Quick Rants!

FAKE NEWS!  It has become the battle cry of the President and many who wish to bash the mainstream media.  The problem is that when you call legitimate media fake news the result is the  acceleration of the flight to real fake news outlets that are simply making up stories for page views. 

The truth is that NPR, The BBC, CNN, the New York Times and The Wall Street Journal are reputable and reliable news sources. More people need to get their news from these sources, instead of Info Wars and Occupy Democrats. 

The most dangerous part of the fake news movement is when the President calls the media the enemy of the people. The only people who ever claim media is the enemy of the public are tyrants. The media has a social responsibility to keep government honest and above board 

Kyrie Irving thinks the Earth is flat. Some people are saying we are supposed to be ok with that statement because it is his opinion.  I say America and the world have a problem defining opinion. A fact is proven, it simply is and is not subject to debate. You can't dismiss things that are truly factual because the truth is not what you wish it to be. Somewhere along the way as a society we became so obsessed with being right, or everyones view being valid, that we starting allowing facts to become opinions, rather than what they are - reality. Kyrie Irving is not sharing an opinion, he is spreading ignorance and it is dangerous because children look up to him and are influenced by this nonsense. 

Donald Trump is compared to a lot of real life people, but it maybe that fictional Zaphod Beeblebrox from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is the most accurate comparison.  Zapped is famous for being famous, massively popular, freewheeling, inexperienced and egomaniacal, sound like anyone?  To my GOP friends, remember, I have always, except this year, voted Republican.  This is humor, but feel free to call me a liberal, RINO, or just an idiot.  

Video gaming is seen by some as a hobby only for kids or loser immature adults with no ambition. This is absurd.  It is a form of entertainment no different from any other method of killing time. The World Health Organization has determined to take the misinformation campaign to the next level though and classify gaming disorder as an addiction similar to alcoholism or drug use. One of the wildly unreliable studies claimed gaming is as addicting as heroin.  

Today's quick rant discusses gaming, the rush to apply diagnostic methods used for gambling and substance abuse to something no different than binge watching netflix, and why that is reckless, irresponsible and could serve to deepen the public distrust of medical health professionals, as well as apply a stigma to gaming that it doesn't deserve. 

***Note - There are real mental health issues that millions face and deal with daily. Many professionals in that industry are attempting to do their best to help those individuals. However, research like this, equating video game addiction to heroin abuse, is absurd and part of a problem in an industry that admits suffers from a rush to medicate. The heroin issue in America is an epidemic. To equate people screwing around playing Call of Duty to the evils of heroin abuse is reckless, unprofessional and any research leading to that conclusion must be inherently biased. To the many mental health professionals and researchers who care and help their patients, thank you, the world needs more of you. 

Today's the day.  Trump is officially President and America is great again...or full of hate, or about to attack the world, or all the jobs are coming back.  By watching the news and reading social media, you would think the world is ending.  Calm down, nothing much is going to change people. 

In today's Quick Rant! I discuss why Super Mario Run failed...and backhandedly bash millennials. Nintendo released Super Mario Run at a price of $10, proving that they have no idea how the mobile game market is priced or what mobile gamers expect from a game at a certain price point.  The result was a game that had its demo downloaded 90 million times, but converted to a full purchase only 3% of those 90 million trials.  Why? $10 is too much for millennial gamers to pay. It is supposed to be free, or less than $5.  While first instinct is to blame the gamer/millennial for being cheap and entitle to free crap, the reality is Nintendo failed to research the market and proved again that Nintendo's biggest enemy is Nintendo. 

China stole a United States naval drone.  The Pentagon asked nicely for it back. The Donald, condemned China's actions as "unpresidented" on twitter before correcting his mistake and calling it unprecedented.  He then said that China could keep the drone. Many are claiming that President Elect Trump over reacted by saying to keep the drone, and that he should have should have played nice and called for America to accept our stolen property back gracefully. In today's Quick Rant, I explain why I feel China was specifically testing Trump, and why his answer was correct. 

In today's Quick Rant I review Mafia III and tell you why I hate a game I actually enjoyed, or something like that.  Mafia III is so close to being a great game, but broken gameplay and an overly rinse an repeat middle section of the game ruins a fantastic story and superb voice acting. Also, bleeping wiretapping does not create a blue tooth cell phone. 

Election day has come and passed. The Donald is President.  The polls were wrong.  In today's Quick Rant I discuss the events that led to a Trump Presidency and how this isn't the end of progressive social change in America and why it is just getting started. I apologize for the audio quality and the crackling going on that occurred during the final editing. 

The Walking Dead has shown yet again why it is the best written show on TV today. Abraham and Glen met Lucile and in the process, the viewers had their sense of safety ripped away, just as Rick and group did. TWD continues to excel at making people have emotional reactions to the fate and lives of completely fictional characters, and that, is a sign of skillful writing.