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Written by Steven Sust
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Wednesday, 03 February 2010 16:17 |
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I don't know about everyone else, but I've grown up with the notion that meteorology is a painfully variable science. Now it seems like they're predicting an epic snowfall which could very well be the case, but i'm underwhelmed by previous experience at the moment so we'll see if this new site I found actually tells it like it's going to be. If true, I could be in for a fair amount of trouble especially if the power flips off and I slowly freeze in my apartment. I guess that will just mean more sledding on cafeteria lunch trays to stay warm.
[Image ungratefully stolen from here, but visit her site as there are tons of great pics on her photoblog] |
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Last Updated on Wednesday, 03 February 2010 16:35 |
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Written by Steven Sust
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Thursday, 14 January 2010 19:08 |
 There aren't that many movies that have disappointed quite like The Blair Witch Project. Not to say that there havent been tons of other bad movies, but few movies have so polarized its viewers into camps of either "loved-it-because-it-left-a-brick-in-my-pants-so-I-gotta-tell-everyone-to-watch-it" OR "cant-believe-I-paid-10-bucks-to-sit-through-2-hours-of-that-and-get-a-headache". I'm one of the weak-minded fools that Obi-Wan Kenobi was taking about and I get into movies fairly easily so I kinda liked Blair Witch. The reason why I suddenly thought of Blair Witch was because of a new movie that I saw called [Rec] which was similar in certain respects and superior in many others. Originally, I got wind of this through a new site I found called screenrant.com which is a pretty good place for movie news in general. [Rec] was filed under one of the writers' top 5 movies that scared the hell out of me so I had to give it a go. I wouldnt read the writer's review of it until after you've seen it because there are a few spoilers, but this movie is not the intellectual mind-bender either so it won't hurt too much except it might ruin one of the surprise moments. [Rec] hasn't had a formal analysis on rottentomatoes yet, but did a great job of building up characters you can sorta empathize with and also added extra dimensions of realism with the hysteria, paranoia, and racism. Basically, all of the ugly truths that would come out in moments of chaos, fear, and crisis appear plus the movie makes no attempts to show the chivalry and honor that separates us from the animals. All in all, it was a horror flick that was fairly believable because of the hilarious characters that were portrayed in the film and the interesting cinematography. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to take care of a brick.
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Last Updated on Thursday, 14 January 2010 19:26 |
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Written by Steven Sust
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Monday, 11 January 2010 12:26 |
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 While sniffing through yahoo news, I ran across this article highlighting a psych review of MMPI data from 1938 to 2007. For those not in the know, the infamous MMPI is a ~500 question multiple-choice test and one of the more highly validated personality measures that clinical psychology has had in its arsenal. MMPI results interpretation can be complex and something i've learned to leave for the neuropsychologists for their expert opinion.
However I digress. Not surprisingly(to me at least), the study found an increase in many measures of mental health problems such as psychopathic deviation, hypomania, and paranoia(just to name a few) in their study population of college and high school students. In trying to sit down and interpret their results, I think the authors summarize it best with the following quote:
"These results suggest that as American culture has increasingly valued extrinsic and self-centered goals such as money and status, while increasingly devaluing community, affiliation, and finding meaning in life, the mental health of American youth has suffered. It is of course possible, and likely, that there are other factors behind the dramatic increases in psychopathology. However, these results are consistent with the theorizing of several authors arguing that materialism, individualism, and impossibly high expectations have led to an epidemic of poor mental health in the U.S. and other Western nations ([Eckersley and Dear, 2002], [Kasser, 2003], [Myers, 2000] and [Seligman, 1990])"
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Last Updated on Tuesday, 12 January 2010 11:26 |
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Read more...
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Beefcake via gene manipulation |
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Written by Steven Sust
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Wednesday, 09 December 2009 20:07 |
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I knew this day would come. It was only a matter of time before someone figured out how to bulk up w/o requiring years of dedication and that day has finally arrived. This group talks about altering a gene called follistatin and creating an awesomely built animal with obligatory ridiculous real life picture depicted on the right. 
Obviously, this is funny and bound to be abused by normal humans obsessed with superficiality, athletes obsessed with pushing the bar, or Russian boxers bent on beating the tar out of Sylvester Stallone. However, there is a possibly legitimate use for this gene in the form of neuromuscular diseases like muscular dystrophies. In fact, there's even mention of a baby born (named Liam Hoekstra) with a defect in his myostatin gene and he's a young hulk punchng through dry wall in his temper tantrums. One can only imagine the therapeutic potential of this medication for patients young and old, and one can totally predict athletes dumping the Epo once this stuff clears the first set of trials and gets the FDA blessing.
[Credit again to dailytech for the initial article]
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Last Updated on Wednesday, 09 December 2009 20:28 |
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Written by Steven Sust
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Monday, 23 November 2009 08:26 |
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 Normally, American Dad isn't a show that holds my attention beyond some of the short spurts of crude humor that one typically expects from it. However, as I was catching up with the world(i.e. TV) and saw this episode called "Shallow Vows", I laughed non-stop and got to thinking about the message it was really trying to get across.
**SPOILER ALERT**
The general gist of things is that Stan is renewing his marital vows and he admits that the primary factor in marrying his wife, Fran, was her beauty and good looks. The rest of the episode is Stan trying to cope with Fran vengefully letting herself go until he finally gets the idea to have the CIA remove his retinas so that he's blind. It is at that point that Stan then becomes far more interested in Fran as a person and develops a very intimate relationship with her since Fran's appearance no longer affects his blind eyes. Fran is all smiles until she finds out that his blindness and new-found intimacy have also made him an invalid and now require her to get a job to take care of him. Fran then has the epiphany that she got married to be taken care of and not to have to work for the rest of her life. Finally, they both realize how mutually superficial they really are.
It makes you wonder how hypocritical you are and how deep is your love really?
[shout-out to my infamous classmate Dave Choi]
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Last Updated on Monday, 23 November 2009 08:55 |
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