By Jessica Roy 1/14 2:59pm

Internet Democracy

pikachu_epic_pose_by_dhencod-d55ji0n

White House Removes Petition for State Pokemon Because Seriously, This Is Getting Old

This morning a petition on the White House’s official petition portal, We the People, began circulating across the web that asked the government to consider assigning each state a Pokemon character to represent it. It received under 1,000 signatures, but delighted swaths of “’90s ubernerds” nostalgic for a time when trading Pokemon cards on the playground was the most emotionally-fraught adventure of the day.

But a few hours after news of the petition broke, the White House yanked it from We the People, claiming that it violated the site’s Terms of Participation. We have to assume recognizing a state Pokemon is not exactly high up on the administration’s lengthy list of priorities. Read More

By Jessica Roy 9/26/12 8:50am

This Happened

(Photo: Charizard Lair)

U.S. Army Now Just Stealing Weapon Ideas from Pokemon

Way back in 1997, during the heyday of the Japanese cartoon Pokemon–when school lunch breaks were for Pogs and trading character cards–a slew of Japanese people were hit with epilepsy-like symptoms while watching the beloved show. During the episode “Computer Warrior Purigon,” more than 700 people experienced convulsions and vomiting, and they weren’t due to cute overload induced by Pikachu. Read More

By Kelly Faircloth 9/26/12 8:02am

Linkages

Artist's rendering of the Indeed.com office right now. (Photo: CashCats.biz)

Booting Up: Did New York Tech Just Get a Billion Dollar Exit?

Somebody’s ready to make it rain in Stamford: Indeed.com has been acquired by the Japanese company Recruit Co. Ltd., for a price reportedly in the $750 million to $1 billion range. [Business Insider]

The California bill allowing driverless cars on the road has now been signed. [New York Times]

Total Google Play downloads thus far: 25 billion. In celebration, all kinds of goodies are available for download at 25 cents a pop. [The Verge]

Apparently the CEO of Intel doesn’t think Windows 8 is fully baked. [Bloomberg]

Even literal rocket scientists can’t keep their passwords safe. [Ars Technica]