The Silent Majority Will Rise Up on Election Day

Yes, yes it will. :)

And from looking at the Online Etymology Dictionary, the origin mentioned by SMBC does indeed appear to be accurate.

Claymation Video for "Re: Your Brains"

Here is a really cool claymation video to go along with the song "Re: Your Brains".

Mathematics Ability Requires Crosstalk in the Brain

This is a very cool study and, I think, highly amenable to further work that builds on this using methods along the lines of what my collaborators and I have been using to examine learning of motor skills.

But, even more importantly, the name of a center that include's the study's lead author --- "Center for Vital Longevity" --- makes me giggle. :) I guess everything really is bigger in Texas...

(Tip of the cap to MoMath: The Museum of Mathematics and whoever does their Facebook posts.)

Braaaaaaaains

One of the perhaps unfortunate side effects of participating in a program on brain networks is discussions in immediately-post-lunch seminars about sucking out parts of the brain with a straw (which old-school neuroscientists apparently used to do). Um, thanks?

Headline: University of Florida has a "Zombie Attack" Plan

As this article in the Miami Herald reports, the University of Florida has formulated a "Zombie Attack" Plan (which you can read here). The article is pretty boring, but the preparedness plan itself is pretty damn funny.

(Tip of the cap to Ravi Montenegro.)

Epidemic Model of Zombie Outbreak

This is too good to make up.

Some mathematicians have recently published (though apparently in a non-prominent venue or at least one that is unfamiliar to me) the following epidemic model of a zombie outbreak. It uses the standard ODE compartment models used for studying disease dynamics, although they change some terminology to suit their "application". For example, the SIR model is now known as the SZR model. (The symbol "I" stands for "infected", whereas "Z" stands for zombie.)

Basically, I don't know whether to laugh or cry---well, to be honest, I'm doing a little bit of both right now. Talk about "awesome" research. Wow.

To be fair, if you take a look at the text, this paper appears to have arisen from a class project, and I bet the students involved had a lot of fun with the project and learned a lot. I think there do exist appropriate venues for publishing such papers, assuming that the paper is written in an expository manner so that, e.g., other students can benefit from it. This paper seems to have been published in a compendium about research on modelling of infectious diseases, which is not the venue where such an audience would typically look. (It would be more appropriate to write about this kind of playful "application" in a venue such as American Mathematical Monthly that university students actually read. Then I think there can be considerable benefit to such a paper, as it can suck in some of the younger crowd.)

(Tip of the hat to Mariano Beguerisse Díaz.)

Fungal Necromancy

OK, this is just weird. Apparently, there's a type of fungus that infects ants so that they act like 'zombies' and die in convenient spots. Didn't I read about such strategies in the D & D Monster Manual? Bizarre.

(Tip of the cap to Kevin Macon, who will reasonably shortly be my coauthor on a network science paper. I am going to have so much fun when I give certain seminars...)

Best. Press Release. Ever.

I thought this was a joke when I first read it, but apparently this is a real press release.

The money quote comes at the end of the press release (bold words were bold in the release):

“We completely understand the public’s concern about futuristic robots feeding on the human population, but that is not our mission,” stated Harry Schoell, Cyclone’s CEO. “We are focused on demonstrating that our engines can create usable, green power from plentiful, renewable plant matter. The commercial applications alone for this earth-friendly energy solution are enormous.”


Wow. I'm at a loss for words---well, except for the fact that one of the sites that promulgated the flesh-eating robot news was apparently FoxNews.com. I hate to break it to you, guys and gals, but she already works for you.

(Tip of the cap to Francisco Gutierrez and Heidi Eldenburg Bramlet.)

Graaaaaaaaaaaaaaphs

This might be one of the best xkcd comic strips ever. Wow!

I approve!

(Tip of the cap to Justin Howell.)

Woody Harrelson mistakes person for zombie

Let's start this report with an "awesome" quote of the day: With my daughter at the airport I was startled by a paparazzo, who I quite understandably mistook for a zombie. (It is the "quite understandably" bit that makes this line priceless.)

Basically, as described in a CNN.com article Harrelson had a small tousle with a guy with a camera. So there's not much to the story, except for the fact that Harrelson was apparently still "in character" from a movie (in which he's pursued by zombies) that he had just finished filming.

Um, can I use this excuse if I assault somebody after playing certain video games? For example: Your Honor, I mistook him for a walking turtle, so I jumped on him and then kicked him into his friends.

Braaaaaaains: The real way to celebrate a birthday

I'm referring, of course, to zombies.

There is a zombie mob in San Fransisco planned for my birthday:

WHERE & WHEN
* Justin Herman Plaza nearest Embarcadero BART
* Meet up at noon on February 10th. (hang 'em high).
* Rain date (February 17th)
* Will Critical Ghast elsewhere at 12:30.


If you want to see information pictures about past zombie mobs go to eatbrains.com.

I need to bring this tradition to Oxford...

Tales from the arXiv: Endorsement Edition

We take this break from mathematics with a special news bulletin.

I am listed on the arXiv as somebody who can endorse articles in my areas of expertise. If somebody who can't post an article on the arXiv (due to not having posted before), they can request somebody (such as me) to endorse them so that they can henceforth upload papers. (The arXiv first instituted this a couple years ago because a lot of garbage was getting posted. Now, only a small amount of garbage -- though still plenty of research of questionable quality [which in most contexts I would still refer to as 'garbage'] -- gets posted.) In practice, only a couple people have asked me to endorse them. I am not expect to review papers, but I am supposed to look them over to make sure they're legit. (I can also endorse based on the author's credentials if I want.)

Yesterday, I was asked to endorse a paper. I (obviously) can't include the author's name and I don't feel comfortable providing a link, so let me restrict myself to the abstract:

The author offers a new method for re-writing the human brain on electronic chips. This method allows for the modeling of a human soul in order to achieve immortality. This method does not damage the brain but works to extend and enhance it.


I responded with the following e-mail:

[Name],

This article is very far outside my area of expertise, so it would not be proper for me to endorse it.

Also, I'm not really sure who else to suggest, as I don't know any scientists who work in this area.

Good luck,

Mason