Snow Day!

Columbus Public Schools (including OSU) were closed today on  account of the Snowtorious B.I.G.
So the exam I was supposed to take today is rescheduled for Thursday and I have a full day to lounge about. Well, I spent the last two hours shoveling, but other than that...

Quick recap of the past couple months
 Modern Warfare 2:


And that's pretty much it.

I've been making some extra scratch as a tutor and I like it very much. There's something more satisfying about sitting with an individual than lecturing to a classroom. There are nuances of understanding and discovery that cannot be obtained when talking to 100 students. It's pretty easy work too, depending on which class I'm tutoring. I've taught the intro classes for so many years, I know the most common pitfalls and the best way to circumnavigate frustrations. Helping a student with Stats 135, I feel a little like The Player from Ros & Guil. He seems to know so much, but really it's just that he's "been here before" and the student can't figure out "the direction of the wind."

On a happy note, my old roommate from StOlaf is coming to Columbus for the weekend. And ye there shall be much playing of videogames and eating of pizza. I'm also trying to get together some people for a poker night, something we've never quite been able to do when he's visited.

Merry Christmas, Bitches.

GameCRAWL

So I signed up for GameFly. For all you non-gamers out there, it's like netflix but for videogames. Awesome concept, but I've found it to be a little lacking in execution.
So far, I've received 8 games from gamefly and they've shipped semi-promptly and arrived semi-quickly. These 8 games have all been older titles (Fun but older). Titles that I passed up buying earlier in the year or last year thinking that someday I would get them on the cheap or rent them...as I'm doing now. These games have all been low on my list, with a stack of new releases atop the list. I've had two games in particular at the top of my queue for as long as I've been a member, those two games were Assassin's Creed II and Modern Warfare II. I ended up buying AC II and I'm still waiting to get my hands of MW II. You see, none of the top 5 games in my queue ever ship. So I started putting in games that might be fun, but that I wasn't really interested in. Games like Halo Wars and WET.
When those games arrived, I sighed, feeling as though I've settled. So enough is enough, I deleted all the games I wasn't too thrilled about and left the top 5 creme de la creme.
I returned my last game and it got to GameFly last wednesday. Since then I've been waiting for one my top 5 games to ship. Nothing. I wait. Nothing.
Granted, not all the games are as available as the rest. Everyone wants to play Modern Warfare II, so it has "low" availability. Which means it has a less than 25% chance of shipping. Fine, but.... I have other games in my list with "high" availability or even the oh so falsely labeled "Available Now."
So i waited three days and nothing has shipped. Finally I wrote an email. I was polite. I asked "Where the fuck are my fucking games you puss headed sons-of-whores?"
I get a little intense about my games.

I get this email in return:

Dear Peter,

Our apologies. We have reviewed your account and noted that you currently have only very popular releases in your GameQ. ...[blah...]... Please note the availability statuses on the Web site reflect inventory across all of our shipping centers. While the game may reflect "Available Now” or “High" in your Q, it may only be available in the shipping center that is more distant from your residence. We try to ship games from your primary shipping center to allow you to receive your games faster.

To ensure we ship games in the fairest possible manner, we factor in the length of time that you have been waiting for a game (once a return is received in our facility) and the time the desired available game was placed in your GameQ. ...[blah blah]... We also recommend you add more titles to your GameQ so you do not miss out on receiving games (i.e. don't you want to play viva pinata or Iron Man the game or maybe Halo 2??????).

[blah blah blah]
Sincerely,

The GameFly Team
Email: support@gamefly.com
Online help: http://www.gamefly.com/help

----------------------

I'm going to copy and paste something again for emphasis:

While the game may reflect "Available Now” or “High" in your Q, it may only be available in the shipping center that is more distant from your residence. We try to ship games from your primary shipping center to allow you to receive your games faster.

*ahem* even though the game may reflect AVAILABLE NOW, we're not going to ship it to you. Becaaaaaaause, and this is the great part, we would rather you not have a game at all, than make you wait an extra day or two to get the game.

This is the sound of me blinking in astonishment.

Further-frakking-more...
The top 5 games in my queue have availabilities as follows:

Medium
Low
High
High
Very Low

With these ranks, GameFly associates a probablity of immediate shipping. For Medium games it's 50%-74%, low is 25%-50%, etc... With the percentages given that should mean the probability that 1 of the games ships immediately is... (and here I'm using the most conservative values of their stated percentages, i.e. giving them the benefit of the doubt)
1-.5*.75*.25*.25*.95 = .9777

Given that the ranks stay the same, the probability that I don't get a game for three days is (0.0223)^3 = 0.000011

Something is rotten in the state of Ohio.

come for the abs, stay for the action

Let's get one thing straight, movie adaptations of videogames have thus far been garbage. The king of the genre Uwe Boll, really knows how to such the lifeforce out of a idea and paste its withered corpse on a movie screen.  Except for a few notable exceptions in the immediate past, the same has gone the other way. Take a movie, try to turn it into a videogame, and watch as a ten thousand gamers through their controllers into a wall. Notable exceptions are the newest Batman game, the newest Wolverine game, and the game based on the time life classic My Teenage Pregnancy. 
However, there is a chance that the Prince of Persia movie could be decent. The trailers look like your stereotypical Jerry Bruckheimer film, i.e. all balls and no brains, but there's something about it that makes my thumbs twitch. Take a look.

Oh shirtless Jake Gylenhall, is there no genre of film you can't master.

I can't wait for the romantic comedy based off of Left4Dead 2. In theaters this Spring.

me vs. my subconscious

An open letter to the girl in my dream:

First of all, let me apologize. By the look on your face, it was clear to me that you were upset when you got splashed. I could tell that a significant amount of water got on your book and it was, perhaps, ruined from the experience. Before I ask what you were doing sitting in the water fountain in the middle of the shopping mall, let me remind you that I did, indeed, get up to locate a towel for you. Just because I got lost on the second story (near banana republic), which, subsequently, turned into a medieval dungeon, doesn't mean I wasn't sincere in the undertaking. Although you said nothing, I am certain that you were displeased by the entire engagement.  Had I known someone was sitting under the footbridge that spanned the fountain, I would not have leapt in near that exact spot. I pray that, in hindsight, you find my action irreverent instead of malevolent. If ever I return to your mall, which, as I recall, was almost entirely populated with bipedal lizardfolk, I shall make a point to stay clear of the fountain. I wish you all the best in your future endeavors.

Sincerely,
Sprocketplug

Trust

Let's set the mood. To start, fire up iTunes and put on In the House-In A Heartbeat by John Murphy. Go for it. I'll wait...
You got it rolling? Great. Now imagine you're on the roof of an abandoned hotel somewhere outside Atlanta. You're with three people you just met and each of you is carrying a 9mm pistol. You look over the side of the roof and you see a crash of people below. From this distance, the group resembles a mosh pit, or a throng of shoppers waiting for the doors to open on Black Friday. Some sway back and forth as if entranced by some music that sits beyond the range of human sensitivity. Some look around expectantly, as if they are on the lookout for the 16 year old checkout girl to come unlock the gate. But all are silent. If you were to descend towards the group, the first thing you would notice is the smell. It is the smell of raw beef left to spoil. It is the smell of acid soaked fish congealing in the summer sun. It is like a physical blow to your head, and were your eyes not filled with tears you could see that these are not people at all. The ones that still have most of their skin are the color of bleached blue jeans, and their hands open and close, open and close, open and close.
Your next step makes the stair creak and 100 heads turn in unison. One of them opens its mouth and like birds in flight the group turns and launches towards you.



I just finished the final campaign in Left4Dead 2. I like to play the whole game offline with computer controlled teammates before jumping online so I'm a little better at not getting my team killed. The final chapter of the final campaign is a bridge. You have to fight your way across the bridge and into a rescue helicopter. There is no single moment of respite during the entire chapter. You run and you shoot and you keep moving or you die. On the second try I was 50 feet from the chopper when I was taken down by a dozen infected. The hardest part about playing with computer teammates is that they always let you take the lead. You're always the one in front and therefore the one who takes most of the damage from the special infected...like this guy:


So on the fourth try I am getting frustrated. We work our way past the halfway point and the zombies come like grains of rice being poured from a measuring cup. They slide around cars, crawl over the skeletons of 16 wheelers and station wagons. They are uncountable and relentless and I lead the way. Firing, reloading, pushing, punching, struggling for each foot of forward progression. And then I hear it, the sound of helicopter blades. I pull out my adrenaline pen and jam it into my thigh. I sprint, pushing past the mob of infected, killing many, avoiding many more, until I stand before the chopper. I turn around and I am alone. Rochelle is dead. Coach is on the ground yelling for help and Nick, with only a sliver of health, is fighting his way back to Coach. I put in a new clip and take a step forward, and then Nick goes down. Coach and Nick are still alive, incapacitated, but alive. The infected are pummeling them with fists and feet, elbows and knees. I can hear their cries. I hesitate.

I turn and step into the chopper.

As it takes off, I can see the infected below, like spiders crawling from a freshly hatched eggsac. I wonder if there will ever be a day when I don't see this in my dreams.

Zombie Survival

Take a minute to fill out this sheet. Who knows, it might save your life some day.

Here's my take

Oh Joss...

An Open Letter

Dear Sirs/Ma'ams,

I am Joss Whedon, the mastermind behind Titan A.E., Parenthood (not the movie) (or the new series) (or the one where 'hood' was capitalized 'cause it was a pun), and myriad other legendary tales. I have heard through the 'grapevine' that the Terminator franchise is for sale, and I am prepared to make a pre-emptive bid RIGHT NOW to wrap this dealio up. This is not a joke, this is not a scam, this is not available on TV. I will write a check TODAY for $10,000, and viola! Terminator off your hands.

No, you didn't miscount. That's four -- FOUR! -- zeroes after that one. That's to show you I mean business. And I mean show business. Nikki Finke says the Terminator concept is played. Well, here's what I have to say to Nikki Finke: you are a fine journalist and please don't ever notice me. The Terminator story is as formative and important in our culture -- and my pretend play -- as any I can think of. It's far from over. And before you Terminator-Owners (I have trouble remembering names) rush to cash that sweet cheque, let me give you a taste of what I could do with that franchise:

1) Terminator... of the Rings! Yeah, what if he time-travelled TOO far... back to when there was dragons and wizards? (I think it was the Dark Ages.) Hasta La Vista, Boramir! Cool, huh? "Now you gonna be Gandalf the Red!" RRRRIP! But then he totally helps, because he's a cyborg and he doesn't give a s#&% about the ring -- it has no power over him! And he can carry it AND Frodo AND Sam AND f@%& up some orcs while he's doing it. This stuff just comes to me. I mean it. (I will also offer $10,000 for the Lord of the Rings franchise).

2) More Glau. Hey. There's a reason they're called "Summer" movies.

3) Can you say... musical? Well don't. Even I know that's an awful idea.

4) Christian Bale's John Connor will get a throat lozenge. This will also help his Batwork (ten grand for that franchise too, btw.)

5) More porn. John Connor never told Kyle Reese this, but his main objective in going to the past was to get some. What if there's a lot of future-babies that have to be made? Cue wah-wah pedal guitar -- and dollar signs!

6) The movies will stop getting less cool.

Okay. There's more -- this brain don't quit! (though it has occasionally been fired) -- but I think you get my drift. I really believe the Terminator franchise has only begun to plumb the depths of questioning the human condition during awesome stunts, and I'd like to shepherd it through the next phase. The money is there, but more importantly, the heart is there. But more importantly, money. Think about it. End this bloody bidding war before it begins, and put the Terminator in the hands of someone who watched the first one more than any other movie in college, including "Song of Norway" (no current franchise offer). Sincerely, Joss Whedon.

Stopping Power

A few weeks ago a friend and I went to a Shooting Range in a north eastern suburb of Columbus. He had just bought a new shotgun and I'm always up for perforating paper cutouts. We rented a few guns such as a 9mm Beretta Pistol and a 9mm Carbine rifle. We were having a great time shooting zombie cutouts and what not, and then my buddy decided he wanted something a little bigger. We went out and chatted with the staff for a while and then my buddy said "Let's try that one." I looked up and he was pointing at the largest handgun I had ever seen. Why was it the largest handgun I had ever seen? Because it's the largest handgun made.
It's a Smith and Wesson 500 and it's large enough to be a gag prop on a Quentin Tarantino movie.
The bullets for this thing are 5 dollars a pop and worth every penny.

For those of you familiar with firearms, here's a comparison of bullet size for some common calibers. The .500 is in the middle.



I was first to fire the thing:




Notice that I wasn't quite prepared for the kick. I was wearing earplugs under those earmuffs and the sound was still impressive. The concussion from the blast sent my heart bouncing off my ribcage.
Because of the shotguns and the rifle we were using, they put us on the rifle range, so the people around us were firing some pretty heavy rounds, but when this gun went off, everyone stopped shooting and looked over, asking "What is that??"
At point blank range, the muzzle flare alone could knock over a moose.

When my buddy shot after me, he had much better control. Now the perspective in these videos don't do the gun justice. The size of the thing was immense.




Some Pics:

All-Terrain Attack Transport

Behold the construction of the behemoth AT-AT.

Friday Night

So you may be wondering: "Sprocketplug, what does an incredibly popular, attractive, and interesting person like you do on a Friday night?"

Well, friends lemme tell you. Last Friday I was feeling a little ill. I had been sneezing as though the great dust bowl of the 1930's had lodged itself in my sinuses. I was feeling better after self medicating with various narcotics and low-level hallucinogens lying about the apartment, but I decided to spend a quiet evening at home.

So I decided to start the 7th and final season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I started around 2:00pm and was still going strong around 9:00. You should never doubt my ability to binge watch television series on DVD. (cf Mr. Gubbins and The West Wing also cf Mr. Gubbins and Psyche). As I watched this delightfully dark and deranged season, I began assembling my Lego™ AT-AT. I had almost finished the walker when I got a text message from my buddy asking me to meet him and his new girlfriend at the Newport to see the Sublime tribute band, Badfish. He asked me what I was doing and I paused for a moment and in one of those rare moments of self-awareness I became a little embarrassed. I was home alone on a Friday night watching Buffy and playing with Legos.
I'm proud to say that after that moment of embarrassment, I thought, this is exactly what I WANT to be doing. So there.
However, I really did want to meet his new girlfriend and I decided it might not be a bad idea to get outside once that day. So I went. It was pretty fun, the Newport is a great venue, and even if I'm not the biggest fan of Sublime, the music was good and my buddy's new girlfriend is pretty rad.
I don't spend a lot of time at these venues so a couple of things struck me:
1) Undergraduate Freshmen look like they're 12
2) I'm kind of a square

The three of us were hanging out by the back, near the exit for the smokers. This guy walks up and asks if I'll watch his beer while he goes out. There's a ledge that runs along the back wall from where we're standing to the exit and no drinks are allowed outside. He says that he left his drink there before, but it got swiped (probably by some 12 year old). I said no problem and I watched his drink. He came back a little while later and thanked me profusely then offered me a "nugget" for my troubles. I said it's not a problem and that I didn't need any payment. I say this because A) it really wasn't any trouble and B) I have no idea what a nugget is. If it's pot, which I'm reasonably sure it is, I probably wouldn't smoke something that this guy was holding. He looked a little sketchy. You know, the kind of guy who's built up such a tolerance that lacing his weed with a little powdered detergent just makes his fingertips tingle.

The show ended, the crowd shuffled out and I declared the night a success. Since then I've watched all but 4 episodes of Season 7. The show is amazing. Maybe later I'll try to describe why I love it so much, but for now, I'm not unable to unpack my heart with words.

the pater familias

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Revivification

Many things are happening in the life of old Sprocketplug.
Yesterday, the Fighting Librarian and I celebrated the anniversary of our first date. Our plans to reenact our first date fell by the wayside due to my upset stomach. That and we couldn't find the cat o' nine tails. Instead we spent a relaxing evening at home, watching Entourage and munching on chinese food.

One of the gifts I received from my sweetheart is pictured below.



Does this girl know me or what?
It's been a fantastic year (broken foot and all) and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

---

With the onset of fall-like weather comes a new school year, and honeycrisp apples!



Most of you have heard this all before, but Honeycrisp apples are one of my absolute favorite foods. The texture and taste are in perfect harmony. Heaven may very well be a Honeycrisp apple.


Lastly, my academic responsibilities start tomorrow.

I'll be taking three classes and for the first time ever I'll be a research assistant for Dr's Lemeshow and Lu. I haven't met with them regarding the project, so I'm not sure what my work will entail, but I am excited to help with some original research! Don't be surprised if I cure childhood leukemia by next Thursday.

Worries

There is a special collection of worries
that I keep in an old mahogany chest
in the attic of my mind

This is not where I keep those simple,
day to day worries
like
Does she think I'm cute?
What if I can't find parking?
What should I get my dad for his birthday?

If you were to open that old mahogany chest
in the attic of my mind,
you would see

What if a cockroach eats one of my toenail clippings
that fell under the bed? Will it absorb my DNA? Will it
become a half-human half-insect juggernaut of destruction?
What if every night I am replaced with a robot that has all my
memories? My voice, my thoughts, my desires all programmed
into its twinkling,
LED covered brain?
What if the only reason I haven’t developed pyrokinetic powers is because
of my disbelief?

And so I sit at my desk, staring at the black wick
of my lavender scented candle,
concentrating,
hands balled up on my knees
seeing,
in my mind’s eye,
an orange flame
blossom on that black, withered finger

at this moment, Lisa walks into my office
and asks
“Hey, Pete, what are you doing?”
“Huh?
Oh
I was just thinking about
what to get my dad
for his birthday.”

a pick me up

So, I just finished an episode of Buffy that had to be some of the saddest 43 minutes of television ever created. Joss sure knows how to tug on those heartstrings.

So let's talk about something happy. When I was in MN this summer I tried a concoction of Sierra Mist and some Falconer Vineyards Rose. It was heavenly. When I got back to Ohio I polished off the two bottles I brought home with me and then found a few good bottles in the wine store that's about 100 meters from my back door. I used 7up instead of Sierra Mist and liked it even better. Then I got to thinking, what else would go well with 7up? The Girlfriend and I tried a bottle of Sangria from local supermarket and that tasted delicious. I found that mixing 7up with orange juice creates a refreshingly zesty morning beverage. And just tonight I mixed some 7up with my Lipton's Green Tea. For all you tea lovers out there, Lipton's Green Tea is more like lemonade than tea, but that's exactly how I like it.

So before you start planning an intervention, I haven't been mixing my citrus soda with cocaine and I'm not planning on turning my apartment into a "sprite house." Does anyone else have any fun drink ideas that involve 7up?

-SP

If you could bottle and sell "badass."

The game that's been dominating my time: Batman Arkham Asylum. I paraphrase Joystiq.com when I say this game is more than a Batman game it's a Batman simulator. You feel as though you've stepped right into the Dark Knight's kevlar reinforced, henchman kicking, Joker stomping boots. You want batarangs? Check. You want the ability to stalk your prey from atop a gargoyle, then swoop down through a skylight, cape outstretched, boots connecting to the back of his head as if you were the very avatar of Justice herself? Done. Do you want to solve crimes and track evidence as the Worlds Greatest Detective? No problem. Do you want to clear a room full of bad guys with moves that would make Chuck Norris urinate in his trousers? You got it.

Few games have brought me such unmitigated glee as Batman Arkham Asylum. True, I'm a huge Batman fanboy, and that might be biasing my perspective, but I'm also a gamer and I know video games and I know production quality and this game just shimmers with polish. The voice acting is done by the cast of Batman: The Animated Series. Kevin Conroy reprises as the voice of Batman, and in my opinion no one does a better job. Mark Hamill (yes THAT Mark Hamill) voices the Joker with the kind of intense insanity that does justice to the mythology. The rest of the cast is also in tip-top form. The cut-scenes are beautiful, the music perfect, and all the pieces fall into place to make this an exceptional game.


Do you see that? That's your call to action.
Pick up the game, I implore you. You can't imagine what havoc the Joker will wreck if left to his devices.

A fight for Independence

Docula had a great comment on my last PSA and I'd like to touch a little on what he said.

Let's talk a little about statistical independence. Loosely speaking, we say two events, A and B, are independent, if knowing that event A occurs does not change the probability that event B occurs.
E.g. Let A = the event that I play Rock Band 2 tomorrow. Let B = the event that Fast Eddie eats a salad for lunch tomorrow. These events are logically independent since my video gaming habits are not going to affect Eddie's lunching habits.

A little more complicated: Suppose you have a standard deck of playing cards. Suppose you're going to draw two cards. Let A be the even that the first card drawn is black. Let B be the event that the second card drawn is black.
Are these events independent?



Well, the probability that A occurs, denoted P(A), is 26/52 = # of black cards / # of cards total = 1/2

What's P(B)?

Well, if you drew a red card on the first draw, then P(B) = 26/51 (26 black cards but only 51 cards left)
If you drew a black card on the first draw, the P(B) = 25/51 (25 black cards (since you got one on the first draw) out of 51 cards left)

So P(B) changed DEPENDING on what you got on the first draw. So P(B) DEPENDS on what happened with A. Hence, these two events are dependent.

So why is this sometimes counter-intuitive? Suppose that I have a fair coin. By fair I mean that on each flip, the coin is as likely to land heads as it is to land tails. P(heads) = .5 = P(tails). Coin flips are independent. If I flip a coin and it lands heads then it's no more or less likely to come down heads on the next flip. Easy to say, but in practice this throws a lot of people off. Let's say I plan to flip a coin 10 times. The first 9 flips all come down heads

H H H H H H H H H

I pause for a moment and say, "what do you think it will land on the next, and last, flip?" We all (including me) have the urge to say "Tails! For the love of Buddha this string of heads is improbable!" This sentiment was dangerously echoed by some gamblers I observed when working at Treasure Island Resort and Casino. These gamblers would sit by the electronic roulette machine with notepads and they would write down the color and number of each outcome of the spin of the virtual roulette wheel. They would then attempt to use this information to help them predict the next outcome. At the most basic level of statistics just discussed, this would be a good strategy if the events were....drum roll please....dependent. If the spins of a roulette wheel were dependent then knowing something about previous outcomes could give you some information about future outcomes.
But...just like a coin flip, the spins of roulette wheel are INdependent. If that weren't true, then you would have to believe that the little wooden ball (or computerized wooden ball) somehow remembers what it has landed on and in the future will act upon that knowledge. If these men saw the ball had landed red 5 times in a row, they would probably bet on black for the next spin. This is FOLLY! Just because I flip 9 heads in a row doesn't mean the last flip is more likely to be tails. The coin doesn't remember that it just landed heads up 9 times in a row.

People have a false intuition about this empirical law called the Law of Averages, which, roughly put, states that thing even out after a while. I might get more into that in a different post, as it deserves it's own clever title.

Some real world applications? If you win the lottery using your favorite 10 digit number, there's no reason why you shouldn't keep playing that number afterwards.



If you haven't already, please, for me, watch (or read) Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. It's the funniest, cleverest thing you'll ever put your eyes on. The first ten minutes are a beautiful homage to probability theory.






p.s. something to think about. suppose that people flip coins for fun. you know, for choosing between two movies, dates, desserts, colors of ties, etc. Suppose that the average coin is flipped 100 times in it's lifetime. Meaning someone flips the coin then buys something with it and the next person to get that coin flips it for some reason or another etc. Now, do you think that somewhere out there is a coin that's always landed heads? It's been passed around from person to person and no one single individual would notice, but could there be a coin out there that's been flipped 100 times and every time the coin has come down heads? How many coins would there need to be in circulation for this to have a better than 50% chance of happening? Is this coin magical?

The Ghost in the Machine

I was just typing an email to my Cousin, when Gmail started to lag. I would type in a word and at about 1/4 the speed, the letters would appear on my screen. I paused the think about what I was going to say next, then typed out a whole sentence very quickly. I sat back in my chair and watched as the letters popped up one by one, about a letter a second. It made me feel strange, as though I were in some 1980's movie where the fledgling programmer has created an artificial intelligence program and is reading it's birthing cry. Luckily, the words that appeared on the screen were the words that I typed and not something like [skynet online].


And now for one of my random thoughts:

I just watched an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in which Cordelia, heartbroken and furious, lays the blame for all her misfortune on Buffy and in her anger makes a wish. "I wish Buffy Summers had never come to Sunnydale!" Little did she know that the new girl in school was a wish-granting spirit with a man-hating streak. So spirit girl grants Cordelia's wish and Cordelia is whisked away to...you guessed it...a dystopian parallel present. Lesson learned: the Hellmouth is fraught with spirits wishing to dish up a steaming plate of irony. The parallel "What if?" reality at which Cordelia arrives is pretty much the worst of all possible worlds and she soon finds herself dead. I guess, Giles finds her dead... When dystopian Giles guesses what's happening he sets about to cancel the wish. Sidenote: vampire-cum-goth Xander and Willow make a super hot couple.
D-Giles "saves" the day by smashing an artifact,



thus reinstating the original Buffy-full reality.

My point: In so many fantasy and/or sci-fi stories, parallel realities get revoked, destroyed, squished or (and they should have a word for this) made to have never existed. What happens to those people? In back to the future 2, Marty creates a split in the space-time whatchamacallit and a dystopian Hill Valley comes into existence. He then fixes the space-time thingerdo and the future goes back to whatever it "should" have been. What about all the people in that splinter? What about all the babies born of unions that didn't happen in the "correct" future. All over the world people were just going about their lives, and who knows, maybe everywhere else people are happy and free and someone has invented an interstellar spacecraft. Shouldn't Marty be guilty of the murder of billions of people? Worse yet, what if they don't die, but their existence is revoked. Surely it is better to die than to have never existed at all. The thought makes me shudder.

Now back to my favorite flavor of dystopian realities:

More cowbell than you can handle

Free Energy Music Video

I'm sorry, my little linux powered netbook doesn't want to let me ebed the video. Therefore, follow the link to watch my big brother's first official music video. I'm so proud of him and I want to you all to feast your ears on this carpe diem anthem of love.

I promise I won't forget any of you once I ride my brother's coattails to rock-star nirvana.

Definitions

Does anyone else find this ad a little strange? The wait is over? You can preorder your Zune now and WAIT until September 15th to actually get it. Maybe I'm just arguing semantics. I mean, if, perhaps, you were waiting for the opportunity to preorder an iPod wannabe, then yes, your wait is over. However, if you're one of those people, I bet you really enjoy having cake as well.

SP out.