Regrets of a Spanking Sitter

Emily Yoffe

Photograph by Teresa Castracane.

Get Dear Prudence delivered to your inbox each week; click here to sign up. Please send your questions for publication to prudence@slate.com. (Questions may be edited.)

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Dear Prudence,
I am 27 and very excited to be pregnant with my first child. However the thought of bringing an innocent little baby into this world has forced me to face some mistakes from my own past. From the ages of 12 to 16, I baby-sat for a little boy three to four days a week until he started school. I had a lot of pent-up anger from my own childhood, and something about having control over this little boy was a power trip to me. I played with him and taught him to read, but I also took advantage of the fact that his parents approved of spanking. I went overboard and would spank him for things that were not punishable, beside the fact that I shouldn?t have been doing that in the first place. Once I started I couldn't stop. I feel disgusting admitting this but I believe I enjoyed it. I would also do things to shame him like make him stand in a corner with no clothes on. I moved away a couple of years after I stopped baby-sitting for him. This little boy loved me and trusted me and I have never confessed this abuse to anyone. I want to apologize to him and to his parents, yet if he doesn't remember this I don't want him to hear this now. What should I do?

Dear Guilty,
It speaks highly of your maturity and moral growth that you can look back on what you did with insight and disgust. Something was awry both in your childhood and that of your charge. It sounds as if you were not just a baby sitter, but a part-time nanny to this child while you were just a kid yourself. None of the parents involved seem to have been paying enough attention to their children. Since you were feeling anger because of your own upbringing, it?s unsurprising that you turned your frustration on the one vulnerable person for whom you were responsible. I spoke to Sherry Hamby, a professor in the psychology department at Sewanee, the University of the South, and editor of the journal Psychology of Violence, about what you should do now. First of all, she says that while what you describe was cruel, it probably did not cross into legally punishable physical or sexual abuse. She points out that you are understandably looking for catharsis and possibly absolution, but the real issue is what effect your confession would have on the boy. She says it?s probable that he has only dim memories of a baby sitter who could be both loving and hateful. For you to show up now and offer details of what you did would likely just be confusing and damaging. Hamby says since you left his life long ago, just keep things that way. Although you have made personal progress, becoming a mother can take you back in unexpected ways to your own childhood, and caring full-time for a baby can tax even the most mature and loving mother. I think it would good for you to talk to a counselor before your child is born about dealing with your emotions and impulse control. You also need to make sure you have the kind of support in place that will provide you with the encouragement and respite any parent needs.

Dear Prudence: Marijuana Mentor

Dear Prudence,
My husband and I have been married for 10 years, have two young children, and are still madly in love. He is a fantastic father and husband. The ?but? is that in the past few years he has become a smoker. He would describe himself as someone who only smokes socially and casually. But he hides cigarettes and often lies about it even though he reeks of it. It infuriates me when he tells me I?m crazy and imagining it, especially since we both know the truth. When I find hidden packs, he says they belong to a friend. At a shower his co-workers threw for us, I heard someone ask him if he was quitting smoking in anticipation of the baby?s arrival. He wasn?t smoking when we first started dating, and I probably wouldn?t have continued our relationship if he had been because smoking is a big turn-off for me. He will admit to smoking ?when he is stressed,? and due to his job this has increased. I?ve pleaded for him to quit, but he never does. He says that he shouldn't have to lie and that I should just deal with it. He said that if you respond, he will follow your advice, and I will, too. What do you say, Prudence?

Dear No,
I was wondering after your description of your wonderful husband what the ?but? would be, and it turns out to be a butt, so I understand why you?re fuming. Since you have given me power over your marriage, I say it?s time for his lying, to himself and to you, to stop. He has to recognize he?s no ?social? or ?casual? smoker. Maybe he hasn?t heard about smoking being socially unacceptable, and there appears to be nothing casual about the way he goes at it. As for you, as understandable as your compulsion is to nag, you must try to douse it. It?s not working and is only creating tension between you. Once your husband comes clean about his dirty habit, appreciate his honesty. Your next step is to follow the model of Michelle Obama in dealing with her husband?s smoking?or at least the reports of her approach. She loathed his smoking, encouraged him to quit, accepted how difficult that was, didn?t constantly monitor, and celebrated his successes. (She also said he would support his initial run for president in exchange for him quitting smoking. So it?s possible he decided to run in order to get away and smoke in peace.) The official word is that after many failed attempts the president is now smoke-free. I?m not the only viewer to suspect that during the inaugural parade the president was maintaining his abstinence by madly chomping on Nicorette gum. As for you two, part of this new honesty regimen is for your husband to admit that he has a problem and that, for the sake of himself and his family, he will address it by going to a smoking cessation class. You will support him and do your best not to rebuke him if you smell evidence that he sometimes slips. Focusing on the wonderful relationship you have will reduce your husband?s stress, which is an acknowledged trigger. He?s got a struggle ahead, and if you can deal with it as partners, he?ll be more likely to succeed.

Dear Prudence,
My boyfriend and I have been a couple for three years and we live together. It?s been a wonderful, communicative relationship. But now I don't know what to do because he will not stop groping me ever. When I lean over to spit in the sink while brushing my teeth, he spanks me or hikes my skirt up to grab my butt. When we sit on the couch talking or watching TV, he yanks down my shirt and bra or just shoves his hands down my shirt. Recently I reached a breaking point. My mom called and told me a family friend's daughter had passed away suddenly. When I hung up, I started to cry, and I told my boyfriend what had happened. He wrapped his arms around me and expressed his sympathy. Then he put his hand down my underwear and said, "I want to play with this." He has not behaved like this the entire time we?ve been dating, but I can?t pinpoint when it started. I always yank my shirt back up and ask him to please look at me and not my breasts. He laughs such comments off, and says, "You have no idea how sexy you are." It has really killed my sex drive and I don?t want to have sex with him at all. How can I express this to him in a way that puts an end to all the groping and brings back the other parts of our relationship that I love?

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=b9b7c1137c46db9c2e2a40cdb09bf633

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Bonobos predisposed to show sensitivity to others

Jan. 30, 2013 ? Comforting a friend or relative in distress may be a more hard-wired behavior than previously thought, according to a new study of bonobos, which are great apes known for their empathy and close relation to humans and chimpanzees. This finding provides key evolutionary insight into how critical social skills may develop in humans.

The results are published in the online journal PLOS ONE.

Researchers from the Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, observed juvenile bonobos at the Lola ya Bonobo sanctuary in the Democratic Republic of Congo engaging in consolation behavior more than their adult counterparts. Juvenile bonobos (ages 3 to 7) are equivalent to preschool or elementary school-aged children.

Zanna Clay, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in Emory's Department of Psychology, and Frans de Waal, PhD, director of the Living Links Center at Yerkes and C.H. Candler Professor of Psychology at Emory, led the study.

"Our findings suggest that for bonobos, sensitivity to the emotions of others emerges early and does not require advanced thought processes that develop only in adults," Clay says.

Starting at around age two, human children usually display consolation behavior, a sign of sensitivity to the emotions of others and the ability to take the perspective of another. Consolation has been observed in humans, bonobos, chimpanzees and other animals, including dogs, elephants and some types of birds, but has not been seen in monkeys.

At the Lola ya Bonobo sanctuary, most bonobos come as juvenile or infant orphans because their parents are killed for meat or captured as pets. A minority of bonobos in the sanctuary is second generation and raised by their biological mothers. The researchers found bonobos raised by their own mothers were more likely to comfort others compared to orphaned bonobos. This may indicate early life stress interferes with development of consolation behavior, while a stable parental relationship encourages it, Clay says.

Clay observed more than 350 conflicts between bonobos at the sanctuary during several months. Some conflicts involved violence, such as hitting, pushing or grabbing, while others only involved threats or chasing. Consolation occurred when a third bonobo -- usually one that was close to the scene of conflict -- comforted one of the parties in the conflict.

Consolation behavior includes hugs, grooming and sometimes sexual behavior. Consolation appears to lower stress in the recipient, based on a reduction in the recipient's rates of self-scratching and self-grooming, the authors write.

"We found strong effects of friendship and kinship, with bonobos being more likely to comfort those they are emotionally close to," Clay says. "This is consistent with the idea that empathy and emotional sensitivity contribute to consolation behavior."

In future research, Clay plans to take a closer look at the emergence of consolation behavior in bonobos at early ages. A process that may facilitate development of consolation behavior is when older bonobos use younger ones as teddy bears; their passive participation may get the younger bonobos used to the idea, she says.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Emory University, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Zanna Clay, Frans B. M. de Waal. Bonobos Respond to Distress in Others: Consolation across the Age Spectrum. PLoS ONE, 2013; 8 (1): e55206 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0055206

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/w6qi_0b5ByE/130130184316.htm

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Study sees prostate cancer treatment side effects

A new study shows how important it is for men to carefully consider treatments for early-stage prostate cancer. Fifteen years after surgery or radiation treatment, nearly all of the older men in the study had some problems having sex.

About one-fifth had bladder or bowel trouble, researchers found.

The study doesn't compare these men ? who were 70 to 89 at the end of the study ? to others who did not treat their cancers or to older men without the disease. At least one study suggests that half that age group has sexual problems even when healthy.

The study isn't a rigorous test of surgery and radiation, but it is the longest follow-up of some men who chose those treatments.

Since early prostate cancers usually don't prove fatal but there are no good ways to tell which ones really need treatment, men must be realistic about side effects they might suffer, said one study leader, Dr. David Penson of Vanderbilt University.

"They need to look at these findings and say, 'Oh my gosh, no matter what I choose, I'm going to have some quality-of-life effect and it's probably greater than my doctor is telling me,'" he said.

The study appears in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in American men. In the United States alone, there were about 240,000 new cases and 28,000 deaths from the disease last year. Radiation or surgery to remove the prostate are common treatments when the disease is confined to the gland.

Men usually live a long time after treatment ? 14 years on average ? so it's important to see how they fare, said another study leader, Vanderbilt's Dr. Matthew Resnick.

The study involved 1,655 men diagnosed in 1994 or 1995, when they were ages 55 to 74. About two-thirds of them had surgery and the rest, radiation. They were surveyed two, five and 15 years later. By that time, 569 had died.

Men who had surgery had more problems in the first few years after their treatments than those given radiation, but by the end of the study, there was no big difference.

After 15 years, 18 percent of the surgery group and 9 percent of the radiation group reported urinary incontinence, and 5 percent of the surgery group and 16 percent of the radiation group said they were bothered by bowel problems. But the differences between the two groups could have occurred by chance alone once researchers took other factors such as age and the size of the men's tumors into account.

Impotence was "near universal" at 15 years, the authors write ? 94 percent of the radiation group and 87 percent of the surgery group. But the difference between the groups also was considered possibly due to chance. Also, less than half of men said they were bothered by their sexual problems.

"These men do get some help from pills like Viagra, Cialis, Levitra," but it may not be as much as they would like and most men would rather not need those pills, Penson said.

The National Cancer Institute paid for the study. Two authors have consulted for several makers of prostate cancer treatment drugs.

No study is perfect and this one has many limitations, said Dr. Timothy Wilson, urology chief at City of Hope, a cancer center in Duarte, Calif. Men who are having problems are more likely to complete follow-up surveys because they're angry, so that could skew results, he noted.

Still, "it's a high percentage" with side effects, said Wilson, who has been a paid speaker for two makers of surgery equipment.

"There's no question we overtreat" many cases of early prostate cancer, yet the disease is still the second-leading cause of cancer deaths in men. "We need to better sort out who really needs treatment," he said.

___

Online:

New England Journal: http://www.nejm.org

___

Marilynn Marchione can be followed at http://twitter.com/MMarchioneAP

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/study-sees-prostate-cancer-treatment-side-effects-222544696.html

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Student launches FB, Twitter Campaign for College Tuition Cash

A former Howard University student who left school because he couldn?t get a loan has?turned to his 4,000 Twitter followers and 10,000 Facebook friends for $4 each to cover his tuition costs.

USA Today reports that the student, Corey Arvinger, argues if each Facebook and Twitter friend pitched in $4, basically the cost of one Starbucks latte, he could go back to school.

So far he?s raised?about $2,500.

?People go to Starbucks and spend $4 easily, without even thinking about it,? he told the newspaper. ?If you can?t have Starbucks for one day, just one day, and put $4 toward the education of an African American who?s really trying to push to make himself better, then why wouldn?t you help??

Click here to read the full article.

Click here to Like The College Fix on Facebook.

Tagged as: Facebook, Howard University, online campaign to raise college tuition, online college cash campaign, student can't afford tuition, Twitter

Source: http://www.thecollegefix.com/post/12530

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Cut losses or face new laws, MPs tell English football clubs

LONDON (Reuters) - New laws should be introduced to force English football clubs to clean up their finances unless they adopt European rules to curb spending, a group of British MPs said on Tuesday.

The call adds to pressure on the 20-team Premier League to implement Financial Fair Play (FFP) measures which European soccer's governing body UEFA has already introduced for leading teams across the continent.

New television contracts are expected to generate more than five billion pounds over the next three years for the Premier League, the world's richest in term of revenue.

However, English clubs often struggle to translate cash into profit because as much as 70 percent of their income is paid out in wages.

A report into football governance from Parliament's Culture, Media and Sport Committee did not expect that trend to change.

"We see little evidence that clubs will spend significant amounts of the funding available from the latest broadcasting rights settlement on increasing their sustainability rather than on players' salaries and transfers," it said.

Raising concerns over debt levels in English football, it called on the Premier League to follow the example of the second-tier Championship and adopt FFP rules to rein in losses.

"If they are not enforced, then we consider that legislation will be required to impose some financial discipline on clubs," the report added.

REFORM OF FA SOUGHT

The committee, comprising MPs from the three main political parties, criticised what it called a "disappointing" response to its initial inquiry into how the game is run.

It stepped up its calls for reform of the Football Association (FA), English soccer's governing body, to reduce the influence of the Premier League. Legislation should be introduced to shake up the FA if there was no progress within a year, it added.

Although the report is not binding, sports minister Hugh Robertson welcomed its findings.

"We have been clear that we want the football authorities to carry out the reforms they promised by the start of the 2013-14 season - most notably around improved governance and diverse representation at the FA, the development of a licensing system and greater financial transparency," Robertson said.

"If football does not deliver then we will look at bringing forward legislation," he added.

The FA, Premier League and Football League said they were continuing to work towards final approval and implementation of the reform proposals.

"Significant headway has already been made on many of these proposed reforms, not least on sustainability and transparency," the organisations said in a joint statement.

"The remaining reform proposals are the subject of consultation within the game and we are confident that the necessary progress will be made."

UEFA'S FFP rules pose a challenge for English clubs funded by wealthy benefactors such as Russian Roman Abramovich at Chelsea and Abu Dhabi's Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan at Premier League champions Manchester City.

Premier League clubs are due to discuss FFP at a meeting early next month, mindful of the need to ensure that the latest television windfall is not squandered.

Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool and Tottenham have all argued for the wholesale adoption of the UEFA model, saying that the top teams in the Premier League have no alternative.

Others are more resistant to a system that they argue would prevent a smaller club from challenging the elite.

A number of British football clubs have failed financially in recent years but have been able to relaunch with new backers.

Rangers, Scottish champions a record 54 times, collapsed under a pile of debt last year. The Glasgow club was salvaged by new owners but has been consigned to restart from the fourth tier of the Scottish game.

(Editing by Clare Fallon)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cut-losses-face-laws-mps-tell-english-clubs-014723086--finance.html

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'Major technological breakthrough' as man fixes computer by ...

IT help desks could become a thing of the past after a frustrated office worker managed to fix his computer by urging it to ?Work you fucking useless shitepile of shitting arse-twat?.

The incident, which has been heralded as a major technological breakthrough by experts, could lead to complex computer issues being solved using a range of profanity delivered with varying degrees of anger.

Computer expert Jeremy Burton revealed that a study was already underway to determine the combinations of verbal abuse that computers are most likely to respond to.

?So far we?ve discovered that spending up to an hour on the phone trying to sort out a password reset can be easily avoided by simply throwing a biro at your PC monitor and calling it a wanky-faced cunt-shovel,? he said.

?The appearance of an error message stating that your computer has experienced a problem and needs to shut down can be easily rectified by lifting the keyboard above your head and shouting, ?you?re going out the fucking window you bollock-buttoned bastard?.?

Technology revolution

Burton also went on to suggest that appliances responding positively to aggressive behaviour may not be limited to computers after it was reported that a man was able to make a footballer on FIFA 13 successfully complete a bicycle kick by threatening his game console with a blow-torch.

?This could revolutionise the relationship we have with technology,? he enthused.

?Trying to operate machinery without reading the instruction manual is a common practice amongst the majority of people.

?We could soon enter a new golden era where troubleshooting consists of threatening behaviour and offensive language.?

32 year-old Marcus Wilkins, who made the discovery, revealed how his life had been transformed since learning that some electrical goods become more compliant when on the receiving end of a foul-mouthed tirade.

?It?s amazing!? he told us.

?I lost the remote control the other day, but I still managed to change channels on the TV just by calling it a hobgoblin cunt.?

Apple are just one of numerous companies who are looking to develop a new line in self-deprecating technology that insults itself back to a state of repair.

?It?s in its early stages, but we hope to have the iNoshgoats in stores by 2015,? revealed an Apple spokesperson.

Related posts:

1. IBM?s new ?human? computer chip to think about doing some work after Eastenders
2. Apple Computer to sue God for trademark infringement
3. It was a homophobic computer, honestly, say Amazon
4. ?Weather super-computer? allows more accurate forecasts be obscured by presenter?s head
5. ?Miracle? qualification criteria hits all-time low as God fixes bad back

Source: http://newsthump.com/2013/01/28/major-technological-breakthrough-as-man-fixes-computer-by-shouting-at-it/

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No alarm, only 1 exit in Brazil nightclub fire

SANTA MARIA, Brazil (AP) ? The nightclub Kiss was hot, steamy from the press of beer-fueled bodies dancing close. The Brazilian country band on stage was whipping the young crowd into a frenzy, launching into another fast-paced, accordion-driven tune and lighting flares that spewed silver sparks into the air.

It was another Saturday night in Santa Maria, a university town of about 260,000 on Brazil's southernmost tip.

Then, in the pre-dawn hours of Sunday, it turned into a scene of indescribable horror as sparks lit a fire in the soundproofing material above the stage, churning out black, toxic smoke as flames raced through the former beer warehouse, killing 231 people.

"I was right there, so even though I was far from the door, at least I realized something was wrong," said Rodrigo Rizzi, a first-year nursing student who was next to the stage when the fire broke out and watched the tragedy unfold, horror-stricken and helpless.

"Others, who couldn't see the stage, never had a chance. They never saw it coming."

There was no fire alarm, no sprinklers, no fire escape. In violation of state safety codes, fire extinguishers were not spaced every 1,500 square feet, and there was only one exit. As the city buried its young Monday, questions were raised about whether Brazil is up to the task of ensuring the safety in venues for the World Cup next year, and the Olympics in 2016. Four people were detained for questioning, including two band members and the nightclub's two co-owners.

Rizzi hadn't even planned on going out that night. He was talked into it by friends and knew dozens at the club, which was packed with an estimated 1,200 to 1,300 people. He said the first sign of a problem was insulation dripping above the stage.

The flames at that point were barely noticeable, just tiny tongues lapping at the flammable material. The band's singer, Marcelo dos Santos, noticed it and tried to put out the smoldering embers by squirting water from a bottle.

The show kept going. Then, as the ceiling continued to ooze hot molten foam, dos Santos grabbed the drummer's water bottle and aimed it at the fire. That didn't work either, Rizzi said. A security guard handed the band leader a fire extinguisher. He aimed, but nothing came out; the extinguisher didn't work.

At that point, Rizzi said, the singer motioned to the band to get out. Rizzi calmly made his way to the door ? the club's only exit ? still thinking it was a small fire that would quickly be controlled.

The cavernous building was divided into several sections, including a pub and a VIP lounge ? and hundreds of the college students and teenagers crammed in couldn't see the stage. They continued to drink and dance, unaware of the danger spreading above them.

Then, the place became an inferno.

The band members who headed straight for the door lived. One, Danilo Brauner, went back to get his accordion, and never made it out.

The air turned dense and dark with smoke; there was no light, nothing pointing to the single exit. Rizzi found himself clawing through a panicked crowd that surged blindly toward the door.

"I was halfway across the floor, I could see the door, but the air turned black with this thick smoke," he said. "I couldn't breathe. People started to panic and run toward the door. They were falling, screaming, pulling at each other."

The manager, meanwhile, was outside dealing with a drunk and belligerent young man. No one there had any inkling of the desperate scene unfolding just beyond Kiss' black, sound-proof double doors, said taxi driver Edson Schifelbain, who was in his car, waiting for passengers.

A security guard poked his head out and said there was a fight. A fraction of a second later, someone inside yelled "Fire!" The manager opened the doors and it was like opening the gates of hell, Schifelbain said.

Young men and women, mouths and eyes blackened with soot, clothes tattered, tumbled out screaming and crying. Some ran right over his taxi and two other cabs parked nearby, breaking mirrors, windshields, bashing in the doors. Horrified, he realized his cab was in their way, but couldn't move it because there were bodies hunched over it, collapsed in front of the tires, everywhere.

"The horror I saw in their faces, the terror, I'll never forget," he said. Two girls gasping for air climbed into his car, and as soon as he was able, he sped the six miles (10 kilometers) to the university hospital.

"One of them was crying all the way, screaming, 'My friend is dying,'" he said. "I did what I could. I don't know what happened to those girls."

Inside the club, metal barriers meant to organize the lines of people entering and leaving became traps, corralling desperate patrons within yards of the exit. Bodies piled up against the grates, smothered and broken by the crushing mob.

Rizzi was stuck, unable to move, taking in gulps of smoke, feeling the gaseous mix burn his lungs.

He was within seconds of passing out, he said, when the whole frenzied mass suddenly lurched forward. The gates gave way, and everyone toppled over. Rizzi was lying on top of two or three people, several more heaped on top of him. He stuck out his hands, smacking them against the sidewalk and door. Someone pulled him to safety.

"To get out, I climbed, I pulled people's hair. I felt other people grabbing me, hitting me in the face," he said. "It's hard to describe the horror. But once I was outside, I recovered, and started pulling out the others."

Soon, he said, the street was a sea of bodies.

This was the scene 24-year-old Gabriel Barcellos Disconzi found when he arrived about 3:30 a.m., an hour after fire broke out. Wakened by a phone call from friends, the club regular immediately started pulling out bodies as smoke spewed so thick that entering the building was unthinkable.

Using sledgehammers and picks and their bare hands, he and other young men broke down the walls. Born and bred in Santa Maria, the outgoing young lawyer had dozens of friends and acquaintances inside.

"It was all so fast, there was no time for anything, no time for crying over a friend," he said. "It was dead people over here, living over there. Body after body after body."

Both Rizzi and Disconzi were there when they broke into one of the bathrooms and found a tableau of nearly indescribable desperation: It was crammed with bodies, tangled and tossed like dolls, piled as high as Rizzi's chest. In the darkness and confusion, concert-goers had rushed into the bathroom thinking it was an exit. They died, crushed and airless in the dark.

"I'll never forget the wall of people," Rizzi said.

Disconzi helped load them into a truck. Just the dead jammed into that bathroom filled an entire truck, he said.

By this time, the city was waking up to the dimension of the tragedy unfolding at its heart. Doctors, nurses and psychologists began arriving, giving immediate assistance ? checking eyes and respiratory passages, stabilizing the burned, resuscitating those whose hearts had stopped or lungs had failed because of the smoke. The living they loaded into ambulances. The mounting number of dead went into trucks.

At Charity Hospital, the region's largest, "it was a war scene," said Dr. Ronald Bossemeyer, the technical director.

"Trying to give care, comfort the living, and keep family members who started to arrive from overwhelming everything ? it was madness," he said, choking back tears. "The wounded, the doctors, people running with saline, with oxygen. We've never seen so many patients."

As families waited, nurses and technicians ran back and forth, bringing an earring, a shoe, a wallet, anything that could help identify those still living, Bossemeyer said.

As doctors were at work saving those who could be saved, a group of mothers was calling around to check on one another. Elaine Marques Goncalves woke up to that terrible question: Do you know where your child is?

With a jolt, she realized two of her sons, Gustavo and Deivis, had not come home the night before.

"I knew they'd gone to a club, but I didn't know which one," she said. Trying to keep calm, she joined the multitude pressing for news outside the hospital.

Hours later, she got some good news: Gustavo had burns on 20 percent of his body and had suffered two heart attacks as his lungs failed to draw oxygen, but he was alive and being flown to the state capital, Porto Alegre, for treatment.

"I had time to put my hands on him and say, 'My dear, your mother is here with you,'" she said. "He was sedated, but I know he could hear. Then I had to tear myself away and go find my other son."

Hours passed as the dead piled up in the city gym. It took an entire day of anguish before she learned what she'd dreaded most: Deivis was dead.

As he lay there among basketball hoops and water coolers, one body among so many, she asked the questions on everyone's mind.

"How can a club just burn like that? People have to know what happened here," she said. "It won't bring back my son, but I have to ask. This nightclub was beyond capacity. The whole world has to know. Why couldn't they get out?"

____

Associated Press video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8M6x0u0Mmtk&list=UU52X5wxOL_s5yw0dQk7NtgA&index=18

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/no-alarm-only-1-exit-brazil-nightclub-fire-002812171.html

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Mayor: New Orleans deserves Super Bowl spotlight

Workers build a structure outside the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on Monday, Jan. 28, 2013, in New Orleans. The San Francisco 49ers are scheduled to face the Baltimore Ravens in the NFL Super Bowl XLVII football game on Feb. 3. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

Workers build a structure outside the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on Monday, Jan. 28, 2013, in New Orleans. The San Francisco 49ers are scheduled to face the Baltimore Ravens in the NFL Super Bowl XLVII football game on Feb. 3. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

Political commentator James Carville speaks during an NFL football Super Bowl XLVII news conference on Monday, Jan. 28, 2013, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

A worker drives by a structure modeled after the Vince Lombardi Trophy outside the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on Monday, Jan. 28, 2013, in New Orleans. The San Francisco 49ers are scheduled to face the Baltimore Ravens in the NFL Super Bowl XLVII football game on Feb. 3. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

Pedestrians walk past a large Super Bowl XLVII banner outside the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on Monday, Jan. 28, 2013, in New Orleans. The San Francisco 49ers are scheduled to face the Baltimore Ravens in the NFL Super Bowl XLVII football game on Feb. 3. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

NEW ORLEANS (AP) ? A 20-story-high mural of the Lombardi Trophy, affixed to the glass exterior of a bustling hotel that was once a shattered symbol of Hurricane Katrina's devastation, rises like a beacon above the expansive white roof of the Superdome.

The Super Bowl is back in the Big Easy, finally, after 11 years, giving New Orleans a spotlight of global proportion to showcase how far it has come since Katrina left the city on its knees and under water in August of 2005.

"The story is much, much bigger than the Super Bowl," Mayor Mitch Landrieu said Monday afternoon. "This is a story about the resurrection and redemption of a great American city.

"The Super Bowl gives us an opportunity to reflect on where we've been and where we're going."

From 1970 to 2002, New Orleans was a regular host of the Super Bowl and hopes to become one again. This Sunday, when the Baltimore Ravens meet the San Francisco 49ers in the Superdome, the Crescent City will host the NFL's marquee game for the 10th time, tying Miami for the most of any city. If all goes well, it hopes to get back in the rotation.

Jay Cicero, president of the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation, said his group will ask the NFL for permission to put together a bid for the 2018 Super Bowl, coinciding with the city's celebration of its 300th anniversary.

It is that history, which produced a colorful culture driven by a mix of European, Caribbean and African influences, that makes New Orleans such an attractive Super Bowl city, noted political consultant James Carville said.

"This is not just a city. This is a culture," said Carville, who lives in New Orleans and serves as the co-chairman of the Super Bowl host committee with his wife and fellow political pundit, Mary Matalin. "We have our own food, our own music, our own social structure, our own architecture, our own body of literature. By God, we have our own funerals."

Carville pointed out that Dallas spent about $38 million to host a Super Bowl two seasons ago, that Indianapolis spent about $25 million a year ago, and that New Orleans spent about $13 million.

"I wish that I could tell you that it's because we're just so much more efficient," Carville said. "The truth of the matter is we don't have to create anything in New Orleans. It's here. It's been here for 294 years. We just have to take what we have, shine it up a little bit, add a little something here and there ? but 294 years of history and culture stand on its own."

Of course, Carville was not counting the billions of dollars spent in the past seven-plus years to rebuild New Orleans since Katrina pushed tidal surges through crumbling levees and flooded 80 percent of the city.

Extensive renovations to the Superdome, done in several phases during six years, ran about $336 million, transforming the stadium to a facility better equipped to host a Super Bowl than it was back in 2002. The lower bowl has all new seats, wider concourses and more concession areas, not to mention exclusive "bunker" clubs for those who pay top dollar. There are four high-end club lounges around the second deck which did not exist before the storm. The smaller suites ringing the stadium have all been remodeled and more have been added to total 152.

The faded gray siding that lined the stadium when the Super Bowl was last played there has been replaced. The dents from flying storm debris are gone and it has been restored to its original, glistening champagne color, which serves as the canvass for nightly light shows. The roof was completely rebuilt and there is now a public plaza called Champions Square adjacent to the dome, where part of a shopping mall used to be.

The Louis Armstrong International Airport has undergone $350 million in upgrades, with work going on right up until this month.

Streets throughout much of the city, including downtown and the French Quarter, have been repaved.

A new streetcar line, which opened on Monday morning, can shuttle people from the city's main train and bus station a few blocks from the Superdome to Canal Street, where downtown meets the French Quarter.

There are more restaurants in the metro area than before Katrina. Hotels throughout downtown have been renovated and some new ones have gone up, adding more than 4,000 more rooms than there were in 2005.

The 1,200-room Hyatt Hotel, with the signature giant Lombardi Trophy mural,, finally reopened a little more than a year ago after a $275 million renovation. During Katrina, hundreds of its windows blew out, leaving shredded curtains flapping in the wind. Now it is home to new restaurants and rebuilt convention space.

"The city looks great," said Jerry Romig, the Saints' 83-year-old public address announcer, a lifelong New Orleans resident who has been involved in some capacity in the previous nine Super Bowls. "It's never looked better."

He also takes issue with the idea that sympathy for New Orleans' suffering played a role in NFL owners awarding the city this Super Bowl.

"The New Orleanean's attitude is they would be very upset if the NFL was going to throw you a bone because you went through a hard time," Romig said. "The New Orleanean would think, 'We should get this game every year because we're the best place for it.' ... We've got everything that's necessary to make it a success and that's being shown better this year than past years."

Pockets of the city still bear obvious scars from Hurricane Katrina, most notably in eastern and low-lying portions of the city ? like the lower Ninth Ward ? were many homes were wiped out and many residents were too poor to rebuild.

So-called "Katrina tours" are still offered, with vans carting the curious to areas where they can see the remnants of the devastation ? abandoned, crumbling homes and schools, and streets overgrown with weeds and brush.

When the city was bidding for the 2013 Super Bowl, it floated the idea of a Super Saturday of Service, whereby volunteers could undertake community projects to improve the city. This Saturday, restoration work will be done on five properties run by the New Orleans Recreational Department, including a high school football field where the Archie Manning's sons once played. After Sunday, the field will be the new home of the turf used in the Super Bowl.

Despite the community's ongoing needs, New Orleans has proved repeatedly in recent years that the heart of the city can successfully stage major national events. It hosted college football's BCS national championships in 2008 and 2012, an NBA All-Star game in 2008 and an NCAA men's Final Four in 2012.

Yet given how New Orleans was once a regular Super Bowl city, the return of the NFL's biggest game carries more symbolic weight than any single event since the storm.

"This is just another huge example of how the people of this city, who were 15 feet under water, are now on top of the world," Landrieu said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-01-28-Super%20Bowl%20City/id-7091923860b24e9aa7374fbe8b98f19f

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'Linsanity' Clips Give Glimpse Inside The Life Of NBA Star Jeremy Lin

Every year, we get excited to send a team out to Park City, Utah to cover the biggest festival in indie film, but this year's Sundance was especially sweet thanks to one premiere from a former member of the MTV News family. "Linsanity," the new documentary chronicling the rise of NBA star Jeremy Lin, comes [...]

Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2013/01/28/linsanity-clips-jeremy-lin/

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Haiti looks to tourism as way forward

Still struggling to recover from the devastating 2010 earthquake, Haiti's prime minister declared it 'open for business.' Rather than depending on international aid, Haiti hopes to attract tourism and investments.

By Angela Charlton,?Associated Press / January 26, 2013

Clothing for sale hangs from ropes at a market in the Dominican Republic where Haitians sell their goods. Haiti is trying to capitalize on tourism as part of its recovery from the 2010 earthquake.

Melanie Stetson Freeman/The Christian Science Monitor

Enlarge

Haiti's prime minister says his country is hoping to attract high-end tourists and multinational investors ? instead of constant aid handouts ? so it can get on its feet after the devastating 2010 earthquake.

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Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe said Saturday he recognizes that's an ambitious dream for a country where 52 percent of the people live below the poverty line and where infrastructure is desperately lacking.

Still, he pushed that concept ? and a bid to build up Haiti's tourism industry ? in meetings with CEOs this week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

"Haiti is open for business," Lamothe said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Haiti still has huge humanitarian needs and little more than half of the $5.3 billion in aid promised after the earthquake has been disbursed.

Lamothe, however, said "we are not going to depend on handouts indefinitely."

Yet humanitarian groups are unlikely to go away, for they have long provided basic services to Haitians because the government can barely do so.

Lamothe argued that his visit to Davos ? a pricey Alpine resort reserved for business and political leaders this week ? was a worthwhile venture that would bear fruit for his Caribbean country, such as an investment pledge from Heineken and new projects with Coca-Cola.

He said he wants people to think of Haiti not just as a place to set up a charity but as a place to set up a business, and argued that corporations "can do equal or better than any large country for small Haiti."

The prime minister called building up the tourism industry "a very high priority," noting that a five-star hotel was already under construction and that new tourist police would provide security for visitors in a country with a turbulent past.

Yet efforts to bring in foreign investors and tourists could prove a tough sell. Haiti is expected to hold legislative elections this year, and the run-up could be fraught with political agitation and protests.

The capital, Port-au-Prince, is also crowded, dirty and clogged with traffic.

Haiti is still clearing the last rubble from the 2010 quake, which killed about 316,000 people. Another 350,000 Haitians are still living in impromptu camps. The reconstruction effort has been slow due to political paralysis and the level of devastation.

Trenton Daniel in Port-au-Prince contributed to this report.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/UcEtX24cHog/Haiti-looks-to-tourism-as-way-forward

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Canada denies Randy Quaid's request to stay

TORONTO (AP) ? Canadian immigration officials have denied U.S. actor Randy Quaid's request for permanent resident status in Canada.

A Canadian government official confirmed late Saturday his request for permanent status has been denied. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. Quaid can appeal the decision to the federal court.

U.S. officials last year refused to seek extradition of the actor and his wife from Canada to face felony vandalism charges in Santa Barbara, California, but authorities in the coastal town say they'll still have the couple arrested if they return to the states.?

Quaid has sought to stay in Canada, claiming he was being hunted by "Hollywood star-whackers" who had killed his friends David Carradine and Heath Ledger.?

Quaid's trouble began in 2010 when he and his wife were arrested for causing more than $5,000 damage at a hillside home they were renting.?

Randy Quaid is the older brother of actor Dennis Quaid and is best-known for his roles in films such as "National Lampoon's Vacation" and "Independence Day." He won a Golden Globe award for his depiction of President Lyndon Johnson in a TV movie in the late 1980s.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/canada-denies-randy-quaids-request-stay-054909956.html

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Video: Did Lance Armstrong lie to Oprah?

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Source: http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/50597777/

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No, Anonymous Doesn't Have Access to U.S. Warheads

If you were skimming the news this morning, we could understand why you might be confused and thinking that the hacking collective Anonymous has access to real U.S. warheads. Stop worrying, they don't.?

They allege they do have sensitive information about the Justice Department, though. The group took over the?United States Sentencing Service website early Saturday. The site has been taken down now, but The Verge pointed out you can still see the defaced-by-Anonymous version through this Google cache.?

RELATED: Anonymous' Megaupload Revenge Shows Copyright Compromise Isn't Possible

According to the lengthy note left on the site, the attack was carried out in the name of Aaron Swartz, the hacker and activist who committed suicide two weeks ago:?

RELATED: Turkish Cops Arrest 32 Alleged Anonymous Members

?

"Two weeks ago today, a line was crossed. Two weeks ago today, Aaron Swartz was killed. Killed because he faced an impossible choice. Killed because he was forced into playing a game he could not win -- a twisted and distorted perversion of justice -- a game where the only winning move was not to play."

Anonymous claims to have hacked multiple government websites and accumulated a wealth of sensitive information they plan to release in "warheads," a fancy, terrifying-at-first word they're using to call document dumps. The first one is/was called?U S - D O J - L E A - 2013 . A E E 256, and it was supposed to be available to download on the Sentencing Service website, but clicking the alleged link only ever returned an error message.?

RELATED: British Police Nab Two More LulzSec Hackers

So, yeah, no missiles. Only sensitive government information:

RELATED: Leaked Emails Reveal Assad's Love of LMFAO and Right Said Fred

?

The contents are various and we won't ruin the speculation by revealing them. Suffice it to say, everyone has secrets, and some things are not meant to be public. At a regular interval commencing today, we will choose one media outlet and supply them with heavily redacted partial contents of the file. Any media outlets wishing to be eligible for this program must include within their reporting a means of secure communications.

Each "warhead" is named for a Supreme Court judge. The attack seems to have been months in the making, if the note left by the hackers is to be believed. They said they only "wound down" the attack in the two weeks since Swartz's death.?

There are demands. The hackers who carried out the attack want "reform of outdated and poorly-envisioned legislation," "reform of mandatory minimum sentencing," and "a return to proportionality of punishment with respect to actual harm caused," if the Justice Department wants their information to stay private.?

This isn't the first time Anonymous has become involved with the fallout from Swartz's death. They were able to keep the Westboro Baptist Church from protesting Swartz's funeral with an extremely successful social media campaign. But we suspect the prosecutor defending the decision to seek jail time in Swartz's complicated case drew the attention of the hacking group.?

What happens next is anyone's guess. There are immediate questions like, do they actually have any sensitive information? Are they bluffing? The FBI told CNN they're already looking into it. A criminal case has been opened. Whether or not they find anything, or traces of anyone, will be interesting to see.?

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/no-anonymous-doesnt-access-u-warheads-202802839.html

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House budget chief: automatic spending cuts "going to happen" (reuters)

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Mamma Chia Banana Breakfast Muffins | Vegan

Chia is an amazing superfood that can be used in both food and drink recipes. This tasty vegan muffin recipe features Mamma Chia, a delicious chia drink.

Mamma Chia Banana Breakfast Muffins

Yields 12

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 cups organic whole wheat pastry flour
• 3/4 cup organic oats
• 2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon organic cinnamon
• 1/4 cup organic agave nectar
• 1/4 cup organic almond butter
• 1 cup organic banana (mashed)
• 1 bottle Raspberry Passion Mamma Chia?

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. and line a muffin pan with paper cups.
2. In a medium bowl, combine wheat pastry flour, oats, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon (dry ingredients).
3. In a small bowl, whisk together agave nectar, almond butter, mashed banana, and Mamma Chia (wet ingredients).
4. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix until evenly moistened.
5. Divide evenly among muffin cups.
6. Bake for about 18 minutes, until a wooden toothpick comes out clean.
7. Serve warm.

More vegan breakfast recipes!

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Source: http://vegan.sheknows.com/2013/01/25/mamma-chia-banana-breakfast-muffins/

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Series of collisions in wintry weather closes stretch of Highway 401

NEWTONVILLE, Ont. - A section of a busy Southern Ontario highway has been closed due to a multi-vehicle collision that has resulted in several injuries.

Ontario provincial police say a 10-kilometre stretch of Highway 401 is closed between Newcastle and Newtonville, about 80 kilometres east of Toronto.

Reports say dozens of vehicles were involved, but police say they don't yet have a count as officers are still too busy dealing with the scene.

Paramedics in Kawartha, Ont., report several serious injuries, but say there's more wreckage than injuries.

Firefighters say one driver had to be cut from his rig.

Const. Linda Wolf says police are looking into today's blast of winter weather as a possible factor in the crashes.

Environment Canada had warned of snow squalls off Lake Ontario in the area.

"The weather is not ideal at this point," Wolf said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/series-collisions-wintry-weather-closes-stretch-highway-401-221350981.html

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Spam hits five-year low (but it's still two thirds of all email)

21 hrs.

Devin Coldewey , NBC News

A new report from Kaspersky Lab indicates that the amount of spam in the world continues to decline, although it's nowhere near disappearing. It's also being replaced with other, more substantial threats.

Spam levels dropped throughout 2012, and by the end of the year it was steadily below 70 percent of all email detected. In the heyday of spam, it consistently made up around 85 percent, according to Kaspersky's numbers.

A number of factors have contributed to this. People and email providers have instituted more effective spam filters, for one thing, and a major security hole that allowed people to spoof an email's sender was closed this year.

The reduced effectiveness of spam emails means spammers have to send more to get any hits. Kaspersky calculates that it cost spammers $150 for every million emails sent ? cheap indeed, but the success rate is so low that legal, normal advertising on Google and Facebook actually end up beinga better deal.

Of course, not every spammer is just aiming for cheap advertising. There are plenty?selling illegal services or products, or looking to hijack your computer with malicious attachments or phishing attempts. Since legal advertisement isn't an option, they're doubling down on spam. For that reason, Kaspersky suggests spam reduction in 2013 will be "negligible at best."

The full, detailed report, with many more details about the origins and types of 2012's spam, can be read here.

Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for NBCNews Digital. His personal website is?coldewey.cc.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/spam-hits-five-year-low-its-still-two-thirds-all-1C8125282

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Should You Ruin Lives with Facebook Search?

Facebook search can find a lot of cool things, like every photo you've liked, friends who share interests, friends who share restaurants, and maybe even your next wife! (?) But it could also completely destroy someone's existence. Should we? More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/zGDn5elh_ho/should-you-ruin-lives-with-facebook-search

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Gregory Matthew Bruni Arrested For Naked, Violent, Defecating, Masturbating Rampage

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/01/gregory-matthew-bruni-arrested-for-naked-violent-defecating-mast/

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Culture Smash: The State of PC Gaming in Japan - OnlyHardwareBlog

Cold rain drizzles outside. Inside, everything is pink, round, and frilly. The first floor of this otaku (geek) retailer is plastered with release info for new PC games?adult PC games. A young clerk in glasses near the 18-and-up section taps away on a computer, probably checking inventory. I approach, excusing myself for asking a sudden, if not seemingly random question: ?Why is PC gaming in Japan so niche??

The shop is located in Den-Den Town, Osaka?s geek and gaming district, on a street known as ?Ota Road?, short for ?otaku road?. It?s easy to stumble into shops like this and find an array of dating games, some of which are erotic. The vast majority of these games are not exactly mainstream in Japan, but their presence is palpable in a geek neighborhood like this. But what Western gamers think of PC games?the games from developers like Valve and Blizzard?aren?t. It?s not that those Western PC games don?t exist; they just don?t smack you in the face.

When many Japanese gamers think of the country?s PC gaming industry, the kneejerk reaction is to think of either dating or Western games. ?The image of PC gaming with many Japanese gamers is first-person shooters,? the clerk replies, agreeing that it is niche in Japan. ?That,? he continues, ?and they think PC gaming is expensive.?

It?s not only the perceived price, but the notion that game consoles are dedicated to gaming?that you don?t have to worry about things like specs. Then there is the 42 year-old manga artist who loves video games, but tells Kotaku via email, ?I don?t play computer games at all. I use my computer for work, so I don?t want to cause it unnecessary stress by installing a bunch of software.?

?I don?t play computer games at all.?

PC gaming wasn?t always niche in Japan. During the early 1980s, the PC was the only game in town?literally. Even after Nintendo?s Famicom caused a sensation, games like Metal Gear were still being created for the home computer throughout that decade. Nintendo?s decision to call its home console the ?Family Computer? and release a keyboard and floppy disks for it shows just how much the computer dominated at that time (likewise, so does Sony?s decision to name its console arm ?Sony Computer Entertainment?). Electronics makers reappropriated the word ?computer? for home consoles, and in the process left PC gaming behind.

With multiple domestic players?Nintendo, NEC, SNK, Sega, Sony, etc.?all making hardware in Japan for Japanese players, consoles eventually took over. Video games became inseparable from either arcades or consoles. Meanwhile in the West, game developers worked both sides of the aisle, whether that was game consoles or PC. Today, studios like Washington-based Valve Corporation and California?s own Blizzard Entertainment are some of PC gaming?s biggest developers?and champions. Yet, game makers of this stature turn up blanks in Japan.

?I have never played a single PC game,? 34 year-old factory worker Maki says. ?And if you compare to Korea or China, they have many more PC games than we do here in Japan.? He notes that elsewhere in Asia, there was a Dragonball game for PC, which didn?t make it to Japan. That isn?t the only example of Japanese creations ending up on PC outside the nation?s shores. For example, Ghost?n Goblins was released on PC in South Korea, a country where PC rules. This week, Namco Bandai announced it would be co-developing a Naruto game for China.

Traditionally, the most popular genre in Japan is role-playing games. With the Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy games, that genre has largely flourished on consoles. So when Japanese gamers think of video games, they most likely think of the default: the most famous or most popular games. And those games have appeared on consoles.

Spearheading the role-playing game charge is Square Enix. Square Enix is a remarkablable company. Even with a safe, successful run on consoles, Square Enix has branched out to massively multiplayer online role-playing games, such as Final Fantasy XI and more recently, Final Fantasy XIV. In the past year or so, Square Enix has released more and more browser games. Likewise, Sega has found success with its Phantasy Star Online games.

The Enix arm actually started out making erotic games in the early 1980s. Like many developers at that time, erotic games were a gaming experience players could largely get only on PC. But as Enix developed as a company, it stopped making erotic games and focused on role-playing games for consoles. And since consoles locked out much of the adult content, the PC remained a bastion for erotic games, offering players experiences they could not get on home consoles.

There?s definitely an audience for online gaming in Japan?it just doesn?t feel as palpable as in the West. ?Now, I only play browser games,? says Shima, who works as an artist in Tokyo. She has played MMOs, something that isn?t always easy to do in Japan. ?In Japan, Diablo was only in English,? she says. ?I don?t understand English, but the game has a style you don?t find in Japan, which makes it so cool.?

?I don?t understand English, but the game has a style you don?t find in Japan, which makes it so cool.?

Thus, unless you are hardcore into Western games (and increasingly, dedicated Japanese gamers are into Western games), there isn?t much motivation to venture beyond the mainstream. Sure, these players might be missing great experiences on PC, but loads of Western PC gaming isn?t localized in Japan, so what they are missing doesn?t even show up on their radars much of the time.

Trawling through Akihabara or Den-Den Town, it can seem like the only PC games you can find are of the ero variety. It?s not only Kotaku writers who feel this way: ?For the longest time, I thought the PC gaming floor at retailers in Japan was the porn floor,? says Mark McDonald of Tokyo game localizer 8-4 via phone. ?It was the PC gaming floor.?

Steam, while it exists in Japan, hasn?t hit a wide audience. There?s a bit of a chicken and an egg situation: the game titles are listed only in English, and the prices are only in U.S. dollars. Out of the 1,700 or so games Steam has for sale, only 105 of those can be played in Japanese. None of this makes a welcoming experience if you speak only Japanese and carry only yen.

So against this backdrop, it?s not totally unexpected for a big name game developer like Bayonetta designer Hideki Kamiya not to be up to speed on, say, what Valve is doing?even if Kamiya?s producer, Atsushi Inaba, is very familiar with the company. That?s because in Japan the PC gaming scene is still niche compared to gaming on consoles or mobile devices. You walk into a Japanese game shop and, save for a few notable exceptions like Final Fantasy XIV or Phantasy Star Online 2, PC gaming as it exist in the West doesn?t have much of a presence. Ditto for online.

Why does this matter to Westerners? As Mark McDonald from 8-4 points out, without a widespread delivery mechanism, that means fewer Japanese indie game developers can get their cool titles to a larger audience. It gives them one less platform.

That means that talented bedroom developers, like shoot?em up maestro Kenta Cho, must rely more on word of mouth. For years now, Cho has been well known for his freeware games, so he already has a sizable following. With a smaller indie scene in Japan and fewer developer mechanisms, that means it?s harder to find the next Kenta Cho?or, perhaps, it confines more of their work to mobile platforms. It ultimately has a knock on effect that might mean fewer young developers are willing to strike out on their own and go indie.

I?m back in the porn floor, where everything is round and frilly, and the clerk is still checking inventory on the computer. In the West, some gamers might turn their nose up at these types of games, deriding them as simple pornography. But these games are part of the pulse of the PC gaming scene, however niche that might be, and they provide experiences, albeit adult ones, players cannot get on consoles.

I ask the clerk what games he likes. ?Me? I like role-playing games,? he says. ?I also like playing first-person shooters on the PC. But not many of my friends play those kinds of games.? They play role-playing games on consoles, he adds. I thank him for the chat and make my way through the shop.

PC gaming does have its diehard believers in Japan. There are those making games, guys like Keiji Inafune of Dead Rising fame, Final Fantasy XIV director Naoki Yoshida, and, of course, numerous staffers at Bayonetta developer Platinum Games, who very much believe in PC gaming. They see it as a way forward and a way to connect their games to the world. The walls that get thrown up for so many Japanese players are years of being accustomed to getting their games through closed platforms and even the English language, which enables World of Warcraft guides to spring up across the globe, but might make some Japanese players unsure about their own ability to communicate.

I think about this as the rain lets up momentarily, and I duck out from underneath the awning and head out onto the street, into a sea of manga readers, anime watchers, and gamers. Most likely, console gamers.

Source:http://www.techspot.com/article/631-pc-gaming-japan/

Source: http://onlyhardwareblog.com/2013/01/culture-smash-the-state-of-pc-gaming-in-japan/

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What Capitalism Can't Fix - Phil Buchanan - Harvard Business Review

by Phil Buchanan??|?? 9:00 AM January 23, 2013

Increasingly, I see people looking starry-eyed to business and markets to solve social problems. In so doing, they run the risk of dismissing the impact of nonprofits ? and diminishing the value of organizations that seek to make a difference without creating the potential conflicts that come with the profit motive. My view is that pretending companies and markets hold all the answers actually puts at risk our ability to deal with our most pressing societal problems ? and to help our most vulnerable citizens.

The rhetoric is everywhere ? from the trade press to the mainstream media to business school faculty to corporate titans to Silicon Valley entrepreneurs. Former GE CEO Jack Welch, writing in Business Week, characterized the nonprofit sector as a "foreign land" in which performance is not a priority and employees are guaranteed "lifetime employment." Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit, wrote last year on the Wired web site, "Let's be real: The nonprofit model is broken. The 20th-century way of "guilting" people into giving to an opaque, inefficient organization with massive overhead is no longer a viable model." In a recent blog post here on HBR.org, Dan Pallotta suggests that nonprofits should use the tools of capitalism such as high pay and providing returns to investors to increase charitable giving.

The rush to disparage nonprofits and the stampede to embrace the idea that for-profits ? or for-profit models ? can more easily combat our toughest social problems deny reality. Many crucial objectives simply cannot be accomplished while generating a financial return. Other objectives can but there is a price to be paid. In health care, for example, research indicates a decline in quality when non-profit hospitals switched to become profit making, as Eduardo Porter explained this month in the New York Times.

The laudable push for companies to commit more energy to dealing with social problems should not obscure the need for strong independent nonprofits that focus on mission not profit. And while nonprofits can learn from companies and companies can learn from nonprofits, it is a mistake to deny differences.

After all, there is a crucial distinction between an institution that reinvests surpluses in its mission and one that faces unrelenting pressure to distribute profit to shareholders. Consider higher education in the United States. Nonprofit universities frequently offer an education that costs more than actual tuition ? the difference made up through charitable gifts and endowment returns ? while for-profit institutions must cover their costs with tuition and create a profit margin. The results ? and the evidence from lawsuits, media reports, and congressional and GAO investigations of for-profit universities ? speak for themselves.

Despite this and many other cautionary tales, an increasing number of people both inside and outside the nonprofit world seem drunk on the Kool-Aid of business superiority. Too often people equate "business thinking" with effectiveness. Even those inside the world of nonprofits and philanthropy have internalized the idea that operating "like a business" means operating effectively (never asking which business: Countrywide Financial? BP? Enron?).

The stereotypes of nonprofits are just that: stereotypes. There are, of course, numerous examples of nonprofit influence and impact ? from work on environmental issues to citizens' rights to reductions in tobacco use to reductions in worldwide child mortality ? but also lesser known examples. Take the work of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, a nonprofit whose 18-month campaign to reduce hospital mortality rates has saved an estimated 122,300 lives by inspiring and guiding hospital executives, physicians, and nurses to adopt six basic patient-safety practices. As Peter Fader, a University of Pennsylvania professor and director of the Wharton Customer Analytics Initiative, has observed: Nonprofits often excel at using "their data to better understand their 'customer base.' In this area, big companies with lots of resources really can learn from their cash-strapped nonprofit cousins."

The point is this: No type of organization ? government, business, or nonprofit ? has a monopoly on effectiveness. And nonprofits are typically tackling the most complex problems of all. If those problems could have easily been solved by government or business, they wouldn't exist at all.

I'm a huge believer in free-market capitalism. I have an M.B.A. and have worked as a corporate consultant. But I think we're better off being sober about what markets can and cannot accomplish.

I'd suggest three practical questions to ask in sorting through how to achieve important social goals.

• Does the pursuit of profit conflict with or facilitate the achievement of your goal? How likely are profit and social impact to be in tension? How will that tension be managed or resolved?
• What kind of choices and information do people have? Markets work best when people have choices and when there is good information, so ask, do those conditions apply? Are you looking at an opportunity ? like creating products or technologies that will help poor people in some aspect of their lives ? that lends itself to a free-market solution? Or are you looking at something, like the management of a prison or nursing home system for a state, where a provider is likely to have a virtual monopoly ? meaning management is free to prioritize profit over the social mission without paying any kind of price?
• Finally, are you addressing an issue that actually results from market failure, such as, environmental degradation? If you don't understand capitalism's role in contributing to a problem, you probably won't be able to rely on capitalism to chart a path to the solution.

Then decide what makes most sense, and don't assume that a pure nonprofit isn't the way to go.

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Source: http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2013/01/what_capitalism_cant_fix.html

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