Here's your Daily Digest for Wednesday, April 4:
In the 80s it was Tetris; today it’s Angry Birds. But in one way or another, “stupid games” have been with us for some time, as Sam Anderson writes for the New York Times. In his piece, “Just One More Game …Angry Birds, Farmville and Other Hyperaddictive ‘Stupid Games,’” describes what makes games like Farmville and Angry Birds so addicting, and what it says about today’s culture. Board games also say something about the time that they were released. “Monopoly, for instance, makes perfect sense as a product of the 1930s — it allowed anyone, in the middle of the Depression, to play at being a tycoon. Risk, released in the 1950s, is a stunningly literal expression of cold-war realpolitik. Twister is the translation, onto a game board, of the mid-1960s sexual revolution.” If you’re like me, you have several versions of Angry Birds on your phone. But reading this makes me want to trade it in for a classic landline.
A bill in the Minnesota state Legislature that would legalize more types of fireworks is not dead yet, despite being sent back to committee from the House floor, according to the Star Tribune. The bill was sent to the House Government Operations and Elections Committee Tuesday because it affects local government’s ability to regulate fireworks. Bill author John Kriesel, R-Cottage Grove, said the bill would expand the types of fireworks that Minnesota residents often buy in Wisconsin. Opponents include law enforcement agencies that worry that fireworks related injuries could increase as a result of the bill.
Five 9/11 planners are set for a formal trial in front of a military commission, according to the BBC. They could be sentenced to death if found guilty. Alleged mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, along with Waleed bin Attash, Ramzi Binalshibh, Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali and Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi are inmates at Guantanamo Bay. The Obama administration originally tried to send the five to civilian court.
According to the Weather Channel, it's going to be a beautiful few days. Get outside while you can.
