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like, what is legit anymore?

Virgin makes airline safety videos cool again

Oct
31

When it comes to flying, watching the airline safety video is similar to taking a poop mid-flight; we try not to.

Because it’s boring, it tells you the same thing every time in that same monotone, and doesn’t tell us anything new that we don’t already know.

Still, it’s airline regulation, and so, it has to be shown to us on every flight before take-off.

This one though, is different. Watch.

If you think the production value is extremely high, well, it is directed by Jon M Chu, the director behind Step Up 2, Step Up 3, and G.I. Joe: Retaliation.

Plus, there’s that robot dance guy Madd Chadd as well, complete with a mid-song rap.

Virgin America fans like me choose this airline because it has a really unique and fun flying experience, so I wanted to make sure this video lived up to that promise and pushed the envelope.- Jon M. Chu

Wait a second, is that Jon Chu himself on the extreme left in the robot segment?

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What does the fox say?

Oct
10

Two guys were wondering out loud what noises a fox makes.

They put pen to paper, and wrote a song, and even a video out of it. Sure, it was mostly made in jest, but it sure piqued a hell of a lot of curiosity. Evidently, many other people were wondering about the noises a fox makes as well. To the tune of 100,000,000 video views in just over a month!

That’s crazy yo!

And if you think this song is going to be even more popular than Gangnam Style, you’re probably right. It took this song fewer days to get to 100 million views than Gangnam Style did.

So forget prancing around riding an imaginary horse, and instead listen to the possible sounds a fox might make.

Wait, does an elephant really toot?

Oh wait, again, it seems like the main question has just been answered:

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String Theory Bohemian Rhapsody

Sep
18

Not that I feel like I know a lot more about String Theory or Quantum Physics after watching this video, but I think he’s done a really great job at vocals, editing and sock puppeteering.

So if anyone comes away from this knowing a bit more about the subject, I guess that’s a win!

Lyrics

Is string theory right?
Is it just fantasy?
Caught in the landscape,
Out of touch with reality
Compactified
On S5 or T*S3

Space is a pure void
Why should it be stringy?
Because it’s quantum not classical
Nonrenormalizable
Any way you quantize
You’ll encounter infinity
You see

Quanta
Must interact
Via paths we understand
Using Feynman diagrams
Often, they will just rebound
But now and then they go another way
A quantum
Loooooop
Infinities will make you cry
Unless you can renormalize your model
Of baryons, fermions
And all other states of matter

Curved space:
The graviton
Can be thought of as a field
But these infinities are real
In a many-body
Loop diagram
Our results diverge no matter what we do…
A Quantum Soup (any way you quantize)
Kiss your fields goodbye
Guess Einstein’s theory wasn’t complete at all!

I see extended 1-D objects with no mass
What’s their use? What’s their use? Can they give us quark plasma?
What to minimize?
What functional describes this
String?
Nambu-Goto! (Nambu-Goto)
Nambu-Goto! (Nambu-Goto)
How to quantize I don’t know
Polyakov!
I’m just a worldsheet, please minimize me
He’s just a worldsheet from a string theory
Reperametrized by a Weyl symmetry!

Fermi, Bose, open, closed, orientable?
Vibrations
Modes! They become particles (particles!)
Vibrations
They become particles (particles!)
Vibrations
They become particles (particles!)
Become particles (particles!)
Become particles (many many many many particle…)
Modes modes modes modes modes modes modes!
Oh mamma mia mamma mia,
Such a sea of particles!
A tachyon, with a dilaton and gravity-vity-VITY

(rock out!)

Now we need ten dimensions and I’ll tell you why
(anomaly cancellation!)
So to get down to 4D we compactify!
Oh, Kahler!
(Kahler manifold)
Manifolds must be Kahler!
(Complex Reimannian symplectic form)
If we wanna preserve
Any of our super-symmetry

(Superstrings of type I, IIa and IIb)
(Heterotic O and Heterotic E)
(All are one through S and T duality)
(Thank you Ed Witten for that superstring revolution and your new M-theory!)

(Maldecena!)
(Super-Yang-Mills!)
(Type IIB String!)
Dual! Dual!
(In the AdS/CFT)
(Holography!)

Molecules and atoms
Light and energy
Time and space and matter
All from one united
Theory

Any way you quantize…

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Seems like anyone is a better batman than Ben Affleck

Aug
26

I think we can safely say that we all know Ben Affleck is a better director than actor. Maybe even Ben knows it, and secretly likes it. Afterall, directors are generally held in higher regard than actors, much like fashion designers are the brains behind the models’ poses.

After Warner Brother’s decision to cast Affleck as the new Batman in the Superman vs Batman mashup, the internet has gone wild in its protest, and an interesting hashtag #BetterBatmanThanBenAffleck popped up, with suggestions on who will be a better batman casting choice.

Naturally, being the internet, it was full of shit. But like a good shit, you do feel better after dispensing it.

So here are some gems from that hashtag.

Even Lexus joined in the fray with their very own potshot. Unfortunately, their social media team forgot about the fact that Ben Affleck owns a Lexus. That tweet was quickly removed. But it had already been retweeted and (of course) screengrabbed for posterity.

Lexus is a better batman than ben affleck

Boom! Endorsement deal gone!

So, if Ben Affleck is not a good Batman for you, who do you think it should be?

Actually, I think he’ll be a decent Batman. They just have to design a full face batmask, and not have Bruce Wayne appear at all?

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John Cochran does TV

Jul
25

After going through 2 seasons of Survivor, and coming up tops the second time round, you’d think that with a cool million dollars (pre-tax) in his pocket, John Cochran would take a well deserved break before thinking about his next adventure.

But no, the Harvard king of nerds jumped right back to work, announcing that he was going to be a writing for the TV sitcom The Millers.

Here’s his tweet announcing the gig.

The Millers premieres September 26, 2013 on CBS.

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Plants vs Zombies 2: Its about Time

Jul
17

For those of you waiting to get your hands on the long awaited sequel to the popular game Plants vs Zombies, well, you have to wait a little longer.

Worldwide release has been delayed while Popcap makes their final round of testing to ensure cross platform compatibility. Originally scheduled for a July 18 release, it has now been pushed back to “later this summer”

They have, however, released the game in Australia and New Zealand as part of a controlled rollout to fix any bugs they encounter.

Plants vs Zombies 2

Early reviews have praised the game as bringing it to a new level, while keeping the strategy portion intact for fans of the first. This round, there are 3 worlds for us to kill zombies, as opposed to Crazy Dave’s backyard in the first.

There’s the Wild West, Ancient Egypt and Pirate worlds to conquer. Each of the 3 worlds will feature zombies unique to each location.

Sounds like they’ve put a ton of effort into this one, can’t wait! The game will be free-to-play, with in-app purchases available for additional power-ups.

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