It has been a weekend that has been so much fun that coming back to the daily grind of work, school, and taking care of the housework has been hard for me to come back to. For those of you that are not following my other blog, "Weights and Games" I just got back from Utah where I stayed with my grandmother and uncle while also attending a wedding. I love going out to the town where they live as it is a step back from the city, a slow pace where I am able to think without feeling the rush of people or commitments all around me, it is an oasis of thought in the middle of the desert, not to mention a really cool little community where everyone waves at you and is pleasant on the outside.
Now I sit here thinking about what to write for my other blog, reread journals on the feeding habits of coyotes in the south eastern portion of Utah, and wait for my turn to go back to work and think of the joy that I feel when I am able to step back and take a hard look at the world as a whole from the bubble that is Emery County.
I guess my putting thoughts here is a way to get my creative juices flowing as I try and make the other blog more of a professional branding blog, and to keep it free of the randomness that encompasses me as I write down just feelings, events, and daily life here.
I will continue to propose school projects here as a sounding board, will continue to put a few little tidbits of my side projects here, and will continue to make this as much of an intellectual pursuit as I can, for example I have just begun reading "The Prince" and will be discussing thoughts and learning here for the world to digest it with me, but it will also be a safe place for me and anyone else that wants to comment to discuss the events of the day and how they impact the life at large.
I guess these last four paragraphs have really been just me saying... I'M BACK YA'LL AND LOOK FORWARD TO WRITING AND TALKING WITH YOU ALL ONCE AGAIN.
As promised it is time to rant and rave about Sega's Football Manager 2013. Since my last post my steam account tells me that I have put in 68 hours on this game. It was not because it was great, or a must buy, in fact if you do not like football/soccer I doubt that you would find it interesting. It is the business side of football, so you don't even get to play the actual matches. The makeup of the game is: you get to pick your squad, setup training schedules, arrange friendlies, trade and cut players, as well as everything else that a manager does in real life. The business aspect is very well done and something that makes the game feel real in a way that I haven't experienced for a while. The interface can be translated into English, Czech, Danish, Norwegian, Turkish, Dutch, Spanish, French, and Italian, which makes the game accessible to many from all over the world. The game starts in one of three ways, one can pick their favorite club and take them to glory, once can coach a national squad as well as a club, or one can start unemployed. I decided to start unemployed and got a coaching job in tier 3 Norway.
The game is fun and sucked me into it like I did not think that it would. I played through three seasons and ended up staying up until 3 or 4 in the morning on many occasions. The newness of the game has finally worn off and I am able to get some sleep once again. Now time for my good, bad, and ugly that I started with the first game I ever talked about on this blog.
The good:
Immersion- you can take a club from the bottom tier to the top. The game has almost all the tournaments that real life has as well as the possibility for international call ups during federation cups and world cup play. The transfer window is only open during the actual time for the league that you are a part of and if you want to bring a player from a country that your nation does not recognize they must obtain a work permit before they can play for you. (I have had three transfers declined because the Norwegian government would not allow a work permit for the players, very upsetting when you have spent three game weeks negotiating with agents for this player.)
Database- I am playing on medium database and have over 50,000 players that are in the database. I even looked for random youth and reserve players that nobody really knows and was able to find the actual player. Very impressive for the ultimate coaching experience.
Game Play- Pretty easy to pick up, yet there are a lot of things that I still have not learned about or utilized. (Good thing I am still playing tier 3)
The Bad:
This might be a first but I have nothing that goes into this category. It is a solo game so I can't even complain about trolls in this section so I have to give it a stamp of approval for not having anything in the bad section.
The Ugly:
Processing speed- I put this here instead of in the bad because it takes a lot of time to manage all the job opportunities, games, player moves, and general news to come up on the computer screen.
Match View- If you want graphics on par with what is coming out right now this is not something that you would like. I have seen better soccer game graphics on a virtual Foosball table. Not a highlight, but the pixelated players are good enough for the player to understand what was going on and how to make changes to his/her tactics in order to improve or decimate chances of success.
I would recommend this game to the soccer nut who thinks they can do any head coaches job better than the real person. I will continue to play this game and may even try and achieve glory.
Good luck to all you future or current managers out there and I hope that you have a lot of fun building your team from the bottom up.
*Just learned from a friend that this game has a tool from steam that allows you to change the database and create your own team, I haven't played around on this but I will let you all know how it works if I ever get around to it.
**sorry for any spelling mistakes I was listening to a Danish morning show on the radio while writing this and was having a hard time going between the two languages. I probably would have written this in Danish but I am not yet proficient enough to do so and make it pass. If you want to listen to the station I was listening to you can go to: www.anr.dk and click on (lyt om anr) under the radio tab. It is a fun mix of pop and top 40 music. (There I gave you my plug maybe you'll get some more listeners....... or not....)
It has been a while since I have done a video game blog, and my audience usually isn't the type of audience that goes for that type of thing, so I wanted to warn you all that if you are not fans of video games you have every right to turn away for the next four blogs and join back in future.
For those that are interested the four games are:
1.) Civilization V: Gold Edition
2.) Grand Theft Auto IV
3.) Football Manager 13
4.) Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
I may do some others on DotA 2, Team Fortress 2, and Just Cause 2, but I downloaded them and then stopped playing them just as fast.
So this is my last essay from my Prejudice and Discrimination class. I think I did a good job even though I only had a day to complete it. I guess that is how the teacher tested us to see if we payed attention to the different theories surrounding the topic. I hope you all enjoy it and remember I enjoy comments, even if you want to give me a negative critique I will learn from them.
Muslim Americans
To be Muslim in America today is not an easy thing. On September 11, 2001 one of the worst orchestrated
terrorist attacks came at the hands of Islamic fundamentalist group Al Qaida. This group has origins in Arabia which has
led to manly believing that all Muslims are Arab, which in turn has led to many
to think that all Arabs are terrorists.
The truth is that terrorists make up such a minute part of the Muslim
population that to say that all Muslims are terrorists is extremely
inaccurate. According to the textbook “Racial
and Ethnic Groups” of the Muslims in America 20-42% are African American,
24-33% are South Asian, 15-22% are white/Hispanic, and only 12-32% are actually
of Arab descent.
According to
Schaefer there are 5 characteristics of sub ordinance which lead to further
subordination from the dominant group.
The first characteristic is the experience of unequal treatment. Since September 11th Muslim
Americans have experienced a loss of constitutional rights. When the US government passed the Patriot
Act, suspected terrorists can be imprisoned without trial indefinitely. With racial profiling in practice this tends
to affect Muslims and Arabs more than any other group today. The second characteristic is a shared
physical or cultural characteristic. The
Qur’an, the holy book of Islam, is written in Arabic and through education and
religious practice most can speak and or at least understand the Arabic
language. The third characteristic is
involuntary membership. Even though
Islam is a religion and can be thought of as voluntary, the way Muslims are
treated and perceived gives them an involuntary membership into a subordinate
group. The fourth characteristic is a
strong sense of group solidarity. The
rigid doctrine of Islam, which involves Friday services, strict diet, and
obligatory prayer, leads to a sense of community within the group. The continued prejudices towards the
followers of Islam take the sense of community and make it stronger. The final characteristic of a subordinate
status is in-group marriage. In the Muslim
tradition Muslims must marry Muslims.
This means that one must be part of the faith or convert to the faith in
order to marry a member of the faith.
There are
two theories that can explain why Muslim Americans are placed in a subordinate
status. The first is called Social
Learning Theory, which states that people learn from one another in a social
setting. In other words what people
initially believe and embrace comes from observing the behaviors and attitudes
of others. After September 11th
the media covered the Arab world concentrating on terrorist activities, and the
perceived threat of the Islamic religion.
This media coverage placed a lot of prejudices and stereotypes in people’s
minds. These prejudices are then passed
onto others through the Social Learning Theory.
The other
theory that could explain the subordination of Muslim Americans is the normative
theory. This theory states that norms, which
are behavioral expectations, are situational and socially constructed. Anything that goes against social norms is
usually mistrusted and those breaking norms are placed into a subordinate
status. The norms that dominate American
culture have deep roots in our forefather’s Christian roots. The Islamic faith is very different from the Christian
norms of today. It encompasses a Sabbath
on Friday instead of Sunday, five obligatory prayers towards the holy city of
Mecca, strict moral codes, as well as a diet that forbids alcohol, swine, and
any substance that could prevent one from practicing their faith. Because of these differences many view people
of the Islamic faith as a threat to their very way of life.
The future
is not as bleak as the current situation makes it appear, in fact the future
could be bright for Muslim Americans.
Most have a strong familial structure, which provides a strong support
system within the home. There is a
strong emphasis on education, with many college graduates and post graduates
within the community. Many new
immigrants have upper college degrees and are a viable resource to the American
Labor Force. According to “Racial and
Ethnic Groups” many Muslims have set up companies and businesses in America that
have become very successful and play an important role in the American economy. The aspects of the Muslim faith which help
lead to a subordinate status help build strong communities which look out for
one another. All these aspects help
strengthen Muslim Americans and in the future could help them rise above their
current status of subordination.
If you have reached this point you have read my essay. I hope that you enjoyed it, maybe learned a bit from it, and that it at least put things in perspective. Thank you for reading.
I wrote this paper for class and thought I would share it with everyone. Yes I tried to be as accurate with the amount of information that I could but I thought it would be fun to put it on the internet so that I can share with everyone. I have blocked out some of the names and locations to protect those that do not want to be found. I ask my family that they read over this paper and let me know if I made any mistakes so that I might be able to fix them and give the correct story. Thank you.
Steven Olsen
Prejudice and
Discrimination
C.R. #2
In my life I have been placed in a
spot of preferred treatment as well as a place of being prejudiced
against. My family comes from two main
regions; the British Isles for my mother’s side of the family, and Denmark for
my father’s side of the family. Having
my roots where they are I am part of the White Anglo-Saxon Protestant majority
of the United States. I also come from a
Mormon background, and when my father passed, a household headed by a single
female. These life experiences have put
me in a subordinate status to some, from an at risk child in the school systems
to just being prejudiced against for my religion. My family’s migration story puts me in a
majority while the religious culture puts them in a minority.
My mother’s
family history is one of preferential treatment for the most part. There is one line in our family tree that can
be traced back to the 1300s. This line
has been linked to the Kings and Queens of England, which puts them in a
socially dominant class. The immigration
of this family came in waves, where the first waves came in the 1600s landing
in the New England area and the Jamestown settlements. I had family that fought on both sides of the
American Revolution with some of them returning to England after the war, only
to return to the states after the civil war.
In the 1800s
my family joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (the Mormons)
and through increased discrimination they started the movement west. They were kicked out of many settlements and
states because of their faith. Things
got bad for my family when their church leaders were assassinated at the hands
of a lynch mob and their house of worship was burned down. They continued west beyond the U.S. borders,
after the Mormon Extermination Act was enacted in Missouri, which eventually
took them into Utah where they finally found some peace from persecution.
My father’s
side of the family has a different immigration story all together. It started with Henning Olsen-Ungermann
leaving Åstrop Denmark in 1861 to come to the United States. He and his family had to leave Denmark when
they converted to the United States, which was illegal under Danish law and the
Church of Denmark (Den Danske Folkekirke).
Henning lost most of his family on the journey to the United States
including all but one child and his wife.
He buried his wife in Nebraska where the people that he hired to dig the
grave took all his money because of his inability to speak and understand English. He made his way to Utah where he married a
young woman he met on the boat to America.
A little later the church called (told) him to take a second wife,
polygamy is no longer legal practice within the church but its legacy leads to
much prejudice still today. It is from
this second wife that my family comes from.
My familial
background places me right on the edge of dominant and subordinate status in
America. My roots are in the White
Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP) majority which places me in the socially dominant
group. I will not have a problem finding
work, housing, or education. This
privilege lasts until my religious background comes up. Once people learn about my Mormon background
those around me tend to guard their conversations, I am no longer invited out
with these people, and am a part of the group but always on the outside. Comments like “I can only socialize with one
Mormon at a time” and “How many wives will you take?” though meant in jest are
constantly being said, which is a way to keep those of this faith in a
subordinate status. This cultural group
that I am a part of gives me a subordinate status, though I will never know
what it is like to be a person of color, a female, or a homosexual; I try and
continue to try and treat all people as people and try to avoid placing anybody
in a subordinate status. I can relate to
both sides of subordination, I am a member of the majority with a subordinate
grouping within that majority.
It is really not like me to pat my own back, or do anything like that, but I am officially done with Gen. Chem. Lab. Woo Hoo.... It was a semester of doing more math than I thought I liked, calculations of molarity, titration, purity, and yield kept me on my toes. From experiment one which was basic calculations to the last experiment which involved natural logarithmic functions and basic molecular kinetics, I am not a physicist so these were hard, it is over.
Now it is on to cellular biology and discrimination in contemporary society. Woo Hoo Anthropology here I come.
So another week has come and gone, and I am into the swing of finals week. I have picked up a few more games to try out and review, as well as a book that I will be reviewing in a couple of days/weeks. The biggest thing is that I don't have as much time to do things for this blog when I have so much to do in the real world.
1. I wrote a little about the Defiance world a little while ago, so far both the game and the series are coming together quite nicely. The new patch has changed a lot, and the server problems that the game experiences after a new patch are making it hard to play and get into it.
2. My World of Warcraft account got hacked and I have not logged in because I am too lazy to reset my password and see what kind of damage was done to my account.
3. Sims 3: My new favorite. I will always have a soft spot for the Sims, and will write a quick review in a couple days about the expansion packs that I have and what I like/dislike about them.
4. The Host: I avoided reading this book for a very long time and now that I am half through it I am looking forward to finishing so I can tell you all about it.
5. Chemistry: I have a lab final and the ACS final coming up in the next two weeks. I will be working my butt off to get these done and get good grades on them. I will let you all know about those in the future as well.
6. Life- we have a new dishwasher and dryer now, and they are amazing.
That is what is on tap for the future and I look forward to writing about most of these items. I hope all my readers are having fun reading my updates and I look forward to giving you updates in the future.
