EULA for arguments

Wouldn’t it be fantastic if you could have your opponent in any given disagreement read and acknowledge a set of argument rules before the first verbal volley is launched? As an example:

1.You, the opponent, agree that any one storming away from this argument automatically cedes any claim to being right. You leave, you lose.

2.You also agree that this argument will be limited in scope to the immediate issue at hand. All past misdeeds, errors in action or speech, or miscellaneous issues are now past their statute of limitations and are inadmissable. Raise the issue when it happens, or let it go.

I know it’s not as cut and dry as that. There can be instances where the current argument is being triggered by a repeated behavior, so it makes sense to look at the past occurences of the same issue to demonstrate its habitual nature. And sometimes it might be a big enough emotional catastrophe that you need an extended amount of time to gather your composure and come up with a plan of action. But most of the time, forgetting to take out the garbage two weeks ago has nothing to do with who’s going to pay today’s phone bill. It’s a shame the garbage incident made you angry back then, but you can’t deposit that anger into a metaphysical savings account and withdraw it at some later date. If it wasn’t serious enough to deal with at the time, it’s not important enough to keep holding a grudge over.

The idea of an end-user agreement for arguments may make its way into a stage play-we’ll have to see how I feel about it after a few days.

London Attractions Worth Your Time

We went out to Fanshawe Pioneer village for the first time yesterday, and my two year old Max had a fantastic time.  I’m not even sure that I have ever been to the village before, and that’s very odd considering my childhood spent here. I was impressed with the size, layout, and overall effort that has been put into the whole area, and I can ‘t wait for Max to be old enough to really experience the educational aspects of the place. That’s not to say that it wasn’t fun running around from building to building and up and down every flight of stairs, but it will be nice when he and I can talk about the history being presented to us.

I sincerely hope that Londoners (and visitors to our city) will embrace this location and include it into the regular rotation of family outings. It makes me sad to imagine that the hard working historical interpreters might spend their days idly waiting for visitors, instead of teaching and entertaining.

Video Game Review: Red Dead Redemption

Do you love Westerns? If so, the setting and motif of Red Dead Redemption will rock your socks off.

Underneath the hood, the technological elements are more or less successful, with the exception of a few glitches that aren’t gamebreakers ( during one mission the game forgot to spawn a horse for the accompanying NPC, so I had to ride off without him and fail the mission. Second time through the naughty errant horse was where it was supposed to be). I’m a huge fan of the sandbox game style in general, and the Grand Theft Auto series in particular, and this game hits all the right notes to be in good company with the previous Rockstar efforts.

The desert is a lot less forgiving than other sandbox settings. I was killed by a cougar attack within the first 20 minutes of wandering around, and I still flinch and spur my horse on when I think I hear a cougar shriek.

The horse AI is something to talk about as well. It’s not that the horse is your intelligent sidekick and ally. No no, think more realistic and annoying. Anytime you dismount it, the horse will slowly wander around and eventually out of sight.  You can hitch it to a post in town, but in the wilderness he just moseys along as soon as you get off him. If you leave him in a dangerous spot, he’ll leave more quickly. You can always call your horse with a loud whistle, but there are certainly times when you urgently need the horse to be at your side, and he’s off in the bushes playing horse hide and seek.  And, you can spur your horse on to run at a full gallop, but if you do this too much he will buck you off, usually at the worst possible moment.

But, even though I enjoy the game, there’s still something missing. I like Westerns well enough, but not enough to be enthralled by riding across the dusty countryside to the sound of instrumental mood music and the occasional coyote howl. After an hour, all the cacti look the same. I missed the different radio stations and giant cities of GTA.  And I definitely miss all of the people.

Overall, Red Dead Redemption does stimulate my gaming-related pleasure centres, but in doesn’t reach the almost narcotic levels that Grand Theft Auto: Vice City did. I give it a 7.5 out of 10.