Upright Citizens Brigade – Virtual Reality on Conan

UCB appearance on Late Night with Conan O’Brien to promote a Comedy Central mini marathon. The interview turns into the Virtual Reality sketch from Season 3. Aired May 3, 2001.

Kinect Review ? Virtual Reality Technology or Just another Wii?

For those of you that don’t know, basically Microsoft’s Kinect motion control system for the Xbox 360 is an attachment that fits on any Xbox 360 system and turns your Xbox into a more sophisticated version of a Nintendo Wii. You don’t need a controller as Kinect includes a motorized camera and microphone alongside sensors that can map out reference points along your skeletal frame, putting you in the game.

When Kinect is released in November it will be released with basic family software like Kinect Sports and Kinect Joyride, which is the same as Wii sports and Wii Resort so as to be widely appealing to families I guess. Strangely you can buy these two games on Amazon already but the Kinect isn’t available until November 2010.

You can pre-order at www.kinectreview.org in the US but there aren’t any release dates as yet for the rest of the world.

So why should we replace our Wii’s with the Xbox Kinect system?

Being a Microsoft system, Xbox connects wirelessly to your computer assuming you are running Microsoft Windows and have wireless broadband. This makes the transference of pictures and movies possible. So if you download movies for example you can run them on the TV that the Xbox is attached to, which is usually the main TV in the household these days. So you don’t have to buy a video transmitter or have wires trailing across the floor to watch what’s on your computer on your TV.

The Xbox Kinect is more than just a family games console, after all you can do many things that you can’t do with the Wii. The graphics are better and the Hard Drive storage on the new Xbox is far superior to the Wii. There is no need for controllers so less battery and recharging cost. If you have a young family like me, you don’t have to worry about the kids misusing the controllers or dropping them in there juice.

Kinect does have voice recognition so if the kids are getting out of order and reality wrestling rather than virtual wrestling you can just shout ‘pause’ and Kinect will pause. Unfortunately this doesn’t generally work with the kids, well… not in my house anyway. There is no doubt your whole family will have a lot of fun with this system and it is taking interactive gaming to another level.

To be fair, Microsoft were lagging behind a bit recently in the games console world and it’s about time they stepped up to the plate and with Xbox Kinect, they have done exactly that in my opinion. Whether it has bugs or little minor problems remains to be seen and as with all these things, the proof is in the ongoing sales rather than the initial sales onslaught of inquisitive techno-holics who buy any new gadget released.

Personally, I think the boffins that invent these things are just finding more and more ways to make us jump around in our family rooms acting and looking very foolish indeed! But if it is getting us and our kids to exercise more it can only be a good thing.

Trent Consultants News Virtual Reality Games Could Help Bullying Victims

Trent Consultants News Children who took part in a three-week anti-bullying virtual learning intervention in schools in the UK and Germany showed a 26% decrease in victimisation.

In the study, published in The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, Maria Sapouna and Professor Dieter Wolke from Warwick Medical School and the Department of Psychology at the University of Warwick led a team of researchers to examine the effects of an anti-bullying virtual learning intervention called FearNot!

The team recruited 1,129 children aged between eight and nine from 27 primary schools across the UK and Germany. They split the children into intervention and control groups. The intervention group took part in three sessions, interacting individually with the FearNot! software. Each session lasted around 30 minutes over a three-week period. The children were assessed on self-report measures of victimisation before and after the intervention.

The software was a virtual school with 3D pupils who assumed the roles that children take when bullying occurs, either as the bully, victim or bystander. These characters were then used to improvise real-life bullying incidents and pupils could interact with the characters and suggest ways to cope with or resolve the situation. Although the effect was only short-term, researchers suggest longer interventions could have a more sustained impact.

Professor Wolke said this was the first study to investigate the efficacy of a virtual learning intervention for victims of bullying. He said: “We found that the FearNot! intervention significantly increased the probability of victims escaping victimisation, especially among those children who interacted with the characters more and explored the advice. The effects we found were only short-term, but we believe a longer term intervention integrated in the curriculum would be more beneficial.

“Our findings suggest for the intervention to be effective, they need to be of appropriate duration and include booster episodes over time. Virtual interventions could be most effective as part of a wider anti-bullying curriculum.”  Adapted from materials provided by University of Warwick.

Trent Consultants News: Trent Consultants Psychology Clinic. Dedicated to the study, diagnosis, and treatment of mental, emotional and behavioral disorders. Trent Consultants has a variety of programs for parents who want to give their children a headstart in life. Trent Consultants website www.trentconsultants.org Email: childcare@trentconsultants.org

Virtual Reality – Pat Duffy

for promotional use only Plan B – Virtual Reality 1993 www.chromeballincident.blogspot.com best ride I seen

Are Russian Brides Virtual Reality?

I always got asked this question when I first began seeking a Russian bride. And I would like to mention that there is a difference regarding love from a ‘psychological’ point of view, in my opinion. Falling in love through cyberspace is what I call “Virtual Love.” It’s not real love yet… but can definitely turn into real love. Once you accept this, you will be on your way towards achieving your goal and finding a healthy relationship.

Now, in my case, there were some extra precautions I had to take. Because when seeking a Russian Bride (or anyone abroad that you can’t physically meet on a normal date), you do have to be careful. There are many scammers that try to manipulate and con you into giving them money. I will save some of these tips for another article in the future, but in all honesty, they are pretty obvious, as you will see in my example.

When I first started searching for an online romance, I pretty much did everything everybody else does. I looked at all the prettiest girls I could find, copied and pasted a template letter and blasted them out to as many Russian girls I could find. I mean, they can’t read English very well anyway, so why not, right? Little did I know that I would found myself spending hours among end reading response templates such as, “Thank you for the letter… you seem like the good man… I liked your structure… please write… you interesting!” Ironic isn’t it?

But I continued writing and writing… answering each of them back. And this is when I began to notice a trend. Many of the emails I got back were very similar in context, and by the 4th or 5th email, they suddenly claimed their love for me. Me?? Little ol’ me?? After only 5 emails?!! I must admit that their ‘claim’ rather made me feel good… and while I was in disbelief, my own ego couldn’t help but to think that, “Maybe she is in love with me?!!”

Hmmm… it could happen, right? This is when I took a step back and realized that online dating has a power that differs from reality. It is a virtual love that can make you think crazy thoughts. It plays with your mind by entering the power of your own imagination. Think of it like a book… giving you just enough descriptive passages, leaving your mind to fill in all the remaining details.

So how can you avoid this kind of trap? Simple… keep your feet grounded and don’t do anything different that you wouldn’t normally do in the REAL WORLD. For example, if an American woman claimed that she loved you after only 3 dates and wanted to marry you, you would undoubtedly run for the hills screaming “Psyyyyychooooo!” Right? So keep the same attitude whenever a Russian woman says the same thing after only 5 emails.

The issue of money seems to be a popular subject amongst men seeking a russian woman. “Should I give her money? She asked for some money and she claims that she loves me.”

Don’t laugh… this happens a lot and many men get scammed because their imagination takes over. They actually believe that she does loves them. Just keep your feet grounded and think of it this way… you walk by a homeless person everyday not giving him one penny, yet this doesn’t bother you does it? Do you want to know why? Because in reality, you are much more sensible and you might think that he might use it for drugs, alcohol or whatever. You don’t want to feed his addictions, so you look the other way when he asks for money. Use the same approach when a Russian woman asks for money… IGNORE HER! Don’t be foolish and give in to her photo and centerfold body. You don’t know her well enough — you’re only imagining that you do.

The key to a successful online romance is to have patience. You have stay grounded and stay in reality. Things take time, especially relationships. You need to establish trust — and believe me when I say this, it doesn’t happen in 5 emails. Follow your instincts and you’ll do just fine. Good luck!