Loweded

Consoles Aren't Dead...

Thu, 23 May 2013 09:22:00 -0400

I was skimming over my normal morning gaming news articles and saw one written by Chris Kohler over at Wired entitled, “Hardcore Console Gamers Don’t Want Much, Just the Impossible”. Basically Chris makes a valiant effort to explain why Microsoft’s current Xbox One presentation focused on nothing but TV and a few titles that I personally could care less about. His argument is basically that Microsoft will only be successful if it is an All-in-One machine that caters more towards all entertainment rather than just hardcore gaming.

I think he’s wrong. He does show some stats about their revenues and how it would seem that Sony’s inability to adopt to the all-in-one idea hurt them badly compared to Microsoft, and even explains that it is the exact reason Nintendo has stopped trying to keep up with the hardware specs of the other two. There is a reason all of their revenues took a hard hit. Lets go over each one a little from the perspective of us gamers who have been around since before 8-bit.

NINTENDO:

I love Nintendo, yet I own none of their hardware currently. Why is that? Chris argues that they dropped out of the hardware arms race (keeping up with specs essentially) because it was killing their overhead. Sure, no one is going to argue that the Wii was obviously a less powerful system compared to the 360 or PS3, but that’s not why I don’t own one anymore. In fact, I did own a Wii and was one of the first to do so thanks to a great friend. I enjoyed Mario Galaxy, Twilight Princess, Bowling, and the whole idea of motion controllers. However the problem started when the Wii market became inflated with third party game after third party game, that essentially added up to the experience of playing flash games on my PC. It seemed as if anyone could create a content lacking gimmicky game by simply submitting it to Nintendo. That flooded the market with crap and made finding a real good set of games almost a chore, keeping in mind that Nintendo’s core titles seemed to take forever to get produced. Launching without many of those core titles was a mistake.

Second problem Nintendo faced was it’s complete lack of interest in the online community. Can’t tell you how many times I read that “online gaming would never take off” according to Nintendo’s top brass. So what was I left with after buying the Wii? About a year of bowling being the best game for the system, no way to play online that really mattered, and more Pet [insert animal] type games that asked for $50 and really only gave you about $10 worth of entertainment. Ignoring HD didn’t help either. So I sold my Wii back to Gamestop with no sweat off my back. But keep in mind, Nintendo’s price points and ability to cater to the younger gamers is quite remarkable and I very much commend them for it.

SONY

Interestingly enough, when Chris talks about how the PS3 is the only hardcore gaming machine on the market. Is it though? I seem to remember the marketing for it being so much about making the PS3 the only box you’d need in the living room. I was a huge PS2 user and Sony guy long before that and so when the PS3 was announced I simply couldn’t wait, but time would show that most of Sony’s issues with selling the PS3 were their own freaking fault.

This was supposed to be the true all-in-one entertainment machine, and I will recognize that they won the BluRay versus HD-DVD race. Kudos to them. However, why are gamers up in arms about the all-in-one idea of Xbox One? It’s because they’ve heard this song and dance before, and you guessed it…from Sony regarding the PS3. How can a system be the all-in-one system when it seemed almost impossible to get content on it outside of physical disc media? Sure it played BluRays (which were overpriced at the release), played PS3 games (which were increased to $60 standard), and it eventually got Netflix capability. But not at launch. The PS3 was quite a lonely experience at launch when you first booted it up. And how much did it cost to get this massive all-in-one machine on day one? …. $600. They increased the starting price of most standard consoles by almost $200.

Comments from the top Sony brass to the tune of “if you can’t afford one then you don’t deserve to have one” put pretty much everyone off that I knew. Sony also presumed their hardware architecture was amazing, all the while developers found it backwards and hard to develop on. Chris explains that the PS3 is the hardcore gamers machine because it also gives free online service. Sure it doesn’t cost anything to play online, assuming you can get a solid connection at all (I still have not with madden), care about buying old PS2 games sine it’s not backwards compatible, and enjoy walking around a virtual house while ten year olds hit on your female avatar. There is a reason people gladly pay for Xbox live. It’s a real online environment, and one of the only things that gives Microsoft an edge. Sony killed themselves from day one by being presumptuous of their own tech, marketing something they couldn’t offer, giving away shitty online service, and then charging us $600 for a nice piece of hardware that developers hated.

MICROSOFT:

There is a reason Microsoft can succeed, but is going to encounter much resistance from the hardcore gaming group. They are trying to sell the same idea that PS3 did, except now they have figured out (not very well at explaining it) how to restrict every aspect of how you enjoy their system so that they can squeeze every penny out of the consumer. They’re attempting to deflate the concept of hanging out with friends to play games and allowing friends to borrow your games. This is what gamers have been raised on since the first Atari systems. Gaming is communal. Sure, we all have our Skyrim saves, but it’s those late night Halo matches crammed next to one TV that everyone remembers.

Nintendo is wrong in thinking they can survive solely on single player. Sony thinks a free service will lure people away from Xbox when this leaves them little revenue to improve the service while getting hacked, and Microsoft recognizes the good of having an online multiplayer market. But… no one is arguing Xbox Live. It’s great and seemingly the only good thing as an entire company they have ever done.

What made growing up a gamer so much fun? Taking my games to a friends system and playing until 5am regardless of accounts, the owner of system or the disc being used. What Microsoft can seem to answer is what happens with two Xbox Ones in the home? Can one kid in the family play Madden on his Xbox account, and then an hour later can his sister use the same disc on her separate Xbox and Xbox account? If not for free then how much is the sharing fee? Is it the full cost of the game?

Microsoft doesn’t want to be known as the console that killed physical media reselling and used games, but they sure as hell want to do both as well as Sony with the PS4 as well. This is what has gamers (in a down economy) nervous. We have to pay the hardware costs ($500 and up for the system, $60 per controller, $60 per game) and therefore the only relief we get is the used markets and reselling. Some argue that because these are IP’s, they aren’t the same as selling anything else I physically own, except…yes they are. When I purchase a game new at full price, I own that game to do with what I want, whether that’s resell immediately or play and give away for free. Does this hurt the developer? Probably, but after the initial sale to me, they have been paid what they ask for their product. After that it’s not reasonable to have that developer recharge me because a friend loaned it to me or I bought it cheaper elsewhere. Don’t punish gamers for how a free market is supposed to work. If you don’t like retailers stealing profits, then offer a digital market that isn’t marked up to full price a year after the game comes out. Steam is pretty successful and they aren’t following standard business practice according to EA who thinks Steam will fail.

It will be interesting to see what happens once these new systems hit the market and the crazy fan boys finish their day one purchases. I have a feeling Microsoft may be in for a surprise. If you create content and give me every access to it to do as I please, I reward you with more money for more content. If you try to tell me how I can use my content after paying your asking price, I will gladly stop buying from you. Luckily I PC game more than any console so this issue can be avoided altogether for me, but for most who game on consoles as their sole source of entertainment…you’re hurting them Microsoft, maybe for the good of your shareholders, but not for the good of your audience. Consoles aren’t dead, they’re just so damn restricting now a days. No wonder people have slowed in emptying their pockets for you.

IRON MAN 3...

Thu, 16 May 2013 13:48:48 -0400

Before you read any further, know this… THERE WILL BE SPOILERS GALORE HERE. So if you are saving yourself for the theater, then stop reading and go look up more trailers. For those of you still here I continue.

This film has been talked about as a much heavier Tony Stark character piece rather than a straight up Iron Man film as the first two were. This is also not a bad thing, and I think it succeeds well in making Tony more like you an me. I like that aspect and I won’t debate it. But why do I feel more attached to the first two films? There is a reason, and if you haven’t heard already (or possibly you’re tired of hearing about it), then let me explain it quite simply.

This was the film I was most excited for out of all three, especially after experiencing the first two. Why? Yes, the Mandarin is exciting, but it’s the idea behind the villain in this movie. The first two villains were very much industrial enemies of Tony Stark, locked in competition to excel his talents, and when failing to do so intellectually, resorted to violence and ill tactics. Essentially, both being good films, deal with industrial counterparts, looking to destroy Stark Industries with their own version of “armor”.

The first film gave us a view of how even long time friends of the Stark family can be driven to jealously or anger when Tony has a change of heart about selling weapons. The second film follows a similar premise with a competitor trying to mimic the arch reactor technology. Though it is more of a revenge plot, due to the action of Tony and Ivan’s fathers. The third film was marketed to change this villain archetype in a drastic way. We were no longer dealing with a “genius” competitor or counterpart, but rather a “genius” madman with nothing but hate aimed towards Western society. How exciting as well as being such a breathe of fresh air. If you’re reading this then you watched the trailers, listened to the monologues and (admit it) were giddy at the prospect of what the Mandarin could mean for a true Tony Stark character arch.

So what happened? If you’ve seen it then you know. The first hour of the film gives you glimpses into the eyes of the leader of a terrorist organization hell bent on teaching the United States government a lesson. And even better the same organization that kidnapped Tony in the first film, “The Ten Rings”. There is also a little of the industrial villain concept from the first two films infused with the introduction of the nerdiest of all nerds, Aldrich Killian, who is ignored by Tony year before current time and thus his motivations are lacking enough credence to be really taken seriously.

As the film progresses we see that Aldrich now has seem to have cured his physical afflictions (cane and such), and has created a project that allows humans to upgrade their DNA. Pepper as well as many others (including Tony originally) have turned down investing in the idea, because it could become militarized and that is what Stark is against thanks to film one. So Aldrich walks away again disappointed. Meanwhile the Mandarin is sharing his message through radio waves and television, even executing the owner of a major oil company stating, “I’m sure he’s a really good guy….I’m gonna shoot him in the head.” Chilling stuff, because of Ben Kingsley’s direction with the character and his almost Southern preacher type voice. At this point I was on the edge of my seat. Obviously the Mandarin was seconds away from revealing himself and becoming the driving force in the film. Then only minutes later, the film simply became eye candy.

It turns out that we get the impression that Aldrich is working for the Mandarin, referring to him as the master, and when Tony breaks into the mansion where the filming of the Mandarin’s exploits has been traced to, we find a very different Mandarin. It turns out the Mandarin is simply an act, or a show. Trevor is a hired British actor paid handsomely with drugs, women, and a mansion to portray the character of the Mandarin, in order to drive attention away from what Aldrich is really doing. And what is Aldrich doing? That whole DNA thing, he now calls “Extremis”. Oddly even for a split second I allowed myself to believe that the Mandarin was simply pretending to be Trevor, in order to fool Tony into believing the Aldrich story. True deception. True illusion. To my anger, and after a poop joke and the pop of a beer can, I’m sadly left with the truth.

What is that truth? It is simply that the writing was stubborn enough to create such a illustrious character only to service a twist mechanic that then leaves us with a less interesting, poorly motivated, and mimicked copy of the villains from the first two films. Motivated by simple revenge and jealousy. Yawn. Forgive me for being disappointed.

Some would argue that Killian is not the same as the first two villains in that he doesn’t fight Tony with physical armor, but really all the Extremis project represents (in the limited explanation the writers gave here) is another form of armor. Even better if you can ignore the anger and try to enjoy the rest of the eye candy, you’re left with Aldrich’s explanation as he is about to kill Tony…”I am the mandarin. I have always been the Mandarin.” Taken literally, this would make no sense, but even in the context of him simply meaning that by being the main guy behind the whole mess of events, that he basically would also technically be the Mandarin, is still lazy and unimportant.

Are we to believe that to cap off the series as a whole, that the terrorists from the first film simply don’t really have any connection to this film? Does this mean that the Mandarin is simply not revealed yet and that maybe Killian creates an illusion based off of the little information known about the Ten Rings? What conclusion is supposed to be drawn from this twist? If the fake Mandarin is based off a real Mandarin that no one knows anything about yet, then this requires explanation somewhere in the film. My guess is that Marvel has successfully allowed the writers under direction of Shane Black to essentially avoid the perceived racist undertones of the original character from the 60’s. Maybe this was Marvel’s way of skipping over any possible controversy they thought could arise from the Asian communities. What would be the reason to think this is even remotely true? Well Shane has been quoted as referring to the Mandarin as a “racist caricature”. Neat, except that doesn’t bother Marvel from printing story after story about him from his early creation to modern day. So I call B.S.

What’s his defense for the twist?

“I would say that we struggled to find a way to present a mythic terrorist that had something about him that registered after the movie’s over as having been a unique take, or a clever idea, or a way to say something of use, And what was of use about the Mandarin’s portrayal in this movie, to me, is that it offers up a way that you can sort of show how people are complicit in being frightened. They buy into things in the way that the audience for this movie buys into it. And hopefully, by the end you’re like, ‘Yeah, we were really frightened of the Mandarin, but in the end he really wasn’t that bad after all’. In fact, the whole thing was just a product of this anonymous, behind-the-scenes guy. I think that’s a message that’s more interesting for the modern world because I think there’s a lot of behind-the-scenes, a lot of fear, that’s generated toward very available and obvious targets, which could perhaps be directed more intelligently at what’s behind them.”

Again I call B.S. You didn’t struggle in any way in presenting or depicting him for the first 40 minutes of the movie. In fact the interesting way you portrayed him was showing something entirely new to iron man audiences in that this was a villain not motivated by jealously or revenge against Tony himself and in effect could have played the idea that Tony inserted himself into the villains path endangering everyone he loves. Tony’s willingness to be a hero when he can’t come to grips with the large idea of aliens, gods, and wormholes is a very interesting idea in that he is paralyzed by PTSD and can’t even focus on a single dangerous human. Shane says it himself that he intentionally entrapped the fan base of the first two films into seeing this movie. That’s enraging. He’s right in that towards the end I wasn’t frightened, but neither was I suffering from tension or any type of interest in why I should care. There was no sense that Tony wouldn’t save the day, which ironically he doesn’t. None at all, which disturbs me, because fright, tension, and being on the edge of our seat is exactly why anyone goes to the movies. Not that I don’t get his behind-the-scenes guy (trying to be deeper) theme, but honestly I don’t go to the movies to replicate real life behind-the-scenes bad guys of our current world, but rather to forget them for 2 hours.

What Marvel has allowed Shane to do along with his writers is to for the first time create a film that not only doesn’t understand the three pieces of good source material it draws from (Extremis, The Mandarin, Iron Patriot), but it makes me worried about the next few Marvel films. The only one it seems I can really trust is Josh Whedon. It’s lazy on Shane’s part because he knows going into Iron Man 3 that he has a vast audience that will show up day one and pay for the film’s production cost three times over, without even having to have a page written. It bothers me even more that he took an artistic theme that he couldn’t replicate on screen as being amazing, all the while selling the fan base on a premise that he destroyed 40 minutes in. That’s not clever, intelligent, or interesting. It’s lazy and boring, and for everyone that paid to go see it…expensive (even for just two people).

I could address other holes in the story such as the fact that Tony has 40 suits hiding 20 feet below him as his house is being shot at. How he somehow doesn’t have a protocol to facially recognize his girlfriends face as to not kill her. How his DNA is the only one that will work with the suit, and thus the same for Rhodey who has his suit hijacked. How you can have one of the coolest sidekicks in the Marvel realm and not use him at all except to hint at Iron Patriot, which has nothing to really add to this film at all, unless you consider the one time it is hi-jacked as a nod to the Norman Osborne story (unnecessary). The fact that the second film revolves around finding a new source to keep the shrapnel away from his heart when all he needed was one simple hospital operation. Why was the PTSD completely ignored the final third of the film never to really be addressed? There’s too much in this movie that is irrelevant.

But most of all… what are you trying to tell us Marvel? Is Iron Man done? Is Downey done? We know he is contracted for Avengers 2, so what does this movie do for anyone? This movie is financially successful based on your first two films and a fibbed collection of trailers and TV spots, and as a piece of 2.5 hours worth of film, it has the same eye candy level as transformers with a better stand alone story. It has good things, but where was and is your head at? If someone were to ask me what the best part of the film was, I would say the Easter egg scene at the end. Why? Because for about 30 seconds I get to laugh and connect with the heavy events of the Avengers film (which you hinted at and then ignored) along with being able to forget how badly I wanted this film to matter. I love Iron Man, and it’s what got me into the theaters for Avengers. You owe us better than this. I wont be rushing out to the next film so quickly.

PS. I’ll give you a nod for the Hulk Buster suit. Kudos for including that.

Europa Could...

Tue, 07 May 2013 11:15:37 -0400

Mars is a fascinating planet. We have sent probe after probe there to discover more about the origins of the planet and how it may have once inhabited life. We know that water flowed upon Mars at one point and we are digging and drilling into small sections of the surface to search for more answers.

When it comes to the search for extraterrestrial life, however, Mars (though interesting) is second to another mass in our solar system. One of Jupiter’s four largest moons sits quietly awaiting discovery. Europa is a tortured moon. It has scars covering its entire surface signaling its constant tidal struggle from the strong forces of it’s superior. Jupiter has an immense gravity and pulls hard against Europa, which much like the moon pulls the Earth’s water creating title forces, Jupiter pulls on Europa and leaves large constant cracking on it’s icy surface.

Europa is a cold moon and thus its surface is covered in ice. This ice also cracks and breaks due to Jupiter’s pull on Europa. But there is a key feature to the moon that is hidden beneath the ice. Underneath the cracks is a body of water. Constant tidal flexing generates heat when you’re dealing with masses as big as a planet and moon. This effect also moves tectonic plates generating heat from below. What this tells us is that it is extremely likely that Europa could be generating enough heat below the surface in it rocky top layers to warm a body of water underneath it’s relatively smooth (regardless of the cracks) icy surface.

Earth has a similar setup deep in its oceans. The one difference being that Earth lies close enough to the sun to be free from a completely icy surface. However if you hypothetically turned off the Sun forever, Earth would quickly become sub artic on the surface and the only chance for humans to survive would be to bury into the deep layers of rock and rely on geothermal heat from our molten core.

Hypothetical event aside, the Earth leaks heat along with many chemicals from its thermal vents. What is interesting is that much life exists around these thermal vents on Earth and we see primitive life forming in what seems to be the harshest of conditions. The thought is that if the core of Europa is generating enough heat to also have thermal vents release heat and chemicals into the body of water, it could very likely be supporting primitive life. The fact that its surface is comprised of mostly oxygen also adds to this idea.

So what does this mean then? Are we talking about little green men with spaceships? Not at all. It’s a common misconception that when science talks about the idea of extraterrestrial life forms, they automatically mean highly evolved Martians with super space flight capabilities. Any life we find outside of Earth is most likely going to be either primitive if not microbial. We don’t have the capability to travel outside of our solar system with a human behind the wheel and therefore the likelihood that we find intelligent life is extremely rare. It’s not impossible that life like ours exists within a neighboring planetary system or is found to be plentiful throughout every galaxy (of which there are hundreds of billions), but all of the similar problems we face with interstellar space travel are going to be the same problems another group of intelligent life forms would have to overcome as well.

So how do we investigate life on Europa? Well due to the icy surface it’s not just a matter of landing, but also of drilling and submersing a vehicle to explore the water underneath. If you thought the recent Mars probe landing was insane, then this would likely blow your mind. Even better, plans are in motion to successfully pull this off over the next ten years. Of course everything sent to Europa will have to be strictly sterilized beyond belief to assure no false alarms. Personally I hope to see the video feed of a submersible probe as it sinks deeper and deeper only to have some organism swim by. That would be quite possibly the most intense scientific discovery of all time.

It’s not known for sure if we would find anything on Europa, but compared to all the planets and moons we can reach, there is no better suspect. Mars could prove to be promising underneath the soil and rock, but Europa could be a living and breathing collection of life just waiting to be unopened. Europa could change everything.

Groovy...

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 09:51:20 -0400

When I was a kid there was one movie that was a must-rent every Saturday afternoon. There was a small family-run video store down the road and every time I entered, I would run right over to the horror section and grab “Army of Darkness”. At that age I had no idea that this was the third in a collection of films that helped shaped the character of Ash. Of course, Army of Darkness starts by alluding to the ending of Evil Dead 2, but at that age, I figured it was just a quick intro to why Ash begins his journey chained up.

Years later I would experience the first two films in all their glory. The puzzle pieces fit and connected my childhood to my teenage years. There’s no way around saying this, but all three of the Evil Dead trilogy’s films kick so much fucking ass. With that out of the way I was skeptical about the reboot when it was first announced, as any nerd would be. Slowly, however, they started to win me over with amazing red band trailers and the small amount of on set news that trickled down.

Last night we got our tickets and headed in to see the Evil Dead reboot, and let me just say it took me right back to what I loved about the originals. Five friends head to a cabin? Check! Necronomicon Ex-Mortis is found and passages are recited? Check! Scary demon camera sails through the trees towards the cabin? Check! All hell breaks loose? Double Check!

This film is great. There is a connected and seemingly intelligent reason as to why they are all at this family cabin. The main role, Mia, is played by Jane Levy, who is an addict trying to get clean after the passing of her mother in a mental asylum. Her distant brother makes the trip to help her through the withdrawal after years of abandoning his family for a far away job. Early we see how the movie is going to progress in the fact that her friends have decided they aren’t going to let Mia leave until she has overcome withdraw and can begin to heal.

However, things aren’t right in this cabin. After a gruesome discovery in the basement (yes it has a trap door entrance!) one of the characters discovers a book that seems to be covered in barbed wire to prevent anyone from opening it. With a set of wire cutters and a quick out-loud reading of some of the passages, the shit quickly begins to hit multiple fans. Granted he was warned multiple times by the creepy handwriting. One warning that really got to me was something along the lines of ‘don’t speak the words, don’t read the words, don’t even think the words.’ Don’t quote me on the accuracy but it was something along those lines scribbled on the pages as a warning to anyone who happened to come in contact with it.

I wont spoil a minute of it for you. You have all the set up you need and my promise that if you enjoyed these movies as much as me growing up, that you are going to have a fun time. It has moments that will make you cringe, jump, shiver and smile. The film makers did their job in not only keeping very close to the source material and the feel of the original films, but in also bringing something new to the story. It hits home and at the end I couldn’t wait to get a chance to see it again.

It is graphic and violent, so no worries there as well. Jane Levy’s performance as Mia, throughout the whole film makes you really fear being left alone in a room with her, especially when she is contained below the cabin in the dark basement and the only thing between her and the camera is a flight of rotting stairs. So many times I wanted to shut the trap door myself, but the cameramen must have known that keeping the audience close to her was scarier then not knowing where she was. Though I wont lie…that’s not too comforting either.

So let me highly recommend you take the time to go see this late at night while it still runs in theaters. You can feel better after watching this movie that not every reboot automatically means sub par quality. This reboot is worth every bit the ticket price.

Motivation, Design, and Intent...

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 15:46:00 -0400

Take a moment and really inspect the image above. This is a car designed to efficiently end anyone who gets in its way. Notice the reinforced steel paneling below the headlights that allow for maximum front-end collisions with little damage. See how from its hood to windshield there lies a metal chainsaw like contraption meant to deal with anyone who rolls up onto the hood? The tires are large and allow for ample room to run over objects. They are enforced with heavy-duty performance breaks for those quick turns. If I had to bet, I’d say it maybe gets 12 miles to the gallon depending on the size of the engine. It’s a beauty.

This is the car that extreme gun-advocates wish existed, but sadly for them you won’t see Honda or Ford promoting one of these killer cars out onto the road for consumer purchase anytime soon (though you can drive one electronically in Carmageddon, a video game from the 90’s). In fact, almost every car manufactured is done so with a design that is completely opposite of this. Safety sells in the auto-business, minus the Dodge Viper, who has warning stickers all over it to make you aware that misuse can cause death. Auto manufacturers have shifted towards obtaining better mileage, making it cheaper at the pump. They also are required to pass strict industry standard safety ratings and come with almost every kind of airbag you can think of. In fact, every car developed is geared towards better mileage, safety, and protection not only for the passengers but also for other vehicles in case of an accident. Safety and mileage sell.

So what’s the big deal about cars in this post? Well, it’s more than likely that you have either heard it said or have said it yourself that “cars kill people too, so why do people seem to seek further gun control and not also car-control? Why do cars get a pass?”

It’s time to break this type of position down to the fundamental flaw in comparing a gun and a car with regards to “regulation”. It’s true that cars kill people. It’s true that guns kill people. Or people kill people, if you believe guns have no part in it, which I think would be a little misguiding, but could hold some truth. There is a huge distinction that is generally left out that at the very least debunks this argument as a true comparison, and it is simply this…

Cars are not designed to destroy, maim or kill a target in front of its headlights. Stick with me here… They are simply designed at their core level to get you quickly from point A to point B. That is it in consumer markets. Their design is transportation. But cars have killed people. Sure, physically cars can very easily kill a person when misused and abused and if you go back far enough, some of the designs of cars in it’s infancy and early history, were essentially moving death boxes. But again, even at that time, the design was motivated by trying to move people from one place to another quicker than a horse carriage. As cars got larger, faster, and more powerful, they became more dangerous.

However, what has happened with cars is that they have become regulated in a way that a seatbelt is required for modern vehicles for the front two passengers (in most states, while backseat belts are left up to the discretion of the occupants in some). They must pass standardized safety testing per their class of vehicle and in order to drive one legally on the road the user must show basic proficiency in operating and obeying the laws of the road. This requires a written test, quick eye exam, proof of car insurance, and a physical driving test along with the many separate levels of restricted driving before obtaining a full license. Can a user misuse an automobile by skipping all the steps? Sure, but they would be risking penalty if caught and there is not a modern car dealer that will risk you driving off the lot without insurance. Everything about legally operating a vehicle requires safety checks and regulations not only on the vehicle manufacturer’s side, but the operator’s side.

Since cars are often compared to gun safety and ownership when trying to advocate the “ridiculousness” of gun control (and trust me I understand some of their points), lets ask the same questions. What is the basic core design behind a firearm? Its basic core design requires that it stop or end any object within its firing path. And what about a gun makes it successful at this? If history has shown us anything with regards to warfare or hunting, it is that a gun that fires accurately, quickly, and without mechanical issues will fare better than one that does not do those three things efficiently. Regardless of the operators input, a gun is more successful at its core design when it performs those three ideas efficiently. Guns used to be horribly inaccurate when compared to the technology used today with machined boring, cartridge power, and accurate sighting. So guns, just as cars were less refined in their earlier days, just as they have both evolved their efficiency to our modern standards.

But from their earlier days they have also evolved down separate paths. Cars have become more efficient to their design, by trying to correct the safety issues and sell a product that can withstand minor and even some major accidents or misuse. There are reasons why parents would rather have their children driving large SUVs loaded with airbags and high safety ratings, compared to a 1960’s muscle car. If the core design were to transport you from A to B, then creating cars that are un-safe would simply fail the standards of the core design of transporting occupants. Guns evolved differently in that they have become easier to operate, can hold more ammunition, as well as higher-powered cartridges, along with many other tweaks that make them more efficient in keeping with their core design. Both have stayed true to solving the issues that motivated their core design.

Design and Intent are two very separate ideas. Usually good design comes from motivation and problem solving. For example: it sucked walking everywhere, so some were motivated to put carriages on horses. Then it sucked taking long trips to get to point A to B, so someone was motivated to evolve industrial technology towards the engines we know today in the modern vehicle. Gas is expensive and no one wants to die while going from A to B, so better mileage and safety are now big sellers for modern cars. This same line of logic can be used in relation to guns. Hunting with stones sucked so some were motivated to create tools like the crossbow to make it easier. Then gunpowder blew (pun intended) the evolution of the firearm wide open. The faster, more accurate, and further it shoots the more efficient a tool it becomes in hunting or warfare.

With regards to the recent attack in Boston, I’ve heard some replace the “cars” argument with the pressure cooker, which was an integral part of the bomb that was used. Again it would be a mistake to equate a pressure cooker to a firearm, because their core design speaks of two vastly different motivations, no matter the intent of the operator. Intent is described as being determined to do something. One might hi-jack and modify the core design with the intent to do something horrible, but it can never change the original motivation that led to the design of the pressure cooker. They are designed for cooking purposes. A gun is not designed for cooking. Nails with filed off heads (found at the sight of the bomb) were intended by the user to cause damage via the effects of shrapnel. Those who were motivated over time to design the nail designed it for use in construction and architecture to solve issues with regards to structural stability.

Guns are designed to do one thing very well. Destroy, maim or kill that which lies in the path of the bullet being projected out from its chamber. At its core design it is inherently complex and completely un-comparable with a car. They come from opposite motivations and eventual designs regardless of the intent of the operator. A better comparison would be a standard firearm compared to a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG). They are both designed to destroy, maim, or kill that which lies in their path. In that comparison, interestingly, one might ask, why is the RPG regulated and controlled, while the AR-15 is not. It’s a flip side to the coin of gun-advocacy groups, who usually respond that an RPG is not practical for home defense. Well wouldn’t a single explosive round that covers a wider impact zone (your front yard), be good for defense over an AR-15 with a very precise impact zone? You could debate that all day. Mostly it’s a comparison used to generate perspective on the issue of the Second Amendment.

In the end, when you try to express that all pressure cookers or cars should be banned (considering most firearms outside of military grade or automatics are still not banned federally), you end up making a comparison with something that was never intended to destroy, maim, or kill anything in it’s path. Could it? Sure, but is it designed to? No.

Everyone can intend to modify any core design no matter the original motivations to create a dangerous and lethal new design, but with guns it is done for you right out of the box and very efficiently over many years of evolution and innovation in their technology. This post is not about how you feel about gun control. The point is that comparing a gun to a car or pressure cooker leaves many scratching their heads. Cars are heavily regulated and are subject to strict oversight on both the manufacturer and operator’s respective sides.

Gun’s are subject to some regulation, but ultimately the question is, could we be doing more to screen the mentally ill and dangerous with deeper background checks? Why does it take less effort to own a weapon designed to destroy, maim, or kill compared to being licensed to operate a vehicle, which was designed, solely to transport me? Why should I need insurance, a written test, eye exam, a week of class instruction, a physical driving test with an instructor, as well as a set amount of clean restricted driving, before I can legally operate a vehicle? It’s simple, because my operation of the vehicle can directly affect the rest of you whom I share the road with. As a group shouldn’t we protect ourselves from those who are mentally unstable and criminal, by at least making a common sense move to better screen gun applicants? I won’t propose the idea of taking our guns away, but as a gun owner, I’d like to see some accountability amongst gun advocates with regards to better screening and databases for the mentally ill.

Hell, I thought that’s what we all wanted….

For only $15, you too can learn The Secret...

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 11:33:25 -0400

Did you hear? There’s a secret to being successful, wealthy, healthy and happy! You haven’t heard? We’ll throw me $15 and I’ll show you how to be all of these things and more!

…are you buying my sales pitch?

If I’ve failed to sell you then I want to personally congratulate you and ask that you take that $15 and put it in a savings account. And for those that pulled out their wallets… put your money away and sit down, because the secret that Rhonda Byrne is peddling in her book, “The Secret” is nothing that’s worth any amount of money. What her PR has been able to do is repackage (with messy pseudoscience) and sell the old idea of “thinking positive”. Worst of all she has made nearly over 300 million in sales selling this same old idea (with her new age twist).

So what is the secret? Well Rhonda has decided that she wants you to pay her to tell you about the law of attraction. Never heard of it? Let me enlighten you (minus the fee). Here are the basics on using the law of attraction…

• Know what one desires and ask the “universe” for it.

• Focus one’s thought upon the thing desired with great feeling such as enthusiasm or gratitude.

• Feel and behave as if the object of one’s desire is already acquired.

• Be open to receiving it.

It’s so simple. Just meaningfully desire something, think hard about it, pretend you have it, and then be ready to receive. This of course seems harmless, but what these main points have become in relation to Rhonda’s descriptions and instructions is a roadmap for over-inflated egos and victim blaming. Worst of all, these are ideas (minus the pseudoscience parts) that stem from general positive thinking. Thinking positive helps for sure in life, because seeing things positively can help you handle the stress of a bad situation, however this version of this idea takes it to a level where many who follow this to the “T” end up rolling their insecurities and expectations into the system, allowing for defeat and self-doubt, when the world brings them bad to reality with a bad event.

Each part of the four above steps are nothing that needs explanation beyond simple psychology, yet everyday people (at least those that pay for these types of books) are looking for an outside explanation for their success or in contrast, their problems. And in most cases the quick and easy fix to their problems.

STEP ONE:

“Know what one desires and ask the Universe for it.”

Humans do this everyday. We constantly wish for better experiences and success in what we do. What Rhonda does is take this basic human condition and tries to connect it to the Universe as a whole using pseudo Quantum Physics to try and simply explain how we are all connected spiritually to the Universe. Debate the inclusion of Quantum Physics with the law of attraction all you want, but all it eventually leads to is YouTube videos and buying books of New Age authors who use big words to sound real smart. Ultimately we prioritize everything in our daily lives, and many times we think we can’t make room for that ultimate “want” or “desire” because theirs no time, or it’s too expensive, etc. Rather than asking the Universe, all you have to do is define what it is you want to do or obtain. This is the basic (un-quantum/pseudo science) explanation. Simply define your goal.

STEP TWO:

“Focus one’s thought upon the thing desired with great feeling such as enthusiasm or gratitude.”

Though she presents it like a secret, all this entire step describes is to just refine your goal. How is this not common sense? How does this pass as some type of ancient secret? If you want a new car, don’t you think it’s a necessity that you do your research on that car to make sure you’re not buying a heap of junk? Of course doing research is a physical and mental activity that requires a bit of drive to complete. What Rhonda seems to impress upon her readers, which is obvious to us who have the sense to not pay for this book, is that by simply asking the Universe (I assume by thinking about it, or maybe yelling to the skies) and then thinking enthusiastically or graciously about this want, that you will manifest it in reality by completing the next two steps. Again all the new age stripped away, and you have simple goal setting, motivation, and action to work towards that want or desire.

STEP THREE:

“Feel and behave as if the object of one’s desire is already acquired.”

What? Pretend I have already got what I wanted? Seriously?… ok obviously she’s implying the idea that confidence is important in achieving your goal of acquiring it. Again, with no new age added on, this is common sense. If you have defined and refined (by setting a plan and doing your homework), then you should naturally be confident in that which you now know you need to go and achieve it. This however, doesn’t guarantee your success in reaching your goal. You could have defined your goal, then refined it by using bad research, which would then mean that no matter your level of confidence, you are destined to fail. Skip, the hard work of research and you’ve doomed your goal. Some get lucky enough once in a while to skip refining their goals, but rarely do people strike gold by sitting on their ass.

STEP FOUR:

“Be open to receiving it.”

This one is common sense. Don’t allow an opportunity to successfully achieve your goal pass you by. If you define, refine (actually do the research rather than just think about how awesome it would be), show confidence in your decision making, and keep aware of opportunities that will lead you to your goal, then you have the greatest chance of succeeding in your endeavor.

The problems with “The Secret” is that it uses pseudo science (because most people are horribly ignorant on the subject of Quantum Physics or Mechanics, which is ok) to try and take away the idea that you need to work hard to become successful. If positive thoughts were all it took to be successful in “manifesting” your wants and desires into reality, then we would all be millionaires. I know I would. Who wouldn’t think positively about wanting to be millionaires?

In fact, I would bet that there isn’t a single person in our US economy who hasn’t wanted to have more money, hasn’t focused on that want really deeply, who doesn’t have the confidence that they will one day be so, and would be unwilling to receive the gift if it ever came. This is an entire country of want-to-be millionaires and billionaires. Our entire television programming is used as an eye into the life of the wealthy. So why in the hell are 1% of us in control of the majority of our countries wealth? Well, Rhonda would say it’s because of them all knowing the secret! I have a separate theory.

It is simply that so few have so much because they use this tactic that every person in the US (and probably around the world) uses whether they’re conscious of it or not? Or is it more likely that we are sold the idea that we could all one day be as rich as the Walton family, by simply working hard and climbing the ladder? How many of us have hard working parents who have climbed their whole life and still have a boss that is 20 years younger than them and who makes 3 times their salary? Does their boss know the secret?! The simple fact is this. There are those that were (and still are) born with the spirit of entrepreneurship, which is the natural ability to follow these steps (minus the new age portions). We know of families, like the Walton’s who started with a one-man operation to destroy the idea of fixed pricing. It paid off.

How could this possibly be dangerous thinking then? Well, I mentioned two dangerous paths that this type of thinking can generate: inflated egos and victim blaming. The Secret talks about victims of sickness, poverty, and crime in a strange way that means to give credence to validity of the law of attraction. Have you ever caught a stomach virus? What if I told you that you caught that virus, not from coming in contact with it through no knowledge of your own, but rather you caught it because you weren’t positively trying to manifest good health through your thoughts? Would that raise your eyebrows? This type of thinking is carried over to the concept of poverty as well. You’re simply not wealthy because you haven’t manifested the thought in your mind. You haven’t followed the secret Rhonda has discovered (which by the way, she does take discover card). You are poor because you think poor. So for the entire non-executive staff of Enron who lost all of their savings due to the unknown illegal activities of their bosses… well it’s your fault. You made yourself a victim. You caused your loss of life savings. Same if you were raped. You manifested that into reality.

Inflated egos are rampant through those who adhere to these concepts. The confidence that is exuded from pretending you are already famous, rich, healthy, and successful reeks of an over inflated self esteem. Don’t get me wrong, you should be proud of your accomplishments and confident in that which you belief and have achieved, but if you act as if you are important to everyone’s daily life, and have done nothing to show how you are, its only going to come off as egotistical. I’m a fan of rewarding those around me with praise and trust, when they achieve something on their own with a sense of humility. Again, confidence for those following these steps, doesn’t mean they will be egotistical, but rather it is an excuse to be so, which in turn sheds away the humility that makes them personable. Don’t get me wrong, but to be successful in the movie industry you need to take it to this level from what it sounds like, but be aware that acting like this in any situation tends to drive people away. No one likes a “know it all” especially when they haven’t done the hard work. Most of the wealthiest people in this country have their parents or grandparents to thank for their mass amounts of wealth. These people just live off the rewards of their earlier generations hard work.

This brings me to a final point. What is success really? Would having millions really make you happy? Would having everyone fawn after you make you really important? Success is really measured by what you want out of life. The Secret sells many books because it appeals to the rags to riches sales pitch. Pay $15, now and we will give you some lazily, rehashed concepts that being positive is a good thing. And being positive can certainly help. There is a scene in the Wall Street sequel where one character asks the other about what their number is. He is referring to the amount of money one would want in order to walk away from the stock market trading business. Have you every thought, if I just had this I could finally be happy? It doesn’t have to be money. For many, success in measured in providing for a stable family and enjoying the moments of raising children. Personally, I have a number, but it’s not nearly as high as you would imagine, and that’s because I see every day in the news what money does to people. It makes teenage reality stars fake their own sex tapes, it makes actors carve their natural faces into oblivion, it removes the need to save, learn, educate, and appreciate the small things. Your success is relative to you.

Last February, I decided I wanted to own a Jeep Wrangler, so I defined it by deciding what type I would want, researched the costs vs. functionality to refine how much I could get out of it with how much I could afford. Then rather than sitting on my ass and pretending I already owned it, I went out and searched for one that I eventually found sitting alone on a Toyota lot and gave it a good look over. But it wasn’t so much that I was open to receiving it, but that I was confident I could own it, based on my research. And here I sit in 80 degree weather, with the top down, my fiancé at my side, and my lab in the back. All three enjoying success. Don’t think for a moment that would have ever happened by just sitting on my ass thinking about it. There’s the real secret. No matter how positive he is, a lazy farmer grows no crops.

Possible, Plausible, Probable, and Evident…

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 15:27:22 -0400

If there is one thing we can all be sure of in this world, it is that shit happens. Not only is shit happening, but also it has happened continuously in the past. In regards to the past we are left with the remnants (architecture, antiques, relics, fossils, etc.) of past things and events happening. Historians study the meaning behind these remnants, as do archeologists, geologist, botanists, biologists, and many other ‘-ists’. They devote their entire careers in the pursuit of understanding the past and it’s effects on the present. It’s through their works and findings that we being to piece together the human condition from centuries before up until current day. However there tends to be an issue with how this information is misrepresented, ignored, picked through, and changed in order to fit modern hypothesizes that are based more in the absence of evidence rather than the actual collected evidence, known to those professionals in their fields.

Conspiracy theories have been a part of our culture forever and will most likely continue to be so, but its quite shocking when these types of ideas are allowed to flourish on national television, without having to be held up to the standards that many professionals hold as vital to interpreting the past. The History Channel has taken this ignorance to the forefront with their popular show, “Ancient Aliens.” What this show attempts to do is claw some credibility into a theory that Alien beings traveled to this planet and shaped many of the ancient sites and artifacts that remain standing to this day. The problem is that they spend most of the time engaging the viewer by using the tactic of attacking gaps in the information rather than providing credible evidence to prove their claims. Worst of all they make sure not to sight sources and intentionally misguide the viewer by ignoring and not mentioning well-established information that would make them look foolish.

I could spend days ripping into this program but that is not my goal. The people over at www.ancientaliensdebunked.com have already done so, and I highly encourage you head there to learn how deceiving and inaccurate the show is. The point of this post is to show how basic logic should be able to deter most from mistaking this shows claims as accurate. Let’s go through some basic logical concepts.

Anything is Possible?

“If you claim to be a wise man, you truly do not know.” – Kansas

No one can claim to know everything and because humans only know what we have observed over time, and it would be absurd to claim that there is a limit to what can and could happen. However using the phrase, “anything is possible” isn’t really an argument that you would want to base your life upon. For something to be possible, it must be able to be done, within the capacity of someone or something. So could Aliens have built or interacted with the many of the ancient sites and populations we know existed? Well if anything is possible, then I suppose that’s one point for Ancient Aliens except that we have no evidence that Aliens even exist. Could they? Possibly, but I wouldn’t bet on it with no evidence to support it. This tactic may work in regards to ancient cultures if there were no evidence at all to examine, but that is never the case. This type of argument also wouldn’t hold up in a court of law either. Anything’s possible, simply allows anything to be true without having to show your work. This is where we get into the next term.

Is It Plausible?

Simply, in the argumentative use, this would ask whether the idea is reasonable or likely. Is the idea persuasive? Asking if something is plausible requires each person involved to reach a personal opinion on the likelihood that Aliens visited us centuries before. Maybe it even allows for a group consensus on the matter. If there is no physical evidence to show that Aliens have visited us, besides blurry videos, hoaxes (showing the need for some to deceive others), and personal (uncorroborated) experiences, then still we have to lean towards it being less plausible. One thing that is debatable and would help the Ancient Alien theorists would be that the number of galaxies, stars, and planets make it more likely that we aren’t the only planet with life on it. And, while I’d admit that its quite likely there is life out there, I would have to lower my expectations of these theories being true, because ultimately these other planets inhabitants would have to face the same troubles we do in regarding interstellar travel, radiation, the speed of light, etc.

So where anything is possible (requiring no evidence to substantiate a claim), plausibility could work to help hone in the debate, but where it falls short is that the evidence found at these ancient sites, in no way points to otherworldly. It’s not only shocking in how grandiose many of these sights are to see in person, but also extremely surprising at how explainable the engineering that was used to create them really was. Comical even.

Is It Probable?

Probable comes from the Latin, probabilis, from probare, meaning ‘to test, demonstrate’. Its origin is from the Middle Ages and expresses the concept of whether something is worthy of believing. So in this context of ancient travelers we would have to demonstrate the validity of the claims made. Again the one thing that helps their claim is the probability of life on other planets, but even that is debated. Outside of that we have no real evidence to substantiate the claim, and if anything is possible, then it could mean that simply because we see planets that should allow for life, that it doesn’t necessarily mean that life then exists on them. A habitable planet, doesn’t automatically determine that inhabitants roam it. That is why the percentages being debated are always expressed as the probability of life on other planets. Without a big enough telescope or traveling to them we could never really know.

Is It Evident?

What makes something evident? Anything that is plain, obvious and clearly understood. What does this mean in context to the idea those ancient aliens created, interfered, communicated, or taught ancient human cultures? Well it simply means that the evidence shows otherwise. There is nothing about the engineering, artwork, sculptures, writings, and ruins that shows the need for an alien technology. It will do no harm to watch the 3 hours that www.ancientaliensdebunked.com has put together to show exactly this. The problem with the ancient alien theories is that they assume you wont do your homework, and as busy as we are today, it’s a great tactic. We see them on TV and assume (by not doing our homework and the fact that they’re on the History Channel) that there is a true debate over this issue. There really isn’t. Professionals in their field could spend years showing you otherwise. Most of the people on these shows spewing misinformation have also spent their entire lives selling this idea, and it is a very popular one.

When you give the same credibility to a phrase such as “anything is possible” compared to the credibility that is earned by showing that something is evident, you fail to prove anything. An ancient alien theorist could try to convince you of these ideas, when their facts are wrong and their intentionally misleading you, but if their only real argument is that “anything is possible”, then could I not propose that distant races of unicorns came to Earth and built our ancient temples? My statement holds the same amount of evidence as does theirs, though I feel they would try to laugh me off as insane for even mentioning it.

The greater lesson remains when it comes to exploring our past: we should not try to equate something as evident without evidence. There is nothing wrong with exploring ideas and concepts, but at some point you have to show your work if you want to be taken seriously. Neil DeGrasse Tyson put it best when he described that every conspiracy theorists is publicly admitting that they have no evidence to support their claims. “Show us the evidence,” he goes on to say. With irrefutable evidence in your hand, there is no longer any debate. Failing to understand evidence is understandable because we can’t all possibly be experts at everything, but claiming an idea requires that you show it to be evident, otherwise you will be doing everyone a disservice. Ghosts, monsters, spirits, aliens, and other ideas like them are extremely interesting; yet remain to be shown as evident. There is a reason for this. At least, currently, until they start showing themselves to be evident, the probability is extremely low.

Full Circle...

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 08:31:20 -0400

Well it’s been a long time since I’ve had Verizon cellular service and originally we had left because my fiancé and I were looking to slim down expenses. At the time I was with Verizon my bill was in excess of about $170 a month with a shared family plan. I had been grandfathered in with the unlimited data plan (which we all know was actually capped at 5 Gb per month). Verizon has since moved away from the unlimited data and has instead opted for the tier-based data plans.

When we left, we incurred the ETF charges (a painful breach of contract charge), but at the time even then it was cheaper to take the hit and head to virgin mobile compared to the remaining months of $170 with Verizon. So we jumped ship. This meant that if Virgin Mobile failed, that we would be restricted and unable to return to Verizon for 90 days. Not really a threat in my opinion. So we set up the new Virgin Mobile phones and set out to no contract land. It was ok at first.

After about a month or two we started to see a huge drop in service and seemingly it was because VM relied on Sprint’s coverage basically to provide cell service to it’s customers. The worst part was that we lived on the edge of a major city that even for Sprint users, had no 4G or even a reliable 3G service. After our lab ate her phone and mine cracked in my pocket, we were left with the hefty cost of replacing two phones for VM. Their phones have since improved and they now offer more options for smart phone users, but at the time it was going to run me more to replace the phones than to switch back to a big carrier.

We went online and headed to Amazon Wireless, where we learned about their penny phone sales. Huge groups of top of the line smart phones were selling for a penny if you signed up for a two-year contract. Now we could have easily gone back to Verizon by this point but their plan pricing was still sky high. I also had always wanted to try the Samsung Galaxy S2, which was ideally on sale for a penny through Sprint. So we decided to switch after investigating those I knew who had Sprint around us. It costs us nothing but 2 cents to switch since VM was a no-contract carrier. Problem solved.

For a good while the service was ok. It wasn’t 4G by any stretch, but 3G was manageable. Certain areas would lack service but our home and work was doable. Plus, 4G was headed to our area “within the next year” according to Sprint, so by the time we were a year in, it would be perfect. However, that wouldn’t last.

With about 9 months left on our contract (and two Galaxy S2’s with shattered screens…these things are fragile sadly), the service and coverage simply dropped out. What was once manageable, was now warning me about constant roaming charges and coverage. I was able to test other phones, like my fathers HTC Evo 4G, which was a little better than the Galaxy S2 with regards to signal strength, but overall everything became un-usable. Being that our bill was now $165 per month, I called to explain my frustration. They gave me the standard, “there’s a tower near you with issues, technicians are on it and it should be fixed in 72 hours” response, but we had been having this issue for months. They credited my account $15 (woo hoo…sigh), and flashed my phone to get rid of the roaming warning every ten minutes.

Well, 72 hours has passed and in that time I did my homework and found that Verizon coverage here had improved by strides and that their plans had actually gotten cheaper than what I was previously paying with them. I check our data usage and found we could survive on the 2 Gb data tier and decided to check the penny sales on Amazon Wireless. Needless to say, Sprint’s coverage has not improved in that 72 hours and so two brand new Droid RAZR M 4GLTE phones are on their way to my home as we speak.

We are going to get hit with ETF charges from Sprint, but even with that knowledge, we are going to break ahead $80 with switching then if we stayed with Sprint. Also I recently found that we could get further discounted due to our jobs, so that pretty much settles it. We have come full circle and realized that for where we live the best coverage is with Verizon, and that until Sprint actually rolls out their 4G LTE, we have chosen the cheaper and weirdly best performing cell service for our location. I like to re-evaluate at the end of every contract to make sure we are getting our money’s worth, so maybe in two years Sprint will have caught up. But as for now, we are back where we started with better service and a cheaper bill.

I equated it to my fiancé last week, that there is a reason you pay for Xbox live online service, compared to paying nothing for PS3’s online service. One clearly works. The other simply doesn’t. You get what you pay for, except I’m still trying to figure out how Sprint can charge that much for service that is the equivalent to playing laggy Madden 2013 on the PS3. Crazy.

Who is Randy Pitchford?...

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 14:48:38 -0500

What kind of personality do you need to have in order to pitch and hype a game to a level of what would look to be unfathomable, when you stop into your office every single day and can plainly see that the true product is nothing like what you just finished telling the fans. Randy Pitchford sits as the CEO of Gearbox software which is known for such games as the Borderlands series, the bringing to life of the forever lost Duke Nukem Forever game, and their recent mess of a release, Aliens: Colonial Marines.

Lets get back to trying to define his personality. He seems like a really nice guy and down to Earth. He even seems like a guy you could invite over to a LAN and play round after round of Team Fortress, but we would be mistaken if we didn’t think that Randy was a businessman first and above all. He’s got the dream job and one that we would all kill for. He gets to run his own game studio, is able to bring ideas into an interactive realm, has enough clout (somehow) to grab major licenses that would make any fan drool, and yet has done absolutely nothing (with the exception of Borderlands) to really have it all make sense to regular gamers. Lets also not forget that Randy has his hand in porting Half-life expansions, worked for 3d Realms, and has touched even titles like Halo: Combat Evolved.

The guy has a resume. However, now that he is well enough known in the minds of gamers he seems to be heading in a dangerous direction that mimics the likes of Peter Molyneux (Fable series), where it seems to be more about the sales pitch of a game even if its all based on complete fabrication. Now I could write a book on the shortcomings of Peter and how even now he still seems to be taken seriously within the gaming industry, but that’s for another day. These two men are exactly the same, in that they can sell you the idea of paradise, accept the sale, and then leave you with something that feels like it belongs in a 99 cents bargain bin.

Lets begin with Randy’s control over finally releasing Duke Nukem Forever. To be fair to him, this game was stagnant for about 13 years until it was finally taken over and finished by his studio. He had spoken many times about how they were essentially just going to finish and polish, but that it would stand unchanged from the original 3D Realms vision. To be honest, no one expected it to be a completely revamped, updated, solid game, but what Randy sold to us, was essentially what was delivered: a broken, dated, artistically lazy, horribly designed, lag-filled, buggy piece of shit. Though he left out that last part.

Were his intentions good? I’d imagine so. You would think that a studio head wouldn’t take on a project like that without thinking that they could at the very least make it good enough to make a return on their original investment. Video games are still all about money in the end, which is why I think he probably thought he could do something great with it. But in the end the experience of Duke Nukem Forever seemed from Randy’s constant hype to be more about capturing the essence of Duke Nukem rather than worrying about the physical mechanics and coding within the game. It did feel like a Duke Nukem game and was accurate to the original source content, but being that I played Duke 3D thirteen years ago, it felt petty and childish. What I thought was edgy and violent in the 90’s didn’t translate well to my late twenties. Sadly the technology running the game also stayed about as close to the original content as well with the addition of pixel shading and 3D models. This showed me that Randy cared so much for the content and getting the feel right that he forgot that he was releasing a game to a FPS public that has gotten used to standards that should never be absent from any modern FPS. Given the long development and the shady history of getting the game out, I allowed myself to enjoy it for what it was. Did it suck? Yes. Did I hold it against Randy? No. That was until he did it again in 2013.

I’m not going to spend time explaining to you how big of an Aliens fan I am. I play video games and read books on the Universe. That’s proof enough. Aliens: Colonial Marines was introduced and spent seven years in development through a dual effort of Gearbox and Sega. The original sales pitch seemed more along the lines of a squad based sci fi FPS that required teamwork, skill and good use of pulse rifles, smart guns, and trackers to keep your squad alive. That had me at day one. I still remember the Gameinformer that detailed the first shots of in-game screens. Sadly had the game been released when first announced, it would have probably been the greatest game of that year being that seven years ago the FPS standards were still more in line with what was eventually released this year. It goes for Duke Nukem Forever as well, if were pointing out that simple fact.

Randy and Gearbox spent a lot of time and effort on producing a playable demo that we all can admit we watched and got excited for. It was still the squad-based game I had been led to believe from my Gameinformer. The demo gave us a peek at the dark atmosphere, the coop game play and smart Alien Ai. This was the type of game where I would consider it an honor to be outsmarted constantly by the waves of Xenomorphs. Knowing that the levels might possibly be built with thousands of options for the Xenos to attack my friends and I made us all prepare for which console to pick it up on. Eventually I settled with PC as my choice seeing how the PC would only look better than the console versions and how based on that demo, I was definitely making the best choice.

Well about 3 hours before it was to be released, I had already watched Aliens again to prepare, watched Randy’s demo and pre-purchased the game on Steam. That was the beginning of the end of my tolerance for Gearbox. Not more than a hour later, with still two hours until it unlocked, the reviews started breaking. About two articles later I realized that I had once again been duped by Randy and his sales pitch. Words like “buggy”, “lazy”, “outdated”, and “broken” popped up over and over and sent me on a search to see if I could maybe claim to Steam that I ordered it by mistake. Alas, it was too late. Even better, when Midnight did approach, the game didn’t unlock. I had to actually wait until 3am Eastern time if I wanted to play that morning. I decided to hit the sack and wait until after work the following day.

With the cat out of the bag, it was clear that I was going to have to make the best of a shitty situation and just accept that I was tricked again into buying one of his games. I got home, loaded it for the first time and it crashed my PC. I then restarted and the game loaded up. It was about a minute into the intro cut scene that I realized that this game was going to last me all about 20 minutes before I shut it off and never finished it. One line of dialogue….

“We’re not in Kansas anymore.” This line needs to fucking die out.

Fuck it. I’m no longer attached to this game emotionally anymore. After I figured out that the v-sync was glitching the cut scenes and the game finally ran normal, there was the overbearing issue of shitty “marine” dialogue and interactions, shitty AI (both Xeno and helper Marines), linear level design, the useless tracker weapon, dull plot, and lifeless cameos that registered nothing on my excitement scale.

Let me make this very clear…. Aliens: Colonial Marines was never intended to please the millions of sci fi fans that grew up on the films. If that were the case, then I would care about seeing Bishops ripped bottom half, or seeing Hicks in the intro cut scene, or at the very least I WOULD BE AFRAID OF THE XENOMORPHS. The idea that the Weyland-Yutani private security force would be interested in protecting their investments in weaponizing the Xenos was a great concept, but not one that should extinguish the power and fear that any man face to face with a Xeno would experience. I don’t purchase an Alien game with the intent to kill humans the entire time. Boss fights were lazy, Xenos are stupid and glitch everywhere, my NPS squad never fired more than one clip of ammo at each encounter, and ultimately it just didn’t bother me that I put the controller down and walked away. My only saving grace is that maybe modders will come along and make it into something worth playing. I would gladly pay them for it.

(mmmmm hi-res textures?!!)

So what does this say about Randy and his studio? Well it shows me that this is a man who can talk a huge game and who has no issues bending the truth to his audience for financial gain. His goals were so focused on the source material that he forgot to bring innovation and modern game play to the table. PC modders are currently reviewing his INI files and have determined that the game isn’t even compatible with the majority of semi-modern graphics cards. Direct X 9 is not acceptable for a game released in 2013 with a seven-year development history. DX10 would be understandable, but not 9.

Why is it that so many studios have trouble taking an amazing license and bringing it to life interactively in a way that satisfies the core fan base? I’m not ever going to admit that making a game is anything easy, but wouldn’t you at least look at your competitors and see that they all follow a set of minimum standards that are considered “musts” in this day in age. Keep the source material accurate (which Gearbox did) and engaging (certainly Gearbox needed better writers) and then at least meet the industry standards. That right there would be a AAA title. Then all the fans could really do is peg you as doing enough, but not innovating the genre, and that’s totally fine. Not every studio is going to reinvent the genre. This is Randy’s mistake every single fucking time.

He gets the source material correct and disregards the mechanics of interactive design, playability, and innovation that can bring new life to an older franchise, all the while being fun to play. This is why we have no good modern Duke Nukem or Alien experience. He even expressed his dislike for studios who milk the public using popular licenses to sell the game alone, yet this is what he has done for one of the most loved FPS shooters of all time, and one of the best sci fi films of all time. Gearbox has lost me as a customer, and it’s simply because you can’t trust what Randy sells you.

The question is not so much how can someone wake up day in and day out lying to a core fan base knowing full well that his product is sub par, but rather how does Randy get up on stage for his next game and expect anyone to listen? Gamers are a loyal bunch and we reward studio with loyalty when they bother to respect us in their sales pitch. ACM should have been scrapped one year into development, because at least a game that never comes out is a game that can’t disappoint you. Randy, you may never read this and trust me I don’t hate you for what you are trying to accomplish, but its clear that you lack the ability to step back from a project and evaluate your own product from the view of us gamers who you claim to be so in tune with. Give me a call on your next project… and we will talk perspective, because focusing entirely on source material accuracy over playability is a fool’s errand. That goes for you too, Peter.

Confirmation Bias...

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 11:54:00 -0500

Confirmation Bias allows for the continuation of fringe ideas that lack any real evidence when operated from within a controlled experiment. We all do it; we have some random event take place that seems too good to be true and thus we begin to form opinions based on that event, while at the same time refusing to acknowledge the multiple times that the event did not transpire positively.

Lets tackle a good example such as the following to better understand the concept. Lets say that you have a hypothesis that details an idea that there are doctors all over the globe that can “remove” the bad tissue (usually chicken guts with fake blood) from your body that is causing you great pain. This kind of procedure would fall under what is labeled as “alternative medicine”, because it is often untested in a controlled experiment, and uses unscientific methods and knowledge. This lack of testing and provable methods would generally be enough to stave the majority of the public who use common sense, but alas it continues to be sought out by many.

Anyways, back to the hypothesis. Lets say you have a disease that you want cured, but that your many traditional medical specialists have deemed you incurable. Naturally you are already in the mindset that you have a disease that “can’t” be cured and the only way to psychologically react is to either accept this fate or oppositely refuse to belief that there is no answer. If you fall into the later mindset then you have already begun the process of engaging the concept of confirmation bias, if you continue to seek other answers. Let’s also make one thing clear before continuing. If you have a disease, especially one that is life threatening, I fully understand and agree that you should fight as hard as possible against it until you are unable to. If anything the mindset of fighting the disease can be extremely helpful in your mental ability to also handle the weight of what could happen if you fail. There is no shame in wanting to fight to the last minute. I encourage it completely.

However, what tends to happen in these situations (and I’m always reminded of the image of Andy Kauffman laying on the table with the alternative “doctor” who is “removing” his cancer) is that many resort to efforts that have been proven time and time again to be fraudulent and misleading in their sales pitch. We’ve all seen videos or images of these “doctors” who can “remove” actual diseased organs all while making no mark on their patient’s abdomen. There are even multiple videos and explanations that show how this fraudulent technique is performed (much like a magic trick). Yet people still flock to the idea.

The evidence tends to be overwhelmingly negative when it comes to trying to show the magic operation’s success rate. For example, Andy Kauffman rushed down to the Philippines in 1984 upon receiving the news from medical professionals in the United States that he would not survive his illness. Andy had been diagnosed with lung cancer in 1983 and in March 1984 he travelled to a psychic surgery specialist to remove the cancer. Two months later he would pass away as predicted by the professionals who had diagnosed him originally. Kidney failure from the large cell carcinoma ended his life even after the psychic surgery. This surgery was his last effort at fighting the disease, but as we have all seen, the surgery itself could in no way change his outcome if at the very least, because the psychic surgery never even penetrates his body (though at his stage it would not matter).

There are many stories about famous and regular folks heading to these types of magic shows, knowing they are deemed beyond healing, and most if not all never gain successful results from it. However, that doesn’t mean that someone couldn’t go and then have his/her disease go into remission and thus feel that the psychic surgery was the reason behind it. I’m sure it has happened at least one or twice if not many other times. This is where the idea behind confirmation bias rears its head.

Human beings have a mental makeup that is more favorable to accepting data that only describes their original hypothesis. In most cases we are also wired to ignore data that doesn’t support our ideas. It is easier to accept an anomaly as truth when it’s the type of answer we want to hear. We could have a friend who decides they want to be healed by a psychic healer. As the friend goes on and on about how they are going to be healed, we could go over mountains of evidence to prove that the psychic healing won’t work, and then after the healing if their disease goes into remission, we would automatically think that maybe its completely possible that the healing did cure our friend. Our minds are wired as such that the following example has probably happened to each of us in some basic form and because of a friend’s success we drop all the evidence that weighs heavily and solidly against our friends success and ignore actual evidence entirely.

But there is a problem here and this is why it is so hard to convince anyone that random coincidence does happen in life. Our friend is sick and we would do anything to make them better, and so our mind is already open to any fix that could get life back to normal; damn the evidence. After the healing our friend got better so we start to give weight that something in the healing worked, completely ignoring the idea of remission. Many people have gone into remission for reasons that seem impossible and never been to a psychic healer yet we see one local success as a free pass to credibility for the healer.

This is confirmation bias. It is the inability to weigh the negative evidence in light of one or a few seemingly positive successes. We like data that supports us and we ignore data that works against our preconceived ideas of how things work. You see it everywhere in books, on TV, the Internet, etc. Mostly they are harmless if it gives someone the feeling of hope in a quite dire situation, but ultimately it could lead into a dangerous habit where one spends all of their money to skip from one quick fix to another all with equal evidence that they do not work. Money that could be better put aside and saved. It’s no secret that people buy stupid shit. I buy video games that I’m sure a non-gamer would see as a stupid waste of money, but I’m under no assumption that buying the video game guarantees me satisfaction. I’ve been burned many times on game purchases that promise one thing and present another (cough… recently everything from Gearbox).

Giving hope is not a bad thing, but charging others for it certainly is. Its hard to determine who is at fault in these dealings when you consider the amount of evidence that shows many of these alternative medicines to be either harmful or ineffective. Can you blame someone looking to make a buck when the person they sell to fall into the trap of confirmation bias so easily? Is it genius on their part? Their wallet probably thinks so. People like John Edwards, Coral Polge, and many others have made millions on ideas that cannot and have not stood up to the confines of a controlled experiment, yet millions still get sent to them every year. James Randi has spent his entire life fighting what he calls simple charlatans and frauds. For most of his career he offered a million dollars to anyone who could prove their power and surprisingly Coral Polge failed. John Edwards never showed up though his techniques were shown to be fraudulent by many others who attempted the same feat. James even ran a show for a good while bringing on psychic guests who were put up against controlled experiments and who could never produce accurate proof of their powers. He reached out to all of the big names in that field and no one ever called back.

There is a reason they never call back to prove their abilities. If they aren’t in control of the environment around a subject then the powers fail to materialize. James killed many careers of those foolish enough to show up on his shows and display their inadequate powers. There was also always an excuse as to why their powers never showed up in a way to subvert their own embarrassment. The reason its important to share the concept of confirmation bias is that it shows how completely flawed we are even when we think otherwise. We are humans all experiencing the world around us and it’s a nice feeling to think we have all the answers and its even better when we have one or two pieces of supposed proof to back it up, but sadly it doesn’t change anything. One or two successes doesn’t negate the hundreds of failures when the same event happens over and over.

Part of being human is accepting that we don’t know all of the answers and yet so many scream from the mountain tops that they have the secret knowledge of how to make it through life with no hiccups. Sadly for any listeners at the bottom of the mountain, there’s always a cover charge. I know the secret…so pay up and I’ll share. Personally if I had the secret to living life with no hiccups, it would be a crime to charge for it. Every self-help book charges a cover price for their secrets to a happy life and sadly none ever say anything different.

Is life mysterious? Hell yes.

Is it hard? Sure is.

Is anything guaranteed? Nope.

So save your money and feel good in knowing that the sucker selling you success from atop the mountain is in the same shape as you. Only he/she is rich cause enough people bought it. Anytime I see a commercial on late night TV about how if you just buy this series of books your life will come together perfectly and you will have great success…. I just imagine ordering it and a box shows up at my door filled with books and a single piece of paper that reads….

“To achieve success in life, simply sell these books to someone else and tell them it will solve their problems in life.”

Do your self a favor and let the suckers buy the gimmicks, secrets, and keys to success and find success on your own, in your own life. There is no magic button. That’s the real secret to success for your time on Earth. Set realistic goals that don’t rely on someone’s special technique and be happy trying your best to complete them. You’ve only got a good 70 years or so, so why not start now?

Alan Grant Wouldn't Approve....

Thu, 10 Jan 2013 11:00:50 -0500

“Paleontologists have a huge incentive to twist the truth, just a little. If they can find a bone with a lump on it, theorize that it was a limb or a feather, give it an impressive name, say it is 73 million years old, and suddenly he has his picture on the cover of National Geographic magazine, has a book deal and lectures for life.”

-Ray Comfort.

Let me just start by making everyone aware that Ray Comfort has no formal training or theological degree. Yes, even in his own “career” he has had no formal training in theology. So it’s no surprise that he is again blissfully ignorant of an actual field of scientific study. If being a paleontologist were an incentive based career, then it would be no issue naming a few top paleontologists. Let me see….

Hmmmm. Well… There’s Alan Grant. No, wait! He’s a made up character in the novel, Jurassic Park. Seriously though without using Google search, name these top paleontologists and their major works that have garnered them all the press they so desperately seek. Chances are, unless you are working in the field, you probably didn’t name one.

Now I can name some prominent scientists such as Richard Dawkins, Michio Kaku, Brian Greene, and Neil Degrasse Tyson, all of whom have many book deals, lectures and have probably been featured in National Geographic. But Neil is an astrophysicist, Brian is a theoretical physicist and string theorist, Michio is a theoretical physicist, and Richard is an ethologist (one who objectively studies animal behavior) and evolutionary biologist.

Compared to Ray’s total lack of formal training and education not only in the topics which he heavily propagates, but especially in those which he opposes…

Dawkins attended Oxford. Tyson attended Harvard and Columbia Univ. Kaku graduated summa cum laude at Harvard and received a PhD at Univ. of California, Berkley. Greene obtained his bachelors at Harvard and his doctorate at Oxford. At the very least, these professionals have taken their interest to understand the world around them to the highest levels of self-motivation. (Note: if you believe that these schools are only in existence to brainwash people’s minds because the ideas that are learned don’t match up to your understanding of the world, then stop reading this post now. I cannot help you.)

The other difference between these professionals and Ray is that they are expressing ideas and facts related to observable nature and do so, not in the interest of proving a religion wrong, but in the sense of trying to better understand our natural world, though Dawkins has his opinion. Even so, Dawkins’ opinion doesn’t discredit his knowledge of evolutionary biology. Paleontology is the scientific study of prehistoric life. Sadly for Ray, many of these findings, for him, contradict his worldview and so his only avenue is to attack the profession. However, the fact is that even if a Paleontologist were to grace the cover with one of the biggest finds in history of a 73 million year old bone, it still wouldn’t make the evidence any less true, and even in these cases, scientists follow the road of doubt before total adherence. Not without peer review can any scientist shine in a spotlight.

Now if you are going to sit atop a mountain and shout to the world that these scientific professions are misguided and completely false, then you had better be able to explain why they are. That’s always been Ray’s problem. He doesn’t understand mathematics, theoretical physics, paleontology, evolutionary biology, astrophysics, and I’d be willing to bet even the basic scientific foundations. Even I lack the level of understanding that Neil, Richard, Michio, and Brian do in their fields, but my lack of understanding is my problem and certainly doesn’t disprove their fields. Their books, lectures and public events help to bring their level of knowledge to a relatable level. Neil is probably the best at being able to relate his field to us less educated.

Ray distrusts their efforts to uncover truth because it doesn’t match his worldview, but no matter how loud he yells, the burden of proof still lies on his shoulders. If Ray can prove their methods and information to be inaccurate, they will be the first ones to compliment him on his rigorous efforts. For now, Ray is just yapping and I have to imagine that’s all he will ever do, because when one’s argument doesn’t hold up it’s then time to attack the opponent’s credentials in hopes that you can discredit them fully. Though I’d have to argue that in Ray’s case, he doesn’t really have any. Luckily I work in the field of design, so I don’t have to worry about this idiot screaming about Adobe CS, though I bet he’d be a Quark user.

Nexus 7 Still Surprises...

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 10:22:00 -0500

I still cling to my Nexus 7 for just about all in home and on the go distractions. I originally ordered one when Google had its I/O conference and aside from the fact that I had one issue regarding a looping reboot (which was fixed by a simple factory reset), it is still the greatest tablet on the market if you are leaning away from Apple. Not only is it still the best feeling tablets, but it is still surprising me constantly.

Lets start by making it known that I know someone who ordered one around the time I did and had screen issues, in which Google simply replaced it with a brand new Nexus. Also after high recommendation I also know someone who opened theirs on Christmas and the tablet wouldn’t recognize touch, which again was easily replaced at a retail store with a working model. I myself had the reboot loop issue, and Google decided to send me a brand new replacement, which works fine.

The customer service through Google struggled with the unexpected demand at launch but has since become as good as Apple’s. They were friendly and did everything to get me back on my Nexus as soon as possible. New technology will always have hiccups and considering this was Google’s first shot into unknown territory, it has gone very smooth in my opinion. A company that is willing to recognize launch issues will earn my trust very quickly.

But let’s get into what makes this tablet my favorite tablet on the market. I want express that I grew up as an Apple guy and in my time I have owned four Mac laptops, endless iPods, work on an iMac, and have messed with many iPhones and iPads. I think it’s my history with Apple that makes me appreciate what the new Jelly Bean Android OS is trying to accomplish and in my opinion it does so almost flawlessly.

Android has had a rough upbringing in the fact that because it is offered in so many forms on so many devices that there is bound to have compatibility issues. So what apps may run on my Nexus may not run on your Gingerbread phone. They have spent a great deal of effort in closing that gap and Jelly Bean really does change the Android experience. Everything in Jelly Bean is designed to work as well as iOS (and it does) except that it offers something else as well; customization.

The Nexus 7 tablet is fast because of Jelly Bean and Project Butter and it is instantly noticeable. There is no lag in touch and the NVIDIA Tegra 3 chipset makes sure that it is seamless in speed and presentation. The widgets allow for a good bit of customization and are resizable to your needs allowing you to stand out amongst your other Nexus 7 users, which is something that Apple doesn’t really specialize in. That’s not a knock on Apple whatsoever, because their iOS works flawlessly, but if you’re big on customization of your menu screens, Jelly Bean surpasses iOS by miles.

The Nexus 7 is still surprising me at every turn as I spend more time with it. For instance, a friend and I spent a few minutes messing with the NFC (Near Field Communication) feature and were quickly passing Mark Gormley videos on YouTube back an forth. Simply have something on screen such as a website, video, picture or any other app data and then place your Nexus back to back with another compatible device. One touch sends that data to the other users device. Works flawlessly and makes you feel like you’re on Star Trek.

Another aspect that has me extremely excited is remote connections. This is not really something that is built into the Nexus but rather accessible through apps that can allow you to connect to your PC and run even heavy graphical games over a good Internet connection. This concept isn’t new and companies like OnLive have tried their hand in the streaming-game market to see if it would take hold. I’ve never tried OnLive so I can’t say how well it works, but even companies like NVIDIA are now exploring how this could all work.

Back to the Nexus. So what I was exploring involved downloading a client program onto your PC called Splashtop 2. Once installed and an account is created, you then grab the Splashtop 2 app off the Play store and install it to your Nexus. A few simple instructions and you then have the ability to plop your PC screen right onto your Nexus and start working, or in my case, gaming. I will preface that in order to really have success with this setup, you really do want to have your PC directly connected to your router for the best Internet connection speeds. You’re going to want high-speed cable for sure. The effect is astounding once you load it up. I can now browse files, work, watch videos, and play PC games on my Nexus 7 and because it’s a remote connection, the PC is still doing all the heavy lifting.

Now this is all fine and dandy when your sitting in front of the PC with your Nexus on the same network, but what about when you go to a buddy’s house and want to connect? We’ll that’s an offered feature as well. It costs about $16 a year to be able to connect over the Internet from any network. What this means is that when I want to play a game like Civilization V at a friend’s house, I don’t have to lug my PC over there. I simply run the client on the PC (set it to not fall asleep!) and then grab the Nexus and go. Civilization being a turn-based game makes any lag almost unnoticeable. Trying to play Battlefield 3 with be a little more difficult with the little lag you may receive depending on your Internet’s connection speeds.

Even more interesting is that Splashtop offers an app called Gamepad THD. This app performs the same idea as their regular app except that it offers pre-set virtual game pads that pop up on your screen to better control your game. Even better it allows you to custom map buttons to your screen anyway you like to better utilize the controls in your game. I personally still find virtual on-screen controls to be a little hard to use, but there is an answer to that as well.

Last night I was able to connect my GameStop Tablet Bluetooth Controller to my Nexus and then use the control settings in most of my games to map controls to my physical controller. After a few moments in the game options menu, I was controlling Superman in my Lego Batman 2 PC game remotely over my Network. Even better, if you’re a fan of the PS3 six-axis controller or the Xbox 360 controller, a simple USB OTG adapter will have you set up using your favorite controller.

Overall, the more controls your game demands the harder it will be to map to a regular gaming controller, but the fact that you can make it work with most games is amazing. Now I know you can do this with a few other tablets as well, but the NVIDIA Tegra 3 chip really makes this shine on the Nexus 7. Is it perfect with no lag? No, but it’s def usable for many of the games I own like: Rayman Origins, Braid, Skyrim, FarCry 3, Battlefield 3, Lego Batman 2, and so on.

I’m sure there is even more that this Nexus can do that I currently have no idea about, so considering the $200 price tag, the inclusion of Jelly Bean right out of the box, the growing Play store, the NVIDIA chipset, and the overall physical quality of the tablet… you really can’t beat this thing. There will always be iPad lovers, but the Nexus 7 has finally delivered for all of us Android users out there. To miss this tablet would be a mistake.

The Theory of Relativity...

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 15:15:15 -0500

The Theory of Relativity is quite possibly the greatest modern scientific discovery of all time and yet I would venture to guess that most of us have no concept of it or at the very least fail to see how everyday life is absorbed in the major concepts of the theory. We all know it:

E=mc2

But what does that equation really say? It’s simply saying that the mass of a body is a measure of its energy constant, where ‘E’ stands for Energy, ‘m’ stands for Mass, and ‘c2’ represents the speed of light squared. This equation is often in physics referred to as the mass-energy equivalence concept. We wont get into the math behind it, and lets face it, most of us can’t (myself included).

Einstein’s Theory of Relativity consists of two separate theories called special and general relativity. Special relativity is an expansion on Galilean relativity, which expresses how matter moves through time and space. General relativity is an expansion to his own special relativity theory, which essentially adds gravity into the mix.

So many people ask, ‘How is this a factor in my everyday life?’ We’ll let’s take a look at some things that you deal with constantly (and some I hope we never have to deal with) that are directly related to these theories.

Time Dilation:

So time travel is pretty sweet and one day maybe we can travel forward, far in time, and experience the future. Impossible? Well, the thing is… we already have at a smaller scale. You’re doing it right now in relation to anyone that is at a lower elevation than you on Earth, though it’s a small enough measure that you and I would never be able to tell without extremely sensitive equipment. Basically what time dilation describes is that the stronger the force of gravity the slower time moves for you in relation to someone who is experiencing weaker gravity. That being said, time for you wont seem to be moving slower relative to you, just as time for the other person experiencing weaker gravity wont seem to move any faster. Now only is this mathematically proven, but we have recorded the effect in real life and it is essential to one piece of equipment we all use daily now.

GPS is a staple technology found in almost all phones and every car. We use it to help us get to places we are unfamiliar with, however if GPS satellites didn’t account for time dilation, we would never get where we needed to go. Imagine the Earth with a GPS satellite coasting in motion far in orbit around Earth. The pull of Earth’s gravity (which is quite weak in relation to other objects in space) is weaker for the satellite where as your car on Earth is closer to the Earth’s mass and thus the pull of gravity is stronger. GPS works by essentially firing a radio wave from your phone to a set of satellites that triangulate your position. Easy enough, I suppose.

This is where it gets interesting and where atomic clocks located on the satellites must be exact. Your phone sends requested signals to satellites located above you in orbit, and because they are constantly moving some may be further away from you than others. If a satellite were to be directly above you then the distance the radio waves need to travel is shorter than a satellite that is located north east of you. These radio waves travel at the speed of light (which is about 670,616,629 mph. Not bad.) However, even at this speed, the satellite directly above you has less distance to travel than the one north east of you. Once the distances of at least four of the twenty-four GPS satellites in orbit are estimated by your phone in can then pinpoint your location in three dimensions.

Now time dilation has to be accounted for because the satellites are experiencing time faster than you due to your stronger gravity, so atomic clocks are programmed to account for this small difference and therefore your location will be accurate to around 10 meters or so based on your ability to broadcast and receive signals. This is why GPS tends to have a harder time in wooded areas. If your phone cannot get an accurate idea of how far the satellite is away from you because the atomic clock on board doesn’t account for time dilation (or because your signal is being obstructed), your phone would be completely inaccurate in its guess of your position on a map. Our ability to account for time dilation is precisely why your GPS gets you (most of the time) where you need to go.

Looking Back in Time:

The speed of light is constant. The reason this is so has to do with the fact that mathematically the more mass an object has the more energy it needs to reach faster and faster speeds (remember the mass-energy equivalence?). So an object with mass would need an infinite amount of energy to reach the speed of light. That being said, the smallest mass-less light, energy, or information particles are also limited to this speed. Because light is limited to this speed as well, we know a few things.

Walk outside and look quickly at the sun (don’t stare!). The image burned onto your eyes is what the sun looked like 8 minutes ago. This is because the light that is traveling from the Sun to the Earth is traveling at the speed of light, which even at that great speed takes about eight minutes to reach us. Now do the same thing later in the evening with the moon (feel free to stare all you want). The image you are seeing in the sky is about 1.26 seconds behind. It only takes 1.26 seconds for light to travel the distance between the Earth and Moon. So imagine that the sun exploded. Even after it happened, it wouldn’t be until 8 minutes later that we saw the effects in our sky. The moon would be much quicker but still delayed that 1.26 seconds.

The speed of light expressed in Einstein’s theory allows us to measure great distances in space and so a general rule of thumb is that the further you look into space the older the image you see in the sky really is. So another example is the Helix Nebula (commonly referred to as the “eye of God”), whose image in our skies is about 700 years old. This again means that it takes light 700 Earth years to cover the distance from the nebula to Earth. To see it from Earth is to look back in time 700 years. The furthest galaxies (in our observable Universe) that we can see with our current technology show that they are a distance of about 13.3 billion light years, meaning that the earliest light first generated by that galaxy has been traveling almost the entire life span of the Universe as we know it to be at an age of about 13.7 billion years old. We are literally traveling back in time just by looking in the sky, because not even light photons can travel faster than the speed of light.

Black Holes:

Given that light travels at a maximum speed of about 670,616,629 mph, there is a greater beast that even light cannot escape. One of the interesting things about Einstein’s theory was that the math involved ended up predicting an anomaly that was quite perplexing in what it said and meant. Even Einstein thought that despite the prediction his math made, that it more than likely would not actually exist in the cosmos. The math simply predicted that extremely compact mass would deform space-time to form what they labeled as a black hole.

The best way to imagine a black hole is to pretend that you’re floating in a rowboat in an endless body of water. We’ve all seen waterfalls and we all know that the human body has limitations, because we can only row so fast. This limitation would be the speed of light in relation to a black hole. So we paddle towards what looks like a giant whirlpool waterfall where all the water is rushing towards and falling down into. We can paddle fairly well as long as we stay far away from the event horizon. This is the point at which the force of gravity is pulling stronger than the speed at which we can row. Since nothing can travel beyond the speed of light, we cannot simply row our way out of our impending doom. Gravity is stronger and will continue to become even stronger as we fall further and further in.

What this shows is that since light has a maximum speed, even light itself cannot escape the stronger pull of gravity beyond the event horizon. Any light that crosses the event horizon of a black hole cannot escape, hence the name, black hole. The pull of gravity is so strong in fact that it distorts light around the black hole, giving the outside viewer a kind of “lensing” effect around the black hole. Light bends and distorts around the black hole. Till this day we have not physically seen a black hole in the way in which we imagine them, though we are close. Lensing is one way to know a black hole is possibly near by (possibly, because other things in space also cause this), but we have, however, seen objects that are orbiting around a black hole and how they interact and thus can identify them as well.

Our own Milky Way was discovered to contain a super-massive black hole at its center by observing star orbits over a period of 15 years. It was observed that a cluster of stars were traveling in elliptical orbits around an unidentified object at speeds that would require the sort of gravity known only to a black hole. It is now believed that black holes are a prominent feature of most, if not all, galaxies.

Many consider the Theory of Relativity one of the greatest human discoveries, and because it has been rigorously tested and proven to be accurate time and time again in both mathematical and observable experimentation, it has withstood the test of time. It not only explains our Universe and makes sense of our surroundings, but also helps to push us further in understanding even more of the unknown. It makes our everyday lives easier and explains with other collected evidence how much of our Universe operates. Scientists are still looking for the link (via string theory) as to how the theory of relativity connects back to the microscopic actions of gravity, or how to explain the physics of the very small and the very big. Maybe one day Ill try and tackle some of the more easy to understand concepts of string theory or even m-theory, but they are a whole new can of worms that require patience. One day…

Why PC Gamers Use Steam...

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 15:05:17 -0500

Let me place you in a scenario that I encountered a few days ago regarding my purchase of FarCry 3, which is an amazing game (by the way). As a PC user, I have a few options as to how I get my games and I will tell you that I generally only use one source, Steam. There are many out there (Origin, Uplay, Amazon, Windows Live, etc. etc.) and while Amazon is a great option because it often beats Steam pricing and allows you to activate almost any digital download to Steam, many of the others are just failed versions of Steam all geared more towards thwarting piracy over actually serving the customer base.

So here’s the situation. I want FarCry 3. I have little cash on me yet I was gifted a $25 Gamestop gift card (a solid choice for any gift givers out there). Now I really hadn’t bothered checking Gamestop’s website because being that I go through Steam and don’t play much console, they are of little use to me. BUT… I checked their site and noticed they now allow for PC digital downloads and so this saved me having to head over and swap their gift card for a steam card (if that’s even possible). Every gamer knows that feeling when they are sitting at home and realize they can have their game downloaded on their PC tonight for play. It’s a great feeling. So I add FarCry 3 to my cart, use the gift card and pay off the small amount left with my card. DONE!

Well, this is where my ignorance came back to slap me in the face, because I was prompted to download the Gamestop game manager, which I equated to being a type of download assistant program. No big deal. However it wasn’t that simple. This is their version of Steam that is kind of a hybrid download manager, game launcher, and store. Annoying as it was, I clicked through and got the thing downloading. Within an hour the game was ready to extract. It started immediately, except that there was no status bar to express how long this would take. So the first thought is that at some point my brain is going to assume there may be a hiccup and the download manager is frozen. However, if I close it and I’m wrong, then I have to start all over. A common dilemma with shitty download managers. So I wait.

What felt like almost 30 minutes passed until it finally told me that it was done extracting, so I jump up and get ready to start the install. Well that’s no problem. It starts and runs the install outside of the download manager as if you were installing from a DVD. Whatever, nothing I haven’t done before. And this is when it gets interesting.

Now keep in mind I have bought it from Gamestop, was required to create an account and download their store software, but we aren’t done yet. I get a pop-up as it finishes installing that asks me for my Uplay account info. “What the fuck is Uplay?” I whisper out loud to no one. I certainly don’t have an account, so I guess I have to create an account. So I’m sent to their site, and spend 10 minutes setting up a stupid account. Then I had to download the Uplay software to log in to then play the game… of course. I have now created a Gamestop and Uplay account as well as downloaded two separate store/download managers. We’re not done yet. Uplay login was easy, but FarCry required 3 patch updates, which have to be downloaded through Uplay…. Or will need to be obtained from FarCry’s website….it wasn’t really sure even though it automatically downloaded through Uplay. After being unsure which patch it was applying it would show the button labeled, “PLAY” next to the game in my Uplay library, and then every click on that button would restart another patching download and install.

Again, after three of these it was finally time to load up the game and play, which I did and it is a solid game with amazing visuals and stunning options. Worth every penny, but next time I have money it might be better to head to Gamestop and swap out for the steam card, though I hear that even when purchased on Steam you need to download Uplay and create an account.

Now I understand that publishers are concerned with competing with Steam by wanting to create and funnel you to their store and game manager, but I’m not quite sure how much they realize that its hurting their image amongst PC gamers overall. No one cares about your shitty, knock off of Steam, and the fact that you require us to sign up to another game library is insulting to our choice to buy where we want. I’d rather FarCry 3 be available through steam with no Uplay interaction, but seeing that piracy is so scary to Ubisoft and other publishers, don’t expect it to go away.

We’ve purchased your game legally. You have our money. We don’t need to keep track of three game managers, usernames or passwords. PC gamers are Steam users. That’s that. We like the platform, we like the sales and we like the hands off install processes that allow us to click, download, and run immediately. The sooner publishers figure this out, the more likely we wont see them as whiney, piss-ants looking for ways to distract us from their good games.

Guess how many Origin games I’ve purchased…1

Guess how many Uplay games I’ve purchased…1

Guess how many Windows Live games I’ve bothered with…1

Now guess how many Steam games I own………64 and growing

See the pattern here? If you’re going to force me to use your software to play games I paid for, I will not buy from your store again. Battlefield 3, FarCry 3, and GTA4 are the only games I have purchased that require outside software to play. I’d say that I bothered with 2 games for Windows Live, but Red Faction isn’t even worth loading up because of popping you in and out to login to their software and I haven’t since I bought it for $5 on a Steam sale. Sadly for EA, Ubisoft, and Windows Live, I’m not a returning customer. Keep that in mind for your future games.

I guess the one thing about Uplay is that achievements give me points to spend in their store on things I’d never want, like a FarCry 3 wallpaper, or icon. PC gamers are beyond these petty things and it’s about time that publishers caught up. Oh and also thanks for the horribly coded browser plug-in that makes my machine more accessible to malicious people who’d like to open my apps without permission. Got to love that. That’s two privacy violations for a company so worried about piracy that it would do anything to its paying customers to make sure it never happens. Happy customers are paying customers and that’s why Amazon and Steam get all my business.

There's a Pattern Here.....

Mon, 17 Dec 2012 14:35:13 -0500

What happened in Connecticut last week is horrible. Not “was” horrible, but “is” horrible. The reason I refuse to use the word “was” is because it would allow our country to fall back into the familiar habit of quickly returning to our everyday lives, while the only advocating towards making positive changes in our country lands completely in the laps of those most effected. There is a pattern as to how we handle these continued mass shootings and we need to take this horrible event and derail that pattern.

The pattern is as follows:

• News breaks of a shooting

• The actual number of dead is the lead story. It is updated all day long.

• Facebook lights up with post after post of prayers, thoughts, and love towards the families.

• Then the debate about gun control takes hold (more so than mental illness) and quickly fizzles out due to ignorance on both sides.

• Eventually after about a week we have neither really discussed gun control or mental illness in any capacity that changes how we prevent further shootings.

• We get back to our lives until another shooting takes place.

• It’s very much a ‘rinse and repeat’ type pattern and we’ve all witnessed it from Columbine to VA Tech to Arizona to Aurora, Colorado to Connecticut.

Standard Gun Advocates Position:

Something like, “This is not a time to start politicizing this event.” or “We should all be praying for the families during this hard time.” or “More gun regulation will not stop someone from shooting up a school.” or “Anyone willing to do this type of crime is going to find a way to get a gun illegally, so why punish everyone else?”

Standard Gun Control Advocate Position:

Something like, “Can we please talk about gun control now?” or “Something like this wouldn’t have happened if there were no guns at all” or “We should be praying for the families, but we need to have a discussion on gun control” or “Why cant their be background checks for every purchase?”

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Let me set something straight right away. I am a gun enthusiast. I love shooting, target practice, handguns, rifles, and shotguns and have even had the privilege to fire many automatic weapons under the safe supervision of licensed professionals. I am also a liberal Democrat. You could probably consider me part of that rural Democrat who loves guns but also recognizes the severity of the crimes in which they are used as a tool to commit.

Lets also take a moment to break down how the firearms in each of the listed shootings above were acquired and how reporting mental illness has affected each event.

Columbine (1999):

Shooters acquired 2, 12-guage shotguns and a 9mm rifle from the Tanner Gun Show by a friend, Robyn Anderson (Dylan’s girlfriend) in December 1998. Another 9mm handgun was purchased through another friend for $500 from Mark Manes. While carrying the 9mm TEC-9, Klebold was prepared with a 52 round, 32 round and 28 round magazine.

ILLEGAL STRAW PURCHASE:

Robyn was not convicted of the purchases or charged with any crime, due to the fact that she was presumed to not know the shooters plans and that they could not determine if they were purchased from a licensed dealer. She admitted later that if presented with a background check she would have avoided the purchase. Dylan’s possession of the shotguns was considered illegal under federal law due to being under age 18.

VA Tech (2007):

Cho (the shooter) had legally purchased two hanguns, a Walther P22 and a Glock 19. He filed the serials off, but authorities were able to reveal them afterwards. Virginia restricts sales to only those who pass a background check and a customer can only buy a handgun once every 30 days. Cho had waited the 30 days between his purchases. Federal law required a criminal background check, but VA checks many other databases. When Cho was declared a danger to himself in 2005, he would have to be excluded from being able to purchase firearms, and however since state reporting to the NICS was not followed through, Cho slipped under the radar. Twice he was ran and twice he passed with known red flags.

FAILED REPORTING OF MENTAL ILLNESS:

Cho should not have been able to purchase any weapons yet no VA or federal check came back as expressing such. He was considered a normal everyday customer thanks to lack of oversight in state reporting of his mental health red flags.

Arizona and Gabby Giffords (2011):

Jared Loughner (shooter) was able to purchase a Glock 19 pistol at Sportsman’s Warehouse six weeks before his attempted assassination plot. He was obviously mentally ill, as we have come to learn over time. However even with his college reporting that he was not able to return to classes until cleared by a mental health professional, this information was somehow not enough to make its way to NICS reporting and so when his name was ran for his background check he did not show up as flagged. You need a court declaration of “mentally unfit” or to have been committed to a mental institution to be flagged on the NICS list.

FAILED REPORTING OF MENTAL ILLNESS:

Again like with Cho in 2007, the mental stability of Loughner was not reported. The argument could be made that if his academic issues could have been grounds for reporting mental illness that he would likely have been flagged and at least, unable to have purchased a handgun from a retail store. However, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence has often admitted that many states (particularly those in which gun laws are lesser) the reporting to the NICS is very slow if completed at all. There’s no guarantee that Loughner’s name would have been on the flagged list if the state were slow to report him.

Aurora, Colorado (2012):

Holmes (the shooter) was equipped with an AR-15, a 12-guage shotgun and a .40 caliber semi-auto pistol. All three were purchased legally. His ammunition was purchased over the Internet and at the time of the shooting he had amassed 3,000 handgun rounds, 3,000 semi-auto rifle rounds, and 350 shotgun shells; not to mention the body armor and explosive materials. The AR-15 would have been illegal to own or purchase had the Assault Weapons Ban not been allowed to expire in 2004. His Ar-15 was outfitted with a 100 round drum magazine, which would have also been outlawed, but as many have experience, online sales are easy to circumvent in regards to state gun laws regarding magazines.

Holmes had also shown many signs of mental instability and was even seeing a school psychologist during the time leading up to the shooting. A voice mail Holmes left to a local gun club sent off enough red flags that the private owner refused his membership. His psychiatrist was concerned and sent a note to campus police expressing her concerns about Holmes and to see about getting more information. Holmes also sent a package to her office and may have placed a call as well before the shooting. It seems that he was possibly reaching for help, but no one answered.

FAILED REPORTING OF MENTAL ILLNESS:

Holmes was not flagged. Not at his university, not at the state level, not at the NICS database and there for his legal purchases were not seen as odd. He stockpiled with no red flags thrown and it seems that he was in a position of sending out many of the right signals that could have possibly prevented this.

Connecticut (2012):

Details are still coming in, but we now know that Adam Lanza (the shooter) used his mother’s Bushmaster .223 semi-auto rifle. This weapon is a high velocity weapon and he used “many high capacity clips” according to Lt. Paul Vance. He also had two handguns and a shotgun that was recovered at the scene all belonging to his mother. A bushmaster .223 was also the chosen weapon of the DC snipers in 2001. The guns were all owned and lawfully purchased by Adam’s mother Nancy who was a gun owner and enthusiast. She spent time training Adam how to use the guns properly at a younger age and how to respect the weapon according to witnesses. They went to shooting ranges together. She owned these weapons for “self-defense” as Adam’s aunt has expressed.

————————————-

So what happened here? Isn’t this the exact situation that many gun advocates say are the steps to making sure their kids don’t go out and shoot up a school? Show them, train them, make them respect them? All of these past shootings tend to cover a wide range of issues all of which could very easily be fixed. I don’t believe that all gun enthusiasts should be “punished” for the actions of one, but I also highly disagree with their definition of punishment.

There is no regulation that the NRA would consider not a punishment upon gun owners. Even the idea of more rigorous background checks seems to come off as a serious affront to their values as members of the NRA. I am not a member of the NRA, much like I am not a member of a labor union. I don’t need others to speak for me on this issue. And where I differ with other gun advocates is that I don’t see accurate and effective background checks for any gun sale (whether licensed or private) as a punishment.

I see it as a tenant of true responsibility and something we should champion. Those who advocate for gun rights should also be working hardest to make sure that those rights are held to the highest standards. How would closing gun-show loopholes (such as the ones Dylan and Klebold abused) possibly be a bad thing for gun sales in this country? The only answer I’ve ever been given on this is that it would “just make it harder for responsible gun owners to get a gun”.

However if in the end, you are truly responsible and you still get the gun and in return it helps in flagging the mentally ill or criminal population from getting guns via private-to-private sale, is that not a worthy effort? I’m not worried about a responsible gun owner having to wait a few extra days while his record is checked to receive his privately sold pistol/rifle/shotgun. In truth I’m not worried at all, because I know that that person is doing what is right with his/her purchase of weapons by allowing his/her record to prove his/her character. However I am very worried about the fact that someone like Dylan was able to use his girlfriend, who wasn’t checked, to straw purchase weapons that were used killed innocent people.

Had there been measures that required a background check on private sales, Robyn herself admitted she would have avoided the purchase (which makes you question why). If so, maybe they secured the weapons elsewhere, but if laws were in place that punished private sellers for not getting pre-approval for sale via background checks especially when the weapons are used for a crime, would there maybe have been a chance that someone could have thrown up a red flag? We will never know. We’ve allowed the quickness of which we can place a gun in our hands to be more important than the idea of whether someone else should be able to have been sold one in the first place. Many in this country believe that not being able to want and gun and receive it on that same day is a punishment for crimes of others who misused the weapons. Personally, I’d rather wait 10 days or more on a private sale knowing that a mentally ill or criminal customer has to wait the same 10 days and will be flagged.

But that’s the point. We lose sight of the greater good of all because we are often lost in the best for ourselves. We think selfishly, ‘why should I be punished for one crazy persons acts’. We see gun control as a hindrance in our lives while ignoring what the idea of better regulation and oversight on gun sales is meant to achieve; the safety of everyone. We become fearful and buy up every gun in sight every time a shooting like this occurs, not because we have some natural instinct to defend ourselves, but because we’re worried that this one “wacko” has blown it for us all and that the government is going to take our guns away. Most importantly we forget that these “wackos”, “psychos”, “crazies”, etc. were once just young kids like us, though in most cases (unlike you or I) they had no one who listened to them or gave enough of a shit to make the hard choices that could have changed their very outlook on life. For many of these kids, social barriers and chemical imbalances led to an environment where the idea of taking lives seemed like the best outlet for their emotions. Notice how not many go into these rampages and simply walk back out alive. They turn the gun on themselves and it takes something awful for anyone to do something like that.

Dylan and Klebold had some sort of alienated feelings towards the status quo and were easily able to circumvent the gun show loophole to ruin so many innocent lives. Cho was alone and had cultural divides along with a mental illness that allowed him to see his actions as some type of revenge for how he internalized the world around him. He was flagged and got a legal weapon and was able to devastate a campus community. Loughner was isolated and had barely any interaction with others, while his mental illness was showing enough to get his schools attention, but that’s as far as it went. With no mental evaluation and a lack of reporting to local authorities he slipped by and legally obtained his weapon and took a young girl as well as many others from us. Holmes was isolated and made many attempts to reach out for help. Once again ignored he created an avenue in his mind to enact hurt amongst innocent moviegoers. And now in Connecticut we have innocent children gunned down by a son who was able to access his mother’s cache. He was troubled and yet nothing was being done to help get find a healthy avenue to figuring out his issues. His mother was one of those responsible gun owners we hear about when these shootings occur and sadly she is also gone. Did she have the guns locked up? Or did Adam know the password or have the key? I’m sure it will come to light, but it doesn’t matter now, because we have failed to understand and flag Adam, before he thought this was his only option.

No one wants to think it’s their own who has these issues and has the capacity to kill, but the warning signs are everywhere. We need to start taking responsibility with gun ownership and the sales of guns. No honest person should feel they can’t obtain a weapon legally if they’ve held a clean criminal and mental record, but no person should assume its a punishment, because “they know” they are responsible. It’s not about punishing you; it’s about protecting everyone including you, and especially those that feel guns are not needed in their life whatsoever. Guns are a part of our history and they will continue to be for a long time, but until people start realizing that we aren’t doing enough socially, medically, or regulatory this event will be another bumper sticker on your car in support of the innocent killed last week. And if we don’t start working on this in these fields collectively, you will have to make sure you leave room for more bumper stickers down the road, because doing nothing has gotten us nowhere since Columbine.

Lets stop this pattern, get talking and find rational solutions to this issue and let the facts guide our decisions rather than political leanings or our emotions. No one approves of what happened, and so now its time to show it.

What are the odds?.....

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 13:55:24 -0500

Imagine holding a vigorously shuffled deck of cards. Face down you spread them in your hands and think of a card. Really think about it. Imagine turning that card over. See it in your head. Visualize it. What are the odds of you selecting the exact card you thought of out of that shuffled deck? Magicians will say they can 100% of the time, but we know they have tricks up their sleeves. Real magic is the art of misdirection.

For this case the odds are 1 out of 52 that you are right. That’s a 1.9% chance you’re going to pick the exact card you visualized. Wouldn’t that be something? So lets see what happens, because lets face it, you have to play to win.

So you’ve picked and visualized your card and you flip it over. Wala! It’s the exact card you picked! How amazing is it that you were able to pick the exact card you were thinking of and visualized? Well, there are two ways of looking at this type of event. One is simply that the card you visualized, just happened to be placed exactly where you decided to pick from based on the earlier shuffling. Again that’s a 1.9% chance.

The second way to look at it is that you yourself had something to do with the fact that the card was placed exactly where you were going to pick. That maybe the visualizing of the card helped put that card in line with your destiny to pick it up. You could also attribute maybe an unknown outside source to this.

I lean towards the former idea, because as amazing as that event seems in that I was able to visualize a card and it appeared in front of me seemingly out of pure luck; there is something that cancels that effect. This cancellation of amazement is caused by retesting and peer review. Lets look at each of these.

It seems amazing because it happened on your first try. What if I ask you to do it again? Something inside you is telling you that the likelihood that you pull it off again is extremely rare; still possible, but rare. If I bet you $50 that on your second attempt, your visualization would prove you wrong, would you take that bet? Reshuffle that deck and try again and you will find eventually that over time the averages tend to trend to the fact that you wont be able to pull it off again anytime soon if at all. It sounds negative or even pessimistic on my end, but its simply realistic.

The second reasoning behind it being random has to do with the fact that peer review tends to show the same results. Lets imagine that while you visualized and selected that card out of the deck, that you had 100 other random people lined up beside you performing the same trick with the same intensity. They each have a random card in their head that they’re visualizing and concentrating on, each with a 1.9% chance to pull off the same trick. Shall we bet that they all pull it off the same way you did on their first try, if it was truly the visualization that placed the card where it needed to be? Then what happens when they all try the same trick over and over along with you? Again, maybe they all hit every time after visualizing, as you did on your first time. Would your conscious let you bet on it?

Taking a step back from this experiment helps us explore a few interesting concepts that help to even further separate some set personal power or destiny from simple reality. If you chose the ace of spades (for example) as the card you are trying to pull out of the deck then your chances are 1.9% that you will. However, the same goes with any other card in the deck even if you don’t visualize it first. Each single card holds a 1.9% chance that you will select it out of the deck and over an infinite amount of time and unlimited tries at it (props to Kaku, Greene, and Tyson), you can and you will eventually visualize and choose every card in the deck, which is something that many fail to consider when they perform a trick like this.

I urge you to try this at home. Grab a deck of cards and shuffle them good. Visualize a card and select it from the deck without knowing its location. Shuffle each time and repeat it 50 times. Write it down what you predicted and what you got, and see how many times you guess correctly, if at all. This type of pursuit of accuracy is exactly what makes the idea that we can control the physical world by visualizing its outcome, completely unfounded.

Ever wondered if you are somehow being shown something because every once in a while you look at a clock and it says 9:11 (am/pm). Are you special because you noticed this? Does it make you wonder? Lets ask random answerbag.com user “johnb1uk”…

“Hi there, first of all I’d like to dismiss or rather dispute what people say when they say that you are just looking at the clock and that time obviously happens to come around twice a day. There are 1440 minutes in a day and to suddenly look at the clock and catch one of them (and a specific one) twice every day is definitely more than just a coincidence.

There is definitely a higher leveled phenomenon going on and not everyone is tuned in to receive these signs - kind of like how not everyone has the gift of clairvoyants or mediums but we all know that they exist - there are countless books and TV shows by these gifted people who prove that they are tuned into a different frequency than most of us and most of us accept that they are real.”

You heard it hear first. Countless books and TV shows are proving the existence of “mediums”. Interestingly enough, I experience the same higher-level phenomenon every two months or so and I always point it out (followed by a ghostly ‘oooooooooh’). If it’s no coincidence, then why am I not the only one out of 20 or so people I know that experience the exact same event? Well let’s take a look at this.

One thing to consider is that many of the best shows on TV are on at 9pm, so that automatically makes it more likely for me to check the time around then, especially considering that most TV cable boxes show digital clocks. Also many shows go to commercial at about 10-15 minutes in, depending on how they’re structured. And most importantly, does anyone remember seeing those numbers before September 11, 2001? I sure didn’t. Is it unusual that I would see that number now after a horrific act of terror was ingrained in my mind over the last 11 years via TV, books, magazines, movies, and the internet.

There are examples everywhere that express reality in the idea that one single event doesn’t change the actual reality of the thousands of events that came before and after it oppositely. Everyone has probably seen that horrible image on FaceBook of a photo-shopped young girl seemingly safe inside a wrecked car where her “relatives” are all sprawled out dead. “What a miracle!” it exclaims. For now lets pretend it wasn’t photo-shopped horribly and think about this from a wider perspective. How is a small girl sitting in the wreckage of her family’s tangled car and dead bodies, a miracle?

Best-case scenario she ends up in a foster situation through the state, unless some caring family adopts her. Her family is dead, her future therapist will be well paid, and she will most likely struggle to keep PTSD and deep depression at bay (see the HBO documentary, There’s Something Wrong With Aunt Diane), all because of this accident. She might not see that as a miracle or as being lucky even if everyone around her does, but then again she is photo-shopped and thus we don’t have to worry about her. Hopefully she was photo-shopped from a family picture of her playing on a playground, or something pleasant.

We are humans and we live a short time in regards to the amount of time that came before us and will pass after us. There is a willingness to see things as extraordinary or awe-inspiring in the moment and I think generally that’s ok, because relative to our daily lives, it really can seem so. But facts are facts, and the physical world can’t be willed without physical involvement. Don’t get me wrong; mental and emotional involvements are important too, but no matter how much I visualize throwing a last minute touchdown pass wont matter until I physically throw it and we know how many of those don’t work out even when visualized.

Randomness is often mistaken for coincidence, because we disregard time, space, probability, mathematics, repetition, sense and most defining aspects of reality, while in the moment. So what are the odds? Are you making that card show up by visualizing it and willing it to be so, or are you simply a pawn of randomness like the rest of us? Be honest and experiment for yourself rather than let emotions drive your decision making process.

Why is it that those who claim to levitate, merely hop across the ground? Why is it that Penn can’t really fire a real bullet and have Teller catch it with his teeth? How come every single horoscope of every sign seems to relate to my daily life? Why can’t I accurately predict a random drawing of a card from a shuffled deck? Why do bad things happen to good people? Why can’t anyone make a dump truck disappear live, in front of me, without a large sheet and a television broadcast? Why doesn’t my football team win every time I wear my lucky hat? Why can’t everything just be the way I wish it would be?

Reality….and the way you handle it, explains your happiness.

Dont Be That Person...

Tue, 20 Nov 2012 09:48:02 -0500

It’s about to get messy this week and I don’t mean on your plate this Thursday or on TV when the Redskins take on Dallas for the first time in who knows how long. I’m talking about that sad day after Thanksgiving where thousands if not millions wake up too early and stand in line to kill each other over cheap gifts that are all forgotten about after January.

I literally hate this day of the year. I don’t hate the idea of getting a good deal, but it saddens me beyond belief to watch Americans turn into crazy, brainless, and weak willed marketing pawns in which huge retail and discount store companies are rewarded for marketing to us like dogs waiting for that one scrap of food to drop from their table.

Lets review commercials once again. Ever watched a Verizon commercial and noticed that the customers in line (or those being helped) are always glazed over, ready to spend money on the newest iPhone? Pay very close attention to the Verizon employee and how he/she looks at the customer as if they are crazy or better yet weird. This is the marketing that you play into when you line up for these crazy deals that really amount to previously marked up merchandise that then receives a “crazy discount” for one day.

Maria Bamford was the perfect example of how Target sees its customers. She was over-prepared, excited, jumping up and down for sales, and racing through the store like a football player, shoving others out of the way to “get the deal”. I have to turn the channel anytime I see these commercials or ones like it. Maria is a funny lady for sure, but she is most likely well aware of the absurdity of the mindset of crazy shoppers as she accurately represented Target’s view of them.

The thing that gets me even more is how most of these crazy deals can be found online days before the Black Friday monstrosity. Last year we bought an elliptical for about $200 less online and simply picked it up in store late in the day. No lines, no early wake up, and no stepping on others to get the deal. Most of the time the products that are “Door-Busters” (I hate that term) only are those of which the company has an over-stock. TV’s that sound like crazy deals have been sitting in their stock rooms and inventory for months because they couldn’t sell them. A good HDTV is going to cost you and even if it ends up on sale that day it will more likely than not include items that are required for purchase as well to go along with it.

Lets look at some of BestBuy’s door-busters:

This Samsung phone deal is $49 per phone on Amazon and includes the same Two-year plans. Wait a few months and you could even take advantage of Amazon wireless’s penny phone deals. We got the S2 phones with a two-year plan for about 2 cents total. Delivers right to your house.

This iPod Touch deal seems nice except that the iPods price is cheaper by about 60 cents on Amazon’s site. Now you don’t get the $50 BestBuy gift card, but remember they only stock a certain amount of door-buster items so that would have to be the first thing you ran to, unless you have a team of shoppers….which again…is sad.

Ever notice how you never see significant deals on the newest Apple iPad? Well its simple really… Apple sets pricing and even resellers can’t get away from it. And you’ll never see the most wanted upper models with 3G wireless and large capacity on sale at a door-buster. Again limited quantity means this better be the first thing you run to, and don’t expect to choose your color.

BestBuy has the Windows 8 Professional Upgrade as “on-sale” at $54.99, which is a savings of $145! Crazy right?! Well, interestingly, if you have windows already and an Internet connection, it only costs $40.00 online to download and install the digital copy. This is what drives me nuts about Black Friday consumers. They just assume the deal is in store.

So before you rush out and go nuts with walkie-talkies and battle plans, spend some time online and save yourself the headache. Online sales and coupon codes almost always beat out waiting in line while those around you prepare to stomp your face in for a shitty, discounted (because it wouldn’t sell normally) TV. Get your shit together America and stop being the easily swayed and illogical consumer that Marketing agencies know you currently are.

Think of every dollar you have in your bank account and when you see these deals ask yourself first thing, “What has this company done to earn my dollar?” This means you’re going to have to research a little. Get online with the exact product you want and get some reviews on it. This is extremely important! Amazon is a great place to get a wealth of reviews. Then head on over to Google and search for the product under their shopping section. From here you can see if you really are getting the best price and you can then navigate to the best price.

Once you have decided that it’s a product that is reliable, reasonably priced, and well reviewed, its time to Google search for online coupon codes related to the store that is selling it. Retail-Me-Not is a very popular and reliable website for finding coupon codes. Then stay at home, enter the order and relax while everyone else kills themselves (sadly) over little shitty one-time discounts that wouldn’t sell throughout the year at regular price. Be a part of consumer sanity and don’t allow ignorant marketing commercials to send you into a state of feeling like you’re missing out. Trust me it’s for the best.

So with that I say have a great Thanksgiving!

Hitman Sneaks Up on November 2012.

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 10:21:00 -0500

I have this on-going joke with a good friend of mine where I usually would call her up or stop by her store and tell her that she better have everything ready for release night for the new Hitman game (whichever version was coming out). I would tell her that I heard people are thinking there’s going to be a line around the block at midnight. Then she’d quietly type on her computer and bring up her Hitman reserves list and say something like, “Yep it’s going to be a big night with all four of the reserves we have total, including yours.”

This has been ongoing for every Hitman release and I see no signs of it ever stopping unless of course people actually do line up around the block one night in the future. However, if that happened, I might be a little sad. Hitman doesn’t draw huge crowds even if it syncs up with a major release of a triple-A title, but somehow it sells enough to demand another sequel every few years. It’s nice, because I know the game is well received and I also know that I wont be standing outside all night in line waiting for it. It’s kind of like being part of an exclusive club that very few know about.

Someone asked me the other day if I had a chance to pick up Halo 4 or Assassins Creed 3, and I replied, “Nah, never really got heavy into Halo as a series, and as bad as I’d like to pick up AC3, Hitman takes precedent.” I got a look of confusion and concern as one.) I could tell he had never heard of the Hitman series and two.) he couldn’t believe anything would take precedent over either Halo 4 or AC3.

I was shocked as well until I remembered that I belong to a exclusive club of consumers who know all about Agent 47. Of course, if your in the industry you know of Agent 47, but why is it that so many mainstream gamers (at least the ones I bump into) have no idea who he is or can’t even vaguely recall the series? I’m not sure I could even begin to answer that, because I just don’t know. Either way, I told him to rush out and buy Hitman: Blood Money ASAP, because we may be an exclusive crowd, but we’re always looking for members to join.

Hitman came to fruition originally as a PC only release. It was developed by I/O Interactive and published by Eidos Interactive. I can still remember riding the elevator up to overlook a city park and snipe my target arriving in a limo as he tried to make a deal with another crime figure. This game, along with being one of the first to use ragdoll as we know it today, created enough interest to spawn its most widely known sequel of Hitman 2: Silent Assassin. This game was released on PC, PlayStation 2 and GameCube. This brought the Hitman series to the mainstream console players and to this day is probably the best seller of the series, though the newest seeks to unseat the king. Hitman: Contracts came after as a redo (of sorts) of the original PC game and Hitman: Blood Money carried the series into the next gen consoles with an Xbox 360 release as well as regular Xbox.

History is great, but the game itself and its style of gameplay is what really carries the series along and I suspect is what keeps the hardcore base there enough to warrant further sequels. For each game the gameplay follows a simple formula:

You are tasked with killing a target (sometimes multiple).

You have a supply of weapons at your disposal to carry out that task (some loud, some quiet, and some found throughout the level).

You are dropped into a dynamic, open area (level) to complete your task, where innocent people as well as armed guards and your target carry out dynamic everyday tasks of which you can exploit.

It’s then up to you how to take a target down, which can range from gunning every single person down (though you will lose style points) or stealthily tracking your target, changing disguises, poisoning food, sniping from afar, blowing up, or good old fashion choking your target to death. The possibilities are generally endless, and even more so once you’ve unlocked the games full arsenal.

Hitman: Blood Money added a new feature that would track your stealth by rewarding you with newspaper articles of exactly how the target was killed and whether or not you were seen. Imagine reading that “the suspect is believed to have dispatched Fernando Delgado as he relaxed in his study with a .44 caliber pistol. Seemingly Manuel Delgado, Fernando’s heir, was also killed by what seems to be an accident in the loading area of the property’s wine cellar as a suspended elevator gave way.” Reading your actions from the viewpoint of reporters and police who showed up in the aftermath brings a whole new level of replay. Things such as shell casing counts and witness descriptions and suspicions are brought to life in print after each level. Also, the more you were seen the more a police sketch came into detail, which then made your next level a little more difficult. However, one plus was that you could kill every witness (gunning them all down) and no one would be alive to describe you, if you can really think of that as a plus.

Personally I prefer the path that gives you a true challenge. Silent Assassin is the title you receive when you are not seen, heard, witness, and no suspicion is raised. Kill your target with no one ever knowing until your long gone is thrilling. It is the ultimate in manipulation of people, environment and outcomes that you can have in a game. It doesn’t bog you down with heavy-handed story, though it has a worthy and full one to tell. Cinematic cut scenes take their inspiration from film cinematography and use well placed shots and dialogue to push the story along, while not boring you to death or seeming overdone. Though I like Assassins Creed very much, the experience is dulled knowing that I’m generally going to approach each target the same way, which is by climbing roof tops, jumping down with blades to the neck, and then fighting the rest of the targets goons. This is fun and in no way do I dislike it, but I always itch for a new Hitman every time I play AC, because I just want more options. If you feel this way and have never played Hitman, then you NEED to play Hitman. Pick up Blood Money today for cheap and see how it treats you and if you like it then get ready for the November 20^th.

I/O Interactive has brought forth another sequel set to hit stores on November 20, 2012 and this guy couldn’t be more excited. With a powerful PC at home and the ability to download the game via Steam beforehand, November 20^th will be a bloody day for anyone on my targets list. They have hoped to try an appeal more towards the mainstream audience by giving the pace more of a story driven feel, while promising not to take away from the hardcore players (which would be in their best interest). Early reviews seem positive enough to assume that they have pulled this off well enough. Contracts mode has been added to allow players to change levels around by demanding other players to kill other targets (not of the single player mission) in various ways to best get the most points. Seems interesting and I’m more than open to that challenge.

For those of you who have never experienced this series, but seem interested, I strongly urge you to join our club of exclusive members who have been more excited for a Hitman game than almost any other title released. Maybe we can move our club from feeling exclusive to being mainstream. Maybe not, but either way I’ll gladly pick up a Hitman game over hundreds of others for as long as they seem fit to make them. Hitman: Absolution looks to be a big one, so don’t miss it.

2012 Election....

Wed, 07 Nov 2012 14:56:01 -0500

I sat playing Assassins Creed: Brotherhood last night until about 8pm. It’s been years since I played the first game. It’s really fun honestly outside of the occasional hiccups in climbing and the once in a while camera angles. I picked it up because my birthday was over the weekend, and though I wanted to try Assassins Creed 3, it was more responsible to save some cash by picking up it’s older brother.

As of last night I played until 8pm because honestly nothing really starts to happen with electoral votes until 8pm and beyond. Its started at 33-3 for Romney and then got to about 84-62ish for Romney. Election night is exciting for me and always has been. The way battleground states play out is fascinating. I’ll admit that I was a little nervous about turnout and how FL, VA, OH, and a few others would turn out.

We left and got to my buddy’s house at about 8:30pm. Once there the electoral votes started to balance out and stay solidly around 150-160 per candidate. It really came down to waiting for Ohio, as it tends to do. PA surprised me with a solid win for Obama, though I was reminded that it is generally democratic, but being that it was so close, who could tell?

As we waited patiently for Ohio to be called, there was a myriad of great news. Democratic candidates were heavily winning Senatorial races. Elizabeth Warren was one of those hard fought wins in MA that made us throw our hands up for a high fives all around. Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock paid for their horrible rape comments. Again, cheers all around for us.

However, there were really important ballot issues being voted on in my home state of MD. Maryland had to decide on their DREAM Act, the casino expansion, and of course Marriage Equality. Maryland didn’t disappoint this election. We broke history by winning the popular vote for Marriage Equality and the DREAM Act. Couldn’t be prouder. It was almost more exciting than the Presidential race altogether.

Eventually, the west coast electoral votes were decided for Obama as they had been predicted and OH was called for Obama, putting him at 274. We almost missed it while in conversation and when it happened, we immediately switched it over to Fox News. They of course had not yet called it and there was a completely ridiculous scene unfolding as well.

As Megyn Kelly and Bret Baier were doing their jobs and reporting what their number crunchers had expressed was a win for Obama in OH, Karl Rove stopped them dead and said that they needed to be careful calling it yet. Now if you’re a democrat, you instinctively turn the channel to Fox News after the win is projected hoping for some sort of warped reality where a massive conspiracy bomb goes off. We were not disappointed. So what did Megyn Kelly do? She broke the silence with, “That’s Akward.” She then had cameras follow her down to the number crunchers’ room where they essentially told her they called it with 99.95% accuracy that Obama would take Ohio. Our room was filled with laughter.

Arnon Mishkin was the voting analyst working on deciphering the wins and losses per state and as him and his colleague continued to assure Megyn that their analysis was accurate based on voting totals left in democratic leaning areas of OH, she continued to interrogate them based on the fact that Karl Rove was contesting the call as being too early to tell. We laughed continuously and then finally turned it back to NBC out of pity.

Fox News eventually conceded to the facts and thus called the election for Obama. Soon after, Mitt Romney’s campaign finally contacted the media and told them that they would be at first “giving remarks”, but then finally expressed it would be his concession speech. We finally headed home after watching that and caught Obama’s acceptance speech in the car soon after. Overall it was a very good night for democrats.

I woke up to find out today that Obama took VA as well and is as of this point still leading in FL. Ultimately this election was called in June by Nate Silver and many other analysts based on polling and factual electoral analysis who had been deadly accurate in the last elections results. This 2012 election was an election won for democrats based on simple facts. Candidates always stretch the truth, lets not be naive about that, but there is a big difference in skewing to show the positives on you and the negatives on your opponent and straight out lying.

Mitt Romney lied to Americans when he told you Chrysler would ship US jobs to China, as he quietly profited from the Auto Bailout. Chrysler of course, completely condemned him for misleading people with blatant lies. He told you he was a successful man of business who knew how to create jobs, but he specialized in business tactics that loaded small companies with debt as he ran for the hills with money earned on charging fees and demanding dividend payments. He told you that he had a plan for tax reform, but that he couldn’t tell you about it because he wanted to work with Congress after being elected to figure out the details. He told you he resigned from Bain in 1999, when documents clearly show he remained as CEO and sole stockholder until 2002. He told you he had a record of creating jobs in MA when actually his state dropped from 36^th to 47^th in job creation as median income declined.

I could go on all day, but luckily I don’t have to because America didn’t buy it. Voter ID laws and voter suppression by Republican governors didn’t go unnoticed either and people lined up for hours to show that they meant business. All in all, it came down to the facts. Mitt had a small marginal chance of winning enough electoral votes, and the Republican media and pundits didn’t want to hear it. This is what caused the embarrassment at Fox News last night. So I want to offer a plea of sorts to my Republican friends…

Dear republican friends,

The world is not going to explode because the President was re-elected. I seriously saw a comment today asking, “Where’s Lee Harvey Oswald when you need him?” I kid you not…. Anyways, four more years will not bring the apocalypse. Many have predicted the end-times since the beginning of time, and so far they have literally all missed the mark.

There is a great momentum building in this countries middle class and I ask why not be a part of it? Rather than find reasons to hate Obama (such as disputing where he was born for those ultra radicals), why not look at yourself and decide if saying “No” to everything is really the way out of this hole that your last winning candidate dug for us? Why not see if there is a compromise that doesn’t end in last minute deadlines? Maybe think about not signing stupid petitions from outside interest groups and ideologues that do nothing but stifle the ability to work out different ideas? Perhaps, in reflection you’ll find that driving around with bumper stickers that say “2012: Don’t Re-Nig” while claiming the President doesn’t reach across the isle, isn’t really the best course in getting this country back towards working together for the common good. How about not making up voter fraud allegations to block the vote and limit voting times. Its dishonest and it obviously didn’t work.

Most of all, maybe stop trying so hard to defend values that hurt others, restrict their lives and that have no real barring on your everyday life and accept your original core idea that everyone should be able to practice their beliefs and ideas in the privacy of their own home, rather than try and force your religious ideals on over half a country that doesn’t share them. I don’t know. It’s really up to you to join the process rather than blockade it and we all welcome your ideas. I know you hate the word, but “CHANGE” is inevitable and there is no reason to fear it. Fighting hard against it only brings it closer to fruition. I’m sure this is all just wishful thinking on my part, but if you’re willing to accept evidence and fact, rather than distortion, life becomes fairly easy for you in decision-making. Life’s too short to be this angry, so smile and let’s work together.

Thanks!

Mitt's PBS Math Headache.

Thu, 11 Oct 2012 09:25:41 -0400

Lets do some quick math.

In 2011, the US Defense budget was $712 Billion. That’s $712,000,000,000. There are 8765.812 hours in a single year. If we divide the 712 billion by 8765.812 hours in the year then…We spend about $81,224,648.67 per hour on Defense.

The CPB receives a total of around $450,000,000 of which PBS gets about $26,000,000. What this math shows is that PBS itself receives total (in one year), about 32% of the amount that we spend on US defense in one hour. This also shows that the entire 450 million that is given to CPB is equal to around 5.5 hours of defense spending.

Big Bird aside, Mitt’s talking about cutting an “unnecessary” program that makes up about 0.00001% of his 4.8 trillion dollar plan, He says his plan wont cost 4.8 trillion, but until he identifies what exactly he’s going to cut, the price tag is looming. He’s going to have to cut somewhere else that actually would have some effect on bringing down his plan’s cost, because (sadly for him) cutting PBS isn’t going to even register on even the most sensitive of scales.

Whether you like PBS or not, I was raised on Mr. Rogers, Sesame Street, Bob Ross, Bill Nye and many more. It’s a program that gives under privileged children access to free literacy, math, science and arts education. It’s also spent a great deal of time over the years stressing the idea of multiculturalism to those who may not have been exposed to it, such as me who grew up in a small town that had a black population of less than 1%.

If he wants to cut it then he should do so on the simple principle that he doesn’t like the programming. Don’t call it unnecessary, and certainly don’t cut it and pretend it’s a solution to bringing down the cost of your 4.8 trillion dollar plan. The count would be very disappointed. It’s a simple matter of ONE… TWO…THREE…. HA…HA….HA!