re: http://www.joystiq.com/2008/05/17/obesity-experts-frown-on-wii-fits-fatty-labeling-nintendo-apol/

I tried to post a response to http://www.joystiq.com/2008/05/17/obesity-experts-frown-on-wii-fits-fatty-labeling-nintendo-apol/

but this computer isn't working right, so here's my response... Not sure why the comment didn't add over there:
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Yes, it's bad that the kid got insulted by the wii fit, but it's not the only type of insult that this thing throws out at you.... We bought the wii fit on Wednesday May 21st when it came out. I happened to have a friend at our house from Thursday May 22nd - Today... the friend was down from another state and was here to attend his brother's wedding this weekend. Anyways, the friend is a college kid that works at night and is used to some very odd hours... He usually goes to bed around 3AM- 5AM or so... so the last few nights I've been staying up hanging out with him. Part of that time I've been playing the wii fit balance games after 2AM to open up some more games since you seem to unlock a new game or level after every 10 or so experience points you get in the little electronic piggy bank thing in the game. Anyways, a couple of nights the wii board in the game said stuff to me like "sleep is good for your body" and it started asking me all sorts of weird questions about why I was up so late... My wife also said that at some point in time in the last few days while she was playing the game asked her to judge my posture and since she said it was good, it told her to tell me that at some point in time... This thing is like a real physical trainer in some ways and I think they tried to build a motherly sort of attitude in to it's ai. Also, I ate a bit of junk food and gained 1 lb in this late night craziness... the wii asked me why I gained the lb and gave options like eating late at night, excercising less, and several other options I can't remember at the time. It is based on BMI so it's not totally fair since BMI isn't fair, but I do think it is a good game and it gives you incentive to think about your diet and activity levels more...

As far as the new law in Missouri goes, I've been following that - I don't think it'll apply to video games, but then again, it's worded so weirdly it might. It also might apply to any horror movie shown to anyone, or even a Stephen King book!!!!

There's several Missouri laws dealing with cyber crime and stuff that are new and they are very dangerous...

First one deals with harrassment. This is the main one that goes in to effect in August:
http://www.house.mo.gov/billtracking/bills081/biltxt/intro/HB1505I.htm

That one makes it a possible felony for horror movies, prank calls or anything written or spoken to now be a felony if a child is on the receiving end. It could even make bill collectors felons if people that are filing for bankruptcy make their kids answer the phone... Also makes it a possible felony to cuss online in emails or use "coarse language offensive to a person of average sensibility;" - that sort of language is super wide to interpretation.

Oh yeah, forgot to mention, this one also does away completely with the right to illegal search and seizure... "Any law enforcement officer may arrest, without a warrant, any person he or she has probable cause to believe has violated the provisions of this section." In other words, a cop can arrest anyone at any time for any reason if that person... because potentially anyone can own a cell phone, have a piece of paper that they wrote something harassing on or have access to a computer or phone that could have been used to intimidate anyone... scary stuff... I believe this will lead to some major lawsuits, and hopefully this law will eventually be found to be unconstitutional.

Second one deals with sexual offenders:
http://www.senate.mo.gov/08info/BTS_Web/Bill.aspx?SessionType=R&BillID=193

This one makes sex offenders release even more information than they currently have to release including online identifying info (which I'm guessing is stuff like email addresses and forum user names?) and gives the highway patrol the right to sell that info to the highest bidder...and does away with the rights of the offender on the list to do anything about that...

"Any business complying with these provisions in good faith shall be immune from any civil or criminal liability resulting from: 1) refusing to provide services to a person because the entity believed the person was required to register as a sex offender; 2) a person's criminal or tortious acts, when the person is a register sex offender who has complied with the registration requirements, and committed the acts against a minor using the business's services or system; or 3) any activity for which the entity would be immune from liability under federal law for blocking or screening of offensive material." In other words, it lets the people paying money to the high way patrol get around the federal right to not be discriminated against:

http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/qanda.html
"The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has interpreted the prohibition of discrimination based on conduct to include discrimination based on sexual orientation."

Third one creates a cyber crime unit:
http://www.senate.mo.gov/08info/BTS_Web/Bill.aspx?SessionType=R&BillID=27411

This one seems to make officers of the law need less training on race profiling, changing it from annually to once every three years.. and also changes some of the ways warrents are done and the way that money is used in relation to cybercrimes... it basically creates a cyber crime unit so that that unit can look more in to the matters listed in the above two laws... and start enforcing them more, even though, in my view, those two laws are really unconstitutional.