Absquatulate

Play, fifth grade style.

In the lab we were recording a few 9-10 year olds as maskers in a listening study. We did two at a time and they were all friends so comraderie was in high gear. The two boys were all about WWII, and could easily discuss the invasion of Normandy as well as the difference between the terms "Russian Soldier" and "Red Army Soldier" (great vigor reserved for the latter discussion.) They both claimed to love playing "Call of Duty" that is until the father of one of the boys took it away because he didn't like him playing it. They asked if I knew about it, and said yes but I didn't play it, as I had played "Battlefield 1942" instead. That scored me a modicum of cred as it was an 'old' game.

As the boys were pretending that the anechoic chamber was a bombproof bunker and making machine gun sounds I thought about the implications of their play, wondering if they really knew what it is they were mimicking.

My conclusion was that they have no idea. War to them is an exciting game of danger, intrigue, strategy and history. I saw no malice in either boy, no intent to go out with an uzi and take out a high school or start a gang. Just two boys just starting to get a sense of their own aggressiveness with overactive imaginations. And all those critics who claim that violent videogames will encourage armies of little killers to take over the world faded into the background as these two discussed what to do with a German Prisoner of War, if they ever found one (the consensus would be to talk to him, give him a cup of soup, and lock him up.) If anything, I wouldn't want them to play those video games because they are just real enough to drive home the horror of war; and well, they still have some imagination in them yet; why spoil it?

Choice.

Is this to say that suffering is indispensable to the discovery of meaning? In no way. I only insist that meaning is available in spite of — nay, even through — suffering, provided ... that the suffering is unavoidable. If it is avoidable, the meaningful thing to do is to remove its cause, for unnecessary suffering is masochistic rather than herioc. If, on the other hand, one cannot change a situation that causes his suffering, he can still choose his attitude.

- Viktor Frankl, Man's Search For Meaning.

Meaning.

An excerpt:

Logotherapy, keeping in mind the essential transitoriness of human existence, is not pessimistic but rather activisitic. To express this point figuratively we might say: The pessimist resembles a man who observes with fear and sadness that his wall calendar, from which he daily tears a sheet, grows thinner with each passing day. On the other hand, the person who attacks the problems of life actively is like a man who removes each successive leaf from his calendar and files it neatly and carefully away with its predecessors, after first having jotted down a few diary notes on the back. He can reflect with pride and joy on all the richness set down in these notes, on all the life he has already lived to the fullest. What will it matter to him if he notices that he is growing old? Has he any reason to envy the young people whom he sees, or wax nostalgic over his own lost youth? What reasons has he to envy a young person? For the possibilities that a young person has, the future which is in store for him? "No, thank you," he will think. "Instead of possibilities, I have realities in my past, not only the reality of work done and of love loved, but of sufferings bravely suffered. These sufferings are even the things of which I am most proud, though these are things with cannot inspire envy."

-Viktor Frankl, Man's Search For Meaning.

Matter of Degrees

It is telling when the best thing that I think will happen in the next few days is my trip this morning to the doctor's office. I got two shots. One in each arm.

Iodine

okay no so really.

So I've been using Kosher salt for the last five years or so in all my cooking. And lately I've been thinking about how there's a reason why iodized salt is around and mandated by the government to be produced. I like kosher salt's clean flavor, and I can definitely taste the iodine in iodized salt. So now that I've more or less eliminated iodine from my cooking, should I be thinking about iodine in my diet? Is it possible that other prepared foods I eat (such as turkey breast cold cuts, or canned whatevers) have enough iodine in them so I don't have to worry? Because a goiter is really the *last* thing I'd like to worry about.

Four Things

I've been tagged. Here we go:

Four jobs I've had:

• Doughnut Slinger at Bess Eaton
• Bank Teller
• Student webmaster
• Outdoor gear slinger

Four movies I can watch over and over again:

• The Princess Bride
• Raiders of the Lost Ark
• Any of the LOTR movies
• Iron Giant

Four Place I Have Lived:
The last two don't really count, as I think it's a difference only in municipalities, rather than actuall location.

• Tiverton, RI
• Rochester, NY
• Amherst, MA
• Sunderland, MA

Four TV Shows I Love:

• Good Eats
• umm.... I don't have a TV, so that's pretty much it.

Four Places I've Vacationed:

• Puerta Vallarta, Mexico
• Montrèal, Canada
• Sanibel Island and vicinity, FL
• Cancùn, Mexico

Four of My Favorite Dishes:
Gosh only FOUR!?

• Grandma's Lasagna (I need that recipe from you Mom!)
• Suz's macaroni and cheese
• Sushi or Udon Noodles, I can't decide which
• Filet Mingon with mashed potatoes and brussel sprouts or oven roasted root veggies

Four Sites I Visit Daily:

• Dooce
• Metafilter
• Loobylu
• Que Sera Sera

Four Places I'd Rather Be Right Now:

• New England in the summer on a sailboat
• Ireland
• Australia/New Zealand
• On vacation

Four People I'm Tagging:

• Naava
• John
• Everyone I 'know' online has already done it, so whatever.

Gonna Make Sweet Love

This if for all us geek gamers and the poor souls who love us.(Google video link)

Hat tip to Corey for passing this along.

Mental Note

1. There is no such thing as anonymitiy or secrecy in a department dominated by women.

Correlate to 1: News travels much faster than you could ever dare to dream.

For Future Reference

Go here for all my geek shopping needs. In particular, I think the baby alien bib would be great for a brand new N40m1, and the kids t-shirts great for her big brothers N8r and b3n.

For me? How could you go wrong with the Alert! tshirt? Or Moof? Or the perennial watch? But Susan Kare can do no wrong and any of those would be fabu.