What is Normal?

Posted on April 11, 2014 by Austin

 

My Essay focuses on Mental Illness Awareness. Specifically, I will be focusing on the negative stigma that surrounds mental illnesses, and how they impede treatment for those suffering from the disorders. In addition, I will go into detail talking about how the mental illness differs from the person. In this paper, I am to educate my readers on what mental disorders are.

                I have been diagnosed with a mental illness for the majority of my life. As a result, I am well aware of the stigma surrounding many of the disorders, and have personally experienced them first hand. In addition, I have a number of close friends that suffer from severe mental illnesses, and would like to see the amount of negative stigma surrounding mental illnesses to be reduced.

                My stance is that I absolutely despise the stigma that surrounds mental illnesses. They group vastly different populations under constraining labels, and discourage the undiagnosed from seeking help. It has been repeatedly documented that less people will seek out treatment for a mental illness because of the stigma and labels that surround them.

                In my essay, to get it across that mental illnesses are a topic of relevance, I display a number of statistics early on that demonstrates the epidemic proportions of the disorders, which hopefully establishes them as an issue of concern to my audience. However, much of my essay is also written on a more personal level. In my essay, I have a lot of journalistic narration, where I describe my experiences of how I felt as a victim of stigma, as well as what it felt like to initially discover that one of my friends has bi-polar disorder, and the unwarranted judgments that immediately raised through my head due to the stereotypes regarding the disorder that have been ingrained in my brain since I was little. By giving a more personal account of the effects of stigma, I hope to appeal to my audience’s empathetic side, and see the issue of stigma from a humane perspective.

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Sega-Nintendo Coapertion and The Legend of Sonic

Posted on March 27, 2014 by Austin

 Most  gamers know that Nintendo and Sega have had a vicious rivalry dating from the dawn of console gaming. Sega and Nintendo would compete with their heavy-duty intellectual property, like Mario, Sonic, and Zelda , attempting to take control of the video game market. During the era of the Sega Genesis, it was near impossible to imagine Sonic and Mario appearing on the same console, much less the same game.

 Well, after the failure of the Dreamcast, Sega left the console business and begin to only produce software.  Because they no longer had a console they could call their own, Sega began porting their games to other consoles, including the Xbox, Playstation 2, and even Nintendo’s GameCube. They even had some success, and had a number of blockbuster games, like Sonic Generations. However, Nintendo character and Sonic characters never appeared in the same game.

However, with the era of the Wii, things began to change. A title called “Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games” was released, and featured Mario, Sonic and pals competing in Olympic events to win the gold. Though the game featured Mario and Sonic competing against one another in a way not unlike the Nintendo -Sega rivalry of old, it was one of the first (if not the first) time the two companies allowed their trademarked characters to appear in the same game.  In my opinion, this game marked the beginning of the a trend of cooperation between  Sega and Nintendo.

Nonetheless, even with their recent history of cooperation, what I discovered on Reddit yesterday completely caught me by surprise. Sega released a Sonic game called “Sonic Lost World” on the Wii U back in November of 2013. The game primarily features Sonic and his gang. That is, until Sega released downloadable content for the game that depicted Sonic dressed in Link’s iconic green tunic, running across the fields of Hyrule (the setting of most zelda games).

You control Sonic as he fights iconic Zelda enemies such as stalchilds and dodge Gorons in your quest to obtain the Triforce. Though the downloadable content is for fun and not meant to be taken as a legitimate Zelda title, the fact that Sega and Nintendo allowed this degree of overlap in their intellectual property is truly surprising, and it has me hopeful of what the two companies might work together to produce together in the future. With Sega’s dozen or so underused but fantastic franchises and Nintendo’s ability to polish a game to perfection, the two companies working together may signify the revival of Sega into the gaming industry.

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Fighting For Your Rights

Posted on March 20, 2014 by Austin

 

snowden-ted-flickr-ubj 610

If you do not remember, my last post focused on the actions of former NSA employee and whistleblower Edward Snowden, and whether his decision to expose the unconstitutional observation of United States citizens via the National Surveillance Agency was the right thing to do. In that post, I declared that I fully support Edward Snowden’s decision to expose the NSA’s actions, which compromise the unalienable rights of the very citizens they are supposedly protecting, by leaking classified NSA documents, and even now continuing to support anti NSA campaigns by appearing on Larry Page’s famous TED stage via robot to talk about transparency this past week.

Nonetheless, even if Snowden has sacrificed his live and home in order to bring this information to the public, it will be in vain unless the public acts on it. On the same TED talk stage, NSA deputy director Rick Ledgett appeared only a couple days after Snowden’s surprise appearance. In addition to condemning Snowden’s actions, he also stated that all sections of the government approved of the NSA options, and they are not running free, doing their own agenda without checks and balances. If this is indeed the case, there is little headway being made to change the NSA in the national government, even after it has been exposed as participating in unconstitutional acts. As a result, It must fall into the hands of both individuals and companies of United States citizens, to ensure private information can be communicated confidently through online means without risking exposure.

One popular software company has begun to take effective steps in this direction. Google has recently unveiled a change to their popular email servers, known as Gmail, that will make it much harder for the National Surveillance Agency to intercept and view your emails to your coworkers, loved ones, shopping sites, and therapists. Gmail now utilizes a communication protocol, called HTTPS, which heavily encrypts your emails, and keeps them encrypted throughout their entire journey through cyberspace. This encryption will make it nearly impossible for hackers to view your emails, unless they get the government to force Gmail to directly hand over your information. According to his blog, Gmail security engineer Nicolas Lizborski stated that the increase in Gmail’s security protocols was a direct response to the reveal of government surveillance made by former National Surveillance Agency contractor Edward Snowden.

Nonetheless, one company making a stand will not be enough to deter the NSA. The employees at the Surveillance Agency are brilliant, and will eventually find a way to bypass Gmail’s new security measures. In addition, the NSA also observes and records telephone calls, text messages, and Facebook posts. One company alone is not enough to stop the NSA’s actions. In order to stop the NSA, huge numbers of citizens must step up and take action in order to assure their rights are protected.

But now the question arises, what can I possibly do to help bring down a government agency as powerful as the NSA? My response it to tell the people you have delegated to voice your opinion; companies you use to share your information electronically, Verizon, Google, but most importantly, your State and National Legislators. These representatives were elected by you, by citizens of the United States. As such, they are responsible to the needs of their constituents, and if enough of their constituents write or phone their congressman or congresswomen expressing their disdain for the National Surveillance Agency, they will be obligated to act upon their constituents’ desires in either the House of Representatives or Senate, or risk losing their seat in the coming election.

This is a coherent strategy, and has been proven to work throughout history. However, if only a handful of motivated citizens actually decide to take action and write their Senators regarding their opinions about the policies of the NSA and how they feel they infringe upon their privacy, we will never see it change. In order for anything to get done, we all must take action, as well as convince others throughout the country to do the same (probably by using the internet, the very tool the NSA has used to spy upon us) to write their representatives. Only united will we ever stand a chance at changing the unconstitutional policies the United States government has allowed to fester and grow within the National Surveillance Agency.

Many scandals, such as Nixon’s Watergate Scandal, are exposed via whistleblowers like Snowden. However, simply exposing a scandal, injustice, or unconstitutional policy is almost never enough to change it. In order to force the policy makers to hear you out, you must make your opinion heard, and make it mean something. So if there is anything I want you to take away from this entry, it is this; if you are unsatisfied with the unconstitutional surveillance policies of the NSA, don’t just sit at your computer, complaining on forums or to friends. If you really want the policy to change, make an effort to change it. Write a letter to your congressman, support companies like Google that protect your privacy, and never given an inch to organizations that try to infringe upon your rights. By taking action instead of standing idle, we collectively pose a huge threat to the organizations that threaten the principles this country was founded on.

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Mental Illness Awareness

Posted on March 20, 2014 by Austin

For my persuasive essay, I am heavily leaning towards the topic of raising mental awareness. The purpose of this persuasive essay would be to educate readers about the disorders, referencing information such as how many individuals have the disorder out of one hundred, and how the disorder is similar to a physical illness in that it requires treatment in order for the symptoms to become manageable. Ultimately, by educating my readers about the many types of mental illnesses out there, I would like to ultimately reduce the stigma that surrounds these disorders, so individuals who may be suffering with these disorders will come forward for treatment without fear of being embarrassed, singled out, or otherwise ridiculed.

This topic hit very close to home for me. A number of my friends have been living with mental illnesses for all of their lives. At times, it impairs them, and in some extreme cases causes them to become suicidal. Yet, societies carelessly toss mental illness terms around like they are jokes; Oh, I need to keep my room clean, I must have OCD, Sorry, I get bipolar sometimes when I’m hungry. By using these disorders to describe these negative behaviors causally, it makes individuals who actually sufferer from the disorders embarrassed to tell others about their behaviors. This often leads to individuals not being treated for their disorders, which often has consequences similar to that of an untreated leg infection.

One of the most important needs of individuals suffering from mental illnesses, more than individuals suffering from a virus or bacteria, is acceptance and understanding from their friends. These individuals must know that they would not be judged any differently whether they had the disease or didn’t. This in itself is an effective treatment for many mental illnesses as it helps the individual with the ailment come to terms with and no longer be embarrassed with their disorder, and instead take steps to treat it.

 

This is a brief synopsis of the topic of my persuasive essay. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Best!

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Assassins Creed: Freedom and the Open Sea

Posted on February 28, 2014 by Austin

Recently, I have not had a lot of time to play video games (I’ve been really busy with school work and stuff. 🙁 ) ) However, last night, I did get about an hour and a half to start a game I’ve been wanting to play for a couple of months now. Assassins Creed: Black Flag.

The game has a pretty interesting plot. You play a guy that travels through memories encoded in the DNA of donors to explore the past of key assassins throughout history. This is actually the first Assassins Creed game I have played, so I initially felt a bit overwhelmed with the story at first. However, I do see potential in it. We will see where it sails.

One thing I do love is the environment of the game. The cities are busheling and feel alive with the everyday activities of the their lives. The ocean is calling and dangerous. Everything is feels alive, attempting to immerse you int the 17 century, and call you to adventure.

Which brings me to a related topic. What would you rather play in terms of a single player game. A game that follows a set, linear list of missions, such as Call of Duty, Halo, and many other shooter games. Sure, the games are fun to an extent, but it doesn’t really feel as if you are the one making the choices in the game. In open world games like Skyrim and Assassins Creed you have the freedom to define your character how you want, through the actions and side-quests you participate in (especially when they are morally ethical/unethical missions). By being able to define your character, you feel more invested in the character, as his actions reflect the moral choices you make in everyday life.

 

 

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Games for unwinding

Posted on February 13, 2014 by Austin

As many of you probably know, there are many genres of games out there; shooters, adventurers, puzzles, and many more. This week, I will be focusing on which genres of games I believe are best for unwinding.

When it comes to relaxing, I don’t want to be playing something that is overly difficult. I remember when I was younger, and made the mistake of playing Call of Duty in an attempt to relax. On a few rare days, it seemed to work, when I was doing well. However, when I was really in need of something mind numbing relaxation, competitive shooters could never seem to deliver. I would always be noobtubed, 360 no-scoped, or otherwise shot from behind, leaving me fuming, throwing my controller across the room, and more anxious then I was before I started playing.

No, to me, competitive gaming, whether it be Call of Duty, StarCraft, or MarioKart, is not the way to unwind. No, for that, you need a game that will take you mind off of your actual problems, and entrance you in the story of the game. Games like BioShock, Zelda, and Halo (at-least the campaign) are perfect games for relaxing, as they entrance you in the story.

Games that have a good story have similar effects to that of a great novel. As you play through the game, you are captured by the protagonists life, his (or her) problems, their successes, quirky personalities, and short comings. You begin to root for them as they travel through their journey, and as a result, as you being to focus on the problems facing their lives, you forget about your own.

So the next time you are looking to relax, choose a game like you would choose a book. If you find that you can relate to the main character, I bet you won’t be able to put it down.

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The NSA is Watching You. Should They Be?

Posted on February 6, 2014 by Austin

 

On June 5, 2013, the Guardian published the first of a series of stories that later became known as the NSA files. The stories revealed that the United States’ National Surveillance Agency has been intently monitoring the internet activity of foreigners, and even more surprisingly, its own citizens. Edward Snowden, an employee of the National Surveillance agency, announced himself as the source the information, and was quickly labeled as a traitor to the nation, getting his passport revoked, effectively stranding him in Russian customs.

However, Snowden is now in Russian Asylum, and though labelled by the United States government as a traitor, he is praised by many others as a hero, a protector of rights guaranteed by the United States constitution, such as protection from unwarranted search and seizure; rights that have been directly infringed upon by the National Surveillance

The scope of how much information the National Surveillance Agency collects about United States citizens is simply astounding. In the time it took me to research the information regarding this topic, the NSA gathered (according to Guardian) over 500 terabytes, or 500,000 gigabytes of data on users. To put that in perspective, that’s equivalent to the amount of space required to store 100,000 movies, which are data intensive files. With that amount of information being gathered in such a short period of time, it is quite obvious that the NSA is monitoring more then a select few “select persons of interest”.

Defenders of the NSA may counter this by saying that the NSA only follows individuals that may pose a threat to the United States. I counter this with the statements “Who determines what is categorized by a threat?”. We have a system of checks and balances in our government for a reason.  The NSA on the other hand, is completely free to hyper-analyze anyone they deem “a possible threat”, with very little monitoring from other departments.

But if that wasn’t enough, the NSA’s method of gathering data is called the “Pattern of Life”, a detailed profile of the target and anyone associated with them. By associated, they mean “3 hops away”. In other words, if you have a friend who has a friend who has a friend that is a person of interest to the NSA, you are fair game to have your cell phone record, internet history, and emails recorded by the NSA. Considering that the average person has around 190 Facebook friends, three hops away means that one “person of interest” gives the NSA over a million individuals to probe for information.

                The NSA attempts to underplay this massive intrusion into personal privacy with the stance “If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear”. I counter this assertion with the following stance; Is it reasonable to search everyone, have access to extremely sensitive and personal data, just to make us a little safer?. How much freedom are we willing to give up to assure our safety?

                I believe that is intrusion of privacy is a huge step out of the government’s jurisdiction. We already sacrifice enough of our freedom to assure our safety; “We are patted down and swiffed in airports across the country, an activity many an ordinary citizen finds humiliating. Why should we sacrifice our freedom of expression, speech, and thought, on a source of communication and information that is supposed to be unregulated and eye opening to all, all for this alleged protection we did not ask for?

                I believe that if the National Surveillance Agency is allowed to continue with its current agenda, the internet as medium of expression, information, and free thought will be stifled. Individuals will think twice about going online to find a community they can relate to, knowing that a guy sitting behind a desk in the NSA headquarters can easily trace his online activity back to real life. Future whistleblowers that are crucial to keeping our government in line will think twice before posting their findings online, fearing it could be traced back to them and lead to an arduous life. Outlets like Tumblr and Reddit will become shadows of their current forms, their users terrified of expressing themselves in fear of it somehow being used against them. The NSA is essentially like Big Brother, always watching, causing you to act online a certain way, and as a result, think a certain way.

                I value my nation. I appreciate the efforts our government, military troops stationed overseas, and National Guard go through to keep our nation safe from foreign harm. However, when you begin to violate the privacy of the very citizens you are supposed to protect, we have a problem. Our nation was founded on the ideas of free-thinkers, traitors, like Edward Snowden, who stepped up and challenged an oppressive government for the good of their people. Allowing the NSA to function at its current capacity would inhibit further free-thinkers from arising. We will no longer be a nation of innovation, but rather a nation of minds enslaved by the restrictions of the government.  Who then will come when our government reaches the same state as the British government did centuries ago. As a result, I will not knowingly sacrifice my constitutional right of privacy and protection against unwarranted search and seizure. I will make whole hearted attempts to support anti-NSA legislation and whistleblowers like Edward Snowden, who take it upon themselves to assure government transparency. I urge you to consider doing the same.

Thank you for reading.

Sources:      

         http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/nov/01/snowden-nsa-files-surveillance-revelations-decoded#section/1

The Cool Gif up top: http://i.imgur.com/4BtLipY.gif

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The Perfect Games For Procrastination.

Posted on February 6, 2014 by Austin

Hi All. Over the last week or so, I’ve been up to my eyeballs in work. Seriously, I was up until 3:00 am Wednesday night doing math homework. I have been trying to find any excuse not to sit at my desk and spend hours churning out classwork.

So this got me thinking, what are the best games for procrastinating. By this, I mean, what are the games that you say to yourself “I’ll just play this for a couple of minutes to rest my brain”, and before you know it, three hours have passed, and you are rushing to finish your paper before the 12 o’clock deadline. Here are my top three games that can effectively used to procrastinate and make your life harder. J

1.       Super Smash Bros- This is a dangerously tantalizing game, especially when you have work to do. Considering that a round of Smash brothers can be played in roughly five minutes, it would only be logical to assume that it would be the perfect game to take your mind off work for a couple of minutes. However, one does not simply play one round of smash brothers, especially when your friends are around. One round turns into two, two turns into four, and four turns into ten, and before you know it, you’ve spent 2 hours that you should have been studying beating Luigi, Link, and Peach to a pulp.

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2.       Bloons Tower Defense- Another dangerous game, bloons tower defense corners its victim’s portability with its seemingly simple nature; “Oh, it’s only a phone app, it will only hold my attention for so long”. How wrong I was. With all the upgrades. Strategies. And maps available in bloons tower defense, I have easily spent hours I should have spent studying focusing my brain power on the best tower configuration for popping balloons. Combine that with the games portability, and you have an effective time waster on your hands.

3.       Minesweeper- Once you start to figure out the patterns in this painfully frustrating game, you can burn hours playing it. In addition, it is available on every Windows computer from the start, making it ideal for procrastinating in any environment.

So if you’ve got a lot of work you should be doing, but don’t feel like doing it, try out one of these games. I guarantee you will regret it. :-p

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The Art of Smash

Posted on January 30, 2014 by Austin

Hi guys. Glad you enjoyed my last blog! This week, I am responding to Abby’s inquiry regarding the skill required to play some competitive games. Because she mentioned it in her post, and because I am a huge fan of the game, I will focus the inquiry to the long debated question “Do you have to be good at Smash Brothers to win, or will button mashing always secure you a chance at victory”?
Well, this is a pretty complicated question. Super Smash Brother is an interesting game in that it takes just an hour or two to pick up and learn the basics of how to play. Someone who is inexperienced in gaming can become more than just a stage obstacle in just an hour and a relatively competent player within a couple of hours. In this way, you could consider Smash a button masher in that you can play it like that and have fairly decent success with people of your skill level.

However, anyone with even a remote amount of skill can severely punish any player who thinks mere button-mashing is enough to dethrone a Smash champion. Each character in the Smash Brothers roster has a set of unique attacks, all with different knockbacks, sweet-spots, counters, advantages and drawbacks. Often, competitors will have a number of characters they will play, because the move set of that particular character is an optimal match for their opponent’s character. A player who is familiar with their character’s movements, attacks, and recovery times will almost always beat a button-mashing novice in a 1 v. 1.

Regardless, Smash is unique in that it can still be fun to play, even if one player is significantly better than the rest. There are many items in Super Smash Bros, including but not limited to the Poke-Ball, The Hammer, and the Bo-Bomb, which can function as equalizers on the battlefield. In addition, you can set teams on the menu, so two to three inexperienced players can take on a Smash master with the possibility (however remote it may be) of victory. That being said, when all items are taken out of the game, and it is a novice is pitted against an experienced player, the experienced player will almost always win.

Check out this video to see just how much skill someone can have at this game.

Check out the Rest of the Smash Documentary Here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tgWH-qXpv8

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I believe in Understanding

Posted on January 30, 2014 by Austin

I Believe in Understanding

I was sitting on the bench of the varsity wrestling team, conversing in the profuse, swear laden tongue of the Middle-Schooler. As I sat there, watching our heavy-weight flounder on the mat with another, equally girthy adversary, I could not help but laugh to myself. I turn to my teammate, Annuz, and ask “What is a fat, un-athletic guy like that doing on our team? He doesn’t belong here.

He turned to me, and in a cold, even expression, stated “How dare you judge him! You barely know him.”

At the time, I had little concept of what he was referring to. And though I was the one pointing the finger in this case, I had little knowledge or understanding of what it meant to understand someone, or to be understood. In Middle School, I had barely any friends. The friends I chased I did so because they were apparently cool the in-crowd. I did so while ignoring the hands that reached out to me, terrified of being labelled as one of the weirdoes. I clung to the cool crowd, hoping they would accept me as one of them.

 They were mercilious, punching me with words and labelling me as an outcast. How unfair it was,, that they made these judgments without even knowing who I was.

It wasn’t until the end of my second year of High School that I stopped chasing the cool kids. I was tired of striving to be one of the elites, tired of the ridicule. I just wanted to be accepted for who I was. Alone, I turned to the weirdoes, the outcasts, choosing to submit to the labels in exchange for acceptance.

What, and who I found there completely surprised me. These so called outcasts were no losers. As I talked to them, learned their interests, hobbies, and problems, about their families, times of success and failure, who they were, I began to understand them, their beautiful pasts and how they shaped their personalities and actions. Through our time spent together, I learned many of these defining attributed about their lives, began to understand them, and to love them.    As I took the years required to understand and comprehend who these individuals were, I found them turning into lifelong friends. I began to understand what it means to understand, as well as be understood.

So please, I beg you, don’t dismiss someone due to their odd shape, weird interests, or because of how they dress. Before you judge, take the time to understand. I bet, no, guarantee, that who you discover was not who you were expecting.

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