How would you like to wake in the morning and be the conscience of the world?

Over the last several years, Maxis has been creating countless simulation games including SimCity, The Sims, and Spore, portraying almost anything from managing a city, a family, and even the evolution of an alien race, respectively. When will Maxis attempt a slightly more controversial title, such as SimStandards?

SimStandards could be a game putting the players in charge of a large group of people, be it a city, country, or perhaps even an entire planet, to create their very own ideal simciety. The player will try to teach what is right and what is wrong to the inhabitants with various methods including what is taught in schools, what the media tells the public, the content of various religions, and, of course, the internet. Variations will occur between groups of people based on region, depending on what they have access to and settings would be available for what previous generations have deemed important. For example, the player can decide the teachings of religion should be more important to their SimCitizens than what is said in school, or to ignore rules all together and pledge total anarchy.

The game will always have a random number of residents that will disobey what is "normal" in the player's SimCiety in order to create disorder, be the norm thinking in a scientific, rational way, or trying to be as drunk and bumbling as possible. It's all up to the player to decide what happens. The point of the game is to try and determine the most appropriate way of dealing with the public at hand and how to have them follow your ideals, while observing what is created and destroyed along the way. Eventually, "hero" characters can be unlocked that serve as a major influence on the SimCiety, be it a well spoken inhabitant, a celebrity of sorts, or a trusted politicion. Some parts of the game could end up somewhat similar to SimCity, but instead of creating a metropolis, the player will program the SimCitizens that will build and run cities themselves. Perhaps, the people won't even build large cities at all. Such a place could stray away from their principles or possibly are not civilized enought to construct such a place. Again, the player determines what sort of world can be created.

The game could even include sub-populations in charge of politics and economics. Players can explore the effects of a difference in values between those in charge and those under control. One could set the public to be caring and charitable, while those in charge of governing the masses might be as ethically challenged as possible, or those in charge of business might have the best intentions for everyone while the rest of the population is greedy and hold on to what they have.

Since this would be a Maxis game, there are no limits to how long a SimCiety can develop and flourish. On the other hand, a world full of rambunctious hooligans might cause the destruction of everyone and everything. SimStandards could be a great game for anyone who has ever wondered "what if people were this way?..."

One Billion Dollars

Is it necessary for one to make millions of dollars a year? At what point is an extra bonus no longer important and salaries creep into blatant excess? In 2006, the US Census Bureau determined the average household income to be $66,570. More than 98% of the population made less than $250,000, with the remainder taking in anything above that amount. Many have heard the statistic claiming that 99% of the world's wealth is in the hands of the richest 1%; CEOs, movie stars, athletes, and baron's of industry regularly rake in millions of dollars annually. In 2008, Lawrence J Ellison, of Oracle Corporation, ranked first in Forbes' list of top earning CEOs, with a total compensation of $192.92 million. At a salary of $100 million, CEOs can gather $1 billion in just 10 short years. Even making a much more modest $20 million per year, a person can see $100 million in just five years. So what can 300 times the national average income buy in just one year?*

-22,642 Hot 'N Ready's from Little Caesar's ($5.3o)
-13,954 boxes of Honey Nut Cheerios ($4.30)
-18,056 gallons of milk ($3.60)
-7,143 cartons of eggs ($2.10)
-15,476 loaves of bread ($4.20)
-38,095 boxes of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese ($2.10)
-45,045 2 liters of Coca Cola ($2.20)
-11,364 bags of Lays potato chips ($4.40)
-5,975 lbs of Starbucks Coffee beans ($15.90)
-27,273 doughnuts ($1.10)
-81,481 cans of Campbells Chunky soup ($2.70)
-94 Sharp Aquos 65" 1080p LCD HDTVs ($4,238.90)
-64 Bose Lifestyle Home Theater systems ($3178.90)
-316 iPhone 3G's, unsubsidized ($634.90)

-169 Apple 17" Macbook Pros ($2966.90)
-148 Maxwell leather sofa sleepers ($6132.10)
-137 Serta Perfect Day Calm Harbor King mattresses + bed frames ($5828.90)
-75 Chevy Malibu's ($26,670)
-11 Dodge Viper SRT10 coupes ($87,340)
-2 Rolls-Royce Phantoms ($419,750)
-1 Bugatti Veyron ($1.7 million)
-7 average suburban homes ($200,000)
-3 beach houses in the Hamptons ($1.2 million)
-40 years college tuition at a private university ($25,143)
-24 lives saved with open heart surgery (around $100,000)

After totaling all of these costs, more than $2 million of the starting $20 million is still left over. This is also only a single year! Is it truly necessary for any individual to have a salary so massive, let alone one ten times as large?

*prices are approximate price per items with 6% sales tax

Census: http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/032007/hhinc/new06_000.htm
CEO Pay: http://www.forbes.com/lists/2008/12/lead_bestbosses08_CEO-Compensation_Rank.html
Average college cost 08-09: http://www.collegeboard.com/student/pay/add-it-up/4494.html

who is "the man" pt 2

(continued from previous post)
Why must we be slaves of the financial system? Thousands of years ago, man traded one good for another until the barter system was no longer practical. Gold and other precious metals ushered in the monetary system, making transactions far simpler. Paper money and semiprecious coins later became common place to further simplify commerce. However, the introduction of finance and banking has made economic activity needlessly complicated. One of the most obvious downsides to currency is value. One could say that three pigs always equals one cow when bartering, yet the same does not hold true to paper money. Due to globalization, inflation, and other economic circumstances, values can shift dramatically. While an item may cost x dollars today, there is no guarantee of that in even just a year. Should we trust our income to money that fluctuates so much, let alone something that has been declining since World War II? Banks complicate currency further with interest, by demanding it on loans and offering it on accounts. The federal reserve is the highest source of money in the United States and can give money to banks, with interest. Here lies the problem; how can it ask for interest? If a set principle of money has been released by the reserve, where do the funds for the interest come from? It does not exist. The first few minutes of the movie Zeitgeist: Addendum address this thought further.

Recently, the problems of the banks and their practices have begun to be exposed and is having devastating effects on the economy. The news is always filled with numbers, detailing how many people have been laid off, and how much federal money is being used to keep industries alive. The internet has produced a game that takes an initial light-hearted approach to these events, but ultimately prove to be chilling and unnerving.

http://www.tiltfactor.org/layoff/

Addition: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,28124,25212624-643,00.html
This article mentions how the federal reserve is to print an extra $300 billion. Major US online news corporations made no mention of this.

Why must we settle for these conditions? Why must we let "the man" control us and shape our lives?

who is "the man"?

Kids always talk about fighting "the man". To many, it is believed that he is conformity and obeying the rules. Many argue he is the one trying to hold us down, keeping us from achieving childhood dreams and life long goals. Perhaps he is the invisible hand, guiding our daily lives, telling us what to feel and believe. I would suggest that "the man" achieves all of those functions, but he is much more powerful and dangerous than his singular classification would suggest. To me, the man is the media. The man is society. The man is not a man at all; the man is a series of systems we are all victims of.

We are all enslaved by the limitations of our senses and what we perceive of the physical world. Many philosophers have talked of how what we see, what we hear, and what we touch can not be trusted. Plato described what we believe to be consciousness as a cave that all of us are trapped in, completely unaware of whats really out there and seemingly unable to ever escape to it. We are unable to see the truth in anything. Media can be used in place of the cave in a more modern interpretation of this allegory. There isn't much truth to what we see on the news, what we hear on the radio.
Stories are reported in the effort of attracting an audience. It is impossible to be able to conceive every possible event worldwide on a daily basis and therefore, news must be condensed into what the majority will be willing to know about. What events are left out due to this filtering and what impact does that have? At the same time, could there be stories that are sifted out by hand, not meant to be seen by the general public? The man has managed to limit knowledge of the masses.

The man tells everyone to go to school, go to college, go to work, and then go six feet under. The only reason for a step to exist is in support of the next. People are raised thinking that doing good in school, leads to a good college, which leads to a good job. After all that hard work, you die. An infamous online video illustrates how pointless some apparent significance is:

Did you ever wonder why we're here?...
Seriously though, why are we out here? As far as I can tell, it's just a boxed canyon in the middle of nowhere. The only reason why we set up a red base over here is because they have a blue base over there, and the only reason why they have a blue base over there is because we have a red base over here. Even if we pull out today, and they take over this base, then they'll have two bases in a boxed canyon.
Whoopty fucking doo.

Where is the "enjoying life" step? Is the purpose of life to work and die? Is this a rebirth of sorts of the Norse belief that everyone is born to fight and die? I fail to see the use of this sort of life. I recall having memories of things that were pleasurable to me. My mind is rich with recollections of my first toys, of art classes in school, of the wonderful things that love has done for me. I don't have memories of how well I did in the fifth grade. I see no point in retaining thoughts of that kind for an obsolete step in my "life". I once received a fortune that read "wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants". To me, a "good job" does not mean happiness and should not be the priority of one's life; rather, it should be a tool that supports a priority.

things people our age know, but the majority of the next generation don't

time for movies now. this isn't a list about things from the '90s, as quite a few movies are from the 80's and earlier. like the last list, there's no specific order to this list:
The Lion King
Toy Story
The Iron Giant
Ghostbusters
Black Sheep
Tommy Boy
Predator
Alien
Home Alone
The Terminator
The Naked Gun
Spy Hard
Men in Black
The Nutty Professor
Starship Troopers
Wayne’s World
Cool Runnings
There’s Something About Mary
Ace Ventura
ET
The Waterboy
Office Space
American Pie
Gremlins
Police Academy
Back to the Future
Pee Wee’s Big Adventure
Saving Private Ryan
Forest Gump
Jurassic Park
Braveheart
Scream
Edward Scissor Hands
Ferris Beuller’s Day Off
Big
The Karate Kid
Robocop
Spaceballs
Die Hard
Beetlejuice
Speed
Fight Club
Beavis & Butt-Head Do America
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
Dumb and Dumber
Billy Madison
GoldenEye
Independence Day
The Rock
The Mask
Space Jam
Good Burger
Liar Liar
National Lampoon’s ____ Vacation movies

Things people our age know, but the majority of the next generation don't

today, i'm starting out this list with TV shows that all of us grew up with, probably don't remember, but still have a few memories of. if you can't remember them, just go to youtube to look them up...if you didn't already just to watch some of them. Enjoy!
1. Gumby
2. Hey Arnold
3. Double Dare
4. Legends of the Hidden Temple
5. Are You Afraid of the Dark?
6. Beast Wars
7. Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers
8. All That
9. Kenan & Kel
10.Rugrats
11.The Angry Beavers
12.Ren and Stimpy
• “Happy Happy, Joy Joy”
13.KaBlam!
• Action League Now! Starring:
• the flesh, he's super strong and super naked
• thunder girl, she flies like thunder
• stinky diver, with an attitude as bad as his odor
• and melt man, with the power to.....melt!
• Prometheus and Bob
• Sniz and Fondue
• Life with Loopy
• The Off-Beats
14.Animaniacs / Pinky and the Brain
15.Dexter’s Laboratory
• The Justice Friends
• Major Glory, ValHallen, and the Infragable Krunk
• Dial M for Monkey
16.Johnny Bravo
17.Rocko’s Modern Life
18.Cow and Chicken / I am Weasel
19.Doug
20.Aaahh!!! Real Monsters
21.2 Stupid Dogs