Investigated For Its Sexual Assault Policy

http://jezebel.com/when-your-college-is-being-investigated-for-its-sexual-1547344535

GENDERED MARKETING

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JDmb_f3E2c

David Graeber: “Spotlight on the financial sector did make apparent just how bizarrely skewed our economy is in terms of who gets rewarded”

http://www.salon.com/2014/06/01/help_us_thomas_piketty_the_1s_sick_and_twisted_new_scheme/

The problem with false feminism (or why “Frozen” left me cold)

https://medium.com/disney-and-animation/7c0bbc7252ef

What's Really Behind Slut Shaming

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-bejeezus-out-me/201406/whats-really-behind-slut-shaming

2011: A Brave New Dystopia

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/2011_a_brave_new_dystopia_20101227

How We All Miss the Point on School Shootings

http://markmanson.net/school-shootings

Things My Therapist Has Taught Me

http://sipsofjenandtonic.com/2013/11/07/things-my-therapist-has-taught-me/

Cyberpunk: Our (Post) Modern Mythology

http://turnstylenews.com/2013/08/08/cyberpunk-our-post-modern-mythology/

VC&G Interview: Jerry Lawson, Video Game Pioneer

http://www.vintagecomputing.com/index.php/archives/545

Good For Nothing

http://theoccupiedtimes.org/?p=12841

The Suicide Bandage (or) How I Learned To Live After Death

http://remycarreiro.com/suicide-bandage-learned-live-death/

Joss Whedon Shows How Being Awesome Rewards Creators

http://www.techdirt.com/blog/casestudies/articles/20140516/04044027247/joss-whedon-shows-how-being-awesome-rewards-creators.shtml

Hostile AI: You’re soaking in it!

http://omniorthogonal.blogspot.com/2013/02/hostile-ai-youre-soaking-in-it.html

Aquinas vs. Intelligent Design

http://www.catholic.com/magazine/articles/aquinas-vs-intelligent-design

Disturbing Stories From Former Cops

http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/24yjv1/workers_of_reddit_what_is_the_most_disturbing/chchxee

It's three times cheaper to give housing to the homeless than to keep them on the streets

http://www.vox.com/2014/5/30/5764096/its-three-times-cheaper-to-give-housing-to-the-homeless-than-to-keep

PLEX for GOOD: The Philippines - Results

http://community.eveonline.com/news/dev-blogs/plex-for-good-philippines-results/

Korean Plastic Surgeries Are So Good Patients Need Certificates Now To Prove Who They Really Are

http://fusion.net/culture/story/korean-plastic-surgeries-good-patients-certificates-now-prove-618812?cid=pn_su_net_us_mill-ent

No girls allowed

http://www.polygon.com/features/2013/12/2/5143856/no-girls-allowed

37 Men Show Us What Real Men's Activists Look Like

http://www.policymic.com/articles/90079/36-men-show-us-what-real-men-s-activists-look-like

6 Horrors of Being an Atheist in a Fundamentalist Country

http://www.cracked.com/article_21125_6-realities-life-as-atheist-in-fundamentalist-regime.html

Dude, It’s You

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/johnbeckett/2014/05/dude-its-you.html