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Весілля у Василя - позитивне відео ))): humor video positiv Безбашенний сільський хор (відео) - відірвані на.. http://bit.ly/3mKx4O

The Day Myspace's Tom Anderson Joined Facebook (Social Blade Theater)

Come on guys! It's so simple.

Oh, please do not kiss me!

Oh, please do not kiss me!
Oh, please do not kiss!
Oh, please do not!
Oh, please do!
Oh, please!
Oh!
!

Mini-games for Fatherhood: Tapping the strength of gameplay mechanics for parenting

I'm currently designing an online game for kids, a project that has tapped all sorts of mental muscles I haven't exercised for quite a while. When the project started I quickly began devouring blogs, tweets, and books on the topic of game design. Of the many kernels of wisdom that have helped me design my game is the power of what's called "mini-games."

Mini-games are simple, one-time activities a game player interacts with to achieve a quick result. One example of a mini-game is from the narratively-rich game Fable 2. Players must perform an activity (such as blacksmithing) by clicking the mouse at just the right time while a pendulum swings through a target area. Click at the right time, and your hammer hits the anvil at the right time; click outside the target area and you waste some time. One to two minutes of play and you'll have yourself a nice result. Quicky. Easy. Mini-game.

These mini-games are great 'return on investment' for game designers because they can be reused in different contexts throughout the larger game and are not difficult to program. Players can quickly grow tired of them, though, which is fine since more mini-games can be designed.

This past week I realized that this mini-game concept is not only powerful for game design, but for parenthood as well. Fathers especially have to be quick on their toes and design 'one-time activities a child interacts with to achieve a quick result,' whether that result is a change in behavior, a learning opportunity, or a pre-emptive shift in focus.

There are several mini-games that I play with my son, Kenny, that have netted great 'return on investment.' Let me share those with you and then ask what mini-games you remember from bygone days or which ones you use to accomplish a goal.

1. Countdown

Countdown is simple but priceless. You need to get out the door or into the car quickly and you don't have time to mess around, but you don't want to ruin the good day you're having with your kiddo, either. The trick is to suddenly pretend that X must be done in 10 seconds or the world is going to explode, the game is going to be lost, or some similar consequence.

I use Countdown most often when getting Kenny into his car seat. He tends to--shall we say--get easily distracted during this essential step in the ordeal, so I suddenly put on my urgent-heroic voice and say something like, "Oh man, we haaaave to get in the seat in 5, 4, 3, 2...." He always gets in the seat in about three seconds.

2. Fill in the blank

Many a times hath this mini-game diffused frustration that could quickly turn into outburst. The game is to begin a statement we often use when something spills or an accident happens, and then wait for Kenny to finish the sentence. Our two most oft-cited phrases are, "That's O[K], we can clean it [UP]," and "Accidents [HAPPEN]."

Kenny will almost always provide the 'K' and 'Up' for the first, and 'happen' for the second, and when he does it triggers a memory that, hey, we've done this before, and it really IS okay to spill, to miss something, to lose a game I was playing. Tragedy averted.

Kenny likes to initiate this mini-game, too, though his blanks are sometimes hard to fill. Case in point: We were discussing whether he'd a get a treat soon and said, "I'll get one if you w__ __." I just looked at him puzzled. What starts with a "w" here? Finally he finished it off himself: "If you wet me"--but he meant "let me". Poor guy hasn't quite got his L's yet :)

3. What movie?

You're at the dinner table and conversation has turned to something that your kiddo need not harp on. Not wanting to eat, wanting dessert but not deserving it, wanting to go play. A quick distraction I often employ is to quote a funny part of a movie and then ask, "What movie is that from?" Though this is not as fail safe as some other mini-games, Kenny will generally shift focus to this funny thing he remembered and produce the movie title.

He also likes to initiate this mini-game himself (he asks, "What is that movie from?" but I just smile inside and understand). Once again, his versions are tough, and methinks some of his quotes are from movies that apparently don't exist yet.

The game is fun to play "standalone" as well, when there isn't pressure on and a quick outcome needed. I find it helps grow memory and recall, drawing on movies that we haven't seen in some time or parts of a film that aren't standouts. Good stuff.

4. Sword, shield, rope, cage, key

When Kenny's in a sensitive, touchy mood in the morning, my leaving for work can be a tough situation. I mean, I have to go provide for the family but I'm leaving said family with kid screaming tears and wife having to deal with him.

Yes, there's an app--err, mini-game--for that. Kenny and I created on a whim one morning: I pretend that I'm going out to battle all the dragons and evil in the world (which I like to think I really am doing) and he provides me all the tools I need for the job as I get on my bike. He throws the sword, I catch it and strap it on. He throws the shield and it's quickly synched to my arm. Rope gets tied around the bike, cage (?) in my pocket, key in the other pocket.

Rather than being mad at my leaving, Kenny is put into a helper state of mind as he sees me gear up for this momentous battle. He's sharing an experience with me rather than watching me leave. As I pedal away he's happy and goes about his merry way. Priceless.

5. "Funny things" while reading

My in-laws bought Kenny a hardback volume of the original Curious George stories last Christmas. God bless 'em. No, really. I'd wager that in the past 42 weeks, 3 to 4 nights a week we've read one of the seven stories from that weighty tome. Doing a little math, that comes to roughly 120 to 160 readings of an original Curious George story. Man alive. I needed a way to spice things up. Thus, "funny things."

This mini-game is for daddy's sake as much as Kenny's. I'll simply replace words that ought to be uttered with either their opposites or something completely obsurd. Take the following: "This is George. He lived with his friend, the man in the yellow hat." When Kenny asks, "Do the funny things!" this becomes, "This is Henry. He lived with his enemy, the man in the blue hat." And Kenny will quickly and smilingly say, "Naaaaa," and provide the correct version.

I only do "funny things" for a few pages because, honey, 80 pages of un-funnied George is long, but funny things makes it longer. I feel it is teaching Kenny opposites, listening skills, and all sorts of other mental goodies.

So, those are five of our favorites. I'm curious to hear about mini-games you play with you little ones. At the dinner table? Bed time? Bath? Let the mini-games begin!

Aviary - Creation on the fly / blog / Aviary Launches Crane!

Ambiguity t-shirt

via mentalfloss.com

 

Poor Piglet.

via nowthatsnifty.blogspot.com

"Even the 40 Acre Wood isn't immune to the swine flu."

Rachel Ray Has a Magnificent Ass

   Rachel Ray's Magnificent Ass

And I don't care who knows about it...

Have I ever told you the story of how Rachel Ray's Magnificent Ass saved my life? I'm reprinting this because, sometimes, I have to stop and remember why I blog. Why I breathe. Why I live.

It was so long ago. I was despondent. I was lost. I was crawling through my own confusion. I was meandering about, wondering what was wrong with me. I had no purpose.

And then, on the Internet one day, I saw the picture you see above. I have always been frisky, and for years I fought my inner friskiness. I made a prude of myself. I invented reasons to be chaste and I blushed too often. Sorry, the Internet is a place for expression. In the 1960s, I wore suits and sold things and I passed on the free love and the good times. I spent forty years with my nose to the grindstone, making money and taking names. Now? Now I can reflect and comment, share and inform. I will make things that will cause you to laugh, to weep and to moan with ecstasy. Yes, even you, mother. Stop reading my blogs if you think there's something wrong with me. Father approves. In fact, Father loves writing on his blog, the one I set up for him because he couldn't make the girl who steals his shoes and potatoes do it for him at Leisure World.

I was lost, and then, I was found. That's because I saw Rachel Ray's Magnificent Ass when I was broken, alone, sleeping the garage, and as low as I have ever been.

I saw it, and it spoke to me. It said to me that there was a woman out there who was so beautiful, so curvy, so classy, so wonderful that she didn't care what anyone thought of her, and her purpose was to cook, to entertain, to laugh, and have a good time. Rachel Ray, in and of herself, is a wonderful woman, very courageous, very talented. I cannot say enough good things about her. I refuse to denigrate her--when I say she has a magnificent ass, it means that she transcends all and should be put on a pedestal and worshipped like a Greek Goddess. I am humbled to view her eminence. I am a better man for acknowledging her wonder. She is perfection, and I am an imperfect, adoring male. The female in this world has power over the male, you see, because we must pay tribute to the glory that is her figure and form and her persona. She is the better part of us, these people, these women in our lives. Love your mothers, wives, girlfriends, companions, and even the daughter who just walks in and starts telling us we were terrible fathers in the 1980s. Yes, even you Miranda. I should appreciate you more, but I don't. I'm sorry.

Rachel Ray's Magnificent Ass has made me a better father, a more attentive lover, and a better man. A better man. Nothing in this world could make me admit that, except for her ass. I swear it is true.

Rachel Ray doesn't need me--I need her. Rachel Ray is more than a photo. She is an empire of goodness and kindness. She had those pictures taken of her because, well, why not? Why not show the world that a gal can do that? The rest is history. Haters need not apply. Embrace the good, reject the callow, and appreciate the magnificence that she represents. Do something to make all of the women in your life feel special. It's time we as men realized that we've not been respectful or appreciative of women. We're all the same, we're all equal. Don't let that dingbat take the fall for your under performing company, sir. Let her feel good about herself. Have some dopey kid take the fall instead.

Once I saw that picture, I knew that I had to blog, to write, to find a purpose. I had to make things happen. I had to create blogs that were good, better than what was out there. Forget that Search Engine Optimization malarkey--whatever malarkey is anyway--I create, I publish, I make, I do, I find, I search, I sift--I make it all happen. I decide, I conjure, I analyze. I bring it and I leave it.

I am who I am because I love Rachel Ray's Magnificent Ass. It moves me to tears, it does. It's a ripe apple hanging from a tree in the garden of Earthly delights, and I cannot have it. I can see it, I can appreciate it, I can tell you how grand and special it is. But it is not mine. It is hers. She shares it with us, like a secret.

Thank you, Rachel. This old, crying man with a happy face and a smile only for you...I break down trying to finish this. I do.

Thank you.