Part I: Shoehorn Approach

I currently have two Japanese language memorization programs on my iphone, one for Kanji and one for vocabulary. Both programs (Japanese Flip and Kanji Flip) feature the same programming feature where when you correctly identify an answer, you see that question less often. However, if you answer a question incorrectly, you would expect to see that question again very soon. It's great except that it's difficult to know what kind of progress you've made. Moreover, it offers little encouragement to come back and continue your work. This is where video games come in... and the shoehorning of those elements come in. The two problems I mentioned are two problems that plague bad games and for those that have those problems solved, elevate the best games. For instance, a sense of progression is often achieved by a leveling system in video games. As you complete tasks, missions, etc, your game character gains experience points and levels up. Sure I'm slowly gaining in my Japanese ability as I use these two applications, but a nice progression bar with information on questions answered correctly would be nice. To bring it a step further, I would like to see abilities added as you level up. For instance, perhaps the player would gain experience point bonuses for each question answered in a row and at level 5, the player gains the ability to skip a question in order to preserve that streak. Another approach would be the inclusion of items. Get to level 2, win a new theme for your application. Get to level 4, win a little piece of candy. Answer ten food vocab questions correctly and you unlock a miniature chibi slice of pizza. Whatever... These types of hooks have been used in RPGs for quite some time with great success. Educational programs should be taking advantage of those ideas as well.

Video Games and Education... holding hands

I don't mean in the moral way (although they often try), but in the I'll sit down and dedicate my life to something for 20 hours kind of way. My time in education has made it pretty clear to me that students can often have a difficult focusing on their work for long stretches of time. For some, short stretches are a real challenge. Now, I remember myself as a child dedicating hours and hours to what can fairly be called some of the worst video games on earth... terrible, horrible, awful pieces of entertainment. However, like I said, hours and hours of dedication. So, I'm curious how education could have harnessed those hours I spent on Alfred Chicken for SNES and turned them into something useful. I've got a few ideas.

More to come...

Barbecue Sauce Execs

I have a larger post in the works, but ponder this for now....

Do you think the executives at Barbecue Sauce companies just sit in the board room and say, "hmmm, we made big inroads on ketchup this month and all signs point to the trend continuing in this fashion. If we keep this up, we'll be the number one condiment by the end of the year." They pop a bottle of champagne and celebrate....

Florida v. Powell and Miranda

I think most people believe that the Supreme Court decides an issue and never goes back to it. That my not be true, as the only evidence I have is that most people recognize the case Roe v. Wade, but if asked about Planned Parenthood v. Casey, relatively few would have any idea what that's about. That's fine, but generally that is not the reality with most issues, which brings me to this post. Today, the Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments in Florida v. Powell where Powell, Florida, and lower courts around the country are waiting for clarification on whether it is sufficient for police to tell suspects that they have a right to speak to a lawyer before questioning and that they may use that right during questioning, or must they specifically inform them that they have a right to counsel during the interrogation itself?

Powell was a felon in possession of a firearm. When arrested and interrogated, he made several incriminating statements, including that the he owned the weapon found on him. These statements were introduced at trial and he was found guilty.

“You have the right to remain silent. If you give up this right to remain silent, anything you say can be used against you in court. You have the right to talk to a lawyer before answering any of our questions. If you cannot afford to hire a lawyer, one will be appointed for you without cost and before any questioning. You have the right to use any of these rights at any time you want during this interview.”

That is the exact text of Tampa's Miranda warning and was used before Powell's interrogation. The defense believed that because the warning did not explicitly state that Powell had the right to an attorney during the interrogation, his statements should not have been eligible to be submitted as evidence.

My Take:
I am sure that there are times when police improperly obtain information from suspects that should not be allowed to be used as evidence in a trial. However, I do not believe that this is one of those times. This man is guilty. He voluntarily admitted that he owned the weapon. He wasn't told that he could consult an attorney during the interrogation explicitly, but he was told explicitly that he could consult a lawyer prior to the interview and he didn't. Finally, as I have put in bold above, that warning does state that a suspect may use the rights at any time.

The actual decision won't be handed down for quite some time in this case, but I'll make sure that I follow up on it.

Eshort: Some stuff

Just for everyone's information, every post that I write (with the exception of this one) are products of the time between 6 AM and 6:40 AM.

Also, why at coffee shops when you tell them that you would like room for cream, which they know because they asked me, do they put the top on the frickin cup. You know I'll just need to open the dumb thing again. grrrr.....

Modern Warfare 2: I hate it and love it

Modern Warfare 2 has done something that I've wanted to organize for a few years now and I can't help but be a little jealous. As a gamer (yep, I'll admit it even though I'm a bit fearful of the assumptions that are carried with that title), I've seen the evolution from playing with your friends in a room on a 24" TV to the introduction of high speed internet and HD televisions in all of our homes. With that came a general decline in the time being spent chatting with your friends while shooting each other with a Klobb in Goldeneye. That always made me sad. However, I was certainly willing to settle for its replacement by online gaming, especially since college equally lowered our time playing together.

Well, here's where MW2 has succeeded where I feel I've failed. Last night I had a blast playing with 4 of my close friends playing the game online with voice chat (again, the stereotypical nerd scene comes into view: headset, controller, TV). These friends and I love to be together, but I'll be honest that none of us are crazy about sitting on the telephone and chatting, so we rarely get a chance to talk other than email and text. Gaming has changed that. Yes, this time is being used to play MW2, but it is also being used as time for conversation like others would do at a coffee shop or at a bar. Moreover, the benefit extends further in allowing our group, which is stretched across the states of Minnesota and South Dakota, to interact all together despite our location.

The reason I'm a bit jealous and angry towards MW2 is that I've wanted this to come to fruition for years. It has periodically with Halo 3 and a few other titles, but for some reason MW2 has put fire in my friends' boots. Personally, I don't even think the game is that great. It's fun, but it can often be frustrating if you aren't a pro at the game. Yet, the experience is still a blast when played together as most games are. Kudos MW2.

Eshort: Dream

This morning I dreamed that I went downstairs and got a snack. Then I woke up and tried to grab the snack off of my night stand... lesson: always have a snack with you in bed

Rudolph the Sexist Reindeer

Two quotes from the Christmas special:

Mrs. Donner wanted to go along too, but Donner said, "No. This is man's work."

They were sad at the loss of their friend, but they decided that the best thing to do was to get the women back to Christmas town.

Gotta catch em all

So yesterday morning I was reading this week's TIME magazine and it had an article about the largest crackdown of dog fighting in recent history. The article featured the story of what happened, but it also had full colored photos of all the dogs. It was sad, but cute.

A little later in the day, I was reading with a student who I don't typically work with (two of my case load students were absent). He had brought a Pokemon book to read. Here's kind of how it went:

Ash: Pikachu, I choose you!
Rival: Fire thing, I choose you!
Ash: Use Lightning Bolt!
Rival: Use Flamethrower!

(A few pages later)

Rival: I don't care about being friends with my pokemon... All I care about is catching them all...
Ash: No way... There's nothing more important than being your pokemon's friend and learning from them.

Okay... this is from the kid who just sent his little electric puppy on a killing spree against another puppy that shoots fire. Nice friend...

So I wrote this over two days and it has gotten to be a bit long. To sum up, pokemon is raising a generation of dog fighters. The end.

Hello Triangle Man

So last night I was playing Assassin's Creed 2 and I took a moment to stop and think about how far games have actually come in terms of visual technology. The game takes place in 15th century Italy in Florence, Tuscany, and Venice. And... in expected nerd fashion I had just finished what was essentially a dungeon and emerged at the top of a building in Florence. The game's camera was intentionally tilted upward toward the sky and my view was blinded by the setting sun. I walked forward and tilted the camera down and realized that I could see the entire city of Florence from this point. That's not all that impressive, however the fact that all that I could see were places that I could actually go is impressive. Every home, church, tent... all the way to the city walls are places that my character could go and interact with.

This is where I really began to think about how far games have come and I organize the evolution in a simple way. In the NES days, you had the simplest form of visual graphics. Little colored squares were organized on screen to make what was suppose to be your character and environment. If you were playing a superman game, your mom was likely to walk in and say, "Who's that blue and red blob on the screen?" Well duh mom... it's superman. However, that didn't last long because once the SNES and Genesis came along, gamers were finally able to identify the characters and things they were using... for the most part. Then came the N64. We've finally made it to the third dimension. However, in order to achieve this the graphics had to take a bit of a hit. That often meant that your characters looked like they were made out of triangles.

Mom: Why is that triangle man fighting that triangle man?
Me: Sigh... isn't it obvious... the triangle kingdom is experiencing a triangular coup and....

Okay... so it wasn't that bad... but still... most of those games looked awful (However at the time I as well as many others probably would have praised how good these games looked). As new systems have come out, games have progressively gotten better in a linear fashion up until where we are now. Mario 64 also had some moments where you could look from a high point and see an entire level that you were free to play in just like Assassin's Creed 2... which is cool if you're cool with a world made out of triangles.

Happy Thanksgiving and so on

Thanksgiving break was great, but I must elaborate the pain of beginning work again after what was basically an entire week's worth of time off. I didn't realize that I love breaks... but here I am, 6:44 AM, and I wish I was getting up in an hour to take my dog on a run. It's not so bad, but it was extraordinarily tough getting up this morning. Also, now we can all listen to Christmas music.

A few things that bug me about the Health Care Debate

I'm bothered by the fact that the people debating and voting on whether or not our country reforms health care absolutely have little or no personal stake in it. U.S. representatives and senators have some of the best health care coverage out there, so it seems easy for them to blow it off for one reason or another. Similarly, I'm also annoyed by people with health care who rain down their worries upon me about the 'possible' decline in their health care. I understand why they are worried. I haven't seen any proof that their worries will come to fruition yet... but frankly I don't care if they do. The fact of the matter is that I've been in the situation where I lost my health care and had to buy private insurance. It is not feasible to do so. If you lost your job, I highly doubt that most people have a hundred some dollars every month for health insurance (and that was the price for only me... the non smoking, marathon running, 22 year old...) Moreover, I have crappy health insurance now with Americorp. All I'm saying is that the college educated guy who volunteers to serve his country for a year by helping school children shouldn't have to declare bankruptcy because he breaks his leg or gets some other obscenely expensive to treat disease. That is not the kind of country I want to live in because that sucks.

Catching up

I know I haven't posted in a few days. With my birthday on Wednesday and then work on Thursday and Friday I just have neglected to make time to write. However, I am planning some good stuff for the next week or so, specifically for those interested in some of the new video games of late. For my birthday, I ended up owning three new games: Left 4 Dead 2, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and Assassin's Creed 2. I'm planning on putting up reviews for at least the first two games and probably in the order listed. That's about it for now.

PS... if you got an invite to the Christmas party, you should go.

Posting Early: Writers Blok...

Tomorrow morning I need to run to the bank... so I'm not going to post anything incredible. On top of that, I will be attempting to pick up L4D2 at some reasonable time. I read that it is being released at midnight at some gamestops, but I can't stay up that late. So tomorrow...

On a different matter, I need to write an article about Elizabeth Hall, but I'm having the hardest time making it not suck. I would blame myself, but the subject matter isn't exactly great. It is a school after all... People learn, eat, and ride buses.. bada bing bada boom...

Best Dog Video Ever

To counteract the last post (kind of depressing)

Modern Warfare 2

This weekend I played the new Call of Duty game at a friend's house. Like the last one, it looks and plays great. That's not what this post is about. I want to discuss a specific mission called "No Russian." In this mission, you are playing as a CIA agent in a Russian terrorist group. You and your crew are in an elevator and everyone is packing some heavy firepower (It's a Call of Duty game so that's a given..). As the doors open, the leader says to everyone, "No Russian," and before your eyes is an airport terminal filled with people. I think it is obvious where this situation goes... it does go there, and you are given full discretion to shoot a bunch of unarmed people. I didn't (which is kind of boring in a game where your only method of input is with a gun). I kind of walked around horrified for a bit. I tried to shoot my bad guy friends, but the game doesn't let you do that.

I'm a bit conflicted on the whole thing. First, I think this is an interesting step for video games. The medium is maturing. The fact that a developer and publisher put this in is a big step. This kind of content is for a very mature audience and it's a risk to put that kind of content in a game (also, this is Activision's largest game this year... so a bit of an extra risk). On the other hand, I'm not sure this is the right game for this content. As stated earlier, the only method of interaction is with your weapon. That is all. That isn't a criticism... that's just what a first person shooter is... You aren't given the luxury of stopping the terrorists... I think you should be... On top of all that, the next mission of this game features a comical Russian invasion of the U.S. that reminds me of Red Dawn... I get confused over what tone the game wants to have..

On another Nintendo related note, New Super Mario Bros. Wii comes out this week. Apparently it is very similar to Super Mario 3 and Super Mario World which are two of my favorite games ever. It should be good.

Gifts at Target

So last night, my roommate and I were at Target to buy some paper towels. We had been out for about forty-eight hours at that point and we had both been dreading a Yuki accident for which we were not prepared for (although we're at about hour thirty-six now and still no accident... but now the crutch of the paper towel is back so she'll probably start going all over the place). So we're walking down the aisle and on one of the end-caps is a number of items with no real theme other than being packaged in red. After a bit more observation, it became apparent that these were impulse-buy gifts. I don't have a problem with those existing, but it makes me wonder who is walking through target and all of the sudden says, "Hmmm, yeah... Uncle Billy does need a 20-piece stainless steel grill set... or a clock radio or pen that's also a radio or coffee mug that's also radio, or a stainless steel grill set that is also a radio." I'm just not sure who these people are. Probably the same people who buy tennis balls for their dog out of the dollar section near the entrance. Oh shit...

Yuki and the Wonder Years...

Sometimes I like to think that Yuki is narrating her life like she is Fred Savage...

"Yep. That's my dad. And he's angry. Why do you ask? Well... it's a long story. It starts in the fall of 09'. He had just made dinner and was preparing the final parts of his meal. I didn't want make him angry... I just really wanted the rice. So he put his plate down and I only put my nose near it. I swear. However, somehow the plate went flying and here we are. However, I think he and I both learned something that day. First, it's that no matter what, we will both always love each other. Also, he learned never to let me near the plate ever again."

Why Nightmare Before Christmas is awesome but unnecessary

So last Saturday night I went through what has become an annual event... watching Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas. The music, voices, and the movie's sense of humor are pretty great overall. Yet, I couldn't help shake the idea that the movie's plot is totally unnecessary. Like I needed an hour and a half movie to teach me that it would be a bad idea for a skeleton to hijack Christmas. I think I could have predicted that outcome.

Moreover... other parts of the movie don't make any sense. Like when Jack is telling those dumb trick-or-treat kids to be careful with Santa Clause. They bring Santa back in a garbage bag dumped in a walking bathtub and Jack is just fine with the situation. Worse yet, after Jack gets Santa's hat, he again sends Santa with the kids (who inevitably bring Santa to Oogey Boogey... which Jack also knows about... jeez). Clearly I have no reason to trust Jack's judgment. However, I don't see why the people of Halloween town trust his judgment any more than I do. This skeleton is the one who after Halloween mopes around for 20 hours and walks off into the woods. Afterward, he comes back talking about a magical land with snow and lights.... Again, why isn't the town committing him to the doctor's crazy lab with the doll girl.. actually that would work out pretty well for the love story. I guess I shouldn't expect a lot out of a town that elects a mayor with a head that spins. Also he's a moron.

Rock Band Influence

So I've had this thing where I play a song on Rock Band and if it is good, it will work its way into my rotation of songs that I listen to on my ipod or computer. One example is "Maps" by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Not really for any particular reason other than I just happen to remember it. I don't know how many others there are, but the list numbers is likely over fifty songs (which is a lot considering I know most songs that are in the game).

Last night, I was driving my friend home and she asked, "do you have the Beatles' songs on your computer?" Of course, I answered yes... but it was obvious to me that her interest was born out of Beatles: Rock Band. She even admitted that her parents had never really listened to the Beatles, but she has started liking some of their music after playing it in the game.

I don't have much else to say about this other than if a majority of people end up experiencing what I've described in this post, I would be interested in seeing bands use Rock Band as a promotional tool. Post a few songs for free on Rock Band from a new album, get people hooked, maybe they will buy the real thing off of itunes.

PS.. I don't proofread these posts... and I likely never will

The ERICTalk Blog

Yo everyone. It's like I'm yelling "Eric" and saying "talk" in a not as excited manner. I'm trying a new blog that will just be a collection of my observations on current things in my life.

For instance, sometimes I end up just loving a particular part of a song even if it should not impress me in any way. In "Hello Goodbye," the Beatles play a C scale on guitar over and over and I love it. It's just a C scale. Congrats to them I guess.

That is a pretty boring example of what I expect to write about on this blog (to be fair, I just finished listening to "Hello Goodbye" so it was relevant for me at the time).

If you don't want to be on the email list for this, just let me know. I'll take you off, but I added those who may have a small interest in what I'm up to.


Eric