Date Posted: 10th May 2017 at 11:04 PM

I really would like to see rice porridge in my game. I think I just have to clone the Cereal food item.

Date Posted: 10th May 2017 at 10:43 PM

Currently, I have found no career in the ModtheSims database related to academic, research, or academia. I've searched with the keyword "science" and received some results, but it isn't what I have in mind. So, I decide to make my own Adult career track, along with the Teen/Elder career.

1. Research Participant (Teen/Elder)
2. Research Aide (Teen/Elder)
3. Research Assistant (Teen/Elder)
4. Research Associate - assume Sim has gone to college or is going to college
5. Research Scientist - assume Sim attends a PhD Fellowship program
6. Assistant Professor - assume Sim graduates from grad school and has own lab and grant
7. Associate Professor - assume Sim receives tenure, no more chance cards for firings/demotions
8. Research Professor - large paycheck and big bonus
9. College Dean - large paycheck, big bonus, more days off
10. University President - very large paycheck, big bonus, one-day job

In parentheses, I mark the Teen/Elder overlap. After the hyphen, I write a little blurb about the job position.

Date Posted: 7th Oct 2016 at 2:59 PM

Much thanks to gummilutt (spelling?), I need substantial evidence to support my claims. So, I am going to collect some research papers that may be useful in an upcoming blog post. As far as I know already, the "sitting = unhealthy" idea actually comes from the School of Health and Rehabilitation building in my former university, where I used to study. So, I'm pretty sure I will get back up on that. But, let's see.

Ekelund, U., Steene-Johannessen, J., Brown, W. J., Fagerland, M. W., Owen, N., Powell, K. E., & ... Lee, I. (2016). Does physical activity attenuate, or even eliminate, the detrimental association of sitting time with mortality? A harmonised meta-analysis of data from more than 1 million men and women. Lancet (London, England), 388(10051), 1302-1310. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(16)30370-1 (a)

Howard, B. J., Hurtig-Wennlöf, A., Olsson, L. A., Nilsson, T. K., Dunstan, D. W., & Wennberg, P. (2016). Self-Reported Sitting Time, Physical Activity and Fibrinolytic and Other Novel Cardio-Metabolic Biomarkers in Active Swedish Seniors. Plos ONE, 11(9), 1-11. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0163409 (a)

Nam, J. Y., Kim, J., Cho, K. H., Choi, Y., Choi, J., Shin, J., & Park, E. (2016). Associations of sitting time and occupation with metabolic syndrome in South Korean adults: a cross-sectional study. BMC Public Health, 16943. doi:10.1186/s12889-016-3617-5 (a)

Eijsvogels, T. H., George, K. P., & Thompson, P. D. (2016). Cardiovascular benefits and risks across the physical activity continuum. Current Opinion In Cardiology, 31(5), 566-571. doi:10.1097/HCO.0000000000000321 (n/a)

Still, C. (2016). Educate Your Patients on the Health Risks of Prolonged Sitting, Encourage Small but Significant Changes in Daily Routine to Stand Up to Obesity. Bariatric Times, 13(9), 3-4. (a)

Rehabilitation Gaming, Henk Herman Nap Affiliation: Stichting Smart Homes, The Netherlands; Unai Herman Diaz-Orueta Affiliation: INGEMA, Spain. (n/a)

Vancampfort, D., Sienaert, P., Wyckaert, S., De Hert, M., Stubbs, B., & Probst, M. (2016). Sitting time, physical fitness impairments and metabolic abnormalities in people with bipolar disorder: An exploratory study. Psychiatry Research, 2427-12. doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2016.05.023 (a)

Associations between Unhealthy Diet and Lifestyle Behaviours and Increased Cardiovascular Disease Risk in Young Overweight and Obese Women. (a)

What Should Be the Target Blood Pressure in Elderly Patients With Diabetes? (n/a)

Occupational physical activity in relation to risk of cardiovascular mortality: The Japan Collaborative Cohort Study for Evaluation for Cancer Risk (JACC Study). (a)

The association between the activity profile and cardiovascular risk. (a)

Association between yogurt consumption, dietary patterns, and cardio-metabolic risk factors. (a)

Analysis of Patterns of Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior in an Urban Slum Setting in Nairobi, Kenya. (a)

Lifelong Physical Activity and Cardiovascular Autonomic Function in Midlife. (a)

All right. Those are the titles. I think I am going to read each title, write a summary, and report it here. Then, in the end, I am going to write a cohesive analysis and recommendations to my fellow gamers.

Edit: Geez. I revisited the titles and noticed a lot of them weren't available. Guess I have to go to the Interlibrary Loan to get them. I'll just say it's my "research".

Edit2: I searched a different catalog and found most of them. But I still need two.

Note to Self: Find some articles about the benefits of gaming.

Date Posted: 7th Jul 2015 at 6:15 PM

Many people in the Sims community already seem to create or use custom content, assuming that the custom content is "transgender". Well, I appreciate their contributions, as more diverse content offers more choice. However, as Sims 2 is a fantasy world, who says "transgender" has to pertain to real-life transgender dress codes? Therefore, I propose that transgender Sims can be made without much use of any custom content at all. After all, everything is in the mind, is it not?

In my current custom neighborhood, Paradise Islands, I have 3 prehistoric tribes, all of which are living during the Neolithic Age and the Agricultural Revolution. As I imagine Paradise Islands to be a world of its own, the "global population" measures up to what the 3 families can provide in offspring. Since a long Ice Age will come (3 winter seasons long), there will be frost and permafrost, and the global population will be severely limited. So, I may have to create a new population of Sims in the next generation. All the Sims have not invented clothing yet, so they all wear unisex gorilla suits to represent their primitive ape-man state. When they do wear clothing, I will assign gendered articles of clothing for males, females and the third gender. The third gender is inspired by the hijras in South Asian countries. Dress codes for men and women, boys and girls, are different, because in their minds, the articles of dress symbolize one's place in society, and everybody must respect his or her own niche in society. The dominating gender may wear jewelry, hats, accessories, cologne, and brightly colored clothes. The submissive gender may wear neutral-colored clothes and avoid wearing jewelry, hats, accessories, cologne, and brightly colored clothes. The reason why I use dominant/submissive dichotomy, not the male/female dichotomy, is that patriarchy or matriarchy must be developed over time. In practice, the first Sim of a tribe that maximizes charisma after making a friend with a member of a different tribe will recognize the power of charisma and good diplomacy and use it to tell others which land rightfully belongs to him or her. Then, the tribe as a whole must expend some resources in order to secure the property to itself (aka buying out the property as a community business). The gender of the first Sim to recognize property ownership will set the precedence for successive generations. The rationale for the distinctive dress styles is that the dominating gender should wear something attractive and bold, while the submissive gender should wear something modest and plain. Sims can cross-dress, if they choose to dress in the manner of the other gender. Sims can also recognize themselves as "third gender", which has unique clothing of its own.

So, what do you think? Love it? Hate it? Please comment below!

Date Posted: 22nd Sep 2014 at 3:32 AM

Welcome to my guestbook! Please sign so that I know you've been here! Electronic hugs and kisses and thank-yous are much appreciated! :lovestruc

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Date Posted: 22nd Sep 2014 at 3:18 AM

This thread got a bit off-topic, but that's only so because there are so many idiots who don't understand transexualism, transgenderism, the meaning of "authoritative", and DSM-V. The longer I stood to correct them, the more I got involved in their complete misunderstandings.

Regardless of what you think about or feel about the DSM-V, the DSM-V is widely regarded as an authoritative reference, because it's the best thing we have to understand mental health disorders. It's the one used in America. The other reference book is the ICD-10. They are highly similar, with very minor differences. The reference book gives us a common language. Seriously, if it weren't for the ICD-10 or DSM-5, we wouldn't be able to agree on just about any mental disorder. Yes, it's not perfect or objective. But that's just a lame excuse for not using it or not considering it authoritative. In this situation, contrary to one of the posters on that thread, I firmly contend that the DSM-5 and the ICD-10 are reputable and authoritative sources used for diagnosing people by mental health professionals or by the actuarial method.

When it comes to definitions, everybody has their (singular they) conceptions about what the word means to them or applies to their self-identity. Those people on that thread are not completely wrong about using self-identity as a way to identify who's transgender, transsexual, and whatnot. However, in a formal medical diagnosis or in a legal context, that is next to useless, as mental health professionals and law professionals have to work with commonly agreed-upon definitions. Sure, it's a compromise. But at least it provides a common language, and when you're communicating with people, using a common language with common definitions works. This is how we understand each other.

For anybody who likes to know, this is the formal definition of transsexualism, as provided on the transsexualism.org website.



The formal definition of gender dysphoria is provided, according to the DSM-V.



Basically, the characterization of people with gender dysphoria is that they feel an extreme desire to become the opposite sex (male to female or female to male). This desire may push legal, economic, and social boundaries, creating a sense of dysphoria in the individuals when their desire to become the opposite sex is not met. That's the accepted DSM-V definition of gender dysphoria. It tries to put a label that is descriptive and useful and that avoids negative connotations, like "disordered". Yes, the previous definition of "gender dysphoria" was "gender-identity disorder", but that's another story. Yes, people can have their own individualized definitions, but they are more personal and identity-forming.

Transgenderism is more or less an umbrella term for anyone who is not dressed in their biological sex at birth. Transgenderism and transsexualism are not the same thing. A transgendered person may be in fact agender or tomboyish. People with gender dysphoria become transsexuals, when they've completed their surgery or received the desired gender-altering treatment. Until that time they'd receive treatment, people with gender dysphoria may be recognized as transgender, because they are not dressed what is culturally appropriate to their sex at birth.

Ugh. I am sick and tired of complete idiots who can't get those things straight! So, I'm writing this blog post, venting out my feelings semi-privately.

Anyway . . . I think I am going to create some custom content outfits for little Sim kids supposedly living with gender dysphoria. I've read in my Abnormal Psychology textbook recently that kids living with gender dysphoria usually grow up quite accepting of their biological sex and accompanying gender, which makes treatment for them very difficult or highly controversial, because the parents don't know whether or not they'd grow up to be cis-gender or trans-gender. . . or even transsexual. But in a Sims 2 game, I think it'd be kind of fun.

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