Just flipping through Thinkgeek when I found this odd gizmo that one can use to turn their Wii into portable gaming system.
I personally would imagine much of the fun being taken out by such a small screen, but what do you think?

Hello there,

I saw this article on the front page of Yahoo! (US flavor) and thought I'd share it with the group.

Basically this article glosses over the experiment done by a Mickey Lorenzo, a computer programmer, to attempt weight loss by playing various Wii games. Without increasing his physical activity beyond 30 daily minutes of Wii Sports or dieting, Lorenzo was able to lose 9 LBS (4 kilos) and 3 inches from his waist.

This article also speaks of a small study group of children that manage to burn 150 calories per hour of Wii-time. (Study conducted in Liverpool.)

Lorenzo admits to 'forcing' his movements; meaning that when a small flick would do, this fellow would swing as though he were chopping down a tree.

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/wii-calories.htm

My take? Duh, increased activity = calories burned. I also feel this gives a nice voice of support for video games.

I personally am reminded of the following Penny Arcade strip and sincerely hope I did the tags correctly.

My dearest Destructoid,

Almost every day when I go to work, depending on my schedule, I pass by an out-of-business game store called Game Breakerz. When passing by I've always enjoyed the mural they had painted on their building; and while this is nothing new to people here, I thought I would share it with you before the building is turned into a nail salon.












On a side note, the next picture is of odd interest to me. Though we've never spoken and I have not even seen her for more than a few seconds at a time, I hate this female with every ounce of rage I can muster. She sits atop the car, as an advertisement for the Jiffy Lube. Maybe it's my insanity, maybe it's that she looks strikingly similar to an ex of mine, but I really hope she dies. Call me crazy.

Television vs. Video games in relation to Child Development

Now, I'd like to start off saying that I'm not a fancy, big city psychologist.
At best I'm some young man who thinks too much, decided to take quite a few
psychology classes back in the day, and thinks he deserves an opinion.
That's at best.

It's logical why a parent would care and want the best for their child. From about
the 1950's to early 80's, a huge concern for parents of children under the age of
say fourteen, was too much television.

"Don't sit so close!"

"It'll rot your brain!"

What I find interesting is that video games have been forced the title of "Children
Destroyer" over television.

Before I go too far with this, walk with me down a path. I recall once mentioning to
my mother, when she presented me with the options of going outside to play or reading
a book, why I couldn't just watch television instead of reading. I mean, I sit for both,
I could snack while doing both, so why couldn't I watch TV instead? Her answer, after
slapping me for questioning her, was that reading stimulates your brain and helps you
learn while TV is essentially a waste.

I, maybe due to the slapping, agreed with her. I take this same logic and apply it
to the concern of video games being more destructive than television to a child's brain.
Television provides you with nothing other than to watch. You don't, generally I mean,
have to actually think about the conflict of a television program, if there even is one.
Suppose a sitcom like Friends. Wait... I don't remember the characters for that. Ok, Ross.
Monica... Matthew Perry? Take Friends and give it a conflict, say someone cheated on
someone else. The conflict will either worsen or be resolved in 23 minutes (given commercials)
and thus the viewer must do nothing other than wait. There is no problem to solve,
no knowledge to absorb, no experience to be FELT, but rather just witnessed.

I, personally, feel that video games would be better than television for a child for
two simple reasons.

1. Purpose

Like mentioned above, there are conflicts to address in gaming. Be it, "How do I kill this
big motha?" or "How do I use the 'Speedy thing comes in, speedy things come out' principle
to my advantage" You have to solve problems and must think. The sheer fact that you brain
must be exercised, be it to solve problems or to improve reflexes, makes video games
more involved than television and arguably, better for children.

2. Social Involvement

Ok, this one is a stretch. There is kinship amongst gamers. Were I to say something
like "All your base are belong to us" to a regular person they would, and do, stare at
me blankly. Say that to a gamer and they'll chuckle a bit. (Varies on the person.)
The idea of involving people in groups, is beneficial for humans. Humans need other humans
to be healthy. Multiplayer games are great for that. Everyone in the same room, all
having a gay old time with Mario and his hijinks. The 'quality' of human interaction
through solely MMO games is debatable and I will not cover it in this 'article'. I
personally know that there are online relationships I value more than with the actual
biological organisms I interact with, but I also know that online interaction can
be chocked full of lies. Point here is that television does not really provide a conduit
for social interaction. Maybe they laugh at the same time, but in my crappy opinion,
it doesn't go much beyond that.

In summary, video gaming, even simple games, involves more brain usage and social
skills than television and is thus more beneficial to a child.

Post Script: Kat, how the Hell do you get me to make blogs? I don't get it. Stop using
your woman powers, dammit!!

Hello everyone.

I've been on Dtoid for quite some time and I don't often say much. However for the past few days I have been speaking with a rather smart user here of whom has encouraged me to make a blog. Rather than start off with some bland discussion about morality (Which I enjoy) she instead suggested I tell some of the more amusing situations I've come into in repairing laptops.

They will be described or listed in no particular logic or order.

Disclaimer: I would also like to mention that I do not search customer's computers unless it is necessary (Which it rarely is.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I recall once a customer requested I search her HDD for some particular pictures. Problem is, she had no idea what they were called or when they were created or even the roughest idea of where they could be. (She scattered all her files along my documents, various subfolders to various subfolders.) The dialog now begins...

Customer: I'm sorry sweetie but I just don't know where they are.
Me: Well... I'm going to need more information if I'm to find the photos you're looking for.
Customer: OH!! I know! There's a kite in them! If you find a kite, you've found the photos!
Me: ... kite.
Customer: Yes! It'll be multicolored!
Me: ... Oooookay.
Aside: So I manage to find her some of her photos, now keep in mind she is on the phone the entire time, telling me of her family vacation.
Customer: Blah blah Mexico blah blah beach
Me: Ma'am? I think I found them.
Customer: Oh good! Oh! Do you see any of a beach?
Me: *After short while* Yeah I see them, some bald fellow too.
Customer: Oh, that's my husband! Do you have any of the hotel?
Aside: So I scroll down a bit and am treated to the sight of a forty or fifty year old male COCK. (In bold for effect)
Me: *Trying to keep from laughing* Yes... I think so.
Aside: Now this is where my morality fails... I click to see next picture and yeah... he is... 'involved' with a jar of peanut butter. (Read: HE'S FUCKING PEANUT BUTTER!!)
Me: Yep... found the hotel picture. Your husband is in these too...
Customer: *silence*
Me: Well... since I found them I'm just going to put these on your desktop, m'kay?
Customer: *silence* Yes... ok. Thank you. *hangs up*

The best part was when she and her husband came to pick up the laptop, she asked me...
Customer: So... were you the one who fixed it?
Me: Yes.

Both she and her husband turned fire-engine red.

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Random statistics from what I recall...

Number of pornographic screen savers: About 10

Number of those involving homosexual males: 3

Number involving tentacle porn: 1... but it was memorable.

Number of discs in the optical drive of a pornographic nature: 2

Number of homoseuxal pornographic discs I set to play automatically on my manager's computer when he booted up in the morning: 1 (He wasn't my manager at the time, so... probably why I'm not fired.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Statistics not related to porn...

Some of the oddest whole objects found inside laptops: Pretzel, insects, wedding ring (I saved that man's marriage I'm sure.)

Funniest excuses for a shattered LCD: I just touched the screen and it shattered! It was just sitting on my desk and it shattered! I had my window open last night and it must have been too cold! I had it in front of my fan!

Downright dumbest bitch: This was on a fairly recent MacBook with an aluminum keyboard and the keys on .... well the keyboard were all mashed up, which usually indicates a customer with an anger issue. This woman tried to explain that the HEAT OF HER FINGERS melted the ALUMINUM keyboard. Aluminum is used to make goddamned fuselages!!

Notable attempts at customers trying to get a good deal: This one fellow would have to pay about $300 to get his motherboard replaced. He, I should mention he is Russian which is only of consequence since I am not Russian and am not used to 1. The accent 2. Concept of bartering. He kept saying 150. It took a few seconds, but I got it. So I said,
Me: OH!! You want to barter!!
Aside: He looked very pleased and said,
customer: Yes!
Me: Ok, now the cost to fix your laptop is $700. Now what's your offer?

(I suppose that was a dick move on my part, but he was what I call... a pain in the ass.)

Oddest substances found in/caked on laptop: Semen, hot cocoa, jam, some sort of massage oil (It was oily and smelled like jasmine), melted marshmallow.

Most racist thing to me said by customer in reference to tech support: Those Goddamned Towel Head motherfuckers can't speak a lick of fucking english!!

[Funniest thing a customer said to me after I left him a voicemail of the cost of repairing his laptop... (Dialog)
Me: This is Service.
Customer: Yeah is this Anthony?
Me: Yes sir how c...
Customer: FUCK YOU ANTHONY!!!!

Shittiest brand of laptop I work on? Toshiba. Nothin' funny there. Toshiba sucks.


Well... a shitty first blog but there you go.

I noticed a lack of images... so I'll upload something either relevant or random from my HDD