Assignment #4, Really: Adbusters

I guess I'll call this assignemnt 4 as well. I might have made up the number for my previous #4. . . However, here is today's assignement that I will write: "For your blog assignment #4 take a look at the website "Adbusters." Cruise through the site until you find something interesting--something about which you have an opinion or can take a stand. You might have to do some further research before you can come to some conclusions. Then in your blog tell us what you have to say, tell the whole world what to think about this issue. Use links to other sites to support your message."

When scanning the Adbusters site, I came across the article about Buy Nothing Day. Now I am not a big shopper, I just have never enjoyed stores very much as they are often crowded and usually I end up buying things I do not need. Also, I believe that consumerism is a problem in that we buy for the sake of buying. We watch commercials that make us want things, we go to the store and buy those things, however we never needed the things to begin with. I think it would be interesting to live without for a while. Not without the things we need, but without the things we want. These things including television, video games, computers -- maybe a vacation at Amish Acres. But I am getting a bit off of topic.

The idea of Buy Nothing Day is for people to take back control and not shop. For a whole day. Is it possible to do this? Especially around Christmas? I wonder if we would buy any gifts for our family and friends if we only bought someone a gift that we thought they needed. Would your brother get anything? I know I would be doing a lot less shopping for my husband's siblings. Not that I don't love them, but I don't think that they need anything. I think we buy them things to have bought them something.

Looking further into the ideas on Buy Nothing Day, I came across Buy Nothing Christmas. They ask "But wait. Without the plastic gifts, how will you show you care?" Then they have people post ways to show you care at Christmas without the buying of "plastic gifts." So many ideas were posted from giving to charity, buying things for those who are in need, giving homemade gifts, and just spending time with those you love.

If you type "Christmas Gifts" into Google's Search Engine, you get 33,900,000 hits, the first one being a website www.christmasgifts.com. Seriously? That is one way to ensure a non-personal gift. I went to this website and it offered me a list of everything that I can purchase in any category and then linked me to stores that sold each item. This alone states the problem of consumerism today. So look the site up, and even if buying nothing for Christmas is too much for you, do celebrate Buy Nothing Day on November 26 and go ahead and buy nothing that day.

Assignment #6: Word Games

I know, I have gotten out of order on the assignments. However, with no grade at stake, I feel that I am able to do these in any order I please. Assignment #6 states, "These are the top five word games at the Yahoo Games Site: Literati, Text Twist, Bookworm, Flip Words, Word Mojo Gold. Play at least 2 of them and then discuss whether these are time wasters or good practice/learning tools. Don't just give your opinion--support your opinion with facts (details!) from your experience."

Without taking the time to play these games today I am able to answer this assignement as I regularly play the word games both on Yahoo Games and on other sites. I feel that these games can be both learning tools and time wasters.

We'll begin with learning tools. These games assist in spelling, vocabulary, and the ability to do these quickly. I have become spoiled by Microsoft Office as it not only has the button for spell check, but also has auto-correct which will fix common words that I mistype or just have never learned to spell correctly (the i before e rule always catches me). Bookworm, in particular, is beneficial for vocabulary as it gives you the definition of the more uncommon words that you spell. Finally, these games are beneficial in the same way that Minesweeper is beneficial to those new to a computer. They help you learn computer usage, specifically mouse skills.

At the same time, however, these games can be time wasters. I could spend (and have) an afternoon just playing Bookworm or Text Twist. I could easily stay up 2 hours later than I should just to beat my high score. Like all video games, you can easily play for too long and therefore the game can be a time waster. I believe, however, that "wasting time" is an opinion. While I may feel that playing Text Twist for two hours was a waste of time, someone else may not feel the same if he has gained enjoyment and learned some new words in his two hours of playing Flip Words.