I know that I’ve touched on this topic a few times in my blog, but with recent articles (sorry if this link doesn’t hold, I haven’t tried linking to Google like this before) once again headlining the issue, I have decided to hit this topic again from a very opinionated side.

In truth, this scares me. It rips at the very fibers of this country and if it is able to gain grasp, will take away the piece of this country that was part of the conception, foundation, and supporting structure of what has made this country what it is. In essence, it is messing with the core of freedom, as it has been defined. Shall we visit the first amendment: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion..." And what, here, are they trying to do? They’re trying to instill a Christian ideal in public schools. They are trying to use government to push a single view. And I’m sorry, but the push that they are making is a focus on Christian ideology, no matter how vague they make it. Yeah, at it’s basis, it fits many religions, but not all. This has to be an all or none type of situation. Religions cannot be singled out by our government.

Now I consider my beliefs to be Christian, but I do not impose my belief structure on the unwilling. I do not force it down the throats of the children I work around every day in my position in the public school realm. Remember, the reason this country was founded was because a bunch of people were fleeing religious persecution…it’s funny how the tides change once their ancestors hold the power that apposed them in the beginning.

And now, the sad thing is, is that they are beginning to gain a firm foothold. People are actually prescribing to this nonsense. And I blame our media for this as much as anything else. They are airing these debates in a way that is giving the idea the publicity it needs because the powers that be, many of whom control these companies, see it as a way to jockey for power, and line their pockets while they’re at it. Does the media not realize that the 1st amendment, the one that is being toyed with, is also the one that gives them freedom of speech and of the press? Do they not realize that they may be skirting the fine edge of a double-bladed sword that will only take their heads in the end?

Right now is a scary time, as are all times of war. It brings out the best in people and the worst in people. Unfortunately many of our politicians are corrupt, and they see this as just another way to push their own agenda to gain money and power. It is times like this that we must be most careful. It is times like this that we cannot allow the corrupt and the constitutionally blind to eradicate the very essence of what makes this country great. We were once "the land of the free and home of the brave," but I fear that if things continue down the path that they are, we shall soon become "the land of the oppressed and the home of the mindless automatons." The choice is ours...

OpenOffice 2.0 has been officially released. With its cross-platform capabilities, an updated ability to export to PDF, the new addition of Base, the new database program, and a superb user friendly interface, OpenOffice would be a strong contender on store shelves along side MSOffice. You won't, however, find it there. As has been the point of OpenOffice from it's conception at Sun Microsystems, OpenOffice 2.0 is a completely free program, downloadable from their website.

OpenOffice.org is a company that is part of the open source community. It is driven by donations, and the desire to have an open source community, where anyone can write and contribute, and growth is measured by technological advances that benefit the community it thrives in as opposed to dollars and cents.

With the recent (and vague) announcement of Google and Sun Microsystems, speculation has arisen as to what their projects together will entail. Many are guessing that they may release an online office software interface, where the software is server-side, accessible through a web interface. This type of web app could take a big bite out of the Microsoft Office clientele base.

The Conundrum: is Quake, or any other computer/console games for that matter, considered Sport?

The Debate: A coworker of mine has posed the argument that due to the strategy, environment, and style of gaming involved in Quake that it is a Sport to play Quake, at least as far as the PvP part of the game is concerned.

Merriam-Webster defines Sport (n) as:

1 a : a source of diversion : RECREATION b : sexual play c (1) : physical activity engaged in for pleasure (2) : a particular activity (as an athletic game) so engaged in
2 a : PLEASANTRY, JEST b : often mean-spirited jesting : MOCKERY, DERISION
3 a : something tossed or driven about in or as if in play b : LAUGHINGSTOCK
4 a : SPORTSMAN b : a person considered with respect to living up to the ideals of sportsmanship (a good sport) (a poor sport) c : a companionable person
5 : an individual exhibiting a sudden deviation from type beyond the normal limits of individual variation usually as a result of mutation especially of somatic tissue
synonym see FUN

Dictionary.com defines Sport (n) as:

Physical activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively.
A particular form of this activity.
An activity involving physical exertion and skill that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often undertaken competitively.
An active pastime; recreation.

Mockery; jest: He made sport of his own looks.
An object of mockery, jest, or play: treated our interests as sport.
A joking mood or attitude: She made the remark in sport.

One known for the manner of one's acceptance of rules, especially of a game, or of a difficult situation: a poor sport.
Informal. One who accepts rules or difficult situations well.
Informal. A pleasant companion: was a real sport during the trip.
Informal.
A person who lives a jolly, extravagant life.
A gambler at sporting events.
Biology. An organism that shows a marked change from the normal type or parent stock, typically as a result of mutation.
Maine. See summercater. See Regional Note at summercater.
Obsolete. Amorous dalliance; lovemaking.

While Dictionary.com pushes the idea of “physical activity” this specific point is at the root of this debate. Is physical activity a requirement for something to be designated as a sport or does it just group a certain type of sport? At least as far as our inner-office discussion went, a few things could be agreed upon:

1.) Sport requires rules
2.) Sport requires strategy
3.) Sport requires some form of competition.

Outside of these three requirements, the views began to vary. Again, we began to hit the topic of physical activity and whether or not it is a requirement for something to be considered Sport. We left the discussion open at this point as we went off our own ways for lunch.

After some quiet deliberation amongst my own thoughts, I poured over the topic. Munching on deep fried taquitos and homemade guacamole I came to my own definition of Sport. Sport is really just recreation with rules. If it has rules, then competition is implied as, for what I can think of, all recreation that has rules can be turned into competition. Now this leaves what falls under the category of Sport quite open to many things. If one has turned gaming into a competition with rules, whether it be rules defined by the game or by the gamer(s), then it is sport.

In the end, on this debate I must concede that Quake, when played as such, can be considered a sport.

So I did it, I broke down and purchased an ipod. I have fought with myself for many months on whether or not I'd get an apple brand music player, or even if I'd get one at all. Well, I was at Costco a couple nights ago and they had ipods on sale for about half of their normal price. My wife and I had been given a late wedding gift in the form of a Costco gift card. We were looking at winter jackets, food supplies, printers, and a few other mundane items when we came across the ipod display. Two days previous to this we had purchased a Nintendo DS for my wife (ok, yeah, I play it too) and so she looked at me and said "Get it".

I chose the original ipod. Here's my reasoning:

I don't trust flash memory for long-term use (which eliminated getting smaller mp3/ipod players such as the Shuffle and Nano),
every person that I've known who has gotten an mp3 player has had problems with them...except for the ipod owners,
The ipods at Costco were $80 cheaper then the cheapest non-apple alternative,
There were two choices, the original 20gb and the Mini 6gb. Size vs capacity: I wanted to be able to hold my entire collection which is currently around 10gb,
About 95% of my usage will be non-workout related (primarily used at work), so I'm not worried as much about weight or bulk for uses such as running.