What is Art and Computers and Stuff

What is Art?

I found the definition of art given by the art students to be enlightening. I agree with the definition given, in terms of it being a form of expression. The example of the pen in the table was interesting, and if other weird things are considered art, such as that body exhibit in Vegas, then there's no reason why the pen in the table shouldn't be art.

I do wonder about the appreciation of art. I think a lot of it revolves around expert opinion, and forcing that opinion onto others. For example, since I was little I have been told time and time again that the Mona Lisa is a great work of art, and for me to question that would be infamy. Not that I would ever question the greatness of the Mona Lisa or whatever messages it might be hiding ...

What is a computer?
"A computer is a machine that manipulates data according to a list of instructions."
That's the definition from wikipedia. I figured that since I was going to look it up, I might as well include it here. When I think of the computer I think of Turing's definition, where the machine consists of a tape and some adder or something, I forget. I think the point was that if you had a tape of infinite size, you could compute anything. My tape is faulty, so don't quote me on that.


Eat Your Veggies
My idea for a serious game is diet related. A user creates an avatar, resembling the user's appearance, kind of like the Miis in the Wii. The user then specifies a strict diet to be followed by the user. This can consist of only Chinese food, fast food, vegeterian, red meats only, raw vegetables, etc. The appearance and health of the avatar would then change over time based on the diet picked by the user. This program would answer the question of, "If I ate burgers 24/7, how would that affect my health?" Or, "Could I die from eating tacos every other day?"

A user which specifies a healthy diet, would see the avatar lose or gain weight to an optimal point. Instead, a user who specifies a diet of just fast food, would make the avatar gain weight. Then again, the result will vary based on each user's age, metabolism, health history, and family history. The user can then have fun exploring how his/her appearance would change based on a specific diet. As an advanced mode, the avatar would suffer from diseases based on the diet and its effects on the avatar's health. A user could then bear witness to seeing his avatar die of diabetes because of a diet consisting of Oreos and Frappucinos. Similarly, a user preparing for a marathon could experiment with various carb loading diets, and analyze how this affects the avatar's appearance and overall health.