Thursday, October 27, 2022
October 27, 2022 - Covid-19 and 5G
Thursday, September 22, 2022
Video Games Revisited
When Playing Video Games Moderation is the Key
I've previously written about my early addiction to video games, and how I gave it up because I considered it a waste of my time, better suited for more enriching activities like reading.
I still feel that reading is a more intelligent use of time, but video games, when used in moderation, can be a relaxing way to unwind when you don't feel like doing anything else. I consider video games to be in the same category as watching a movie, or a television show, or reading a magazine, or a simple novel. It's definitely not the most productive use of your time, but is just a way to relax when you feel you need a break from more serious projects.
Playing video games really only becomes a problem if you do it too often, or causes you to neglect more important projects. For instance, if you never read, and you neglect your health, and you fail to get outside and exercise, and aren't really learning new things, but instead you're spending all your free time playing video games and neglecting everything else, then that's a problem. Like even if you work full-time, but spend your days off playing video games all day, every single week, I would say that is not healthy either. I mean you have the right to do it, but if you want to actually grow as a human being and realize your full potential, then playing video games all the time really could interfere with that.
So it's really important to find a balance between relaxation and productivity, and it's okay to play video games once in awhile, as long as you are also making time for activities that are more mentally enriching and contributing to your health and fitness and overall prosperity.
I don't really spend that much time playing games, because my time is limited, and there are only so many hours in the day, and maybe I only have four hours, and the choice is between reading a book, watching a movie, playing a musical instrument, or taking a walk, and any time spent playing video games means less time for doing anything else. So, really I only play videos games when I'm not in the mood to do anything else, or if I'm just feeling too mentally exhausted or physically drained to concentrate on anything more meaningful.
My Favorite Games
Right now I am basically only alternating between two games:
The Long Dark and This War of Mine. I'm also a fan of the Fallout series, especially Fallout 3, Fallout 4, and Fallout New Vegas, but I'm not playing those at the moment. I really enjoy survival games and post-apocalyptic RPGs. I also enjoy books and movies in that genre as well.
Well, anyway, The Long Dark is an excellent survival game, and is probably one of my favorite games of all time. It takes place in the Canadian wilderness, and your character is the lone survivor in a plane crash, in a world where apparently most of the people were killed off by a cataclysmic event. And the whole point of the game is to survive as long as possible while exploring different regions of the game world. It's just you and roaming packs of wolves, and other wildlife, some non-hostile like deer and rabbits, and others like bear and moose that will try to kill you first chance they get.
The main obstacle is staying warm, followed by finding food, water and shelter, and defending yourself against hostile wildlife. What I find most fun though is exploring different locations, and finding new gear.
It's a really fun game, but one of those really time consuming games. I tend to play it in bursts, a few days in a row for a few hours, and then won't play it again for a few weeks, sometimes a few months, and then come back to it, and it's always fun, has never gotten boring.
The other game is called This War of Mine, which is sort of a survival strategy game, involving resource management, where you control 1 to 4 characters sheltering in a damaged house in the middle of a warzone, where half the time is spent fortifying the house against looters, making sure your characters are in good health, and the rest of the time is spent looting other buildings at night and defending yourself against attackers.
This one is definitely the more casual game of the two, and I sometimes play this in between calls when I'm working, if I don't feel like reading.
Wednesday, August 24, 2022
The Truth About Conspiracy Theories
Wednesday, June 15, 2022
Commercials no longer human?
I generally don't watch much television, haven't had cable for over six years now, but when I do, with the exception of Netflix (which I probably won't keep) I stream the majority of what I watch online for free, which is mostly YouTube, Tubi, and Freevee.
Since I haven't watched cable TV for years, I'm not sure if the streaming TV commercials are different than what's shown on regular cable TV, but I've noticed something peculiar happening the last few months with the streaming commercials, particularly on the free apps Tubi and Freevee.
I've noticed that many of the streaming commercials are clearly being narrated using Artificial Intelligence, and what's really bazaar is that not only is the voice not human, but the script is often improper English, suggesting the commercials are originating outside of the US, probably China, though not absolutely certain about that, and written by people not fluent in English.
You probably have some exposure to what an AI voice sounds like if you've ever used a virtual assistant like Cortana or Siri. Well, I've had a little bit more exposure than that, because one of the freelance side gigs I've done in the past was listening to audio files and evaluating experimental AI voices for qualities such as naturalness, professionalism, situational appropriateness, emotional warmth, and overall likeability.
So, after listening to hundreds of audio files, I've got a good ear for what AI voices sound like, and not sure if other people have noticed this, so I'm putting this out there for the benefit of anyone who may not have been aware of this, that they are in fact using AI for voices on some TV commercials.
This relates I think to a news story I heard not long ago about China experimenting with using holograms for TV presenters, which may or may not be AI based, and were testing if viewers could detect the difference between a hologram and a real person without telling them about the experiment. Apparently most people were fooled, or never suspected anything different about the news presenter.
I've always suspected something off with the NBC news presenter, Lester Holt, who always seemed kind of robot like to me. Like I wondered could this guy really be an android right out of Westworld, or maybe he's a hologram, or maybe he's not even real. I mean I've never met the guy, how do you know if the people you see on TV are even real, they could be AI based simulations. Which is not to imply that they are all simulations, but that some of them could be, as the experiments in China have proven it's been done before.
On a somewhat related note, what's up with this guy's neck? Either he has some undisclosed medical problem, or he's not human. I showed this clip to my mother, who is not in the least bit conspiracy theory minded, and she said something like not only has she never seen anyone do that, but she said this guy looks like he doesn't like humans much.


