Focue Provides the Latest and Most Up-to-Date News, What You Focus On is What You Get.
⎯ 《 Focue • Com 》
Get lifetime access to this DALL-E AI image generator for under £50
Get lifetime access to this DALL-E AI image generator for under £50
TL;DR: A lifetime license to the DALL-E AI Image Generator and WordPress Plugin is on
2023-09-26 12:00
Eddie Izzard channelled stand-up energy in Doctor Jekyll
Eddie Izzard channelled stand-up energy in Doctor Jekyll
Eddie Izzard utilised her stand-up energy to perform as Rachel Hyde in new horror movie 'Doctor Jekyll'.
2023-10-01 15:00
Dead by Daylight Progression System and Prestige Changes
Dead by Daylight Progression System and Prestige Changes
What has changed in Dead by Daylight's progression system and prestige changes?
1970-01-01 08:00
Sharon Osbourne looks slimmer than ever as she steps out in LA month after admitting she took weight loss jabs to shed pounds
Sharon Osbourne looks slimmer than ever as she steps out in LA month after admitting she took weight loss jabs to shed pounds
Sharon Osbourne claimed that she lost 30 pounds over the course of four months after receiving the injections
2023-06-21 15:24
Experts unravel mystery of the Pokémon episode that hospitalised hundreds of kids
Experts unravel mystery of the Pokémon episode that hospitalised hundreds of kids
Pokémon’s TV series has been delighting animé lovers for more than 26 years, and yet, there’s one episode that even the most diehard of fans may well have missed. The installment, titled Dennō Senshi Porygon (which roughly translates as "Computer Warrior Porygon”) aired in Japan on December 16, 1997. And, after that single, fateful outing, it was never to grace television screens again. The reason for the ban? Reports of a strange health outbreak among children which was linked to a specific scene. The episode follows Ash Ketchum, Pikachu and their pals as they investigate a faulty Poké Ball transfer machine by getting inside it. Once there, the team come under attack, but are saved when Pikachu unleashes one of his high-octane electric outbursts – represented by a barrage of red and blue strobe lights. And that’s where the trouble began. According to scientific paranormal investigator Benjamin Radford and sociologist Robert Bartholomew, who dedicated a study to the event: "At 6:51 PM, the flashing lights of Pikachu's 'attack' appeared on television screens. “By 7:30 PM, according to Japan's Fire-Defense Agency, 618 children had been taken to hospitals complaining of various symptoms." These symptoms included convulsions, nausea and vomiting, with news of the “illness” spreading rapidly throughout the country. Inevitably, it made headlines, with several news broadcasters replaying the offending clip, “whereupon even more children fell ill and sought medical attention,” Radford and Bartholomew wrote. The following day, TV Tokyo issued an apology, suspended the show, and announced an investigation into the cause of the seizures. Meanwhile, video retailers pulled the series from their shelves, and even the then-prime minister Ryuaro Hashimoto expressed concern at the use of rays and lasers in the popular cartoon. Within two days, the number of children reported to have been affected by the flashing sequence increased to around 12,700. And yet, after four months of investigation – with input from health experts and Japanese government officials – no obvious cause could be found for the outbreak and Pokémon returned to the airwaves. Because, although the bright flashes were assumed to be the cause of the health panic, such visual techniques had been used in numerous other animé episodes before, with no reports of any problems. So what was going on here? Well, a tiny fraction of the children who reported being affected were diagnosed with photosensitive epilepsy, with experts concluding that the rapid colour changes during the scene caused them to suffer seizures. However, the bulk of “patients” reported symptoms that had no identifiable “organic” cause and were, instead, consistent with a very different type of condition… Mass hysteria. Radford and Bartholomew attribute this “epidemic hysteria”, in large part, to the mass media, which they say fuelled panic and misinformation. "Many of the children's symptoms had no identifiable organic basis; other than the verified cases of seizures, the symptoms reported were minor and short-lived; the victims were nearly exclusively school children in early adolescence; and anxiety from dramatic media reports of the first wave of illness reports was evident,” they wrote. “Media reports and publicity fuel the hysteria as news of the affliction spreads, planting the idea or concern in the community while reinforcing and validating the veracity of the illness for the initial victims,” they continued. “According to news accounts of the time, the number of children said to be affected remained around 700 the evening of the Pokémon episode and the next day. “The next morning, the episode dominated the Japanese news. Japanese children who had not heard about their peers from the news or from their parents learned of it that morning when the seizures ‘were the talk of the schoolyards’,” they continued. “Once the children had a chance to hear panicky accounts of what had happened through the mass media, their friends and their schools, the number of children reported the next day to have been initially affected – 2 days earlier – increased by 12,000.” Radford and Bartholomew ended their paper by noting that this Pokémon drama offers a warning to us all. They pointed out that our continuing reliance on mass communications, especially TV and the internet, places us at risk of more and more hysteria outbreaks. “Technological innovations are occurring at unprecedented rates and have the potential to influence significant numbers of people beyond the typical number in traditional mass hysteria episodes,” they stressed. “Epidemic hysterias that in earlier periods were self-limited by geography now have free and wide access to the globe in seconds.” Concluding on an ominous note, they added: “The Pokémon illness symptoms are without precedence, given the large numbers affected, and may be a harbinger of future technological hysterias that have the capacity to affect unprecedented numbers of people at a phenomenal speed.” Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
2023-10-18 17:05
MLB Rumors: 3 favorites to land Sonny Gray after Twins payroll concerns
MLB Rumors: 3 favorites to land Sonny Gray after Twins payroll concerns
The Minnesota Twins have stated they want to cut down their payroll. This bodes well for teams that may be in on right-hander Sonny Gray.
2023-11-09 04:27
'Disgusting' Concept Art of Bastion Without Any Armor Has Surfaced Online
'Disgusting' Concept Art of Bastion Without Any Armor Has Surfaced Online
Bastion has always been a cute and loveable robot, despite being part of the race that massacred a good portion of humanity during the Omni-Crisis. However, there are some people online who wanted to imagine what Bastion would look like without his armor.
1970-01-01 08:00
Fisker Ocean to Ramp up Production to an Expected 300 Units Per Day in Q4 and Accelerate U.S. Deliveries in September: 3,123 Customer Vehicles Built
Fisker Ocean to Ramp up Production to an Expected 300 Units Per Day in Q4 and Accelerate U.S. Deliveries in September: 3,123 Customer Vehicles Built
LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 7, 2023--
2023-09-07 18:31
Von Miller time is approaching with Bills pass rusher practicing for first time in 10 months
Von Miller time is approaching with Bills pass rusher practicing for first time in 10 months
Buffalo Bills pass rusher Von Miller has returned to practice for the first time in more than 10 months since sustaining a season-ending right knee injury
2023-10-05 06:47
Kai Cenat and IShowSpeed get Miami residence from Rumble's CEO to host livestreams, fans say 'Twitch fumbling so bad'
Kai Cenat and IShowSpeed get Miami residence from Rumble's CEO to host livestreams, fans say 'Twitch fumbling so bad'
Kai Cenat said, 'Shoutout to the CEO of Rumble, whenever I am in Miami they got us a new house that we could just go by'
2023-09-13 19:40
Trump Retains His Base With Risk of Political Violence in Focus
Trump Retains His Base With Risk of Political Violence in Focus
Former President Donald Trump is broadly holding on to his Republican base as he heads to court to
2023-06-12 04:56
Nola, Schwarber lead Phillies to a 3-game sweep of Cardinals with a 3-0 victory
Nola, Schwarber lead Phillies to a 3-game sweep of Cardinals with a 3-0 victory
Aaron Nola allowed one hit and struck out nine in seven sharp innings, Kyle Schwarber homered and the NL wild-card leading Philadelphia Phillies completed a three-game sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals with a 3-0 victory
2023-08-28 04:39