Gaming: about time we applied it

There have been years and years of studies and research links to indicate HUGE global reduction in various types of crime ever since the release of Doom-1. It's sickening to still hear weak fanatical media trying to blame individual and isolated events on game violence, when in fact the very opposite is true.

So this video goes a step further, to hypothesize and implement systems to utilise gaming as a means of super-collaboration for real world problems. It really outlines the mindset needed to turn around the "gamers are wasting their time" chant, into something nobody can deny as truly powerful. 20mins, but not boring by any measure.


http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world.html




This pretty much vindicates points of view I've been trying to explain to peers since I started at Post. My "spare time" is actually time I spend doing awesome stuff for my kids and peers via my skill set. Electronics fix it jobs, computer fix it jobs, handyman junk, toys and furniture for myself and my kids etc. You've seen some of it in this blog throughout the years. As much as I may sound like I'm miserable and ranting, I'm actually trying to get friends to enjoy what they're missing out on. Actual real world productivity that forms many seeds of growth within the circle of friends, which seeds a larger circle. Not just "busy work" in the form of achieving pretend housework goals.

Another example of real world gaming for global interests is the Folding-At-Home "Fold It" endeavour which I've been part of for years. Fold-It is a recent implementation of the folding@home goal that gets you to fold proteins with a purely human visual intuition means. The results are staggering against computational-brute-force, which the F@H team have been doing for years. edit: Actually I think FoldIt may now be independent of the original F@H from Stanford. I'm certain it was originally linked though I can't find the common person any longer. It's been a few years since it launched.

Give it a shot. It's fun, you inherently learn HEAPS through sheer curiosity, and it creates topics of conversation and competition that's genuinely fun amongst your peers and friends who are doing the same thing. Plenty of these style games around, go look. Give it a shot. Play some games.

A little extra from one of Janes older workshops:
http://vimeo.com/16227360 A lot of tongue in cheek, some of the same stuff is covered, but some great elaboration also. Bit of fun. LOL @ the Massively Multiplayer Thumb Wrestle Wars at the end :-)

Jane McGonigal homepage:
http://janemcgonigal.com/

Power Supply

I had a few old ATX power supplies laying around from a few PC's that ended up on the road side. Jordy is doing an electronics course this year, so figured he could do with a good lab power supply to juice up any gizmos he may construct throughout the year. Computer power supplies have a great range of DC voltage outputs, as well as a safe and solid circuit base to build on. Gizmologists can find instructions all over the net on the ATX specs, and what each output wire is for etc...



Crack it open and give it a good clean, they're always full of dust bunnies.



Cut off all the molex and ATX connectors. Almost every wire will be used. Simply sort them neatly into their color-groups after cutting the ends off.



HELPING HANDS!!! I finally bought myself one, after spending my entire youth asking for one each Christmas!! Every gizmologist needs one. Sort the colors out, and solder them together in groups. I only used 2 of each (for +3,5,12volts) as I don't expect more than an a couple amps for any given project he works on. More than that and he's probably going to blow his circuit before these heavy wires melt anyhow.



Crimp some terminals on where possible. (or solder) Drill holes in the case where appropriate, making sure none of your terminals will contact the power supply innards.



Nice n tidy.



Almost done, just going to put some LED's, a toggle switch and push switch, and all done. The switches and LEDs are just extra, not really needed. The power supply has an 240V on/off anyhow. I'm just putting in the soft-on switch driven by the power supply circuit itself. It could have been soldered always-on.



Finished Product!! The original specs sticker remains in place so he's aware of each rails amperage limitations. I've got a nice big 10mm Green LED in top left to show 240V input is LIVE. (STANDBY - outputs can be off though). A big red LED at the bottom denotes that his DC outputs are HOT if he's got it switched ON, or using the push-button. Pretty Spiffy!! Making one for myself now from the other spare supply :)