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.