Posts Tagged ‘government’
Sega Dreamcasts Cause of Death?
What ever happened to that game console we used to call the Sega Dreamcast? Why did it suddenly disappear after 2 years of production? Was the government involved in brainwashing our minds like in George Orwell’s 1984? All these questions will be answered as I investigate the Dreamcast’s devastating decline.
Introduction
In the beginning it was good. Sega released a solid piece of hardware called the Dreamcast that was easy to develop games for and kicked the competition’s rear ends in terms of graphics and sound. It entered the market with a strong start, selling quite well upon its release. Although the Dreamcast lacked 3rd party support, Sega’s games were aplenty and the very best in quality. Sega seemed to be heading in the right direction, but two years later the company abruptly discontinued the Dreamcast.
There were 3 main causes to the downfall of the Dreamcast.
1. Piracy Issues
The Dreamcast had a serious hardware flaw which gave it the ability to play copied games and downloaded ones from the internet. Many people chose to play the pirated versions of the games rather than shell out $40-$50 at a local gaming store for the real thing. As a result, Sega was losing money on the games that its developers had spent hours designing. I call that a sad waste of talent.
2. Loss of Faith in Sega Brand
Before the Dreamcast, there was the Sega Saturn, an absolute failure. At that time, Sega was releasing new add-ons and consoles so often that nobody wanted to buy the Saturn because they feared Sega would introduce a new console and cut off game development with the current one. They were right. Sega soon released the Dreamcast and rather than gain customers, it gained a bad reputation. The media attacked Sega and denounced the Dreamcast with suspicions and doubts. The trust that Sega had once set up was now broken and people lost faith in Sega’s ability to produce game systems.
3. Overhype of the PS2
The #1 selling game console in 1999 was the Sony PSOne, so naturally people were hyped up about PS2. I definitely was. PS2 was the buzz in the gaming industry. It was said to have more superior graphics, sound, and games than any of the consoles at the time. Meanwhile, the Dreamcast was already out in stores and shared similar hardware specs as the PS2, which would not be released until one year later. People overlooked the Dreamcast because they were all so overhyped about PS2 when really the two had many similarities.
Edwin Lee is the chief editor/owner of the Gimme Cheats E-zine at http://www.gimmecheats.net
Taking Back Christmas
John Grisham wrote a book called SKIPPING CHRISTMAS. Amazon.com reports: “John Grisham turns a satirical eye on the overblown ritual of the festive holiday season, and the result is Skipping Christmas, a modest but funny novel about the tyranny of December 25….”
My friend Dessa Byrd Reed, author of the poetry books THE BUTTERFLY TOUCH and SEVEN BRIDGES, prefers nontraditional holidays. She wrote in THE DESERT WOMAN that as a widow she often spends time with friends over the holidays, take trips, or simply goes out to eat on Christmas (not necessarily turkey). It’s easy to see why, especially if you grew up with traditional Christmas expectations of warmth, family, and usually, expressions of faith. Christmas is under attack in this country. I think it was my high school AP Government class that asked us about cases involving removing Nativity scenes from public places. At the risk of revealing my ripe old age of 32, that was in 1990.
First we had the trend of saying Xmas for Christmas. Then Christmas sales started way back before Halloween. Now, the holiday season is more about parties, overeating and drinking, and commercialism than expressing spirituality, in particular and especially the Christian faith.
The secularists don’t much like church, whether because of parents who used religion as an excuse for too-strict disciplines (or hatred and prejudice), drug trips in the ’60s, or fanaticism (never mind that Christ welcomed everyone). This secularist attitude got wonderful treatment in a recent episode of “Jack & Bobby” co-created by Brad Meltzer, bestselling author and a friend.
When we try to kick Christ out of a holiday named for Him, our society has a problem.
What’s been the result of using the euphemism “holiday” and banning the Nativity? Congress may not be making any law about the free expression of religion, but the elite brain trust is acting like the Church of England kicking out the Puritans. What’s the result? Clashes over religion. Holiday depression. Loneliness around the holidays, especially in nursing homes. Suicide.
What’s lost among the way? The spirit of giving. Warmth and compassion. Communion with family, friends and neighbors. And yes, that pesky expression of faith the secularists on the far left moan about. Ever notice that when it comes to their free expression of faith or lack thereof, they scream “racism” or “[fill in the blank] phobia” whenever Bill O’Reilly or anyone for that matter dares to pray or remind them that there is a God beyond their ideology? They accuse Christians of proselytizing but don’t hesitate to lecture on what is and what is not offensive today. President George Bush is mocked for his faith, and Senator John Kerry, a Roman Catholic, seems to have his usual difficulty sticking to a point on thorny social issues. No wonder the conventional wisdom was always not to discuss religion and politics, and for whatever God’s sake, don’t mix the two (even though it happens time and again), and let’s just all get along and sing carols at Christmas.
It seems that people are rebelling. The success of “Passion of the Christ,” the Da Vinci Code and the Left Behind Series, as well as “Joan of Arcadia,” “7th Heaven,” and “Touched by an Angel” indicates a movement in popular culture.
Instead of skipping Christmas, let’s take back Christmas in our homes and families. Unless your family members and friends are Orthodox Jews or Muslims, you can celebrate Christmas with them.
After all, Judaism and Islam recognize Jesus Christ as a prophet. Every religion celebrates the spirit of giving, from Kabbalah to Hinduism. We all agree we have too much stuff, too much food (as our overweight society proves), too much alcohol, too little kindness, patience and respect. We all want connection, love, belonging, and a place in the manger.
Top ten tips for taking back Christmas:
1) Make homemade gifts. Skip the malls. You don’t have to be Martha Stewart to give something from the heart.
2) Invite friends or relatives to dinner instead of trying to give expensive gifts that no one uses anyway.
3) Don’t roll your eyes when someone says, “Peace on earth, goodwill toward men.” And for Goddess’ sake, don’t use the “men” part to launch an anti-male rant.
4) Whatever your faith, speak up and say that Christian-bashing (or bashing of any kind) offends you, especially around the Christmas season.
5) Get together with friends and family and make care packages for homeless shelters,nursing homes, etc. Make that your gift to each other.
6) Call those friends or relatives you usually avoid talking to. Hearing about your old college roommate’s third marriage might not thrill you, especially since you can’t get a word in edgewise, but it’s a good way to give of your time, something we all feel we don’t have enough of but make for friends anyway.
7) If you’re just dying to cook that turkey dinner but your parents or mother-in-law insist on doing it THEIR way, give in. This is not a “me me me” time.
Rent or watch “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” Linus’ recitation of the Bible and the gang’s rendition of “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” could make even Scrooge smile. And even Lucy van Pelt admits, “Charlie Brown is a blockhead, but he did get a nice tree.”
9) Take quiet time to think, meditate, and yes, pray. Consider it the mental vacation to Tahiti you can’t take because the family has camped out at your house.
10) Appreciate your children’s gifts, especially the homemade macaroni ornaments. The first gift of Christmas was a child.
We’ve taken back our streets. We’ve taken back the night. Let’s all take back Christmas, and we won’t have to skip it. But if you do feel like skipping Christmas to restore your faith, do it. The gift of one less stressed grumpy person around the holidays is priceless.
Kristin Johnson is co-author of Christmas Cookies Are For Giving: Stories, Recipes and Tips for Making Heartwarming Gifts (ISBN: 0-9723473-9-9). A downloadablemedia kit is available at our Web site, www.christmascookiesareforgiving.com, or e-mail the publisher (info@tyrpublishing.com) to receive a printed media kit and sample copy of the book. More articles available at http://www.bakingchristmascookies.com
Could a Non-Profit Structure Be Right for Your Business?
If you have a business idea, or an idea for a service for your community, there’s one decision you must make early on: are you going to structure your project as a for-profit business, or as a non-profit corporation?
Now, it may be that you already have a clear idea about this. Some business ideas are clearly “for profit”. For example, if you want to sell insurance, or stocks, that’s undoubtedly a for-profit business. On the other hand, if you want to raise money for research into a cure for juvenile diabetes, that project will best be served by forming a non-profit corporation.
One difference between for-profit and non-profit organizations is that grants funding is generally reserved for non-profits. Some grants are available to for-profits (and to individuals), such as government grants to promote affordable housing or job creation in economically depressed neighborhoods. Most grants, however, and particularly grants from foundations, are given only to non-profit corporations designated by the Internal Revenue Service as 501(c)3 corporations.
In many cases it is not so easy to determine into which category a business idea should fall. One question to ask is: will my planned project deliver a service to clients? A beauty shop located in Beverly Hills, catering to wealthy women, is certainly a service business. The clients, however, are not needy. They can easily pay for the service without assistance.
So the second question to ask is: will the project assist clients who are in need? A beauty shop located in a Medicaid-supported nursing home will serve clients in genuine need – clients who could not pay for this service from their own resources.
What are the benefits of a for-profit business model? Well, first of all, the owner of the for-profit business holds personal (or corporate) title to the business and all its assets. Any money that is made by the business can be used according to the discretion of the owner. The owner can borrow against the business, or sell it and keep the profits. When the owner dies, he or she can leave the business and/or its assets to his or her heirs.
For-profit businesses exist not just to support the owner, but also to build wealth. So if you have a business idea that has the potential to build wealth for you, I recommend you stick with the for-profit business model. For example, if you have designed a widget that is apt to revolutionize its market niche, and you hold the patent, by all means produce and sell it through a for-profit business. That widget could make you rich, while offering a great benefit to your customers.
Does this mean that non-profits can’t earn money? Not at all. In fact, I always encourage my non-profit clients to look for ways to become self-supporting. Many non-profit agencies generate income through contracting with other organizations to provide services. Other agencies operate businesses such as thrift stores.
The difference is that the income generated by a non-profit organization always belongs to the non-profit agency, not to the organization’s founder. If the non-profit organization decides to cease operations, its assets, by law, must be donated to another non-profit agency.
While a non-profit organization may not generate wealth for its founder, a non-profit can be a vehicle that provides a very good ongoing income. Many people create non-profits to do work they love, and to create a job for themselves. The founder of a non-profit organization can become the agency’s Executive Director, and draw a salary that is comparable to salaries in the for-profit sector. In some cases, the founder may choose to occupy another staff position, and turn ongoing management over someone else who functions as Executive Director.
There is also a third possibility, one that I call a dual for-profit/non-profit structure. If you have a business that provides a service that could potentially be made available to clients in need, this structure may work for you. For example, if you teach painting, you may want to charge some clients a high fee for art lessons. But you could also teach painting to disadvantaged children, and use grant funds to reimburse yourself for the work.
In order to use this structure, you could join forces with an existing non-profit, such as the YMCA, and assist them in writing a grant to underwrite art lessons. You could also set up a new non-profit agency devoted to providing arts education to needy children, enlist interested people to operate the agency, and contract with that agency to be paid for teaching. This dual for-profit/non-profit structure can work for a variety of different businesses.
Jillian Coleman Wheeler is a Grants and Business Consultant to businesses and non-profit organizations. Her website, http://www.GrantMeRich.com, is a resource site for entrepreneurs, grant writers and consultants, and offers online training for grants consultants. She is also author of The New American Land Rush: How to Buy Real Estate with Government Money. For more information, visit: http://www.NewAmericanLandRush.com
