But back on topic, since I'm Canadian myself, it's always nice to see my country not mimic our southern neighbour. Canada and the US are too similar already.
This is pretty neat -- if I had any wood-working skills, I'd make one myself, but I'd be too afraid of severing enough fingers in the process that I'd have to start all over on a Mac laptop that only had one button;)
On another note, it's quite cute (and fitting) how one of the pics of the laptop shows him looking at Slashdot...
Most of my computer usage at school was in highschool, when I had actual computer-related classes. In primary school, the teachers would half-heartedly try and teach us how to touch-type (mostly by giving us some educational software and leaving us alone for a bit), but since we didn't have to learn it, very few of us actually did.
In highschool, however, I had a (terribly boring) keyboarding class in grade 9 that finally broke me away from hunt-and-peck typing. Is this actually useful, you may ask? Sure, it didn't directly help my math/literacy scores on standardized tests, but given how slowly I write by hand, being able to type at a reasonable speed has helped me get better marks in English class -- the faster an essay gets typed up, the more time I have to edit it -- and now that I'm a university student with a laptop, I'm able to take very complete notes by typing in almost everything that the prof says.
I also had programming classes in highschool, a luxury that many of my friends did not share. I learned the basics of QBASIC, Pascal, C/C++, and a tiny bit of Visual Basic, all of which helped me immesurably when I reached university and started taking computer science. If my school hadn't wasted all that money on computers, I wouldn't have had that opportunity to learn.
I've also noticed that most students who don't get much of an opportunity to use computers, even in a completely non-educational setting, are utterly useless (and often fearful) around technology in general when they get older. Maybe they do score higher on certain tests, and maybe that means they're getting a better education, but... they can't code, they can't make webpages, they can barely operate MS Word, they freak out if they see someone using any OS other than Windows, and many of them will grow up to be the dreaded "broken cupholder" users so familiar to tech support geeks.
Personally, I'd like to see more comprehensive studies to see whether computer usage is really detrimental to all aspects of a student's education, including those that directly relate to technology. I'm not going to deny that a computer is distracting (hell, I should be doing homework right now), but I don't think that's the only reason why math/lit scores might drop. I suspect that part of the "problem" is simply that students are no longer able to focus their studies so much on mastering traditionally important skills. For example, a school that exclusively taught math to elite math geniuses might notice a drop in math scores if English classes were introduced. Would this automatically mean that the presence of English in the curriculum was a bad influence on students, or could it mean that students are devoting their time to learning other, equally important, skills?
As a female undergrad computer science student...
on
Women Leaving I.T.
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· Score: 5, Insightful
... there are a few things that I'd like to add to this discussion. Some may have been said before, but I'm afraid that due to an imminent Java tutorial, I don't have the time to read through everything.
First of all, I'd like to say a little bit about myself and what I've observed around me. I'm a second year student at Dalhousie University (that's in Halifax, if anyone cares), and I've only been an official computer science student for this past term. Before that, I was a biology major, so I'm really behind in my cs courses and have to take both first and second year classes concurrently. I've noticed that while my first year Java course has quite a number of girls in it, most of them are from other faculties and, quite frankly, wouldn't cut it in any IT-related field. These are the kinds of girls who got it into their miniscule brains sometime in highschool that boys only like stupid girly girls, so they seem to make a sincere effort to not learn anything about computers. In my second year classes, the girls are more like me -- perfectly ordinary geeks who just happen to like computers and want to learn more. Of course, there are far fewer girls in those second year classes because the aforementioned bimbo types have already been weeded out by the insurmountable challenge of writing a Hello World program in Java.
My question then becomes, how do we get more intelligent girls in computer science? Not just girls in general, but ones who actually have some kind of talent for it and aren't going to make the rest of us look bad with their antics. I don't think there's an easy answer to this, but I suspect that the current initiatives are doing more harm than good.
For example, when I see a job ad that says "We encourage minorities like blacks, Native Americans and women to apply!" I'm sitting there thinking to myself, "Uh... OVER 50% OF THE FREAKIN' POPULATION HERE! How the HELL are a minority?" But for some reason, we're treated as if we're some kind of endangered species. Doesn't it occur to anyone that we might not like that treatment? Doesn't it occur to anyone that we just want to be treated like ordinary human beings, no matter what's between our legs? I mean, I'm not going to refuse if somebody throws money at me for having a vagina and using a computer, but it's really not a good way to encourage other girls to join the field. It's hard to see myself as successful when I so often have to wonder if everything I've "achieved" is only because I'm female (and thus have to be specially encouraged and rewarded to keep me from running away.)
Oh, and another thing: I never see any similar initiatives to get more men into... say... nursing, or even regular biology. They're definitely in the minority, but either people are afraid of being called sexist for favouring the sex that's supposedly in power (even though it hasn't been for decades), or they've figured out that the best way to get men into something like nursing is NOT to say "Oh, don't worry! It's not just for women! You won't be less of a man if you're a nurse! Not feminine at all! Trust me!" because they know that any man will look at something like that and think to himself "So wait, nursing makes me gay?" thanks to the wonders of reverse psychology. I just wonder how long it will take for the faculty of computer science to figure that out as well...
Of course I don't have to, but if I want to plug any of my art on it... well, I use Elfwood, so my gallery has my real name on it, and my DA account can be traced to me pretty easily as well. I don't feel like being totally paranoid anyway. Better to let people know a little of what goes on inside my head without giving them anything particularly juicy:)
As an assignment-smothered university student, I don't currently have a job to complain about on my blog, but I still have a little tidbit to bring to this discussion.
In my communications class (it's basically English for Dummies -- resume writing, powerpoint presentations and the like, all aimed at us socially-inept Computer Science students), my prof likes to use a modblog.com blog to communicate with the class. Before this term, I had a LJ that I rarely used, but in order to post on the class blog I decided to make myself one on that site as well and actually use it. This basically means that my Communications prof reads my blog... and sadly, she's probably my most frequent visitor.
Now, I realize that this is a very different situation than a boss reading a blog, but I still have to watch what I say. This is a rather unpredictable prof (a feature that I think she's quite proud of), and I'm always afraid that she'll suddenly get her wireless connection working on her laptop, link to my blog to give an example, and click on one of the NOT WORK SAFE (but carefully labelled to avoid this problem) links to my artwork. None of it's bad, per se, but there are some religious types in the class who might freak out a wee bit at even an artistic nude of a Tauren with big boobs... and I don't want to have to deal with that. Furthermore, since the class's marking is very subjective, if I accidentally embarrass or disturb the prof, my marks might suffer... and I wouldn't even be able to complain because the whole purpose of the class is to learn how to communicate effectively and NOT embarrass/disturb people.
I'm just glad I'm smart enough not to ever blog anything personal... though I think my boyfriend was a bit disappointed when he discovered that I'd only mentioned him once or twice in passing. In Slashdot posts, however... think I'll get in trouble for any of these?:D
As others have pointed out, the people trying to ban violent video games clearly don't understand that a correllation does not necessarily mean any kind of cause and effect relationship. Furthermore, even if you assume that such a relationship exists, identifying which is the cause and which is the effect is very difficult if you're just working with statistical information.
Is it really so surprising that violent people have usually played violent video games? That's like saying "The vast majority of people who play games that display females in a sexual manner are young men that go on to have sexual relations with women. Therefore, those games must make most men straight and interested in sex."
Does anyone else see the problem with this logic?
On a more personal note, I usually avoid FPS-style games (I find them way too boring), but found GTA a lot of fun. The few times I've played the game, I went around killing as many pedestrians as possible and taking their stuff... so I suspect that puts me squarely in the category of people that is supposedly made violent by video games. Interestingly enough, even though the games that I have played have probably desensitized me to animated blood and gore, I'm extremely squeamish in real life. I actually switched over from biology to computer science this past January in part to get away from dissection... I just can't handle cutting apart a living (or recently-living) thing, even if that thing is just a crab or worm or something. Hell, I even feel bad flushing an amoeba down the drain because I'm afraid it will suffer.
I also can't stand hurting people. A few years back, I took kendo lessons for a few months and found that despite all the anime/movies/games I'd been exposed to where sword fighting was glorified, the whole idea of running at a guy and hitting him with a big stick really wasn't easy for me. There were other reasons why I quit, but that was part of it.
I'm not sure what exactly makes this so terribly sick.
Now, I'm not going to claim I'm entirely happy about it, but the fact is that a lot of rather unpleasant things need to be done in order to further scientific understanding. Especially when you consider that some of these hybrid experiments are to avoid having to use full humans as test subjects (gotta wait for another Hitler for that to be legal, unfortunately...), and when you also consider that a greater understanding of biology could benefit everyone, humans and animals alike... suddenly it's not quite so sick.
Incidentally, I'm a second year university student that switched from biology to computer science earlier this month. One of the many reasons that I switched was that I found myself unable to stomach dissecting or otherwise harming any creature. I mean, I'm the kind of person who feels bad pouring amoeba-containing water down the drain. However, I still understand the necessity of doing some harm for the common gain. I guess it's a case of the ends justifying the means... and the only thing that anyone can do is make the means as painless as possible for all involved.
By the way, if growing human brains inside mice, for example, led the way to a cure for some widespread debilitating mental illness, would you still think it wrong? If that research led to a way to reduce suffering in other lab mice, would you think the same way? Just something to think about.
I don't usually respond to flamebait, but I have nothing better to do today, so here goes:)
First of all, I'm an extremely antisocial nerd, have had skin problems for ages (nothing I can do anything about, unfortunately), and I do indeed sit around all day playing rpgs and masturbating to porn (hentai, no less).
I'm also a female and never seem to have trouble finding a boyfriend. Admittedly I usually (but not always) have fellow geeks after me, but that's mainly because the average jock can't handle the idea of dating a girl who refuses to act like an aspiring housewife, let alone one who can code circles around him. Y'see, I'm not ashamed of my intelligence or my interests. I don't -look- like the stereotypical geek -- I'm fairly tall and slim, plus I'm currently wearing a knee-length skirt, tall striped socks, and even a thong, so not the kind of outfit one would expect a geek of either gender to wear (although I do periodically complete such an outfit with a thinkgeek shirt) -- but anyone who talks to me will quickly see through my pseudo-normal appearance. Of course, I still generally don't get invited to "normal" parties, but that's only because I show no interest in them. I'd prefer a good old fashioned LAN party any day.
Oh, and my current boyfriend is a 4th year computer science student who even has a job lined up for him at EA when he graduates... and dispite the multiple shelves of RPG books in his room, his history of mudding and playing other rpgs online (WoW, CoH, etc.), and other undeniably geeky characteristics, he's never had trouble getting laid either.
You know, I get kind of sick of people making such general statements about women because I get lumped in with them. While I will admit that the majority of women are lying b*tches who are incapable of clearly stating their needs, I could say the same about an awful lot of guys, particularly the popular/jock type who think they can lie and manipulate anyone they want because everyone will love them anyway.
The fact is that we, as educated geeks, are in a minority no matter what gender(s) we might be simply because we usually tend to think things through and not just act based on hormones/pop culture/peer pressure/whatever. I know that's another generalization, but that's why I put in the "usually".... and it applies for almost every geek I know. Some are still quite undesirable people, but at least they're intelligent and show it.
Oh, and I actually do want equality, not the crazy male subjugation that most feminists want, and I -do- like men with feminine qualities. My current boyfriend is very masculine but still has a definite feminine side (he was trained by a gay roommate and has more shoes than I do), and my last boyfriend was a shy, beautiful (not handsome) half-Asian guy who for some reason was incapable of accepting his natural feminine beauty and kept trying to be masculine. It was kind of sad, really, but I still thought he was damn sexy.
"Video games do nothing but stunt the growth of the brain and can over time casue permanant brain damage as a result. All video games seem to promote is antisocialism. In extreme cases, they lose their social abilities and become a recluse. It has caused countless amounts of kids to drop out or flunk out of school. In a few cases suicides has been a direct result of playing video games. Speaking of which, WoW is now out. I wonder how many kids will lose out on their social skills and flunk out of school over this one."
That's funny, I've met a lot of friends (and even an old boyfriend) on MUDs, got to know others through other games, and I'm currently playing WoW with my boyfriend, whereas before I started playing such games I was very antisocial and usually hid in my room reading. In other words, video games do not innately promote antisocial behaviour. Furthermore, they have been shown to strengthen some skills in children (eg. hand-eye coordination, logic, comfort with technology, etc.) Of course, I'm not going to claim that all are good... but you're making very general statements there. You make it sound like creativity simply can't exist in any modern game, and that's simply not the case.
"realistically jiggling"? Have you SEEN Mai's breasts? As a girl myself, I know that breasts do NOT move that way unless they're hooked up to some sort of engine. Even my porno-loving guy friends admit that it's kinda creepy how hers move.
However, I still think that the censorship is stupid. I've played both censored and uncensored KoF games, and while Mai's ability to move her breasts in unnatural ways while standing completely still was disconcerting, it's certainly not shocking enough to warrent censorship.
I've actually had a highschool teacher use that, though it wasn't intentional;) She was trying to say he/she/it and it just kind of combined as she was speaking, resulting in much amusement for us immature students.
Of course, the alternate solution to avoid giggling schoolchildren is to just force everyone to rearrange their sentences. Good old passive voice -- another thing that English teachers hate;)
Ok, I'm 19 and not a parent, but I think I can still comment on this based on my own experiences. My parents let me have a computer in my room quite a few years ago, and even when it was in a more public area of the house, I had quite enough time alone on it. Did I spend that time looking at porn and becoming a corrupt, evil person? No. I'm a virgin, I've never drank, smoked, done drugs, or committed a crime, and I could quite easily argue that I am more sheltered than your children despite the fact that my parents gave me more freedom. In other words, I'm not like this because my parents restricted me, but because they taught me to use my conscience.
Instead of banning things and thereby making me curious, my parents taught me what was right and what was wrong, and then let me make decisions based on that knowledge. Being the innately curious creature that I am, I probably would've looked at a lot more damaging material if it HAD been banned outright. I don't deal well with being told I can't do something "because I said so," and I know I'm not alone in holding that view.
As for trying to keep track of who a child's talking to, I know I absolutely hate it when my parents try and pry into my social life (which they still do, despite the freedom they give me). How do I respond? I don't tell them everything, and I stopped letting my friends come over to my house so my parents could see and comment on them. I'm not hiding it because I'm doing anything wrong, I just don't particularly want them to know about every crush I have. Also I've noticed that parents jump to conclusions far too easily. If I'm flirting with someone online, and the person just happens to be a good friend of mine who I have absolutely no romantic interest in, and the person knows this and is just joking around... what happens if a nosey parent walks in and looks at the screen? I don't want to be asked AGAIN if I need to get birth control when I go to a friend's house.
This book is a) about sex and b) about weird science (more specifically biology). How could this NOT matter to nerds?;) As a nerdy biology student with no sex life and an interest in all things weird, wonderful and sometimes dirty, I'd say this matters to me at any rate:P
Besides, if Howard Stern wrote a book about sex and evolutionary biology, someone probably would review it too:P
As a side note, I haven't read the book, but I'm wondering... does it mention any interesting habits of penguins? I remember hearing a radio show years ago which talked about how female penguins literally prostitute themselves in order to get stones for their nests... ---
I remember a couple of years ago I learned in world religions class that one of the many names for Jesus was "Neo Adam" or "the new man." Also, if you look at Morpheus as a John the Baptist-like character (running around "baptising" people by letting them be reborn into his belief system, conveniently by dumping them in water, and prophesizing that one greater than him will come), yeah... Neo's Jesus, but we all know that already.
(Don't mind me, I had to write an essay on my final exam comparing the Matrix to the Bible. I just love pointing this stuff out, even if thousands of others have done it before):)
Slashdot Mirror
Well, whether it was the Canadians or the Brits, I can still say my country won -- I have dual citizenship :)
But back on topic, since I'm Canadian myself, it's always nice to see my country not mimic our southern neighbour. Canada and the US are too similar already.
On another note, it's quite cute (and fitting) how one of the pics of the laptop shows him looking at Slashdot...
In highschool, however, I had a (terribly boring) keyboarding class in grade 9 that finally broke me away from hunt-and-peck typing. Is this actually useful, you may ask? Sure, it didn't directly help my math/literacy scores on standardized tests, but given how slowly I write by hand, being able to type at a reasonable speed has helped me get better marks in English class -- the faster an essay gets typed up, the more time I have to edit it -- and now that I'm a university student with a laptop, I'm able to take very complete notes by typing in almost everything that the prof says.
I also had programming classes in highschool, a luxury that many of my friends did not share. I learned the basics of QBASIC, Pascal, C/C++, and a tiny bit of Visual Basic, all of which helped me immesurably when I reached university and started taking computer science. If my school hadn't wasted all that money on computers, I wouldn't have had that opportunity to learn.
I've also noticed that most students who don't get much of an opportunity to use computers, even in a completely non-educational setting, are utterly useless (and often fearful) around technology in general when they get older. Maybe they do score higher on certain tests, and maybe that means they're getting a better education, but... they can't code, they can't make webpages, they can barely operate MS Word, they freak out if they see someone using any OS other than Windows, and many of them will grow up to be the dreaded "broken cupholder" users so familiar to tech support geeks.
Personally, I'd like to see more comprehensive studies to see whether computer usage is really detrimental to all aspects of a student's education, including those that directly relate to technology. I'm not going to deny that a computer is distracting (hell, I should be doing homework right now), but I don't think that's the only reason why math/lit scores might drop. I suspect that part of the "problem" is simply that students are no longer able to focus their studies so much on mastering traditionally important skills. For example, a school that exclusively taught math to elite math geniuses might notice a drop in math scores if English classes were introduced. Would this automatically mean that the presence of English in the curriculum was a bad influence on students, or could it mean that students are devoting their time to learning other, equally important, skills?
First of all, I'd like to say a little bit about myself and what I've observed around me. I'm a second year student at Dalhousie University (that's in Halifax, if anyone cares), and I've only been an official computer science student for this past term. Before that, I was a biology major, so I'm really behind in my cs courses and have to take both first and second year classes concurrently. I've noticed that while my first year Java course has quite a number of girls in it, most of them are from other faculties and, quite frankly, wouldn't cut it in any IT-related field. These are the kinds of girls who got it into their miniscule brains sometime in highschool that boys only like stupid girly girls, so they seem to make a sincere effort to not learn anything about computers. In my second year classes, the girls are more like me -- perfectly ordinary geeks who just happen to like computers and want to learn more. Of course, there are far fewer girls in those second year classes because the aforementioned bimbo types have already been weeded out by the insurmountable challenge of writing a Hello World program in Java.
My question then becomes, how do we get more intelligent girls in computer science? Not just girls in general, but ones who actually have some kind of talent for it and aren't going to make the rest of us look bad with their antics. I don't think there's an easy answer to this, but I suspect that the current initiatives are doing more harm than good.
For example, when I see a job ad that says "We encourage minorities like blacks, Native Americans and women to apply!" I'm sitting there thinking to myself, "Uh... OVER 50% OF THE FREAKIN' POPULATION HERE! How the HELL are a minority?" But for some reason, we're treated as if we're some kind of endangered species. Doesn't it occur to anyone that we might not like that treatment? Doesn't it occur to anyone that we just want to be treated like ordinary human beings, no matter what's between our legs? I mean, I'm not going to refuse if somebody throws money at me for having a vagina and using a computer, but it's really not a good way to encourage other girls to join the field. It's hard to see myself as successful when I so often have to wonder if everything I've "achieved" is only because I'm female (and thus have to be specially encouraged and rewarded to keep me from running away.)
Oh, and another thing: I never see any similar initiatives to get more men into... say... nursing, or even regular biology. They're definitely in the minority, but either people are afraid of being called sexist for favouring the sex that's supposedly in power (even though it hasn't been for decades), or they've figured out that the best way to get men into something like nursing is NOT to say "Oh, don't worry! It's not just for women! You won't be less of a man if you're a nurse! Not feminine at all! Trust me!" because they know that any man will look at something like that and think to himself "So wait, nursing makes me gay?" thanks to the wonders of reverse psychology. I just wonder how long it will take for the faculty of computer science to figure that out as well...
(Yes, I know I'm bitter.)
Of course I don't have to, but if I want to plug any of my art on it... well, I use Elfwood, so my gallery has my real name on it, and my DA account can be traced to me pretty easily as well. I don't feel like being totally paranoid anyway. Better to let people know a little of what goes on inside my head without giving them anything particularly juicy :)
In my communications class (it's basically English for Dummies -- resume writing, powerpoint presentations and the like, all aimed at us socially-inept Computer Science students), my prof likes to use a modblog.com blog to communicate with the class. Before this term, I had a LJ that I rarely used, but in order to post on the class blog I decided to make myself one on that site as well and actually use it. This basically means that my Communications prof reads my blog... and sadly, she's probably my most frequent visitor.
Now, I realize that this is a very different situation than a boss reading a blog, but I still have to watch what I say. This is a rather unpredictable prof (a feature that I think she's quite proud of), and I'm always afraid that she'll suddenly get her wireless connection working on her laptop, link to my blog to give an example, and click on one of the NOT WORK SAFE (but carefully labelled to avoid this problem) links to my artwork. None of it's bad, per se, but there are some religious types in the class who might freak out a wee bit at even an artistic nude of a Tauren with big boobs... and I don't want to have to deal with that. Furthermore, since the class's marking is very subjective, if I accidentally embarrass or disturb the prof, my marks might suffer... and I wouldn't even be able to complain because the whole purpose of the class is to learn how to communicate effectively and NOT embarrass/disturb people.
I'm just glad I'm smart enough not to ever blog anything personal... though I think my boyfriend was a bit disappointed when he discovered that I'd only mentioned him once or twice in passing. In Slashdot posts, however... think I'll get in trouble for any of these? :D
Is it really so surprising that violent people have usually played violent video games? That's like saying "The vast majority of people who play games that display females in a sexual manner are young men that go on to have sexual relations with women. Therefore, those games must make most men straight and interested in sex."
Does anyone else see the problem with this logic?
On a more personal note, I usually avoid FPS-style games (I find them way too boring), but found GTA a lot of fun. The few times I've played the game, I went around killing as many pedestrians as possible and taking their stuff... so I suspect that puts me squarely in the category of people that is supposedly made violent by video games. Interestingly enough, even though the games that I have played have probably desensitized me to animated blood and gore, I'm extremely squeamish in real life. I actually switched over from biology to computer science this past January in part to get away from dissection... I just can't handle cutting apart a living (or recently-living) thing, even if that thing is just a crab or worm or something. Hell, I even feel bad flushing an amoeba down the drain because I'm afraid it will suffer.
I also can't stand hurting people. A few years back, I took kendo lessons for a few months and found that despite all the anime/movies/games I'd been exposed to where sword fighting was glorified, the whole idea of running at a guy and hitting him with a big stick really wasn't easy for me. There were other reasons why I quit, but that was part of it.
Now, I'm not going to claim I'm entirely happy about it, but the fact is that a lot of rather unpleasant things need to be done in order to further scientific understanding. Especially when you consider that some of these hybrid experiments are to avoid having to use full humans as test subjects (gotta wait for another Hitler for that to be legal, unfortunately...), and when you also consider that a greater understanding of biology could benefit everyone, humans and animals alike... suddenly it's not quite so sick.
Incidentally, I'm a second year university student that switched from biology to computer science earlier this month. One of the many reasons that I switched was that I found myself unable to stomach dissecting or otherwise harming any creature. I mean, I'm the kind of person who feels bad pouring amoeba-containing water down the drain. However, I still understand the necessity of doing some harm for the common gain. I guess it's a case of the ends justifying the means... and the only thing that anyone can do is make the means as painless as possible for all involved.
By the way, if growing human brains inside mice, for example, led the way to a cure for some widespread debilitating mental illness, would you still think it wrong? If that research led to a way to reduce suffering in other lab mice, would you think the same way? Just something to think about.
First of all, I'm an extremely antisocial nerd, have had skin problems for ages (nothing I can do anything about, unfortunately), and I do indeed sit around all day playing rpgs and masturbating to porn (hentai, no less).
I'm also a female and never seem to have trouble finding a boyfriend. Admittedly I usually (but not always) have fellow geeks after me, but that's mainly because the average jock can't handle the idea of dating a girl who refuses to act like an aspiring housewife, let alone one who can code circles around him. Y'see, I'm not ashamed of my intelligence or my interests. I don't -look- like the stereotypical geek -- I'm fairly tall and slim, plus I'm currently wearing a knee-length skirt, tall striped socks, and even a thong, so not the kind of outfit one would expect a geek of either gender to wear (although I do periodically complete such an outfit with a thinkgeek shirt) -- but anyone who talks to me will quickly see through my pseudo-normal appearance. Of course, I still generally don't get invited to "normal" parties, but that's only because I show no interest in them. I'd prefer a good old fashioned LAN party any day.
Oh, and my current boyfriend is a 4th year computer science student who even has a job lined up for him at EA when he graduates... and dispite the multiple shelves of RPG books in his room, his history of mudding and playing other rpgs online (WoW, CoH, etc.), and other undeniably geeky characteristics, he's never had trouble getting laid either.
The fact is that we, as educated geeks, are in a minority no matter what gender(s) we might be simply because we usually tend to think things through and not just act based on hormones/pop culture/peer pressure/whatever. I know that's another generalization, but that's why I put in the "usually".... and it applies for almost every geek I know. Some are still quite undesirable people, but at least they're intelligent and show it.
Oh, and I actually do want equality, not the crazy male subjugation that most feminists want, and I -do- like men with feminine qualities. My current boyfriend is very masculine but still has a definite feminine side (he was trained by a gay roommate and has more shoes than I do), and my last boyfriend was a shy, beautiful (not handsome) half-Asian guy who for some reason was incapable of accepting his natural feminine beauty and kept trying to be masculine. It was kind of sad, really, but I still thought he was damn sexy.
"Video games do nothing but stunt the growth of the brain and can over time casue permanant brain damage as a result. All video games seem to promote is antisocialism. In extreme cases, they lose their social abilities and become a recluse. It has caused countless amounts of kids to drop out or flunk out of school. In a few cases suicides has been a direct result of playing video games. Speaking of which, WoW is now out. I wonder how many kids will lose out on their social skills and flunk out of school over this one."
That's funny, I've met a lot of friends (and even an old boyfriend) on MUDs, got to know others through other games, and I'm currently playing WoW with my boyfriend, whereas before I started playing such games I was very antisocial and usually hid in my room reading. In other words, video games do not innately promote antisocial behaviour. Furthermore, they have been shown to strengthen some skills in children (eg. hand-eye coordination, logic, comfort with technology, etc.) Of course, I'm not going to claim that all are good... but you're making very general statements there. You make it sound like creativity simply can't exist in any modern game, and that's simply not the case.
"realistically jiggling"? Have you SEEN Mai's breasts? As a girl myself, I know that breasts do NOT move that way unless they're hooked up to some sort of engine. Even my porno-loving guy friends admit that it's kinda creepy how hers move.
However, I still think that the censorship is stupid. I've played both censored and uncensored KoF games, and while Mai's ability to move her breasts in unnatural ways while standing completely still was disconcerting, it's certainly not shocking enough to warrent censorship.
I've actually had a highschool teacher use that, though it wasn't intentional ;) She was trying to say he/she/it and it just kind of combined as she was speaking, resulting in much amusement for us immature students.
Of course, the alternate solution to avoid giggling schoolchildren is to just force everyone to rearrange their sentences. Good old passive voice -- another thing that English teachers hate ;)
Instead of banning things and thereby making me curious, my parents taught me what was right and what was wrong, and then let me make decisions based on that knowledge. Being the innately curious creature that I am, I probably would've looked at a lot more damaging material if it HAD been banned outright. I don't deal well with being told I can't do something "because I said so," and I know I'm not alone in holding that view.
As for trying to keep track of who a child's talking to, I know I absolutely hate it when my parents try and pry into my social life (which they still do, despite the freedom they give me). How do I respond? I don't tell them everything, and I stopped letting my friends come over to my house so my parents could see and comment on them. I'm not hiding it because I'm doing anything wrong, I just don't particularly want them to know about every crush I have. Also I've noticed that parents jump to conclusions far too easily. If I'm flirting with someone online, and the person just happens to be a good friend of mine who I have absolutely no romantic interest in, and the person knows this and is just joking around... what happens if a nosey parent walks in and looks at the screen? I don't want to be asked AGAIN if I need to get birth control when I go to a friend's house.
Besides, if Howard Stern wrote a book about sex and evolutionary biology, someone probably would review it too :P
As a side note, I haven't read the book, but I'm wondering... does it mention any interesting habits of penguins? I remember hearing a radio show years ago which talked about how female penguins literally prostitute themselves in order to get stones for their nests...
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(Don't mind me, I had to write an essay on my final exam comparing the Matrix to the Bible. I just love pointing this stuff out, even if thousands of others have done it before) :)