Rebecca Savastio
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On the Blog Post In the Bailey O'Neill Case, Serious Questions, Allegations
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On the Blog Post In the Bailey O'Neill Case, Serious Questions, Allegations
Rebecca Savastio
4:56 pm on Friday, May 17, 2013
ReplyTammy, Thank you for pointing out the error of the mismatched page name and link in paragraph four. I have asked my editor to make the correction. It should be fixed shortly.
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On the Blog Post Iron Man 3 Review
Rebecca Savastio
12:50 am on Wednesday, May 8, 2013
ReplyJust curious... did you happen to catch the joke that referenced King Lear? I thought it was the funniest one in the movie but I was the only one who got it in the whole theater.
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On the Blog Post No Debate Among Most Experts: Violent Video Games Cause Aggression
Rebecca Savastio
10:06 pm on Monday, May 6, 2013
ReplyJT: Of course there have been many studies done on exactly what you describe. When you play video games your brain releases dopamine, a pleasure chemical that makes you "feel better" as you describe. Here is just one of the studies regarding dopamine release: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9607763. This can also lead to video game addiction in some people, an addiction that has many negative consequences. Here is one study about some of the consequences of video game addiction: https://www.psychology.iastate.edu/~dgentile/SRCD%20Video%20Game%20Addiction.pdf
Of course, there are many, many more studies available. I invite everyone to perform their own research when evaluating the topic of violent video games and the consequences of such games.
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On the Blog Post No Debate Among Most Experts: Violent Video Games Cause Aggression
Rebecca Savastio
2:34 pm on Monday, May 6, 2013
Reply@Sean Gallagher: Re: your comment "This "video games lead to violence" argument seem to be overly simplistic and pulled off a Fox News headline." I just wanted to clarify that I do not watch Fox News and therefore could not have been inspired by any of their headlines. I only examine the scientific, peer-reviewed evidence to come to a conclusion. I assure you that hundreds of studies are the furthest thing from "overly simplistic" you can imagine. If you read a few, you will see what I mean ;)
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On the Blog Post No Debate Among Most Experts: Violent Video Games Cause Aggression
Rebecca Savastio
1:36 am on Saturday, May 4, 2013
Reply@LlamaGuy: As you can see from the statements from the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychological Association, they have established causation, not correlation.
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On the Blog Post No Debate Among Most Experts: Violent Video Games Cause Aggression
Rebecca Savastio
9:41 pm on Friday, May 3, 2013
Reply@Mary Kay: Ironically, the Time piece is totally counter to my argument and I agree it is fluff but articles like that shape public opinion. Embedded within the other articles cited are many peer reviewed studies. An author must cite the original source where the info was found.
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On the Blog Post Thou Shalt Not Steal...Unless It's Digital
Rebecca Savastio
11:00 pm on Wednesday, February 13, 2013
ReplyRichard, thank you so much for sharing your story. One of my main concerns is that we will all lose out on art/expertise because of exactly what you have described-"theft of intellectual property inhibits creation." I can think of nothing more disturbing than this future reality.
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On the Blog Post Thou Shalt Not Steal...Unless It's Digital
Rebecca Savastio
10:57 pm on Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Really thought provoking point, PhilM. How do you feel having a shorter copyright time would promote creativity? Are you speaking to collaborative/remix uses?
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On the Blog Post Thou Shalt Not Steal...Unless It's Digital
Rebecca Savastio
2:39 pm on Wednesday, February 13, 2013
ReplyMike, I think the most important thing is the intent of the artist/company giving away the free content. In the case of iTunes, they say: "You may download previously-purchased free content onto an unlimited number of devices while it is free on the iTunes Service, but on no more than 5 iTunes-authorized computers." I would hope that people would simply abide by that rule. In a way, it makes us seem that we have no impulse control if it's true what you say that once the content is out there it's impossible to restrict. I don't find it difficult to say "oh well, it says I can't do xyz so I won't do it." I don't agree that it's morally ambiguous just because technology is moving faster than people can write guideline for every single situation. I personally really enjoy supporting and paying for movies, music and art because I want artists to make a living so they'll continue doing their art. I feel that people who say it's grey or ambiguous are sort of being opportunists. In most cases there are guidelines written which need to followed. The other angle I didn't go into in the article is that because the internet disconnects us so much as people, it makes it easier for us to treat each other badly. Just look at some of the comments here. If I were discussing this in person, I doubt someone would call me assinine and sickening to my face just because I have a different opinion than they do. It makes it easy to not care about the person behind the screen, artist or otherwise.
Rebecca Savastio
12:35 am on Sunday, May 19, 2013
Regarding several comments which have come to my email: I wanted to explain that I have been researching this story for two months. I have corroborated the social media clips by extensive interviews in the community as well as cross-referencing all the names of the people involved in the online accountings of events and the interviews I conducted. The reason why the sources are not named is solely to protect the identity of minor children. I did not just randomly choose social media comments to display, and in fact I omitted a large amount of comments I found online which I could not corroborate either via interviews or cross-referencing.