DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO.
I’m a bit weirded out right now. It’s got to do with old family friends.
My parents immigrated to Canada from Germany in 1951 (mom was 17, pop was 18). They met on the boat—a converted WWII “Liberty” ship, a real deathtrap—later got married, yada yada. My sister Annie was born in ’54. I followed in ’55. (Read about my family's history here.)
The Canada years—we made the move to the U.S.A. in 1960—were pretty wild, in part because of all the new immigrants scratching for jobs, trying to make a go of it, dealing with each other and with the Canadians. My folks made lots of friends, many of them Germans like themselves: young, ambitious, full of dreams.
Helmut and Brigitte Schmidt (not their real names) were among these friends. 
Eventually, they, too, moved to the States, and, by the mid-60s, the Bauers and the Schmidts would get together like families do.
I liked Helmut and Brigitte, but I didn’t much like the Schmidt boys. They were coarse, noisy. I always figured that you shouldn't have to be with people that you don't like. I was glad when my family lost contact with this crowd in the early 70s.
Twenty-five or so years later, pop and Helmut ran into each other down near Leisure World, and, well, yada yada.
My folks and the Schmidts seemed to grow close again, and all was well, I suppose. (I wasn’t around for much of this. I saw Helmut and Brigitte maybe a couple of times.) Then, maybe six months ago, Brigitte suffered a stroke, and she was pretty bad off. Helmut, who is very healthy (he's into the Senior Olympics), wouldn’t leave her side. He seemed utterly devoted to her.
Eventually, they, too, moved to the States, and, by the mid-60s, the Bauers and the Schmidts would get together like families do.
I liked Helmut and Brigitte, but I didn’t much like the Schmidt boys. They were coarse, noisy. I always figured that you shouldn't have to be with people that you don't like. I was glad when my family lost contact with this crowd in the early 70s.
Twenty-five or so years later, pop and Helmut ran into each other down near Leisure World, and, well, yada yada.
My folks and the Schmidts seemed to grow close again, and all was well, I suppose. (I wasn’t around for much of this. I saw Helmut and Brigitte maybe a couple of times.) Then, maybe six months ago, Brigitte suffered a stroke, and she was pretty bad off. Helmut, who is very healthy (he's into the Senior Olympics), wouldn’t leave her side. He seemed utterly devoted to her. It was touching. So said my folks.
Recently, Brigitte was allowed to return to their place in Leisure World. But she wasn’t getting better. She was a little crazy and difficult. Helmut was determined to take care of her, but it was getting harder. He evidently felt that he was not up to the task.
He showed signs of depression, we heard. My dad made some efforts to contact Helmut last week, but Helmut wasn’t answering his phone.
Strange.
Last week, in his apartment, he shot his wife dead and then he shot himself. The bodies were discovered on Friday.
Helmut and Brigitte were nice, ordinary people. People liked them; they had lots of friends. This thing caught everybody by surprise.
Especially my parents.
What does it all mean? My parents sit and think. They run around, trying to do things. But they don’t know what to do.
Nobody does.
9 comments:
I read about the Schmidts in yesterday's newspaper Chunk - didn't know the connection then. Sigh.
Getting old in America is a nightmare. I am sorry that anyone had to come to this.
Obvious Answer To Your Question:
Of course, it is the mighty Wikipedia page on Informatics which I'd wager you looked up already, but maybe didn't read.
Maybe of interest:
UCI has a Department of Informatics, and they define informatics as:
"the interdisciplinary study of the design, application, use and impact of information technology. The discipline of informatics is based on the recognition that the design of this technology is not solely a technical matter, but must focus on the relationship between the technology and its use in real-world settings. That is, informatics designs solutions in context, and takes into account the social, cultural and organizational settings in which computing and information technology will be used."
I don't know about you Chunk, but I get this irking feeling that this isn't quite 'Science.' Correct me if I'm wrong, I suppose.
Dictionary tends to follow along kind of with UCI's definition, but then they close there eyes and stab at the words "Computer Science." Which doesn't quite fit my own definition of CS.
My Comments
I'm just a bit shocked at the fact that they forked over $100,000 for this nonsense. I could've answered this question; though I guess it wouldn't have been 'science' but more like 'common knowledge?' You know, they could've just queried Blizzard (The company that made the game) and asked 'Hey, what's the difference between the American and Chinese version?' I happen to know Blizzard tracks several things this study claims to have 'found out.' I.e. sexes, relationships, etc... This sort of stuff just keeps confirming my bias against CS and CS-alike majors.
Sorry to hear about the oddness about the family. Things like this are always confusing. The girl and I came to the conclusion that it is a "Time will heal..." kind of thing. Hope yours and Reb's semester went well however.
-The Tired Procrastinating Bohrstein
As you guessed, BS, I was aware of the Wikipedia article but had no interest in reading it. The name alone--"informatics"--tells me I don't want to know.
I know a guy who is obsessed with one of these online games. It has made him into a complete asshole.
This sort of thing, for me, is like "rap": somehow, I just don't get it. Generational?
I will try to resist the temptation to condemn that which I do not understand.
I grew up following these games, and I still keep up to date on the industry. I honestly can't stand these specific types (they're called Massive Multiplayer Online games) and they are notoriously known as "treadmills." Honestly, it's repetition in a 3D chat room, and it is a waste of time. Then again, most games are really a waste of time, unless you fit them in to your social life somehow.
I don't understand how most rap survives these days but to anyone who gives two shits for lyrics: You can't ignore rap, but you can ignore a majority of it.
But here is how defend games to my grandparents:
Take whatever you used to do growing up as a kid with your friends; walking, drinking, etc... and then do it in front of a computer with a headset on. You're chatting it up with your friends, joking, and killing little virtual monsters. It's fun, good for hand-eye coordination and safer then whatever you did growing up. Consoles are good for parties, rather than playing board games, you can play Nintendo Wii games instead. It's just an upgrade from cardboard in that case.
I'd like to pipe up and say a word in favor of informatics. I recently helped a scientist with an informatics paper, and the discipline seemed perfectly relevant. She was studying the use of new technologies in hospitals -- trying to design a computerized medical record system with portable hand-held terminals, kind of like tricorders. She was examining the barriers to deployment, ranging from the cultural ("Will technophobic nurses actually use it?") to technical ("How can you use a wireless device in a lead-lined radiology room?") I think this is cool and useful work, especially when so many hospitals are rushing to deploy electronic systems without considering the non-technical design elements.
As for the video game study, given the extent to which our government is seeking to militarize video games, not only for training purposes but in the design of new weapons systems, knowing that the Chinese have an edge may prove extremely helpful.
Jonathan, I don't really have anything against informatics. I do think that skepticism is a healthy attitude toward new fields, but one must keep an open mind.
The term "informatics," however, invites derision in the way, say, superkalafragilistics would.
Re the Schmidts:
It's hard to say, but I think they would have been better off in Germany, where they have universal health care and Brigitte would have been cared for.
To Johnathan:
The only reason Asian players even have an upper hand in video games AT ALL is, for example, in Korea games are way more integrated in to their society than in America.
For example, in Korea the video game StarCraft has training camps that raise kids so that they grow up learning Pro. They get basic education, and food, etc. But they are pretty much scheduled to play StarCraft for something like 12 hours a day. Also, StarCraft matches are so large that they are often aired on TV. Another game called "Lineage" is also aired on TV (this is more like World of WarCraft) when big in-game guilds raid opposing guild's castles, etc. The only reason they play games "so much better" is because they LIVE it. As a result I think their society is kind of superficial, and I don't think your skills in StarCraft or especially in World of WarCraft are going to be an aid in military combat.
Worse yet, in China they to have a lot of gold farmers; people who literally play the game 24 hours a day making in-game gold to sell on eBay and other sites. People have DIED from sitting in their chairs without sleep, and with inadequate diets. It's really quite gross what people do for these games: I don't get it. I've played WoW and every other MMO out there, and they are a) all the same, and b) boring as fuck.
Also if you really think video games are 'trainers' in anyway for killing, you'd also have to be willing to admit that just by a kid playing a video game he is learning to operate a gun - This is definitely not true. When the military talks about video games and training they are talking full on VR (Virtual Reality), or AR (Augmented Reality), or something more interactive than a mouse and keyboard.
To Roy:
What IS Science? (in a nutshell) I think fields like Computer Science and such are NOT Sciences, they fit more in to the mathematical area (which I don't count as a science either), or even something more related to Logic. For example, I've never had to apply the scientific method, or even talk about the scientific method at all in any of my CS courses. Biology? Yes, Physics? Yes. Computer science? No.
So in a nutshell: Science = Use of Scientific Method? Or no?
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