PETA Jumps the Goomba

I don't think I need to tell you who PETA is. They're this group, you might've heard of them? People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals? Ring any bells? PETA is pretty notorious for taking any means necessary to get their point across. Sometimes, their points are heard and people respect them. Other times, they do something silly that makes me wonder if they still take their jobs seriously.

I don't think I need to tell you who Mario is. He's this video game character, you might've heard of him? Dresses like a plumber, saves the princess? Ring any bells?  Recently, Nintendo released the plumber's latest adventure for the Nintendo 3DS in a new game called "Super Mario 3D Land." Among many new things brought to the table, Nintendo dusted off it's old shelves and brought back some old power ups from the NES days. One of these power ups is the Tanooki Suit, a costume Mario wears that looks kind of like a raccoon that grants him the ability to fly. Using the tail. It's... look, if you've never played a Mario game before (all 2 of you), it's pretty hard to explain. Just bear with me.

For what it's worth, he's done sillier things.

The Tanooki Suit has been an iconic power up since it's introduction in Super Mario Brothers 3. I mean, sure, Mario could shoot fireballs before, but now he can fly!? That's amazing! You can soar through levels, or ever better, soar over levels to skip them entirely. Because you are a cheater.

So why do I bring this up? Well, following up on SML3D's release, PETA released a somewhat bizarre statement bashing the game for encouraging children to wear fur. It also came with an interactive game where you played as a skinned tanuki (which, I'll at least admit, I had no idea was even a real animal until this surfaced) and brutally murder Mario to get your fur back. Um... okay. Look, I understand the message they're trying to get across, but can I be frank here? I've played Mario since I was 3-years-old. No lie. The second I could hold a controller, I was on it like a hawk. I really don't understand where PETA is coming from when they tell me that Mario has, apparently, been subliminally telling me it's okay to murder animals and wear their fur. Seriously.

At least Super Tofu Boy was a little more obviously tongue-in-cheek (as a fun sidenote, the developers of Super Meat Boy actually added Tofu Boy as a playable character in their game in response--but they made him useless by making his jump and speed ridiculously low), and it attacked a character from a game that surrounds itself with funny, over-the-top violence. This Tanooki game just... baffles me. If they're trying to be tongue-in-cheek again, I think they missed their target. Missed it and probably shot in the wrong direction. I know a lot of gamers who are not only baffled but even outraged to see an iconic figure of their childhood covered in blood and hunted down by an animal he apparently skinned alive. If they were going to attack Mario, they could've at least talked about the fact that he stomps on turtles shells. And then throws them at things. And sometimes rides them, while the turtle is still in the damn shell.

I will give credit where credit is due, though: I now know what the hell a tanuki is. Again, I just don't think this was the proper way to... raise awareness for such a thing. It's like telling a kid that Barney worships Satan and eats the souls of children, you know what I mean?

Next time: Hawk Mountain stuff, including pictures! Was going to write it today but this came up.

New Population Milestone Reached: 7 Billion People

First of all, wow--7 billion people. I knew we were approaching that number but I had no idea we had reached it already. To make a somewhat off-the-wall reference, if this planet suddenly exploded and all of its inhabitants died, the Jedi would really feel that one. Seriously, 7 billion people is pretty crazy. But enough nerdy rambling.

It amazes me to think that it's even possible for us to sustain that many people on our planet. But, we are beings of survival and determination--if there's any way to do it, I'm sure we'll figure it out. Hell, Jason Clay has already presented a pretty reasonable first step in his video on how big brands could save biodiversity. Instead of trying to tell everyone on the planet how to consume, or every producer how to produce, why not simply concentrate on the middle man?

Companies are the ones who push the products to us, the consumers. They are the one thing that links the two entities together. By having the companies themselves change, it could really make a big impact on how we consume the world's resources. Of course, as I believe is even said in the video, this is not enough. It's a huge first step, but it's not going to make everything peachy and clean--at least some input on our end is still needed.

Thankfully, as showcased in the Tribal Natural Resources video, some people are already doing their part. There are people who are actively working to help the environment and teach kids a few things on nature that I believe all of us should discover in some way. I'm a huge technology geek, as some of you may have noticed, but I still like to take at least a little time off to enjoy the little things. The digital world is a magnificent place, but even with all of the advances in technology, it doesn't hold a candle to the real world.

Which is why I think we should work to protect it. In the above video, it shows how technology can be used for more than just checking your Facebook on the go or playing Scrabble with someone from across the planet. Indians are using technology to help determine safe soils and effective growing treatments very quickly. This may even help save a species of plant from dying off entirely.


I urge anyone reading this to give those videos a watch. At the very least, you should be able to make it through Clay's video--it's more of an entertaining speech than an educational video--and you could learn a lot. After all, we are beings of information as much as we are beings of survival. We strive to learn and discover. It's in our nature. So put that nature to work and learn a little bit about saving the environment, yeah? Then you can tell your friends how cool you are because you saw something they didn't, urging them to watch it, too.

If nothing else, do it for the Jedi. They have more than enough to worry about without dealing with an entire planet running out of resources.

Next time: less Star Wars jokes, I promise.