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Horizon Forbidden West

Horizon Forbidden West is Guerrilla Games latest action role-playing game following the protagonist, Aloy, through a post-apocalyptic North America. If you haven’t played Horizon Zero Dawn, then you should really go out and play it. As one of my all-time favorite modern games, and is a must have game for the PlayStation 4 and 5. I have just completed Horizon Forbidden West (HFW) and achieved the Platinum Trophy. Here’s my thoughts on the game.

New Look and Feel

It’s the COVID isolation theme… A bit more svelte and easier to handle, but still in the vein of what I’ve established as my style. Right about now, is when I start talking about how I wish I would write more and that I will probably do it from now on…then the site sits still for months and months. So I won’t be saying that.

I would like to write more, but time is not on my side. So that’s why things stay stale. I have some ideas, but seems like I always do. Trying to work through the logistics of my plans and then go from there. But drink in the new look and love all the new fun stuff on the homepage.

Now in Color!

So what tends to happen this time of year is that I rebuild my site for whatever reason I can come up with. It’s what keeps me engaged, finding cool things to do, solving problems, and playing around. This time, I kept most of the basic style of my previous site but amped it up a notch with more flash.

There are 5 main updates that I want to highlight:

Book-a-Week!

By the very last few days of 2018, I was able to meet my reading challenge of 52 books for the year. That is crazy! I read more non-fiction this year than any other year, and I hope to read a more steady dose in the future. But it also meant that if it wasn’t for my early lead I had at the beginning of the year, I probably wouldn’t have made my goal. For 2019, I cut my goal in half. Because of this, I’m keeping my goal attainable. Per the usual, Goodreads does a much better job presenting my reading for the year, so check it out there.

Guilt and Shame

Guilt versus Shame has been a specific issue I’ve been considering. For a long time, I considered them synonymous. Through discussions with other people, counselors, and my reading; I’ve come to realize they are different. Different not in just how they are defined, but different in their core.

Definitions

Guilt is defined by Webster as:

1. : the fact of having committed a breach of conduct especially violating law and involving a penalty

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Kalām Cosmological Argument

I’ve been thinking heavily on the Kalām Cosmological Argument. I’m finding it a fairly significant and well reasoned defense for the existence of God. I understand that there are fundamental arguments against this, but from a simple reasoned defense, it is very compelling. Most defenses against this argument for God tend to require a bit of mental gymnastics that go against Occam’s Razor.

The Argument

First, let’s define the argument. The video above does a decent job of defining the argument and some of the rational behind them. Let’s show the simplicity here:

Einstein's Relativity and Predestination

The other day, I listened to a podcast from Preston Sprinkle speaking to questions provided by some listeners. The first question asked, “Has relativity disproved predestination of the Calvinist tradition?” Preston’s answers were good within the realm of his expertise, but left me highly lacking. I’d like to offer my thoughts.

Note: I am not a theologian, philosopher, nor a scientist. But I have given this quite a bit of thought and I think where I land is substantially reasonable.

What Are Video Games Teaching Us?

I was listening to a podcast the other day that spoke about (as an aside) how video games effect daily activity. A number of points became seriously poignant to me when I really started thinking about what they were talking about. I hope to lay out some points of thought here.

Preface

I first need you to understand that I am not a video game sensationalist. I have seen the studies and seen other things shown, but I don’t believe that the violence in video games are destroying our youth. I also don’t believe that the games themselves are responsible for much of the decline in how well are boys interact with life. I do think that they are part of the conversation, but it’s more than that.

Rating Systems: What does it mean?

The lack of standardized rating systems sucks. There’s so many ways to rate something that you begin to lose all understanding what what something means. Even systems designed to simplify things muddy the waters, because they often lack the granularity that allows for meaning to be derived. I’ll offer a guide…

TL/DR - After distilling all other rating systems, this is where I sit when I rate things.

Current Systems

There’s a ton of rating systems out there but, in most cases, they follow a simple numerical ranking to the need. Ten point scales, 5 star rating, two thumbs up/down, or something similar. Looking at my homepage you’ll find that I like tracking and rating the things in my life. It is a little bit of data collection that I may use for later.

That's a-lot-a Books!

Wow! Sixty (60) books! 2017 was another good year with regards to reading for me. I was able to once again power through a ton a of books. It was a year of series; only roughly 18 books out of the 60 were stand alone books. Many of what I read were serial in nature and, towards the end of the year, I was beginning to get a little burned out on these stories. Hopefully 2018 brings a refreshed view, or better feelings at least. As always, Goodreads does a better job of presenting all the books, so check it out there.

Let's All Eat Cake

Ever heard the saying, “You can’t have your cake and eat it too.”? What does that mean. Think about it, if I have cake… I’m going to eat it. Seriously, why can’t I have cake and eat it as well? I know I can…

Lately I’ve been thinking about the things we say. Words have meaning. And although I’m a mess of incorrect word usage, things like this make me think a bit. It turns out that the order was probably reversed at one point. John Heywood (1546), John Davies (1611), and Jonathan Swift (1738) all used this phrase, but in essence used it like this:

I Got A Newsletter!

So I’ve been tossing around the idea of starting a newsletter but didn’t really like any of the options out there in circulating one. Yes, Mailchimp and other services aren’t difficult, yes things like TinyLetter make it even more simple…but what I really wanted to do is basically share links. I never really wanted to create content for a newsletter. Digging up all that content for a quality letter is a pain and what I really wanted is a simple way of curating links I find across the net for the week and sharing those.

Bright

Just watched Netflix’s latest entry into the blockbuster movie scene, Bright. I have to say, I’m conflicted. The movie is not good, but neither is it bad. As I consider it, over and over in my head, I get more and more conflicted in my reactions. Because of that, I am going to say you should watch it…but go into the viewing with an open mind. I’ll barely touch on the good to avoid spoilers, but it’s worth watching.

My Favorite Sports Teams

For posterity sake, I figured I’d make the definitive list of the best sports teams and people ever. The best in the mind of me, Trae. If I did keep up with all these sports/leagues/people, then this would be who I’d follow. Yes, that’s right, I don’t follow all these. But I don’t really care about your opinion on the matter. This is driven by this particular data that I can easily update from time to time. So you’ll see my latest preferences in this post as I update it. Modification date is located at the bottom.

A New Hope for the Last Jedi

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is about to be released and since they announced the title, I’ve had a theory that I’ve really wanted to hope come true. A brief analysis of the previous films and a few comments from the previews for the new file–taken completely out of context–leads me to what I hope happens for The Last Jedi. We’ll see though, won’t we.

Balance to The Force

What does it mean to bring balance to The Force? Qui-gon Jinn believes he found “The Chosen One” in Anakin Skywalker. “The Chosen One” was supposed to rid the world of the Sith and bring balance to the force. Obi-won comes to believe this as well. Mace Windu and Yoda speak to him about the prophesy of who is to restore balance to the force.