Check out this post from the Jodie and Julie at Food Storage Made Easy. If you aren't familiar with their website, this is a good time to check it out. This is one of the best websites out their for those new to the food storage scene.
Baking powder is a real must for baking, and yet its storage life is quite short. Store the basic ingredients, baking soda and cream of tartar (both of which have very long storage lives) and you are set for years of baking to come.
Another great site is Safely Gathered In, which recently posted on this same topic.
Friday, December 10, 2010
What You Can Learn from Playing Video Games
I had an interesting conversation with a fellow at work yesterday about what you can learn from video games. Now, I've always thought video games are great for teaching eye-hand coordination. It worked well with my youngest who had real problems in that area. But apparently, there is more that you can learn.
One thing my young friend mentioned is that you learn not to panic. Suddenly, a raptor jumps you from out of nowhere; what do you do! Apparently, long time gamers learn to not panic. Another skill is to anticipate possible scenarios and plan for them, or planning strategies. Thirdly, another skill is to learn to deal with tedium as in "grinding out rep", and "farming". So, my friend thinks that all that time spent playing World of Warcraft is good survival training.
I can see the value in learning to not panic, but strategic thinking is best developed in handling real world events. In real life, your strategy cannot include running through your opponent, and rezzing if things don't go as planned. Indeed, if your main skills are game related, and you are a computer potato, you are not going to be physically prepared.
It's possible that in a bad situation where you need to direct younger folk who are clueless about real life, drawing upon gaming analogies can at least help them understand the situation, and why you need them to follow a certain strategy. For example, you can tell them it's like doing a boss raid where you have to do everything just right, or the raid will wipe. And if they complain that you don't trust them, let them know that all the tedious little jobs you are giving them to do is "grinding rep" with your faction, or they are "farming" for mats.
If you have kids that spend all their leisure time in the cyber world, you may need to offer them a "quest" and help them apply their "skills" in the real world.
One thing my young friend mentioned is that you learn not to panic. Suddenly, a raptor jumps you from out of nowhere; what do you do! Apparently, long time gamers learn to not panic. Another skill is to anticipate possible scenarios and plan for them, or planning strategies. Thirdly, another skill is to learn to deal with tedium as in "grinding out rep", and "farming". So, my friend thinks that all that time spent playing World of Warcraft is good survival training.
I can see the value in learning to not panic, but strategic thinking is best developed in handling real world events. In real life, your strategy cannot include running through your opponent, and rezzing if things don't go as planned. Indeed, if your main skills are game related, and you are a computer potato, you are not going to be physically prepared.
It's possible that in a bad situation where you need to direct younger folk who are clueless about real life, drawing upon gaming analogies can at least help them understand the situation, and why you need them to follow a certain strategy. For example, you can tell them it's like doing a boss raid where you have to do everything just right, or the raid will wipe. And if they complain that you don't trust them, let them know that all the tedious little jobs you are giving them to do is "grinding rep" with your faction, or they are "farming" for mats.
If you have kids that spend all their leisure time in the cyber world, you may need to offer them a "quest" and help them apply their "skills" in the real world.
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