Technobabble

Video Games Are Good For You
Who says video games lead only to school shootings and obesity? There is a bright side to our digital entertainment: video games help grade-school students lose weight and keep it off. At least 10 states across our nation have introduced Dance Dance Revolution (Konami Digital Entertainment) into their physical education program in an attempt to reach the sedentary tech youth who aren’t excited about dodgeball or running track. According to the New York Times, scientists claim that a little more than an hour of DDR meets recommended guidelines for cardiac fitness and can lead to weight loss. Another study finds it better than walking on a treadmill. West Virginia, a state with one of the highest adolescent obesity rates, plans to have DDR installed in every school by the end of next year. Surveys reveal that the game also improves self-image and creates better opinions toward exercise. “Mary, put that book down and go play a video game!”

A small sacrifice for sales
First DRM (digital rights management) debacles and now animal sacrifice? According to the UK’s Daily Mail, Sony displayed a decapitated goat with its belly sliced open at a party to celebrate the launch of God of War II for PlayStation 2. And it seems livestock slaughter was not enough—topless women fed grapes to guests who were encouraged to reach into the recently deceased animal’s stomach to pull out and eat its entrails and internal organs (which had apparently been removed, cooked and reinserted). God, I go to the wrong tech parties. Knife throwing and pulling live snakes bare-handed from a pit rounded out the evening’s events. Sony described the new game as “an adult-rated, fast-paced bloodbath—and enormous fun to boot … bigger, better and as brutal as ever.” To quote Beavis and Butthead, “Yesssssss!”

The good stuff in Iraq
In early March I wrote about Iraqi insurgents posting anti-U.S. videos on YouTube. Seems the “Multi-National Forces” (how many are left?) took note and started posting their own “rescue-kittens-from-a-tree”-type moving images of Operation Iraqi Freedom on the video-sharing site. As critical as I am about this spiraling-out-of-control, illegal war, I see a place for these positive depictions of soldiers handing out soccer balls to Iraqi children and saving the lives of Iraqi civilians (provided they are not staged like the Jessica Lynch fiasco). Though I don’t agree with the neocons that the U.S. media are in the pocket of the left (quite the contrary), they do seem to mostly show the horrific side of this invasion and occupation. I personally know foot soldiers in Iraq, so I know it is not all rape, torture and murder. If the press doesn’t show the military’s positive effects, then why not the MNF-Iraq? Watch the footage yourself: www.youtube.com/MNFIRAQ

The Hotel WiFi
HotelChatter.com just posted its annual best-of list of hotels with wireless Web access. Marriott, one of the winners of Fortune magazine’s 100 Best Companies to Work For, takes top prize in WiFi as well through its budget Residence Inn, Courtyard and Springhill Suites properties. Free WiFi can be found in both lobbies and rooms, and if you have trouble connecting, they will provide you with an Ethernet cable, according to the Boing Boing posting. Book me a room. For the full list log on to www.hotelchatter.com and search for: Best WiFi 2007.