What happens when you drip molten glass into water and then shatter the resulting glass drop? Your awesome science video of the day happens, that’s what:
Dude. That’s some serious science. I’m going to have to watch the other ones as well.
Author Archives: Jean-Paul
Game Of Thrones Schadenfreude
(Warning: Kind of Spoilery)
Yesterday was the Red Wedding episode on Game of Thrones. It’s the episode that every person who has read the book has been looking forward to. Well, at least it’s the episode that every person who has read the book has been looking forward to since Ned Stark got his head lopped off:
The Red Wedding is producing similar angst. Check out twitter. I love how everyone is saying that they’re going to quit watching the show. They’ll be back. They always come back.
I remember reading the Red Wedding scene the first time and having a similar reaction. Not that I wanted to quit reading after that but just the whole thing was really a punch in the gut. It really is one of the best scenes in all of fantasy. I knew it was coming in the show and it was still a punch in the gut. Especially the multiple stabbing in the gut which was not in the book that I recall.
Oh, the callus evil of Roose Bolton. I love how he actually teases Catelyn with what is about to come. And Walder Frey. It wasn’t really clear in the show, but the taking of food and salt upon entrance to a man’s home is sacred. It means no harm will come of you as long as you are under their roof. Your mortal enemy will not harm you if you partake of this ceremony at his gate. Walder Frey betrayed that. And he did it beautifully.
And the bloodshed has just begun…
Movie Review: The Hangover 3
Ratings for reviews will appear above the fold, while the review itself will appear below the fold to avoid spoilers for anyone that wants to go into it with a blank slate.
Jean-Paul’s rating: 2/5 stars
No hangovers where had in the making of this movie.
Bye Bye Bachmann
(Sung to the tune of “Bye Bye Birdie”)
Bye-bye Bachmann. No one's gonna miss you, go. Bye-bye Bachmann. Your mind is awful slow. Still more crazies. I hope they'll follow you away. I'll cry Bachmann, if you decide to stay. I hate the way you rile, inflicting religious misery. Gay marriage gave you a fright, While the rest of us scream, "Whoopie!" Bye-bye Bachmann. It's awful nice to hear. Bye-bye Bachmann. Don't let the door hit your rear! Don't let it hit your reeeaaaar! Don't let it hit your rear! For you uncultured fools who do not get the reference:
Book Review: Stonemouth By Iain Banks
Jean-Paul’s rating: 3/5 stars
A glossary of Scottish slang is necessary to read this book. I highly recommend reading the e-book version of this book if you decide to read it. Those, like me, who are not familiar with Scottish slang will be very thankful for the dictionary included with most e-readers.
This is my first exposure to Iain Banks. I think I heard of him through reading Paul Krugman’s blog and decided to give one of his books a shot. The only one available via e-book from the library was “Stonemouth” so I read it.
Stuart Gilmore is returning to his hometown of Stonemouth to attend a funeral after being run out of town by a mob family for an unnamed indiscretion five years ago. The book follow his journey back and introduces us to the strange workings of a two-mob harbor town. The Murstons, whom Stuart had pissed off, have given him permission to come back for the funeral. Barely. Some of the Murstons are more forgiving than others and there is a bit of a power struggle going on in their organization. Poor Stuart.
The meat of the book is the reveal of the unnamed indiscretion and the continued fallout from said indiscretion. It is revealed through flashbacks and reunions with friends. The book flows really well from scene to scene. There is a real sense that this is exactly how a reunion/funeral visit would look like for someone who had been gone for five year. Well, without the whole mob family being pissed at you part. But every book needs a bit of conflict, right?
This is a very solid book. The characters are interesting and real. The flashbacks do a good job of fleshing out the motives of the characters. The slow reveal of the unnamed indiscretion committed by Stuart works really well. The only real flaw is with the plot. It’s just a little too simple and it leads to a conclusion that, while satisfying, isn’t really something you’d normally write a book about. If you think of “Stonemouth” as a character study, you will likely enjoy it.
Movie Review: Star Trek: Into Darkness
Ratings for reviews will appear above the fold, while the review itself will appear below the fold to avoid spoilers for anyone that wants to go into it with a blank slate.
Jean-Paul’s rating: 4/5 stars
J.J. ABRAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMMSSSSSSSSSSSS!
An Entertainment Complex In The Middle Of A Sewage System
Oh, Neil deGrasse Tyson, why must you be so awesome?
When giving a speech on Intelligent Design, he had a segment about how stupidly designed the entire universe is. He went on to describe how stupidly designed humans are. He called the human reproductive system “an entertainment complex in the middle of a sewage system.” He also railed about the idiocy of using the same mouth to both breath, talk, and eat guaranteeing that a certain portion of the population will choke to death every year. No engineer worth a damn would ever have created the human.
The larger point of the speech is that every well known scientist in history has proclaimed Intelligent Design in their careers to describe what they can’t describe despite the fact that someone came along later to fill in the gaps. It’s even true today to a lesser extent. 85% of the top scientific minds in the world do not believe in god but what about the other 15%? If the scientific community can’t even convert that 15%, what can they possibly expect to establish inroads with the general population who have no idea how science actually works. The answer is you can’t.
You should watch the speech in its entirety. It’s well worth it.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASmQmYX-71Q&feature=youtube_gdata_player]Pointless Milestone: Achieved!
Here’s some news that is of value to absolutely no one. For the first time ever, this blog had over 100 hits. 114 hits yesterday, to be exact. So, yay?
I’m Related To Charlemagne!
The blood of kings flows through my veins! I’m pretty sure that this means I get to have a completely superfulous sex scene with Melisandre before she sacrifices me to her red god. (Game of Thrones reference.)
Don’t worry, you get to have sex with Melisandre too. It turns out that we’re all related to Charlemagne. If you can claim European heritage at least. If you go back a little farther than Charlemagne to 1000 BC, we’re all family! Not just Europeans. Everyone. The Native American hunting the Great Plains in 1000 BC? He’s family. The African migrating across the Serengeti in 1000 BC? She’s family. Every person that was alive in 1000 BC and managed to sprout a family tree that is still growing today is related to you. Every. Single. One. That is amazing!
And before you start worrying about how much incest you’re having, fear not, you share none of the same genes from those ancestors. You have no more in common (genetically) with those ancestors than you do that random stranger you saw on the train. In fact, you only have to go 14 generations back to have a statistical zero percent chance of sharing any genes at all with an ancestor. So much for leaving behind a lasting legacy.
I could never come up with a better closing paragraph than the one in the above linked article so I’ll just quote it here:
But while genetics doesn’t reflect much of our imagined genealogical uniqueness, it’s shown that we’re more closely tied to our species as a whole than we might have realized. We’re all part of this enormous human fabric, full of fascinating tendencies and bizarre biochemistry. And research is revealing more and more about humanity as a whole and our incredibly beautiful, incredibly unlikely perch in the universe. That’s a tradition to be proud of.
Kristin The Hero
So, how many of you had burn victims in your bathtub today? Yeah, didn’t think so.
There was a fire in one of the units down the hall in my building. Kristin was home and heard screams from the hallway and smelled smoke. She looks out the peephole and sees two very burned men screaming “fire!” in Polish. Kristin knows this because, of course, she speaks a little Polish. Who doesn’t, right? She then very calmly proceeds to call the fire department and informs them that there is a fire in the building.
But there are still two highly excited Polish men with burns in the hallway! They must be taken care of! Kristin lets them in so they can run cool water over their burns while waiting for the EMTs to arrive. Because that’s what heroes do.
Kristin’s work is far from done, though! For what’s that out in the hall? Is that fire? It is! To the fire extinguisher! Kristin grabs the the fire extinguisher from the closet and proceeds to put out the fire that had escaped into the hall. Who wouldn’t, right?
The rest is all boring, run of the mill, everyday hero stuff. Letting the EMTs in to treat the burn victims, filing a report with the police, talking to jittery neighbors. I mean, who doesn’t do that on a daily basis?
Kristin leads such a boring life. I am in awe of her stay calm and carry on demeanor when in a crisis.
The aftermath of the hallway:
The aftermath of the bathroom:
Bonus Kristin quote: “There’s nothing like chunks of burned flesh to motivate you to clean the bathroom.”