Apparently former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor is dabbling in a new field: game design. The Escapist writes:

The game will present students with “real issues and real problems,” O’Connor said, giving them the opportunity to “step into the shoes of a judge, a legislator, an executive – teach them how to think through and analyze problems, take action and voice opinions to their elected representatives.” As an example, she cited an early exercise centering on First Amendment rights, using cases like Tinker v. Des Moines and “Bong Hits 4 Jesus.”

In addition to The Escapist article, The New York Times also published the article “Sandra Day O’Connor’s Plan for Joystick Justice” in yesterday’s paper.

One quote that caught my eye in the article from The Escapist:

“Only one-third of Americans can name the three branches of government,” O’Connor said in a keynote address to the Games For Change conference, “but two-thirds can name a judge on American Idol.”

While I understand O’Connor’s point, that doesn’t really seem to be a fair comparison. Wouldn’t it make more sense to say that that x many people can name all three judges on American Idol? I’m sure that a lot more than one-third of Americans can name at least one branch of our government, while (possiblly) less than two-thirds of people can name all three judges on American Idol.

I, for the record, can name all three of both. OMG I’m so smaht¹.

1. Pronounce phonetically² for Boston accent effect.↩
2. There is a sad, sad irony in the fact that I just had a really hard time figuring out how to spell phonetic (and wasn’t even close). Thank goodness for Goolge again.↩