Violent computer games and decline in crime

I just came across this graph today, showing a correlation between crime victims per 1000 citizens and the release of some of the most criticized computer games (numbers taken from the US Bureau of Justice Statistics). I have been an avid critic of dubious correlations myself, but I thought this graph illustrates a nice point nonetheless (please note, however, that the graph is skewed since it starts at 20 instead of 0, thereby exaggerating the effect -- a strategy too often seen in media and politics).




As usual, XKCD puts it nicely:

My Sorry Second Life

I've had a sorry Second Life since the beginning. My days usually consisted in sitting in a chair or dancing around a pole for money. The pole dancing didn't seem very popular with the surrounding people given that I look like a 70-year old geezer with grey hear, grey beard and wrinkly tattoos. As long as I got my money (which didn't always happen) I was happy though. Still, I didn't really earn more than, at best, 500 L$ per day which doesn't really amount to a hill of beans, or anything else. So, I did what every sucker would do, earn a little cash then head of to the casinos to play Blackjack. Using simple blackjack strategy I managed on occasion to rack up 6-figure sums, but always ended up loosing it all in the end. So, back on the streets, earning money, then wasting it on Blackjack again. It sounds pathetic, but it was my life and I kind of liked it. Then, Linden Lab banned gambling and destroyed my second life. I don't really know what to do now. Perhaps it's a good thing since it forces me to find new things to do (I considered joining an army, but their recruitment policy was to strict). Sadly, however, I've resorted to just scrambling the world for places to earn money by doing nothing and since the gambling obverlords do not provide camping chairs anymore it's not easy to come by. Right now, I am earning money by being impaled on a stick. Honestly, somebody is paying me for being impaled and thereby providing a spectacle for bystanders. What a sorry, sorry life.

The fate of a blog

What is it about starting blogs from scratch? I've done a dozen of them now, and I have always done the same thing. First, say a little something about what I intend to do and second, make an empty promise that I will keep it updated. Then, after checking the statistics for a couple of weeks and realizing that no one (0) have stumbled over your blog, just leave it for dead. Then, a couple of months later I'm having a look at the statistics again -- still no visitors -- and then delete the entire blog. What massive waste of time. Still, here I go again... probably my 13th blog from scratch, and probably heading towards the same fate. Oh well, what do I care. I bet there will be no visitors anyway.