United We Stand, Divided We Fall

I read a pretty interesting editorial from the New York Times this morning entitled What Part of 'Stimulus' Don't They Get? It features two of the rising stars of the Republican Party, Gov. Bobby Jidal from Louisiana and Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina who are both threatening to turn away federal aid to help those who had low income jobs and are now unemployed. The worse part is the only reason they want to reject the aid is because it goes against Republican ideology, not because they actually think it will be bad for the state. 

It seems like everyday now the Republicans are criticising President Obama's plans to try to fix this country. I'm not going to say Obama's plans are going to be the saving grace of this nation because honestly I don't know, but at least it is something. Obama has also said numerous times he wishes to work with Republicans and get rid of partisan politics and while some Republicans have crossed that bridge many have not. Honestly guys, lets put away the ideologies and fix the problems. Obviously the Republicans weren't doing what was right for a majority of the people in this country, hence why they are no longer in power. 

Right now is a time more than ever to work together as a nation and pull ourselves back up. We are the ones that created this mess, now we need to be the ones who fix it. Old, rich white guys need to stop pulling their money out of the stock market every time Obama talks. Some union workers (i.e. UAW)  need to give some slack to these ailing companies. Everyone needs to realise the housing market is broken. These is so much we need to do and if our leaders are, for a lack of a better term, having a pissing contest over ideologies then who are we to turn to? 

I don't really consider myself a part of any political party since they are all more or less full of BS'ers and crooks so I don't really care about ideologies. The Democrats have things I agree with as do the Republicans and as do many third parties. I thought I used to subscribe to the Libertarian way of thinking but they are delusional about how to fix the nation, I mean honestly any group that say all major companies should fail isn't going to be overly popular right now with anyone. 

So what are we to do? I know some of our leaders are trying, but unless their is unity we are doomed to fail like every other great civilisation throughout history. 

Game On My Wayward Son

So GameStop just released their earnings and they are up 11.4% and projected to go up an additional 18-22% this year. That is some incrediable numbers in this economy, but it's also not that surprising when you think about. 

Let's take for example a game I've put more hours on than I probably should mention since it's going to make me look like uber-geek. The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion and all of it's expansions probably add up to about a $130 worth of gaming goodness. That sounds fairly expensive but between the 5 characters I have put it 427 hours of game play...that's almost 18 days of total play time. Anyways that works out to be $.30 per hour which is pretty good value for money. Now lets compare this to say going to the movies which cost $10 for a 2 hour flick. For you non-math majors that works out to be $5.00 per hour. 

See it's not hard to see why video games offer a better entertainment option and therefore why people are buying them in this economic climate. We all want to be entertained and we are all cutting back quite a bit so it doesn't seem like that far fetched of a statement to say you want to but Rock Band over going to see someone in concert. 

This is also not to mention the social aspect of gaming, my buddies and I play Left 4 Dead just about every night and we communicate with one another via headset. Some will say that's not social interaction but I challenge anyone to explain to me how it isn't. By sitting at home, being social and entertained we are all saving money. No buying expensive drinks at a bar, no burning petrol to drive anywhere, no overpriced food at a restaurant, and so on. We get hours and hours of entertainment out of a game that cost us $25. 

Then there is the other big reason why people play games, and that is to escape the awfulness which is real life. I mean I look around all I see is doom and gloom that I have no control over. That's not very fun, but I guess it takes someone with a warped sense of thinking to have fun in a world where zombies have taken over and the only way to survive is to unload massive amount of lead into them. I don't know I think I would rather be apart of a world with a zombie apocalypse than a world where the economy is collapsing and it's all being ran by idiots...I can at least shoot the zombies. 

Go game on my geeks and geekettes, game on! 

It's OK, I acted Childish

After checking to see who won the Super Bowl and rewatching Bruce Springsteen's crotch attack the camera on YouTube a couple times this morning I figured I would see if anything pressing was in the news. Something caught my eye, mainly because it was the lead story on CNN. Michael Phelps, the swimmer that won all those medals for the 3 people whom live under a stone, was photographed smoking a bong at a party. (Link)

My question from all of this is it really that big of a deal? I mean the guy is still a college kid and, based on what I've been told from numerous people who've met him at U of M, he is exactly the type of guy that would go to a party and do something like that. But still what is the big deal, millions of college kids do drugs, drink excessively, among other things everyday. Granted I never did anything like that but I would say I was an exception for the most part. I really do think most college kids experiment with stuff they were always told not to do. 

The one thing that does irritate me though is that Phelps will walk away from this without consequence because he released a statement saying that his behaviour was regrettable. If an average college kid were to get caught doing this he or she could face jail time, several fines, and a mark on their record. I still don't think smoking pot is that big of a deal, but I do think it's a big deal that a so called celebrity won't face the same consequences an average person would. 

Why should celebrities be treated any differently than anyone else, especially athletes since they are only famous because they were able to play a kid's game well? Like I said people who smoke pot are the least of my worries and I don't really care what you do. But there are laws stating that it's illegal to use marijuana and if you are caught you have to face the consequences whether they are right, wrong or indifferent. But hey Phelps is famous and can swim fast so a statement saying that he acted childish is good enough right?