Is It Really Commercialism?

Some might want to classify this as political, but I'm not one of them, which is why I've labeled this "General."

The question, more exactly, is if Christmas has really been bastardized into a commercial holiday instead of a Christian holiday. Those who say it is now just commercialism may sight statistics like the amount of spending during the holiday season, and I, who choose to counter this argument, say, 'so what?' The tradition of Christmas has involved the giving of gifts for a long time, and thanks to the existence of currency and our ability to purchase that which we cannot make, it is understandable that there would be an increase of sales at this time.

I suspect the response by those who are, in this matter, my opponent would involve a statement that the gift giving is promoted by companies to boost profits. Again I say, 'so what?' Would you expect a company to do something to negate profits? It still remains that gift giving is a tradition of the holiday, regardless of promotion.

Now we get to the real debate. The promoting is to get people to purchase gifts that the recipient does not want, such as expensive toys. Here I may have to agree, but only on a case to case basis. To me, the quality of a gift is not related to its cost. Indeed one of my most valued gifts was quite inexpensive. Also one of the most valued gifts I ever gave was quite inexpensive. I have also given fairly expensive gifts, but it was never about the expense. It was about the gift and the spirit of giving.

There is a tip that I seem to be hearing a lot lately about giving people what they want, instead of what you want. That is a horrible tip. Of course whatever gifts you give should be something desired by the recipient, even if they don't know they want it yet, but you should want to give it to them. The best gifts I have given have also been gifts to myself, simply by seeing or knowing how the recipient reacts to the gift, or how it will be used. This is what I mean about the spirit of giving; it should always go both ways. If it does not, then it is a bad gift. You must want to give the gift that is wanted by another, for that two-way desire is what makes the gift valuable. Unless you don't like the person, then you don't have to care about it.

Merry Christmas!

End of the World Silliness

Nope. Don't believe it's happening this Friday. No silliness from me. Just this post.

So I realized something that is fairly odd when you think about it. The reason so many people think it is this Friday that the world ends is because of the Mayan calendar, which is a rather complicated construction. So complicated in fact that if the world does not end Friday, the calendar will be recalculated to some later date, and again, the end of the world is coming! But really, what is that calendar doing?

Now, I'm not an expert of Mayan culture, but this is what I understand. The Mayan calendar can be described as three different sized gears. On Friday, all of these gears align, and thereby reset the calendar. The resetting of the calendar though cannot be the reason people think the world is going to end. After all, calendars reset every year. The one I and many others follow resets at New Years, yet the world has not ended. The Mayan calendar, like all others, will just reset to its first date.

So where does the idea of the world ending come from? Well, from what I know of the Mayan religion, when the calendar resets the god that made the old world is destroyed and devoured by the god that creates the new world.

Here is a question I put to everyone who thinks the world is going to end on Friday. Are you a follower of the Mayan religion? Seriously, we have followers of multiple religions freaking out and doing stupid stuff because they think the world is going to end according to a different religion! I do believe one should be open to learning the ways of religions other than their own, but this is just silly. What makes it worse is the number of people that freaking out and probably would not describe themselves as religious or actively religious. Despite that though they will allow an old religion some would describe as mythology to grab hold of their emotions.

This is silly. This is very silly.

Now, if you are an actual follower of the Mayan religion, then I respectively hope that whatever process may occur on Friday, as predicted by your religion, is not too cataclysmic.

An Econo-political Epiphany… Or Not

No idea if "econo-political" is a word, but I don't particularly care simply because I'm not going to use it much here and I'm confident the reader (you) will understand my meaning. Now, with that said, this obviously will be a post concerning politics, so if you don't want to read it, don't. It isn't like I'll know. As it is I don't think anybody actually reads this blog, so, at best, this post is as a note to myself. In case this is read though, please understand two things: I'm not attached to this idea and my opinion may change in the future; and I'm not saying this to provoke anything but critical thought. I will also present, at the end, my own views and thoughts on the matter at hand. If any of this upsets you, deal with it. I deal with it when someone else says something that upsets me, so afford me the same courtesy.

Awesome and Worth It

I know I've mentioned Humble Bundle before, so I can skip over what it is and get straight to what awesome thing they are doing now. The Humble THQ Bundle. The first offering from Humble Bundle with truly AAA titles, instead of the usual indie. Of the 6+1 current games, four of them I already own and have played:

Metro 2033 is an apocalyptic survival FPS based on a Russian book. This is easily an excellent game. Perhaps short but it is beautiful and lots of fun. It also has multiple endings, if you are in to that. Simplest way I can think to describe it in terms of other games is Fallout 3 (the only one of that series I've played) as a story-driven FPS instead of a somewhat open-world RPG.

Darksiders is the first of a franchise that recently released its sequel. The only complaints I could lob at it would be the occasional evidence of the PC version being a console port with poor controls and a poor camera. Overall though, still worth it as those issues are not major and only frustrating at times. Some describe it as an adventure game similar to the Legend of Zelda games. I understand the comparison but would say this has far more of a brawler sense to it than Zelda games. After all, Link is a guy with a sword while War is more of a demigod with a sword about the size of Link.

Red Faction: Armageddon is, on its own, a good good. In the shadow of Red Faction: Guerrilla though it is a weaker title. It is worth noting though that the two games are two separate games in a franchise and not games in a series, if that makes sense. This is not a direct sequel to Guerrilla but another Red Faction game, so it makes sense that there would be some differences. It would have been nice if one of them was not the difference between an open world and a linear story, but still, it is a good game.

Saints Row: The Third is the only game in the Saints Row franchise I have played and it is one of the few games I have ever played to completion. Every mission, every unlockable, and every collectable I got because I enjoyed the game that much. Definitely worth beating the average to get this irreverent open world game. But understand, it is rated M for a reason.

The bundle is worth it for any one of these games I've mentioned, assuming these games are of interest to you. (Obviously if you don't like survival games you won't like Metro 2033, even though it is a great game.) I definitely recommend the bundle if you are interested in these games. You will need a Steam account though, but that is free, so you can still get these seven great games for less than $1 each.