Word of Eagle

Meditations on Thought and Language

2009-04-14T01:09:00.003-04:00

Hey all! Sorry I haven't been updating much recently, but I think I'm finally gonna start putting stuff up regularly. I've been keeping myself busy writing for my Advanced Writing class, great class by the way. Our professor encourages us to be creative and think outside the box and I've come up with some pretty good stuff so far.

From here on out you're going to see a change in my blogging style. Where before my posts usually centered on one thing that I would construct an argumentative rant on, now my posts will be shorter, less reliant on pictures and a little more abstract. A lot of these will be taken from my journal for Advanced Writing class, because many of my entries are just too good to not show people. This is what I came up with for today, thought it would be a good start to my resumption of blogging, hope you enjoy!

Something occurred to me today. Something profound and insane. What if there was no language? What if there were no words? I’m sure many have considered this, but I contemplated it one step further.

How would we think? When we think we do so in terms of words. Like if we step outside and the sun is bearing down and the air is scorching hot we think “Man, it’s hot today.” Well, what if there were no words to think? How would we think? Would we think? Is thought what separates man from beast? Do animals think or do they just react?

Now think about this. What if words are strangling us? Our ability to think is confined to our set vocabulary, but what if we experience something brand new, something there are no existing words for? Are we bound by our words, by our language, is it holding us back? Is there something more advanced than language and the only reason we don’t know about it is because of the flaws and limitations of our words?

What if there is a system of communication out there that does not suffer from the weaknesses of language. Think about it, language is imperfect. It only exists of words assigned as verbal representations of a real life object or occurrence. Like something that is “red” isn’t red because it’s intrinsically red, it’s red because our English language word for it is red. Language is arbitrary; it only holds meaning because humanity has agreed it needs to. Language is limited because sometimes we cannot order words in such a way to sufficiently explain what we want to. Try explaining color to a blind person. What if there’s something out there that overcomes these deficiencies? What if there is a system of communication so precise that there is never misunderstanding, never misinterpretation, and never an inability to explain? What if the only reason we haven’t uncovered it is because human language has no way to explain it?

I don’t have the answers and I don’t pretend to. But I have questions, and I have ideas, and wow do I have a lot of them.

PCB Pollution of the Hudson River and its Effect on Waterford Residents

2008-12-05T10:48:00.006-05:00

As you drive through the downtown area of Waterford, a community in upstate New York’s Saratoga County, you may wonder if such a peaceful, typical-looking town has any big problems at all. However, the town’s hot issue will become evident if you manage to spot any of the “EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] We Want Clean Water” signs that are often around (See Fig. 1 for a photograph of one such sign). It might come as a surprise that there are problems with drinking water in 21st century America, a first world country with high standards. In this case the problem is General Electric’s pollution of the Hudson River with a dangerous chemical known as PCB. Efforts to remediate the river have been in planning stages for many years, including a project headed by GE and the EPA to dredge, or remove, PCB sediments from the river that is set to begin early next year. While the PCB contents in the river are a threat to Waterford’s drinking water, General Electric and the EPA should not begin their dredging project until it can guarantee alternate safe drinking water if pollutants in the river bottom are stirred up.

PCBs, an acronym for polychlorinated biphenyl, are an organic compound that had a wide variety of uses mainly in the mid 20th century including insulating fluid, and as a stabilizing component in flame retardants, plastics, preservatives, paints, and other products. World PCB production was estimated at over 3.4 billion pounds since use began in 1929 (Mehlman 343). The chemicals were manufactured in the US solely by Monsanto Corporation and were sold under the name Aroclor. Starting in the mid 1960s, scientific evidence revealed PCBs were toxic and were dispersed around the world and throughout the biosphere. This discovery was a key factor in the passing of the Toxic Substances Control Act by Congress in 1976, which curbed the use of these chemicals (Limburg, Moran, and McDowell 83). In my opinion, Congress acted too late in enacting this legislation, as PCBs were known to be a contaminant for at least a decade. Even though it is good that they made an effort to address the problem, a large amount of PCBs never would have entered the Hudson River if they had been banned earlier.

From 1947 to 1977, roughly thirty years, about 1.3 million pounds of PCBs were discharged into the Hudson River from General Electric’s Hudson Falls and Fort Edward capacitor manufacturing plants (“Historic”). For a picture of the Fort Edward plant that held a large role in the river’s pollution refer to Figure 2. The total output of PCBs resulted in a larger concentration of the chemical in the Hudson than anywhere else in the United States (Limburg, Moran, and McDowell 83). This shows the pure scope of the disaster. When you
think of large scale corporate polluting, some giant factory in an ominous barren wasteland pumping out toxic sludge into a lifeless green and pungent river may come to mind. Many people are aware of some sort of PCB problem in the Hudson, but few seem to recognize the gravity and danger of the situation. I don’t think people care very much because they believe that it does not affect them and also that the problem is not very serious. Perhaps they can’t really be blamed though. I personally seldom come across a mention of the river in Capital Region’s newscasts and newspapers. And at first glance of the Hudson River, you may not realize there is a problem with it at all. The water appears to be clean but that is because since the years of GE’s mass polluting most of the PCBs have settled at the bottom of the river and are no longer a major threat to the quality of the river‘s water, which stays below the legal limit of 5 PCB parts per trillion (“Historic“). However, the pollution continues to take its toll on fish and other aquatic creatures, who depend on the river bottom for sustenance. The towns of Waterford, Halfmoon, and Stillwater, all towns along the Huson, get their drinking water from the river (Reisman 2).

Under Superfund law, the common name given to the US environmental policy known as Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, companies are required to clean up their messes if they pollute, but for many years GE dodged and avoided being pinned to perform any sort of cleanup work (“Historic“). The company had many tools at its disposal, including lobbying Congress, attacking the Superfund law in court, and launching a media campaign to spread disinformation about the usefulness of the cleanup (“Historic”). GE’s persistence in trying to wriggle out of any responsibility shows how irresponsible and uncommitted they are to the environment and for the population as a whole. While the chemicals were not known to be harmful for some time, the bottom line of the matter is that GE put these things out there, and it’s their duty to fix the problem, because these PCBs are not simply going to just disappear. For a while their strategy of trying to shed any accountability in the mess worked, but after decades of legal and political wrangling, a decision was made by the Environmental Protection Agency in 2002 which called for GE to devise a way to remove the PCBs from the river (“Historic”). After more delays, General Electric, in conjunction with the EPA, began planning a project to dredge the PCBs from the bottom of the river. This project would be one of the largest environmental cleanups in United States history (“Historic”). However, General Electric has been consistently uncooperative in getting the project started, continuously delaying the start of the cleanup since 2002 (“Hudson”). In October 2005, the EPA rewarded GE’s foot dragging by assigning the company with the responsibility of cleaning up only 6 out of the 40 miles of the Hudson River that have been determined must be cleaned up (“Historic”). This backroom deal is basically an admission of failure by the EPA, it seems that the organization has given up on trying to completely repair the damage. I also think the idea of only having to clean up a paltry 15% of a toxic mess is a bit ridiculous. If you are only repairing 15% of a threat, then the threat is still in place. However, while I believe the expansion of the dredging process is important, I believe it is more important to ensure the dredging process does not interfere with Waterford’s drinking supply.

The dredging is set to begin in May 2009, however there is a growing movement from officials and residents in Waterford, Halfmoon and Stillwater to delay it. These three towns receive their drinking water from the river. The concern is that GE and the EPA’s tampering with the river sediments will inadvertently release the PCB contents within them into the river and therefore the water supply (Reisman 2). My firm belief is that a pipeline supplying safe water in case PCBs are released must be completed before they start dredging. General Electric has already let down the people of this region once and it cannot risk repeating that mistake. No one knows for sure exactly what will happen once the long awaited dredging begins, but General Electric and the Environmental Protection Agency must be prepared for the worst-case scenario. In the event that the water supply is contaminated, what will happen if we have no alternate water supply? Are we simply going to not have any water? Community leaders are threatening legal action to ensure that there will be a pipeline supplying safe drinking water to residents in the event this occurs (Reisman 2).In regards to the prospect of litigation, Melinda Wormuth, Supervisor of Halfmoon, was quoted in the Post Star as saying: “I think we were trying to hold out hope and put it off as long as we could, and give EPA every chance to do the right thing, but when they refused to guarantee pipeline installation prior to dredging, it shows they don’t have the best interests to our residents, so it leaves us no other option [but to take legal action]” (Reisman 2). Similarly, Waterford’s Supervisor Jack Lawler said “There’s 38,000 people involved who deserve to be guaranteed safe drinking water” (Reisman 2). I couldn’t agree with their sentiments more. I am glad that leaders from Waterford and neighboring towns are stepping to the plate and making sure their voices are heard. After all, these are elected officials, and their responsibility as such is to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the residents of their community. If only dishonest corporate leaders had such a sense of obligation.

The main reason I am so concerned with this issue is because of how relevant it is to my life. I assert it is a human right to have a supply of safe drinking water that is accessible. I think this is especially true in developed countries such as the United States, because we have access to fresh water and the technology to refine it. After all we are paying these water companies and our tax money is funding the activities of the EPA, so why wouldn’t we be getting clean drinking water? Like electricity, water is just one more all important thing that gets us through the day. Living in Waterford, where this issue is so relevant, and using tap water for a variety of things such as showering and brushing my teeth I do not want to be exposed to any hazardous substances that could adversely affect my health.

PCBs have been found to have a wide variety of health detriments in both humans and other animals. These effects are compiled in the book Chemically-Induced Alterations in Sexual and Functional Development: The Wildlife/Human Connection, which states:
Long-term exposure to relatively small amounts of the organ chlorine contaminants in Table 1 [includes PCBs] leads to the accumulation of considerable deposits in animal and human tissues. These contaminants have been associated with an array of harmful effects in laboratory animals, such as endocrine disruption (Table 2), immunotoxicity, neurotoxicity, carcinogenicity, metabolic disorders, and reproductive disorders. In some instances, the disorders are expressed as loss of function in offspring resulting from maternal exposure. (Mehlman 366)
According to this excerpt, contact with even a small amount of PCBs over a prolonged period can produce a collection of unsavory problems, including damaging the immune system, as well as the nervous system and an increased risk of developing cancer. Other potential risks to humans associated with PCBs include “neonatal deficits... in infants exposed prenatally to… PCBs” (Jacobson et al. 853). According to that article, PCBs are lipophilic, therefore hard to excrete or remove from the body, thus accumulating in tissue (Jacobson et al. 853). Once PCBs have entered the body, there is a good chance that they will affect the health of that person down the road if they do not do so right away. These chemicals are not only dangerous, but very hard to get rid of once in contact with.

For one moment, just imagine how often you stop to think about what’s in your drinking water. You turn on the faucet at your home sink and the water comes out just like that. You bathe in it and you cook with it. You spray your car with it. When’s the last time you were up all night tossing and turning in your bed, worried about chemicals in the water supply? You are probably like most people and have taken the cleanliness and safety of the water you put in your body for granted. Perhaps the reason corporations can get away with polluting the environment is because there is not enough of an outcry from the population as a whole to stop them and make them atone for what they‘ve done. General Electric should realize that cleaning up after itself will actually improve its public image and only help them in the long run, as well as the quality of our environment. It is for this reason that I believe that General Electric and the EPA cannot take any shortcuts in their cleanup project that would jeopardize Waterford residents. We are all connected to the environment, and we cannot hide from the fact that the quality of our water has a direct correlation with the quality of our health.

There are precedents for this kind of situation. For instance, in Bloomington, Indiana, the company Westinghouse contaminated multiple areas with PCBs until the 1970s ("CBS Corp. to Pay More Than $31 Million for Final Cleanup of Bloomington, Indiana Superfund Sites"). A solution to the problem was approved February 19, 2008, as Monroe County commissioners agreed on a plan which would require CBS Corp, Westinghouse’s successor, to pay $31.35 million to the federal government to resolve liability and cover damages to natural resources ("CBS Corp. to Pay More Than $31 Million for Final Cleanup of Bloomington, Indiana Superfund Sites"). Additionally, CBS must also perform $22.8 million worth of cleanup actions at additional sites as well as pay $6.67 million to reimburse the EPA for its response and investigation costs ("CBS Corp. to Pay More Than $31 Million for Final Cleanup of Bloomington, Indiana Superfund Sites"). This is the kind of retribution and accountability that needs to be forced on General Electric. CBS was forced to pay full costs for the cleaning up of their mess, and the same treatment must be applied to GE. No lobbying, no backroom deals to reduce the amount of work that needs to be done, just the duty of picking up after yourself and making sure no additional harm is done in the process.

I believe that the EPA and GE must not proceed with their dredging until they can guarantee a safe supply of water for the residents of Waterford, Halfmoon and Stillwater. I am concerned that the dredging will release PCBs locked inside the river sediments into the river’s water but I am even more concerned over the future of the river, and I believe the project must go through, for the drinking supply as well as the fish and organisms that feed on the river bottom. In our country, clean drinking water is a right all citizens should have, after all, water is the basis of life on Earth and the most fundamental necessity to humanity as a whole. The people of Waterford feel very strongly about the issue, a fact that can be discerned from the prevalence of signs and discussion related to the topic throughout the town. General Electric carelessly created the mess, so in all fairness, it should be tasked with the responsibility of completing the removal of the PCBs while ensuring the safety of Waterford residents.

Works Cited

"CBS Corp. to Pay More Than $31 Million for Final Cleanup of Bloomington, Indiana Superfund Sites." Reuters 19 February 2008. 28 Nov 2008 .

“Historic Hudson River Cleanup to Begin After Years of Delay, But Will General Electric Finish the Job?” Natural Resources Defense Council. 3 March 2007. Natural ggggggResources Defense Council. 11 Nov 2008 <http://www.nrdc.org/water/pollution/hhudson.asp>.

Jacobson, Sandra, Greta Fein, Joseph Jacobson, and Pamela Schwartz. "The Effect of Intrauterine PCB Exposure on Visual Recognition Memory." Child Development. 56(1985): 853-860.

Limburg, Karin, Mary Moran, and William McDowell. The Hudson River Ecosystem. 1st ed. New York: Springer-Verlag New York Inc, 1986.

Mehlman, M. A. "Organochlorine Endocrine Disruptors in Human Tissue."Chemically- Induced Alterations in Sexual and Functional Development: The Wildlife/Human Connection. 1st ed. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton Scientific Publishing Co., Inc, 1992.

Reisman, Nick. “PCB project threatened.” Post Star 27 Oct. 2008. 20 Nov. 2008 <http://www.poststar.com/articles/2008/10/27/news/local/14032912.txt>.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Picture on website. 3 Dec. 2008 <http://www.fws.gov/contaminants/images/gehudsonriverepaimage.jpg>.

Swords, Sunflowers and Samurai: A Study of Setting in Samurai Champloo

2008-10-08T02:28:00.004-04:00

Hey everyone! I'm sorry it's been forever since I've posted a new entry. I've been meaning to for awhile but I always either lost interest or motivation, was too busy, or never got around to it. Anyway I have a lot of thoughts to share and even though I've been busy I hope to make at least a few more posts this year.

Today I'll treat anyone who cares to an essay I had to write for my Writing class. This class is turning to be out pretty interesting, and even though the topics are challenging I'm trying my best to keep up. The topic this time was to connect place and/or setting to the theme(s) of a song, movie or TV show. Of course, your Eagle couldn't resist writing about his favorite anime of all time: Samurai Champloo.

I started out at about 12 am this morning with a shitty rough draft and for the past two and a half hours I've been sculpting it and now I think I may have written a masterpiece so I just had to put it up here. Please leave me any comments you have, enjoy!

Swords, Sunflowers and Samurai:
A Study of Setting in Samurai Champloo

The concept of “place” is an integral component of any song, TV show or movie. Places influence and shape our characters into what they are, causing them to act in certain ways that determine the direction of the story. There are countless examples, but one such television show that is greatly impacted by its setting is the anime series, Samurai Champloo. Samurai Champloo carries an important theme throughout its story that one cannot escape from his or her past, and the places of the series help to reinforce this message.

Samurai Champloo, directed by Shinichiro Watanabe, is a twenty six episode series following the adventures of two rogue samurai, Jin and Mugen, and a teahouse waitress, Fuu, as they travel across Edo period Japan in search of the elusive sunflower samurai. The sunflower samurai is a mysterious man sought by Fuu, and who is revealed to be Fuu’s father near the end of the series. Jin and Mugen, despite not entirely liking each other at first, agree to tag along to provide protection and support. Each of the three protagonists has a troubled past that plays an integral role into the development of not only their character, but the main storyline itself.

The setting of the show is a truly unique one. Despite taking place in Japan’s Edo period, an era of Japanese history between 1603 and 1868, Samurai Champloo is made up of a mixture of elements from traditional Japanese culture as well as from modern hip hop culture to create an enormously fresh and historically inaccurate environment. In this world of teahouses and samurai there is also break dancing, rapping, turn tabling and graffiti to be found. The coexistence of past and future for the show’s setting can be related to the characters as well. Each of their futures are indelibly intertwined with their pasts, a truth that none of them are at liberty to change, but will learn to embrace by the series’ conclusion.

Mugen was born on a penal colony in the Ryukyu Islands, which has an important effect on his life and personality. He never knew his parents, and assumedly had to grow up and learn to survive on his own. Because of this, he is extremely self reliant, and untrusting of others. In the past he was a pirate, and made many enemies throughout his brutal, though short, career, for the places he attacked would come back to haunt him. Three of these enemies, a group of brothers whose sugar shipment was raided by Mugen and his crew, track Mugen down in the final three episodes and attempt to kill him in retribution for his deeds.

Jin is also running from his past. Before the events of the series he was a swordsman student at a dojo. His upbringing at this dojo taught him the skills and rigid doctrine he would need to survive in the world. Two years before meeting up with Mugen and Fuu he was suddenly attacked by his master. Jin was forced to kill him, and as a result had to flee and go into hiding. On several occasions throughout the series his past catches up to him as his fellow students find and attempt to kill him. The place of the dojo indeed has a powerful impact on Jin, for not only did he become a great swordsman there, but this dojo has also churned out his classmates, who blindly follow the code of bushido that grants them the willingness to die for their master.

Place has a strong effect on Fuu as well. She grew up without a father, only knowing him as the “sunflower samurai”, and wishes to find him so she can yell at him for what a jerk he is. In fact, the main point of her goal and the entire show is to reach where the sunflower samurai resides. Where that is is not only a place, but a destination, one that the entire premise of the show is centered around, for without that “place” there would certainly be no point to the story. It is also interesting to note that while Mugen and Jin are haunted and pursued by their pasts, Fuu is racing to find out more about hers.

An interesting thing to take into account in Samurai Champloo is the same place never comes up in more than one episode, save for a few multi-part episodes. Throughout the series, the main protagonists are wandering, almost aimlessly towards an uncertain goal. This lack of “place consistency” indicates that these characters are missing a part of themselves: a place to call home. In the past all of the characters had a home, but due to unfortunate circumstances that “place” was destroyed, and now in the present they are seeking a new place of their own. This common element helps bind the characters together as the show progresses.

Samurai Champloo’s version of Edo Japan is a very dangerous place, where many armed men carry out their business, none afraid to draw their sword. This creates a feeling of a “Wild West” type setting with swords in lieu of guns, a place full of action and adventure. The Edo Japan in the show contributes to an alternate theme of needing to work together to survive. In a land of such uncertainty and cruelty, surely the odds of survival are greater when there are friends or teammates to work with, especially when the three travelers have a wide array of people willing to kill them.

Samurai Champloo is a strong example of how essential environment is to the main theme. The origins of all the characters serve a powerful purpose for their progression in the story. These origins and places all tie in with the notion that we are all unalterably tied to our past, which can shape us into who we are or drive us to do or seek things, as is the case with this series. We can choose to accept it, we can choose to deny it, and we can choose to ignore it, but we certainly cannot escape from the simple fact that our past and the places from whence we came play a pivotal role in our present and our future, because that is what makes us the people we are today, for better or for worse.

The Sweetest Post Ever! aka Mishmash

2008-01-27T23:43:00.000-05:00

Where is our society going? Is there such a thing as world peace? I'm sure you'd love the answers to these questions, heheh, yes it's me, Eagle. I've taken a much longer break than anticipated, but I'm back for the first "Mishmash" post. What is a mishmash? Well, I had to look up the answer myself after the word occurred to me, and here's the answer (according to my friends over at dictionary.com):

mish·mash
(mĭsh'māsh', -mäsh') n. A collection or mixture of unrelated things; a hodgepodge.

Ok so according to this definition, this post is going to have a whole bunch of things in it, as opposed to my usual posts focusing on one topic.

Door C Updates

First off, here's some updates on Door C Entertainment's projects. Door C is definitely moving in a new direction from our traditional video gaming/machinima roots. Hell, even we don't know where it's going! Our live action movie production wing definitely has at least two projects in the near future, one of which has already begun filming, expect updates soon. And for the other one, well, that's a bit more of a mystery. We seriously can't seem to settle on a script, having gone through at least five, but something will definitely go down. By the way, these two projects are martial arts/action oriented. A couple months ago me and Kwang filmed this little fight test here, it's pretty cool: http://media.putfile.com/Run-in-36, you'll need the latest flash player to watch it. After making my own documentary my filmmaking skills have considerably improved. Also, my friend Marcel who is now on board with Door C has suggested we begin our own podcast.

Meanwhile, our good friend Kfc21 of Iron Fighter Fury fame is developing a new two part movie based on everybody's favorite kung fu chicken, Calibot. I'm currently editing Part 1 and I can definitely say this is way better than anything we've seen from Kfc thus far, some important backstory will be explained as well. I will certainly update all readers on the status of these projects in the future, and as a sidenote we're still looking for someone to create the official Door C site, so if you're interested, email me at timd986@hotmail.com!

Here are some stills from Calibot's Day, enjoy!

Here, Calibot's getting some coaching from his funky master

An old enemy returns?

No comment

What's this guy up to?

Zune > Ipod

Alright, for Christmas I got a Zune and I feel inclined to tell everyone that the Ipod is outclassed, for now anyway. I've been in need of a new mp3 player for about a year and my new 4gb Zune looks like it's going to keep me happy for a while. About a year ago my Ipod Nano was in my pocket and i leaned against a table and the next thing I know I hear a sickening crunch, I take the Ipod out of my pocket and the 3/4 of the screen is completely dead, but the actual music playing abilities were still intact. That's right, I used a broken screened Ipod for almost a year.

Another crappy thing about the Ipod, or at least mine, was how damn easy it was to scratch the thing. Now I'm a guy who takes really good care of his belongings, but even with a case, the screen and silver back were covered in scratches. Now I've had my Zune a few weeks and it's still as pristine as when I first took it out of the box. Plus, I think the directional pad is a lot easier to use than the Ipod's click wheel. Have you ever tried to play Brick using the Ipod's click wheel? Don't. The Zune 4's screen is also bigger than the Nano's. The Zune also has a radio tuner and can connect wirelessly to other Zunes to share songs, so overall I believe the Zune offers a more diverse experience than the Ipod. Hopefully the Zune will be able to play games soon. Well there's my two cents.

Ass Effect

If you have been anywhere near an Xbox 360 within the past few months, you probably know about a little game called Mass Effect. Being a fan of Bioware, I had to get my hands on it and I finished the game a couple weeks ago. I thought the game was great, with a few minor squabbles, and I plan to return to the game to finish more side missions. However I am not writing this just to discuss the game, but rather to criticize a certain piece by extremely objective news source Fox News. According to Fox's expert panelists, Mass Effect contains "full digital nudity". Video here: http://www.youtube.com/v/L13Ct40cFIU&rel=1

I have never seen anything on a news channel so poorly researched and so blatantly false! First of all they bring in a supposed psychology expert/author named Cooper Lawrence, whose name isn't even worthy to be on Wikipedia. She proceeds to run her mouth for almost a full minute about how kids are becoming desensitized to sex and viewing women as objects blah blah blah, nothing at all about the actual game except her comment that you get to control how many women you want to have sex with or something to that nature. A very cool Geoff Keighley then gets her to admit to never playing the game, which kinda puts a hole in her whole argument. Since the incident, the internet has been set aflame with the wrath of thousands of angry gamers who have flamed a deserving Lawrence's book reviews on Amazon.com.

First of all, for those who don't know, Mass Effect does not contain any nudity, unless you count a two second bare ass as "graphic nudity". Even then, it takes at least 12 hours to work to that part of the game. Now these are people who are saying this is a threat to our youth? You've got to be kidding me! A 13 year old boy is many many times more likely to see something far more damaging just by typing something into Google Images, whether intentional or not.

If you are not 18 years of age or older please close your eyes, this image is responsible for the moral bankruptcy of America

Afterward Lawrence admitted that she's never played Mass Effect or even seen any of it, she was just told that it had pornography. But that begs the question, if she didn't know anything about the game then WHY WAS SHE BROUGHT ON!? Was Fox picking random names out of a hat or what? That's like if a news channel was covering a school shooting and brought in an expert on foreign policy to explain the situation.

Even after Lawrence and Keighley leave the segment, the host continues to express her total either stupidity or ignorance towards video games, stating exactly: "But you have to pick up the box and look at the back for the rating and then... you have to be involved in what your kids are looking at." Anyone with a fucking brain can deduct that the fucking letters in the corner of the front of the box are the ratings, and they're required to be there. This is just another sad example of the media lashing out at games because parents want to shift the blame off themselves and onto the gaming industry. Seriously, it makes me sick how saturated our society is with things that are worse than this and people prefer to zero in on a microscopic segment of an amazing game. It isn't the gaming industry's job isn't to babysit your kids, isn't that job supposed to be for parents? Fuck this.

P.S. Can't wait for Mass Effect 2!

=Eagle out=

An Ancient Danger

2007-10-18T21:31:00.000-04:00

This is a first, a rant and a life and events rolled into one! Anyway, yesterday was ridiculous! Alright so for my Documentary Filmmaking class we had to decide the topic for our final project (a 5-7 minute documentary), and I was originally going to do something on parkour, but after finding out there are few to no traceurs in the area I had to quickly switch to my school's Ultimate Frisbee team and the tournament we're entering this weekend. So I came up with how I wanted to have the film done, found out the team had a practice later that day. Having the need for an interview, I called one of the team captains and set up a time for an interview, borrowed one of the school's cameras and tripods, and headed over to the front field with my buddy Marcel (he was the cameraman, I was the interviewer) for the interview.

We get there, set everything up, feelin good, I open the little thingy where the tape goes in, and to my horror, there's no tape in there! I'm panicking. The interview was supposed to be in half an hour! I tell Marcel to keep watch over the camera, he promptly collapsed under the tree fast asleep (he pulled an all-nighter the night before, not a smart idea leaving the camera with someone who's asleep but in hindsight, it was my only option), and I sprinted to my car. Jumped in, engines roared to life, flying down the highway, damnit what's with all the traffic? I'm about two minutes from my destination (Staples to buy the tape), when our story really begins..

I'm on a four lane road that leads into the shopping complex when the unthinkable occurs. Here is the play by play of what happened using an actual satelite image of the road this took place.

A) I turn onto the road. I am on the left lane on the right side of the road. (Two lanes on the right side) There is a car almost directly on my right with an old lady driving it.

B) Without warning or reason, or even looking the fuck over, the old lady, the front of her car about a few feet further ahead on the road than the front of mine, drifts into my lane. To avoid a side collision, I have to swerve into the lane of oncoming traffic.

C) Horns blaring at me, I am forced to enter this lane and take a left hand turn, which disrupted my route of travel. I see the old bitch's car speed off ahead of me, blissfully unaware of how fucking stupid she is, her white head of hair all that's visible of her from my car.

At this time that is the closest I've ever come to being in a car accident, and at that point I realized something very obvious; old people who can't drive shouldn't be allowed to drive! Makes sense, right? I've heard many stories about problems with old people driving, but that was my first Close Encounter of the Old Kind.

I'm not saying all old people are bad people or bad drivers, my grandparents are good people and drivers, and there are many more old people who are perfectly fine to be around and be in the car with. However, there are many who are not. It is natural, as you get older you lose your peripheral vision and your reflexes get slower. But this makes it our responsibility to take these crazy old drivers off the road. The American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators has found that a 75 year old driver is three times as likely to drive in a car crash than a 23 year old one.

There is a way to weed out bad old drivers and keep in the acceptable ones. Once drivers reach a certain age, they should be required to take a test that determines whether they are fit to continue driving every two or three years. There is already a system like this in place in New Hampshire and Illinois, and their rate of car accidents is lower than many other states. My question is this: why doesn't every state have these laws!? The only problem I have with what these two states have is that they don't start frequent testing until age 75, and I think that should be somewhere around 65.

The time for action is now! I was fortunate, but many are not! In a one year study, 7,269 drivers over the age of 65 were killed in a car crash and in that same study, half of all fatalities at collisions at intersections involved a driver over 80. These senior citizens who can't drive have plenty of alternatives to drive, because when they do, they're a danger to themselves and others. Let's start a riot! Flood our congressmen with angry letters! Take it to the fucking streets! Aw, fuck, what am I saying, I'm just an angry teenager who no one takes seriously..

=Eagle out=

PS - The Staples Mini DV Tapes were too expensive, so I had to "borrow" one from the TV Studio. Turns out there was footage of a lady talking on it that I recorded over, really hope that wasn't important..

PS2 - I'm not saying that the only bad drivers are old people either. There are plenty of bad drivers of all ages. This incident that happened to me involved an old driver, which is why I wrote about it.

sources: http://www.caraccidentattorneys.com/senior-citizen-driver.cfm, http://www.caraccidentlawyerpros.com/AccidentCarElderlyStatistics.html

A Night to Remember: The Halo 3 Launch!

2007-09-25T15:11:00.000-04:00

As some of you may know, last night was the biggest night in video gaming in almost a year. The Halo 3 launch! If you do not know what Halo is, please stop reading, drive to your nearest retailer, buy an Xbox 360, any Halo game you can find, and experience enlightenment. Anyway, it was a night the gaming community had been anxiously awaiting since 2004. I had my copy preordered a month ago, so I was safe. I was expecting a crowd, but nothing on the scale that happened the late night and early morning of September 24th and 25th.

So I was sitting at home a little after 9:00, not planning to go to EB Games til 10ish, when my friend Pat gives me a call..

Pat: *voices in the background* "What's up?"
Me: "You're there already?"
Pat: "Yeah man, the lines already out to the Wine and Liquor Warehouse." (store next to EB Games in the plaza)
Me: "NO WAY!"

I immediately got off the phone, told my bud Elliot I was going over AIM, then ran to my car and roared over there. The EB Games is situated approximately in the center of a large plaza known as The Crossing and when I got there at about 9:30 the line began right outside the door and ran past a couple stores. I walked over and I see my friends Pat and Elliot in line, so I jump in with them. Elliot wasn't there to get the game, due to the fact that his 360 suffered the dreaded red ring of death, but just there for the hell of it. So it was about quarter of ten and the three of us were guzzling Mountain Dew Game Fuel when we got the brilliant idea of inviting our friend Bubba over for the excitement. So we called him and somehow convinced his parents to let him come (he's in high school). So Elliot went to pick him up while me and Pat held down the fort. While they were gone, I called my friend Dallas and invited him over (he was actually getting the game though), so by the time Elliot and Bubba arrived we really had a little party going.

They brought more Game Fuel, chips, gummy worms and chairs. This is about the time where even more people showed up, things got more rowdy, and my memory gets a little blurred. I seem to remember three police cars showing up to make sure a riot didn't break out, a hot dog stand set up for hungry nerds, a dude backflipping off a garbage, people smoking and drinking and other general mayhem that may be expected by over two hundred testosterone packed crammed outside a game store. Sometime during the festivities, one of these showed up, much to everyone's excitement:

Hot girls and free Red Bull? Sign me up! (This isn't the same one that came last night)

Immediately two hot girls got out and started handing out free Red Bull! This really was heaven! After getting our mouths more wet than they already were, we started getting more crazy. I have no idea what the point of this was, but everyone in our little group paid Bubba a dollar to cover his face with chalk and put silly string in his hair. He looked ridiculous, but who cares?

Kids, this is why you don't take drugs

Homemade Halo gear (This isn't me)

Me and the crew

As midnight approached, everyone packed the line super tight, chanting and roaring with excitement, like some sort of nerdy orgy or something. Anyway, midnight finally came, and they began admitting people into the store about ten people at a time (I assume this was to prevent stampeding and fighting). The first guys in line were like uber nerds in their twenties who got the legendary editions (We asked one of them to smash his). Since they made everyone pay in advance, the lines moved quickly and smoothly. I got my Halo 3 Limited Edition (I'm not nerdy enough for the Legendary) and burst out of the store, high fiving Pat. I finally held the year's most anticipated release in my hands. I got home, took a very long piss, and played til 2. Unfortunately, I have to write a Philosophy paper today, but I predict many hours of enjoyable gaming to come, this whole thing was a blast and I am definitely going to something like this again, whether it be Gears of War 2 or the next Xbox, but it would take a lot to top this.

=Eagle out=

Who's responsible for your safety?

2007-09-09T23:02:00.000-04:00

NOTE: To all my readers (if I even have any), I am sorry for the lack of updating, I am now having to deal with a new task, college assignments. I will still try to make at least one quality article a week, but I can not make any promises. Thank you and I appreciate your support.

These days everyone's got a Myspace and/or Facebook. Everyone's private information, everything you need to know about them is all online, for all to see. Some debate whether this is an advancement or a threat to privacy. I personally think it is how the world is evolving, whether we like it or not, moving more and more toward one interconnected community easily accessable from around the world.

But this article is about the idiots who blame Myspace for their problems. We've all heard of the occasional rape of someone who's met someone over Myspace, here's the first one I found here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16688909/. Here are more articles regarding the rape and following lawsuit here and here. According to the sources the guy took the girl out to eat after school and then raped her in the back of his car. So the girl knew the guy was older but she went with him anyway. And where were her parents? Did they let her go out with a stranger? And furthermore, Myspace requires all users to be at least 14 and she was 13, and she listed herself as being 18! All these factors and Myspace gets blamed? I struggle to imagine how they would even justify that. This might be how a conversation regarding the aftermath of one of these rapes goes:

"Oh my god I just met someone on Myspace and he raped me, what the hell am I supposed to do?"
"Well, we can't blame your stupidity because you're the victim, and the rapist himself is obviously not to blame. Oh I know! Let's blame Myspace and sue them for $30 million!"
"Oh my god you're right! We can get a lot of attention and money! And no one will even notice how dumb I am for letting an older man take me out!"
"Like, totally!"

Is this not the stupidest fucking thing ever!? What are they blaming Myspace for? Not monitoring every instant message and comment among their 40 million users to check to for suspicious activity? The guy didn't fuckin pop out of the girl's computer screen and rape her, she chose to give out personal information and have him take her out. There's nothing they can do to stop this stuff, it's your personal responsibility to not be stupid enough to give some creepy old dude your address and let him take you out. Yes, it's bad, yes a crime has occurred, but prosecute the rapist, not Myspace. Thankfully, the judge dismissed the $30 million lawsuit, and I have a shred of hope left for our country.

What some people are making out Myspace to be

Let's say a young girl is hanging out at a restaurant and an older guy comes over and they start talking. Then they leave together and the girl gets raped. Would it be right to sue the restaurant for not taking "proper security measures"? Fuck no. Myspace isn't a place, things don't happen there and Myspace can't control what happens in the real world.

And besides, Myspace already has security measures. Let's say some creepy dude is sending you messages and you're getting a bad vibe. Just block the mo' fucka! It's easy as one, two, three:

Here's how to block someone, try clicking the third one down to the right

Myspace has other security measures as well. For example, someone over 18 can't add someone under 16 without knowing their email or full name. This doesn't protect the many people who lie about their age though. Myspace also deletes profiles of registered sex offenders and has a page devoted to safety. Look here (sorry it was too big to screen capture):

http://www.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=cms.viewpage&placement=safetytips

As you can see, Myspace has clearly listed ways you can keep yourself safe. In fact, if kids who get themselves raped just took the time to read and took some precautions, maybe this stuff wouldn't happen and the world would be a better place. Eh, never mind, people are too stupid. But what else can Myspace do to protect people? Hire people to stand behind kids who use Myspace so they can tap them on the shoulder if they recognize a dangerous situation?

The bottom line of this whole thing is that people need to keep themselves safe and not make a mistake and blame a company that just happens to be the medium that two people used to meet each other. Myspace can't predict whether someone's a rapist or not, and it's impossible to police all of its profiles. It's not Myspace's responsibility to babysit people in their homes and make sure they don't get raped. Are we really getting to the point where no individual can be at fault for anything, rather corporations are accountable for the safety of every human being? It seems like it, and it's not good. There are bad people on the internet. Be careful who you talk to online, don't give personal information to strangers, and be safe.

= Eagle out =

An Impossible Mission

2007-09-01T00:21:00.000-04:00

There are many different customer loyalty programs that companies use to try to reel people in to buy more of their product, but none are quite as insidious as the Coke Rewards program. I first heard about Coke Rewards through that commercial they play in the movie theater. Some guy drops his cap or something, and as it's rolling on the ground, people are imagining it being different prizes you can earn, and then they all lunge for it. The concept intrigued me. Unlike that bullshit thing Pepsi was doing, Transform Your Summer, where you could enter a thousand codes and still get nothing, this program seemed to have promise, some chance of actually fucking getting something. I pictured myself with a brand new Nintendo Wii in my hands, beaming and waving around that remote, well I don't really like the Wii but if I can get one just by collecting caps then why not?

The fool I was.. A couple months ago I rushed on to mycokerewards.com, first cap in hand, imagining the endless possibilities that lay before me. Then, with sheer horror, I uncovered the mechanisms of Coke Rewards. Each bottle cap is worth three points. I guess that's better than one or two points I thought, but I learned that's all part of Coke's diabolical scheme to make you think you're accumulating more than you really are. You need 6,250 points to earn a Wii. Do the math and you find that you'd need 2,084 caps! That is insane, I mean call me stupid for actually believing I could get a Wii by doing this but on the commercial it made it seem like anyone could do it. But the fact of the matter is, no ordinary person can possibly get that many caps without either spending a lot of money or spending a lot of time searching garbage cans and road sides, just to go mad weeks later, turn up in some fuckin dump, digging through garbage with bloodshot eyes, and whispering about how you just need a few more caps.

This mock advertisement/simple animation I cooked up portrays the situation well.

Even if you somehow saved enough points by buying the necessary amount of bottles, you'd have spent approximately $2,605 on your pursuit, which is over ten times the cost of a Wii. Let's say someone wanted a Wii, but for whatever reason, didn't want to run out and buy one. So this person made the sad mistake of trying to get through Coke Rewards. His goal was to earn a Wii in a year. He'd have to drink 5.8 bottles of Coke a day. I don't care how much you claim to love Coke, no one buys that much of it. It's like at Chuck E. Cheese or one of those other places where they have a really cool prize that costs 10,000 tickets or something ridiculous like that. And you know no one has ever hated their life so much they took the time to win that many tickets.

A typical Coke Rewards cap (sorry for blurryness)

Some of the prizes make the Wii one look as easy as getting laid in Thailand. There's a junior Coke cooler that's 18,000 points! That's right, 6,000 bottles worth for a little fucking cooler! I don't see anything special about it other than the fact it has "Drink Coca Cola" on the front. You'd have better luck finding a McDonald's that can take orders correctly than winning that piece of shit. Supposedly it's a collector's item, but it's almost embarrassing for Coke to ask for such an incredible amount for something like that. I don't know of any Coke collectors, but I'm sure if there are any, they'd have more convenient methods of obtaining one other than going through Coke's Rewards shit. Therefore I have no idea who Coke is targeting with this prize.

Here it is, the holy grail of the Coke Rewards quest

In addition to having extremely hard rewards, there are further deterrents to accumulating points. The codes themselves are generally 12 or 15 characters and impossible to read correctly unless under a light. A few of the characters can easily be confused with each other as well, Os look like 0s, 6s look like Gs and Us look like Vs. A seasoned Coke Rewards veteran can easily distinguish these differences but they are very discouraging to newcomers. I myself was frustrated when it took me five minutes to enter one fucking code correctly during one of my first times. Furthermore, you can only enter ten codes per day, so if you've just made off with a huge cache of caps by visiting the recycling section of a grocery store like I did, this will prolong your redeeming process and annoy the shit out of you. They also have low quantities of all their good stuff. At the time of this writing, they are out of stock of the Nintendo DS and Wii, making their video game section look incredibly barren. And as if all that wasn't bad enough, the program is ending this year, making the chances of me getting anything of value go right down the fucking toilet.

The above picture depicts a ballsy proclamation by Coke. SIGN UP TODAY, It's quick and easy, we promise. Coke actually made a pledge that it would be quick and easy, just like the commercial right? Yeah, I know they're referring to the actual registration process, not the seven circles of hell you'll go through trying to win something decent, but it's still pretty misleading.

So why do they bother if so few people are able to get these prizes? The answer is simple: customer addiction. In an effort to stimulate their sales, Coke decided to start this program to torture people. There are some neat prizes that cost 30-300 points. The cost of these prizes are low enough to give customers hope of getting them and high enough for Coke to still make a profit from all this. Why would they give a shit that you earned a $15 item when you had to use $100 worth of Coke codes to get it? I feel sorry for anyone for whatever they had to go through to get one of the good prizes. Is the strategy working? It just might be. A CNN Money article (http://money.cnn.com/2007/07/10/markets/spotlight_coke/index.htm), reported Coke was beginning to pick up momentum after a disappointing last few years. Of course Coke Rewards isn't the the sole reason for this, it is definitely making current consumers motivated to buy more Coke products.

And even though I dislike the program, I still enter codes when I can, although it isn't a top priority. I hope by the end of the year I'll be able to get a free popcorn at the movies or something. Even though Coke hasn't done anything illegal, they've created a program based on misleading advertising and a frustrating experience to users. The program may work for them, but Coke shouldn't sacrifice consumer loyalty for a brief surge in sales. It just might come back to haunt them.

= Eagle out =

My Time Got Totally Wasted

2007-08-28T23:30:00.000-04:00

As many of you know or are experiencing, it's back to school time. I'm sure some of you who are still in school had some summer assignments. Maybe you had to read a book or something. But some college students have a little more than just that. We have to take one of the most aggravating, nausea inducing summer assignments ever. That's right, alcohol education. The most worthless thing I have wasted my time on this summer, and I've wasted a lot of time this summer. So this course is apparently mandatory for the college I go to, and takes about four hours to take (I'm not sure exactly how long it took me to finish it, I believe I spent a couple hours on it Sunday and a couple more yesterday).

A friend of mine reminded me a couple days ago that it was supposed to be done by the 28th, I had pretty much forgotten about it, so I decided to start it. I thought I was just going to be doing some reading, and a test at the end, but I was in for more. I headed over to the site (http://college.alcoholedu.com) and made an account and logged in. They start you off by asking you all these survey questions trying to find out what you think of drinking and how much you drink. They also ask you questions like what your goals in college are and things that motivate you, etc. Then you choose a "guide" who serves utterly no purpose other than to tell you the torture you're in for. Then the course begins, you watch about two to five minutes of slideshow like video with a narrator. Then you're forced to answer three multiple choice questions asking how useful whatever you just watched was, followed by two more open ended questions asking what the most important topic of the portion was, and any feedback on it. Then you watch another video clip, and the same questions come up, then you come to the awful realization that this pattern is going to continue through most of the fucking course. Sure there were slight interruptions in the pattern, like some occasional different questions related to what topic they were covering and a BAC curve that you were forced to tinker with, showing how easily you can get over the 0.08 BAC level, but things mostly dragged on in that manner.

A typical boring screen from this boring class

One of the annoying parts of the course was a lot of the questions they asked were based on the assumption that you drink, like, "Remember the last time you went out drinking, did you keep track of your drink at all times?". This is not a specific example, because I did not get the idea to blog about this until the end of the course I didn't save anything, but there were questions like this asked, check for yourself if you dare. Now I don't really drink, so I found these questions annoying. I'm sure most of the people who take this drink, but that doesn't mean they all do.

Then there's the fact a lot of this stuff is crap I was already forced to learn in Health classes throughout my previous school years. True, they were a little more in depth, and the course had a college oriented flavor (discussed strategies for being safe at dorms parties, warned against drinking games), but the content was still incredibly boring, the narrator gave me a headache, and I actually found myself wanting to drink. Some of the content was a little awkward as well, especially the Sexual Decisions chapter, which talked about consent, alcohol's ability to eliminate inhibitions and stressed silence does NOT mean consent. There was also a little bit about alcohol related violence with an accompanying picture that was unintentionally hilarious.

What the hell is this? The first panel of the picture shows two guys clearly in some sort of disagreement, with that one guy on the left screaming or something, with either his or the other guy's hand resting on the other guy's chest. But the second panel is just plain ridiculous. They showed the guy with his face angry, then put motion blur on it, but when I first saw the picture I thought it looked like the guy was a pterodactyl, swooping down for the kill. Or maybe he's trying to suck out his soul. I guess they're trying to convey that the guy hit the other guy, but I think it would have been easier to show his fist making contact or something, instead just showing the guy all blurry and screaming.

One thing I did find interesting about the course was their claim that a study showed that alcohol's effects are in part a placebo effect. A group of people were given a drink they were told was alcohol, but really wasn't and they reported feeling drunk. This makes some sense. People in the media are always shown having a good time when they're drinking, so our minds may expect the same. I'm sure it isn't entirely the case, but it probably plays a part.

At the end of the course, I took a thirty question test that I passed on my first try. All in all, I would say I learned a little from the course, but it did not change my views or opinions, and was a huge waste of time, an unpleasant experience and was not worth the headache I received afterward. And I'm sure 99% of all other people taking the course are going to be unaffected, they're still going to drink and do what they want. In fact, it may even increase college drinking, if college students realize colleges are trying harder to deter them, they may try harder to rebel. AlcoholEdu may make a tiny effect on the college population, but I don't think it's worth all the money they're dumping into the effort.

= Eagle out =

Subway Propaganda

2007-08-24T13:29:00.000-04:00

So there's a little trend going around involving healthier lifestyles, healthier eating in particular. Perhaps no company has benefited greater from this trend than Subway. While millions of Americans paid closer attention to their wastelines, Subway became the fastest growing franchise in the world with over 28,000 locations worldwide. Seriously, everywhere has a fucking Subway. They're in Wal-Marts, college campuses, hell they even got one in the Pentagon. No one's arguing it's bad, even I eat there from time to time, but I found it just a little bit surprising that one food chain could gain so much just from the simple premise of healthy food. But it couldn't really be that much better for you could it? Just because some guy lost 250 pounds, does that mean you'll lose weight too? I just had to investigate for myself... Read on..

We know that most of Subway's marketing strategy centers around the concept of healthy and "fresh". A memorable commercial that comes to mind is where Jared or some other guy (can't remember who the fuck it was) is standing on a scale and ordering at a fast food restaurant, and for every additional thing he orders, the number on the scale goes up. Clever, it really was, but does it hold up? I'm not going to go on a 30 day diet or anything, just a simple and quick little test to see if Subway's fast food bashing is warranted.

This is a typical subway menu.

Notice how Jared is smiling at you at the bottom, as if eagerly anticipating you buying one of the items he is paid to endorse.

Before I continue, let me just briefly talk about Jared. First of all, let me just say the guy is a hero. He had a lot of motivation and it's a true success story that he was able to get his life back in shape. But perhaps this story was a little too easy to be manipulated by Subway. First of all, it is known that the results of Jared's diet are not typical. Second, it took a year of eating two Subway subs per day (plus exercise) to lose the 250 pounds. Furthermore, those two subs were a six inch turkey club for lunch and a foot long veggie for dinner. Needless to say, I believe it would be a little tough for a normal person to eat the same two sandwiches every day for a year.

Now.. here is the napkin they hand out at Subway that compares it to McDonald's and Burger King.

All the facts for the subs shown are for the six inch versions. But it says on the napkin, "7 subs with 6 grams of fat or less", but a six inch is not really a sub. It is half a sub. And I don't know about you, but a six inch sub does not cut it for me. So if you are a normal person that eats a foot long sub, double all figures shown for Subway. The foot long Roasted Chicken Breast would have 684 calories and 96 mg of cholesterol, exceeding the Whopper and Big Mac. And that's without mayonnaise OR cheese! And THAT's the healthy menu! Let's look at what else they got.

(All this information is taken from the nutrition guide on subway.com) These are the normal sandwiches:

The first red box is calories, the second red box is grams of fat. These values include cheese but not condiments. And again, they're only six inch subs, double this if you're normal, and you'll see that the calories far exceed those of McDonald's or Burger King, while the amount of fat is slightly lower. You can look at the Subway online menu for yourself and see that most of this stuff isn't totally healthy. Another item is the Double Meatball Marinara, a six inch tipping the scales at 860 calories and 42 grams of fat! They don't put that on their fucking napkin do they? I could continue pointing stuff like this out, but you probably get the idea by now.

So, we've established Subway's healthy menu is indeed healthy, if you choose to have basic six inch sandwiches without cheese or condiments, however, get almost any other sub, especially a foot long, and it will have almost or over the amount of calories of the Big Mac or Whopper. However, the Subway napkin is the most biased piece of tissue paper in history in yet another way.

It chooses two fatty items on the fast food menu. These places don't just offer huge burgers dripping with fat, they have smaller sized items, salads, bottled waters, you name it. In fact, Subway's propaganda is so hypocritical, you could probably make a McDonald's Nutrition Napkin that makes Subway look bad. Don't believe me?

As you can draw from looking at both these napkins, Subway is being extremely unfair. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. Subway is using its healthy menu as ammo against McDonald's when one, Subway also offers food fattier even than what's offered at McDonald's and two, McDonald's isn't really that bad if you order a salad or one of the smaller items. Subway's marketing strategy is also very misleading because it gives you the perception that all their food is healthy. I walked into Subway one time and got a foot long Chicken Bacon Ranch because I didn't think it was that bad, and of course they wouldn't put the nutritional facts for that on their napkin, but as you can see it's pretty bad for you.

So, in other words, it is wrong to assume Subway is completely healthy and McDonald's is completely fatty. They both have diverse menus, with healthy and fatty options. McDonald's is being unfairly targeted, not only by Subway, but by most everyone, and unfortunately, I don't think it will ever change. McDonald's has been branded for life with the "bad for you" label, and no matter how many salads and low fat options they put on their menu, people will always think like that, because there's this perception that going to eat at McDonald's is bad for you.

Here's my advice for McDonald's. Convert a few of their restaurants into a new brand, named "FreshChoice", or something similar, which would basically play off of Panera Bread, by making their own good tasting bread and offer low fat sandwiches. Try the idea, test it out to guage consumer interest, and go from there.

This whole thing is a case of manipulation of a trend that any food chain could pull off. The important thing is, just because you hear something is healthy on a commercial, don't run out and buy whatever it is, do research and formulate a diet that incorporates healthy eating and exercise. Then watch the pounds peel off!

= Eagle out =

Can You Package Culture?

2007-08-20T22:57:00.000-04:00

Everyone loves a little culture right? Well these days everyone is trying to capitalize on it. But I only want to cover one small corner of this phenomenon. The frozen food industy, which seems to be bent on turning every kind of food imaginable into something that can be bought in a grocery store freezer, taken out of a cardboard box and popped into a microwave or oven, to be eaten a few minutes later. There is a problem with this, of course. Imagine more and more people across the country turn to this type of cuisine because they are impatient and want food quicker. Now the type of frozen food they are eating is becoming the standard of that type all across the country. A quick example. Let's say there is this new frozen chicken made by Tyson that can be prepared extremely quickly. Now everyone is going to start eating this new chicken, which will eventually become everyone's standard for what chicken should taste like, when there is much tastier, fresher chicken available. This may not seem like too big of a problem, but there's more. At the base of the frozen food industry is The Schwan Food Company, a multibillion dollar company specializing in frozen foods. They produce under subbrands you may be familiar with, such as Freschetta, Red Baron, Tony's and Asian Sensations.

And this is where my real complaint begins. The frozen food industry isn't content with just pizza, chicken, and burritos. They won't be satisfied until every type of food out there is under their frozen empire. My main complaint is with their line of egg rolls, under their "Asian Sensations" brand. First of all, let's take a look at the box for their "White Meat Chicken Egg Rolls".

Ok first of all they're trying to draw you in and make you think this is authentic Asian cuisine with a few Asian stereotypes. See that fan thingy under where it says "Asian"? And the pagoda in the upper left hand corner? They even have a bamboo rod border.

Now, for anyone who's had real eggrolls at a real asian restaurant, you will know this frozen shit is nothing close to a genuine egg roll. From the Asian Sensation site(http://www.asiansensations.com/), where unintentionally funny taglines playing on asian stuff are common, such as "Yinging for something different?" and "Welcome to the Yum Dynasty", it states :

"Asian Sensations TM from Pagoda TM was created to satisfy your craving for something different. Gone are the days when snacking choices were limited to the same old pizzas, poppers or chips & dip. Now there's a whole new world of frozen snacks that lets you venture into the great taste of Asian anytime.. and only Asian Sensations TM can bring it to you! Asian Sensations TM is proudly created by Schwan's Consumer Brands-North America, Inc. a pioneer in the industry and the largest producer of frozen pizza and egg rolls in the world."

An American company creating egg rolls that are being packaged and passed off as Asian?
Hold on a sec.. The good thing about chinese food is that at every place it tastes a little bit different, that's what makes it good, but if we let "Asian Sensations" fake chinese products permeate into what we consider authentic Asian cuisine, I fear for the future. And they can't even make their own warped version of egg rolls right. In 2005, they had to recall many of their egg rolls after it was discovered they had glass fragments in them(http://www.co.boulder.co.us/health/pr/2005/02142005eggRollRecall2.htm). And it doesn't get better. On the Asian Sensations site, you can see one of their products is a pizza egg roll! PIZZA EGG ROLL!! Oh dear god, can someone tell me how a pizza egg roll is Asian? Can you imagine any reputable chinese restaurant offering pizza egg rolls? Another product is the Southwest Chicken Egg Roll, which obviously borrows from American cuisine.

One might, ask, what are they trying to accomplish by doing this? Here's my theory. In order to expand their market they're trying to diversify their offerings. Say someone's had their frozen pizza a few times this week and it's getting old. They're looking for something different. Then they come across the Asian Sensations (TM). There truly is a god! Finally, something different! You see, slap on the Asian label and all of a sudden it seems foreign, different, makes you feel adventurous for trying it. When you think that it was made by Asia, you probably imagine one of those Hibachi chefs cooking one up, but no, these were probably manufactured by the thousands in some fucking egg roll factory. They create the perception that it's Asian and you believe it really is, they create their own "Asian" image. Get used to their misleading marketing and pretty soon you'll be heading over to the nearest East Wok asking if their egg rolls have pizza in them.

How is this bad? Well, Schwann's is blending American culture with Asian and trying to pass it off as pure Asian. It's important to recognize individual cultures and respect them as such, mashing two together is not very respectful of the culture. In fact, it's almost like stealing a culture when you borrow it to promote a new food that doesn't belong under the culture. If this continues, eventually all the cultures in the world will be infused together and everyone will be the same, and there will be a box of frozen egg rolls within a five minute drive of every person and humanity will have lost its individuality!

..So head over to your local chinese buffet and eat real Asian food (with chopsticks) and appreciate the diversity in the world.

I'm done ranting..

= Eagle out =

Video Game Haters

2007-08-19T22:56:00.000-04:00

Alright everyone, so this is my first real rant, er, post. And today's topic is one im sure everyone's heard of. Sex and violence in video games, and their effect on kids! I'll start off by asking what the fuck everyone's problem is? Hillary Clinton, Arnold, and every single irresponsible parent seems to be putting all the blame of their children's bad behavior squarely on the shoulders of the gaming industry. This isn't making any sense to me, it just seems to me that parents don't want to take responsibility for their own incompetence, and politicians just want to pay lip service to said parents. But what people don't get is that video games are protected under the first amendment (or they damn well better be). It is a form of entertainment, just like music and movies! If you kill a whore in Grand Theft Auto, more power to you, just don't do it in real life, and everyone with a fucking brain should be able to tell the difference between the two, and the people that can't probably would commit crimes regardless. I mean, how can playing a game drive you to kill someone? There are a lot of other factors that these idiots aren't understanding. Furthermore, I think that the mature content in Grand Theft Auto actually HELPS crazy people. Well, not exactly, but it can't hurt. Which would you prefer, a crazy person sitting on his couch playing GTA, or a crazy person spying on your children at the playground? Thought so. To aide my argument I have supplied a picture that I made in approximately half an hour.

Oh, and while we're on the topic of Grand Theft Auto..

We've all heard of the "Hot Coffee Mod" in Grand Theft Auto. And if you haven't I'll sum it up quickly. Somehow, you can edit code in Grand Theft Auto San Andreas so you can play a short sex minigame. (I haven't actually played it, I've just seen screenshots.) And somehow there was a huge uproar over this part of the game you can't play normally anyway. Well the game was already rated M, for 17 year olds and over, and I'm pretty sure anyone over the age of 17 won't be too disturbed by this. And as for all the horny little teenagers who are causing the trouble, they're probably pulling their dicks over porn that is way more detailed and way more accessible on the internet. You'd think people would understand this, but oh no, it doesn't stop here..

WARNING: What you are about to read is shocking, and may make you want to kill somebody. (No video games required)

This is one of the most incredible things I have ever heard of, and is, sadly, completely real. A grandma is actually sueing Rockstar Games because she bought Grand Theft Auto San Andreas for her 14 year old grandson and didn't know it had unlockable sexual content. This is the most mind blowing case of a lawsuit stemming from irresponsibility and stupidity I've ever heard of. According to the article, "She sought unspecified damages on behalf of herself and all consumers nationwide, saying the company should give up its profits from the game for what amounted to false advertising, consumer deception and unfair business practices."

Alright 1) The game CLEARLY states on the box it is rated M for Mature. That's right granny, have you lost your vision too? 17 and over. Not 14. 17. On the picture below you can clearly see the game warns of "Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language, STRONG SEXUAL CONTENT, Use of Drugs. Only a stupid old lady pretending to be a good grandmother would buy this game for her young grandson.

Another thing, I doubt a 14 year old would be able to figure out how to unlock the minigame anyway. And again, what the hell is so horrible about a badly pixelated sex minigame? There are sex scenes in R rated movies. And if you don't believe this wildly absurd story, the proof is here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8728577/.

Seriously, you can't make this shit up. And a perfect addition to my argument that most parents that hate video games are irresponsible nutcases, look at this scan of an interview of a bad parent from the "Independent on Sunday":

This is ridiculous. A parent that would actually prefer her kid do cocaine than play video games? Way to go mom, I'm sure putting chemically constructed shit in your body is way more productive than playing a game on a TV screen.

I would like to add that I am honestly not pretending to be an expert on what drives people to kill and do other bad things. But I just do not think it is plausible that just because someone kills someone in a videogame, that person will automatically assume it's ok to do that in real life.

I'm also going to say that not all parents that let their kids play M rated games are bad. It's important to talk with your kids, set examples and be a good role model. It's the parents that let their kids play M rated games and then bitch about it that pisses me off.

Well I can't really think of anything else to add at the moment, but I may revisit the topic, since there's a lot I haven't gone over. (Don't even get me started on Jack Thompson). And to the insane parents and politicians, get the fuck away from our games.

= Eagle out =

First Post

2007-08-09T01:39:00.000-04:00

Alright so I hear everyone is getting these blogs so I randomly decided to get one. I have many thoughts and opinions on certain things, and I'm eager to share them, even though I doubt anyone will read this but oh well, heheh. Well, more to come.