Freud, Analyze this

One of the weekly topics we're covering in my western civilization class is Psychology and we're studying a little about Sigmund Freud.  Two things come to mind when I hear the name Freud,

1) My psychology class in high school with Mr. Jones, and

2) the song "Die Another Day" by Madonna (she has a catchy line saying, Sigmund Freud, analyze this, analyze this, analyze this.)  

However, on a more serious note, one of our class readings was an excerpt on one of Freud's writings and I wanted to expand a little more on subject.  I encourage you to red the excerpt.  One of the views to explain the reasons for the aggressiveness of the natural man is the concept of private property.   

  "The ownership of private wealth gives the individual power, and waited the temptation to ill-treat his neighbor; while the man who is excluded from possession is bound to rebel in hostility against his oppressor."  The concept seems sound and I believe there is definitely truth behind its meaning.

As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Ladder-day Saints, our religion believes that when Christ comes down to earth again, we will live by a law where everybody will have all things in common, and wealth, space, necessities will be distributed according to family/individual needs.  Poverty would essentially disappear and there wouldn't be categorizations of different nations such as "3rd world countries". 

After thinking about this another thing was brought to my attention.  A memory of a college class discussion came to mind where the topic was on patents, health care, and innovation within the technology spectrum was brought up.  In short, people work hard to find, develop, and address current world problems for the sole purpose of making a profit (the American way).  When you pay a doctor the same salary as you would a person with the same life situation, but they only have obtained a high school education, what would motivate anyone to attend years and years of schooling if it doesn't benefit them?!  Why spend millions in research to discover a new medicine if you won't at least get paid for your hours and hours of tedious labor and time above and beyond that of your simple-life neighbor?

Let me know what your thoughts are!  Oh, and I'm not huge Madonna fan I'd like to add.  That particular song was simply abused over the radio by being played way too much years ago!  

Entangled Alliances

I surprisingly remember when World War I was covered in my junior year in high school clear back in 2003.  The one event that triggered all nations to go to war was the assassination of the heir to Austria's throne along with his wife by a Bosnian youth simply for avenging seizure of his country.

Prior to this time nations had been developing things for war.  Warehouses were turned into factories everywhere.  Countries started to get a little paranoid and made alliances with other countries.  The kind of mentality of, I scratch your back, you scratch mine when it itches applied.  These entangled alliances continued to expand until all the nations as a whole appeared to look like that of a huge bowl of spaghetti or a woman's mind (in the scientific fact that everything relates to something or another).


photo by docman / Ard Hesselink

If these entangled alliances wouldn't have existed, WWI most likely wouldn't have even occurred.  Austria would have duked it out with Servia and that would have most likely been the end of it.
Instead:

• Austria moved to war against Servia, 
• Servia's russian alliance came to the call of action against Austria
• germany promised to aid austria
• french backed up russian allies
• mobilization orders went throughout all of Europe & WWI begins.

One thing I'd be curious to find out if an element of history could be changed, how much different would the war have been if countries wouldn't have even started to make weapons of war prior to the assassination of the  heir to the Austria's throne with his wife?  Would the mentality of the necessity or inevitability of going to war exist or would some sort of peace arrangement get developed in the place of war?

Created Game

I decided to create a game a few years ago when I was informed of a simple platform to use.  That simple platform ended up taking me about 6 hours to learn, but I was able to gain a lot of knowledge in regards to video game terminology such as sprites, objects, and controllers.

Although this game could use some improvement and documentation/instructions, it's pretty self explanatory.  The objective is to collect the stationary objects on the screen while dodging the ones that move.

The platform/software is GameMakerPro and it may be downloaded for free from yoyogames.com.

The improvements I'd make would be:
add a timing element for bonus points
Increase the size of the point scale reading and lives remaining
Give the Bear additional properties such as shields, firepower, and slow-motion
I would increase the size of the levels and add more rooms.

If you play it let me know what you think.  I've had a few friends play it and it's kind of fun!

Oh, the link below sends you to the yoyogames.com site and allows you to download the game in the format where you need the actual GameMakerPro software to run it.  I created an executable for it here which should allow you to download and play it without needing the software.  Let me know if it doesn't work though:  http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4431965/surviver.exe

Chuck The Bear

Added: 22 October 2010
By: daniel42386

Changes

I have found it interesting that through my various general education studies at college, the most significant events and people tend come after or appear when someone opens their mind to new and creative ideas.

The Greeks were a zealous people for knowledge and started the first steps of world enlightenment through theories made by intelligent men such as Thales, Socrates, Plato, & Aristotle.  Their search for "perfection" led to the discoveries of patterns within nature, sciences such as mathematics & geometry, and philosophical thoughts to explain life.  More importantly, these individuals unlocked the mentality to think "outside-the-box."  This led to one of the great world Emperor's, Alexander the Great, to used innovation, intelligence, and creativity to dominate his surrounding rivals/countries.  The Romans took and added to the intelligence of the Greeks by creating a revolutionary way of governing their country via a Republic, rather than a Democracy.

Various elements have altered the way we view life.  Romanticism, Humanism, Religion, and Science have given us many new ways in which to see the world around us or at least wonder more about it.  

Animoto

I just finished learning all about the site Animoto and wanted to share with all of you what it's all about.
Essentially, it's a quick tool to make a very impressive presentation/slideshow by simply performing three things,

1. upload your pictures (or specify the location of your images online)
2. Select your music (upload your own or pick from their selection)
3. select your video clips

The really impressive thing of this site is they take in all of your images, the theme of the video, music, and put it all together with random and creative transitions to and from your images. Check it out when you get a chance! In my last blog post I embedded a video I made in a quick 20 minutes or so and I love what I see!

Animoto

The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

I decided to use Animoto to illustrate and show off the book our group decided to read called The Marriage of Heaven and Hell by William Blake.  Enjoy!

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Hacking Wii Guru and possibly the future of gaming

Here's a prime example of an EXCELLENT Nintendo Wii hacker who has experimented and identified clever experiments you can use with infrared technology.  I honestly believe this WILL be the future of many business applications and video games.

Darwin in regards to animal species

In my past blog post I wrote about how I disagreed with Darwin's theory in regards to humans, but I wanted to also post a little something on how his theory is correct with animal species.

I found a Prezi presentation online where a student illustrated how the principle works and why it does using examples.  The link to her slide show is: http://prezi.com/94pngjo2t1fp/prezi-assignment/.  I particularly enjoyed seeing the images she displayed of the evolution of panda bears, elephants, and giraffes and wrote a short excerpt on each one.  Giraffes most likely had shorter necks but those with longer necks could reach more food from the trees to survive over those that were simply out of luck.  Pandas with small jaws in the past had a harder time eating bamboo so those with larger jaws ended up with the advantage and lived better and longer and eventually became dominant and superior.

Anyways, thought you might like the random information.  Enjoy!

Evolution

As I was reading an excerpt from Charles Darwin called On the Origin of Species, a particular line really struck out to me.  It reads, "... during a long-continued course of modification, the slight differences, characteristics of varieties of the same species, tend to be augmented into the greater differences characteristic of species of the same genus.  New and improved varieties will inevitably supplant and exterminate the older, less improved and intermediate varieties."  

I completely understand how this is true with animals and those that simply die from natural selection, but it really doesn't sit well with me when regarding the human race.  To an extend I believe this was true for the majority of the history of the world, but we seemed to reach a point where the "varieties" of people evolve for both the better and the worse.

Lets use an example and say that a city of dumb people get in a war amongst themselves, the strong ones first kill off the weak ones, then the strongest end up surviving, reproducing, and children with stronger genes than their peers end up creating the next generation.  Now lets take the strong legions of men and have them fight against a small nation that has a little wisdom (such as the Persians & the Greeks).  The group with the wisdom, although not all strong men, end up surviving.  Soon intellectuals begin to grow, guns are developed, and now any dumb man on the street can shoot an intellectual.  Does this make the dumb man/men a better, superior individual in thought and might than the one they just shot?  I think not.  In fact, I completely believe that if civilizations get bad enough, they can entirely wipe out the elite wise and good people of the world.

The Difference Engine

Charles Babbage was the first individual to invent a computer.  The 5.5 min video clip below shows his machine (which he never was able to construct in his life) that he designed all within his mind.  It's very impressive!



It's interesting how the times have changed.  If I wanted to invent something, I would do all my brainstorming and drafting on a computer and test it out using computer software.  Charles didn't have access to any of that and he was able to engineer a work of art to perform simple arithmetic functions.

Comical FarmVille music video.

This video is named Farmaritaville and was produced by a YouTube channel named "The Station."  It comically depicts how the Facebook game FarmVille has controlled some peoples' lives and that people are spending way too much time performing work in a virtual world.    Enjoy!

Understanding equality of the sexes on the American frontier

The topic that interested me the most regarding the American Frontier was how the equality of women was viewed and acted upon.  In "The Modern World" by Edgar E. Knoebel, he discusses this particular issue by stating: 

 "... an American woman is always mistress of herself; she indulges in all permitted pleasures, without yielding herself up to any of them; and her reason never allows the reins of self-guidance to drop, though it often seems to hold them loosely."

Due to the requirements of surviving along the lines of the American frontier, work was naturally split up into two different types of work.  1) the strenuous, more physical type such as chopping wood, chopping trees down and up into firewood, sawing logs, holding a 50lb hunting rifle and carrying a 300 lb piece of meat back to a house, and 2) the more domestic type such as cooking, babysitting, knitting, and house-hold cleaning.  

Men didn't look down on their wives thinking they were inferior and women didn't hold hard feelings towards the differences in their work because they worked as a team. 

One last quote from Knoebel I'd like to share talks about how confounding together the different characteristics of the sexes in Europe causes problems:

  "They would give to both [men and women] the same functions, impose on both the same duties, and grant to both the same rights; they would mix them them in all things - their occupations, their pleasures, their business... both are degraded, and from so preposterous a medley of the works of nature nothing could ever result but weak men and disorderly women."

 

Imagine a world or life where the traditional roles of men/women are reversed.  How would our political structure be different and how would the nature of the family as a unit change?

Addictions

What causes people to become addicted???  Does ones obsession to live in the gym all day long differ from another's obsession to play video games non-stop?  What about someone who uses drugs on a regular basis?

In our digital civilization class we learned that Romanticism, a new way of thinking around the time frame of 1780-1850, gives people a sense of individualism.  Romanticism heightens ones perception of themselves so they see themselves as more enlightened, divine, thoughtful, and lastly, important to the world around them.

Addictions seem to stem from a common fundamental element.  That is they give people a false sense of worth about themselves.  The video game addict controlling their World of Warcraft (WOW) avatar gains their sense of importance by building up their profile, collecting virtual money, and interacting with other WOW players.  The dude without a neck in the gym gains his sense of worth by showing to everyone around him that he is indeed the alpha male of the group.  The drug addict gains a false sense of worth by the excellent "high" sensation they experience.  Life to them feels more enjoyable and that they can show to the world that they're unique and important.

This leads me to ask, is there a correlation between romanticism and addictions?

Objective vs the Subjective

We discussed today in class that there are two ways to look at nature.  One is in an objective manner and the other subjective.  Objective deals more with quantification and methodology where as subjective is more mysterious.  Experiment vs experience.  Collaborative logic vs the unknown.  Reality vs imagination.

Can we live objectively at all if the subjective elements of the world didn't exist?  Do concepts such as romanticism provoke extensive thoughts to compel others to want to identify the item of topic?

Book Report

As I was browsing for books which would relate to our class and contribute to our learning I found a syllabus for another class where required readings were listed.  Needless to say I trust the books to be beneficial to ones education in our digital civilization class.

Shakespeare's The Tempest - This looks interesting because it's from Shakespeare
 

The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790)  - This is a series of texts written in imitation of biblical books of prophecy with the author's own personal touch regarding romantic and revolutionary beliefs.  This seems interesting and probably contains metaphors not thought of before because of the different way in which the stories are presented.


Civil Disobedience (1849) - This is an essay that argues people should not permit governments to overrule or atrophy their consciences, and that people have a duty to avoid governments using them as agents of injustice.  This looks like an overall good book for all countries to follow.

Friedrich Overbeck & Franz Pforr

Two very influential artists emerging from Germany were Friedrich Overbeck and Franz Pforr.  They were influential in the movement of art from the years of 1810-1840 and used Catholicism to inspire their paintings. The two of them formed the Nazarenes movement, an anticlassicism in which they revived the art of fresco painting. Fresco painting is a method of painting water-based pigments on freshly applied plaster, usually on wall surfaces.  The colors dry and set with the plaster to become a permanent part of the wall.  It's ideal for making murals because it's durable, and has a matte surface.


The image below depicts a fresco painting (see how the cracks are cracks in the ceiling rather than simply dry paint.



The reasons being for why their work was SO SIGNIFICANT is they were using their artwork for more than mere enjoyment.  They were using their art as a way of communicating/teaching to the general public.  They related their work of art to the church (Catholicism) and their country.  


Friedrich Overbeck was the leader of the Nazarenes and they contributed to the romanticism era by painting religious subjects using clear and vivid colors with precise outlines in all their paintings.
You may view a few of the well known paintings here:     http://www.all-art.org/neoclasscism/overbeck1.html

HubPages.com

I recently was recommended to HubPages after showing interest in a subject of video games on another individuals blog.  That individual recommended HubPages so I decided to explore it and I find it to be very resourceful!

Signing up is simple and free and only takes about thirty seconds.  All you need to do is complete the five entries listed below:

Once you are signed up you have the ability to specify your interests and afterwards a list of the most relevant blog creations on that/those subject(s) will appear on your HubPage homepage.  Just as sites such as Diigo uses tags to order its bookmarks into genres, HubPages does so with its Hubs (essentially the same as blogs)

Whether you want to contribute to HubPages by copying over your blog entries from blogspot or if you simply want to use it as an excellent tool to search a wide range of sites very tailored to your desired subject, you can use this site to benefit your educational experience.

Significance of elevating expectations for children

As I was reading the assigned reading on "the family of the past" it made me think of how our perceptions on children affect they way they behave as well as how we treat people.

One thing I've noticed and have learned is that people adapt and change into the type of individuals others see them as.  For example, you've all encountered spoiled children whether it's family members, friends, or random people at Walmart.  I'm sure you're not the only ones that view the children as spoiled, rotten, burden-some annoyances to the general public.  There's a good chance their parents view and treat their children in that manner and the children thus adhere to the expectations (whether they be little or none) placed on them.

Take another situation.  A young child has a large learning disability where their brain cannot process and analyze information as it should, leaving them in a constant setting of appearing "less intelligent."  In a positive and uplifting environment where encouragement, support, and expectations to do ones best exist, that child will perform at levels exponentially greater than if negative or even no support existed.  True, they may not get the straight As as the brightest children in the class, but they will achieve passing grades typically averaging Bs and possibly a few Cs.  This was the case with my little brother who was diagnosed with a learning disability at a very young age and when examined in high school, doctors were surprised he hadn't dropped out of school because every individual with cases similar and less severe as his had done so.

If parents would change the way they perceive children to a more divine manner, would our world be completely different in twenty years?  Would innovations exponentially grow and would great scholars similar to Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle emerge from communities on a regular basis?  Think of how much better our world would and could be.

Barracuda Business Event

I attended the Barracuda Business event and found it to be extremely interesting and very informative so I better understand the procedures one would have to go through if they need up-front capital from investors.  I saw most of the given presentations in a previous business lecture series so it was interesting hearing comments coming from experts on topics I had never even thought of.  The startup companies were: Genome, an online clothing site where the tools/technology is designed to only show you items that fit you perfectly, Meal-drop, a site designed for University students so they may order their meals and have them delivered anywhere on campus at a moderate additional fee, and lastly we had Karma Key which was a digital rewards card business.  As each individual presented, I found myself remembering the topics covered in “The Art of the Start” book.  Those topics mainly covered the red flags investors do not like to hear.  Such shows signs of incompetence.  One example was when an investor asked a direct question and the student began to somewhat beat-around-the-bush/question by explaining something else and not directly answering the question.  The investor promptly interrupted him and said “You’re not answering the question!” to which the student replied, “I do not know.” 

I realized the significance/benefit of having a company representative with very strong presentation skills.  They also need to be very well educated in what your business does and how it operates so when investors ask challenging questions, they won’t make your company look bad.  The event was very informative and I learned a lot on how a panel of investors can drill difficult questions at new entrepreneurs looking for a little start-up capital.