Watch this for more than 30 seconds. Pretty cool, eh?

If you see this lady turning in clockwise then you are using the creative side or right side of your brain. If you see it going counter-clockwise then you are using the logical side or left side of your brain. Some people can see her turning both ways, but most people see it only one way. If you try to see it the other way and if you do see, your IQ is above 160 which is almost a genius. Then see if you can make her go one way and then the other by shifting the brain's current. BOTH DIRECTIONS CAN BE SEEN

According to New Scientist, "Some people see her spinning clockwise, some see her moving counterclockwise, and most, if they stare long enough, see her switch direction. Some can make her change at will. But no-one, it seems, can make her move in two directions at once.

All pretty spooky since she is an unchanging animation of only 34 frames in a constant loop. What seems to be happening is that the two-dimensional image does not contain enough three-dimensional information to tell the brain which way she is spinning. So your brain helpfully fills this in, as brains do in many optical illusions. Only, in this case the brain can do it one of two ways.

How about the stopping? Well, perception of time is pretty subjective, and our experience of inertia is that when things make a 180-degree change in direction, they have to slow and stop first.

What this animation does not involve is different sides of the brain, as the initial post claims. What you see is purely due to your perceptual and cognitive flexibility."

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Press Play and Read While the Music Plays

As I sat talking with a group of friends who I have known for many years, we reminisced about old times; about events gone by but not forgotten.  “Do you ever wonder what would've happened if we had chosen to support the other side,” I randomly asked my group of friends, inquiring about an old decision we had made long ago in a video game.  Our guild had split in half and ultimately forced us to choose one side, which would lead to the four of us banding together.

“No,” exclaimed one of my friends in anger, one who is never angered by anything.  “Why would you even wonder about such things? You can’t change them, and even if you could, you would change everything else that has happened since.”

My friend was referring to the butterfly effect, the idea that all of the events in our life, no matter how small, ultimately shape our future in ways we cannot comprehend. If you were to change any one single event, no matter how small, you could dramatically affect how things turned out for you and for others.

I saw where I angered him; if for no other reason, than my other friends did not support me in my harmless thinking out loud. He had gotten the idea that I might have wished that things went differently and our circle had ultimately not formed. Although, I did not mean any offense, nor was that a correct assumption, my friend had gotten the wrong impression.

Of course, I meant well, and it was only a conversational topic. Nevertheless, it suddenly had made one of my random thoughts suddenly click into place.

In Dragon Age Origins and other popular RPG games, a genre that uses the decisions you make throughout your gameplay to determine the course of the storyline, you have the ability to save the game at any one point and then load the game from that point. The purpose of which is to allow you to make decisions that can be fixed simply by reloading; incredibly handy when you choose the wrong response in a conversation during the game. And that led me to an epiphany.

Life needs a save and load feature.

Imagine how many times in your life that you have said something that was the wrong thing to say. How many times have you said something to someone only to see them drop their shoulders, frown, or the hundreds of other nuances we display when something hurtful is said to us. For a moment, imagine if you had the ability to stop the conversation and choose a different response or different words.

The proverbial putting your foot in your mouth has plagued human beings for centuries. Although, that doesn't appear to be something that will change anytime soon.  So many times, in my own life, I can think of specific instances where I wish with my heart of hearts that I could have the chance to start the conversation over again.

Conversations with friends that ultimately led to progressively intense bickering and the loss of friendship. Conversations with lovers that hurt them accidentally causing a rift that could not be repaired. Conversations with loved ones before they died that should have been much more meaningful. Any conversation that went the wrong way not because of bad intentions, just happenstance.

In this example, we're only talking about the opportunity to redo conversations. Man has often wondered about the ability to time travel and do things over. But, the power of words is undeniable and often stronger than most actions.

Surely in your own life you have wondered from time to time if you would still have that ex-girlfriend or ex-boyfriend if you had only said something different at the right moment. If your boss would have treated you differently had you gotten off to the right foot.  If your former friends would still be your friends if you had said anything and not let the friendship fizzle.

Friends quibbling amongst each other is nothing new. Very few of those skirmishes ever lead to something worse than a bruised ego. And most can be fixed with a simple apology.

But what about those times where those little words snowballed into something larger than life. Those times where your conversation went so badly, not because you wanted to inflict pain on your friend or loved one but simply because you said the wrong thing.

For every time you hurt someone in your family by saying the wrong thing. For the love that you lost because you choose the wrong thing to say. For the argument that cost you a friend because you thought something was funny when it wasn't.

For all the times that you only meant well.  Life needs a save and load feature.

Mmmm whatcha say,

Mmm that you only meant well?

Well of course you did

Mmmm whatcha say, (whatcha say, whatcha say)

Mmmm that it's all for the best?

Of course it is

Mmmm whatcha say,

Mmm that you only meant well?

Well of course you did

Mmmm whatcha say

-          Imogen

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They say that music affects us all, it can alter moods, and even control you. This is been especially through in my life, I know, who doesn't like music.  Thing is music really is a universal language; it doesn't matter whether you are listening to your kids music, dancing around on the dance floor, listening with some friends, or even listening to a CD Walkman lying in a hospital bed - music can move you and and alter moods. If words are weapons, then music must be a shield.

Here's a great one that walks you through the music we once loved:

This one is even better. There are actually six videos in this guy's series but this one is the best

There are so many good songs from that era, but if I had to pick these would be my favorites

I hope you enjoyed my musical trip through the 90s. I will leave you with one thought, sometimes when you miss the days that are gone, there is nothing more fun you can do than to go to YouTube and enter the name of a video from way back when, then simply keep going through the videos using the related section on the right. Don't type anything else in the search box or that would be cheating, just wonder your way through the music files.

Now that's nostalgia!

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AbleGamers giving away 5 copies of Aion on Twitter

For a limited time only, AbleGamers is going to give away five copies of Aion online (including one limited-edition copy) to 5 random twitter followers.  All you have to do is log on to twitter and tweet the following:

@AbleGamers I want to win a copy of AION

It's that simple! Make sure to follow @AbleGamers to be notified if you win.  We will be announcing the names of the winners on Twitter - Friday, September 25 2009.

Check out http://ablegamers.com/twitter-to-win.html for more details.

Good luck!!

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I am not associated with the people who made this video.  In fact, I happen to play on the same server on the opposite faction.  In fact, I have probably killed one or two of these people from this guild.  However, this is an awesome video and a very catchy song, considering it is a spoof - the quality is excellent.  Simply a must hear  and/or see!

•  Warning - the following video uses explicit language and some sexual themes.  Your discretion advised, especially if you do not have a sense of humor :P
  

 

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This was officially released last night.

@Disabilitygov The AbleGamers Found, Inc offers site that links gamers w disabilities 2 latest on #accessible #games http://tiny.cc/BNFFs

 disability.gov officially tweeted about our website! 

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Ok, so I don't often share funny videos.  For the most part, I tend to roll my eyes when my friends start to say "you have to watch this video."  But, in this case I just have to share with you what the real reason for the Internet is.   Skip forward to about 30 seconds into it.

 

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Today I have a disturbing video to share with you.  This was taken from Florida where two teenagers followed a man home from the hospital, snuck up behind him, and took his wallet.  The horrifying part?  The man was a 66-year-old wheelchair-bound stroke victim.watch as they rip the wallet from his clutches.

They even more horrifying part?  There were two people in the general vicinity that did absolutely nothing to help this man.  I don't understand it, sure, you don't want to get shot.  But if someone is robbing someone that cannot help themselves, I sure as hell hope I would have the fortitude to come to their aid.

http://www.wpxi.com/video/19523375

I do not care if you are religious or not, people like this have a special place reserved for them in hell.

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Is it writers block?

No, I don't think so. I think I just finally reached the point in my life where I can never go to bed without realizing there was something else I needed to do. Yes, we all get to this point. I understand that. For me, it's a little bit different. You see I have always been someone who has done what I want when I want. After all, when the government is your paycheck and they tell you if you get a real job that, you might lose your medical insurance... you tend to just stick with it.

At some point in time that stopped being good enough. I wanted more and the way I went about doing that was getting involved in a collage and AbleGamers. I'm glad that I decided to do both of those things. I can honestly tell you that I am a better person for having worked with all of you as opposed to remaining sheltered, doing nothing but playing video games.

Not that there's anything wrong with that but eventually I think everybody wants more. I don't think it the more that is specific, I think eventually we just are tired of doing what we always do and realize that the world is pretty big. If we want a change we can have one, we only need to want it.

Last month, Mark and I were going over the numbers and one particular statistic absolutely amazed me. I'm going to share it with you and it's going to seem like I'm bragging, maybe in some way I am but I certainly don't mean it in a negative way. We discovered that the fifth most search term we get is for Bearstion. That was amazing to me because that means that not only am I succeeding in being an asset to AbleGamers but also my alias is gaining reputation.

As I said, I say that not to brag but more to point out if you set your sights on bringing more passion into your life, it can happen. It is now exactly 2 years from when I started my college career, over 14 months since I started my AbleGamers career, and only 2 1/2 years from when I decided I wanted more.
In that time, I have become an asset to a valuable cause, I'm three weeks away from my Associates degree, and I'm launching a few business ventures.

2 1/2 years is a long time but in those 2 1/2 years, I have accomplished more than I did in the previous 10. I hope one of you, reading this post, maybe not today - maybe not tomorrow - but someday, will take a cue from the way I turned my life around from playing video games all the time to being an important figure in multiple places - both socially and businesswise.

Maybe I can't get everything done that I want to do every day. And maybe I won't get to post a new blog post every day like I wanted to. But I think you, the readers, can tell when I'm forcing myself to write and when I actually want to. I can see it in the number of hits and the number of comments. When you force yourself to do something the quality is never the same as when you want to do it.

If you want a change in your life and you want to be a better person, you need to make it happen for yourself, for your reasons, and no one else's.

Thanks for listening,

Bearstion a.k.a. Steve

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