Unfettered Letters

Losing weight with Wii

While I agree with Debra Sapp-Yarwood (6/21, Opinion, “Game’s focus on body mass is not healthy”) that body mass index is not a perfect indicator of health, I think that it is the best indicator that we have at this time.

I am under no illusion that I am fit. I know that I need help with my weight. I look at people who are not fat and wonder how they have the time to go to a gym. But that doesn’t matter, because I am scared of going to a gym for fear of being ridiculed.

I have tried to do things at home, but I lose motivation and start to slack off. That’s why the Wii Fit is the best thing that’s ever happened to my health. Sure, I was upset when it told me I was obese — upset not at the Wii, but at me. The Wii has given me a goal to work for and someone to help me do it. And there is enough variety that I stay interested.

In the few weeks that I have had Wii Fit, my BMI has dropped, I have more energy, and I feel better about myself.

Richard Burns
Independence

Violent video games

Jonathan Last tries to rationalize away the corrupt “entertainment” of the “Grand Theft Auto IV” video game (5/19, Opinion, “It’s just one more form of entertainment”). To use the excuse of the second law of thermodynamics to justify our culture spiraling downward is ignorant.

We are not the universe. We are humans who have a choice to say yes or no to corrupt forms of entertainment. When we choose to say yes to the sick enjoyment of virtual killings of innocent bystanders and the theft of other people’s property in the video games out today, we are choosing to aid in the descent of our culture.

When we say no to these forms of entertainment and choose healthy forms of entertainment that do not warp our mind, we are defying the negative influences in our culture and saying yes to a positive and healthy culture for us and our children to live and thrive in.

Christina Brown
Shawnee

Did anyone else question Jonathan Last’s assertion that culture “tends inexorably toward lesser levels of sophistication?” We’re not living like cavemen anymore, dragging women around by their hair. And what of the Germanic and barbarian tribes? They became civilized. Or is Mr. Last only considering history he has personally witnessed? Doesn’t his devolution rationale fly in the face of evolution?

And did I miss the logic by which Mr. Last concludes that the increased affordability of transistors per integrated circuit leads inevitably to software designers programming in the option of executing prostitutes to recover gamers’ money?

Doug Burford
Mission

Board games

The most important part of the article about shortened versions of “classic” board games (2/17, H+H, “Classic games go! Go! Go! Express versions attempt to take the ‘bored’ out of board games”) was the small blurb on “5 speedy board games you probably never heard of.”

Carcassonne, Ticket to Ride and Zooloretto are great games and all winners of the Spiel des Jahres (German Board Game of the Year).

Unfortunately, many only think of the same stale “favorites” like Monopoly, Sorry, Clue, Risk and others lining the walls of big box stores.

Comparing games to movies for an entertainment option, this is like getting to choose from “Gone with The Wind,” “The Wizard of Oz” or “Jaws” anytime you and some friends wanted to go see a movie. They may be good movies, but you may want something new and different.

There are hundreds of new board games released every year with interesting themes, clever twists and good interaction with other players.

Go ask the folks at Tabletop Game & Hobby in Overland Park, Pulp Fiction Comics in Lee’s Summit or 31st Century Games & Hobbies in Olathe to find a new board game for your friends and family.

Christian Sinclair
Shawnee

Great chess player

It was with a heavy heart I read the letter from Elizabeth Miesner (1/25, Letters) concerning Bobby Fischer and her brother Jack Winters. I did not know that Jack had passed away. I was a student at KU and was one of the players in the group when Fischer was there. I lost my game after 22 moves. I remember Jack, although I did not know him at the time of the Fischer visit.

I met Jack after arriving here in Kansas City and playing chess at the Chess House, near 39th and Main. Jack was the owner. It was a great place to play chess. Jack sold books on chess and other chess items. I purchased a book he authored on the Roy Lopez chess opening.

I looked through my old copies of Chess Life and Review. The December 1974 issue, which features Anatoly Karpov on the cover, contains the ratings of players at that time. Bobby Fischer was listed as world champion with a rating of 2810. Jack is listed with a rating of 1930. My name is in there, too, with a rating of 1212.

I always thought it was unfortunate that our government could not support Fischer since he was such a unique talent who single-handedly defeated the state-supported Soviets.

Clarence Edmondson Jr.
Kansas City

Played Bobby Fischer

Missouri has a connection to Bobby Fischer (1/19, FYI, “The search for Bobby Fischer ends; U.S. chess champion put Soviet players in check before reclusive move”). My brother, Jack B. Winters, now deceased, played Fischer to a draw at the University of Kansas in Lawrence.

Fischer at that time was a seven-time time U.S. chess champ and was at Lawrence giving a lecture and demonstration. He played 43 players, winning 42 games and drawing one

At the time, Jack had been playing chess for about five years. It was his lifelong hobby. I think the match was in 1963, sponsored by the KU Chess Club.

Jack, a founding member of the Missouri Chess Federation and a University of Missouri graduate, opened the Chess House in 1972, just in time for the world championship Fischer-Spassky match at Reykjavik.

He owned and operated the Chess House located at 39th and Main and 74th and Broadway for seven years.

He was once the highest rated player (U.S. Chess Federation) in Missouri.

Fischer, as well as my brother, inspired others to play chess and form chess clubs. His photo and article appeared in The Star at the time.

Elizabeth Miesner
Springfield, Mo.

Immigrants video game

“ICED!” (“I Can End Deportation!”) should be iced (8/6, A-6, “Video game lets players be virtual immigrants.”)

“Shoplifting or jumping a subway turnstile loses points.” D’oh! Those are illegal activities, regardless of one’s citizenship status.

I was an exchange student in the 1970s, when teenage Americans slated for our first experiences abroad were instructed to obey host country laws, proudly and respectably represent the United States, and absorb the culture of the countries we were privileged to visit.

When immigrants come here, they, too, should obey those instructions. The United States has generous immigration laws. In fact, America has more generous laws overall than lots of countries. Isn’t that why many immigrants come here in the first place?

When individuals cross our border and receive the countless advantages of living in America, they tacitly accept the responsibility for living the American way. That includes obeying our laws, contributing to our society and speaking our language.

Thank goodness the current system provides for at least a few ways to separate the wheat from the chaff. Any crime should trigger deportation. It is a privilege to come here, not a right.

Marcia Schutte
Lenexa

‘Survivor’ idea a bad one

As you have probably heard by now, the next season of “Survivor” is going to pit ethnic groups against each other. That’s right! They’re going to have four “tribes” — one Caucasian, one African-American, one Asian and one Latino.

Is this just unbelievable? Can you imagine a guy pitching this insane, classless idea to the network honchos? You would think they would have fired him right on the spot and had him escorted off the property as being potentially dangerous. But no. As a matter of fact, they approved this blatantly absurd idea.

I was discussing this with some friends, and they told me they thought it was an interesting concept and that they were looking forward to watching it. Gasp! Am I the only one who finds this concept outrageously stupid and insensitive in the extreme?

Don’t we already have enough problems with race in this country without having a popular TV show exploiting the issue in this crass, inflammatory manner?

Charley Hutto
Kansas City

Video games

I hope the Senate succeeds in its quest to control the distribution of blood-and-gore video games, but the proposed Band-Aid is not likely to stanch the flow (4/4, A-1, “Studies link media to modern ills”).

Unfortunately, maturity does not begin with a number. Many 15-year-olds, after satisfying their curiosity, would reject this form of “entertainment,” and plenty of 30-year-olds would continue to wallow in it.

If it stopped in the video box, society could afford to turn a blind eye; but that box has opened, and the characters have spilled out onto our streets.

A strong connection between environment and behavior is well-established. Those video games described in The Star’s feature (3/30, A-1) have no redeeming social value, but they carry great potential for harm. Mature people would not want to play them, and immature people shouldn’t.

In a sane world, they would not be on the market at all. It is unfortunate that we have tied our hands in the courts to the extent that we are now at liberty to strangle ourselves on “free speech.”

Frances Gatlin
Liberty

Video games

Mike Hendricks, writing about video games, tells us that politicians should not get involved in what we can and cannot buy (3/31, Metro, “Politicians play games, win fame”). He says we know our kids better than politicians do.

He writes: “Just so they don’t forget that, ultimately, it’s we parents who should and ultimately will decide what kind of games, movies and CDs our kids bring into the home.”

The Monday prior, however, Hendricks was writing about the Kansas Board of Education, saying the “opt in” option for sex education was an example of “the kind of backward thinking” he has come to expect from this board. His implication: Parents are too irresponsible and stupid to be trusted with what their kids should be taught.

I wonder what happened in a few short days to elevate parents from bumbling morons to fully responsible and capable adults.

Harold C. Williams
Leavenworth

Bridge column

Why is The Star eliminating the bridge column in FYI? In many cases, the column helps resident of nursing homes and people who are ill. It keeps the rest of us improving our minds every day.

TV, magazines and papers are seeking the younger generation. Ask the generation who has faithfully purchased your paper for years what they want to read. After all, our generation produced the younger generation, and we need entertainment, too.

Mary Thompson
Gladstone