Friday, December 28, 2007

Thank You for Smoking (2005)


I reeeally thought this would be a good one. Main character is the spokesman for the tobacco industry, he talks for a living, and is supposed to be a really convincing liar. I expected something like a cult leader or a Boiler Room guy that can make you think that your ass is your face. Something like a soft spoken but sophisticated baritone voice that speaks so smoothly that you could believe anything he said. Like Xerxes or some other.

Well this guy fell a little short of that expectation. He talked like an idiot, shrugged a lot, and came off as snappy. He was pretty good, I guess, but he was really just on par with any amateur on the debate team. I just wasn't that amazed. He probably couldn't even smooth talk me into buying a magazine subscription for pediatric AIDS in Somalia. And fuck, Eckhart has a really huge freakin mouth.

Rating: 50%
Not so good.

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Tracking Sleep Trends: Fall 2007


I've been keeping tabs on how much I sleep over the last few months. Normally, there's no need to do this because most people sleep regularly, following the clock in a perfect solar cycle. However, over the college years, my cycle got messed up, so I usually end up sleeping "on-demand", meaning that I get sleep when I desire sleep and would rather be doing something else if I don't feel tired. After all, the light/dark cycle no longer has an effect on me.

Descriptive Stats:
Average: 8.2 hours
StDev: 2.3 hours
Max: 12 hours
Min: 3 hours
Range: 9 hours

Inference: The estimate of any night of sleep:
The probability of sleep between 5.9 hours and 10.5 hours is 64%
The probability of sleep between 3.6 hours and 12.8 hours at 95%


The trend line on this graph shows the change in approximate sleep length over time. The slope of the equation says that my sleep time per day decreases about 0.019 hours every day over the 50 day time period.
You can see the high variance evinced in the trend of spikes and dips. The main reason for the large variance is because a night of low sleep leads to more sleep the next night to make up for the loss. The reason for this is not insomnia, but rather, the increased fatigue makes me demand more sleep. Similarly, a long period of sleep leads to less sleep the next day because I feel excessively rested and demand less sleep. This means that each night of sleep partially affects the next, and the next, and the next. It is a long cause and effect chain over 50 days long.

Here is the same graph including sleep records from the period at the tail-end of Fall Quarter. You can see that it flattens out the trend because I hoard more sleep during this time.

For a normal person, you expect the trend line to be flat at m=0, unless there is some life style shift going on. My graph shows a slight decrease, probably due to the effect of the quarter classes, but it could just be because of the high variance.
People are also supposed to sleep more as the calendar date progresses into winter and the days get shorter. The fact that my trend doesn't show this means that I do not follow the light/dark cycle. Possible reasons: My retinal ganglion cells are desensitized, or my circadian free-run cycle is more than 24 hours.

Conclusion: Avoid taking morning classes. They'll fuck you up.

Sunday, December 9, 2007

Moyashimon: Tales of Agriculture (2007)


This is a quirky anime about a microbiology student that can see bacteria, but not in a normal way. To him, they look like little plushies that talk and do stuff, and he can play with them by grabbing them out of the air or telling them things.

Moyashimon throws in a lot of microbial names that is making it extremely difficult to translate. It's a subber's nightmare about as tough as Ergo Proxy, maybe worse. The story is similar to Honey&Clover, expect that instead of an Art School and struggling design majors, we have a Microbiology Lab and a bunch of Grad Students at an College of Ag. But like H&C, we have the theme of a wussy undergrad, psychopathic seniors, and a destitute apartment complex.

Moyashimon translated into English means something like "Bean-sprout thingy" or "Doodad", which refers to the plushies that he sees everywhere. So far, all he does is feed them or flick them around with his index finger. They're great for diagnosing people's diseases though.

Educational Segment: "Bacteria can control temporal mechanics by fermenting your time"


07/15/2008 Update: This series was subbed way too slowly and died. RIP. It was meant to be a miniseries anyway.

It's about a guy with microbe plushie Synesthesia.
Rating: 70%

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

How to kill people.


Here is a handy guide on how to kill people. If you try to rat our blog out to the feds, remember, we wrote the guide.


Method A: Your bare fucking hands.

Yanking someone's eye out from its socket and repeatedly jamming your finger in the hole is effective, as is punching someone until they die. This is the most ancient method of killing people, and you can do it naked like your caveman ancestors did.

Method B: A rock.

A rock is easy to find and use, as long as you remember which end is the working end and which end is the standing end. When choosing between igneous, metamorphic or sedimentary rock, always remember that igneous rock can still be very hot when newly formed and metamorphic rock takes a long fucking time to make.

Method C: Drive over them with an 18 wheeler.

Easy to do if you have one, but you'll need a class A license with air brake endorsement first or you're liable to kill yourself instead. Cement trucks are good for hiding evidence under a slab of concrete.

Method D: Hire a hitman.

Preferably one with a number instead of a name. This is a good method if you're rich and lazy.

Method E: A hammer.

Stop! A good, hefty hammer will do wonders against someone's skull. Combine with nails for a ranged attack.

Method F: Eat his children.

If you take his or her genes out of the gene pool, it's almost as good as killing them for real.

Method G: I don't fucking know, light them on fire or something.

May require petrol.

Method H: Bury them alive.

Use sand or dirt, not plastic balls from Chuck E Cheese (you retard.)

Method I: Sonic cannon.

Use it to vibrate their bones right out of their body. Sonic cannons don't exist yet but they will.

Method J: Specially engineer a virus to attack their body and theirs alone.

Requires a lot of effort just to get some guy you hate sick. If you fuck up then you doom humanity. Don't be that guy.

Method K: Kill them in the matrix.

Their brain will overload and they'll have a fatal seizure in RL.

Method L: Freeze every water molecule in their body.

The opposite of setting them on fire. Only works if it's your mutant power because they haven't invented the freeze ray yet either.

Method M: Poison.

Good if you're into guile and mystery, but if you drink out of the wrong glass you're fucked.

Method N: Spiders!

Holy fuck you're evil.

Method O: Death by sex machine.

Didn't work in Barbarella but it might work for you. Maybe they needed more spikes.

Method P: Bees.

Got something deadly to say? Say it with bees. Try tossing their precious honey all over your target. Bees are easy to fool.

Method Q: Flush them out into the vacuum of space.

Works only against Americans, Soviets and Chinese. Especially the Chinese.

Method R: High velocity sniper rifle.

Be the killer your momma always knew you could be. You might need a ghillie suit and a desperate need for the pink mist.

Method S: Fiber wire.

Garroting and the Guillotine are methods both invented by the French, both involving the neck. The neck is the most sensual part of the human body...Napoleon knew this, and he was a genius in killing.

Method T: Suicide bomb.

This is actually a pretty good way to get yourself killed in the process. Also called homicide bombs if you want to sound like an idiot. Bonus: If you use this method, you'll appear on Liveleak.

Method U: Inter-continental ballistic missile.

Requires the help of at least one scientist, but it makes it pretty hard to fuck up your plan. If your hair starts falling out, you're doing it wrong.

Method V: The electric chair.

This method is stupid and outdated. If you accidentally shock them twice, you might accidentally bring them back to life, stronger than before. And you have to throw a big switch on the wall like a cartoon or something...god who even invented this.

Method W: Gas! Gas! Gas!

Take yourself back to the glory days of World War I, where deadly gases were tossed back and forth like candy. This method requires you to know how to check for wind direction.

Method X: Sword.

Swords will fucking cut you wide open. This may appeal to LARPers and medieval re-enactment fags the most, as you can pretend you're in the dark ages and scream "what ho!" as you stab away. Swords are easy to trace back to the culprit by CSI specialists, since no one uses them anymore. Guns cannot deflect bullets. Laser swords do not exist (and never will.)

Method Y: Chainsaw.

Chainsaws are little bitches to start, and when they finally do they'll most likely jam up or run out of bar oil or something while you're trying to get the job done. If you don't treat a chainsaw with the utmost care and compassion, it will die on you before your victim does. Remember to dog into the chest and call out your back cut, make sure to leave enough holding flesh and make sure the body falls in the right direction, or else you might end up crushing yourself.

Method Z: Your method here!

While this list is a pretty complete and nearly-perfect guide on how to kill people, there are a few of you out there who manage to come up with great methods of your own. Feel free to make your own guide if you think you're so special, or perhaps even email them to someone who cares, like the Marines.

Thursday, November 29, 2007

"I Want to Be a Doctor"


Lots of people wish they were doctors, and hey, it shouldn't be a surprise. I get to talk to a lot of smart people that have public health aspirations.(and a lot of idiots that want to be doctors because of medical TV shows)
This is a slant of the career choice that no med school jockey can tell you: Economic trends explain why we have such an intense fixation with Doctors and what will happen in the near future.

AUTONOMY AND CHOICE

The Medical Doctor is a job with a high degree of self-autonomy. Especially in private practice, an MD has the freedom to make decisions with little direction from above. Even lawyers and politicians, despite higher prestige and salary, do not have the latitude that doctors enjoy. Thus, being a doctor is very desirable.(especially to those that desire power and influence)


CYCLICAL SUPPLY OF DOCTORS

For some reason, Doctors come in waves. In a continuous cycle, a shortage of MDs is always followed by an excess number, followed by another period of scarcity. Right now, we demand more doctors than we have hanging around, and our affection for them shows during primetime television.

LIMITING THE SUPPLY OF DOCTORS

Requiring that doctors receive licensing has legally limited the number of practitioners to 1% of the population and no more. By doing this, MDs not only increase their wage, but also make the process of becoming a doctor extremely expensive and intensely competitive. Job security.

While there are many reasons that someone may chose to pursue doctorship, these 3 probably explain a great deal of that motive and the flood of pre-meds that inundates us. Although, it should be noted that this doesn't say anything about how many of those pre-meds are going to make it. Only the passage of time tells that.

Monday, November 26, 2007

Hitman(2007)



Timothy Olyphant gets Mass Murderer status. Here come the infinite spawning security guards. AUGH RELOAD GAME.

HITMAN DOES NOT HAVE LENGTHY NEGOTIATIONS WITH PEOPLE.
HITMAN DOES NOT BUY PEOPLE DINNER.
HITMAN DOES NOT KEEP DUAL MACHETES IN HIS WAISTCOAT.

HITMAN DOES NOT SAY ONE LINERS BEFORE HE KILLS. HE DOES IT SILENTLY AS IN "SILENT ASSASSIN".

HITMAN DOES NOT USE SEXUAL INNUENDO.
HITMAN DOES NOT TORTURE PEOPLE IN BATHTUBS WITH SAW III STYLE SHIT.

HITMAN DOES NOT ASK USELESS QUESTIONS LIKE "WHY IS THERE A HIT ON ME?".

HITMAN DOES NOT LUST.

HITMAN DOES NOT HAVE A FETISH FOR FACIAL TATTOOS THATS JUST RETARDED.

DIANA DOES NOT TALK IN A SYNTH VOICE.

THERE ARE NOT DIFFERENT VERSIONS OF HITMAN. THERE IS NOT A BLACK HITMAN OR AN ATROPHIED OLD HITMAN. THERE'S JUST ONE GUY NAMED 47.

HITMAN DOES NOT BUY PROPERTY FOR PEOPLE OUT OF THE GOODNESS OF HIS HEART.

HITMAN DOES NOT MAKE STUPID FACIAL EXPRESSIONS. ESPECIALLY NOT WHEN FIBRE WIRING PEOPLE.

HITMAN DOES NOT SIGH IN REMORSE AFTER KILLING SOMEONE.


Hmmm...Uhh...I'm not sure. Maybe it is just the gamma. What about his action shots?


YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG

HITMAN DOES NOT ACT CUTE.


Mission Performance:
Your Rating: Shit
Your Notoriety: 100/100

Thursday, November 15, 2007

The Market Losers: Firms that Fail


If you follow stock market news, you'll occasionally see some companies get creamed. It is similar to watching the popping of a party balloon: News comes out, euphoria is broken, and the stock implodes. Even familiar and long-standing firms eat shit sometimes, but hey, you never know what will happen next month, right?
Here are some tickers that I have been keeping track of that have slid into the very depths of hell. Don't worry tho, it's nothing serious. Remember, for every investor that lost money here, someone else out there made an equivalent amount.

FORD MOTOR CO

My, how the mighty have fallen. There was once a time when The American People wanted to drive trucks because they resembled rocks, but then Asian cars came and did it so much better. Well...that's what happens when your revenue/share is -$4.00.

VONAGE CORP

This company never got a break. Since their 2006 IPO open at $17, their shares have done nothing but slide. As I write this, VG is at a measly $2.13. What do they make, anyway? Voice-over IP? Scam.
Not only is VG muddled in lawsuits, but the Vonage pyramid scheme shows up on campus from time to time, using flashy presentations and advertising glamor to say: You too can make money off VoIP...for a modest investment of around $500...in cash.

GENELABS TECHNOLOGIES

Genelabs or whatever this company is called, produces....uhhh....hmmmmmmm
This is a perfect example of a "hype company" that gained investment popularity because they have a mysterious name and an exciting sounding product. Not helping is the 1999-2000 bubble that resulted in the large price spike at $53. That spike shows up in lots of price charts, but Genelabs in particular, was lifted high and then got dropped hard.

WASHINGTON MUTUAL

Among the banks to take a dive during the recent credit crisis is Washington Mutual, which for some reason, has become particularly unfavorable with shareholders. Nobody likes WM right now. Nobody. Maybe it has something to do with Cramer going berzerk on Mad Money and insulting the yield on Washing Mutual.

HALLIBURTON CORP

They're actually doing quite well. On the other hand, liberals claim that this company is pilfering Iraq. Take a look for yourself: The vertical blue line marks the start date of the war, and 5 years later, the current price is about $40. Not bad, but it's nothing special. This also happens to be the company formerly run by VP Dick Cheney so you can pretty much assume it's full of lies and slimy financial manipulation.
What would happen to HAL if the war suddenly ended and everyone went home? Probably something shady and imperialist, at best.