Hi! It seems you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting! Feel free to leave comments on posts!

Politics, there’s hardly any other word that can make me sigh more than it. Radio, television, internet; these are all places where politics rears its ugly head and it’s something I get tired of fairly quickly. At least from the mainstream aspect of things.

When I pick up a video game controller, I can be secure in knowing that it’s one place I’ll be safe from political advertising. Or is it? It has been reported that Obama has launched an ad campaign that will see his ads plastered over a slew of EA titles. The most notable is in Burnout Paradise, where Obama’s ad/face will be featured on many of the billboards in the virtual city. This makes me sad personally because I really like Burnout: Paradise, and I don’t want political advertising making its presence known there.

I’ve been against a lot of in-game advertising since its conception. I know some will say it adds to ‘immersiveness’ of the games, but do we really play video games to feel more in the real world? I know that when I put a game disc into my system, I’m doing it to become part of something outside the conventions of the real world. In Burnout: Paradise for example, it’s all about driving cars really fast and in some instances pulling off crazy aerial stunts. So when I’m doing 3 aerial flips with my Ferrari looking sports car, do I really want to see Obama’s face and be reminded of what’s happening in the real world?

In game advertising before this latest example was all about selling products. Now its shifted to getting a political message out to the masses. And I’m not talking about in-game politics, but real life politics. Which to me, there’s nothing more sad and depressing than the current political system.

So, I’ve expressed my general feelings towards Obama’s political advertising. Now where does my frustration and anger need to be directed at? Should I completely blame Obama for wanting to get his message out to gamers? Even though he’s mentioned before that people need to get off their couches and stop playing games. Or is it EA who’s profiting off Obama’s big dollars and they’re the ones to blame?

The truth of the matter is that the problem even goes beyond Obama and EA. But to encompass the overlying problems would require more than just one blog post, so let’s keep the focus just on these two. In this situation both are sharing my anger and frustration equally. My main anger towards Obama is the statements he’s made about video gaming in the past, yet he doesn’t mind trying to score some votes through its advertising. EA gets the brunt of my anger because even though Obama paid for the adspace, there had to be someone else out there that was willing to pay equal to what he was offering. Specifically companies without a political agenda.

People who aren’t into video games will probably say I’m over dramatizing the situation. As a gamer who’s been going strong for about 20+ years, I think I have a cause for anger, and concern. Like I mentioned earlier, video games are one of my great escapes from political agendas, and ideas, and basically everything that sucks about the real world (I’ve overused it haven’t I?). So when a media platform that I love and enjoy starts to adopt this kind of advertising, I can’t rightfully sit by and not voice concern.

Ok, I think I’ve went on a political rant long enough. For those who think I’m trying to pick on Obama please know that if this were McCain I would be writing the same article with a different name at the beginning.

Tags: Games, Ramblings by JohnnyV - 22 Comments »

Well, the DOW is up 393 points so things are looking up. Even if the economy is down, there’s so much to be happy about. There’s been legislation that’s gone through these past couple of weeks that have been huge, but pale in comparison to the media onslaught of the economy.

Physician Payments Sunshine Act:

To me this is one of the greatest pieces of legislation to ever be introduced in healthcare. The bill was introduced in March, and so far there hasn’t been word of it. Here’s a summary of the PPSA, “H.R. 5605 would amend title XI of the Social Security Act to provide for transparency in the relationship between physicians and manufacturers of drugs, devices, or medical supplies for which payment is made under Medicare, Medicaid, or SCHIP.”

Solar Tax Credit Is Renewed:

For those who are trying to implement solar power into your homes, this is great news.

The Senate has proven atleast once that it can get over itself to pass useful litigation. It’s staggering to see how many bills or proposals are axed because of disagreement on the Senate floor. With so many interest groups, pushing and pulling different senators, it’s amazing that anything is able to get passed.

The solar tax credit was expiring at the end of they year, and for awhile it was looking like it wasn’t going to be renewed. The old tax credit gave residential solar users a cap of $2,000 for tax breaks; while commercial endeavours saw no cap but were compensated back for a percentage of their expenses. With the new tax credit, residential projects no longer have a cap.

Tags: Ramblings by JohnnyV - 3 Comments »

But only when on a deadline…

It’s hard to know how to react to psychological research saying procrastination is now an official mental illness affecting about 20 percent of the population. The cynic notes immediately this telling tidbit: psychologists warn these people need therapy.

Therapy, in case you didn’t know, is how psychologists stay in business. With all these psych majors pumping out of the liberal arts pipeline, there seems an obvious need to create more loonies—even if the loonies are generally functional, generally sane most of the time. There’s a lot of money in just slightly crazy. More drugs to dispense, more hours logged.

But that could be another sign of mental illness: denial. It could be humans have wires crossed in their brains all the time. Just add it to the list of human conditions. Human: man or woman existing in the throes of Kant’s constants of birth, death, and sexuality, but whose pandemic denial of evolutionary-societal conflicts makes them generally a little bit nuts.

Wouldn’t be hard to prove there are a lot of crazy humans, would it? It may be we only notice crazy when it’s really crazy, like-a-violent-monkey crazy or eat-your-liver-with-some-fava-beans-and-a-nice-chianti crazy. Maybe more subtle types of crazy we just tolerate and label as the character flaws that make a person human.

Maybe immediate manic skepticism or depressive acceptance of either theory is a bit too, well, bipolar. Maybe the truth is somewhere in the middle. Maybe that’s a lie too. Doesn’t matter, the research shows what it shows: procrastination is a mental illness and the digital age isn’t helping things one bit.

I remember thinking ten years ago about how many kids I knew were on Ritalin and I wondered if too much stimulation—TV, radio, the Internet, cell phones, movies, music, games, well, you name it—wasn’t contributing to everybody having so much trouble paying attention. We know now that multitasking isn’t what it’s cracked up to be—it actually makes one slower—and I may not have been far from the mark according to the procrastination research.

So here’s what’s up: Chronic procrastination is more common than depression or phobias, and doesn’t affect any particular demographic. Rather, it affects people across racial, gender, and socio-economic lines:

“[I]t encourages depression, lowers self-esteem, causes insomnia, and indirectly affects health by discouraging visits to the dentist or doctor. Sufferers are also more likely to have accidents at home involving unmended appliances.”

They think procrastination is on the rise because of email, web-surfing, social networking, texting, YouTube, blogging, et cetera, et cetera.

But it’s not a new thing, not by a long shot. Time-wasters (”sufferers” of procrastination), they think, are hard-wired to be that way by evolution, by survival instinct. Back when we lived in caves, we only turned on the go-getter attitude when absolutely necessary, like when a saber-toothed tiger was staring us down, and hurrying the hell up suddenly mattered. So then, add this to list of human conditions as well: generally lazy until given a good reason to do something.

Take a good look at orangutans, how they lay about (you can see them on one of the Discovery channels), and then walk by a backyard with a hammock some time. Do you think there’s a difference?

It wasn’t really clear from the article about the study what was meant by “therapy.” When my grandmother was growing up, “therapy” entailed her parents taking switch to her backside. They didn’t know that causes other problems perhaps worse than laziness, which is why we (as a society) don’t do that anymore.

Today we use deadlines, and chronic procrastinators push the limits of those deadlines. Researchers say it’s not true when they tell themselves they work better under pressure; they just have selective memories and put those times they succeed in their mental pockets while conveniently forgetting the times they crashed and burned. One more human condition: We kid ourselves a lot.

How about a different, more radical proposal than trying to rewire a brain hardwired for energy conservation (i.e., chronic procrastinator)? How about we slow down and enjoy life from time to time? Maybe it’s the workaholic who’s crazy, instead?

Yeah, I know. Not gonna happen. I suppose brains are easier to rewire than entire achievement-driven societies.

Tags: Blogging, Business, Computers, Fun, Internet, News, Productivity, Ramblings, Technology by JasonLeeMiller - 19 Comments »

Surprised? Well, before you make any assumptions please make sure to read the entire post.

We all have ideas, some we put into action and some just disappear into the thin air. The title here is one of those ideas that got lost. Just as John Cow was started by copying John Chow, I had decided on starting a blog copying John Cow as well . Yeah, I know it’s a little crazy. The whole idea was to start a money making blog by copying John Cow. But like I said I had given up on this idea and have no desire or much knowledge when it comes to writing about the money making niche.

This post ( keep reading ) would have been my first post on JohnKungpow.com ( the domain I had planned on buying ). Anyways, since the idea is now out of sight and out of mind I thought I would put the post here for you to take a look at and let me know what you think of it. I wanted to write a post ( the first post ) on that blog to create some attention, let me know if it would have been successful. Although this post is a little off topic for what I write I just wanted you, the readers, to see what I cook at times and crazy ideas I come up with

Here is the post that I had planned, [Read more →]

Tags: Ramblings by Ritu - 10 Comments »

Yes! That’s all it takes - a minute of your time to say Thank You!

It’s not possible to thank people enough for their efforts. Nothing motivates more effectively than the overt, emotional, unconditional feedback of an honest thank –you. Whether it’s a child, a friend, an employee, or a boss, an emotional thank – you works miracles - Richard Saunders

So what’s the idea?

Well, the idea here is to thank one person who has tremendously helped us in every single way during our blogging journey. Sometimes it’s just nice to give back. Although we are not giving much, a sincere thank you alone at times is more than enough. If they had enough time to help you out, you should have a minute to thank them. Let’s make use of this post to do just that. [Read more →]

Tags: Blogging, Ramblings by Ritu - 20 Comments »

As we say goodbye to 2007 and welcome the new year I would like to wish all the readers a Very Happy New Year.Also one of my goals is to give more exposure to new bloggers in 2008. One of the way to get exposure is by guest posting. If anybody is interested in guest posting on this blog please send me an email at [email(at)ritubpant(dot)com].

Anyways, it’s time for me to go and have a little fun on the last day of this year. I will see you all next year. Although I haven’t been as active for the last couple days once the year rolls around you will find a lot of useful posts on this blog. You will find posts on blogging, productivity,web application,reviews and so on and so forth. If you would like to subscribe and stay up-to-date please click here

Take care and do not drink and drive. Have a good time with friends and family and if you get drunk please enjoy and do not wreck it for others.

I will see you guys next year

Tags: Ramblings by Ritu - 3 Comments »