The Better: As most of my US readers will know, the Pope is making a his rounds in the United States to inspire the US based Catholics. His visit has been full of meetings with followers, some good and some bad. One of the Pope’s positive meetings this week was the mass of the faithful in New York. Where would one find the devoted of New York? Why Yankee Stadium of course! Pope Benedict XVI was greeted by 60,000 of his flock in Yankee Stadium Sunday. One of the Pope’s goals for this trip is to try and retain followers to the religion that is so wrought with scandal. The traditionalist Pope spoke on abortion, scandal and encouraged young people to join the priesthood. He also spoke part of the service in Spanish to reach out to the thousands of immigrants who have helps raise the Catholic population in the United States.

The Worse: In one of the most shocking scandals in recent years, the Catholic church was accused with hiding the molestation of multiple young children that happened at the hands of priests across the United States. The strength of one person, a single man who spoke up, gave so many like him the courage to speak up as well. On Thursday, the Pope met with a group of molestation victims—male and female—and got the chance to listen to their stories. Some told the Pope about the dear they had. Others expressed their anger. Some just cried. To each the Pope responded, giving words of hope and encouragement.

While some hold this as a first step towards healing for those who suffered at the hands of these priests. I believe this is just the church’s way of trying to keep the followers they have wronged. Catholicism has lost the power it used to have over its followers, and I really think it will see a slow decline as time goes on. Catholicism built its power on keeping things hidden and making changes. The traditional view that Pope Benedict XVI is known for saw its hay day many moons ago, and I don’t think it’s coming back. This US visit is just for appearances.

Positive: The University of Florida (go gators) is updating its bus system in a two hundred thousand dollar improvement plan. The money will go towards installing GPS systems in all of Gainesville’s (the city where the university is located) buses. This will allow students and faculty who ride the bus system to track the buses, eliminating rushing out of the house only to find that a bus is late. Student government for the university believes that this will help students to be more informed and will help lessen drunk driving. Also included in the renovation will be LCD screens in areas like the student union to show students where buses are, eliminating the need to wait outside in the dark.

Negative: Many of you know that I am a student and an intern in a classroom in West Palm Beach, so when I hear news about students, it really effects me. The stories I absolutely hate to hear, are like the two that follow. The first is a copy-cat crime that will sound familiar to you. As you may know, a group of students in Polk county Florida brutally beat a girl and recorded it. Those students are arrested. Well, a group of middle schoolers in Indiana decided to duplicate the Florida beatings. A group of tween girls got together and beat up a 12 year old in a warehouse parking lot and then promptly posted the footage on Photobucket. The victim only had minor injuries. Since they are juveniles, I doubt they will face much punishment, but come on. How unintelligent do you have to be to tape and post a crime you commit? Are we teaching our children to be so dumb?

In addition to this, an eighth grader in Kentucky decided to harm a classmate. Doesn’t sound too unusual right? Wrong. This student decided to place broken peanut pieces into a classmate’s lunch box when he knew that his classmate was highly allergic. Thankfully the student did not eat any of the peanuts, and was okay. It is scary to think that something as simple as a peanut could end a young life. Let’s all be grateful that there was no fatalities in this case.

Yay!: Two positive notes today; my graduation speech was approved and Spielberg has made a game! Two wonderful things that make me every so happy. Now about this game, Steven Spielberg has partnered with EA Games (Electronic Arts) to create the first in a triple threat of Wii games. The first game is entitled Boom Blox, and harkens back to the pre-video game time. The game involves large towers of stones. Players then use their Wii remotes to zero in on weak points in the towers and then toss various objects at the stones to topple the tower. Players can throw all kinds of objects, from baseballs to bowling balls and will see a response similar to what would happen in real life. This realism is thanks to the minds at EA who made sure each object had the same digital physics that it would have in real life. While the game sounds dull from text description, the graphics are explosive and almost 300 levels keep you entertained.

Sigh: I have never hidden by feelings about Second Life, and this will be yet another expression of displeasure (so Second Lifers can leave now). Second Life has been increasingly incorporated into our corporate lives. When there was a Congressional subcommittee meeting in Second Life, I shook my head but kept my peace. Now it is really starting to trouble me. IBM, one of Second Life’s most connected companies, has begun hosting private sections of Second Life. These private sections will be places where IBM employees can go to attend meetings and discuss work without worrying about leaking company secrets onto a third party server. More than 6,000 IBM employees are reported to have Second Life avatars.

Ugh: I understand that IBM would have some Second Life geeks among their ranks (and plenty of D&D fans too), but isn’t this taking it to an extreme? We have webcams and teleconferencing, why do we need to sit in virtual boardrooms? Please, Please, Please, let’s conduct our business in the real world, not your Second Life. Satisfaction in Second Life doesn’t mean satisfaction in this life.