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The World Health Organization is officially against e-cigarettes
Doctors think that the World Health Organization should ease off against electronic cigarettes, if only because the dangers have to be less harmful than the real thing. For its part, however, the WHO disagrees, publishing a report saying that it wants these nicotine delivery systems to be regulated with the same scorn as cigarettes and cigars are today. Research into the relative harm of "electronic nicotine delivery systems" is still pretty nascent, but the report claims that while the water vapor they emit has a smaller concentration of nicotine, it may spread more widely in the air -- increasing the risk to children and pregnant women in the vicinity. The WHO concedes that e-cigarettes are preferable to the real thing, at least for now, but only in nations where tobacco smoking is being rapidly reduced. The downside, of course, is that there's no consensus -- beyond a few studies -- that the technology actually helps people to kick the habit.
All the World's a Stage: Adding flesh to your character
When you decide to roleplay, a whole new world of imagination opens up to you -- soon you realize that all the World of Warcraft is a stage, and all the orcs and humans merely players. Michael Gray fills in this week for David Bowers to talk about how you can flesh our your character, and help it leap from the screen into everyone's imagination.As David's said before, getting into character can be a challenge. With the WWI right behind us and Death Knights looming around the corner, there's dozens of things threatening to water down our immersive roleplay. It can be frustrating, but the first thing you can control about your playtime is yourself -- and the character you've written.Your background sets up your character's story. It's where your character comes from, and often describes what motives your character's actions. But it's infinitely helpful to define more about your character than just the time the Horde ravaged your family and wrecked the estate, and maybe talk about...how he feels about children, or the summer holidays.Let's talk about how to flesh out a character, behind the cut...
Tournament.com dies
R.I.P. May 2007 - Nov. 2007 A little over a half-year after it started, Tournament.com shuts down. The site allowed players to bet on matches in a "skill-based environment" and had the exclusive rights from Valve for competitive use of Counter-Strike Source. The business model failed because the company couldn't get people through the virtual door to pony up their real cash. Hardcore gamers being fickle about what they spend their money on? Yeah, this idea was a winner from the start.Those who currently have money on the site are asked to contact the site administrator to get it back. Although the site itself says they're "temporarily offline," it's pretty hard to imagine at this point in time how a system like Tournament.com could work. Basically, any adult who doesn't have to stand on a chair to raise their IQ knows that they'll always be beaten by the 12-year-old who stole his parents credit card and does nothing but practice all day.
