A Look at Gaming & Homework of the Future

Filed under:Education, Technology, psychology, sociology — posted by Rain on February 29, 2008 @ 12:20 pm

I want to think a bit on games’ effect on modern and future education, humanities, social sciences, etc.

I’m not interested in adding another brick in the wall of video game controversy-related articles, so I’m not talking about the effect of violence in games, because I like to believe that the majority of parents aren’t complete fools and know when (and how) it’s appropriate to introduce entertainment with adult themes.

Rather, I want to look at the broader changes in a society whose youth is turning in greater numbers to technological entertainment and communication.

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Origin of a Malady

Filed under:Health, Personal — posted by Rain on February 25, 2008 @ 5:07 pm

I’ve started using this blog to think out loud and gather together resources in one, easy-for-me-to-find place. In this particular article, you’ll see what happens when I am given a mystery from doctors who withhold information.

Today, I’m going to research my blood. Specifically, the blood in my veins that refuses to be normal, but has instead opted for a genetic malfunction that, like a seductive whisper from inside your head, influences it to do wrong things. In this case, clot.

There is a funny term for this twisted inclination. Thrombophilia, like Thumbalina’s less lovely sister, or a disturbing perversity. According to the wikipedia article I just linked, I share this with 5-8% of the population.

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Sacrifice the Sheep!

Filed under:Individuality, leadership, philosophy, psychology, sociology — posted by Rain on February 21, 2008 @ 3:22 pm

Being a human means having the potential of individuality, but achieving leadership over oneself is a challenge for such a social creature. I wanted to think about the different ways that we develop as our own persons and how, in the interests of society or marketing, that identity or the behaviors that define it can be changed.

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Being ‘Green’

Filed under:Environment, philosophy — posted by Rain on February 19, 2008 @ 4:33 pm

Maybe you hate environmentalists. The very thought of tree-hugging militant vegans toting red paint and fabric shopping bags just sends a shiver of loathing down your spine, or, at least, exercises your eye-rolling muscles till they’re sore.

Or perhaps you just want to know the facts, without emotion being used as evidence.

I’ll try.

Here is a list 10 of the most basic things we should do, if nothing else, to help minimize the negative impact of 6.6 billion human beings of our planet Earth. Don’t worry, I won’t recommend meditation and power crystals, or even talk about going vegetarian. Not in this article, anyhow.

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On Books, Authors, and the Quoted Word

Filed under:Books, Writing — posted by Rain on February 15, 2008 @ 1:10 pm

I read a lot. If I don’t have something to read, I get all twitchy and antsy and generally feel like the world has gone wrong. But, on the other hand, I don’t rely on any particular books very much to give me the facts of life.

Books, those lovely houses of paper and ink, are (to bookworms like me) doorways to entire worlds where we are free to delve in deep, live intensely without embarrassment, and expand our inner, secret selves.

But authors are something else entirely.

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Intentions

Filed under:philosophy, water — posted by Rain on February 14, 2008 @ 4:05 pm

I feel like I should start this off with a post of intentions. This way, in a few years, I have something to look back on and laugh at.

My first admission is that I don’t really know what I’m doing. I just wanted a place to talk about the world in the way I like to hear it being talked about - journalistically, with lots of nice references and research and multiple points of view. I don’t care about what party you are, or what label you’ve given yourself. Not really. I like scientific approaches to everyday controversies, but not without humor and open-mindedness.

Water is a brilliant element. It’s insane, and therefore extremely similar to the human race as a whole. When other elements understand that to become a solid, they should gather up real closely and become dense, water says “Screw that Communistic BS” and prefers a united conglomerate of individuals with their own space, arranged in intricate and unique crystalline societies. So, ice is less dense than its liquid form. It floats.

And because it floats, we exist. The Earth as we know it exists. If ice wasn’t so particularly insane, and followed the usual protocol, then the bottoms of the ocean would become dense with ice. The surface of oceans would freeze in the cold air, sink to the bottom, and just keep stacking up, eventually turning the whole ocean into one giant frozen mass. Try having unicellular nookie in an ice cube and you’ll see why Pluto isn’t a popular Valentine’s vacation spot.

Furthermore, as many cultures have noticed, water is pretty darn moody. Taoists regard it as a great teacher of the ‘So it goes’ mentality - rather than fuss over things, rivers just keep on flowing, eventually forging a new path through or around any obstacle. Old world sailors filled literature with the ocean’s temperamental storms and sudden calms and feminine connection to the moon. Water is a purifier in many world religions, though the birth- and life- fluids in all their variety are considered both vile and spiritual depending on who you ask.

It’s everywhere, in everything, open and tolerant and nonjudgmental, just factual. Not a bad metaphorical role model. Rain, in particular, is a fact of life throughout humanity’s usual haunts. Some cultures are sad and melancholy towards it, some cherish what it means for the Earth and the harvest, and others see it as a soothing purifier. It’s the more obvious spokesperson for our dependence on H2O. It doesn’t need to be spiritual or emotional - you can express that for your own self.

Likewise, I’m not here for your enlightenment. We’re all on separate paths, our own little streams of consciousness, and we can interpret the world in whatever manner suits us. Unlike the rain, we can have opinions, we can have experiences, and we can distinguish ourselves from the other raindrops before we all splash into the puddle and sink back down into the Earth from whence we came.

Rain has many aspects: the brilliant and minute reflections of an endless cycle of infinie raindrops spread out all over our little rock in our uninterested universe.

Aspect Rain: one raindrop speaks about what it sees on its own little journey.



image: detail of installation by Bronwyn Lace