When Life Immitates Life

BBC NEWS
When work becomes a game
By Mark Ward
Technology correspondent, BBC News website

Video games are big business and soon they could be big in business too.

A whole generation is growing up for whom video games are a key part of how they relax, whether it be fragging friends in a first person shooter or backing up the main tank in a Warcraft raid.

And it is not just youngsters. There are plenty of older folks who shake off the dust of the working day in many different virtual worlds.

Statistics from the the US Entertainment Software Association (ESA) back this up. It claims that the average player is 33 and has more than a decade of gaming under their belt.

All of a sudden, say academics and researchers, companies have realised that all the time employees spend gaming in virtual worlds is changing them.

Ian Hughes, IBM's metaverse evangelist, said many organisations were considering ways of harnessing the skills and familiarity their employees have with virtual environments.

This familiarity has driven many organisations to consider virtual worlds as places where employees can meet, mix and get on with the job.

"A lot of people are more accepting of that way of working just because of games," he said.

"It's about harnessing that ability to play to get work done."

The formidable organisational skills needed to run a game team or guild, organise raids involving perhaps 40 people and co-ordinate their different abilities to defeat a game's strongest foes are all relevant to work, said Mr Hughes.

Game gear

But it is not just the skills that gamers hone in futuristic or fantasy worlds that businesses want to co-opt. Some are taking their inspiration directly from the way that online games are structured.

Dr Byron Reeves, a professor of education at Stanford University, said some firms were taking elements from games to overcome the difficulties of working life in the 21st Century.

"The problems associated with distributed teams, collaboration and information overload right now are so severe, and the opportunities so good, that they are willing to look at anything," he said.

Dr Reeves has founded a company called Seriosity that applies game elements to workplaces.

It was working with five or six unnamed Fortune 500 companies to harness the efficiencies of those game mechanics, said Dr Reeve.

One of the programs developed by Seriosity adds a virtual currency element to e-mail in a bid to help people cope with information overload.

Anyone sending a message adds some of their limited supply of virtual coins, called Serios, to show how important they consider that e-mail to be.

It was a more finely grained grading system than the low, medium or high importance flags found in most e-mail programs, said Dr Reeves.

It had other benefits too, he said. It revealed not just the flow of messages but also started to show who people pay attention to and who did a good job of getting responses.

Some companies were starting to adopt even more of the elements familiar from games.

"There are people right now trying to map it one-to-one," said Dr Reeves.

Level playing field

Convinced that games can help them thrive some companies have turned work groups into guilds, rewarded staff with experience points when they complete tasks, giving out titles and badges when a guild finished a project and portraying objectives as quests.

Some were also considering using a virtual currency as a reward system allowing workers to cash in their savings for benefits or extras for their office space. The top performing guilds also get to do the best projects.

None, so far, he said, were tying wages to how people performed in the quests and against other guilds.

"Mapping levels and points on to wages is the most extreme application," he said.

Companies were adopting game mechanics for several reasons, said Dr Reeves.

Partly because workers were so familiar with this structure, he said, and because people become powerfully motivated when they know how they compare to their contemporaries.

The main reason was for the transparency it gave to the way workplaces were organised and for revealing who got things done.

"It exposes those that do and do not play well," said Dr Reeves. "There is a leader board and you know the rules."

It had the potential to turn workplaces into meritocracies where the most accomplished are easy to spot because they have racked up all rewards, achievements and levels required for a particular post.

While it may not sweep away systems of privilege or end nepotism it had the potential to make workplaces fairer and take some of the grind out of the day job, he said.

"The whole idea here is to get the objectives of the individual players aligned with the objectives of the organisation," said Dr Reeves. "Do that and you have something good."

Angela Barron, an advisor at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, said games had long been used in training to expose personal preferences and prejudices.

Many organisations also used courses that revolve around games to help make teams work together better or expose power structures among workers.

She said this was the first time she had heard of elements of online games being used in a similar way.

"I would not have thought enough people play games for it to be a great motivator," she said.

But, she said, anything that helped staff develop a better working relationship and promote team work was likely to be a good thing.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/technology/7030234.stm

Published: 2007/10/22 09:38:56 GMT

© BBC MMVII

Getting Married

I'm getting married on the 5th of this month.

Stay tuned...

Also in Illegal News

September 25, 2007
Illegal Immigrants Charged In Maryland Terrorism Ring

Proving that immigration enforcement is crucial to national security, at least nine of the Middle Easterners recently arrested in Maryland for laundering millions to finance al-Qaida lived in the United States illegally.

A lengthy FBI investigation led to the indictments of dozens of Muslims, many of Pakistani descent, involved in a $5 million money-laundering scheme that financed illegal activities worldwide as well as terrorist organizations.

At least nine of the Muslims arrested are illegal immigrants who tried to bribe a public official to provide them with green cards that would have made them legal U.S. residents. The operation’s ringleader was Pakistani-born Mohammad Riaz Guijar who along with his brother ran a Maryland convenience store.

A federal indictment says that Guijar conspired with dozens of other defendants to pay an individual he believed was an official with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services nearly half a million dollars for residency cards. The same group gave $450,000 to a man they believed was a corrupt official with the Maryland Comptroller’s Office to release nearly $2 million levied against their store.

Federal authorities say the terrorist money-laundering ring has been operating for years and one of the masterminds with the strong al-Qaida connection, a Pakistani-American, lived in the Washington D.C. suburb of Laurel.

Pakistan's Ambassador in the U.S., Mahmud Ali Durrani, criticized federal officials, saying that similar cases in the past have shown that American authorities were often “too zealous.” The bottom line, however, is that investigators and prosecutors have sufficient evidence to indict nine illegal immigrants with terrorist ties.

This certainly contradicts the nation’s vast pro illegal immigration movement, which consistently paints the portrait of humble and desperate poor people--mostly Hispanic—who present no threat to the country because they seek only a better life and possess a willingness to do jobs that Americans refuse to do.

Posted by at September 25, 2007 02:53 PM

Illegal Immigrants in Illinois Seceed From Union!

The latest from Judicial Watch (http://www.corruptionchronicles.com/2007/09/us_sues_illinois_for_defying_i.html)

U.S. Sues Illinois For Defying Immigration Law

Indicating that perhaps it’s finally cracking down on states that defy federal immigration laws, the U.S. government is suing Illinois for banning use of a federal system to check the legal status of workers.

The Department of Homeland Security announced recently that it would begin fining employers who hire illegal immigrants as well as those who don’t fire workers caught using fake Social Security numbers. Reluctant to abide by the new rules, Illinois passed legislation prohibiting the use of a federal database utilized to verify identities and therefore detect illegal workers.

Signed into law by Governor Rod Blagojevich last month, the measure actually prevents the state’s 750 employers that currently participate in the federal program from continuing to do so. The Illinois law is scheduled to take effect in January 2008 and would clearly protect the state’s large illegal immigrant population which is estimated to be around 500,000.

In an effort to block its implementation, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit (United States of America vs. the State of Illinois) in federal court this week. The suit seeks to invalidate the state law because it hampers the government’s ability to assist employers in making sure their workforce is legal. More importantly, as Justice Department attorneys point out, the Illinois measure conflicts with federal law.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff called the Illinois measure a “direct assault on federal law” and the boldest “anti-enforcement” measure he has seen. Perhaps the federal government will start going after the nation’s illegal immigrant sanctuary cities and the nine states that offer driver’s licenses to illegal aliens since they too are defying federal law.

Oktoberfest - Oh to be back in old Munchen

Oktoberfest is hard on us all...

Last Week @ NOAA

Last week with my current company begins today. The hunt for a new contract continues. Maybe Blackwater is hiring?

Headlines

The thing I love about firefox (web browser) is that you can set multiple tabs as home pages. When I start up firefox it loads the following websites:

Google Mail
My Blog
Google News
Wonkette.com
CNN.com
BBC News
Al Jazeera
Alarabiya
ITAR-TASS
Xinhua
France 24

Basically, I like to get my world news from multiple viewpoints.

It's also interesting to see what articles are running on the various outlets as the top story.

Here's the same list with the top stories:

Google Mail - "Loading... TenTonHammer's Daily MMOG Newsletter" (First e-mail in Inbox)
My Blog - (you're reading it)
Google News - "Lebanon Explosion Hits Beirut Suburb, Killing Deputy (Update1)Bloomberg - 49 minutes ago"
Wonkette.com - "dept. of hilarious parodies of our national anthems America-Hating Religious Extremists Release New Video Threatening Americans"
CNN.com - "Simpson bail set at $125,000"
BBC News - "Lebanese MP 'killed in bombing'"
Al Jazeera - "Politician killed in Beirut blast"
Alarabiya - "Anti-Syrian MP killed in Lebanon car bomb"
ITAR-TASS - "19.09.2007, 18.29 Ministry transfers Rbl 800 mln to Sakhalin for Nevelsk"
Xinhua - "Lebanese lawmaker killed in explosion in east Beirut"
France 24 - "Car bomb kills Christian lawmaker"

Leisure Suit Larry (Craig) Loveshack...

as captured by a flickr user.

http://flickr.com/photos/christaki/1375810224/

Behold My New Addiction...

It's like Yoohoo, but for adults!

French Hawks?

Apparently the French Foreign Minister has been telling Europe to get ready for war should Iran deploy nuclear weapons. FRANCE? Yes, as hard as it is to believe, the French appear to be sabre rattling... of course, it should be noted that the French Foreign Minister (Bernard Kouchner) has a Germanic name...

Kind of like France's Italian emperor...

Quality Comment from Wonkette.com

BY DAVID FLORES AT 04:13 PM

The Gay, Republican Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech.

Would go something like this.

I have a DREAM... that one day gay Republicans and straight Republicans will cast aside the barriers that separate them and unite to weaken workplace safety regulations. I have a dream.

I have a DREAM... that one day a Republican will be judged not by the orifice into which he inserts his member, but by his fealty to business interests. I have a dream!

I have a DREAM... that in this great nation one day gay Republicans and straight Republicans will join hands and work to convince middle-class Americans and red-neck shit shovellers alike that Estate Taxes place a greater burden on them than on any other group in the country. I have a dream.

I have a DREAM... that gay Republicans and straight Republicans might one day cast aside their differences and find common cause in demonizing Hispanic immigrants for electoral advantage, even as they secretly assure corporate interests that it's all for show and their cheap labor will still be there, waiting at the curbside, tomorrow morning, just as they were yesterday morning and the morning before that. I have a dream.

I have a DREAM that multi-retroviral-coctail imbibing gay Republicans (like Andrew Sullivan) will one day join hands with expensive, experimental, hi-tech pacemaker wearing Republicans (like Dick Cheney) and fight back the scourge of universal access to medical care and a single-payer insurance system that delivers medical care to all regardless of their financial means. I have a dream.


Oh where, oh where are you, gay Republican Martin Luther King? America needs you now more than ever, sir!

Fear This

I Am The Winner!

Bored at work... I took the AlertNet Challenge over at the Reuters website... and scored a 6 out of 6 correct!

Here are the results:

The AlertNet Challenge

You scored 6 out of 6

QUESTION 1 - CORRECT!
The city of Pisco, which was hit hard by the recent earthquake in Peru, is well-known for a product also called pisco. What is it?

Answer: A famous grape liquor distilled there since 1540

Pisco, today a place of despair, is best known as a jumping-off point for tourists going to view wildlife at the Paracas Nature Reserve, as well as for the famous grape liquor that takes its name from this town of around 120,000 people. Local winemakers say they've been making the brandy since 1540. They say the place name comes from an Inca word meaning bird, and it became one of the main regions where Spanish colonialists grew grapes and made wine.

QUESTION 2 - CORRECT!
Why did U.S. aid agency CARE decide to wean itself off large donations of U.S.-produced food, which it used to sell in developing countries to fund projects like bolstering local farming practices or improving nutrition?

Answer: It decided it's not the best way to help people, since the system ties aid to the purchase of high-priced U.S. crops and requires shipping commodities halfway around the world

Aid groups are divided over a leading charity's steps to wean itself from U.S. government funding for food aid programs that critics charge can harm the nations they aim to help. The U.S. system has come under wide attack as wasteful, largely because it ties aid to purchase of high-priced U.S. crops and requires shipping commodities halfway around the world on U.S. vessels, which eats up a huge share of funding. "We came to the realisation that if we wanted to do what was in the best interest of poor people and efficiency in aid, that this wasn't it," said Helene Gayle, president of CARE, a leading U.S. aid group.

QUESTION 3 - CORRECT!
What is the United Revolutionary Force Front (URFF)?

Answer: A little-known Arab-led Darfur rebel group which is opposed to the Khartoum government

The United Revolutionary Force Front (URFF), a little-known Arab-led group opposed to Sudan's government, says government troops have increased attacks on its positions in Darfur in recent weeks. The URFF accuses Khartoum of fomenting ethnic tensions in the war-torn region as a "divide and rule" tactic and insists the portrayal of Arabs all being linked to the feared Janjaweed militia is wrong.

QUESTION 4 - CORRECT!
Why is there controversy around cans of tuna distributed to Peru earthquake survivors?

Answer: They were labelled with photos of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and the Peruvian opposition candidate

Thousands of cans of tuna reportedly distributed in the quake zone south of Lima had labels sporting photos of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Peruvian opposition politician Ollanta Humala, who lost to Alan Garcia in last year's presidential election. A message on the label reads: "The Peruvian government acts in an inefficient, slow and heartless manner, notwithstanding the pain of the victims, leaving them to the mercy of hunger, thirst and delinquency." Not surprisingly, the offending cans have stirred up a political storm.

QUESTION 5 - CORRECT!
While overall the rate of HIV infection is increasing in the Asia Pacific region, what countries there are experiencing a decline in the rate of infection?

Answer: Thailand and Cambodia

HIV infections are increasing at a worrying 10 percent a year in the Asia Pacific region, a top U.N. AIDS official says, putting the rise down to intravenous drug use, sex workers and conflicts. "If you take out southern India and Thailand and Cambodia, where you have a declining rate, in the remaining Asia Pacific region it is still an increasing epidemic," the official states.

QUESTION 6 - CORRECT!
How does 86-year-old Dorian Paskowitz hope to promote peace between Israel and Palestine?

Answer: By sending surf boards to Gaza and holding a joint surf event with Israel

Dorian Paskowitz, an 86-year-old physician, hopes to get Israelis and Palestinians on the same wave by sending surf boards to the Gaza Strip. The Californian, who has been surfing for over half a century, donated a dozen boards to Palestinians and says he hopes to be able to bring Israeli and Gazan surfers to a joint event in Israel in October.

You Know You're A Redneck When...

When your hero is convicted of a Federal felony... And that doesn't bother you.

But Shawn Dodson, 33, of Lynchburg said he remains a loyal fan. Dodson and his wife, Sheila, sat in lawn chairs as they waited outside the courthouse. "I'll support him until the end," said Dodson, a cook who sported a white Michael Vick jersey. "I'm not going to turn my back on him just because he's convicted of a crime. We all make mistakes."

The Mod Squad - Tehran

Apparently the Mighty juggernaut that is Islam has an Achilles heel... Haircuts.

The BBC is reporting that the Iranian government has closed some 20 Barbershops in Tehran for encouraging un-Islamic behavior by giving Western style haircuts, plucking eyebrows and tattooing. Doesn't President Ahmed have a western style haircut? Apparently the Iranian leadership isn't TOTALLY insane though, they do also discourage use of neckties...

I guess this also rules out bikini (burqini) waxes for the ladies...

Iran shuts 'Western' barber shops

Iranian police have closed more than 20 barbers' shops in the capital Tehran.

The authorities say the barbers were encouraging un-Islamic behaviour by offering Western hairstyles, tattooing and also eyebrow-plucking for men.

Police say they have inspected more than 700 shops during a two-week crackdown in the city.

The move is part of an annual campaign against what is known locally as bad hijab, or un-Islamic clothing, that this year is also targeting men.

Hundreds of women and men have already been cautioned.

Police say that as well as avoiding Western hairstyles and make up, barbers should not pluck customers' eyebrows.

The closure of the shops comes several months after barbers were warned that they could lose their licences if they did not comply.

However, police have denied a report that they have ordered barbers not to serve customers wearing ties.

Some young boys in Iran sport very wild hair styles, using gel to make their long hair stand on end in a fashion not seen in other countries, correspondents say.

Snoop Doggy Vick - POTHEAD

And let's not forget that there is probable cause to believe that M. Vick is also a drug user. Follow link for the police report.

Vick In Airport Water Bottle Incident
Container held for further review after possible pot residue found

JANUARY 18--Miami police are investigating NFL star Michael Vick after airport screeners yesterday seized a water bottle from him at a security checkpoint and later discovered that the bottle included a "concealed compartment" that appeared to contain a small amount of marijuana. According to a Miami-Dade Police Department report, a copy of which you'll find below, the Atlanta Falcons quarterback was "reluctant to turn over his water bottle during the screening process" at Miami International Airport (the athlete was booked on an AirTran flight to Atlanta). Vick subsequently relinquished the 20-ounce Aquafina bottle, which was placed in a recycling bin by a Transportation Security Administration screener. Suspicious as to why Vick hesitated in handing over the bottle, TSA screener Gertrude Joseph retrieved the bottle, notified her supervisor, and brought the item to the TSA operations center. There, officials discovered that the bottle's label "contained a seam which separated the top and the bottom of the bottle. Both ends were sealed by clear partitions and what appeared to be a silicone sealant." The concealed compartment, the report notes, contained "a small amount of dark particulate and a pungent aroma closely associated with Marijuana." It appears that Vick had departed to Atlanta before the screeners had finished analyzing his water bottle, which was transported to the Miami-Dade Police Department lab for analysis. Following the 2002 arrests of members of a Miami-based Ketamine ring, Drug Enforcement Administration agents pointed out a "new smuggling trick" being used by traffickers: Aquafina water bottles outfitted with "a hidden compartment for drugs." Click here to view a DEA evidence photo showing three of the seized Aquafina bottles. The retrofitted $15 bottle can now be found for sale online, where it is advertised as a "diversion safe."

Vick Indictment

Since I'm on a roll for beating a dead horse (not Dog, that's Vick's m.o.), I thought I'd post a link for y'all to read the actual indictment... Thanks again to our citizen watchdogs over at TheSmokingGun.com

Michael Vick Indicted
Feds: Falcons QB, cohorts executed pit bulls that failed fight tests

JULY 17--NFL star Michael Vick was indicted today on a federal conspiracy charge for his alleged role in a dog fighting venture that operated from a Virginia property owned by the Atlanta Falcons quarterback. A copy of the indictment, filed today in U.S. District Court in Richmond, can be found below. The 27-year-old Vick, whose nickname is listed as "Ookie" in the indictment, allegedly established the Bad Newz Kennels in early-2001 in Smithfield, Virginia. It was this property, for which Vick paid $34,000, that the star athlete and his codefendants used as the "main staging area for housing and training the pit bulls involved in the dog fighting venture and hosting dog fights." According to prosecutors, Vick and his cohorts began purchasing pit bull puppies in late-2001 and would eventually "sponsor" individual dog fights with purses as high as $26,000. In the indictment's most harrowing parts, federal investigators describe what happened to some Bad Newz Kennels dogs that either lost matches or did not perform well in test fights. After a March 2003 loss by a female pit bull, codefendant Purnell Peace, "after consulting with Vick," electrocuted the animal. In April, prosecutors allege, Vick, Peace, and Quanis Phillips, "executed approximately 8 dogs that did not perform well in 'testing' sessions." These animals, the indictment claims, were killed "by various methods, including hanging, drowning, and slamming at least one dog's body to the ground."

is it true that MIKE VICK HAS HERPES?

While we're on the subject, here's a little gem from The Smoking Gun website. If you follow the link to the article you can read the actual criminal complaint:

Michael Vick Hit With Sex Suit
Woman claims star NFL quarterback passed along herpes in 2003

APRIL 5--Claiming that Michael Vick gave her herpes, a Georgia woman is suing the star NFL quarterback for negligence and battery. According to the below lawsuit, Sonya Elliot, a 26-year-old health care worker, was infected with the sexually transmitted disease in April 2003 after an unprotected encounter with Vick at the athlete's Duluth, Georgia home. Elliott alleges that after testing positive for Herpes Simplex 2, she confronted the Atlanta Falcons star, 24, about her condition. "I've got something to tell you. I've got it," Vick admitted to her, according to Elliott's State Court complaint, which alleges that Vick then told her that "he had not known how to tell her about his condition, and that it was not something that he liked to talk about." Elliott's complaint also contends that Vick "apologized profusely" for not telling her he was infected with the STD. Elliot's lawsuit alleges that Vick has used the name "Ron Mexico" and, in a related court filing, her lawyers are seeking Vick's admission that he used the "Mexico" alias--and perhaps other fake names--"for the purpose of herpes testing and/or treatment." In her lawsuit, which does not specify monetary damages, Elliott states that she met Vick at a Virginia Beach nightclub in May 2001 and, shortly thereafter, began a close personal relationship with the football star (though the couple did not have sex until late-2002). Last December, Vick, the top overall pick in the 2001 National Football League draft, signed a ten-year, $130 million contract with the Falcons, the richest deal in league history.

Michael Vick's Neighborhood - Where doggies go to die

Apparently Mike Vick's old neighborhood in Hampton, VA is a haven for illegal activity and animal cruelty:

http://www.wtkr.com/Global/story.asp?S=6963466&nav=ZolHbyvj

Bob Matthews Reporting
East End Still Supports Michael Vick

Aug 22, 2007 08:52 AM

Ridley Circle homes is one of the poorest housing projects in Newport News. Laundry is hung out on clothes lines and children play in the sparse grass between the buildings.

Here, Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick is still a folk hero. Vick, who graduated from high school in Newport News, starred as a collegian at Virgina Tech, then rocketed to fame in the NFL, is now facing prison time if he pleads guilty to federal gambling and dog fighting charges.

Even if he takes a deal federal prosecutors have offered, his standing in this neighborhood won't change.

"He's Vick, what else can I say," said Antwan Parson.

Parson grew up in this housing project, just a few yards away from Vick's house. Like many here, he does not understand why Vick is on the verge of prison time.

"People out here fight dogs all the time," Parson said.

Parson, like many residents here, think Vick has done little if anything wrong. Vick and three co-defendants are charged with runnign and interstate gambling and dog fighting ring.

Vick's three co-defendants have already plead guilty and Vick's attorney's announced this week he will do the same next Monday in federal court in Richmond. Even if that happens, East Enders say they will not abandon Vick. The man who once ruled the NFL will always have supporters in this poor section of Newport News.

Michael Vick - DOG KILLER

I found this article via google news, I believe it's from the Yahoo News website, I've linked it through the title of this post.

A Deal For The Dog Killer
Wed Aug 22, 3:00 AM ET

"Michael wishes to apologize again to everyone who has been hurt by this matter," Billy Martin said this week, referring to his celebrity client, dog killer Michael Vick.

Does that include the eight dogs he killed and the countless others he abused? Does it include the ones placed on treadmills, whose jaws were pried open with sticks or those that were fastened to the "rape stand," a device found on Vick's property to hold down female dogs so they could be forced to breed?

Vick is hoping to spend less than a year in prison as a result of his agreement to plead guilty. He had been charged with two counts of conspiracy by a federal grand jury — one to travel in interstate commerce to engage in unlawful activity and another to engage in dogfighting — that could have cost him up to five years in prison. By pleading guilty, he avoided not only the ugly details that would have come out at trial, but also a possible superceding indictment with additional charges, as well as the longer sentence that is the rule in criminal cases when you lose after trial rather than plead guilty beforehand. Possible state charges are still pending.

According to news reports, prosecutors initially demanded a sentence of 18 to 36 months, while Vick's defense attorneys pushed for something under a year. In the end, it will be up to the federal judge who accepts the plea on August 27 to decide the sentence, and up to the NFL to decide whether he will ever play again.

I hope the judge throws the book at him. I hope the NFL bans him forever.

Technically, the big problem for Vick in returning to professional sports is not that he killed and abused dogs, but that he participated in betting on them. It reminds me of when, after I was raped with an ice pick to my throat, the attacker went ahead and also stole my wallet. Armed robbery, the police told me afterward, was a much cleaner charge than rape. I was stunned. It might be "cleaner," but it doesn't begin to measure the true evil betrayed by the predator.

The reason I cannot abide Michael Vick is not that he gambled; it's that only an evil sub-human would treat helpless dogs the way he did, hanging and drowning the ones that didn't test well, and abusing the ones that did.

It is what this says about the man that troubles me.

Whenever a pit bull comes into the local park where I take my two much-loved beauties, Judy Jarvis Estrich and Molly Emily Estrich, the other dog owners and I carefully scrutinize its owners. American Staffordshire terriers, as some call them, can be wonderful pets if properly trained. Or not. It only takes a minute or two to tell the difference, and it totally depends on how the owner has raised them. It's not the dog's fault; it's the owners'. Michael Vick is the worst of the worst.

He doesn't understand what sport is, which is why he should never be allowed to play in the pros again.

I understand personal weaknesses of players and appreciate the pressures of competitive sports. When an athlete resorts to steroids or uses drugs, he obviously brings shame to the team and the league. But in such cases, he is hurting himself, not innocent animals that depend on him. Vick's crime is of a far more vicious sort, revealing a character for which there can be no excuse and no forgiveness.

Vick was one of the highest paid players in professional football. Kids bought his jersey in droves. His latest contract extension, a 10-year deal for $130 million, included record-breaking bonuses of $37 million. He was making more money than he could ever spend.

And this was how he spent it? This was his idea of fun?

The NFL says it will continue to investigate Vick's conduct in relation to its own code of conduct. The Atlanta Falcons, the team paying him all that money, is withholding judgment, waiting to see if the plea, in the words of Falcons owner Arthur Blank, will allow Vick "to get this behind him as quickly as he can."

As far as many of us who are pet owners and animal lovers are concerned, he will never get this behind him. Nor should he.

To find out more about Susan Estrich and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.