Video games are good for you!

For years video games have been criticised for making people more antisocial, overweight or
depressed. But now researchers are finding that games can actually change us for the better and
improve both our body and mind.
Games can help to develop physical skills. Pre-school children who played interactive games such
as the ones available on Wii have been shown to have improved motor skills, for example they can
kick, catch and throw a ball better than children who don’t play video games. A study of surgeons
who do microsurgery in Boston found that those who played video games were 27 per cent faster
and made 37 per cent fewer errors than those who didn't. Vision is also improved, particularly telling
the difference between shades of grey. This is useful for driving at night, piloting a plane or reading
X-rays.
Games also benefit a variety of brain functions, including decision-making. People who play action-
based games make decisions 25 per cent faster than others and are no less accurate, according to
one study. It was also found that the best gamers can make choices and act on them up to six times
a second, four times faster than most people. In another study by researchers from the University of
Rochester in New York, experienced gamers were shown to be able to pay attention to more than
six things at once without getting confused, compared with the four that most people can normally
keep in mind. Additionally, video games can also reduce gender differences. Scientists have found
that women who play games are better able to mentally manipulate 3D objects.
There is also evidence that gaming can help with psychological problems. At the University of
Auckland in New Zealand, researchers asked 94 young people diagnosed with depression to play a
3D fantasy game called SPARX and in many cases, the game reduced symptoms of depression
more than conventional treatment. Another research team at Oxford University found that playing
Tetris shortly after exposure to something very upsetting – in the experiment, a film of traumatic
scenes of injury and death was used – can actually prevent people having disturbing flashbacks.
The effects are not always so positive, however. Indiana University researchers carried out brain
scans on young men and found evidence that violent games can alter brain function after as little as
a week of play, affecting regions in the brain associated with emotional control and causing more
aggressive behaviour in the player. But Daphne Bavelier, one of the most experienced researchers
in the field, says that the violent action games that often worry parents most may actually have the
strongest beneficial effect on the brain. In the future, we may see many treatments for physical and
neurological problems which incorporate the playing of video games.
The Passenger

Iggy Pop

I am a passenger
And I ride and I ride
I ride through the city's backside
I see the stars come out of the sky
Yeah, they're bright in a hollow sky
You know it looks so good tonight

I am the passenger
I stay under glass
I look through my window so bright
I see the stars come out tonight
I see the bright and hollow sky
Over the city's ripped-back sky
And everything looks good tonight

Singin' la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la, la-la

Get into the car

We'll be the passenger
We'll ride through the city tonight
See the city's ripped backsides
We'll see the bright and hollow sky
We'll see the stars that shine so bright
The sky was made for us tonight

Oh, the passenger

How, how he rides
Oh, the passenger
He rides and he rides
He looks…
Ain't No Sunshine

Bill Withers

Ain't no sunshine when she's gone

It's not warm when she's away
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone
And she's always gone too long
Anytime she goes away

Wonder this time where she's gone

Wonder if she's gone to stay
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone
And this house just ain't no home
Anytime she goes away

And I know, I know, I know, I know,

I know, I know, I know, I know, I know
I know, I know, I know, I know, I know
I know, I know, I know, I know, I know
I know, I know, I know, I know, I know
I know, I know,
Hey, I oughtta leave young thing alone
But ain't…
Chocolate Jesus

Tom Waits

Well, I don't go to church on Sunday

Don't get on my knees to pray
Don't memorize the books of the bible
I got my own special way

I know Jesus loves me

Maybe just a little bit more
Fall down on my knees every Sunday
At Zerelda Lee's candy store

Well, I've got to be a chocolate Jesus

Make me feel good inside
Got to be a chocolate Jesus
Keep me satisfied

Well, I don't want no Abba Zabba

Don't want no Almond Joy
There ain't nothing better
Suitable for this boy

Well, it's the only thing that can pick me up

It's better than a cup of gold
See, only a chocolate Jesus
Can satisfy my soul

When the weather gets rough and it's whiskey in the shade
It's best to wrap your savior up in cellophane
He flows…
A
||: Am | Am | Am | Dm |

| E7 | Am | E7 | Am :||5x

B
|| Dm | Dm | Dm | Am |

| Dm | Dm | E7 | E7 ||

A repeat until end.

My mother told me before she passed away,
Said, "Son, when I'm gone, don't forget to pray
'Cause there'll be hard times, Lord those hard times
-
Who knows better than I?"

Well I soon found out just what she meant

When I had to pawn my clothes just to pay the
rent;
Talkin' 'about hard times, hard times
Who knows better than I?

I had a woman, Lord, who was always around,

But when I lost my money, she put me down.
Talkin' 'bout hard times, you know those hard
times,
Yeah, Lord, who knows better than I?

Lord, one of these days, there'll be no sorrow

When I pass away,
And no more hard times,
Yeah, yeah, who knows better than I?
Yeah, Lord, who knows better than I?