September 3oth is recognized around the world as International Blasphemy Day. This holiday was created in the wake of the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoon, which blasphemously depicted the prophet, a serious religious offense in Islam. Riots ensued. Over 100 people were killed. Danish embassies in Syria, Lebanon, and Iran were attacked and set on fire. Danish, Scandinavian, and European art, flags, and buildings were defaced across the Middle East. All because some people believe their religion is above criticism and satire.

Religious tolerance is one thing that I hold very high. People of the world have enough things to fight over without throwing made-up big brothers into the ring. Another right I hold very highly is my right to fully criticize any religion if I so please, as is your right to criticism my religion (or lack thereof). People have grown to believe that their religion is above criticism or satire, which simply is not true. Multiple people from the University of Northern Iowa (all being some Christian denomination) have audibly voiced their dislike about the dissenting religious opinion written on their sidewalks. Boo hoo. There is a little thing in this country called the Constitution, you should read it sometime. And that big document, a little tiny freedom is asserted to everyone. This freedom is known as the freedom of speech!

The situation at UNI is not a deviant case. This same of type of blatant idiocy in the face of free speech is coming to a head everywhere today, International Blasphemy Day. Keep in mind, this holiday was not constructed for anti-religious purposes, but to expose the fact that religion is not above criticism or satire in any way. But the lack of understanding in the mass populace of religious people is absolutely astounding. I entered into a full fledged argument with a lady today who believed her rights were being violated by people writing anti-religious statements on the sidewalk. Um, what? In case you, humble reader, are unaware, there is no law stating people must respect the opinions of others, which is what this lady was fervently unaware of. Her (stated) problem was not that people were expressing an opinion dissident to hers (not likely), but that they did it in such a disrespectful way! (Sigh) Free speech protects the rights of people to say whatever they feel like (relatively), as long as they are not committing a crime in the way they do it. In this instance, this woman first claimed that these messages were done in such a way that they constituted vandalism. She was incorrect. She then slated her argument to defacing me for being an immature child, which lasted only as long as I entertained it. Her entire argument fell apart then when she tried to prove that her views are Constitutionally protected. Ah ha, ah ha, ah ha.

It is ridiculous how people in America, and most specifically in this case religion, believe that when they are in the majority, that makes them correct. In my book, Constitutional law comes before your personal belief any day, whether you like it or not.

So, a Happy Blasphemy Day to all!

The Newest Addition (SPOILER WARNING)

Halo 3: ODST (Orbital Drop Shock Trooper) was originally billed as a simple expansion pack to the original Halo 3, but in the end came out being much more. ODST contains a solid seven hours of band new campaign material. The campaign takes place on earth during the Covenant invasion of New Mombassa, at which time in Halo 2 Spartan-117 is leaving earth in the wake of the Prophet of Regret for Installation 05.

Leaving behind the by now blood-stained HUD of the Master Chief, ODST is played from the vantage point of a human UNSC (United Nations Space Command), known fondly as Rookie. If you remember the events of Halo 2, the Prophet of Regret hits the "enter slip space button" on his vessel, causing a massive shockwave that destroys much of the city of New Mombassa. ODST takes place after that shockwave, as the Master Chief is pursuing Regret. The main plot of the story involves Rookie reuniting with his five other teammates, and after doing so, moving through the city searching for the core of the city A.I. known as the Superintendent, which holds crucial information about the reason why the Covenant is attacking New Mombassa. Sparing the ending spoilers, the campaign is nothing to scoff at, easy as it is to trim it down. Coming off Halo 3, whose campaign was less than appealing to those of us who had played Halo 2, a refreshing viewpoint in ODST will offer an exciting new vantage point for the most faithful to the Halo series.

But we all know that we don't play the Halo series for their stellar campaigns. Halo is not a series that claims to have the depth of plot of The Elder Scrolls or Mass Effect. Halo is the king of the sci-fi multiplayer, and ODST is just another form of that greatness. ODST ships with 11 original Halo 3 multiplayer maps, the Heroic map pack (Foundry, Rat's Nest, Standoff), the Legendary map pack (Avalanche, Blackout, Ghost Town), the Cold Storage map, and the Mythic map pack (Assembly, Orbital, and Sandbox) as well as three new maps (Citadel, Heretic, Longshore). An impressive collection for those who didn't drop the Microsoft Points on the packs separately, but nonetheless this means that ODST multiplayer is just a large expansion pack for Halo 3 right? Wrong! ODST contains a new multiplayer mode called Firefight, brand new for any Halo game. Firefight has been affectionately compared to (and no doubt somewhat modeled off) Horde in Gears of War 2, in which teammates face waves of varying enemies, and Firefight is much the same. Firefight contains new medals for the Halo multiplayer (everyone loves getting that Death From the Grave medal with that last grenade you threw before took the Energy Sword in the face), which is only trivial to some. Firefight plays like this: the team has a pool of lives that are added to after a set number of rounds. Upon the depletion of all those lives, the game is over. Skulls are included in Firefight for variety, and enemy spawns are completely random, meaning anticipation of the strength of the next wave is nearly impossible, adding to the confusion. Firefight contains ten maps, three of which are unlocked by playing the campaign. firefight also contains the musical score to ODST, giving each level much more atmosphere.

A completely new character, campaign, and multiplayer mode would be enough to elevate ODST to the top tier of games one would believe, but ODST has received some less than stellar ratings from across the gaming world. Arstechnica gave the game a "Rent" rating, pcmag.com dished out an anemic 7/10, Games Radar also garnered a 7/10. ODST is being knocked for shoddy graphics, a short campaign, linear campaign gameplay, and set pieces used from previous games. Does this look like sub par graphics to anyone? If anything, Bungie has improved the graphics from Halo 3 for their newest, enormously hyped brain-child. The short campaign is, to be repetitive, nowhere near a 100+ hour Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, but coming into the release of ODST we knew that. Halo has never been known for an amazing campaign, plain and simple. As for linear campaign play, I would love to raise the question "What were the previous Halo campaigns? Completely freeform?" The answer is no. Halo is about fast-paced campaigns that are part of any overall story. You don't need to have 37 different side quests to be fulfilled by the campaign. One legitimate question is over the price of ODST. Is Firefight and seven hours of campaign really worth $60? Considering you are paying for every map expansion for Halo 3, the math needs to be done. Each pack cost (at original release) 800 Microsoft Points. And Live users know the obnoxious 800-avoiding-prepaid-card-prices of 500 and 1000 points, so one must buy 1000 points for $12.50. That only amounts to $37.50. Dropping another $22 for a seven hour campaign and Firefight seems like a decent deal to me.

Overall, the preliminary ratings for ODST are positive and worth checking out. As another chapter in the Halo saga is already under production (Reach) , ODST may soon pass as just another short twist in the original story. But as a game, ODST is comes highly recommended from this author and from the majority of professional game critics in the world.

Philosophy class leaves me thinking long past the 2:20 end time, and provides an easy distraction in my review of a calculus class. In our reading (Aristotle's Physics), we are treading in the touchy gray area of the existence of a god figure. Book VIII of Physics contains Aristotle's "proof" of the existence of god. As this material cannot to be classified as light reading, I will provide a summary. Aristotle believes that an event can only be understood if the causes of an event are understood. The basis of this thesis is that there are two ways things happen: the natural and the unnatural. Aristotle also believes that things happen for a reason, and that things must have a purpose to exist. In a roundabout way, Aristotle's view on the existence of a god is this: for the universe to exist, an initial cause must have been there. Aristotle places this upon a god figure. I ask, "Why must the universe have a purpose?" That really is the central question surrounding the existence/non-existence of a god. If the universe is without an overarching, unifying purpose, a need for a creator is removed form the picture. If the universe is content to expand slowly, birth new stars and kill the old, and all its other exercises without lumbering toward some infinitely far-off goal, there is no plan. And if there is no plan, there is no need for some higher power to be there to create/enact that plan. But if indeed the universe is moving toward some cosmological end, something must have created this plan, something with influence over the stars, planets, galaxies, and innumerable life forms. I hate to think that the American Christian God is the figure in question. But that is not the question at hand. Does the universe have a purpose? If so, what is it? "To please the Creator" or any variation of that general sentence structure is not an acceptable answer, as that answer assumes a god figure is already in existence, when that is indeed the deeper answer these questions seek to answer, which would be circular logic (the purpose of the universe is to please God, and that is the reason God created the universe).