I was reading online the other day and came across an artice that mentioned the new Nintendo system slated to be released sometime next year, the Revolution. This got me thinking about what games I used to enjoy playing as I was growing up (from about age 3-21). Then I realized that well, there were some games that I just "enjoyed", but there were also games that absolutely consumed me and my life for certain periods of time. I loved these games, and I know that if they were capable of it, they would love me back too. So here is my tribute to the most important video games in my life. (The list doesn't have anything more recent than about 2 years ago...that's when I finally had to give them up for the constraints of real life)

Atari-I know, I know...it's not a game, but this system was my life from ages 3-5 in my life. I just have to mention it.

Mario

OK, there are 4 games featuring that chubby little super-plumber that I think are all-time greats, not only for their gameplay, but also because they were all so innovative and original. The first is Super Mario Bros. 3 for NES. A huge game. Before this, game's were small and simple. This one took it to a whole new level. Super Mario World for SNES in the next of the lot. I still remember finally finding the Star Road, thinking it was the coolest thing in the world, and then I found Rainbow road. WOW. I felt like I had just been elected leader of the free world. Then, with the release of the N64, we got Super Mario 64. This was Mario like we had never seen...in 3D! This was another huge game, with many secrets, challenges, and puzzles. I loved this game. The other Mario game that I think is worth mentioning is Super Mario RPG. Completely different than the other Mario games, this gave an innovative feel and strategy to the classic Mario genre.

Zelda

Another innovative and original game. The 3 incarnations that I spent significant time with: The Legend of Zelda (NES), The Legend of Zelda:A Link to the Past (SNES), and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64). What was so unique about these games was the fact that they all required more than just button punching...you really had to think through the problems and puzzles and maze's to be successful at these games. I remember once in grade school I was upstairs in my house playing A Link to the Past...and then my mom starts yelling at me that I have to go to the basement immediately because there is a Tornado Warning. I actually argued with her about it. I didn't want to quit playing, MOM!! Well, needless to say, I got yanked downstairs, and good thing, too, because part of our roof got torn off. (The tornado was off the ground, but travelled right over our house.) Anyways, I am sure that I would have loved the other versions of Zelda if I would have had the time to play through them, with the exception of the ugly duckling of Zelda games (Zelda II, for NES)

Metroid

Ok, last classic Nintendo title, I promise. There were only 2 Metroid's that really sucked me in to the point of no return. The first was Super Metroid (SNES), and Metroid Prime (GameCube). Another intricate story with lots of puzzles and lots of action. I still recall how suprised I was when I found out Samus was a woman.

MarioKart

Alright, I lied...one more classic Nintendo title...I guess I could have put this under Mario, but it's really something all it's own. All 3 versions that I have played (SNES, N64, GC) were absolutely amazing. The battle mode's, the Circuit events, even the time trials...I would sit day's at a time and try to beat time trial time's that were posted on the internet. (I got some of them!) These are really more fun when played with someone else on the circuit events (usually my brother or roommates in college).

The Other Games

These were all games that I also spent either entire summers or every school night playing.

Virtua Tennis- This game, on Dreamcast, gave you control of your shots and players unlike any other game I have played.

Tecmo Super Bowl- Who can forget trying to tackle Barry Sanders or Bo Jackson on the older versions of these games?

Ninja Gaiden- I dressed as a ninja for 3 straight Halloween's because of this game.

Street Fighter II- The original fighter game that led to many real fights between me and my brother. (He always cheated when he was Chun Li)

James Bond: Goldeneye- When I think of my freshmen year in High School, this is what I see. And my Sophomore year. And half my Junior year. Ok, this game got played a lot.

Primal Rage- What is cooler than primitive beasts battling each other to the death? ...That's what I thought: Nothing.

Contra- Simple, yet highly addictive. Shoot the bad guys. Don't let them shoot you.

Mike Tyson's Punch Out- Has anyone ever really beat ole "Iron Mike" at the end of the game? Plus, this game has the best character names of any game, any story, or any movie, EVER. (e.g. "Bald Bull", "Joe Glass", "Soda Popinski", etc. etc.)

Halo

My last great love affair with a video game. This game was so in depth with it's characters, story, graphics, and gamplay...it truly has it all. The better part of my Freshmen through Junior years in undergrad were spent with this game. There is no other word than obsession. We had patched links and would spend entire weekends playing people online all over the world. I would have dreams that I was Master Cheif and was killing my opponent. I would see someone joggin around the park and would think how easy it would be for me to snipe them in the head. I honestly probably needed a support group to get off of that game.

So there it is. The game's that sucked me, and millions of others, in. One day I hope to own them all again. We'll see.

I'm not sure who put this video out (the subtitle reads "the biochemical evidence for creation", and at several points calls the cellular systems "perfect"), but either way, it shows the incomprehensible complexity found in our cells. The analogy of an extremely advanced space craft is quite appropriate, as it shows. A single human cell just reeks of design. Now, does that mean it was designed, or that it just looks like it is? No matter, you should check out this video regardless of where you stand teleologically. It's just too cool.

It also has a segment on the human eyeball, which is of special interest to me. It describes it's design as "perfect." Well, anyone who has had any kind of discussion about the problem of complexity for evolution has heard the claims that the eye, due to the small blind spot in each one, is in fact not perfect. Thus proving it was not "created" or "designed". Now, who are we to say what design is perfect and what one is not. I mean, we don't notice the blind spot(s) because of the chiasm of the optic nerve and because our brain simply filters it out (as it does with many other aberrations that we should see....seems like pretty good design.) Anyway, you can still marvel at the complexity that is involved.

I ran across this article on MSNBC.com that showed concern for a recently FDA approved and highly encouraged (for college aged people) bacterial meningitis vaccine called Menactra. This part, in particular, was of note:

"The rate of GBS (Guillain Barre syndrome-the name of the disease
caused)is similar to what is expected without vaccination."

Huh. Well, let me think about this. Should I risk getting a vaccination which, by getting it, gives me the same chance of actually getting the disease from the vaccination, as the chance that I would get it by coming into contact with it and not having the vaccination? For $110, sounds like a no-brainer. I had an immunology professor who was more than a little leary of some of the government's motivations behind all of the vaccinations that are becoming available, as a lot of the things you can get vaccinated for, there is actually a less chance that you ever even come into contact with the specific disease than there is that you will come down with it through the vaccination! Anyways, I have many more opinions along this line. Make sure you never give your kids the Chickenpox vaccine (going through Chinkenpox prepares the body for proper immune response to stronger diseases later in life) and don't keep everything so clean that they never come into contact with any germs.(They'll probably get asthma). Oh yeah, watch out for vaccinations with Thymerosol. (Mercury based preservative....why do you think that autism and ADD levels have risen so sharply in the recent past?)

Ok, enough conspiracy theories....

Alright, this will be my second shot at this blog thing. I didn't exactly have enough time the last go around, and now I am in medical school (though jobless), and I actually have a little more time then in undergrad with 2-3 jobs.

So.....what's this going to be about. Well, I have a diverse group of interests. Right now, I'm into the deign vs. appearance of design argument in biology and science in general. I'm also in the middle of the Fantasy Football season. Oh yeah, and school. These 3 things are what I spend most of my time with, (when I'm not with my wife, of course.) I also enjoy politics, philosophy, music, and reading blogs. I am coming from a Christian worldview, based on what I think is proper hermeneutics of the Bible. I have one bachelor's degree from a Christian institution in Bible Theology. I also have a degree from a major public university (Kansas State) in Physical Science. Politically, I am a libertarian in thought, but when it really comes down to the major issues, most people would label me a conservative. (I don't want the gov't to legislate morality to our society....well, unless it happens to be my morality, then that's ok.) :)

Oh, and as far as the name "retrognosis"....taken literally, it's "backward/behind knowledge." That's how I feel that most in the scientific community would look at my beliefs, in that they are conservative, Biblical, and just plain "behind" and "backwards" to what they "know" to be true. So, I just hope to show that this "retrognosis" still has some good use in today's world.