Raising Geeks by Geeks

I just ran across a research article at MediaPost that shows the results of their survey for the rationale to play online games.  Their key results are:

• 87% of game lovers report a positive mood boost from playing online games
• 59% play games online to help forget their worries and problems
• 44% play to keep their mind sharp between job hunting, working or studying
• 62% play online games as a de-stressor when job hunting online

and I am not so sure that this is quite right and I will address each one as I see how they fall with me.

Positive Mood Boost

I can see how it would be positive if some really rare item dropped and I won it.  But the games I have played in the past, which include, UO, EQ, WoW, and SWG, have provided situations where there was lots of stress and negativity.  Camping for hours on end to get 1 rare item is not positive.  Getting jumped and losing is not positive.  Dieing and losing all of your good loot is not positive.  Focusing on the game and neglecting your family and health is not positive.

Forget Worries and Problems

I don’t think online games allow you to forget anything.  Online games create new worries and problems that are very artificial compared to the reality that you are trying to push aside.  This is very comparable to someone drinking to forget their worries.  This is not positive at all.

Keeping Mind Sharp

I found when I played hours and hours of online games that my mind would become pudding.  I didn’t want to focus on anythign long term and I couldn’t sit down and do anything that was actual work.  I can see maybe improving hand eye coordination or if you are a group leader, these skills might improve a little….but they are only focuses in an online environment, if you tried to use these same skills in a work environment, you will probably fail which, according to this survey, you would go back to play games online more.

De-stressor

I can’t imagine playing an online game relieving any stress if you can’t find a job.  Not finding a job is not gonna get any better by playing a game, it might help you forget about it, but the reality of it is that it is still a problem and might become more stressful as time moves on.

Summary

I am not against online games, I think the number one reason that people should play them is that they are fun and challenging.  Yet this survey supports the idea that it is more like Alcohol or a drug.  I don’t deny that this may be the case for some people, it is just not the case for me.

I wrote a week ago or so that the Japanese are utilizing supplementary schools to increase the education of their K-12 students. Something like this does not normally occur in the USA, though it has been known that parents will utilize tutors. It is kind of the same principle.

If we want our children to learn more, and with technology being the leading role in most if not all occupations now and in the future, it should be our responsibility to make sure that our children can be as competitive as possible. And why not make it fun at the same time.

On that note, I would like to introduce Math Bits, a website that focuses on mathematics and they make it fun.  For example, they have a system called web caching.  You solve a math problem, which gives you the answer to the next website, and it goes on like this for so many pages (I am working on the Geometry version now and am on cache #8).  Unfortunately, I don’t remember much of my geometry so I am finding my self looking back at online resources to find the solutions.  Their website also provides online lessons, how-to’s, a resource to ask questions, printable worksheets, and other resources pertaining to the subject the student is interested in.  The site makes a great tool for a high school student who needs that little extra help or can be used by parents to advance their child in math a little sooner.  It all depends on how you want to use the resources.

Can’t close the article without the software to back it all up with.  Unfortunately, I don’t have a recommendation of which software package to use, I think that should be left up to the individual to find out on their own.  But I will include a blog post that lists quite a few options to get you started, have a look here.

Have a look at the websites, I visit Math Bits  on a regular basis and have referred many people looking to take a class in Mathematics to the website as well.  If you visit the site, either let me or them know what you think and how you used the information, so that all can benefit from the knowledge.

I had to share this because it goes with my last post about raising children in a positive way whether they are geeks or not.  I hope you are inspired as much as I was when I watched it.

With all of the DDoS attacks going on around the web, especially those hitting Facebook and Twitter currently, it made think about the people that are initiating the attacks and their motives for doing it. Most likely, there is money driving the whole operation. If they can get account information or stop people from using one service and move to another, they could be paid for that service. If it is not about money, then it is probably about the pure joy of messing with someone else’s work, just like a person would spray paint a popular painting.  Hacking has become a serious issue and unfortunately, it is a dual edge sword. We need ethical hackers to assist in defending against other hackers. The only difference between the two are the projects they work on.

So what does this have to do with raising a geek? Well, we are all children at one point. And we learn from parents, friends, peers, and mentors on subjects that we are interested in. Those that are interested in programming will seek out people that can teach them more….this is the same with any subject. So, we as parents of geeks need to make sure that we spread the information and we do it the right way.

The right way to spread information would be to point out the pros and the cons, and the right way to use it. But it is not just about the information, we should teach values such as courage, honesty, loyalty, and any others that may apply. We should raise our children to utilize the technology they know about and make something better not build something to destroy what someone spent time to build. We need to raise our kids to not give the time of day to envy, jealousy, and self demoting ideas….instead teach self esteem and positive thinking. If we raise our kids the right way, then our children will grow up to blow the world away by what they do and not by what they build.

I am not writing this article to imply that it is the parents fault we have bad hackers, I am purely insisting that it is possible that they were not given the appropriate building blocks to generate their own character. I am against the whole bad childhood issue and think that it is used too much. I never had a good childhood and if I sit around focusing on the negatives about it, then I get angry and I feel life is unfair. However, if I focus on what was positive and what I have done to improve or build on those building blocks, then I am happy and ready to take on the world.

This does not get any geekier (is that even a word?).  Watch the Video below to see how to make Star Wars sound effects with just a Slinky and a Paper cup.

I was interested to see what movies/TV Shows were listed or being identified as those types of shows that geek children might be more interested in.  Interestingly enough, I found a CFP at the University of Pennsylvania for identifiying those types of media that are sci-fi based.  Now I am making a generalization here that SCI-FI means Geek (which is partly true, but a perspective of mine).  It could be a totally different list for someone else.  I don’t want to get into the particulars of the details but more into the content of the selected media.

The list as of 7/15/2009 included:

• Lilo and Stitch
• Flubber
• Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius
• Dexter’s Laboratory
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
• Transformers
• Land of the Lost
• Lost in Space
• Brain (from Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain)

I don’t disagree with the list but I think it is somewhat outdated.  And if I wanted to make a suggestion, I would have to write an essay (for this particular list).  But I can make suggestions here in my own blog.

Though I think it is a good list, I found that some of the movies that I like and think are encouraging for my children are not there.  Like I said above, it seems to be a little outdated.  Some of the newer animations, such as Chicken Little, Meet the Robinsons, Bolt, and Wall-E.  You are probably wondering why I would add these four(4).  Mainly due to the fact of their Sci-Fi themes.  There are quite a few movies being pushed from Japan from the Ghibli Studios that are amazing, such as My Neighbor Totoro, Castle in the Sky, Nausicaa, and most recently Ponyo (which my daughter loves to watch….too much).

I think a good animation for children should be exciting but teach life lessons as well.  Bolt, is one good example where a life lesson is very dominant in the movie, when he realizes that his perspective might not be the right one or even true at all.  But I don’t think the lessons should cloud the entertainment as well.

Either way, any movie that can keep my child(ren) sitting down for the duration of the movie gets my vote!

I wanted to discuss mathematics but I think I will have a hard time to discuss it in the way I want to portray the  concept I have in mind.  Here it goes!

I think Mathematics is important to anyone and everyone.  We know this already, for we are required to take a minimum set of courses throughout our K-12 education era.  Yet, do most people realize that with the basic understanding of the theory they received, it helps us make decisions on a daily basis?

My first example, and bear with me, is of an artist.  I don’t know artists that well but I can imagine the process somewhat.  Look at canvas, focus on canvas, spread paint on canvas, sell canvas.  Don’t get me wrong, I am sure it is more difficult than that but I don’t need to get into the details.  During that process, the artist used quite a bit of math without thinking of the theory he/she learned in school.  First, he looked/picked the canvas which is defined by a geometric shape of a squre or rectangle with set lengths and heights and maybe even the depth was taken into consideration.  Now the artists did not sit there and measure it out, calculate the area and perimeter, but that process was happening in their head so that when they were focusing on the canvas and spreading the paint on the canvas, they, on a subconscious level, knew that information or at least the general part of it.

So where am I going with this article, you might ask?  Well, I am very interested in Mathematics.  I wouldn’t claim to be a bright mathematician, but I have about a undergrad level understanding minus a few upper division courses.  And one class that stuck out with me was Ordinary Differential Equations (ODE).  The class spends alot of time defining systems in mathematical terms and I really enjoyed this.  It is basically a class that links math to physics without spending a majority of the time in theory.  These calculations could be summarized in your head to throw out a quick estimate but later would have to be verified to set in stone.

So, I want my children to learn mathematics as much as they are interested in.  In any case, they will use it and I would almost wager it will make them a better judgment in their professions no matter what they choose to adventure into.  Mathematics are used everywhere in everything we interact with.  Software, at its root raw level is just math.

In the life of a geek, they are all not engineers and programmers but deep down they possibly have a very strong connection with mathematics in their lives.  They are attracted to those things that express it in a way they are comfortable with.  I will write next time on what common types of geeks are out there now and possible some new ones to be on the look out for.

My children like to congregate around my wife and I, and we are usually sitting around our Kotatsu table.  We usually eat here, watch TV here, play games here, and pound away at our keyboards here.  So we have decided to get them their own table so that they can do anything they like there.  It seemed like a good idea.  We would let them write on it, beat it up, put their favorite stickers on it, and eat there if they like.  What we didn’t think about was that they would want us to come there.

Don’t get me wrong, we didn’t get the table because the kids are annoying us, we did it to drive them to be more creative.   Geeks need more creativity in their lives.  But instead it turned out that the magnetism in the room has changed.  Once it was at the main kotatsu…now it is at the Kid’s kotatsu.

The table, I am sure, will be put to good use.  My daughter is really into singing and dancing now.  I am sure she will be on top of it in no time.  My son will probably try to flip it over, just like he does with everything else.  When he attempts this, the table will probably hit him in his head or vice versa.  As new activites emerge from this simple table, I will be posting photos and videos.  I am sure they will be amusing.

When you look around in Japan, you see three different people usually.  One is reading some book, one is playing some handheld game, and the other is usually pounding away on their cellphone.  Today, when I was at a hamburger joint, there was this group of high school students sitting at a table.  They were not eating anymore, and were playing on their PSPs.  I am not sure what game they were playing but I knew from their reactions that they were all in the same game.  I wanted to take a photo to post here but I didn’t have a camera on me, it was an interesting site.

For the book readers, you will probably never know what they are reading unless you are standing next to them and get a glance at the title on the top of the page.  Most books, when bought in Japan, are wrapped to cover up the outside of the book.  By looking at the size of the book, you can usually tell if it is a Manga (comic book) or any other book.  The manga’s here are all printed at the same place maybe.  They are all the same size and thickness usually.  There are some special cases but most of the time, they are the same.

Finally, Japanese love their cellphones.  The network in Japan is always one step faster than in the USA and the coverage is usually pretty good….no dead spots unless you are way in the middle of no where…..up some hiking trail maybe (unless you are walking towards a cell tower).  Web applications are huge here, most if not all of the companies will have their websites published for the mobile phones.  And it is no easy feat!  There is no strict standard on what browsers and limitations the phones have.  So when a website is developed for the phones, they need to be very dynamic and forgiving.

Anyway, I figured a small summary about geeks in Japan would be interesting.  I think with all of the technology out there, it is hard to not be a geek of some degree.