PC Game Review - Call of Duty
I don't have a lot of time (now) to play games, and since I only buy about one game a year, I usually wait until I hear about one game that is supposed to be really good and go out an get it. I just got Call of Duty, which is a "first person shooter" based on WWII. You go through different characters, starting out as an American D-Day paratrooper, move to being a British Special Forces unit (where I am now) and end up being a Soviet tank commander (the games says "Russian" instead of Soviet).

With the "briefings" before each mission, the game is actually educational about the strategy and tactics used during D-Day, for example, and I assume all the weapons used are historically accurate (and if true, the British weapons sucked - I keep having to use captured German guns instead of the British ones in my current levels).

If you like first person games and WWII just a little, I recommend getting this. If you like to try before you buy (and maybe worth it at $50), there is a free download available of one of the levels (start at the site linked above).

posted by Director_Mitch @ 11:04 PM (Permalink)
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Unions Discourage Higher Education?
While reading an article on the ending of the grocery worker's strike over at Master of None, this quote by the union hit me in the head:

the markets were threatening to destroy one of the last U.S. jobs available that could provide middle-class comfort without requiring years of higher education.

I was raised by parents who both grew up in very poor families, but managed to go to college, becoming the first generation in both families to do so. And through this education, they escaped the poverty they grew up in.

What these two hammered into my brain is that if I didn't get good grades, get into, and finish college, I would be no better than a street beggar. Maybe with hard work and no education I could aspire to a trailer home in the bad part of town, so hard work by itself wasn't going to work. By the time I was ten, it was ingrained in me that education meant a better life.

So to see our unions bemoaning lack "middle class comfort" for the uneducated is just...ridiculous. OFCOURSE people without advanced education have a harder time working their way up the economic ladder. The job the unions should be doing is to get their members better education and training to work their way up the ladder, not trying to strong-arm companies into artificially paying their workers more than their worth to society.

As Michael says in his commentary, Welcome to the Real World. We are now living in a global economy, meaning Americans are now competing with a few billion more people. Americans can no longer enjoy being 5% of the planet's population while enjoying nearly half of it's economic wealth without being better educated, better trained and working harder to keep the lion's share of the planet's wealth.

posted by Director_Mitch @ 10:46 PM (Permalink)
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While You Were Out...
Boy, leave civilization for a few days and look at all the stuff that happens (okay, we actually had cable, so I got the news if I decided to turn it on, but I had NO internet or email, which was VERY hard):

I Made The Carnival of the Capitalists - This is published on Monday but I didn't find out until today. My entry that answered cellphone market questions was really How to Get Free Market Data.

Protection of Marriage Amendment - This seems pretty straight forward to me. There are states that would adopt gay marriage and the Equal Protection clause of the Constitution would mean that a state like California can cram its views down the throat of a state like Texas (i.e. Texas would have to recognize the marriage even if they had laws on the books against it. California has laws on the books against it, but the judiciary and a few city officials are going to cram their views down California's throat, which is another story). The democratic hypocrites candidates say they want to "leave it to the states", but the purpose of this amendment is to leave the decision to the states (i.e. civil unions could be recognized within a state, but since it is not "marriage", other states could ignore it when the couple moves elsewhere).

As for the current marriages in California, I have a prediction: There will eventually be a lawsuit filed by a gay person saying the marriages are not legal. Here is the scenario: rich Seth and poor Antoine get "married". Things go stale and they get "divorced". Antoine files for alimony under California law. Seth counter sues saying they were not really "married" and owes no alimony. I am not saying it will work, but it will be filed.

Interestingly, I wonder if a state could create a "marriage" between a gun owner and his gun? Then when they move to New York City or other municipalities that have strict anti-gun laws, the Equal Protection Clause would mean they would have to allow the gun owner to keep his piece (or something similar).

The Passion of the Christ - There are reams of articles and hours of video being taped about supposed "anti-Semitism" in the movie, but when a bus load of Israelis is blown up or school boys with yarmulkes are beaten within an inch of their life in France, there is a collective yawn from the same press that is apoplectic about this movie.

All of this uproar is not about anti-Semitism, it's about anti-Christianity. Anyone who knows anything about Christianity knows that we, as sinners, are the ones responsible for Christ's death.

Personally, I have reservations about seeing the movie since both its supporters and detractors agree that the movie is violent (Michael Williams has some commentary on why this is necessary, and I agree, but I am just not sure I want to see it). And as a fellow Catholic I admire Gibson's views, but I disagree that Christ's crucifixion is the most important aspect of His life (I'd vote for Resurrection, but it wouldn't be as interesting a movie - maybe just a sequel).

Nader Enters Race - With Dean out we did need a Whacked out Nutjob (tm) in the race for pure entertainment.

Haiti - Ah. Whatever. That's why we hire those smart people in the State Department so I don't have to think about it. I'm sure they'll figure it out. Or send in the UN.

Business News - Movement in some stories, but based on a few things that happened while was away, I predict: Martha Walks, Eisner Parachutes, Skilling Fries.

Was there any other news I missed?

posted by Director_Mitch @ 10:59 PM (Permalink)
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Back From Skiing
I'm back from my first vacation in several years. I had forgotten the benefits of getting away: stepping back and getting a perspective on one's life. I think as we work through the day-to-day grind of work, family, etc. that we can lose sight of the forest through the trees, so it was good to get away for awhile, especially with this kind of scenery, taken right off the mountain on Monday:





The skiing was pretty nice. Mammoth has a huge base and it snowed most of the time we were there, so we got some good powder in. Fun to do, but hard on the legs. My thighs must be a few inches larger in circumference after only a few days. And here is a picture of me, complete in terrorist ski mask.






posted by Director_Mitch @ 10:16 AM (Permalink)
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