Blog for Kent

I guess I'll be writing here about stuff and things. Fall semester.

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Final Post: Eric Garner and Racism

http://sourcefed.com/nypd-cop-who-strangled-eric-garner-to-death-cleared-of-indictment/

“I was just minding my own business. Every time you see me you want to mess with me. I’m tired of it. It stops today!

Please just leave me alone. I told you the last time, please just leave me alone."

 -Eric Garner

According to this, Patrick Lynch, leader of a police union, "challenged the claim that a chokehold was used.

I don't want to link to the video of Eric Garner's death, that had been done enough times already, but anyone can see an arm being thrown in front of this man's neck. Apparently, the medical examiner was inclined to agree, ruling Garner's death as a homicide.

Evidently, it was compression of the neck and chest, along with the positioning on the ground that caused Garner's death. His asthma and obesity were contributing factors.

I feel that the above quote has been becoming more and more relevent in my liffe as I have grown older. When I was a kid, I always pictured the police as the good guys. They were the onnes you called when you were in trouble, and they locked the bad guys away.

 Back then, what made someone a bad guy? A thief, a bully, someone who hurt someone else, people who acted above the rules, someone who could kill another person.

In my life today, I see this more and more in the news. While it may just be a case of selective hearing, it feels like something more.

Every day you can find more discussion on police brutality, and I think it's a shame that the people who are meant to defend us are the ones causing so much fear and paranoia. I thought that's what criminals were for. 

People have recently been calling for body cameras on every poliice officer, but what good is that, when footage of a homicide is released,  and the officer still isn't indicted?

But, hey. What do I know?

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A brief opinion on "Tropes Vs Women in Video Games"

Anita Sarkeesian's video series on Tropes in Video Games is over a year old, but continues to be a topic of heated criticism and hatred usually reserved for talks on religion. Recently, Anita was on The Colbert Report to talk about Gamergate, which is an issue I don't even want to touch right now. I feel like the issue of Sarkeesian's videos is mostly cooled off, but after my girlfriend mentioned watching the videos in a media class, and how angry she was at sexism in video games. While I don't hold it against her, she often doesn't play games, and to a less informed person the videos are very persuasive, it did get me thinking about the videos again. Here is the link to the first video in the series.

In this video, Sarkeesian professionally explains her opinions. She explains how the trope reduces women to objects, and takes away their importance as anything other than a cheap plot device. At times, she does try to appear even handed, such as when she briefly mentions how Zelda can be helpful in the LoZ series.

I feel that while much of the negative reaction is the result of angry, stupid, insane, immature, and ignorant people, a lot of it comes from people feeling offended by how she explains specific female characters.

Back to Zelda, I have played many of the games in this series, and I have developed my own thoughts and opinions on the characters in the game. Anita claims that games describe Zelda as weak and unimportant, but to a lot of people, they feel the opposite.

In many games (spoiler), Zelda is through much of the game, a huge help and ally. She often aids with knowledge the player could never know, helps fight the final boss (the literal personification of evil), and possesses  1/3 of the most powerful relic in the entire world (the Triforce). To me, Zelda was always an awesome person to have around, whether she was helping defeat Ganondorf or helping point to where to go. 

Anita describes Zelda differently from other damsels, but she does say that Zelda is at her core, a damsel. For me, this is the most frustrating part. For my gameplay, she was often an equal. She would exhibit many "honorable traits," and she was at times more important than even the main character of the series (that most people don't know the name of), Link. 

Here, the incredibly inappropriate Amazing Atheist refutes Sarkeesian's part 2 in her series. The main argument I find important is from about 5:40 to around 6:30, but the whole video (for the most part) makes good points. But that specific time frame explains how she demands we keep the real world context in mind when thinking critically of games, but also removes the context in said games. She takes select scenes out of context to prove her point. The Amazing Atheist feels her argument suffers from confirmation bias, and I agree.

I feel like her videos are inaccurate, and that a lot of what she did was a little off. She did steal footage from let's players, but in the end, her opinion is her opinion. And while her videos do annoy me because they can give a very inflammatory opinion to people who aren't really into the community, that's fine. There's no reason why she should have received the insane backlash from a foolishly inflamed community.

AngryJoeShow in this video starting at 24:35 takes a suitably angry moment to retaliate against the people who threaten her and say horribly sexist comments to her. It is truly repulsive the response she received to her videos, and even if you disagree with the message of her videos, you have to agree that she doesn't deserve that.

So, yeah. This is an ancient story, but I've never tried to type out my opinion before so I wanted to get this out there. In summation, I don't like her videos, and I think she did a few unfair things, but she can say what she wants. Anyone can. She shouldn't feel threatened for making well produced videos describing her opinions.

Sarkeesian's most recent video on her channel is from August 15, and has ratings and comments disabled. It honestly does have a few good points on women as Background Decoration, and I agree with some of her points even though I disagree with others. I just want everyone to try to view inflammatory material objectively, and NOT THREATEN TO RAPE AND MURDER THE WOMEN FOR HER OWN DAMN OPINION HOLY F***ING SH*T. 

Note: Edited twice. First to add pictures, then to add the note.

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Obama Gives Support to Net Neutrality

"Ever since the Internet was created, it's been organized around the basic principles of openness, fairness, and freedom."

Well said, Mr. Obama.

President Obama has recently released a video explaining his position on neet neutrality, and it is one in favor of a free and open internet. In his video, he opposes the concept of an "internet fast lane," also known as "paid prioritization," where sites could pay ISPs for quicker access by the masses. He also opposed the blocking of legal websites and throttling of Internet services.

Obama appointed chairperson of the FCC, Tom Wheeler, said "like the president, I believe that the Internet must remain an open platform for free expression, innovation, and economic growth. We both oppose Internet fast lanes. The Internet must not advantage some to the detriment of others." In spite of this, he is still waiting on input "from all stakeholders."

This is definitely a big winn for supporters of a free and open internet. Although, no action has been taken yet, having the leader of the free world in your corner is no small statement. 

It appears that this issue has also been split down party lines. David Jackson quotes two Senators, one Democrat supporting the president, and a Republican opposing him. And while I identify as a Republican, I have to say what Senator Ted Cruz said was not accurate.

"Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who has criticized other Obama regulations, said that net neutrality "puts the government in charge of determining Internet pricing, terms of service, and what types of products and services can be delivered, leading to fewer choices, fewer opportunities, and higher prices for consumers."

First off, the only way in which pricing is controlled is in the way of prohibiting what is essentially bribing an ISP for faster loading time. It's preventing highway robbery.

Secondly, there is no way this is leading to fewer choices or fewer opportunities, it would actually be the opposite. You see, what is happening is that it allows every site to be accessed with equal speed, promoting the creation of new up and coming services instead of widening established services and setting them above all others. 

If you use the Internet, and happen to not own Amazon, Google, Netflix, or any other online giant, you should support net neutrality. Furthermore, while you may not agree with everything the president says or does, this should be something you can get behind.

Information found through  http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/11/10/obama-internet-net-neutrality/18793429/

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Legend of Zelda - Majora's Mask Comes to 3DS

The Legend of Zelda is historically one of the most important and impactful gaming series ever. The original game for the Nintendo Entertainment System was one of the first games to institute any form of a save system, which is now an integral part to nearly every AAA game produced today. The first game on the NIntendo 64 was Ocarina of Time, regarded as the greatest game of all time by numerous gaming reviewers and players. It had a 3DS world, puzzles, action, and a swordplay mechanic that combined together to make an amazing game that has been remade for the gamecube and 3DS. Ocarina of Time had one direct sequal, and it is a game that turned the whole land of Hyrule upside down.

Majora's mask is this sequal. It created a world in which you had only 3 days to beat the game and save the land of termina, from the deranged Skull Kid (creepy guy above) who uses the magic of the Majora's Mask (creepy mas above) who plans to bring the moon (creepy rock in the sky above) down to destroy the town and kill everyone. To those of you unfamiliar with nintendo stories, that's a pretty dark turn. It's the dark aspect of this game that appeals to fans, and what makes it distinctly unique. 

Time is reset via the song of time in Majora's Mask, resulting in the player replaying the same days over and over to attempt to further the game. This is wholly unique in an open world game like the Legend of Zelda. One flaw in modern games is the NPCs seem to constantly repeat themselves, living the same days over and over again. In Majora's Mask, every character has a specific place, purpose, and dialoge at any given time of day. It's as if the characters are more alive in this game, they tend to their lives and exist in their own ways.

Fans of the game and the series (including me) are excited for the remake. It gives people the chance to re-experience this world, with better graphics and 3D potential. It also gives fans of the series who have never had the chance to play the game a new opportunity. It's a good thing for fans, and that probably means it will be a good payday for Nintendo.

WIth Super Smash Bros for Wii U coming out soon, a lot of exciting news has been coming out in recent Nintendo Directs. It will be cool to see what else will be revealed in the coming months.

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Netflix Binge Review: Breaking BAD

So, since the onset of college I have followed the stereotypical life and begun a series of Netflix Binges One of the first of these binges resulted in the entire series. So, in a spoiler-ish free post, I'm going to review a series that has been over for plenty of time.

So, I had watched some parts of Breaking Bad before while my dad was watching the series, but I never paid enough attention to see what was going on. But, I knew some general things about the series, and I had a ton of friends who like the show, so I figured it would be worth the watch.

So, workig through the first season, it was a lot of setup. It was pretty boring to me, there were some stretches where it felt like none of the badass stuff I kept hearing about was happening. But, now and then there would be something that would keep me invested. 

Eventually, around the start of season 3, every episode was getting good. Once the character Gus got involved, I was invested in every part of the show. The drugs and violence, and downward spiral of Walter White was becoming far too interesting to quit.

Once Gus's story climaxed, every episode was insane. The series finale was a perfect conclusion.

A final score for the series would have to be 9/10. The end of the series was awesome, and the concept was great. And now, every chemistry teacher I ever have I can talk to about meth, so that's something

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So, I got new shoes

Or rather, more specifically new running shoes.

So, in the end of July before moving up to campus and living on my own, I weighed about 150 pounds. I'm a pretty skinny guy, and I used to run long distances, so this was a little heavier than I normally am. About a week ago, I happened to get weighed while donating plasma (a blog post for another day) and I was anxious to see what I weighed now. I knew that it was not going to be good, and I was already cringing before I even heard the weight: 165 pounds. Previously, 150 ounds was the most I'd ever weighed. With running about once a week, and eating quite terribly, I managed to gain exactly a freshman 15, and I'm not even done with my first semester.

So, I got new shoes, and they just came in today.

Starting last Friday, I've been running regularly again, and throwing in some core workouts as well. Because damn, gaining a freshman 15 wasn't one of the goals I had coming into college.

The thing about getting new running shoes is that it is always really exciting for me. My old pair was getting pretty destroyed, and never really had the support that was best for how I run. My new pair has better support for long distances, and I'm very excited to run 5 miles tomorrow morning at 6:30, before I donate plasma and before I go to work. All the men in my family, aside from my dad, are incredibly overweight, and I definitely do not want to be so out of shape that I wake up one day and find that I can't make it through a 3 mile jog. 

So, now I have new shoes. And so the next time I wake up and decide I don't want to run, I'm pretty sure the $100 I spent on them will guilt me into getting out on the road. Hopefully at least until it becomes habit again.

TL;DR: I got new running shoes because I got an extra 15 pounds.

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President Obama and GOP to work together?

Well, it's on the front page of every major newspaper I picked up today. The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and USA Today all had huge cover stories on the President and the newly Republican majority in both houses. And it looks like everyone wants to know - with the government now more divided than in the previous term, will compromises be made, or will it be back to gridlock?

Former Senate Minority Leader turned Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnel and President Obama met, and "flagged areas of potential compromise (Nelson and Lee, WSJ)."

Repblicans had great wins across the country, but their lead in the Senate is not strong enough to obtain a cloture, so the threat of a Democratic filibuster remains for the Republican majority in the Senate. Their majority is strong, but not strong enough to completely run over the opposition. So, it's pretty clear: compromise or back to GRIDLOCK.

It'll be really interesting to see what happens. I think I'm with everyone who follows politics to any degree in hoping that there can be compromise in the Capital. However, with all the officials becoming more and amore partisan, it's getting tougher to see that happening.

But, let's see how it goes Republicans. Show us that you're capable of something other than shutting down the government. You haven't had the legislautre since 2006, so make the most of the opportunity that your constituents have given you.

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John Kasich Wins Governor of Ohio - 2016?

John Kasich, tthe incumbent Republican candidate for governor of Ohio, completely crushed Democratic candidate Ed Fitzgerald. Winning sixty-four percent of the vote, Kasich took control by nearly 1,000,000 votes. Kasich had many advantages in the race, while scandals continued to rock the democratic candidates. FItzgerald had to eventually drop his first running mate due to scandals, leading to many Ohioans to question the former FBI agent's ability to conduct background checks.

With a win of such a large margin in Ohio, John Kasich may end up being a dark horse candidate for the 2016 presidential election. No Republican has ever won the presidency without winning Ohio, and it would be pretty hard to say that John Kasich couldn't win Ohio again at the presidential level.

W. James Antle of the Daily Beast doesn't find this too likely. He finds Kasich to be someone who flips on the issues, and that "he is a divider on the right, not a uniter."

John Kasich did make a presidential bid in 2000, but quickly abandoned the race to support George W. Bush. 

But, he is an incredibly experienced politician, representing Ohio's 12th congressional district from January 1983 until January 2001.

So, there are a lot of good and a lot of bad associated with John Kasich. Whether or not he decides to run will surely be decided in the coming months, or even weeks.

http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2014/11/ohioans_surprised_in_amount_of.html http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/11/03/john-kasich-the-gop-s-hobbled-2016-dark-horse.html http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2014/11/with_john_kasichs_big_win_ohio.html http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/04/12/is-john-kasich-the-most-formidable-2016-gop-candidate-you-don-t-know.html

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Ting.com

So, ting is a really fascinating idea for anyone who is tired of paying incredible amounts for cell phone service. It's a pay as you go plan, and it looks really interesting. On their front page, they link to a calculator that calculates what you would save based on user input for text messages, minutes, and mb usage. 

So, I put in all of my information, and over the course of two years, I would save a big old forty-eight dollars. Woo. Big savings right there.

But, I always hear one of my favorite youtubers talk about ting, and I hear that it saves many people a ton of money, so I had my friend check it our for his plan, because he pays a lot more than me. So, he plugged in his information, and Ting would save him around $1,400 over the course of two years.

I guess some people have all the luck.

Anyway, while it really didn't work that well for me, I think it could be pretty beneficial for a lot of people who happen to be broke-ass college kids, or people who just like to save money. So, if you have a couple minutes to waste, it might be worthwhile to check out.

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How Law Schools Accept Students

Pretty much everybody knows that it is quite difficult to be accepted into any law school, particularly any that come to mind when an individual thinks "law school." The law schools at Harvard, Stanford, and Yale are some of the most difficult programs in the world to be accepted into. But for many prospective students, they have know idea how to approach the challenge of getting accepted. I would be one of those students. So, I did some research into what Law Schools look at when they are admitting students.

UNDERGRADUATE GPA

Undergraduate GPA is a huge factor, as should be expected. Since GPA is cumulative, that means absolutely no slacking at any point in college. The median GPA for law school acceptance is 3.42, and it only gets higher as you apply to higher tier schools (3.9!). While many say that they don't have a cutoff, numbers show that odds are, you're probably not going to Harvard with a 2.5.

LSAT SCORE

For those who may not know, the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) is the test that undergraduate students take and is required of all students who want to apply. It's an incredibly rigorous test, with five 35-minute multiple choice sections and a 35 minute writing section. It is scored from 120 to 180, and has incredible impact on where an individual can be accepted. Yale's average score is a 173, aka the 99th percentile. There are reasons why so many people make jokes about how hard it is to get into Yale's law program.

MOTIVATION TO STUDY AND REASONS FOR DECIDING TO STUDY LAW

For a lot of schools, your personal motivation is a huge factor when it comes to being accepted. In your personal statement or essay, if you show special interest or motivation, you become that much more valuable. Someone who has an innate factor pushing and motivating them to succeed is more likely to be successful, and sometimes that can make the difference. I know personally, I have a lot of personal motivation for going into law school, and hopefully that will help make the difference. But even if I have the requirements, it still probably won't be Yale. That shit's expensive.

There are many other aspects that are important when applying to law school, such as the college attended, concentration, letters of recommendation, community activities, etc. However, these three stand out to me the most. That isn't to say I won't address the others, but priorities have to exist, or becoming overwhelmed is certain.

Information taken from the following sites, but primarily from the official LSAC site.

http://www.lsac.org/jd/applying-to-law-school/whom-to-admit http://www.alphascore.com/resources/lsat-score-conversion/ http://grockit.com/blog/lsat/2014/05/02/lsat-scores-gpa-top-law-schools/ http://www.wikihow.com/Get-Into-Law-School

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Ms. America Lies About Scholarships?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyMVhPakVak

Information and Inspiration taken from the above video, taken from Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Well, personally I've never really cared about pageantry. At all. As in, not only did I not know when the Ms America pageant was occurring, I almost didn't watch the video when I saw what it was about. But, I decided since I needed blog ideas I might as well watch and see if there wasn't anything worth writing about, and man is there a lot to write about.

So, for those of you who may be unaware as I was, Ms. America is "the world's largest provider of scholarships to women." They claim that the grand total of all the scholarships they provide is over $45 million dollars. Now, that would be an amazing amount of money made available to young women. I don't think there should be anyone against that kind of money being put towards education. However, John Oliver shows that the number Ms. America provides may be slightly manipulated to appear higher than what is actually given. How much higher?

Using "the most generous estimations," the total given out is close to $4 million dollars. So, how is this possible?

Various methods. One such method is multiplying a potential scholarship (that nobody ended up accepting) for 54,000 time the 48 contestants. See how the numbers can start to build up real quick?

So this is clearly ridiculous. With such a puffed up number, they're probably not even the "number one provider of scholarships to women," right? I mean, there is absolutely no possible way that they could be the larg-

oh. Turns out they still are. John Oliver says that despite being such a superficial contest, and the incredibly inflated number, they still give out more money that several respectable sites, such as patsyminkfoundation.org, among others. He urges viewers to donate to any such site that isn't necessarily based in any way on physical appearance.

It seems ridiculous to pretend that this organization is about anything other than outward appearance. But, as I said, I tend to ignore Ms. America and most days it might was well not exist for the amount of thought I give to it. I will say though, at the very least, their dishonest methods of attempting to seem more than just a beauty pageant should be both ridiculous and insulting to any rational person. But, that's just my opinion.

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Internet Slowdown Day

I'm fairly sure I can speak for most internet users when I say I get pretty annoyed when I feel like my internet is not working as quickly as it should. This slowdown can happen for a variety of reasons, such as increased traffic to a specific website or servers going down. However, on September 10th, many major sites such as Reddit, Foursquare, and Wordpress will be participating in an event known as "Internet Slowdown Day." 

A lot of people may be confused about this, but it's actually serving a rather important purpose: the preservation of Net Neutrality. Current laws prohibit internet providers from giving preferred service to certain websites, and instead allows all sites to be viewed with equal download times. However, companies such as AT&T, Comcast, and Verizon could profit greatly from the creation of a paid internet fast lane, that would allow only the large, established services to have the fastest loading times.

This is problematic for a variety of reasons, but the one that sticks out to me in the inherent inequality this will create for those who are just starting small internet companies. They could be forced into slower service, due to being unable to pay what could be incredibly high premiums. For me, anything that gives preferential treatment to any company on the internet is ridiculous. It should remain as is: a free and  open resource, equal to all creators and consumers.

This reason is why those companies have chosen to participate in Internet Slowdown day, to raise awareness of the issue, and to make a point to the government. These companies will be posting a "infinitely-loading site loading icon" so their viewers can see what the internet could be like if providers were to set up such a system.

This is an excellent way to raise awareness of an issue that could affect everyone online. Many people who may not have ever been aware that such an issue exists will be exposed to it, which in turn will have an explosive effect on general awareness, and will help to keep the internet a free and open resource. As it stands, the internet is a great equalizer, everyone is equal (more or less), and it would a shame to have to see that change for the worse.

Information for this post comes from cnet and the PDS.