mgroves

Archive for October, 2007

I’m still counting down The Best Moments of Futurama.

This mini-series of posts is counting down to the release of the all-new Futurama DVD, Bender’s Big Score, set to be released on November 27, 2007.

My favorite episode of Futurama is “The Luck of the Fryish”, originally aired on March 11, 2001. We will see more of this episode later…

4. Horse

There’s a quick sequence when Hermes and Leela go to the concession stand at the horse track. Try counting how many times the word “horse” is said. I can’t think of a single horse-related pun that’s not used in this brief scene. It’s horse-packed to the horse-rafters with horse. Horse!

This may be the single best horse-related comedy sequence since the Horse Marx Brothers.

T-Rex: What if I put chocolate sauce in my iced tea?

God: DON’T DO IT

T-Rex I’m gonna!!

Missed the last Tuesday Tube? Head over to the tag search for ‘tuesday tube’ and browse through the archives.

This weeks’ Tuesday Tube is the 31st Tuesday Tube episode. Can you believe it? I’m not going to do a best of, or anything, there’s no point. So, uh, here’s a bunch of videos that have been laying around for a while.

I really want to play Portal.

Never in the history of films has a sequel been so blatantly identical to its predecessor. That really made me mad when I saw Home Alone 2.

Did someone say “Giraffe fight”?

Why would robots need to mate? Seriously, this is unnecessary.

This could be your grandma. You never know.

This next one has something to do with napalm and communists.

HYPER. SONIC BOOM.

And finally, the long awaited sequel to Powerthirst. Powerthirst TWO.

Not as good as the first, I don’t think. That’s all for this week!

Today is the 2-year anniversary of mgroves.com as a blog.

I’m starting a periodical series of posts to look back on my blog “one year ago, today” (or even two years ago).

Back in 2005, I kicked off this blog with two posts, one about programming/testing the blog software itself, and the other about stupid Prince Charles, who remains a target of mine for no good reason other than he says stupid things.

In 2006, I didn’t post anything on the 29th, but on the 30th, I blogged about the upcoming new version of Internet Explorer (7). I’m still a fan of IE7, but not nearly as much as Opera, or to a lesser extent, Firefox.

I also posted about the new Coleco Sonic handheld game system. This seems to be dead in the water, as I don’t see it on Target’s site anymore, and the last time Coleco’s own site was updated was the 13th of October, 2006. So, I still think “This one could end up being one of those rarities in collections.” Not in my collection yet, but it will be eventually.

This is blog post #872, which gives mgroves.com an average of 1.2 posts every day for the last 2 years. Pretty good, I think.

I really enjoyed Elebits for Wii, and I think I will be receiving it for Christmas.

But just in time for me to get that game, it looks like a sequel is in the works.

According to this random guy at IGN, when he asked the creator of Elebits about Elebits 2, he said “that’s a secret”.

So, take that rumor for what it’s worth. I, for one, welcome our new Elebit overlords.

Listen as the love child of Ray Ramano and Christopher Walken comments on a video of the hardest Super Mario hack ever.

I can’t find the original source of this hack, but it’s rather masochistic and close to impossible.

There are some really funny lines in this video, and I encourage you to watch the whole thing.

The guy commenting wasn’t actually playing, he just added his commentary.

This post is one of a 4-part series on 4 ways to vote stupidly.

As a reader of mgroves.com, you probably consider yourself a cut above the riff raff, the proles, the mouthbreathers who shop at Wal-Mart.

But it’s a little known fact that you (and me, for that matter) are probably just as stupid as them when you make a decision about who to vote for (more specifically, the reasons why you vote for who you vote for).

Economists argue about the idea of rationality. That is, according to theory, a market will function a certain way assuming all of the people in it behave in a rational way. For the most part, this is true. You wouldn’t buy a $5 bill for $10, etc. Generally, you won’t participate in a transaction unless you get as much or more utility as you put in (utility doesn’t always mean money).

But there are lots of instances where people don’t behave rationally. One of the reasons they do so is bias: a preference or an inclination, especially one that inhibits impartial judgment.

See if any of these 4 irrational biases apply to you, and think about it next time you are in the voting booth.

1. Anti-Market Bias

This is the inability to believe that the market provides the best outcome. No one claims the market is perfect, and externalities should always be considered. Nevertheless, the market gives the optimal solution in the vast majority of cases.
People see profits as a “gift” to the rich–as simply an unfair transfer of wealth. Yet, profits are not a handout.
Profits incentivize innovation and improvement and maximize the value that can be obtained from assets. Adam
Smith’s invisible hand turns the “greedy selfishness” of a businessman into service for the public good.

One very topical example is ‘pollution credits’. Many people oppose these on principle because it allows
companies to just buy their way out of reducing pollution. Why not just force them to stop pollution?

The fact is that pollution credits would reduce more pollution for the same cost. Companies that
are able to cut their pollution at a low cost do so, and sell their ‘excess’ pollution credits to companies that can’t (for profit). The other companies save money by buying credits instead of doing expensive upgrades/fixes.

The extent of an externality like pollution can still be argued, of course, but the effect that a pollution market would have cannot largely be disputed. This isn’t to say it’s stupid to oppose it, it’s just to say that many people oppose it because of an anti-market bias.

To summarize, if one really was interested in reducing pollution, the free market is the best way to do it. An anti-market bias assumes that the market is more flawed than a non-market solution. Other examples include socialized health care and alleged oil company price gouging.

I’m still counting down The Best Moments of Futurama.

This mini-series of posts is counting down to the release of the all-new Futurama DVD, Bender’s Big Score, set to be released on November 27, 2007.

One of the main themes of Futurama is Fry’s quest to find usefullness and a life he doesn’t hate. Going into the future was one of the best things that happened in Fry’s life; he easily adapted and lives a good life. But in the grand scheme of things, he’s even more important than he thinks.

5. Fry am make big brain lose

“The Day the Earth Stood Stupid” was part of season 3, and was originally aired on February 18, 2001. This episode was one of the episodes that make up the Fry-saves-the-universe story arc.

Only Fry is immune to the stupifying powers of the flying brains. Despite his obvious learning disorder, Fry is able to outsmart the flying brains.

In tribute to Fry’s heroism, please include at least 2 typos on purpose in your comments.

Here’s an article about conceal-carry protests on OSU.

Suprisingly, the article is about students protesting for conceal-carry on campus. Currently, the rules are that only law enforcement officers are allowed to carry guns on campus.

Rick Amweg, Ohio State’s assistant police chief, has this to say:

“…I think it’s best that we have trained law enforcement officers as the only ones armed on campus,

But, if no one else is allowed to carry guns, then why do even police need to carry them? They are forbidden. Not allowed. If no one is going to try to use a gun on campus, why should the police even have guns?

In fact, since rape, murder, theft, and assault are all forbidden on campus, why have police on campus at all?

I’m just trying to understand the rationale here.

Is the rule in place to prevent killing sprees? Why would a murderer obey the no-gun rule, but not the no-murder rule?

Is it to prevent accidental shootings? Conceal-and-carry laws require training. Should OSU elevators or any other items that might cause accidents also be for police use only?

Is it to prevent suicide? Well, there’s a very handy pedestrian bridge right on OSU that’s available in case guns aren’t handy, so maybe the bridge should be restricted to police only too. And rope. And the higher floors of dorms. And knifes too. Oh yeah, toasters. Aspirin. Lighters, matches, cars, busses, hammers, bricks, stones, fists, baseball bats, golf clubs, chainsaws, water, box cutters, and anything poisonous.

Why is the rule there? I think it’s because a certain segment of people with political influence have the idea that the common citizen can’t think for themselves, is basically an idiot, and needs constant nannying. Gun control is one manifestation of this, among other things.

Disarming innocent people does not protect innocent people.

For more information on guns and gun politics, please check out my good friend Robb Allen’s blog, Sharp as a Marble.

Missed the last Tuesday Tube? Head over to the tag search for ‘tuesday tube’ and browse through the archives.

This weeks’ Tuesday Tube focuses on a man who some might call the greatest American actor in history. Judge for yourself.

These are the famous outtakes from some frozen foods commercials.

And here’s the same material in an episode of “Pinky and The Brain.”

Maurice LaMarche, the voice of brain, often uses his Orson Welles impression
for cartoons, voiceovers, etc. Here he is in “The Critic.”

And here’s Orson, perhaps sampling the product a little too much. Ever wonder
how Orson played such a great drunk in Touch of Evil? Two words: method acting.

A short Tube this week. Please submit all complaints in writing, below.