Kalamaf Drackonsbane » Educational

Video Games & Your Kids

kalamaf — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 20:42:33 +0000

When your kid goes to a video store and buys a “M” rated game, do you blame it on the video store owners or do you teach your kid not to lie and not to do something you don’t approve of? As a parent myself, I asked myself what i would have done in that situation? I definitely wouldn’t go kick up a fuss and call those people at the video store a crook nor blame them for my kid’s conniving ways. I would definitely sit my kid down and explain to him or her what she did was wrong and to apologize to the video store owner and then asked politely if i can get my money back with a 20% retention fees for their inconvenience.

That would be what a normal parent would/should do but nope not in this town of ours. Instead of teaching their kids, they come breathing fire down our throat and called us a crook *slap forehead*. It’s like someone selling a stone sink to the wife and i didn’t liked it but instead of talking to the wife – i bring it back to the store and throw it back at their faces. What is the world coming to these days? Parents wonder why their kids turn out the way they do – now here is an example.

Information Security

kalamaf — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 01:00:04 +0000

These days with everything being computerized it’s both wonderful and scary at the same time. You can do your banking and pay your bills from the comfort of your computer chair, you can book movie tickets in advance, in some places you can even renew your license online. This level of convenience brings a certain measure of risk along with it however, as hackers and malware programs can attempt to steal your vital information. Whether it be credit card numbers or social security info, you need to keep your information safe.

So there’s a growing job market out there for people with a Masters of Science in Information Security, a program offered at the Lewis University. Even better is that you can take these courses online! It’s great for people like me who have a full time job and a family, going back to traditional school just isn’t possible. But spending a few hours a night doing online study, after the kid is in bed and the housework is done, is a great way to expand my career options.

You let your kid play what?!

kalamaf — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 03:11:42 +0000

I like violent games, swearing is great, and being a regular guy I gotta say, I love titties. Not so much on the pixelated cartoony variety, but hey, if it fits the story line then throw ‘em in there. What gets me though is that these games are all rated M, they mention the need to be 17+ to purchase, and even list the reasons on the back of the game case. Brutal Violence. Coarse Language. Suggestive themes. Nudity. You get the picture. Lots of information for parents to easily tell if a game is suitable for little Timmy. Working retail has taught me that most parents don’t care what their kid is playing, I’ve lost track of the number of kids under 10 who have talked their folks into buying GTA for them. You shouldn’t give prenatal vitamins to an old lady and you shouldn’t give M rated games to little kids, makes sense to me!

Ah fuck it, who am I kidding? My parents let me play whatever I wanted and watch horror movies with Freddy and Jason hacking up naked teens and I grew up pretty normal, haven’t killed anyone… yet… >=) Just do me a favor and teach them the difference between games and real life. Ok? good.

Get Learned

kalamaf — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 03:20:26 +0000

Going to college right after high school is considered the norm for most people, but I never did the college thing. I took a year of basic Accounting at the local community college and then promptly found work in a fish plant. It was hard to figure out what I actually wanted to do with my life, and now that I’m 37 and self-employed I know what I should have done when I was 18. But that ship has sailed, there’s no way to go back to a regular school at this point in my life, so turning to an online university is the way to go. Western Governors University offers a great variety of online courses so you can get a degree in your spare time. Go to work, spend time with the kids and get a better education all on your own terms, from the comfort of your own home. Getting an online mba would be useful for me since I’m self-employed, I generally know what I’m doing when it comes to running my business, but I’m sure there’s a lot that I don’t know and could benefit from learning at WGU.

Metal Detectors

kalamaf — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 18:03:57 +0000

Reading that title you probably thought of some old guy on a beach looking for quarters, but what I’m talking about are the large scale walk through metal detectors that you’d see at an Airport security terminal. As much as it sucks to have to think this way, I think security metal detectors should be a requirement in all schools these days. My own rug-rat will be starting school next fall and we’re seriously debating whether we should just do the home schooling thing, but we’d like to put her in french immersion so I’d certainly feel a little bit safer if the schools had better security measures.

Learn Japanese

kalamaf — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 18:42:01 +0000

I remember years ago I had acquired a Japanese import of a popular RPG for the Playstation 1. It was a fun game but since I couldn’t read the story, it became a bit of a chore to play. I picked up a Japanese/English phrasebook and that helped a little, but not enough to keep me interested. It’s very difficult to learn a language just from a small book. Now there’s some great software available on the internet that can really help you to learn other languages.

Human Japanese starts at the beginning with the very basics and takes you through the lessons at whatever pace you find comfortable. The lessons are very detailed and there are over 1800 recordings teach you to properly pronounce the words as well as how to read them. Check out the website to download the free trial of Human Japanese. The first 7 lessons are available right on the website so you can see first hand how it works without needing to download anything.