But, the lyrics.

“Holiday in Cambodia” drops a not so subtle n-bomb about a minute into the song. Rock Band is a game played primarily by young, white audiences. Encouraging teens and young adults to shout n-bombs is not an ideal situation. Sure, the word is blanked out, but, come on. We all know what we’re supposed to sing. They block out the words “go down” in Alanis Morisette’s “You Oughta Know.” People still sing that part. People will still sing the racial slur.

“Police Truck” doesn’t fare much better. The song, sung from the perspective of a crooked cop, features a verse about raping a prostitute. Blocking out the word “dick” is all but useless when the preceding words are “suck my.”

And I’m not even going to get into the lyrics meant to invoke the Holocaust in “California Uber Alles. ”

The problem with adult content in this game is that, unlike super-violent games like Resident Evil, Rock Band is known as a kids’ game. It’s rated “T” for teen. And I know that the online songs are unrated, but do parents know that?

I don’t mean to underestimate the maturity of younger Rock Band players, but a lot of the people playing these music games are in high-schoolers. Or younger. Trust me. I entered a Guitar Hero contest in Washington, DC and got blown away by a 13-year-old. Now that kid is likely going to be singing the n-word. That’s not acceptable and I wish Harmonix would consider the ramifications of putting these songs into their masterpiece of a game.

Today, however, some Princeton students (full disclosure: I’m one of them) made it not only onto the front page of The Daily Princetonian, but as far as the Blue Jersey blog and Andrew Sullivan. Why? Because the sanctity of Princeton sidewalks is at stake!

A core group of “concerned students” have gathered over 350 signatures on a petition in support of “Princeton Proposition 8,” which would establish that “only sidewalk use by sophomore [sic], juniors, and seniors is valid or recognized in Princeton.” Assuring passersby that they’re not froshophobic and that some of their best friends are freshmen, but they’d just prefer that freshmen stay on the grass, the group has also begun to advocate for dialogue about the possible establishment of “civil froshwalks,” in order to provide an equivalent way for freshmen to get to class. Waving signs and singing songs, the demonstration is now in its second below-freezing day (believe me, it’s cold out there!) and is expected to continue next week.

If you’re thinking the wording of this initiative sounds a little familiar, you’re probably right. Although the Princeton Proposition 8 group has asserted that its apparent resemblance to California’s Proposition 8 is a bizarre coincidence… well, it might just be a little more than that. After all, California’s example of arbitrarily taking away the rights of minorities through a majority vote has set such an excellent precedent that those concerned about freshmen on Princeton sidewalks now see where their duty lies.

Pictures of Princetonians singing, distributing flyers, and sign-waving, courtesy of Princeton student Scott Weingart, after the jump.

The stars are aligning in favor of universal health care.

Obama was abstemious. Indeed, to the reporters following him, he appeared very nearly anorexic. Most candidates gain the Campaign 10 (or 15). Hillary was struggling with her waistline, as she gamely knocked back shots and beers in working-class bars and gobbled the obligatory sausage sandwiches thrust at her in greasy spoons along the Trail of the White Working-Class Voter. Obama, by contrast, lost weight. He regularly ate the same dinner of salmon, rice and broccoli. At Schoop’s Hamburgers, a diner in Portage, Ind., he munched a single french fry and ordered four hamburgers—to go. At the Copper Dome Restaurant, a pancake house in St. Paul, Minn., he ordered pancakes—to go. (An AP reporter wondered: who gets pancakes for the road?) A waiter reeled off a long list of richly topped flapjacks, but Obama went for the plain buttermilk, saying, “I’m kind of traditionalist.” Reporters joked that if he ate a single bite of burger or pancake once the doors of his dark-tinted SUV closed, they’d eat their BlackBerrys.

As someone with food neuroses about as weird as those described here, I’m both happy that Obama’s pickiness didn’t make campaigning too painful, and envious that he’s going to have an awesome staff catering to his every dietary quirk for the next four years.

Cabinet speculation. It’s like celebrity gossip for policy wonks.
- Dylan Matthews

I recently picked up a copy of the Wu-Tang Clan’s newest album, 8 Diagrams, and I am - in a word - obsessed.
- Jamelle Bouie

Milk, the movie. I was lucky enough to see a preview of the film this week. It’s a beautiful, inspirational look at the life and death of America’s first openly gay elected official, Harvey Milk. Go see it when it opens next Wednesday.
- Rob Anderson

The end of TRL. Although it made up a major part of my middle school existence, I’m not sorry to see it go.
- Lisha Arino

Of Montreal’s live shows. They’re playing at The Palladium this weekend and I fully expect their stage show to be as eclectically insane as it’s been in the past, up to and including Kevin Barnes playing in the nude with a split screen of two different porn flicks playing behind him on projectors. He may be crazy, but he never disappoints.
- Nick Sifuentes

Winter. Believe it or not, there are parts of the country where the temperature actually drops below 50 degrees… far below 50 degrees.
- Emily Rutherford

New York Magazine’s weekly recaps of Gossip Girl. The teen drama might be my guilty pleasure, but GoFugYourself’s Jessica Pressler writes “reality indexes” every week that make me laugh out loud (and sometimes snort) each week.
- Kay Steiger

Maxwell. Saw him live in concert yesterday and I am still swooning.
- Loryn Wilson

Google + Life: It is nice to finally have a free searchable image database grounded by a trusted archive. More people will have access to quality photographs. How exciting!
- Diana Jou

Cyndi Lauper. I think she has some sort of new album out, but I don’t really care: the old stuff is too damn good.
- Bradley Portnoy

Preachers and political leaders supporting Mr. Sadr, along with some Sunni opponents of the pact, erected their podium in the same colonnaded traffic circle. The Iraqi crowd applauded the downfall of Mr. Hussein’s regime, and also placed a black hood over the effigy of President Bush. They put a whip in the effigy’s right hand and, in its left, a briefcase on which were written the words “the security agreement is shame and dishonor.”

Doesn’t sound like a banner day for American involvement in Iraq to me.

(h/t: Ezra)

The Illinois Tollway Board on Thursday passed a $400 million plan to create “Green Lanes,” a.k.a. carpool lanes, in some of the tollway’s most congested areas. They hope to have the first lane done by 2010. As expected, the tolls will operate on a tiered system with solo non-hybrid drivers being charged the highest tolls.

I’ve seen these sorts of things in New York and was impressed with how well they worked. I pretty much figured everyone would ignore the rules and just drive in any lane they want unless a cop was nearby but that’s not what happened, and why should it? People mind the emergency traffic lane.

What’s especially exciting about these Green Lanes is that they actively encourage people to drive hybrid vehicles, whose prices are slowly becoming reasonable.

A PLACE that is covered in graffiti and festooned with rubbish makes people feel uneasy. And with good reason, according to a group of researchers in the Netherlands. Kees Keizer and his colleagues at the University of Groningen deliberately created such settings as a part of a series of experiments designed to discover if signs of vandalism, litter and low-level lawbreaking could change the way people behave. They found that they could, by a lot: doubling the number who are prepared to litter and steal.

…

The most dramatic result, though, was the one that showed a doubling in the number of people who were prepared to steal in a condition of disorder. In this case an envelope with a €5 ($6) note inside (and the note clearly visible through the address window) was left sticking out of a post box. In a condition of order, 13% of those passing took the envelope (instead of leaving it or pushing it into the box). But if the post box was covered in graffiti, 27% did. Even if the post box had no graffiti on it, but the area around it was littered with paper, orange peel, cigarette butts and empty cans, 25% still took the envelope.

The researchers’ conclusion is that one example of disorder, like graffiti or littering, can indeed encourage another, like stealing. Dr Kelling was right. The message for policymakers and police officers is that clearing up graffiti or littering promptly could help fight the spread of crime.

Worth a read.

Here’s a story nobody likes to see. 19-year-old Abraham K. Biggs overdosed on pills on a live webcam stream before hundreds of people on Wednesday night, all while commenters on Justin.tv and bodybuilding.com encouraged him, apparently thinking it was some kind of joke. He lay passed out on his webcam for hours until he appeared to stop breathing, at which point the people watching realized it was no joke.

Sadly, this isn’t the first time something like this has happened. Followers of internet lore are surely familiar with Brandon “I told u I was hardcore” Vedas, who overdosed on drugs live on a webcam after having given his personal information out to the viewers in case something went wrong. All were too afraid to get in trouble to call the authorities.

Horrifyingly sad, but also an utterly bizarre phenomenon. Some psychology doctoral candidate is going to write a hell of a dissertation on this very 21st-century brand of tragedy.

No words.

[reddit via Americablog]