So It Turns Out Money Can Buy Happiness After All (Sort Of)
Monday, 2nd July 2012Posted in Blog Archive, Keeping it Real
Tags: cnn, giving back, homeless, money
Written by: Paul Nyhart
Follow @paulnyhart
Contrary to what the majority of license plates, bumper stickers, or motivational speakers may have told you — a new crop of experts on shit like this from CNN claim that money can indeed by happiness.
The kicker is that you have to give it away.
Forget about it, right? Why are people always telling me what to do with my money and that I can’t have nice things?
Well in this case, no one is. They’re simply advising you that burning your scratch on a fast car and a big house won’t get you any closer to happiness — but making it possible for someone else to…will? Continue reading “So It Turns Out Money Can Buy Happiness After All (Sort Of)” »
Skyrim Kinect Voice Support Comes “The Week of April 23″
Friday, 13th April 2012Posted in Blog Archive, Gaming
Tags: April 23, bethesda, cnn, commands, elder scrolls, kinect, Pete Hines, Project Adam, skyrim, voice
Written by: Craig Hunter
Follow @jordankahn
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim will be seeing its Kinect functionality coming up later this month during “the week of April 23.” Skyrim will add over 200 voice commands to the mix including dragon shouts and ally instructions.
“…your entire repertoire of shouts is available without opening a menu..”
In an exclusive interview with CNN (via GT), Bethesda revealed the launch date as well as confirming the Kinect update will be available in 5 different languages: English, French, Spanish, German, and Italian. Continue reading “Skyrim Kinect Voice Support Comes “The Week of April 23″” »
Men…Stop Playing Video Games…You’re LOSERS?
Wednesday, 5th October 2011Posted in Blog Archive, Gaming, Pop Culture
Tags: cnn, life, losers, Marriage, unemployment, video games, Why Men Are in Trouble, William Bennett
Written by: Jeff Nau
This according to William Bennett, who was Secretary of Education under Reagan and who this week wrote an op-ed piece for CNN titled “Why Men Are in Trouble.” In it, Bennett lectures men on their masculinity (or lack thereof) and points to video games as a prime factor. Among his chief lamentations: in 1970, men earned 60% of all college degrees. As of 4 years ago, it was down to 43%.
Bennett goes on to cite male unemployment as a reason women are beating their asses economically. “In 1950,” he writes, “5% of men at the prime working age were unemployed. As of last year, 20% were not working, the highest ever recorded.” Continue reading “Men…Stop Playing Video Games…You’re LOSERS?” »
The True Prosthetic Arm is Around the Corner
Saturday, 3rd September 2011Posted in Blog Archive, Technology
Tags: arm, cnn, johns hopkins, prosthetic, robot arm, star trek, star wars, vulcan salute
Written by: R Bryant Francis
We are so close. SO CLOSE to true robotic limbs.
CNN has a report on the Modular Prosthetic Limb, a device being developed by Johns Hopkins University and University of Pittsburg scientists, that will begin testing next month. If testing succeeds Continue reading “The True Prosthetic Arm is Around the Corner” »
WORLD OF DUMB: SANJAY GUPTA RIDING THE BANDWAGON
Sunday, 2nd May 2010Posted in Blog Archive
Tags: bad reporting, cnn, knife attack, personal agenda, Sanjay Gupta, video game violence
Written by: Jace Hall
CNN is really starting to piss me off by continually allowing its reporters to run their “Blame everything on video games” agenda totally unchecked.
This time it is Dr-turned-attention-seeker SANJAY GUPTA.
Apparently, some knife -wielding dude attacks a lady on the street, and a homeless-looking dude rushes to her aid like a champion. The homeless-dude successfully gets the attacker off the lady but in the process gets stabbed a bunch of times.
The attacker runs after the stabbing, and the homeless-dude tries to chase him but collapses to the ground and lays there unable to move.
Then the real horrifying thing begins…
Person after person walks by the homeless-dude while he sits there and slowly dies. No one does ANYTHING to help him. Not even the lady that he saved! One dude even stops and takes a picture with his cell phone…. seriously.
Now, I will tell you that in my book every single one of those people who just walked by and did nothing to help are the worst kind of people there are. They are self-centered, dishonorable, gutless, spineless hedonistic individuals and a sad comment on our society today. It is not that hard to take 5 seconds and call 911.
That however, is not the point of my article. This is: When watching “Dr. Gupta’s” report on this horrible occurrence I sat there to my stunned amazement watching him and the dude he was interviewing consistently try to blame video games as one of the reasons why people didn’t help.
I’m serious.
Watch the video and bear withness to the agenda being pushed.
Am I the only one who catches this stuff???
-Jace
WORLD OF WARCRAFT ADDICTION – DONT GET ME STARTED!
Sunday, 2nd May 2010Posted in Blog Archive
Tags: addiction, antisocial, bad reporting, campbell brown, cnn, dr. drew, internet addiction, Jace Hall, world of warcraft
Written by: Jace Hall
So I stumbled across this news report on CNN about “internet addiction.”
The reporter (Campbell Brown) attempts to put together a news story aimed at generating fear in parents in regard to this suggested notion and attempts to point the finger at WORLD OF WARCRAFT as a prime target.
Here is the article – check it out:
THIS SORT OF NEWS REPORTING PISSES ME OFF.
It is sensationalistic, ultimately based on conjecture, and completely focused on pandering to least-common-denominator thinking.
Before I go further, let me make something clear:
It is my opinion that human beings are capable of creating destructive relationships and associations with almost anything. Seeking pleasure and avoiding pain is a fundamental trait of the human condition. This trait can occasionally direct people toward the use of escapism. Sometimes this can be a necessary mode of survival and very healthy – other times is can lead to counterproductive personal and social behavior.
What that means is that, YES, someone can get so involved in watching movies, or reading books, or tweaking their myspace page, or surfing, or playing games, or swimming or drinking, or using drugs, or having sex, or ANYTHING THAT THEY FIND USEFUL TO ESCAPE WITH, that they actually begin to ignore other important aspects of their lives and it becomes a real problem.
Almost anything done to excess is not healthy for you.
We all know this. It is obvious. So WHY then, must CNN concoct a report about the “super-evil-ultra internet addiction / World of Warcaft” and essentially paint this a some kind of big danger to watch out for?
I’ll tell you why. It is because things like the internet and World of Warcraft are things that a lot of “mainstream” people still don’t understand – and people fear and attack what they do not understand. It is that simple.
Frankly, I think that any safe piece of home entertainment that is capable of taking someone out of their crappy day and able to cheer them up for a while should be commended, not attacked. Isn’t that one of the desired functions of entertainment?
Also, here is some food for thought – The young adult in the article was essentially disregarded in social circles, depressed, and feeling alone. While he was in this state of existence, his parents DID NOTHING HELPFUL to address it because as long as his grades were coming in ok and he wasn’t being arrested for something, THEY COULD CARE LESS THAT HE WAS ACTUALLY MISERABLE. (I know a LOT of you out there reading this know EXACTLY what I am talking about.)
So then, he finds World of Warcraft, and becomes a social god in that game. In that world he mattered, in that world people treated him on the basis of his ACTIONS and not on HOW HE LOOKED. He acquired great friends, and went on real adventures with them. He enjoyed himself and his self-esteem was raised. He was able to see his own worth and make meaningful contributions in an environment that was meaningful to him.
By his own mother’s admission in the piece she said that she saw her son become “More excited, and animated and active” than she had ever seem him before. AND THIS WAS SOMEHOW A BAD THING???
So now they got this young guy all beat down on camera stating that he wasted a year of his life… but I beg to differ.
The fact is that he has REAL memories of being on real adventures with friends, while being happy in the moment and recognized for his achievements.
That to me is NOT a waste. I would tell him as much. What is life supposed to be anyway? The endless pursuit of the acquisition of good grades, money and objects?? I say no. Life should be about having meaningful experiences that matter to you – and this guy’s journey through World of Warcraft was a rewarding one for him.
While a car you buy will likely wear-out and vanish in 10 years, your great experience in World of Warcraft will last until the day you die.
World of Warcraft is not a drug. It is not an evil thing. It is not a danger and it is not any more addictive than anything else that is capable of building your self esteem and making you feel that you matter.
I suspect that if the reporter really cared about the health and well-being of young adults in our society, she would have dug into what that dude’s life was truly like at home. What role the parents played in his depression and low self-esteem. What were the things that our society and culture have done (and is doing) to create the desire to escape the world at the magnatude the he did. THOSE ARE THE DANGERS, NOT THE INTERNET OR WORLD OF WARCRAFT.
Look at the cause, not at the symptom. Think.
But you see, what we have here is a reporter that is looking to boost her career by being sensationalistic and we have parents that are more interested at pointing a finger at a game as the source of a problem, rather than themselves.
Unfortunately – FEAR sells, and this reporter is exploiting that fact. That’s all that this article accomplishes. It’s not really informative, and it offers no solutions – it merely raises the spectre of fear and somewhat perpetuates the notion that the responsibility for addictive problems may lie in the object of addiction and not in the social structure and culture surrounding the person or the person themselves.
Campbell Brown needs to watch my “I PLAY W.O.W.” (World of Warcraft) Music Video to understand… Wouldn’t you agree? 
Just a quick perspective on my simple blog…
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
-Jace
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