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Pokemon Go Could Add 2.83 Million Years To Users' Lives, Says Study (cnn.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNNMoney: A new study from Microsoft Research found that the most interested Pokemon Go players took 26% more steps than before using the app. The largest behavior changes were seen among sedentary users. No matter their gender, age, weight or lifestyle, Pokemon Go users began to move more -- taking an extra 194 steps a day once they started using the app. (That's the equivalent of walking roughly one tenth of a mile.) The researchers estimate that Pokemon Go has added 144 billion steps to U.S. physical activity. That's 143 roundtrips to the moon. The study was published online this month in the Cornell Library University. Since activity reduces mortality risks, the researchers estimated that Pokemon Go could add 2.83 million years to the life expectancy of an assumed 25 million U.S. users. Based off research that showed walking reduces mortality, the researchers calculated that Pokemon Go users who continued to walk an extra 1,000 steps a day would enjoy 41.4 days of additional life expectancy. The Microsoft scientists examined data shared by 31,793 users of Microsoft Band, a wearable device, and Bing, the company's search engine. They compared the movement data from the wearables with users' web search queries. Pokemon Go players were identified by web searches that indicated they were playing the game. The Microsoft team also looked at four of the most popular health apps on Apple and Android devices. They found these apps had little impact on a person's behavior. The activity levels of Pokemon Go users changed far more.

156 comments

  1. Re:Long life by Gaygirlie · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Eat a vegetable-based diet and you'll life a lot longer.

    Longer, maybe, but also a whole lot more miserable.

  2. Misleading title by sheramil · · Score: 1

    If there's an award for the most misleading title on a Slashdot post, this one has to be in the running. It could have at least said HOW MANY users' lives would be enhanced to the tune of 2.83 million years. I suppose people won't read articles unless they contain a ridiculous amount of exaggeration.

    1. Re:Misleading title by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't read the summary. Do not read the summary. DO NOT fucking READ THE fucking SUMMARY.

      Pokemon Go could add 2.83 million years to the life expectancy of an assumed 25 million U.S. users.

    2. Re:Misleading title by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      It's right there in the summary:

      could add 2.83 million years to the life expectancy of an assumed 25 million U.S. users

      Which gives a bit more than 0.1 years per user. Further down

      would enjoy 41.4 days of additional life expectancy.

      41.4 days is a bit more than 0.1 x 365, so the two figures matched, as expected.

      I suppose reading the summary is just too onerous for /. posters.

    3. Re:Misleading title by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's right there in the summary:

      could add 2.83 million years to the life expectancy of an assumed 25 million U.S. users

      Which gives a bit more than 0.1 years per user. Further down

      would enjoy 41.4 days of additional life expectancy.

      41.4 days is a bit more than 0.1 x 365, so the two figures matched, as expected.

      I suppose reading the summary is just too onerous for /. posters.

      Life expectancey is not a shared number. I am now expecting 25 million US citizens alive today to still be chasing Pokemon around in 2.83 million years.

    4. Re:Misleading title by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 1

      Pokemon Go could add 2.83 million years to the life expectancy of an assumed 25 million U.S. users

      So about a month. Which they would only [have] wasted playing Pokemon Go.

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
    5. Re:Misleading title by MachineShedFred · · Score: 1

      Extrapolating further, that's 2.83 million person-years worth of food and energy we have to come up with.

      Thanks, Obama!

      --
      Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
    6. Re:Misleading title by Maritz · · Score: 1

      It doesn't change the fact that that is a stupid way to convey information.

      --
      I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
    7. Re: Misleading title by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Think of the cattle. #CattleStandUnited.

    8. Re:Misleading title by Cajun+Hell · · Score: 1

      I suppose reading the summary is just too onerous for /. posters.

      But also, math is hard!

      --
      "Believe me!" -- Donald Trump
  3. Re:Long life by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    People don't like cruelty-free food because they haven't eaten any that is really good. Trust me, come to my place and I'll give you a vegan feast and you'll love it. This is not fake soy meat or whatever. Just good veggie cooking. !!... +++

  4. Re:Long life by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You just haven't poured enough salad dressing into your salad, dudebro.

  5. Fake GPS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Did the study also consider that people might be using a fake positioning system to just virtually walk around?

    1. Re:Fake GPS by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      That will result in spending your extra 40 days in a virtual reality.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    2. Re:Fake GPS by hattig · · Score: 1

      It used fitness trackers (which surely skews the results towards those bothered enough to get one of those things), not Pokemon Go, for step counts.

      Most older people seem to play Pokemon Go in the pub, so if it wasn't for the fact they would be in a pub already, it surely is decreasing their life expectancy! :D

    3. Re:Fake GPS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Did they consider the people killed by people driving while pokemoning (or is it poking the mons)?

  6. Ok, we've added. Now let's subtract. by Opportunist · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Let's subtract all the people who get shot, mauled or otherwise physically harmed for hunting Pokemon where they shouldn't, along with those smart individuals who become victims of accidents because they wanted to hunt some Pokemon where no smart human would willingly go (like, say, the middle of a busy interstate). How many years older do we then get?

    Or is that ok because it only weeds out the ... let's say less viable individuals?

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    1. Re: Ok, we've added. Now let's subtract. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Exactly. Also, how many people will be literally bored to death by reading these incessant idiotic news stories about some stupid fucking game? I honestly still don't even know what a pokemon is and would be fine never finding out.

    2. Re:Ok, we've added. Now let's subtract. by gnupun · · Score: 0

      Let's subtract...

      Let's say a poke go user spends an average of 1 hour/day for 3 years playing the game. That's 45 days spent on a worthless, non-entertaining activity that's played only because "you gotta catch'em all." I'm tired of all these xp-based, grinding mobile games that keep the player playing just by adding new characters. Games should be played for a few months, then discarded.

    3. Re:Ok, we've added. Now let's subtract. by Opportunist · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Games should be played for fun. Period. How long? Gee, I don't know, how long ago did Civilization 2 get launched?

      Playing a game for ANY reason other than enjoyment is something I cannot really understand. Maybe that's why I rarely play MMOs for long. At some point, it stops being fun. It becomes a chore. Doing the same shit over and over to get a different number in front of your character portrait, so you can then go and participate in a group fight. Which is actually fun... for the first couple times. Then it again starts being a chore because you have to kill the same old monster a thousand times until whatever item you need to be "good enough" to enter another dungeon drops.

      Sorry. Nope. I play games to enjoy myself. That may be for a few months. That may just be a few days. That may actually be a couple years. That may also be now again after I stopped for a few years. In the end, what matters is that games should be played for enjoyment of the act itself. Not some fake reward dangling like a carrot on a stick. The action itself should be rewarding. Then it's a good game.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    4. Re:Ok, we've added. Now let's subtract. by EvilSS · · Score: 1

      Let's subtract all the people who get shot, mauled or otherwise physically harmed for hunting Pokemon where they shouldn't, along with those smart individuals who become victims of accidents because they wanted to hunt some Pokemon where no smart human would willingly go (like, say, the middle of a busy interstate). How many years older do we then get?

      Or is that ok because it only weeds out the ... let's say less viable individuals?

      It would probably add up to no more than a few thousand years of life lost, so overall still a very large net positive gain.

      --
      I browse on +1 so AC's need not respond, I won't see it.
    5. Re: Ok, we've added. Now let's subtract. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      how many people will be literally bored to death by reading these incessant idiotic news stories about some stupid fucking game?
       
      A stupid game that has done more for the masses then all the sitting around watching Sunday afternoon football has done for you beer bellies.
       
      Get over yourself, Mr. Macho... no one is threatening your right to die a sad death at the hands of the NFL.

    6. Re:Ok, we've added. Now let's subtract. by Opportunist · · Score: 2

      I agree. But I guess for different reasons...

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    7. Re:Ok, we've added. Now let's subtract. by jrumney · · Score: 1

      Let's say a poke go user spends an average of 1 hour/day for 3 years playing the game.

      To say that, you'd first have to eliminate the 90% of players who get bored with it after the first two weeks.

    8. Re:Ok, we've added. Now let's subtract. by gnupun · · Score: 1

      10% of 40 million is 4 million and a lot of users.

    9. Re:Ok, we've added. Now let's subtract. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I can't speak for everyone, but based on actual numbers from playing Ingress for two years: I average about 3 hours a week, and out of those three hours about 15-20 minutes is pushing buttons on the phone and the rest is walking around a city park or trails near the city. Longer trails means about same time pushing buttons, but more time walking because there is more space between portals. There are lots of people who do such walking while considering it non-entertaining, calling it exercise. There are also lots of people who do such walking while finding it entertaining, and call it hiking. I do plenty of hiking trips without the phone, but those tend to be longer ones with some planning involved, and the game helped with increasing the frequency of shorter, more spontaneous hikes. Unless you're perfectly fit, it is hard to call the exercise of walking extra hundreds of kilometers worthless, and it shouldn't be difficult to see why others find hiking entertaining, with or without a phone involved.

    10. Re:Ok, we've added. Now let's subtract. by mark-t · · Score: 2

      I was actually thinking about this last night, and I thought that they could may be add a feature to a game like Pokemon Go that might help save a few of those lives... or at least improve their survivability odds a little bit if they aren't actually watching where they are walking.

      The devices have a camera.... so couldn't they use the camera to watch the face of the user playing the game? Using eye-tracking software, they could probably ascertain if the user was looking at the screen at any given instant while the game is on. The idea would be that if the user was moving near speeds that would be associated with foot travel while also looking at the screen without taking breaks at least every 20 to 30 seconds or so to look up, a big textual overlay could appear over the game's UI that says "WATCH WHERE YOU ARE GOING", which would flash for a few seconds, before allowing the user to resume play... and the timer would start again.

      Anyways, it was just an idea I had. I dunno for sure if it would even actually work.

    11. Re:Ok, we've added. Now let's subtract. by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

      I play MMOs to immerse myself in a virtual world. To do stuff in said virtual world. For fun, mostly.

      I've never understood the min-maxers. It's fun for the most part to see a character progress. But to spend time figuring out the exactly optimal method? Pah! Just be there. Do stuff.

    12. Re:Ok, we've added. Now let's subtract. by apoc.famine · · Score: 1

      At some point, it stops being fun. It becomes a chore.

      I can't count how many games I've just up and dropped because of this reason. I'm pretty immune to the sunk-cost fallacy. Plus, since I never drop more than about $20-$30 into a game until I'm deep into it, it's never enough to care about. Everything from MMOs to single player RPGs, a fair number of community-based online text-based RPGs, etc. As I've gotten older, my patience for drudge-work has dropped off tremendously. My free time is nothing like it used to be, so if I spend more than 10-15 minutes not having fun, I'm done. I don't have the time to "invest" in bullshit on the promise that I'll be entertained later. Too many broken promises over the years for that to work on me any more.
       
      Gotta go. Kids on my lawn again....

      --
      Velociraptor = Distiraptor / Timeraptor
    13. Re:Ok, we've added. Now let's subtract. by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      That's a great reason to play it. Interact with people, enjoy the company, teaming up to do stuff together that you can't really do alone, all great reasons.

      I can even understand people who want to squeeze that last dps out and crunch numbers all day, to be honest, that was one of the reasons I played them. I crunched numbers and worked out better performance, though it was mostly for the other players because, well, actually playing was less interesting to me. That was just execution of what I designed and developed. That's boring. But working out a plan how to fire what skill so cooldown times and recast times fall together, that was fun!

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    14. Re:Ok, we've added. Now let's subtract. by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      When I sink money in a game and don't get fun out of it, it's lost money. Every cent spent for fun is well spent. But I want my fun out of a game NOW. Not "when I spent enough time and money to get the ultraspecialawesome reward".

      There's a rather simple game I enjoy playing, called Defiance. It's kinda mindless and repetitive as all fuck, but at the same time rather satisfying. It's easy to pick up, instantly understandable and the "leveling" you do is mostly for show. Basically it's mowing down rows after rows of monsters together with a few dozen other players, and after an hour of driving around and mowing down mobs you get some sort of token reward nobody gives a fuck about. The reward is certainly NOT worth the hour invested, but there is never a shortage of players. Because the action itself is FUN. It's satisfying and rewarding to just PLAY the game. Hell, I am not even sure now whether you actually get anything in the end but a "it's over, and these guys were with you in the game" screen...

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    15. Re:Ok, we've added. Now let's subtract. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hell yeah, totally agree on Defiance! I actually dropped some money into that one just because I love the mindless driving around with a band of 30+ psycho's killing the crap out of everything! :]

    16. Re: Ok, we've added. Now let's subtract. by Maritz · · Score: 1

      no one is threatening your right to die a sad death at the hands of the NFL.

      Do you just assume everyone you talk to on the internet is american? How's that working out for you?

      --
      I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
    17. Re:Ok, we've added. Now let's subtract. by master_kaos · · Score: 1

      I imagine it could, the problem would be massive battery drain on an already battery chugging app.

    18. Re: Ok, we've added. Now let's subtract. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Play league of legends. It has a whole field of study behind it called Theroy crafting. Pretty cool stuff. It is a PvP Moba. No grinding, just playing. It's free to play and isn't pay to win. Money only buys you cosmetic items.

    19. Re:Ok, we've added. Now let's subtract. by quintus_horatius · · Score: 1

      My first thought about this was, by helping people move about and live longer PG is actually contributing to environmental disaster.

      • By moving around more, but not replacing other transportation needs like walking to work, people are expending more calories -- which consumes additional global resources pointlessly
      • By living longer, people consume even more resources with the extra years lived; by helping first-world people live longer, you increase the consumed resources by some greater-than-one multiplier compared to a thriftier third-world person.

      Overall, this isn't good news.

    20. Re:Ok, we've added. Now let's subtract. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, with those people gone that leaves more resources for others to live longer.

      Captcha: disposal

    21. Re:Ok, we've added. Now let's subtract. by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      non-entertaining

      I think 20million people will disagree with that, ... in the USA alone. Or do you think people often do something that doesn't entertain them?

    22. Re: Ok, we've added. Now let's subtract. by Sumus+Semper+Una · · Score: 1

      Play league of legends. It has a whole field of study behind it called Theroy crafting.

      Just a quick point. Theorycraft applies to nearly every game. Not just League of Legends. And it's debatable whether WoW or Starcraft was the true origin of the term "theorycraft", but it definitely did not originate from League of Legends. The -craft suffix is a dead giveaway that it was a bastardized term from the player population of a Blizzard game. Plus, I remember discussing theorycraft back in vanilla WoW, which was before League of Legends even existed.

      I do remember, in my experience at least, that discussions of theorycraft coinciding strongly with the first public discussions of metagame content. That was both fascinating to me and made sense. I mean, if stat X is always superior to stat Y when you have a choice according to theorycraft, and some dungeons favor gear with stat Y whereas other dungeons favor gear with stat X, your logical conclusion would be to favor the dungeon with items that give more stat X items. At that point, you're no longer just playing the original game. You're playing a new game centered around statistically maximizing positive outcomes based on theorycrafting.

    23. Re: Ok, we've added. Now let's subtract. by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      Theorycrafting existed a LONG time before WoW infested the MMO world. Its name comes more from the fact that crafting was a tedious, boring chore in most games that usually consisted of first calculating long lists of ingredients with different places to get them from, factoring in the time it takes to acquire them and eventually staring at the screen for a few minutes watching a progress bar move. Theorycrafting isn't that different from this fun pastime.

      Once you start theorycrafting, you stop playing the game. You start gaming the game. Whether this is fun is very debatable.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  7. Message from the future by stealth_finger · · Score: 1

    I'm here to tell you, in three million years you'll be dead.

    Will I really? Well what do you suggest? Give up white bread? More rougage?

    --
    Wanna buy a shirt?
    https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
  8. Re:Long life by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    The Donald has taught us the secret is to grab life by the pussy.

  9. Great ... I'll let you know if it's true by Chrisq · · Score: 1

    Great ... I'll let you know if it's true in the year 285050 o there abouts

  10. Buy shares of footwear! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This also means more wear on shoes, I'm going to buy shares of Nike and similar.

  11. Re:Long life by Muros · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Eat a vegetable-based diet and you'll life a lot longer.

    That may not be true, but it will certainly seem that way.

  12. Re:Long life by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I eat cruelty free meat. I take my animals to bed with me and smother them as they orgasm so they die at the moment of ultimate pleasure.

  13. Re:Long life by Opportunist · · Score: 5, Funny

    Important kitchen tip: A salad tastes a whole lot better if you, just before eating it, replace it with a steak.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  14. Re:Long life by Opportunist · · Score: 5, Funny

    Doc, how can I live longer?

    You drink?
    Nope

    Smoke?
    Nope

    Eat red meat?
    Nope

    Screw around?
    Nope

    Then why the hell do you want to live longer?

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  15. Sedentary people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They were focusing sendentary people. How about a study of regular exercisers who stopped to play Go?

    Pokemon Go! Reduces life expectancy and makes people fat - would be the headline.

    Science reporting is just pathetic.

  16. Re:Long life by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Eat less animals is much better advice. A diet based largely on plants is good (unless that takes the form of a completely vegan diet of potato chips, fried rice, and soda), but as for one entirely based on plants, that's unnecessary and potentially detrimental if done incorrectly.

  17. Re:Long life by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This has been heavily disproven so many times, look at the latest research from Stanford. Previous studied failed to acknowledge that vegetarians tended to be more health conscious individuals and that when this was accounted for meat eaters were actually much healthier and lived longer. This is due to most "good" fats being animal fats and the now outdated advice about eating vegetable fats such as margarine actually being very unhealthy.

  18. Doubtful... by mschaffer · · Score: 3, Informative

    Did the researchers take into account how many Pokemon Go morons walked in front of cars, buses, and other vehicles while playing the game.
    I personally saw a Pokemon Go idiot fall down a flight of stairs. She twisted her ankle and injured another innocent bystander.

    1. Re:Doubtful... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How would you know they were playing PG at the time or just interacting with their device?

    2. Re:Doubtful... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's been my experience that you can usually tell who is playing PG by the way they use their phones.

    3. Re:Doubtful... by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Do you need to take that into account? Idiots have been walking in front of cars staring at their mobiles long before pokemon go came out.

  19. Unless they are run-over. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Did you get the number of that donkey cart?

  20. Re:Long life by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Vegans, or the V-word as they like to it said, are not likely to use margarine. Some simply don't like the fatty taste of red meat, or dark fowl. Some love it, and so beat it, beat it. Some don't like the idea of butchering mammals, or the common, poor sanitation of all that are Schlachthof 5.

  21. Re:Long posts by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    It's a dialogue. How would you propose I should post it sensibly so I needn't add an explanation to the joke?

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  22. Re:Long life by drinkypoo · · Score: 0

    Important kitchen tip: A salad tastes a whole lot better if you, just before eating it, replace it with a steak.

    I know this is odd, but sometimes I find a salad is a good thing to have next to a steak. Helps scrub out the ol' colon. Of course, you could just go to a chili festival...

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  23. Re:Long life by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Eat a vegetable-based diet and you'll life a lot longer.

    And AC ignores the cries of millions of Oddish being ground up into candy just to make one Vileplume.

    If you want to make an Exeggutor, you've gotta break a few cute eggs.

  24. Sounds right up there with the research .. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sounds right up there with the research on the fitbit.

    More Microsoft junk research.

  25. As a cannibal, by DatbeDank · · Score: 1

    I prefer my vegans to be free range and grass fed organic.

    Also, crappy summary and title.

  26. Reduces MORTALITY ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Based off research that showed walking reduces mortality" ... really, that means some folks won't every die ... interesting.

    Reduces early mortality ... maybe.

  27. I want to live longer... by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 1

    ... but I don't want to live 2.83 million years.

    --
    "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    1. Re:I want to live longer... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      GARRON: As yet, they haven't even discovered the telescope. Many of the natives believe that the planet is flat and if they walked far enough they would fall off the edge. There's no chance of Ribos reaching Grade two for many thousands of years.
      GRAFF: I see.
      GARRON: May you live a long life, Graff, but not that long.

    2. Re:I want to live longer... by Maritz · · Score: 1

      3 million years is the big milestone that makes you take a long look at yourself. 2.83 is still party time.

      --
      I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
  28. 3+ miles for me! by eggstasy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If you divide the distance walked by the number of days since I started playing... which includes many days where I didn't play, and some where I played 8 hours.
    Lost 15 lb and slimmed down considerably!
    Also met two really cute geek girls who were happy to let me play with their, ahem, pokemon! ;)
    Grab them by the pokemon I say! :D

    1. Re:3+ miles for me! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wait .. you're telling me you're still playing that game ? The fad is looooonng over FYI.

    2. Re:3+ miles for me! by ebcdic · · Score: 1

      I think the phrase you're looking for is "grab them by the meowth".

    3. Re:3+ miles for me! by wbr1 · · Score: 1

      Might result in this: http://static.fjcdn.com/pictur...

      --
      Silence is a state of mime.
  29. Re:Long life by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Important kitchen tip: A salad tastes a whole lot better if you, just before eating it, replace it with a steak.

    Of course it does.

    Steak is concentrated salad.

  30. Re:Long life by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Those are artificial highs -- temporary and often harmful. There are plenty of natural highs that are worth living for.

  31. Focus only on the positive by Dunbal · · Score: 1

    How about a study on how many people have died because of Pokemon? You have to take the good with the bad. Those "extra years" come at a price.

    --
    Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
    1. Re:Focus only on the positive by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 3, Interesting

      It might be easier to measure how many people died than it would be how many people's lives it saved. Sure we can point fingers at the guy who crashed his car playing pokemon whilst driving; but what about the guy who played pokemon instead of doing some other dumb teen thing. If pokemon kept him from joining a gang and getting shot, for example.

      You can't really say "Pokémon" caused X more people to die, because we don't know the net affect. Extra people may have survived because of it.

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    2. Re:Focus only on the positive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Exactly. This is like when someone commits suicide at XYZ factory in China and it is assumed it is because of the terrible work conditions. There is a general suicide / death rate in society. Just because someone happens to be working for XYZ corp when the commit suicide or playing Pokemon when they die does not mean that activity was the "direct" cause.

      People that play pokemon while driving would probably have been texting/web browsing and driving instead. The person who commits suicide may have done it no matter where they worked.

      Sure, Pokemon may affect the death rate but that doesn't mean you an just count the deaths and claim that many people would be saved by deleting pokemon go from the world. Same with the suicide worker. You can't shut that company down and assume that will save people from committing suicide.

  32. Re:Long life by Dunbal · · Score: 0

    Newsflash - vegans get sick and die too. Fuck off.

    --
    Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
  33. Rooted device: No Pokémon Go for you! by msk · · Score: 2, Interesting

    When Niantic decided that all players with rooted devices were no longer welcome, that pretty much ended the game for me. I was playing it with my spouse, and getting more exercise, but I shouldn't have to jump through yet more hoops to use this product. I'd do just as well reading a book while walking.

    Some devices are rooted by default, some by choice. That alone is not an indicator of cheating.

  34. Pokemon destroys Social Security by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    People living longer is the last thing we need right now...
    Social security is already going bankrupt.

    Best thing you can do for society right now is just up and die... preferably in a very cheap manner.

    1. Re:Pokemon destroys Social Security by MrLogic17 · · Score: 1

      Well now, aren't you just a ray of sunshine.

    2. Re:Pokemon destroys Social Security by Maritz · · Score: 1

      Lead by example.

      --
      I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
  35. So what by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... would enjoy 41.4 days of additional life expectancy ...

    Because, if you haven't read the 'Game of thrones' books at age 90, those 41 days will be a real game-changer. This is like reality game-show television: Where we should be excited to watch a stranger renovate a bathroom.

  36. Re:Long life by Opportunist · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'll simply stay a second order vegetarian. I eat animals that are vegetarian.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  37. 1/10th of a mile? by EdZep · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Well, there may be a small health benefit to walking 1/10th of a mile. But, interest in the app will fade (HAS faded), and even that little bit of walking will subside. Getting and taking care of a dog will have a person doing a LOT more walking, AND will encourage social interaction... unlike Pokey-Go, which keeps users focused on their devices. I want to see some stats about the rate of Pokey-Go users becoming victims of crime... as the first rule of personal safety in public spaces is to maintain situational awareness, which these players are sorely missing.

    1. Re:1/10th of a mile? by apoc.famine · · Score: 1

      AND will encourage social interaction... unlike Pokey-Go

      Well, I'm not so sure about that. I'm in a young little city, with lots of families and college kids. It's not uncommon to hear someone of any age under about 40 call out some pokemon name in the common poke-areas of the city, only to have a few other people of varying ages say, "Oooh, cool. Where?" I'm not sure that outside the game that college kids would be making any sort of contact with 10 year olds.
       
      This weekend the wife and I went to people watch at what was rumored to be a ridiculous gathering of players. We were not disappointed. A little park on the outskirts of the city had like 100 people there all milling around playing the game. Some camped out in chairs and on benches, some just wandering up and down the waterfront, people with dogs, kids in strollers.... It was insane. And they were talking to each other. Probably even splits of ages between middle school, high school, college kids, and nerdy 20-40 year old and parents. Somebody from one end of the park would shout that they found some pokemon, and half the people would wander down there, occasionally high-fiving random strangers when they caught it.
       
      It was wild. I've never seen anything like it in my life. I'm guessing small towns are different, but around here, it really is a social game.

      --
      Velociraptor = Distiraptor / Timeraptor
  38. Re:Long life by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I've been vegetarian for about thirty-some years now and I really don't miss it. To each their own, I suppose but food should be looked at as more than a simple pleasure experience.

  39. Re: Long life by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    How do you spot a vegan?

    Don't worry. They'll tell you.

  40. Published by "Cornell Library University"? by Verdatum · · Score: 1

    Umm...Generally when something is published by your own school's library, that's what's known as a vanity-publication. That means this study did not undergo peer review. Add the fact that it's funded by Microsoft, who has a massive potential vested interest in the future of AR gaming. Something tells me there's gonna be some gorgeous cherry-picking of data and referenced sources going on in this thing.

  41. Re:Long life by Mashiki · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The only reason Westerners eat animals is habit, taste or convenience, which is NOT reason enough to kill an animal.

    The only reason why we eat animals is because we're omnivores. And eating too much meat is just as bad as eating too many vegetables. Actually eating too many vegetables is in many cases worse, since you lose out on essential things that will keep you alive that you can't get from plants. Though you can get some of them from eating mineral rich dirt.

    If you really want to live a long life, you live a balanced life. If you want to die a short life in agony, you go to the extreme at either end. FYI: Heart disease has many factors(from environmental to genetic), the main cause of it in the west is we spend too much time on our asses.

    --
    Om, nomnomnom...
  42. Completely negated by the accessories.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    All of which is quickly negated when the accessories are used.

    http://amzn.to/2dJ5az0
    Pokemon Pokeball Grinder for Spices, Herbs, Tobacco
    I though this was a joke at first but nope.
    Apparently some people need to grind their "herbs and spices" while tromping though yards looking for Pokemon.
      "buyer - just had to buy it. I played Pokemon since it first came out and still love it to this day. it had metal shavings in it but meh... gave it a quick rinse and wiped the pieces out with a paper towel afterwards. pretty solid, weight wise"

  43. The real news here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The real news here is that Americans are so sedentary that an extra 194 steps a day is "significant."

    1. Re:The real news here by garry_g · · Score: 1

      I think I take more than 194 steps in the morning from getting up to fixing breakfast ... but then, I don't live in the US ... ;)

  44. This by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Or your knees will need replacing 41.4 earlier.

  45. fad is over by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I hate to break it to the last 1000 players, but everyone else already quit.

    Look up for a second, the crowds have disappeared. Everyone went back to work/life.

    1. Re:fad is over by PPH · · Score: 1

      So do they get to split that 2.83 million between them? That would be 2830 years each.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
  46. More math I don't quite get by unrtst · · Score: 1

    The summary states, "Go users ... (take) an extra 194 steps a day...".
    It goes on to state that the Microsoft Research researchers, "calculated that Pokemon Go users who continued to walk an extra 1,000 steps a day would enjoy 41.4 days of additional life expectancy."

    Um, those both may be true, but how does +194 steps equate to +1000 steps? Does the added life expectancy scale linearly (each user living an extra 8.03 days on average)? And, as others have noted, shouldn't they subtract the time spent playing it?

  47. Re:Rooted device: No Pokémon Go for you by wardrich86 · · Score: 2

    Same here. I'm still not sure why the decided to kick out the rooted users. Some people speculated it had to do with cheaters, but there's no way that's the case since most of them were running stock. Ah well, freed up some space on my phone for games developed by better devs.

  48. Re:Long life by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And evolution. You know, those big teeth at the front of your mouth that are there specifically for ripping apart flesh?

    Also, as you are probably a fan of the "Least Harm Principle" I'll share this article with you about how eating large herbivore meat in moderation actually results in less deaths than a vegan diet. Also, some work done on the same principle in Australia.

    Won't you think of the grey-tailed vole?

  49. And in The World of Useless Studies... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    we have nothing. You get nothing. You've wasted my time. Hopefully I can waste yours. Thank you editor. What happened to Slashdot? I've seen some questionable stories here before, but...

  50. Re:Long life by MachineShedFred · · Score: 1

    Is all your grain hand-harvested? Then it's probably not "cruelty-free" - there's absolutely no way a hundred-acre field can be harvested without knowing that some mouse or snake has been run through the combine with your "cruelty-free" grains. Mowing a field of alfalfa can reduce the population of small rodents by up to 50%.

    Stop deluding yourself.

    --
    Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
  51. Re:Long life by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    Of course, you could just go to a chili festival...

    This, combined with your name, begs for a topical reply. But I just don't want to go there.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  52. Re:Long life by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

    This, combined with your name, begs for a topical reply. But I just don't want to go there.

    Suffice to say that if a festival combines chili, salsa, and fruit salsa you might want to consider restricting yourself to just one or two of those categories, and if two, then not the first and third.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  53. Theoretically, yes ... Except ... by garry_g · · Score: 1

    ... the ones who could probably profit the most from the additional steps will most likely find it too tiring and will use GPS spoofing instead.
    Also the study doesn't take into account the added risks to people not used to being in the actual world and moving about, which will as a result to the strange and dangerous surroundings fall prey to all those dangers present there. Like cars, bikes, air, ...

  54. Re:Long life by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That's why my breakfast cereal has protein in it. Thanks I learned something new!

  55. Ugh. Come on. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That is a serious interpretation of data. It's great people are moving around (not so great that they are doing it in a fashion hat makes them utterly unconscious IMHO), but enough with the hyperbole. ANY kind of movement would have the same impact. The fact that people require a game or a gadget to achieve this is is actually just more evidence in support of the fact of how lazy people have become the rest of the time. See? We can interpret data, too. ;)

  56. Already fitness aware by JasterBobaMereel · · Score: 1

    These are users who are already using and wearing Microsoft Band before they started playing Pokemon Go, so they were already worried about their fitness, and already had a device to monitor this

    So playing Pokemon Go encourages people to walk more than a fitness monitoring band... and so these are useless ...?

    --
    Puteulanus fenestra mortis
    1. Re:Already fitness aware by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 2

      So playing Pokemon Go encourages people to walk more than a fitness monitoring band... and so these are useless ...?

      Well you might notice that, after this research was announced, Microsoft quietly discontinued production of the Microsoft Band.

      --
      #DeleteChrome
  57. correlation != causation, part MMXLMSMXXIVVIII by fche · · Score: 1

    Even if walking correlates with longer life,
    more walking will not necessarily cause longer life.

  58. Re:Long life by FatdogHaiku · · Score: 2

    I liked this vanity card from Chuck Lorre (shown at the end of Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men, etc.)
    #536
    I've thought long and hard about this vanity card. What I'm about to say is going to upset quite a few people. Some of them are my friends. Or perhaps, after reading this, my former friends. But I can't let that stop me from speaking my mind. It's time to say out loud what I know in my heart to be true. Vegetarians and vegans are mobility bigots. They believe that if a life form doesn't move, it's fair game to be killed and eaten. They hold a deep seated prejudice against plants, or, as plants prefer to be called, "We Who Stand Still." This hateful philosophy is predicated on the idea that movement equals consciousness, or, if you will, a certain level of sacredness. To put it simply, if it walks, flies, or swims, or comes from something that does, it should not be ingested. If it doesn't, yum-yum. Of course when you ask vegetarians and vegans, they say no, they're only opposed to eating flesh. But what could be more fleshy than a mushroom? Or avocado? Or eggplant? The ugly truth is they are cowards who murder and devour anything that can't run away. These people, who act so high and mighty, so spiritually elevated, have somehow constructed a style of cuisine that would justify them eating my Uncle Murray, a man known for sitting still for hours at a time, staring at a TV that is turned off. So the next time you order a salad consider this: Prince told us that doves cry. But what if kale does too?

    --
    You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
  59. Time on my hands by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Now I just need to figure out how the spend the 2.37992 million years of my new improved lifespan.......

  60. So many negative comments by nhat11 · · Score: 1

    It's pretty sad the amount of negative, hateful and bitter comments from the users here. We get so many negative news nowadays and in the end all some people do is focus on the negative.

    1. Re: So many negative comments by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You must be new here.

    2. Re:So many negative comments by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I am just surprised about the spelling of the game's name. I thought it was called 'Poke-a-Mongo'

  61. Re:Long life by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    He should grab himself because he's a CUNT

  62. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  63. Re:Long life by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You eat alfalfa? I'm mean...I used to chew on a stalk from time to time, but never thought of actually eating it.

  64. Re:Long life by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ive heard this so often, and it has never ever been close to what i consider nice. My body craves meat i want to sink my teeth in a steak

  65. Re:Rooted device: No Pokémon Go for you! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No Pokémon Go for me. (BTW, it's é, not whatever unicode character you tried to use in your subject line) I have a Windows 10 Mobile phone.

    And the fact that they never made the game available for W10M makes it even funnier that Microsoft is releasing these results. They have no real data about the game other than speculation based on possible behavior matches from bing search data. Except at the height of the craze, even I searched for information about it a few times, even with no way to play the game. And, yes, I probably used bing, since that's what Edge on W10M defaults to.

    They've severely limited their audience by their own choice. I feel no pity for Niantic now that they've lost their player base.

  66. That 'game' is still around? by Robert+Goatse · · Score: 1

    I was hoping it was a momentary flash in the pan that outlived it's buzz about a month ago. Does anyone out of junior high school play pokeman? Anyway, sign me up for another 2 million years of life! Sure beats drinking synthetic blood and sleeping all day....

  67. Seems like a good deal, if accurate by foxalopex · · Score: 1

    I remember reading that sometimes exercise extends your life for the same period as doing the exercise. So in a sense yes, you could live longer but at the same time it's not really anymore time especially if you don't like exercising. So if playing Pokemon Go is fun and enjoyable for you and it extends your life by the same amount, that's pretty much a win win in my book. Note, I'm not a Pokemon Go player myself (don't want a dataplan on my cellphone) but I don't find Pokemon Go players on average annoying, just amusing. If it makes you happy and you live longer, that can't be a bad thing right?

  68. Re:Long life by Maritz · · Score: 1

    Superb trolling. Big haul too I see.

    --
    I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
  69. Re:Long life by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A steak is within my weekly budget. Base jumping, parasailing, skydiving, touring Europe, visiting Angkor Wat, etc are not.

  70. Re: Long life by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I try not to eat meat. I don't make a big deal out of it. If I am eating food someone else has prepared, there is no other way to know if the thing has meat in it other than to ask. So by that, I guess that is indirectly telling the person my eating preference.

    Most people are surprised that I don't eat meat if I can help it. Some of them, I have known for years.

    That said, if politeness demands it, I will eat meat sparingly. I am not going to sit at someone's table and not eat something.

  71. Re:Long life by bjwest · · Score: 1

    Cut out the inflammatory foods (grains), and you won't have to worry so much about clogging up your arteries. Without the cracks and crevices in your arteries, there's nowhere for the buildup to take hold.

    Also, plant based protein is not the same as animal based, and, as carnivores, we need animal based protein.

    --

    --- Keep the choice with the user..
  72. Re:Long life by bjwest · · Score: 1

    Sorry, I meant omnivores.

    --

    --- Keep the choice with the user..
  73. Re:Long posts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Doc, how can I live longer?

    You drink?
    Nope

    Smoke?
    Nope

    Eat red meat?
    Nope

    Screw around?
    Nope

    Then why the hell do you want to live longer?
    Those are artificial highs -- temporary and often harmful. There are plenty of natural highs that are worth living for.

    Such as?
    Marijuana

  74. Re:Long life by hattable · · Score: 0

    Very true. You have 'bad vegans' who use fake meats (completely negating the health benefits) or people who use throw tofu and sprouts on a sandwich and then say "you get used to it." Food should taste good and provide the nutrients our bodies require to function. /><br />Break away from those two styles of veganism, and you will discover an entire world of delicious edibles to satiate not only your hunger but also tickle your brain's pleasure center.

    --
    OMG facts!
  75. Re:Long life by hattable · · Score: 1

    "Cruelty-free" is a buzzword thrown around by militant vegans. Spend time with vegans who don't proselytize the virtues of his or her lifestyle choice, and the entire experience is generally pleasant.

    --
    OMG facts!
  76. Re:Long life by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Don't eat animals. Heart disease is caused by fat building up in the arteries over the life of an animal eater. That's the truth. Eat a vegetable-based diet and you'll life a lot longer.

    Right! The only cause of heart disease is eating animal protein. It has nothing to do with sedentary habits, lack of exercise, smoking, and systemic inflammation caused by diabetes caused by ridiculously high sugar intake.

    It's all because you insist on eating those chicken breasts. Also, we've always been at war with Eastasia.

    The only reason Westerners eat animals is habit, taste or convenience, which is NOT reason enough to kill an animal.

    No, the ONLY reason humans eat animals is because they evolved to do so. We are omnivores - which means we eat plants AND animals. There are no cultures I can think of or find references to that have ever subsisted as entirely vegan.

    Don't kid yourself - the reason meat tastes GOOD to us is because we are genetically inclined to eat it - our wiring predisposes us to enjoy putting pieces of other animals in our mouths. That covers habit & taste.

    As for convenience, I defy you to go catch, kill, clean, and cook an animal, and tell me for a single rotten second that it is a "more convenient" option than grabbing a few fruits off a tree, or roasting a squash. The reason we enjoy animal flesh is because it is nutritionally dense with vitamins, minerals, fat, and protein - and thus worth the energy expenditure to acquire. We have found ways to make it *more* convenient today, but we did not evolve to eat meat due to the cheap and easy availability of McRibs and Filets o' Fish 10 million year ago.

    Stop kidding yourself: if you want to live as a vegan, that's fine - I support your freedom to live as you please. But don't pretend for a second that you would survive or thrive as a vegan without the infrastructure of an entire industrialized world to support you in doing so. Quit the holier than thou platitudes, and accept that yours is a luxury lifestyle. In short: the only thing making your veggie-only lifestyle possible is the existence of agricultural science, fueled by strong men and women who eat beef.

  77. Re:Rooted device: No Pokémon Go for you by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ho, they are good friends with "Cogeco Tivo" developper (Cogeco Tivo because i guess Tivo is now allowing rooted devices)

  78. Exercise for the sake of exercise is no fun. by wvmarle · · Score: 1

    To get people to exercise, don't tell them to do exercise. Give them a fun thing to do that happens to involve physical activity but don't call it exercise as that's a chore. Walking to catch a Pokemon is not a chore, it's fun - and that you have to walk and walk and walk to get from one to the other, well, that's just part of the game.

  79. Re:Long life by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    Now I'm intrigued.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  80. In other news by avandesande · · Score: 2

    Researchers estimate that Pokemon Go players have wasted 2.83 million years of their lives playing the game.....

    --
    love is just extroverted narcissism
  81. Re: 1/10th miles as a physical achievement? by painandgreed · · Score: 1

    When did we start measuring 1/10th miles as a physical achievement?

    I suspect that we'd be surprised to how many people walking a few 10ths of a miles would be. When I got put on blood pressure medicine, the pharmacist asked if I could try walking and even just a few blocks would make a difference. I had to let her down by telling her I walk a mile and a half to work each way every day already. Yet, that there is attention to 1/10s of a mile or just a few blocks for ordinary walking, makes me think that it does matter for a significant slice of Americans.

  82. Re:Long life by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Many fruits on plants have evolved specifically to be eaten, so the seeds is sown in a pile of fertiliser. Likewise many animals have evolved because they're tasty and thus worth farming.

    But yeah, eating a cabbage is cruelty beyond description.

  83. Re: Long life by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Plus, you can make sure the cow doesn't go hungry in there.

  84. F**king stalker perverts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We study the effect of Pokémon Go on physical activity
    through a combination of signals from large-scale corpora of
    wearable sensor data and search engine logs for 32 thousand users
    over a period of three months. Pokémon Go players are identified
    through search engine queries and activity is measured through accelerometry.

    We study the influence of Pokémon Go on physical
    activity through a combination of wearable sensor data and search
    engine query logs for 31,793 users over a period of three months.
    Within these users, we identify 1,420 Pokémon Go users based on
    their search activity

    What's not to love about corporations correlating search terms and health data they steal from people to perform studies on their customers.

    The main study population is 31,793 US users of Microsoft products
    who have agreed to link data from their Microsoft Band wearables
    and their online activities to understand product usage and improve
    Microsoft products.

    If by agreeing you mean failing to disable a faux setting hidden away in some corner that always magically seems to "forget" what the user last set it to and doesn't actually do much to stop cloud based techno perverts from stalking you anyway.

  85. Re:Rooted device: No Pokémon Go for you by Skuld-Chan · · Score: 1

    Because rooted devices making spoofing GPS infinitely easier.

  86. Re:Long life by thegarbz · · Score: 1

    Just good veggie cooking

    That's great. You should come over and cook some sides for me. It will go well with that sweet tasty bloody murder that I enjoy eating while staring at photographs of the deceased's orphaned offspring.

  87. Depends on how they do it by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 1

    One of the problems with things like Apple Watch and other apps is that, in scientific studies, we find the existence of specific goals actually decreases exercise.

    People will only do as much as they need to achieve the goal.

    That said, Pokemon Go (of which I am level 23 Valiant) has a non-goal measurement. You hatch 2k 5k 10k eggs by walking distances, getting lesser amounts if you take transit ("going too fast" counts less), harvesting Poke Stops and catching wild and placed Pokemon.

    I've noticed a big uptick in people hanging out at the waterfront parks to catch Pokemon, for example (it takes 400 Magikarp to evolve to a Gyardos). Or you can get Poke candy by adding a buddy (similar to the egg thing, the type of Poke buddy attracts the correct type of candy and also increases your chance of wild Pokemon of the type your buddy is).

    So, the lack of a specific goal structure does obviate the usual decrease in exercise, as you are rewarded for activity but not too closely tied to specific goals.

    --
    -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
  88. Re:Long life by NoSalt · · Score: 2

    If you want to die a short life in agony, you go to the extreme at either end.

    I worked with this girl who was, in my opinion, running herself to death. She has bad knees and feet anyway, and she was constantly training for marathons and 5Ks. She would come into work in pain so many times that I lost count. She is young, mid 30s, looks great, and is in great cardio-pulmonary shape, but her frame is breaking down. I asked her if it was worth being this "healthy" now and being a trainwreck when she is in her 60s. She said it was worth it.

    I'll just try to, like you said, stick to a balanced life with diet and exercise. I may not look as good as she does now, but I'll catch up when I'm older.

  89. blog by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    NIce blog
    Finding Source - join the movement www.findingsource.org

  90. But I don't want to live another 2.8 million years by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...and if I did, I still wouldn't be able to catch 'em all.

  91. Fake soy meat by DrYak · · Score: 1

    This is not fake soy meat or whatever.

    That's something I've never understood.
    Tofu shaped like meat. It only taste like shit.

    It's as if its only purpose is to be shaped like a sausage, so you don't feel outcast when you're on a diet but get invited to a BBQ, you still have a sausage-shaped object to put on the fire like everyone else.

    To me this would sound just as mush stupid, if some butchers started to make redmeat shaped in the form of a red peperrni, so on the day you crave meat but were invited to a BBQ at some tree-hugin hippie vegans, you don't feel outcast and have a veggie-shaped object to put on the fire.

    Stupid. Fake. Meat.

    Even more so when the human culture DOES HAVE some very nice traditionnal cuisine which is tasty but is also meat-free.
    (in India and in the middle east you can find quite a lot ot veggie dishes which actually taste good. Unlike the tofu sausages).

    --
    "Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
  92. Food chain. by DrYak · · Score: 1

    On the other hand, the meat we eat has had to be fed quite a lot of time until the animal reached a good enough size and got slaughtered.
    Thar's why more grains per kilogram of meat-food, than the equivalent grain-based dinner for the same human.

    So not eating meat does decrease the amount of such harvesting accident for mice and and snakes (simply by needing less grain to feed the human, rather than needing more grain to feed the animal, until you have enough of the animal to feed said human).

    (I personally happen not to eat a lot of grain (bread, pasta, and other carbohydrate food) anyway... so I can be proud to cause a little bit less combine-induced cruelty to mice and snake... at least toward them...)

    --
    "Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
    1. Re:Food chain. by MachineShedFred · · Score: 1

      Except that when those animals graze, there are zero deaths other than the rare unfortunate stomping from a cow. Not all beef comes from feed lots.

      --
      Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
  93. Who wants to live that long? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    My viagra will kill me by the time I hit 90. Can you imagine living to 283 million?

  94. Better than Government by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Pokemon Go has probably done more for American fitness than all Presidential and First Wive initiatives put together. Yes even accounting for those that got hurt or worse playing the game where they shouldn't.

  95. centralqq by centralqq · · Score: 1
  96. Re:Rooted device: No Pokémon Go for you by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Same here. I played every day for a few hours. When they started blocking rooted devices I tried doing systemless root with Magisk, which at first worked. Then I had to turn of Xposed and reboot first (I really don't like going without XPrivacy). Then Magisk stopped working, so fuck it. I'm done with the game. I actually put money into the game, $60 total. Really pissed. If they dump SafetyNet I'll gladly go back to playing. Until then, fuck 'em.

  97. Anyone still plays this shit game? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Anyone still plays this shit game? Like srsly... WHY?
    *every* other pokemon game was much, much, much better!

    This AR bullshit just adds a random limitation: Your avatar cannot move anywhere you want unless YOU too move.
    This just hinders progress.
    Not that pokemongo has much to do beside catching everything you encounter, which gets boring *really* fast...