C.K. Burch's Blog, page 206
April 3, 2015
thecaliforniakings:Ahoy, fellow Zee-Captains! King Chris here....
Ahoy, fellow Zee-Captains! King Chris here. After giving the Tireless Mechanic’s story a little bit of attention, I decided to get into the details of my master plan for winning the game by achieving an ambition, and what I’ve been doing thus far to get there . It involves a lot of grinding, a lot of farming, and quite a bit of patience. I’ll be devoting some crazy attention to this endeavor, so it might be a bit until I have some interesting footage for another episode. But fear not! You’ll be the first to know when I’ve gotten what I need to press on.
thecaliforniakings:King Chris again, whipping into action with...
King Chris again, whipping into action with the venerable Dr. Jones! This time around we discuss trilogies, the basis for astrological puzzles and their presence in an Indy game, and the puzzling nature of libraries and how video game cameras argue with the player. I may talk too much in this episode. I actually talk way too much in this episode.
Check out Emperor’s Tomb on GOG.com:
www.gog.com/game/indiana_jones_and_the_emperors_tombCheck out Dust McAlan and the Empire of the Serpent:
http://www.amazon.com/Dust-McAlan-Empire-Serpent-Adventures-ebook/dp/B00JTRSMBY
April 2, 2015
April 1, 2015
thecaliforniakings:
Here’s a quick tutorial on how to make some...
Here’s a quick tutorial on how to make some easy money (which I’m sure has been done before) in Payday 2, it’ll be much easier doing it by yourself or with people who actually listen. ENJOY!
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March 31, 2015
I Think Our College Education System Is Screwed Up
This is based on how I felt back in 2003, as I decided to drop out of the community college that I would have never actually graduated from within any decent timeframe, and based on the stories I’ve been told by the full-time students of today.
I think our college education system is screwed up.
When I was an English major, I wanted to get an English degree. It seemed, at the time, to be something that was self-evident in what I needed to take for classes and credit in order to succeed. English classes. What should be a part of the Major, right? Imagine my dismay and unfortunate surprise when I discover that, no, this is not the case: I need to take general education classes in order to achieve my degree. This includes math, sciences, art, etc. Curiously, I went ahead with it, but after three years of attempting to balance my English classes, my Gen Ed classes, and working, I dropped out. I had been informed by a counselor that I needed to get the Gen Ed, or I couldn’t get an English degree. To this day, whenever I think about it, it makes me angry. I wanted to be a writer. I AM a writer. I’m currently editing my first novel, and writing the first draft of my second. I’m a poet as well. Through a number of life circumstances and bouts of laziness, it’s taken me almost ten years to get to the point to where I’d like to be in my writing goals. I’m pressing forward, and I’ve made more strides in the last year than I have in the three years I spent in college. In short: that degree, for me, meant nothing in the long run. Especially considering the time wasted upon General Education.
But there are students unlike myself who want to go into specialized fields. Well, now. That’s a different equation. But the same circumstances exist: why are superfluous classes made requirements for the degrees that these students wish to get? Why are they required to learn, as many have expressed to me and I feel myself, a bunch of shit that they’re going to turn around and forget once those four years are over? I don’t remember a single goddamn thing about astronomy aside from the fact that the course teacher insisted that anyone who got a “C” for the semester did a very good job. I don’t remember anything about the Health class I took aside from the fact that my teacher was an asshole and made attempts to get his jock son to hook up with my cheerleader girlfriend. My Art History class was series of naps. Archaeology? Dull. Journalism, which I thought might have something interesting for my English degree, was the most interesting of the least interesting classes. But the point remains: why do Art majors have to take Math? Shouldn’t Math majors need math? Trig? Science majors need science? Why don’t we specialize our college courses to be aimed towards getting these students the degrees that they want with the most impact and knowledge gained?
Answer: colleges need money. They need you to take the classes they tell you to take in order to get money.
It seems cynical, I admit, but how much money did I waste on classes I didn’t actually need to take towards my major? And who else has had the same experience? It’s an unfortunate truth that college need money to offer classes, build housing, repair buildings, maintain grounds. They need it and you need to pay it. But there are so many superfluous classes necessary under the banner of “General Education” that it’s remarkably redundant.
What doesn’t help are teachers. I have a feeling that there are a lot of teachers who got their degree and applied it to teaching for a paycheck, but the problem is that there are a number of teachers who aren’t very good at the actual teaching part. There’s no engagement. I’ve had five I can count off the top of my head who simply lectured and made no engagement. They loved the sound of their own voices. It’s interesting to think that these people have the knowledge, and can display it, but are unable to perform the basic function of their actual job: teaching. No one wants to learn from a teacher who isn’t engaging. But there are some who have a genuine, passionate want to teach, to pass on information. That’s what teaching is! Passing on information and education on to a new set of people who want to learn! But then, not a lot of people fill these classes to learn. They’re there for the general requirement. The teachers are there without passion, the students are there without direction, and suddenly education in the college arena seems bleak and absolutely dark.
I would love to think that going to college for four years would mean getting a degree that I could use in my everyday life, but the meandering requirements make me shake my head. And the idea that there are teachers who can’t teach, or worse should not be teaching, is one that hurts my heart.
We need teachers who want to teach others, we need colleges that want to see students learn what they need to learn. Without those two basic, extraordinarily stupidly simple requirements, then colleges are flunking the test.
If it were just my experience, maybe I wouldn’t feel this way. Perhaps I would feel like an isolated event, and move on. But after years of hearing students talk about how they’re not learning what they need to learn, watching kids put themselves through the wringer of working full time and going to school full time, of watching friends make the uncomfortable decision between work and school, of seeing human beings stretched thin because they want to have an education but are being failed by the current system, it makes me sad, it makes me angry, and it makes me want to fix it.
ckburch:
Indiana Jones and the Right Hand of Doom teaser.
Also...
Indiana Jones and the Right Hand of Doom teaser.
Also in a perfect world.
PS: Mike Mignola really should do this one.
