Have you seen the new American Express television commercial? I mean the one with some tennis player (a game I really do not understand) named Roddick versus Pong. It is an awesome joke. Especially when some guy tells Roddick that “this guy returns everything.” I doubt anyone under 35 has any idea what Pong is. It is actually the first video game ever.
While kids today would probably laugh at the simplistic graphics and game play, back some 20+ years ago it was the edge of technology. There simply was nothing else like it, nor before it. And to see the games available today, MMO’s (massive multiplayer online games) and real-time strategy games, the journey is incredible. Stunning really when you think about it. But all of it is due to the highly addictive and innovative Pong. I wonder if any readers know what was the next game out? Hint, it was a coin-operated game.
Speaking of video games, why is it that every time some disturbed person does something vicious and they play any video game it’s implied to be a contributing factor. It’s the same argument from the 80’s when a string of teens committed suicide and they listen to the metal rock and roll genre of music. Again in the 90’s rap music was blamed on various crimes and violent actions, it was even used as a defense in a court case as I recall. Complete idiocy I think.
Nothing makes anyone do anything. Well short of direct action by another human being, like having a gun to your head. But to say that music, a video game, television show or book makes people act in any way is ludicrous. It’s no different than the Son of Sam killer saying his dog told him to kill people. The fact is that a person made a decision to harm another, and that’s it. Blaming anything else is just a cop out. Society’s way of ducking the blame, as I see it.
I will say that one of the games he was playing, the one based on the Columbine murders, is rude to say the least. I heard the creator of the game, a 24 year old kid who makes no money off the game, say that he made it as a way to spark conversation over the game. He was speaking on Fox News on September 15, 2006 @ 12:24pm. I wonder what he will do as an encore, maybe a game of the concentration camps or being a hijacker on one of the planes on 9/11.
I’m not being fair of course. I’ve never played the game, nor do I have interest in doing so. I find it distasteful and without merit. I understand it his right to make the game, First Amendment, but yet one would think that decency and compassion would stop him at some point in its development. Of course those factors have not stopped others from playing the game either.
Finally something just in time for the weekend. What is more entertaining than going out to the bar and having a drink with friends, to people watch or to make friends? Well it seems that this tradition is also responsible for higher wages. Yes a new study has found that drinkers make around 10% more than non-drinkers. In addition men that go to a bar take home 7% more in their paycheck. Sorry, but ladies that go to a bar once a month or more make no extra income.
Well I can’t imagine being out without the ladies there but the study says it won’t help the bottom line. Still the single guys need the extra money to buy those single ladies a drink. (some humor there, though it is true). Of course this study found that women drinkers make 14% more than non-drinkers.
So enjoy the weekend, and tip a few back. It could mean a raise. Now isn’t that entertaining?
This is what I think, what do you think?
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