You have only one sneeze. Use it wisely. Yes, it’s “Stop Swine Flu,” the video game.
PHOTO : AP
The action starts with a splosh of green mucus hitting your screen, then switches to a street somewhere. Your avatar stands among pedestrians. The background noises are coughs, sneezes, noses being blown. Choose your moment, then tap the space bar to sneeze. Everyone hit by your spray turns green, then sneezes in turn, infecting others. How many are infected determines whether you go to the next level, which could be a train station, a factory floor or a nursery school.
Infecting a child is five points; an elderly person is 15. “I sort of like it, but I think it’s really warped,” said an eight-year-old who noticed the game on Sunday when it reached the Top 10 on his favorite free children’s game site, www.miniclips.com.
“Stop Swine Flu” — which probably ought to be called “Spread Swine Flu” — is actually a new name for a game released this year as “Sneeze,” before the possibility of pandemic flu dominated the news. And “Sneeze” was created with the best of intentions: to subversively teach young people healthy habits. It was commissioned by the Wellcome Trust, the world’s second largest charity after the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
“We did it to engage the older teen audience and teach them that where you sneeze matters,” said Daniel Glaser, the trust’s chief of special projects. “All the science is embedded in a contest that will look familiar to the YouTube generation.”
The game does drop hints that it longs to be pedagogical. Each new level offers a germ fact: more than 100 viruses cause colds, colds cost $25 billion a year in lost productivity and so on.
But still — points for infecting toddlers? Isn’t that the product of a ... well, of a sick mind?
“It’s no sicker than Ring Around the Rosy, which is alleged to date from the time of the plague,” Glaser retorted. “People have always caught virus and died. I don’t think there’s anything inappropriate about it.” (NEW YORK TIMES)
你只能打一次噴嚏,所以得「加以善用」。沒錯,這就是「抵抗新流感」電玩遊戲。
這個遊戲以一團綠色黏液噴濺到你的螢幕開始,然後畫面就轉到某處街景,你的角色就站在一群行人之間。周圍傳來很多咳嗽、打噴嚏和擤鼻涕的聲音。選定時機後,就輕敲空白鍵打噴嚏。所有被你的鼻嚏噴到的人都會變成綠色,然後輪流打噴嚏,傳染給其他人。你總共傳染給多少人會決定你是否進入下一關,場景可能換成在火車站、廠房或護理學校。
傳染給一名兒童可獲得五分,老人則有十五分。一名八歲男孩上週日在他最喜歡的免費兒童遊戲網站www.miniclips.com上發現這個名列排行榜前十名的遊戲後說:「我還蠻喜歡這個遊戲的,但我覺得它實在很變態。」
這個今年推出的遊戲原本名為「打噴嚏」,但在可能造成全球大流行的新流感佔據新聞版面後便改名為「阻止新流感」──或許該叫「傳播新流感」才對。「打噴嚏」的設計宗旨是出於一片好意:用顛覆性的方式教導年輕人衛生習慣。該遊戲是由威爾康信託委任製作,威爾康信託是全球第二大慈善機構,僅次於比爾蓋茲伉儷基金會。
該信託特別企劃主任丹尼爾.葛萊瑟說:「我們設計了這款遊戲吸引年齡稍長的青少年,希望教導他們打噴嚏應慎選地點。科學知識就蘊藏在這些YouTube世代熟悉的遊戲競賽中。」
這個遊戲的確蘊含教育意義。每個進階關卡都會提供一個關於細菌的知識,例如:有超過一百種病毒會引發感冒、感冒每年造成兩百五十億美元市值的生產力損失等等。
但話說回來,傳染病毒給幼童的意義為何?這是否是一個…唔,一個病態的遊戲?
葛萊瑟反駁說:「這個遊戲沒有比以鼠疫為年代背景的兒歌『圍著玫瑰色斑疹繞圈』病態。世上總有人染上流感而死亡。我不覺得這有什麼不恰當之處。」(紐約時報╱翻譯:袁星塵)
Tangbao are one of the most internationally renowned delicacies, that win the hearts of both locals and tourists. Their charm lies in the paper-thin flour wrapper that needs to be folded evenly almost 20 times. Folding a tangbao requires skill to deal with a bulging filling and a thin wrapper. Tangbao are served in a bamboo steamer in which they are steamed, not only adding to the visual appearance, but ensuring they do not get cold before reaching the table. The best way to enjoy a tangbao is to dip it in a mixture of vinegar and soy sauce with
The Bank of Japan (BoJ) announced a seismic change in direction on March 19, hiking interest rates for the first time in 17 years. The move represents an unwinding of an ultra-loose — and maverick -- policy aimed at putting Japan’s “lost decades” of stagnation and deflation behind it. The last time the BoJ raised interest rates was in 2007, but its war against deflation began in earnest in 2013 under then-prime minister Shinzo Abe. “Abenomics” combined generous government spending and central bank monetary easing. The BoJ spent vast amounts on bonds and other assets to pump liquidity into the
A: How much is baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani’s new deal? B: Not long ago, he signed a 10-year contract with the Dodgers at US$700 million, breaking the record in MLB history. A: Wow, the deal’s over NT$22 billion. B: And the opening game of the new season is taking place in South Korea this week. A: I can’t wait to see how the “two-way” player performs in the new season. A: 棒球巨星大谷翔平的身價到底有多高? B: 道奇隊不久前,以十年7億美元合約套牢大谷,創下大聯盟歷史新高。 A: 哇高達220多億台幣耶! B: 而新球季開幕戰本週將在南韓開打唷。 A: 真期待這位「二刀流」球星新球季的表現。 (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
For the first time, the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has fined a company for improper disposal of its defunct satellite. The satellite cable company Dish Network was fined US$150,000 because it failed to move an old satellite that was no longer in operation to a safe distance from others currently being used. The FCC had asked Dish Network to move one of its older satellites, EchoStar-7, 186 miles further from the Earth. However, the satellite had only advanced 76 miles before it ran out of fuel at the end of its operational life in 2022.