Zombie Drills

     Sorry this is a few hours late, wireless hasn't been working all day. Anyways, I read yesterday that Lander University was having a Zombie Apocolypse drill. My first reaction was, "Why on earth would you have a drill for something that doesn't exist?" But then, I started to think about it and realized it actually made a lot of sense. Typically, when there is a drill for a real potential disaster, i.e. fire, hurricane, tornado, people don't get very excited and it is very routine. But when there is a Zombie drill, people get more into it because the word Zombie, which has become so popular in pop culture is attached to it, and it adds an element of fun. I read some more on the drill and it turns out their nursing students are going to get involved with it, and the campus police are going to help. So, while it is not a real concern, it can potentially prepare people for a real one, and because it has an element of fun involved people will remember procedures better. It is the same thing when adding a little bit of fun to any mundane task makes it more enjoyable. For example, when you are doing a basic chore turning it into some kind of game. In conclusion, props to the people putting on the Zombie apocalypse.

Bracketology

     I have never filled out a bracket for this supposed "March Madness." I went to an all guys school throughout middle and high school so around this time of year I would feel somewhat left out. I tried to like that type of thing, I really did. I remember sitting at home alone watching sports center trying to like it, but it just didn't happen. The only thing remotely interesting I found was the top ten plays, and everything else just kind of bored me. My friends tried to persuade me to fill out a bracket, saying I could just write in random names, but I realize now they just wanted to have more money in the pot.
     However, I've been at the place for a while where I feel incredibly comfortable with my dislike of sports (with an exception of soccer). Still, sometimes I like to have fun with it. If people are talking about football I'll mention the guy who threw the ball to the guy who ran really fast and got hit by that big guy on the other team. This happened one time last year when I was coaching a girls' soccer team with a guy from my church. He was a huge Alabama fan and was getting ready for the game against LSU. So, he decided to talk to me about it. Luckily, I had a groin injury at the time and had spent a substantial amount of time in the training room. In there they had also been talking about the big game coming up, so I just repeated everything I had heard. He actually bought it all and got in an argument I had not stake in. It was fun. With all of this being said, I didn't really have any idea what to write about concerning bracketology. Go Braves!

Video Game Violence

     Ever since the Newton shooting everyone has been up in arms about gun violence (pun intended). However, there has also been a smaller movement against violent video games. Information has come out saying that shooter Adam Lanza partook in violent video games. People have then tried to link his actions to his activity with such games. I personally don't see how this connection can be made. Of course if someone has aggressive tendencies they are going to play violent video games, what would you expect them to play, Mario Kart? People have tried to link violent video games to violent people numerous times as encouraging their behavior, but any statistic that comes out is flawed. I would suggest that whatever relationship exists is not causal at all.
     In fact, I would go as far as to say that violent video games can have the exact opposite effect than what critics suggest. Violent video games could provide a release of aggression rather than spark more aggression. Of course, this can't be proven, because there is no way to know if there would be more shootings without the presence of violent video games. Still, one should be careful when finding connections like the one between Adam Lanza and violent video games, while they may tell us something about the character of Adam Lanza, it doesn't tell us necessarily about the effects of violent video games.
     After reading this one might assume that I am a strong supporter of violent video games, or video games in general. The truth is, I couldn't tell you the last time I played a video game. Everyone is into XBOX these days, and quite frankly, those controllers are way to big for my hands. I miss the days of Gamecube controllers, but anyways, I'm going off on a tangent, and that could be a blog post all on its own. My point is people should be cautious of drawing causal connections concerning any kind of correlation.