31 year-old video game player drops dead after 20 hours game marathon.
Fresh air. It does a body good.
A View From the Schoolhouse
31 year-old video game player drops dead after 20 hours game marathon.
Fresh air. It does a body good.
Hendrik Hertzberg, in this week’s New Yorker, takes on the Nader legacy.
For the past three years, everything Nader accomplished during his period of unparalleled creativity, which lasted from around 1963 to around 1976, has been systematically undermined by the Administration that he was instrumental in putting in power. Government efforts on behalf of clean air and water, fuel efficiency, workplace safety, consumer protection, and public health have been starved, stymied, or sabotaged in tandem with the shift of resources from public purposes to high-end private consumption, the increasing identity of government and corporate interests, and the growth of a cult of secrecy and arrogance that began well before September 11, 2001. Nader bears a very large share of responsibility for these spectacular traducements of his proclaimed values. So it is quite a tribute to the brilliance of his early achievements that an argument can still be made that the net effect of his career has been positive.
What I love about the entire piece is that it doesn’t negate Nader’s positive contributions, but it does look at what his legacy will be. He argues that, despite 2000, Nader is still a net positive — which I am not sure I agree with — but that if his run in 2004 were to help a second term, then Nader’s assistance in creating eight years of Bush-rule would effectively negate the good work the man had done in the public sphere.
I, for the record, agree. He has tarnished his progressive legacy already. He may be well on his way to destroying it.
I’m annoyed tonight for two reasons. Both revolve around Ultimate.
First, Beacon didn’t get selected in the "Early Decision" round of the National Championships. That’s fine, I suppose. It puts a fair amount of pressure on any games we play between now and the final decision, but we can handle that. The kids are that good. But what is more frustrating is that we won’t find out until April 9th. That gives us six weeks to fund-raise, and that’s really difficult. We’re going to start fundraising as if we are going, because otherwise, I don’t know how everyone affords it. Waiting until April 9th to make a final decision will make it tough for the less wealthy teams to afford the trip. Yes, it’s still much earlier than the college and club teams, but given that this is an invitational, it could be an earlier deadline.