Is police force necessary ?
 Hundreds of new discussions took place this week, on the discussion sphere, about the University of Florida student tasering incident. The event took place during a John Kerry Forum that took place on campus. During the session, a student named Andrew Meyer, approached the Q&A microphone and began asking a question which turned into a lecture. The student was dragged away by local police and tasered in the process. You can watch the video here (if you haven’t seen it yet).
The online reaction to the incident was, as mentioned, very lively. Check out the Omgili buzz graph on the term Taser:
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The main topic of the discussion was “Police Brutality”. Do police officers in the states, use unnecessary force in the line of duty? There was no definite answer to this question in the discussions. Some people used the incident as a platform to express their hatred towards the police, while others chose to justify the act of tasering in cases of arrest resistance.
My take on the issue is that there should be very clear rules as to when the use of tasers is permitted. Just as it is very clear to a soldier when it’s allowed to use live ammunition. Acts of violence (Physical or Verbal) against a police officer, should, in my opinion allow for use of tasers. Police officers are there to serve us. We shouldn’t be allowed, under any circumstance, to humiliate them or to use violence against them.
Andrew Meyer staged an incident in order to get the media’s attention, which is totally legitimate. But he took it too far and so, deserved what he got.
To Err is human, To Arr is pirate
 The buzz cloud doesn’t cease to amaze me. This week, Right up there on the top row, I found the term “Talk like a pirate”. Maybe it’s a lack of general knowledge on my part, but I had no idea. A quick look at the related discussions, and I learned that September 19th , is “International Talk Like A Pirate Day”. This holiday, that began as a joke between Two friends, became internationally famous after the founders of the day wrote about it to American columnist, Dave Barry, Who liked the idea and wrote about it.
The forum sphere is full of fun discussions in pirate language, dive in, it’s really amusing. You can also visit the holiday’s official website. If this sounds like a tradition you want to follow, the site offers to remind you of the date annually – In their language:
Shiver me timbers!
Fer a reminder o’ Pirate Day each year, enter yer email. Ye be gettin’ a message one week before, and one at midnight on the Day. Ye can be unsubscribin’ anytime, an’ we promise not to sell yer email to scum o’ the net.
So Merry Oliday, Me Hearty!
“The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World”
Last week, Alan Greenspan’s new book, “The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World”, was launched. This flared the online discussion about some of the statements from the book, that where highlighted by the press. The Omgili Buzz Graph shows a large chatter peeks on the issue.
The peek appeared on the launch date. The main issue on the day of launch was Greenspan’s remark about the Iraqi war, being mostly about oil. Watch how the graph on Iraq oil correlates with the Alan Greenspan Graph. There were a few other issues which came up in discussions, like Greenspan’s comments on Bill Clinton and George bush, but these didn’t rise above the regular noise.
The second set of peeks, which appears on the graph, has nothing to do with the book. This set of peeks was caused by the Iranian president’s visit to The States. You can view the discussions regarding this visit here.
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