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We find the best and worst parts of the Internet so you don’t have to.

This Instagram Post Sums Up The Difference Between Obamacare And Trumpcare

This seriously nails it.

A post shared by Philip Lewis (@phil.lews) on

They’rrrre not as good as Obamacare.

This Has To Be The Greatest SGA Campaign Ad Ever

This ad for a President/ Vice President ticket at the University of Minnesota is something else.

Trish and Erik we love you now.

We don’t know anything about you.

But we love you.

RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in the world. You can write for us.

This 700 Year Old Gargoyle Looks Just Like Donald Trump

This 700 year old gargoyle carved into Southwell Minster Cathedral in Nottinghamshire, UK looks just like the most powerful person in the free world.

Yep.

The picture started circulating on social media in August when a reporter for the BBC shared it.

So what do you think?

Could Donald Trump be immortal or is this a sign of the end of times? (Of course it could just be a coincidence, but that isn’t that fun is it?)

HT/ The Independent

RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in the world. You can write for us.

Does The Center Of No Man’s Sky Actually Hold The Secret To Life After Death?

One could easily argue that No Man’s Sky was both the most hyped and most disappointing game of 2016, if not ever.

A nearly infinite universe was revealed to be nothing more than a series of expansive but lifeless copy and paste jobs of pre-made assets.

What many found to be the game’s largest let down was what players found at the center of the universe.

Originally rumored to hold a secret to life, understanding, or just a bunch of in-game currency, what players found was essentially a reset button.

But what if the ending to No Man’s Sky showed us what happens when we die?

According to Biocentrism, a theory created by scientist Robert Lanza, Life and Biology create the universe and not the other way around.

The theory argues that our consciousness creates the world around us, meaning space and time aren’t actually things, but are tools of our “animal understanding”.

Along with this is the belief in multiple worlds, where our choices have split one universe into different outcomes.

Read More: Can This Video Game Change Your Ideology?

Basically, your choice to read this article occurred in one universe while an alternate universe exists where you chose to scroll past.

The final part of Biocentrism suggests that our souls are essentially immortal.

Your soul can exist outside and beyond your physical body much like a hermit crab can exist outside of its current shell.

The controversial orchestrated objective reduction (Orch-OR) theory connects to Biocentrism and supports many of the near-death and out of body experiences humans have reported having throughout history.

Some scientists argue that there are simpler explanations for these visions and experiences.

According to inquisitr.com, “Skeptics have long attributed near death experiences to physical phenomena such as the brain being deprive of oxygen, not the human soul or any interaction with God or the afterlife.”

But former skeptics like Dr. Eben Alexander, a neurosurgeon who was stuck in a coma for 7 days says his near-death experience revealed a consciousness after death.

In an article for Newsweek, Alexander said his profound experience during the coma gave him “a scientific reason to believe in consciousness after death.”

“It exists, and what I saw and learned there has placed me quite literally in a new world: a world where we are much more than our brains and bodies, and where death is not the end of consciousness but rather a chapter in a vast, and incalculably positive, journey.”

The “Orch OR” theory could prove scientific evidence of our consciousness being  “mere computations conducted within the neural networks in the human brain” while concurrently proving the long held belief of a separate mind, body and spirit in many religions.

So what does this mean for the ending of the game everyone loves to hate?

If your consciousness can’t die, but migrate as the Biocentrism suggests, the transfer and reset of your game once you reach the center of the universe in No Man’s Sky might be a realistic explanation of what happens when we die.

That blinding light and relocation to another universe with a clean slatemay truly be a glimpse into life after death.

That, or it could have just been a cheap way to insert replayability into the game.

Maybe in another universe, I also happened to put the $60 I spent on No Man’s Sky toward something I’d get more enjoyment from.

If you’re interested in learning more about the theory of Biocentrism, you can check out the book Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness are the Keys to Understanding the True Nature of the Universe by Robert Lanza with Bob Berman on Amazon. You’ll also find No Man’s sky regularly discounted if you ever feel like seeing what all the fuss is about.

RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in the world. You can write for us.

Photo Credits: Blake Patterson/ Flickr

Can This Video Game Change Your Ideology?

I’m a firm believer that interactive media can elicit stronger emotional effects than just reading a book or watching a movie.

But can playing video games change someone’s perspective on war and the refugee crisis?

Many video games feature war or armed conflict as a central inclusion to their story arc. War facilitates a reason to shoot people, defend a base, or just kick some ass.

And you’ll almost always be completing your objectives as part of the in-game military or government.

This War of Mine: The Little Ones uniquely puts you in control of those most vulnerable during war, the civilians.

Without much instruction, the game thrusts you into an abandoned house, one where you and your randomly selected group of survivors must hunker down until a ceasefire.

The problem is, you don’t know when that day will come.

Through my three playthroughs thus far, none of the groups I was given made it to the end.

The difficulty spikes in the game come from the unexpected nature of every encounter.

One night may be completely calm and routine, but following the next day, half of your group could be lethally wounded by raiders that also stole most of your supplies.

The setting of This War of Mine is all too real.

Gameplay from This War Of Mine: The Little Ones.

It’s inspiration comes from the Siege of Sarajevo, a battle for the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina that represented the longest siege of a capital in modern history.

Lasting for 1,425 days between 1992 and 1995, the siege claimed the lives of more than 10,000 people.

This War of Mine recreates the danger the Bosnian war presented by blocking off previously loot filled areas with fights and sniper fire.

The Little Ones add-on even subjects children to these perils.

The horrifically recognizable sniper alley of the Siege of Sarajevo manifests itself in “sniper junction” an in-game scavenger location, and tragic odes to the real-world travesty are seen everywhere in the game.

While slightly underutilized, the inclusion of  children into the game hammers home one of the game’s central selling points; “In war kids are still kids”.

I often used their inclusion in the game to warrant the atrocities I committed. I didn’t want to add to the bodies littering the city, but I soon realized I had to kill in order to live.

I found no joy in robbing an elderly couple in order to feed my group of survivors. I tried to morally justify it by saying that they had lived a long life and that my group was still young.

I often risked too much for a simple set of bandages or basic crafting supplies, and got my best scavenger killed in the process.

I gathered toys for the children instead of feeding my group for the day, causing one of the adults to become immobile from starvation for several days.

I chose not to intervene when a soldier was attempting to rape a woman.

I decided the supplies were more important and the risk of being shot was too great.

And those were the choices I had the most control over.

I didn’t get to choose who would attack me on sight.

I made no decision as to whether I would be raided multiple nights in a row.

I especially had no choice when my first playthrough ended because my final survivor killed himself.

Gameplay from This War of Mine: The Little Ones

This War of Mine: The Little Ones is not a fun, light-hearted romp.

It is a grossly realistic look into the human element of war, including the often forgotten or downplayed numbers of civilians trapped by shelling and snipers.

While the Siege of Sarajevo took place more than 20 years ago, present day wars still ravage humanity in places like Aleppo, Syria.

Video games existed two decades ago, but their arguably mainstream appeal today would allow games like This War of Mine: The Little Ones to have a widespread impact on our collective thinking.

Will one game alter the perspectives of everyone who plays it?

I doubt it.

But games like This War of Mine have created a new entry point to dialogues on touchy subjects such as the refugee crisis.

You can’t solve a problem without first addressing its existence and I see video games as a way to shine light on the iniquitous pieces of humanity, whether they dwell in the  past, present or future.

This story was originally published on ThePolyglot.net.

RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in the world. You can write for us.

Photo Credits: 11 bit studios

This Cartoon Uses Christmas To Make A Really Important Point About Tolerance

The internet has taken it on the chin over the past few months.

The alt-right. Pizza gate. Tomi Lahren’s continued popularity.

But sometimes, some profound thoughts can come from this primordial stew too often fouled by propaganda and porn.

This is one of those times.

An imgur post from last year is starting to make the rounds because of its profound yet simple message regarding the importance of tolerance in our society.

The post came on Christmas Eve of 2015 by a user named dodo156.

The headline is simple, “A nativity scene without Jews, Arabs, Africans or refugees.”

Here’s the photo that ran with that headline:

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Makes you think a little doesn’t it?

In this age of hate and division, perhaps we could all stand to be a bit more tolerant of our fellow-man.

RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in the world. You can write for us.

Here’s The 10 Best Cities For College Students To Make Money Over Winter Break

Most college students probably don’t view Winter Break as an opportunity to make bank. But you probably should.

Care.com, a website devoted to helping parents or pet owners find freelancers to help them with projects complied a list of the best cities to make extra cash during the break.

Check out their findings:

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RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in the world. You can write for us.

Cover Photo Credit: vallgall/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)

Jill Stein Just Said The Dumbest Thing Ever About Castro

Jill Stein apparently loved horrific Cuban dictator Fidel Castro and doesn’t care if everyone knows it.

She literally tweeted this out:

Ah, Jill. Please just delete your account.

Read More: “Our Generation’s Berlin Wall”: Young Miami Reacts To Castro’s Death

What Did Nostradamus Have to Say About Trump?

By Marigold Warner

Nostradamus, despite being 450 years dead, continues to provide a compelling narrative of future events.

His predictions have covered ground as varied as the Great Fire of London (“burnt by fire in the year sixty-six”), the rise of Adolf Hitler, and even the events at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but his ongoing popularity seems to defy logic.

Perhaps it’s because the Frenchman’s writings were deliberately vague, or perhaps the seer had a genuine skill.

Regardless of your opinion of Nostradamus’ writings, it doesn’t change the fact that his predictions have already found some relevance in 2016 events.

Here’s a quick look at the future according to some 2017 Nostradamus predictions:

Trump’s Impeachment

It’s probably a bit too convenient but references to trumpets in Nostradamus’ prophecies have been associated with US businessman and president-elect Donald Trump, specifically lines like this one: “The false trumpet concealing madness will cause Byzantium to change its laws. From Egypt, there will go forth a man who wants the edict withdrawn, changing money and standards.”

There are half a million ways to spin this one but Byzantium (Greece) has an association with refugees and illegal immigration while the point about changing money could be a reference to the instability of the pound and the euro in the wake of Brexit.

It’s perhaps a bit too Euro-centric for a Trump reference but the possible link to immigration is interesting, given that Trump made tackling the phenomenon the cornerstone of his election win.

A far more interesting prediction regarding Trump – or anybody in power in the States – is this one: “The great Senate will ordain the triumph, for one who afterwards will be vanquished, driven out.”

There’s obviously a real-life US Senate but are the country’s lawmakers already scheming to overthrow the new president?

It’s hard to remove a serving president. Congress can vote to impeach the president but the decision requires a two-third majority of senators.

The only two leaders ever impeached in US history – Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton – were acquitted, despite the latter’s almost comically illegal act of misleading a grand jury.

070718-N-6346S-068" (CC BY-SA 2.0) by cryogenic666

070718-N-6346S-068″ (CC BY-SA 2.0) by cryogenic666

World War III

Even with the Doomsday Clock, a symbolic measure of our proximity to annihilation, at three minutes to midnight, the prospects of a Third World War seem remote.

Trump has opened a dialogue with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, ISIS is rapidly losing ground, and there’s far too much money to be lost in trade agreements for any major power to start pointing guns at their international rivals.

However, if popular perception of Nostradamus’ verses is correct, the election of Trump is a harbinger of war.

The Frenchman wrote: “The republic of the great city will not want to consent to the great severity: king summoned by trumpet to go out, the ladder at the wall, the city will repent”, with “severity” presumably meaning war.

It’s all a lot of tabloid scaremongering; if anything, Nostradamus is predicting the failure of a proposed military campaign due to its lack of favor with the population.

The mention of a “wall” is interesting though, perhaps suggesting a small-scale conflict with Mexico. The latter scenario seems infinitely more likely than a Third World War, given the frosty relationship between Trump and the Mexican people.

So, there you have it, two possible futures to worry about. Didn’t Nostradamus ever predict anything nice?

RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in the world. You can write for us.

Cover Photo Credit: “Donald Trump” (CC BY-SA 2.0) by Gage Skidmore

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