Continuation...
There is no research that has found video games to be a primary factor in causing violence or that violent video game play could turn otherwise a normal person into a killer.
Playing computer games is also known to be a social act, here are a few figures.· Almost 60 % of frequent gamers play with friends. · 33% of frequent gamers play with siblings · 25% of frequent gamers play with spouses or parents. If a game player is playing a one player game, there is usually someone there with them watching and giving them advice, this may also be known as playing socially. There are however a lot f games available for multi player and whether ‘the players may be fighting to death on screen and growing closer as friends off screen’. Playing computer games is thought to boost people’s self esteem, “by playing a computer game for five minutes each morning, it would help you feel more secure and confident about yourself”.Three games have been created by researchers at McGill University in Quebec, Canada. The aims of these games are to try to get people to focus on positive, rather than negative, feedback'The results show that people who played the games were more positive and less likely to expect rejection’. 'It is thought that low self-esteem often stems from worries about whether people will be liked and accepted by people around them and these feelings may stem from their own negative feelings’. 'The researchers created computer games aimed at breaking these kind of negative thought patterns through repeated positive messages’. There are is a lot of research to do with computers causing many health problems to children. A BBC correspondent, Christine Stewart suggests that children running the risk of serious injury. Children learning to use computers are being put at risk of permanent injury, is a health warning from experts.It is thought that there are many children who already have health and medical problems due to playing computer games. Some of the problems include; neck ache, back ache, repetitive strain injuries, eyestrain, headache, chest pain, fatigue, mood swings, sleep deprivation.So far, there is no significant research into the risks of repetitive strain injuries among children, who spend hours on computers doing homework or playing games, has been carried out in the UK. Although, doctors are reporting an increase in the number of children who are complaining of computer-related injuries. However it has been recognized as being linked to prolonged computer use and incorrect posture in adults.
Computers weren't always fun. They used to be room sized machines that could do math. Then in the early 1960s, Steve Russell of MIT invented the video game Spacewar and the field blasted off.
Back in the seventies when I started making games, I could spend all my day drawing a line."Now a line is done in a split second, things really have advanced by orders of magnitude.And ever more complex games like Warcraft and Everquest boast virtual worlds where thousands of people can play together simultaneously. These games come with their own set of cultural rules and are quickly becoming one of the most popular activities among adolescents, according to the DIGRA website."For people under 30, they [digital games] are almost an indigenous cultural form," says Jim Gee, Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Wisconsin and a leading researcher on the role video games can play in learning.We are just beginning to understand that digital mediums. It is just considered as a small part of technology.

Leslie ; )

"Effects of Online Games"

Dear Diary,

Nowadays, as technology improves, People especially boys and men are fond of playing computer games.
This review has considered various studies which have investigated the effects of computer games on young children and which have found there to be both positive and negative consequences. Little research has been carried out into non-arcade electronic game playing as this was originally perceived as a harmless and enjoyable pastime. However, with the ever-increasing interest and participation of young children in this activity, much concern has been expressed about the effects of these games on children. Playing these on line games, affects the behavior of every people who play them.
Video and computer games are thought to lead a lot of youth violence. It is thought, ‘according to federal crime statistics, the rate of juvenile violent crime in the United States is at a 30-year low. Researchers find that people serving time for violent crimes typically consume less media before committing their crimes than the average person in the general population’.Scroll shootings in America by young offenders have also be linked to playing violent games. However it must be taken into account that the majority of young children who play violent computer games do not commit crimes.According to a 2001 U.S. Surgeon General's report, the strongest risk factors for school shootings centered on mental stability and the quality of home life, not media exposure.Aggression is also another factor that is usually linked with playing violent computer games.There is a lot of research that tries to prove that violent video games ‘may be more harmful than violent television and movies because of the interactive nature of the games’.By ‘playing violent video games like Doom, Wolfenstein 3D or Mortal Kombat can increase a person's aggressive thoughts, feelings and behaviour both in laboratory settings and in actual life, according to two studies appearing in the April issue of the American Psychological Association's (APA) Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Furthermore, violent video games may be more harmful than violent television and movies because they are interactive, very engrossing and require the player to identify with the aggressor, say the researchers.
Computer games are often used to train soldiers to kill, some people therefore feel that this may have the same impact on their children who play similar games. The ‘former military psychologist and moral reformer David Grossman argues that because the military uses games in training (including, he claims, training soldiers to shoot and kill), the generation of young people who play such games are similarly being brutalized and conditioned to be aggressive in their everyday social interactions’. It is thought that Grossman's model will only work if:
· ‘We remove training and education from a meaningful cultural context. · We assume learners have no conscious goals and that they show no resistance to what they are being taught. · We assume that they unwittingly apply what they learn in a fantasy environment to real world spaces’. '‘The military uses games as part of a specific curriculum, with clearly defined goals, in a context where students actively want to learn and have a need for the information being transmitted. There are consequences for not mastering those skills. That being said, a growing body of research does suggest that games can enhance learning’. James Gee describes game players as active problem solvers who do not see mistakes as errors, but as opportunities for improvement, Gee (2003).Through research it is thought that violent video games may be one risk factor that contributes to violence. It is when it is mixed with other more immediate, real-world influences that it is more likely to contribute to anti-social behavior.

"Global Warming"

Dear Diary,
Base on a report, the country or the whole world is now experiencing a very hot temperature. Even if it is not summer time, the country still sweats a lot. And this could get hotter and hotter as summer will be coming. This is very dangerous. The ozone layer of the earth is having a hole. This is the reason why we are experiencing a very hot climate. And the hole gets bigger and bigger as the heat from the sun comes to earth. And also another reason why, is because the people do not care for their environment. They are very careless. They would just throw their garbages or waste chemicals anywhere especially those at the factory. Some of these goes to the sea, which contaminates the water. In these cases, sea creatures die, and when they die, people whose work or job depends on fishing, will surely loose everything. As the sea water goes above the clouds, they produce acid rain which is very dangerous to the environment.
Last week, we had a symposium about preventing the global warming. We were shown a video about Albert Gore Jr.'s sentiments and caring for the environment. I really idolize this guy. Not only he is smart but he has also o golden heart.
Global warming is the observed increase in the average temperature of the Earth's near surface air and oceans in recent decades and its projected continuation. Models referenced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predict that global temperatures are likely to increase by 1.1 to 6.4 °C (2.0 to 11.5 °F) between 1990 and 2100.[1] The uncertainty in this range results from two factors: differing future greenhouse gas emission scenarios, and uncertainties regarding climate sensitivity. Global average near-surface atmospheric temperature rose 0.74 ± 0.18 °Celsius (1.3 ± 0.32 °Fahrenheit) in the last century. The prevailing scientific opinion on climate change is that "most of the observed increase in globally averaged temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations,"[1] which leads to warming of the surface and lower atmosphere by increasing the greenhouse effect. Greenhouse gases are released by activities such as the burning of fossil fuels, land clearing, and agriculture. Other phenomena such as solar variation and volcanoes have had smaller but non-negligible effects on global mean temperature since 1950.[2] A few scientists disagree about the primary causes of the observed warming. An increase in global temperatures can in turn cause other changes, including a rising sea level and changes in the amount and pattern of precipitation. These changes may increase the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, such as floods, droughts, heat waves, hurricanes, and tornadoes. Other consequences include higher or lower agricultural yields, glacier retreat, reduced summer stream flows, species extinctions and increases in the ranges of disease vectors. Warming is expected to affect the number and magnitude of these events; however, it is difficult to connect particular events to global warming. Although most studies focus on the period up to 2100, even if no further greenhouse gases were released after this date warming (and sea level) would be expected to continue to rise for more than a millennium, since carbon dioxide (CO2) has a long average atmospheric lifetime. Remaining scientific uncertainties include the exact degree of climate change expected in the future, and especially how changes will vary from region to region across the globe. A hotly contested political and public debate also has yet to be resolved, regarding whether anything should be done, and what could be cost-effectively done to reduce or reverse future warming, or to deal with the expected consequences. Most national governments have signed and ratified the Kyoto Protocol aimed at combating global warming.
So while there i still time, let us prevent the world from disasters. Let us learn how to clean the environment. By this way, we could already save the world.

Leslie ; )

"Animal Killing Population"

Dear Diary,

We all know that the animals are very important to us. The creator made them to beautify our world. After he had finished making them all, he told us to take care of them. So now e need to love and care each animal.
But some people could never care for them. They even catch them and tie them or prison them inside a cage. For short, they do not have freedom anymore. And the worst thing people could do to them, is killing. Yes we know that they are helpful to us. Reasons why people kills them is that some parts of their body is helpful. An example is a sheep. Its fur can be used in making coats. The meat as food. The milk as a drink to help us improve our health. But we need not to do this. I have a question. “How many lives can be wasted just for a coat?”. Because of this, a lot of people in the world joined their forces upon depending the rights of every animal. I just read a news about the depending of animal rights. It says that people from different countries came to Italy. All of them were lying on the streets. And they were all naked. Each one of them were bringing banners with the shouts of animal depending. They were not afraid of expressing their feelings and being naked in front of many people.
This lesson asks students to focus on people's innate navigational abilities. They will first read about animal navigation and will then compare animal to human navigational capabilities. They will then create travel brochures for an Outward Bound-style company, providing customers with tips on how to find their way if they get lost and can't rely on their map and compass.
For the first time since 1995, the South African government is advocating killing elephants as one way of controlling growing populations. Without some kind of action, the animals will overburden many of the country's public parks and Marthinus van Schalkwyk, South Africa's minister of environmental affairs and tourism, announced the decision yesterday at Addo Elephant National Park near the city of Port Elizabeth (South Africa map). Van Schalkwyk insisted that culling (killing for management purposes), should be undertaken only as a last resort. "Culling may be used to reduce the size of an elephant population, subject to due consideration of all other population-management options," he said. Among the other options in the proposal are moving elephants to less-crowded areas, expanding parks, and administering contraception—all of which are costly, cumbersome, and not without their own complications. For one thing, the proposal says, elephant contraception's "long-term social, physiological, and emotional impacts on elephants are not yet fully understood, and current contraception methods are highly invasive and should therefore be used with caution." (Related: "African Elephants Slaughtered in Herds Near Chad Wildlife Park" [August 30, 2006].) South Africa's cabinet has already approved the "draft norms and standards for elephant management." The draft is now open for public comment for 60 days before becoming official policy. Though some conservationists decry the proposed policy as inhumane, others welcomed the elephant plan and even characterized the proposal as a bittersweet sign of progress"Our conservation efforts have been too successful," said Graham Kerley, director of the Centre for African Conservation Ecology at South Africa's Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. private reserves, officials and conservationists say.
This was another news I just read in the newspaper. Poor elephants, these creatures will surely cry when they will be hearing the news.

Leslie ; )

"The Existence of Ghosts"

Dear Diary,

Nowadays, or even before, people were already fond in believing on ghosts. But some contradict their beliefs. They say that ghosts are only a part of people's imagination. They could never be true and cannot excist in the living world. But some people and especially those people with a sixth sense could see them. Do you ever believe in ghosts?
A ghost is usually defined as the apparition of a deceased person, frequently similar in appearance to that person, and encountered in places he or she frequented, or in association with the person's former belongings. The word "ghost" may also refer to the spirit or soul of a deceased person, or to any spirit or demon. Ghosts are often associated with haunting, which is, according to the Parapsychological Association, "the more or less regular occurrence of paranormal phenomena associated with a particular locality (especially a building) and usually attributed to the activities of a discarnate entity; the phenomena may include apparitions, poltergeist disturbances, cold drafts, sounds of steps and voices, and various odors. "Ghosts are controversial phenomena. According to a poll conducted in 2005 by the Gallup Organization, about 32% of Americans believe in the existence of ghosts. The term ghost has been replaced by apparition in parapsychology, because the word ghost is deemed insufficiently precise.
A ghost is also an alleged disembodied spirit of a dead person. Ghosts are often depicted as inhabiting haunted houses, especially houses where murders have occurred. Why some murder victims would stick around for eternity to haunt a place while others seem to evaporate is one of the great mysteries of the spirit world.Many people report physical changes in haunted places, especially a feeling of a presence accompanied by temperature drop and hearing unaccountable sounds. They are not imagining things. Most hauntings occur in old buildings, which tend to be drafty. Scientists who have investigated haunted places account for both the temperature changes and the sounds by finding physical sources of the drafts, such as empty spaces behind walls or currents set in motion by low frequency sound waves (infrasound) produced by such mundane objects as extraction fans.Some ghost experiences are attributed to sleep paralysis.
To tell you honestly, I do believe in this creatures. I could sometimes say that they really exist in this living world we are on. Why? Because I already experienced to see one. This really scared me. But what terrefied me most, was when my mother and other relatives share their experiences about ghosts. It just happend last year. It was during November 5, 2006, during the death ceremony of my friend. At the last night of the ceremony, we shared and talked a lot of things about her. While it was already her father's turn in speaking, i heard someone laughing. It was too impossible! All of us inside the chapel were wrapped with silence. As I was going to get a glass of water beside the comfort room, there I saw my friend. She was laughing at us. She was standing at that time beside the priest's dress. At that time, I don't even know how to react about it. I could not speak even a word. But although she was my friend, I would still never wish to see her in person or even any other ghosts.
Leslie ; )

"Women"

Dear Diary,

Today is the month of March, and we are celebrating the women’s month. This month, the color violet, purple, lilac and lavender will shine up in the hearts of every woman.
A woman plays an important role in our lives. They were the one who bore and cared for us in this world. But, some people in the society abuse the rights of every woman. Some could not see, and be contented on what they do for us. A husband and a wife were put together by marriage. They were tied up because of the sacred sacrament called, marriage. But some husbands could not be contented with them. Some of them commit adultery. Some batters them, and worst is killing them. Base on a Presidential Law, women should be respected, loved and cared not only because she is beautiful or rich but love her as the natural woman every person knows.
Way back centuries before we were born and Magellan had not discovered our country, women was the highest rank of people in the society. They were well respected and loved. They were never allowed to work on hard things. They were treated very nice at that time. But when our country and our ancestors were influenced by the colonialist from foreign countries, women were considered as the lowest people of the society. During the American colonialism, women had no right to vote. During the revolutionary periods experienced by our country, women were battered and raped, to serve as punishments to the uprisings of Filipinos.
Just this Friday, during our Reading class, we tackled about women’s month. Our teacher, Miss Ligaya Rabago Visaya, shared a lot of stories about women to us. One was about the treatment of Korean people to women. In a family, the father and the children eat first. After they will have their meals, the mother eats last. When they will walk, the first is the father followed by the children and the last was the mother. Our teacher had her experience on Korean men. They were her students. As they were walking down the street, these men left her. She was the last one to walk. So she complained to them, “Excuse me this is not Korea”. They then apologized to her. She also shared to us how the women’s month originated.
She said, it was about the women workers of a garment factory. Then at the same time and place, a big fire came. They were locked inside the room. So they did not have the chances of saving their lives. She then asks all about our theories about the incident that happened years back. I can say that this accident happened on the month of March and the color of their working clothes was violet, which is why the color of women’s month is violet. Still by now the said accident has no committed its justice. And the suspect of the accident still remains as a blank to us. We know how important are the women to us, so let us learn how to love them.

Leslie ; )

"Nature's Beauty Before"

Dear Diary,

Nature is one of the most important treasures of our environment. Nature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical universe, material world or material universe. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The term generally does not include manufactured objects and human interaction unless qualified in ways such as, human nature or the whole of nature. Nature is also generally distinguished from the supernatural. It ranges in scale from the subatomic to the galactic. The word nature derives from the Latin word natura, or the course of things, natural character. Natura was a Latin translation of the Greek word physis, which originally related to the intrinsic characteristics that plants, animals, and other features of the world develop of their own accord. This is well shown in the first written use of the word in connection with a plant. The concept of nature as a whole, the physical universe, is one of several expansions of the original notion; it began with certain core applications of the word by pre-Socratic philosophers, and has steadily gained currency ever since. This usage was confirmed during the advent of modern scientific method in the last several centuries. We benefit from nature. Some of the day to day needs of human beings can be found in nature. But as time to time passes by, and as the word technology grew bigger in our society, the beauty of nature slowly fade away. Before I see the tall trees of nature but now are tall infrastructure buildings. Before, I see the blue fresh waters of the sea and lakes, but now are contaminated and black, dirty waters. We learned how to cut down trees but can’t even plant another as a replacement. Human beings started to abuse the beauty of nature.

I can relate something to this topic. Before, my family and I used to have a picnic in Fuente Osmeña. This place was rich of green, tall grasses. You could even just sit in the ground without any cloth to cover on, because at that time it was a very clean place. But now, after five to six years, there are no more grasses to be found. Now the place is very dusty and don’t have any single grass to be found. Many addicts also stay there and sleep. It is very disgusting to see Fuente Osmeña now. Before, I used to sit on the green ground but now I prefer to sit on a bench. The maintenance for the cleanliness of the place was already deleted in the minds of the city government. If I were in their place, I would want to regain back Fuente’s beauty. This place was the most favorite hang-out before of some families, including me. I want to recall back the time when I still used to start walking, played and spent our Sundays in Fuente Osmeña. Those memories could never be erased in my mind.

So while it is not yet late, let us learn how to regain the beauty of nature.

Leslie ; )