Monday, January 31, 2011

Why People Reject Things That Give Them Safety, Man Accused In Plot On Michigan Mosque, MLB 11: The Show To Include One-Button Mode For The Disabled, Fainting Pilot, Remi Guillard's Kangaroo, Safe Driving Fail

Hello everyone, first day of the week and I hope everyone's schooling and jobs are treating them well. As for me I just started playing BioShock 2 and may be working on a new venue, fingers crossed. Now for your news.

Why People Reject Things That Give Them Safety
http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/features_julieshealthclub/2011/01/airbags-safer-than-you-think.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+chicagotribune_julieshealthclub+%28Julie%27s+Health+Club%29

Journal of Consumer Research published a study that says we blame our emotions and the "betrayal effect" for our hampered ability to think rationally. This so called "betrayal effect" is when something perversely causes harm.  To test this effect researchers asked volunteers to pick  between two vehicles. One vehicle was equipped with an airbag that would be less likely to save a life and the other had an airbag that was more likely to save a life, but had a small chance of causing death due to the force of deployment. Most of the study partakers stayed away from the airbag with the lower
chance of harming them, although they had a larger chance of being harmed in an accident. The study's co-author, Johnathan Koehler, a law professor at Northwestern University School of Law said this about why people feel so betrayed when safety products turn out to be less than perfect: "Probably for the same reason that we get so frustrated when we study hard for a test and don’t do well, or purchase a pencil sharpener that doesn’t work well even though it got great reviews on Amazon. We confuse doing things that increase the probability of a good result with doing things that guarantee a good result. The idea (that a product has betrayed us) is so repugnant that we avoid such safety products even though it might harm our overall safety." The study authors found that to make
safer choices for yourself you must remove the emotion of betrayal by pretending to make the decision for another person and they say "people tend to be less emotional about making choices that don't involve themselves or people they care for."Physicians are human, they get emotional when making decisions about family members and draw upon a variety of personal factors that, on average, interfere with analytical decision making." I think that airbag developers should found a medium ground and make a safe bag that will also not have a risk of harming you. Although, any car
crash will hurt no matter what. People might just need more reassuring about the risks and possibilities.

Man Accused In Plot On Michigan Mosque
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/01/30/man-arrested-explosives-outside-nations-largest-mosques/

It seems the United States really needs to beef up their security and try to track down people with weapons and explosives. A Californian man was caught with explosives in his vehicle outside of a large mosque in Detroit where many gathered for a funeral that was occurring. Authorities say the man was going to attempt to blow it up. Chief Ronald Haddad of the Dearborn police believes that Roger Stockham was acting alone in the plot against the mosque but they still took him "very seriously." He was arraigned Wednesday on one count of making a false report or threat of terrorism and another count of possessing explosives with an unlawful intent. Stockham had a large quantity of class-C fireworks including M-80s, which are outlawed in the state. The police chief had this to say: ""I was comfortable with the fact that we had taken him off the street -- he isn't going anywhere. I think the society he wanted to impact is safe." Stockham was arrested on January 24th, in the evening, in the Islamic Center of America parking lot because of a 911 call from a resident. Although he would explain what he meant the chief of police says Stockham has "a long history of anti-government activities." He also called the mosque leader, Imam Hassan al-Qazwini, early last week to let him
know of the arrest and then met with the mosque board members later on. Many members were concerns about copycat crimes if the arrest was publicized and Chief Haddad said: "We never want to put something out there that gives someone the 'how-to." Qazwini informed worshippers of the mosque about the incident during his sermon this past Friday. A news release was issued on Saturday from the Council on American-Islamic Relations and Sunday the police followed. Stockham remained jailed on a $500 000 bond and a preliminary examination has been scheduled for this Friday. The police were not sure if he had an attorney and public records did not turn up a listed number for him, but Haddad said he lives in Imperial Beach, near San Diego. A resident at the place where Stockham live said he moved out three or four weeks ago and said something about being in trouble. The resident called Stockham a "pretty mellow guy" who spent most of his time at the local Veterans of Foreign Wars post bar.

MLB 11: The Show To Include One-Button Mode For The Disabled

http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/709972/MLB-11-The-Show-To-Include-One-Button-Mode-For-The-Disabled.html

I don't play MLBMLB 10: The Show. The company went even further this year and have created a whole new mode of game play for the disabled that only uses one button. This mode is being titled the Association for Disabled Virtual Athletes, which is the new organization Smith has created. Smith plays as the Cardinals in the game plays it like it is. He only pitches on real game days, never simulates games, and never cheats. Last season his virtual self was injured and instead of skipping ahead four games while he was out, he simmed them and watched. That takes admiration and passion. Smith said, "My body doesn't know the difference between reality and virtual reality," Smith said, "I'm never going to throw a baseball. I'm never going to run around the bases. So all of the adrenaline you feel by stepping out on the field and coming up to bat with two outs in the ninth inning, that's what I feel when I play the video game. So in a sense, this game is my reality." Smith
was able to hang out with the Saint Louis players because of his involvement with The Shoe and dedication to the Cardinals and he said this to the fact: "I actually went to a Cardinals game last August and they let me in the dugout to talk to the players. One of the guys I was talking to was Ryan Franklin, the Cardinals closer, and I was telling him about my season, and when I told him my stats he said, 'C'mon, Smith, you need to step it up! You're representing the Cardinals now.' I felt great. It was like I was one of the guys taking their crap. Being part of the team was a great experience for me. I loved every minute. Hopefully this season, I can get a few more wins."



Today was shorter so, here are a few videos for you. I've had more of a social life than I usually have these last few days, although there is nothing wrong with that.

1 comment:

  1. Nice post.

    That's really cool about the baseball game sony developed. I wonder if they'll do that with other games?

    ReplyDelete