Thursday, January 18, 2007

Video Games to Lose Weight

Ars Technica had a great article (link) the other day saying exactly what I have been saying; if you want kids to get in shape use video games.

There is no hiding the fact we are a fast food nation. North Carolina even went so far as to require kids to have physical activity 30 minutes a day in school. These kids are no different than me and you; if I am going to get up and exercise than it is going to be something that I enjoy doing. My moment of clarity occurred at the local mall. I passed an arcade with a kid sweating profusely while playing Dance Dance Revolution (DDR|wikipedia link). This kid was exercising!

Sure he could have gotten his physical activity in school. But if you are not good at sports, playing them at schools stinks. Basketball/football/soccer are all dominated by the same jocks. It is no fun. This video game let him be the dominate one, and maybe for the first time.

So NC lawmakers, how about your money where your mouth is. Give us some funding and let us get our game on.

Friday, January 12, 2007

Art Rage 2

Art Rage is a great free painting program.
"You can paint with oils, sketch with pencils, sprinkle glitter, and more. You can paint with gold leaf, silver foil, and other metallic colors. You can even load in your photos as Tracing Images to help you recreate them as paintings."
Check out Art Rage 2 here!