Benefits of Video games

Video games today are most commonly viewed as a way for students of high schools and colleges to slack off and procrastinate on homework and studies.  What most people are not aware of though, is the social benefits that video gaming has on individuals.  Video games can have positive effects on a gamer's social life when it comes to teamwork, helping people, multitasking, and communicating efficiently.

Educational Benefits for Students

A recent study from the Education Development Center and the U.S. Congress-supported Ready To Learn (RTL) Initiative found that a curriculum that involved digital media such as video games could improve  early literacy skills when coupled with strong parental and teacher involvement. Interestingly, the study focused on young children, and 4 and 5-year-olds who participated showed increases in letter recognition, sounds association with letters, and understanding basic concepts about stories and print.

The key for this study was having high-quality educational titles, along with parents and teachers who were equally invested in the subject matter. That way kids could discuss and examine the concepts that they were exposed to in the games. Also interesting is the value that video games are proven to have even for very young players. A study by the Education Department Center further found that low-income children are “better prepared for success in kindergarten when their preschool teachers incorporate educational video and games from the Ready to Learn Initiative.”

Older children such as teens and tweens can benefit from game-play as well.Even traditional games teach kids basic everyday skills, according to Ian Bogost, associate professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology and founder of software maker Persuasive Games. “Look at ‘World of Warcraft’: You’ve got 11-year-olds who are learning to delegate responsibility, promote teamwork and steer groups of people toward a common goal.”

Games that are designed to help teach are having an impact on college-agepupils as well. Following a recent 3D virtual simulation of a US/Canadianborder crossing, wherein students assumed the role of guards, Loyalist Collegein Ontario reported that the number of successful test scores increased from 56percent to 95 percent.

Improved Multitasking

Other carefully-designed studies have also shown that action video games canimprove several aspects of brain activity, including multitasking. According tostudies by Daphne Bavelier, a professor of brain and cognitive sciences at theUniversity of Rochester, video gamers show real-world improvements on tests of attention, accuracy, vision and multitasking after playing certain titles.

“If you think about it, the attentional and working memory demands of videogames can be much greater than other tasks,” says Michael Stroud, a professor of psychology at Merrimack College. “Consider Pac-Man as an example. InPac-Man, you must navigate your character through a spatial layout whilemonitoring the separate paths of four additional objects (the ghosts), whilekeeping the overall goal of clearing the small pellets in memory, as well askeeping track of the remaining large pellets.”

“Think about how this may apply to skills such as driving,” he continues.“When you drive your car, you are faced with a constantly changing environmentin the road, not to mention several other distractions that compete forattention that reside in the car. At the same time, you are attempting tonavigate through the environment to reach a goal.”

Social Benefits

Games with broad appeal that are easy to grasp can additionally help manyfamilies play together, and better bridge the gap between generations. Considera title like hip-wiggling simulation Just Dance, which can have young kidsdancing alongside their grandparents.

There are also many games that have positive social messages that encouragefamilies to be a force for good. In a series of experiments published in theJournal of Personality and Social Psychology, researchers found thatparticipants who had just played a “pro-social” game in which characters mustwork together to help each other out as compared to those who had just played a“neutral” game (e.g. Tetris) were more likely to engage in helpful behaviors.Examples included assisting in a situation involving an abusive boyfriend,picking up a box of pencils or even volunteering to participate in more research.

So-called “serious games,” specifically designed to teach and inform, arealso having an impact on the world. Titles like the United Nations’ Food Forceteach kids about real-life issues, humanitarianism and the practical challengesfacing governments and private organizations today. In the game, children mustcomplete six different missions that reflect the real-life obstacles faced bythe World Food Programme in its emergency responses. Other games, like NourishInteractive’s online Chef Solus and the Food Pyramid Adventure, teach kidsabout the benefits of healthy eating habits, while still more highlightpressing geopolitical and social issues, e.g. the Global Conflicts series.

Upsides can even extend into the physical world. Consider Facebook gameEcotopia. In summer 2011, players of the popular social game met a challengefrom its creators and planted 25,000 trees in the game world in 25 days,leading the game’s developer to plant 25,000 trees in real life.

Encouraging Cooperation and Teamwork

Many games today also emphasize the cooperative aspects of game play, inwhich two or more players need to work together in order to reach a commongoal. For instance, games like Lego Star Wars or Kirby’s Epic Yarn are enhanced byhaving players cooperate to solve in-game puzzles.

Massively multiplayer games such as LEGO Universe and Lord of the RingsOnline further offer added depth, atmosphere and enjoyment by allowing playersto band together and work as a team in order to complete certain quests ordefeat especially tricky opponents. Game industry analysts such as DFCIntelligence actually predict that video game revenue will reach nearly $70billion by 2015, thanks in large part to these online, cooperative,subscription-based games that can be played together. Small wonder top titleslike Star Wars: The Old Republic and Titan (the next MMO from Blizzard, thecompany that created World of Warcraft) continue to resonate so strongly withmillions worldwide.

Even the way that games are made can encourage teamwork. At WashburnUniversity in Kansas, students study the game development process as a way tobuild teamwork and collaborative skills.

“It taught me to work in a group,” said Washburn student Adam Bideau of theprogram in a recent interview with the Washburn Review. “Video games are notcreated by just one person and they require you to work well with others. Youhave to pool everyone’s talents together in order to produce the requiredproduct.”

Promoting Exercise

All parents know that kids need a healthy combination of physical and mentalexercise. Happily, today’s motion-controlled games for Microsoft’s Xbox 360Kinect, Nintendo’s Wii and Wii U, and Sony’s PlayStation Move help kids getboth kinds of workouts at the same time.

Better yet, people of all ages are finding them a more approachable way tostay physically fit. While many shy away from exercise because they see it asan activity that isn’t enjoyable, organizations like the American HeartAssociation now cite, and even recommend, video games as a fun and entertainingway to enjoy physical activity.

Upsides of active play are considerable too. A study reported in theArchives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine of 39 Boston middle-schoolchildren who played with six different interactive gaming systems found thatthe games “compared favorably with walking on a treadmill at three miles perhour, with four out of the six activities resulting in higher energyexpenditure.”

Organizations supporting individuals of all ages and interests areadditionally using active games to help get people up and moving. Nursinghomes, cruise ships and even after-school programs all now employ active videogames in some form to help stimulate both the mind and body.

The good news: People seem to be enjoying active play more than ever.Healthy diversions such as Wii Fit and Zumba Fitness continue to be some of themost popular and best-selling games year in and out.

"Underground" Metal Day

       On Wednesday, April 25th of this year, the students that are involved in the Underground Metal Club put together a celebration in honor of the Metal subgenre of Rock music, called "Metal Day". This celebration was held all throughout campus, as everyone was welcome to come celebrate at the Cogar Lounge located at the end of the hall of the RMCC building.
       A very good friend of mine, Mr. Scott Thayer was putting on the whole gathering. He informed me over FaceBook about all of the events occurring at "Metal Day", such as raffle tickets with neat prizes, free cd samplers, refreshments, etc. I do not blame my friend Scott for the events that transpired at "Metal Day", because he has no control of what music the other group members like.
       Scott had also stated in the aforementioned FaceBook message that "none of the guys involved with underground metal club really like underground metal. They replaced some of my Cattle Decapitation songs with Five Finger Death Punch songs. I was like huh?!?... So yeah, don't expect it to be as underground as you or myself would be familiar with."
       Let me break down the last paragraph for you. My friend Scott is the lead singer of the band Cymatics, who plays music on the caliber with The Faceless, Decrepit Birth and Necrophagist, all of which are underground, extreme metal bands. On the other hand, Five Finger Death Punch can be heard anytime on KROCK radio station, and tour and play music with sell-out bands that need to much money.
       Being a fan of Metal music, I was surely enough to attend Underground Metal Club's "Metal Day". I am a fan of Metal, and mainly the subgenres of metal such as "Technical Death Metal", "Brutal Death Metal" and "Progressive Death Metal", all of which are pretty underground in terms of popularity in the Metal community. What I came to find out was that this Underground Metal Day was about as 'underground' as the Empire State Building and about as 'Metal' as a day old bowl of oatmeal.
     Upon entering the lounge, everything seemed to be 'honky-dory', if you will. There were guys with woman's length hair, piercings in places most people don't even know you can have pierced and rugged clothing, definitely suits that 'Metal image'. My mother always told me to never judge a book by it's cover, and I should have listened to her and Scott instead of wasting my time at "Metal Day".
       I had walked up to my first person I was going to use as a survey of everyone's top 5 metal bands. The first person's name was Ralph, I did not ask for a last name. Ralph seemed like a nice guy, but then he started off as his favorite band being Disturbed, and right then and there I had apologized to Ralph, and told him "I'm sorry, I cannot take you seriously if you enjoy Disturbed and consider yourself 'underground metal'. That thought alone is "Disturbed" in it's very own way." and then I walked out and left school.
     The moral of this story is, never go into a situation and expect the world. I had walked into "Metal Day" expecting to make some new friends to discuss my favorite kind of music, and walked out wishing I never went at all. At least then I would still think the Underground Metal Club was cool.

Say NO to Mexico!

            Going on vacation, for anyone, is supposed to be a fun and relaxing time. When most people go on vacation, they want to either lie out on the beach in the sun or travel around the city where they are staying to see all of the attractions. But, when picking a destination for your vacation, you need to be extremely careful. Just because a vacationing spot looks pretty, that doesn’t mean that it is safe.

            How many times have you heard college students saying that they will be visiting Mexico for Spring Break? Well, what those college kids fail to realize is that nowadays, when you go to Mexico, you need to actually look out and be careful where you are instead of wandering off on your own. That means staggering down the street in an over-populated city by yourself after a night of drinking tequila straight from the bottle is an absolute no-no.

            Today, the drug cartels in Mexico are deadlier than ever. The United States Department Bureau of Consular Affairs issued a travel warning to all United State citizens back in February of this year.  A segment of the travel warning states:

“U.S. travelers should be aware that the Mexican government has been engaged in an extensive effort to counter TCOs which engage in narcotics trafficking and other unlawful activities throughout Mexico.  The TCOs themselves are engaged in a violent struggle to control drug trafficking routes and other criminal activity.  As a result, crime and violence are serious problems throughout the country and can occur anywhere.  U.S. citizens have fallen victim to TCO activity, including homicide, gun battles, kidnapping, carjacking and highway robbery.”

            The warning then goes on to include several parts of Mexico that are extremely dangerous and advises travelers to stay away. The most dangerous part of Mexico is called Manzanillo, which is located in the area Colima. The warning states that Manzanillo is a major city and travel destination in Mexico and that if you are there, you need to proceed with caution, because it is very dangerous.

“You should exercise extreme caution when traveling through the areas of the state of Colima that border the state of Michoacán.  You should also exercise caution when traveling at night outside of cities in the remaining portions of the state.  The security situation along the Michoacán border continues to be unstable and gun battles between criminal groups and authorities occur.  Concerns include roadblocks placed by individuals posing as police or military personnel and recent gun battles between rival TCOs involving automatic weapons.” states the US Department Bureau of Consular Affairs.

There are several other areas that are advised not to be entered. Even though Mexico has very beautiful scenery and even better parties, you need to be aware of the dangers that lurk there. Don’t think that you’re invincible, because you’re not. You could easily be gunned down just as much as the next guy. Consider this before you go off to Mexico next year for Spring Break, or on any other vacation.

Tips to Get the Job You Want

Many individuals at some point in their life find themselves in need of a job.  By applying to different companies, you are putting yourself out there in hopes of getting an interview and obtaining a position in the company you desire.  There are different steps an individual should take, which will help them get the job they want.

         Firstly, when you’re filling out an application, make sure you’re interested in the job.  Is this a job you can see yourself working at for more than a couple of weeks?

         When filling out an application always include a resume and cover letter.  This makes your application stand out, and shows your employer you’ve put time and effort into filling out your application.

         When writing a cover letter, write Dear _____, instead of to Whom It May Concern.  If you’re applying for a job at a small company, you can find out the name of your potential employer.  Make sure to check for spelling errors, and make sure there are no run on sentences.  In your cover letter and resume, choose a font which can easily be read like Times New Roman.

         List your job experiences in chronological order.  Give names and phone numbers of your past employers (if you have any).  If you don’t have any past employers, find at least three references that can ensure you’re responsible and reliable person fit for the job.

         When an employer calls you, to set up an interview, don’t ask how much money you’ll make, or how many hours you’ll work or if you get vacation time.  Wait for the interview!

         Before you go to the interview, make sure to dress appropriately.  Usually dress pants, a blouse or buttoned up shirt, makes a great first impression.  You don’t want cleavage hanging out, nor undergarments showing.

         Avoid any offensive language or graphic images on your shirt when going to an interview.

         Make sure to arrive to your interview ten minutes early.  This shows that you’re taking your interview seriously, and are being respectful by being punctual.

         When you meet your potential employer, make sure to introduce yourself.  Make direct eye contact, and shake hands with one another.  Make sure your handshake is not weak.

         During the interview, listen respectfully.  Do not interrupt your employer until it is time to ask questions.  Be prepared.  At least have a couple of questions, to show him/her that you are genuinely interested.

         By following these tips, you are raising your chance at getting the job you want!

          

Tips to Save Gas

      As of late, gas prices are soaring and reaching an all-time high, so there are 5 tips I want to share with you about saving gas. With gasoline over four dollars a gallon, I'm sure many of you are looking for anything to save gas. A lot of people don't realize how easily gas mileage can be altered.

1: Drive Slower - One of the best ways to save gas is by driving slower on the freeway.

According to Greg Dabel's book "Saving Money in Nonprofit Organizations", each 5 miles an hour you

drive over 60 miles an hour will burn up to thirty cents more a gallon. Driving 70 on a freeway might

save you time but definitely won't save you money.

2: Tire Pressure - Another important thing you should always check and be aware of is tire

pressure. Tire pressure needs to be at the proper weight or else your mileage will pay for it. Buying a

tire gauge is a smart idea.

3: Easier acceleration - You might like to accelerate quickly to get going faster but don't. It's

much more gas efficient to have a slow acceleration. Be careful with this in the city to because if you

accelerate quickly just to stop at the next red light, you definitely won't be saving gas.

4: Keep it clean - Having unwanted weight in your vehicle will also affect gas mileage. Throw

out or take out anything that isn't needed. If you take 40 to 50 pounds of stuff out of your trunk, over

time you will be more gas efficient.

5: Windows - Having your windows open in the city is more gas efficient than air conditioning

but when you get on the freeway, this is reversed. According to Greg Dabel's book, driving faster

causes more air drag which can reduce gas mileage by 10 percent.

Well there it is, I hope my tips will help you save gas mileage and save money in the long run.

Piercings in the Workplace

Piercings are becoming more socially acceptable. You can’t go anywhere nowadays without seeing someone with a ring sticking out of their lip, nose, eyebrow, etc. Piercings are being embraced in today’s workplaces, but how much is too much? If you go to a restaurant, would it matter to you if your waitress or waiter had a large hoop ring in one eyebrow, a large hoop in his or her lip, and another ring dangling down from in their nose? More importantly, would it force you to stop going to the establishment altogether?

If you are seeking employment and show up to a job interview with an abundant amount of piercings in your face, you run the risk of your potential future employer denying you a job. Some companies are lenient when it comes to their employee's piercings. For example, Wegman's grocery store. 

“I work at a grocery store called Wegman’s and they honestly don’t care about piercings. I have a lot of piercings; one in my nose, my tongue web, and multiple holes in my ears. I even had a piercing right in the middle of my lip for a little while and they didn’t say one word to me.” says Alyssa Metzler.

Meanwhile, at other facilities, they take a different stand on piercings. For example, Price Chopper, a chain of grocery stores that originated and located in Upstate New York, do not allow their employees to have visible piercings. When working at this grocery store, you have to either take your jewelry out, or put a clear, non-visible retainer in place of the jewelry. If you have a nose ring, it must be a "stud", which is a small piece of jewelry that can barely be seen.

Now, this brings up a good argument: is it considered discrimination if companies deny a person employment simply because the potential employee has stretched ears and a stud in their lip? The answer is no. According to Jay P. Whickson's article "Workplace Discrimination on Tattoos & Piercings", it states: 

"The employer has a right to establish a dress code for his organization. If you have body piercings, he can request that you remove the related jewelry while at work. While you can't remove a tattoo, your employer can demand that you cover the tattoo while you're working. If a pierce-free, tattoo-free look is part of the uniform and it's in the dress code, he has every right to fire you if you don't follow the rules."

Some employers are very lenient when it comes to body piercings, and some strictly follow their dress code. All in all, it depends on where you apply to or where you work. Not all companies are going to welcome a person with several holes in their face onto their "team", because that person needs to represent the company. Facilities that are "family friendly" might not want to hire someone with multiple piercings, because it could affect the store's atmosphere. Let's say an elderly couple went to a restaurant and their waiter had three inch holes in their ears. The couple would most likely be completely unimpressed and never return to the restaurant again.

Now that doesn't mean that having three inch holes in your ears is a bad thing, it's just not very pleasing to some people and companies need to think about their customers when hiring an employee. Though, piercings are becoming more and more acceptable in society today and certain companies and employees need to find a happy medium that will please them both.

HCCC Theater Group performs Dracula

by Paul Lee


During the last weekend of April, Herkimer County Community College came face to face with death and the moral-philosophical ramifications of the quest for immortality.  On three consecutive nights, the HCCC Theater Group performed the play “Dracula,” a recent theatrical adaptation by Crane Johnson of Bram Stoker's classic novel.


The play was executed very well, giving a sense of professionalism that belies the amateur nature of the venue.  The lighting was used subtly to great effect.  The hand-painted set provided just the right amount of detail to facilitate the suspension of disbelief.  The dialogue and acting appeared to flow seamlessly from start to finish during the first showing of the play.


The fact that the initial performance went through without a perceptible hitch proclaims the care and long preparation that must have gone into the play, but it ultimately is not what made the experience so immersive.  It was the actors' earnest portrayal of their roles that narrowed the gap between the audience and the legendary story-world where doctors, professors, and domestic servants strive against a horrific perversion of what they held most good and natural and sacred.


One could tell this was no simple end-of-the-term student skit from the moment the “epic movie” theme music sounded before the curtains were raised.  There was a brief narrative exposition, but not much information was given, and the way the narrator addressed the audience directly did not anticipate the later tempo of the drama.


Cesar Arcentales played Dr. Seward, whose skeptical practicality did not negate his earnest expressions of love and sorrow.  The character confronts challenges as they come, not stopping to ask further questions after seeing what he does not like or would not be inclined to believe.  As the apparent protagonist, Dr. Seward offers the audience the opportunity to face the mysterious and horrific with him through his neutral but sympathetic aura.


The counterpart to Dr. Seward is Van Helsing, played by Mary Dziekowicz.  The character from the original novel may have anticipated all monster-hunter figures in popular culture, such as Sam and Dean from the current television show Supernatural.  The Van Helsing of Crane Johnson's play has been re-imagined as a woman.  Van Helsing's character is many-faceted – she is nonconformist and independent, intellectual (being addressed by the title of “professor”), mystical, and adventurous.  Dr. Seward and Ven Helsing maintain a sporadic discussion about philosophy, science, and the paranormal, themes that are related to the main subjects of the story, but only secondarily.  Those dialogs are mostly lighthearted, the sort of idle chatter that two scholars might be expected to hold in real life.


Two more down-to-earth characters help anchor the setting in history and make the whole drama more relatable.  Christina Carroll played Mrs. Harker, an embodiment of Victorian propriety and piety.  Jennifer Hollis played the domestic servant Abigail, whose mannerisms, expressions, and accent gave the sense of quaintness and innocent comedy associated with bygone eras.  The tragic figure of the story is Lucy, played by Tess Sagatis.  Lucy's character evokes thought of the romanticism associated with vampires in popular culture.


The comic relief of the story – an insane man called Renfield, played by Creighton Joscelyn – touches on deep thematic undertones.  The character's demented psychological state that causes him to eat live bugs and small animals is humorous without detracting from the pervasive creepiness of the subject.   Renfield's madness is driven by intense selfishness, the desire to feed himself on the life force of other living beings in order to extend his own life unnaturally.  In this, Renfeild may be more evil even than Dracula (played by Geoff Fryer), who at least in some perverted sense gives a sort of life to his victims and then looks out for them.  Dracula is more beastly and primitive than the charismatic vampire image in pop culture, and yet he also manages to be a heartthrob in a savage, elemental way.


The depraved selfish rantings of Renfeild work together with Van Helsing's philosophical ruminations to spin the theme and literary impact of the drama.  Van Helsing openly denounces the stubborn refusal to accept one's own death that Renfeild exemplifies.  The apparent moral of the story condemns the “curse of immortality, multiplying the evils of the world.”  However, even Van Helsing does not blame the evil on the normal human longing for immortality.  Naming various human desires for which satisfaction exists, she goes on to say, “...since there is in man this craving for eternal life, for immortality, I believe this too will be satisfied.”  Van Helsing seeks to make herself immortal by influencing others through the strength of her character, rather than by destroying them.


The above-named actors were assisted by the rest of the crew to produce the immersive theatrical experience.  Amanda Marro directed the play.  George Woodbury was the stage hand.  The props and lighting, which had an important and subtle role in the immersiveness of the whole production, were handled by Katie Burt, Sandra Gray, and Nick Streeter.  Jaki was the stage and sound manager (the program lists no last name).  The staff advisor was Professor Matt Powers.


It has been a hundred years since the death of the originator of the Dracula story, on April 20, 1912.  The novel Dracula was published in 1897.  A real critic would be necessary to consider the relationship of this college production to the true nature of the Dracula story.  However, it does not take a critic to observe that the mysterious horror of Dracula has passed into immortality.