Violence in Video Games

I was considering violence in relation to video games as I write my final paper for "Theory & Aesthetics of Video Games" and although my paper is not on that particular topic I had some thoughts on it that I would like to express, so I will do so here.

I think that there are an awful lot of violent video games out there, but I don't think they are intrinsically bad. Just because a game is violent doesn't mean there is no point to it, in fact often the point of the game is far from violence, the violence is just a means to the end. War games are by definition violent (generally speaking) but the point is to win the war. Similarly gangster games are violent (like Grand Theft Auto, or Fifty Cent's game) although the story behind these is the portrayal of a lifestyle that is violent so the game has to have violence to be a true representation of the lifestyle. Similarly sports games are often violent in a physical sense as that is the nature of sports, but very few people will argue that sports games violence is bad, but as soon as the violence has a gun or a weapon it becomes violent and bad. Wrestling games are often seen as "bad" for this reason, because there is physical violence that nowadays involves weapons and blood. I'm not saying that all video game violence is acceptable, what I am saying is that it usually has a point that people who criticize it don't take the time to look at.
Another point I'd like to make is that perhaps the violence in games is, on some level, a good thing, again I don't want anyone to think that I am condoning all violence or saying that I don't find some of it excessive and gruesome. In fact some games seem gorey for no reason other than to be gorey, but perhaps that is a better form of violence. I am not by nature a violent person, but I, like everyone else, get angry from time to time and when I am in an angry mood I appreciate the violent games. I can go slay Barney in Doom, create a a wrestler who looks like my friend and kick their butt in WWE or simply go around San Andres shooting up the place and beating the crap out of people completely outside the context of the story of the game. I mean these are just examples of taking out my violence in violent games, I could just as easily create a Sim and drown it in a non-violent game or beat up some elves in Harry Potter or some building in the incredible Hulk. All games have violent aspects, some are just more predominant than in others. I mean really isn't it better that when people are angry they take it out on virtual worlds with fictional characters than going and "busting a cap in someone's knee" in real life? I think perhaps if there are others outlets for violence and anger other than real life it has the potential to make the world a less violent place, in a real world space. I'm not saying if Charles Manson had played video games that perhaps he wouldn't have killed people, but really who knows? He may not have killed so many people if he had San Andres.
I'm also not negating that some violent games give children ideas they never would have had otherwise (like Manhunt that represents a snuff film or Def Jam that represents gang fights) but I don't see how just because we see something on the TV or the computer we feel compelled to go out and do it in real life. Sure some people would, but some people will always be violent, regardless of whether they play video games or not, it's just the nature of man.

Where did I go?

So I know it's been two long weeks since I actually posted a blog. I'm sorry! I have been writing blogs on my laptop and then just not posting them. LOL.... The reason you ask? Well that's an interesting question..... You see the quest for the soldering iron turned into the quest for the de-soldering braid, the quest for the monitor end, the quest for the monitor cable, the quest for the guy who said he'd fix the monitor, the quest for secondary monitor and finally (and most recently) the quest for sanity. It has been 3 weeks without a monitor, or a proper computer. I've been using my laptop, which for you fully sighted people out there is no big deal, but for me with my limited vision is a huge pain in the butt. I have to run at least a screen magnifier on the laptop, sometimes a speech system as well and it makes using it for anything but note-taking very frustrating and tiresome. (For my msn and mIRC buddies this is also my reasoning for not being online lately.) So needless to say I use my laptop as little as is humanly possible, usually for one class and to check my e-mail occasionally.

Today, however, I ventured to the school early so that I could post a blog and let y'all know that I haven't forgotten about my blog or my blog friends and I'm sorry!! Blame the guy who's supposed to be fixing my monitor, who by the way I am still questing after as he has been MIA since last Thursday! GRRRR!!!

Anyways best wishes to y'all. As soon as I have a computer I'll back-post all the blogs I've written in Word over the past two weeks. :)

Song of the Week

"Sweet Caroline" - Neil Diamond

Song of the Week

"Cry Out to Jesus" - Third Day

Song of the Week

"Thank God I'm a Country Boy" - Billy Dean

Soldering Iron: A Quest, Part 2

An update on the soldering iron situation, as I know you have all been anxiously awaiting news on this particular issues...
A soldering iron has been found! Oh Happy Day! The monitor can be repaired and I can once again use my computer, which is actually quite excellent as the screen on my laptop is in fact too small for me to comfortably work at. (It is a sad world where a 17" screen is not "big enough") but c'est la vive, this is how God made me.) So it will be an even happier day when my monitor, all 21" of it is fully functional again.
And where did I find this soldering iron? I know you are all curious to know, the answer, as ironic as it may seem is simple, I found it at The Source by Circuit City, what was formerly "radio Shack". Ironically the first place I looked, but due to some bad advice by an ill-advised sales person I was sent on the wild goose chased previously described... Ah well... Life goes on, and now that I have a soldering iron it will hopefully be a better place. LOL

Remembrance Day

Today here in Canada is remembrance Day, I believe the Americans have a similar day called Veterans Day, although I'm not sure if it falls on Nov 11th as well. remembrance day is a time for us to remember those who fought and died during the wars to make Canada the country it is today, a country of freedom.
My Grandpa on my mumby's side fought in World War II. He thankfully, came back from the war, married my nana as a war bride, fathered four children, and lived a long and healthy life until his death a few years ago. During the war he lost half a finger to a meat grinder while he worked in the mess hall. This is his biggest "war wound". He is by far one of the lucky ones. So many young men and women lost so much more during the war, lives, loved ones, their sanity. Mothers losing their sons, Daughters their brothers, Wives their husbands, young women their sweethearts and so forth. Almost every person you meet can tell you a story about someone they knew who was in a war.
My generation is so lucky to have not know war like the previous generations did, to not live in fear, to live in a free country, with freedom of speech and expression. Freedom to be any way we want to be without fear of war looming over our heads, freedom to grow up and raise families without fear.
For this we must remember, today and everyday. We must learn from the past, learn from the mistakes learn from what anger and hatred, miscommunication and misunderstanding can lead to. We must continue to make our world the world these men and women fought for and died for, the world they saw a vision for, a vsion that sustained them through the war, drove them to their cause each day. For them we must remember!


In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918) Canadian Army
In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.


http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/flanders.htm

Soldering Iron: A Quest

Today my monitor managed to get broken, how you ask? Well that in and of itself is an excellent question, one I really wish I knew the answer to. But the fact is myself, my roommate and my ex were all tinkering with my computer case & monitor today, hooking up/un-hooking the KVM switch, etc. so I really don't know who exactly broke it... but someone managed to bend about 3 of the pins and break off another 2 pins in the connection that connects the monitor to the back of the computer. Which means my computer monitor does not work, not even kind of... so I can't use my new computer or my server and that means that I can't finish setting up the server! GRRR
So my ex came over today to look at the pins and to tell me it was impossible to bend them all back into place so I had to either get a new monitor or a new end. 21" monitors run these days about $600-800 and that's flat screen and no one sells the "old kind" that I like to use... so the option I chose was buying a new end and a soldering iron and attempting to repair the connection... Well surprisingly in this equation the end was the easier of the two things to find. I say surprising because I was sure the end would be the task that frustrated me. But no, the end we were able to order from a Calgary based wholesaler who agreed to send it down here express post, so it should arrive tomorrow. The soldering iron I had to go on a quest to find:
The quest began at the Source, formerly Radio Shack, where I was told none of the soldering irons were fine enough for what I needed. I left and went to London Drugs, who didn't sell soldering irons, nor did Future Shop, I continued onto Canadian Tire who did sell the soldering iron I quested after, only it was a super craftsman one that ran on butane and had a million accessories and would have cost $60. So I decided against it... so I came home without a soldering iron and a part on the way... Tomorrow I will continue the quest, I suppose, although short of traveling out to Home Depot I'm running out of ideas.. if anyone knows of anywhere I can get a soldering iron I'd appreciate it... LOL

Song of the Week

"Dream On" - Steve Fox

Random Fact of the Day

The song in the Nivea commercial where people around the world are using Nivea lotions is:
"New Days" by Asher Lane

First Snow

Sometime during the night it snowed, the first real snow of the year. I recall a bit of a flurry the other day, a Thursday I suspect, as I arrived at work to inform my colleagues it was snowing. Really though I did this more for shock value (they are very concerned with the weather) as in fact the snow melted before it even hit the ground. I didn't go out today until gone 2pm and there was still small patches of snow on the ground. So I guess perhaps this means I need to admit that winter is here. Perhaps I need to forego my sandals and find more adequate footwear for the months ahead. Dig my toque and mittens from storage. Determine if I still do in fact own winter boots and try to decide what I should do with the armchair I have sitting on my deck... lol
On the upside the snow was gone by sundown... So perhaps we can avoid it, and it's implications for a bit longer...

Random Fact of the Day

The song in the Honda Civic commercial where the people are driving through the outdoors (trees, mountains, etc.) and speaking in think bubbles is:
"Nature Anthem" by Grandaddy

No More Privacy for Wireless Users?

So here's something... MIT in Cambridge, MS is now able to track wireless users across their whole 9 million square foot campus! I don't know know how I feel about this though, I mean really it's a bit of an invasion of privacy to make this information public. I could understand them tracking for research purposes, but to make it public like this? I mean I understand that you only have your name displayed if you want to... But it's a bit to Marauder's map fro my liking, and who really wants to be able to be tracked all the time? I mean maybe if they did it like on msn where you can "appear offline" or not have your name displayed or something, but if you have to always be visible if you're online, that's not the best thing... It could really lead to problems with stalking... Also it would make it a lot harder to have any sort of a private life, if you went to the coffee shop everyone would know it, and I don't think that's the best thing ever.

Here's the main points:

*MIT has setup a network that watches anyone carrying an activated Wi-Fi device on their campus. Whether it is a laptop, cell phone, PDA you show up on a computer map accessible to any MIT network user. Your identity can be revealed if you allow.

*MIT developed electronic maps that track users day and night. This works due to recent wireless network upgrades that now extends to the entire 9.4 million square foot campus. Since the upgrade study labs are used less; cafes and lounges used more.

*One map with red dots shows concentrations of users, while another with yellow dots shows individual users with their names if available. "This raises some serious privacy issues," said Director Ratti, whose lab created the maps.

and the actual article:

MIT Wireless Network Tracks Info on Users
By BROOKE DONALD Associated Press Writer

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) -- In another time and place, college students wondering whether the campus cafe has any free seats, or their favorite corner of the library is occupied, would have to risk hoofing it over there. But for today's student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, that kind of information is all just a click away.
MIT's newly upgraded wireless network - extended this month to cover the entire school - doesn't merely get you online in study halls, stairwells or any other spot on the 9.4 million square foot campus. It also provides information on exactly how many people are logged on at any given location at any given time.
It even reveals a user's identity if the individual has opted to make that data public.
MIT researchers did this by developing electronic maps that track across campus, day and night, the devices people use to connect to the network, whether they're laptops, wireless PDAs or even Wi-Fi equipped cell phones.
The maps were unveiled this week at the MIT Museum, where they are projected onto large Plexiglas rectangles that hang from the ceiling. They are also available online to network users, the data time-stamped and saved for up to 12 hours.
Red splotches on one map show the highest concentration of wireless users on campus. On another map, yellow dots with names written above them identify individual users, who pop up in different places depending where they're logged in.
"With these maps, you can see down to the room on campus how many people are logged on," said Carlo Ratti, director of the school's SENSEable City Laboratory, which created the maps. "You can even watch someone go from room to room if they have a handheld device that's connected."
Researchers use log files from the university's Internet service provider to construct the maps. The files indicate the number of users connected to each of MIT's more than 2,800 access points. The map that can pinpoint locations in rooms is 3-D, so researchers can even distinguish connectivity in multistoried buildings.
"Laptops and Wi-Fi are creating a revolutionary change in the way people work," Ratti said. The maps aim to "visualize these changes by monitoring the traffic on the wireless network and showing how people move around campus."
Some of the results so far aren't terribly surprising for students at the vanguard of tech innovation.
The maps show, for example, that the bulk of wireless users late at night and very early in the morning are logged on from their dorms. During the day, the higher concentration of users shifts to classrooms.
But researchers also found that study labs that once bustled with students are now nearly empty as people, no longer tethered to a phone line or network cable, move to cafes and nearby lounges, where food and comfy chairs are more inviting.
Researchers say this data can be used to better understand how wireless technology is changing campus life, and what that means for planning spaces and administering services.
The question has become, Ratti said, "If I can work anywhere, where do I want to work?"
"Many cities, including Philadelphia, are planning to go wireless. Something like our study will help them understand usage patterns and where best to invest," said researcher Andres Sevtsuk.
Sevtsuk likened the mapping project to a real-time census.
"Instead of waiting every year or every 10 years for data, you have new information every 15 minutes or so about the population of the campus," he said.
While every device connected to the campus network via Wi-Fi is visible on the constantly refreshed electronic maps, the identity of the users is confidential unless they volunteer to make it public.
Those students, faculty and staff who opt in are essentially agreeing to let others track them.
"This raises some serious privacy issues," Ratti said. "But where better than to work these concerns out but on a research campus?"
Rich Pell, a 21-year-old electrical engineering senior from Spartanburg, S.C., was less than enthusiastic about the new system's potential for people monitoring. He predicted not many fellow students would opt into that.
"I wouldn't want all my friends and professors tracking me all the time. I like my privacy," he said. "I can't think of anyone who would think that's a good idea. Everyone wants to be out of contact now and then."
Article Found Here
More Linkys:
http://ispots.mit.edu/
http://senseable.mit.edu/

Famous on eBay 2

So here's another one...
I couldn't find the actual listing on eBay for this one, but it was on the http://www.comcast.net/news/strange today (and as it's the only news I read...lol) So anyways this woman is selling her house with herself included! It's crazy:
The article reads as such:

Interested Homebuyer Can Get House ... And Wife

(CBS) DENVER A woman has opened up bidding on eBay for both her Denver home and herself as a wife.The opening bid is being set at $600,000, and the bidder who gets chosen (presumably a male) would get Deborah Hale's furnished house in Washington Park and her hand in marriage.
Hale, 48, said decided to sell her home in Washington Park on eBay in hopes she might find a husband. She said she tried dating services, blind dates and connections through friends, all to no avail."I'm looking for what every person out there is looking for, and that's true love," Hale told CBS4.
Hale created a Web site to showcase the house for sale and posted pictures of herself. eBay offered an opportunity for a "non-binding" transaction, which according to her site "provides a means to advertise with neither party being obligated to complete the transaction.""If they like the house, I'm open to that, of course, because the goal was to sell the house," Hale said. "If they like me and not the house, I'm open to that as well."
On the Web site, she writes "I hope to find that special man, who wants to build a life with me and share this special home with me. Ideally that man is between 40 and 60 years old, is well educated and well spoken, and has a professional career."
Hale's neighbors said that at an asking price of $600,000, any man would be crazy to pass up the deal."I think if you buy the house and the wife, you have a ton of kids on the street already, so you have friends for the future," said a neighbor.
Interested buyers and suitors can apply either online or by mail.
Hale says she will make her choice on Valentine's Day.
http://kutv.com/watercooler/watercooler_story_305221101.html

Here's the linky:
http://housewithbride.com/

Famous on eBay

So here's something... this guy puts up a pair of leather pants for sale on eBay with a very comical description and over 2.1 million people visit the auction (most after it has already closed) at least two sites of subsequently published the article... it's absolutely nuts!! LOL

Description:
You are bidding on a mistake.
We all make mistakes. We date the wrong people for too long. We chew gum with our mouths open. We say inappropriate things in front of grandma.
And we buy leather pants.
I can explain these pants and why they are in my possession. I bought them many, many years ago under the spell of a woman whom I believed to have taste. She suggested I try them on. I did. She said they looked good. I wanted to have a relationship of sorts with her. I’m stupid and prone to impulsive decisions. I bought the pants.
The relationship, probably for better, never materialized. The girl, whose name I can’t even recall, is a distant memory. I think she was short.
Ultimately the pants were placed in the closet where they have remained, unworn, for nearly a decade. I would like to emphasize that: Aside from trying these pants on, they have never, ever been worn. In public or private.
I have not worn these leather pants for the following reasons:
I am not a member of Queen.I do not like motorcycles.I am not Rod Stewart.I am not French.I do not cruise for transvestites in an expensive sports car.
These were not cheap leather pants. They are Donna Karan leather pants. They’re for men. Brave men, I would think. Perhaps tattooed, pierced men. In fact, I’ll go so far as to say you either have to be very tough, very gay, or very famous to wear these pants and get away with it.
Again, they’re men’s pants, but they’d probably look great on the right lady. Ladies can get away with leather pants much more often than men can. It’s a sad fact that men who own leather pants will have to come to terms with.
They are size 34x34. I am no longer size 34x34, so even were I to suddenly decide I was a famous gay biker I would not be able to wear these pants. These pants are destined for someone else. For reasons unknown - perhaps to keep my options open, in case I wanted to become a pirate - I have shuffled these unworn pants from house to house, closet to closet. Alas, it is now time to part ways so that I may use the extra room for any rhinestone-studded jeans I may purchase in the future.
These pants are in excellent condition. They were never taken on pirate expeditions. They weren’t worn onstage. They didn’t straddle a Harley, or a guy named Harley. They just hung there, sad and ignored, for a few presidencies.
Someone, somewhere, will look great in these pants. I’m hoping that someone is you, or that you can be suckered into buying them by a girl you’re trying to bed.
Please buy these leather pants.

linky:
To find them on eBay go to http://www.ebay.com and type in the search bar 8335653541 http://www.banterist.com/archivefiles/000286.html
http://www.poormojo.org/cgi-bin/gennie.pl?Rant+247+bi

Improv Club

The U of L has an Improv club and I'm the publicity girl. It's a good job and all. I make posters for events, call up radio stations, go to meetings, build and maintain the webpage, etc. Not too challenging, but I seriously am feeling under-appreciated. I go out of my way to do all my jobs and any other jobs I can find to do and when I forget to do one thing I get ragged on, which totally sucks because when I do the bazillion other things I do no one says thank-you or recognizes that I've even done the job, only when it's not done... It just doesn't seem fair!
Today I forgot to go to the S.U. council meeting, well forgot isn't the right word, I didn't go 'cuz I didn't know it was today. I thought it was next week and I guess no reminders were sent out from S.U. or at least not sent out until it was too late for our prez to forward it along to me, but then he gets upset at me for not being there! I didn't even know about it... :( It just makes me so bummed out, I work hard and I try to do things well and good and it frustrates me when all my hard work seems for naught!
Oh and btw here's the webpage for the Improv club, it's in need of revision (I'm working on it, and as soon as I figure out vector layers in paintshop I'm laughing.)
http://people.uleth.ca/improv.club

Depressed

Lately I've been very depressed and I really don't know why... well that's not completely true, there are many factors in my life that are probably contributing to my depression, I'll name a few in no particular order: having no boyfriend, not being able to go home for Christmas, my best friend having a girlfriend, my other best friend moving away to grad school, having no close girlfriends in Lethbridge, I don't know if I should apply for grad school, I don't' know if I'll have enough money to get through the school year, I get made fun of at work for not knowing as much as other people, I'm under-appreciated at school... etc. etc. I'm really not trying to be mopey either, it's just that these are honestly all issues I am having and any one or two on their own I could deal with, but all together like this? forget about it!
Anyways... why would I put personal info like this in a blog you ask? Well the answer is this: I wanted to explain to some people what I've been going through, I wanted to explain to them and apologize to them for having to put up with me while I've been down. I know I'm not easy to put up with right now, I'm very moody and I'm acting very dependent on people, which is normally not in my character. I get lonely easy and I try to hard to make people like me right now and it's all resulting in my coming across very freaky to some people and scaring some people away. I totally understand why people wouldn't want to be around me right now, I scarcely want to be around me right now... but I just hope that people will give me a chance to feel better and become myself again before they judge me too harshly or choose not to like me because of my recent behaviour.
I really just haven't been feeling myself... I hope to be better soon, for those of you who do so, please pray for me, pray I'll be myself again soon... Thanks.

November

In November’s gusty gale I will flop my flippy tail
And spout hot soup. I’ll be a whale!
Spouting once, spouting twice, spouting chicken soup with rice.