Ad

Showing posts with label game. Show all posts
Showing posts with label game. Show all posts

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Genealogy Game for Facebook!!!

|

0
Comments
Video embed:
Orem company creates genealogy game for Facebook
January 7th, 2011 @ 10:05pm
By Keith McCord
OREM -- If you or someone you know is on Facebook, you're well aware that it's more than just looking at photos of your friends' vacations.
Playing games on social-networking sites is exploding. In 2009, more than 49 million Americans played games like Farmville and Cityville, and the numbers continue to grow.
"What we're trying to do is take an exciting medium right now ... and create real-world content that has social value for people on a long-term basis." -Jeff Wells, CEO "Family Village"
An Orem company, Funium LLC, is about to join in with a game that has a new twist. It's called "Family Village," and the CEO is Jeff Wells.
"What we're trying to do is take an exciting medium right now, which is the social-gaming environment, and create real-world content that has social value for people on a long-term basis," Wells said.
The game involves building and populating a village, similar to other Facebook games; but there are no fictional characters involved. Instead, the on-screen people are your real-life relatives.
"That's one of the keys to the game, is that we want people who play the game to be able to know more about their own ancestors," Wells said.
The idea is to bring family history research to life with vibrant 3D graphics and sound. As you play the game, the game is busily searching the internet for information pertinent to your family.
"Such as census records, maps and yearbook albums, marriage records, war records, those types of things we'll be offering up in the game, so you can go deeper and deeper, build a bigger village and have more of your family members in the game itself," Wells explained.
Screen shot of the online game, "Family Village"
Jeri Lin Bearnson, an online gamer who's been involved in the early testing of the game, has learned some new information about one of her relatives.
"In fact, just this morning I found a document that I wasn't aware of about my great-great-great grandfather. He was one of the original settlers of Salt Lake," she said.
The game located some old newspaper articles, which she was able to download and save into her game.
Ross Wolfley, the operations officer with Funium, said those who have been involved in the early testing of Family Village have really gotten into it.
"This has the potential to take someone who has never had any interest whatsoever in genealogy or family history, to be able to turn them completely around and get them very excited about it," he said.
Wells put it this way: "I had somebody tell me that doing family history was a lot like doing taxes, and I figured if I can make doing family history fun, like playing Monopoly, then we'd have a winner, which I think we do."
Family Village is in its final stages of testing and will be launched to the public in February. To get to the game, log in to Facebook then click this link.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Sarah Palin vs Obama.

Sarah Palin is not taking the celebrity role in politics, unlike Obama. Big surprise that someone actually cares about making sure that things are done right and not that they have friendships with celebrities, as well as power to "change".

"Sarah Palin is expected to make a visit next week to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in California, in what would be her first public appearance outside Alaska since resigning as governor, and the sponsors said on Wednesday the event will be closed to the media." -- Reuters.com

How would things be if Palin was President? We wouldn't be on a continual campaign with townhalls for everything. We wouldn't be dealing with a "Health Care Reform" bill that will get shoved through on 51 votes as a "budget" item and cost in more ways than just the growing deficit.

"The debate over President Obama's top domestic priority is escalating as Congress takes a month-long recess. Several lawmakers have been booed, jeered, and occasionally cheered by protesters on their home turfs at town hall meetings on health care reform." -- Fox News

Yes, if Sarah Palin was president, the reason why we are born with two ears and one mouth would be practiced and not challenged, and compassion may actually be practiced as a way of life and an example from a leader, instead of what is obviously shown in this picture CLICK HERE

Yes, if Sarah Palin was president, there wouldn't be "the blame game" after 6+ months in office. While I am sure that she is only human and far from perfect, we probably would see some humility coming from her, instead of the constant arrogance we see in the Obama aura. Can you trust a president who has every media event choreographed?

"As the Ticket reported yesterday, Obama answered questions at a town hall at Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale, Va., about protecting the uninsured, giving consumers a public option and converting medical records from paper to digital files. The White House portrayed the town-hall meeting as one in a series of public outreach events, a way for the president to keep his finger on the pulse of public opinion, and in turn to sway Americans on the complex and contentious issue.

This morning, the Washington Post is reporting that "of the seven questions the president answered, four were selected by his staff from videos submitted to the White House Web site or from those responding to a request for 'tweets.' " And the three audience members he called on randomly? The Post says "all turned out to be members of groups with close ties to his administration: the Service Employees International Union, Health Care for America Now, and Organizing for America, which is a part of the Democratic National Committee."

None of this would surprise any good White House advance staffer. Better to control the crowd, screen the questions, anticipate the topics. And, to be fair, a college campus in a Democratic county might be expected to produce friendly questioners.

The problem is that Obama himself made an issue of transparency, promising an administration that allowed the public to see what its government was doing. In fact on Jan. 22, his first full day in office, Obama issued a series of executive orders instructing government agencies to open their files, saying, "Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency." -- L.A. Times

Yes, while the vote has been cast for the current U.S. president (sounds like terminology for the "Golden Globes"), the opinions of U.S. citizens are beginning to turn. While I wish the tide was changing much more quickly, these programs that are being shoved through at the speed-of-light are sure to change the tide by the next presidential election...I hope.

I pray that our U.S. Constitution holds out for this stretch of "change". I just pray that my children won't be paying for the "change" the rest of their lives (which will be cut short because of the new health care reform).

"In 1930's Germany, the new socialist government of Adolf Hitler (NAZI National Socialist Workers' Party) began indoctrinating children in the quasi-military organization, the Hitler Youth, to inform on their parents should they overhear discussions subversive to the policies of the Leader. As the noose was tightened, local community organizers were appointed to watch their neighbors and were told to report subversive comments to the bureaucrats above them. Neighbors informed on neighbors, some for reasons of patriotism or loyalty, some from fear. A modern inquisition ensued; a terror to free thought and expression. Increasingly harsh penalties were meted out to those who dared to dissent...

The socialist governments of the Soviet Union, Fascist Italy, N. Korea, Cuba, Yugoslavia, and the People's Republic of China employed the same citizen informer techniques. Citizens of those societies were reduced to either silence or whispered discussion only among those they trusted the most. Of course none of those things would ever occur here in the land of the free. But wait...


Now on the White House website posted by Macon Phillips comes an eerily similar request for citizens to inform on their neighbors. It states,


"There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to the end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can't keep track of all of them here at the White House, we're asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov."

Read this again carefully. The government of the United States is openly asking citizens to report rumors, the contents of casual conversation, and the contents of emails. They decry the fact that they are unable to "keep track" of the communication between citizens effectively and are asking for help from informers. Of course forwarded emails would contain the electronic addresses of the sender." -- American Thinker

Time to create our own "change".