[AGL] X-box?

[Wayne Johnson]

Frankly, I loved it.

wayne
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Frances Morey 
  To: survivors' reminiscences about Austin Ghetto Daze in the 60s 
  Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2005 1:34 PM
  Subject: Re: [AGL] X-box? 


  When my first son Gabriel saw an ABDick press printing he commented: "I see, it goes faster so you don't have to write."
  I lament the apparent decline in education and mental acuity since our grammar school days. My handwriting is less beautiful than my mother's. We seem to have thrown out the baby, the bathwater and the basin, too. 
  I commented before that we are perhaps the first generation to not be nostalgic, longing to young again and start all over. The world has become uglier, the people less caring and the youth turned into lemmings taking after the latest media PR enthusiasm, when they're not being violent and stupid like in the "games", that is. 
  Wayne, what did you think of the movie?
  Frances

  Wayne Johnson <cadaobh at shentel.net> wrote:
    Honor and I talke d with a local teacher whilst standing in line the other 
    night for Harry Potter. Part of this (sad) conversation was the revelation 
    that his (high school level) kids....can not take notes, can not follow an 
    "oral" argument and can only take notes if they are "bulletized" a la Power 
    Point. He assigns this horrid situation to a (young) lifetime of ......game 
    playing.

    I would argue that the Japanese are re-fighting WW2 and they are winning. 
    What could be more subtle than undermining American education by gradually 
    de-corticating our children? Ok. It IS a really good thing for the 
    Military that there are kids who are truly skilled at "computer warfare."

    What a great century to look forward to, eh? Mindless, GOP robot-kids, 
    endlessly acquiring and killing "targets" (read: Iranians, Iraqi, Russians, 
    Bulgarians, Canadians, whatever) while they sip methadrine laced Jolt and 
    consume endless mountains of cheap pizza. Even Orwell never c onjured up a 
    fantasy as totally dismal as this.

    Oh, I have a great idea: Let us raise taxes, encourage truly smart people 
    to enter the teaching profession, make Education the number One Priority, 
    raise our "standards" to those as high as, say, Nigeria or Kenya and NOT 
    become the Argentina/Guatamala of the 21st Century. Er. Outside of bunkers 
    in West VA and Colorado, that is.

    cheers.

    wgJ
    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: "Michael Eisenstadt" 
    To: "survivors' reminiscences about Austin Ghetto Daze in the 60s" 

    Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2005 12:08 PM
    Subject: Re: [AGL] X-box?


    > Wayne wrote:
    >
    >> What is an X-box and why do people "have" to have one?
    >
    > It is a kind of computer optimized for playing games,
    > using a handheld device to direct the action. Like
    > the lost teenagers in a game arcade feeding quarters
    &g t; into the games except you do it at home, saving lots
    > of quarters. But you have to buy the box and the
    > software for the various games.
    >
    > I am doing a version of this at home with Flight
    > Simulation. I assembled a computer for this. Pricey!
    > Luckily the software was only $10. The difference is less
    > noise, unless I turn up the audio which supplies engine
    > noise and instructions over the "radio" from the control
    > tower. More realism than fighting ogres. About the same
    > degree of virtual realism as playing pimps and 'ho's in
    > the 'hood.
    >
    > At this point I am flying and crashing the Cessna. It
    > will take years to learn how to fly an airliner.
    >
    > Mike
    >
    > ----- Original Message ----- 
    > From: Wayne Johnson
    > To: survivors' reminiscences about Austin Ghetto Daze in the 60s
    > Cc: Remembrances of Austin Ghetto
    > Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 200 5 8:46 AM
    > Subject: [AGL] X-box?
    >
    >
    > What is an X-box and why do people "have" to have one?
    >
    > wgJ 



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