Thomas Umstattd Jr.

What is the difference between a fire cracker and a rifle round? They both have powerful gun powder and they both make people jump through sheer noise. The firecracker has no control. Whereas when a round dwells in the barrel, the rifle focuses the power of the powder blasting the bullet hundreds of yards away.

The rifle round can change the course of history, the fire cracker amuses children. Does your life look like a rifle round or a fire cracker? (more…)

Hello Friends,

Quick note.

For those of you who only get this blog via Facebook, you are missing out. You get way more coolness and less hassle when you subscribe via email or RSS.

I have started blogging at cgames.com. Think of it as the rough draft of the book I am writing about the dangers of digital gaming. Brain Morgan is a contributing writer to the cgames blog.  Those of you who haven’t read his stuff will see he’s a smart guy.

I will continue to write on this blog about politics, religion and public speaking and technology. But the book related posts will now all wind up at cgames. You can even get the cgames posts delivered directly to your email in-box. How cool is that?

Here are some interesting thoughts from Father Raymond J. de Souza

“Don’t play video games. Don’t own them. And for the sake of all that is good and holy, don’t buy them for your children.

“Video games are like a black hole into which time disappears. Students today often confess to wasting a couple of hours a day on them. Corporate Canada likely loses whole weeks of productive work to those who are playing games at work. Video games have some kind of addictive allure that means any number of hours is not enough. It is always possible to play again — to rise to that “next level” which somehow acquires near-mystical importance. They are the crack cocaine of the electronic world.”

He also says

“My mother, whose principal goal in bringing up her children was not to affirm our self-esteem, was fond of telling us that only unintelligent children got bored. Our house had books and toys and siblings, and we had our imaginations — my mother thought that more than sufficient for any child to amuse himself. Television, let alone video games, wasn’t necessary.”

Read the full article The crack cocaine of the electronic world.

Thanks to Brenda for the link.

This cartoon by Mark Stivers says it all:

Thanks to Joe Hootman sending this to me.