About the author
Dave Winer, 56, is a visiting scholar at NYU's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute and editor of the Scripting News weblog. He pioneered the development of weblogs, syndication (RSS), podcasting, outlining, and web content management software; former contributing editor at Wired Magazine, research fellow at Harvard Law School, entrepreneur, and investor in web media companies. A native New Yorker, he received a Master's in Computer Science from the University of Wisconsin, a Bachelor's in Mathematics from Tulane University and currently lives in New York City.
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Why Angry Birds is so much fun 
On a recent RBTN podcast I asked Jay if he remembered how, when the iPad first came out, we said we'd have to see what its killer app is. Well I think we now know. It's Angry Birds. 
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You could hum the Angry Birds theme song in the subway and someone would look up and smile at you. It's become that popular.
The game is very simple. The pigs stole the birds' eggs. The birds are angry. The pigs build forts. The birds jump into a sling shot where you aim them at the fort. When a bird or a bit of debris hits a pig, he explodes. Your mission is to kill all the pigs. And the pigs don't seem to mind. They're happy, snorting and grinning, all the way up to their moment of death. That's the gist of the game, though it has a few little subtleties. No spoilers. ">
I've been trying to figure out why such a dumb game is so much fun.
I know it sounds mean, but it's probably the same kind of pleasure you get from breaking up your little sister's doll tea party. Or your brother's sand castle at the beach.
I guess it's not really mean because it's just a video game on a hand-held device.
Another thought hit me. When the elaborate pig forts topple it kind of looks like the Twin Towers coming down on 9/11. And the birds, well they're a lot like a suicide bombers. Well, actually they are totally like suicide bombers.
They're so damned angry at the pigs that they don't mind killing themselves.
Of course when you see how smug the pigs are, you get angry at them too. But in a nice way! ">
