Cloverfield leaves viewers spewing!

Posted on January 23, 2008 by skullsinthestars

Thanks to the ‘shaky-cam’ filming method of Cloverfield, apparently a significant number of viewers have been getting sick during the film:

Scary movies are supposed to leave patrons feeling a bit scared and jittery, but the newest horror flick is leaving Oklahoma City-area moviegoers with a different feeling — nausea.

…

Some moviegoers across Oklahoma City have gone so far to complain to theater managers, forcing some to refund tickets or offer other compensation.

“I heard a few people kind of whining about it,” said moviegoer Thomas Dozier. “They were talking about, like, ‘I have got to get out of here.’ Everyone around me was freaking out.”

…

But for those with a sensitive stomach, precautions might be warranted.”Take Dramamine, and you’ll be fine,” said Hastings.

Here’s an even easier bit of advice for queasy Cloverfield  viewers: close your eyes.  You’re not actually moving while the movie is playing, unlike on a roller coaster, so you can simply shut your eyes for a few moments during a slow spot in the film to let your brain settle down.  This is the same advice you’ll get on many virtual reality rides at amusement parks.

Posted in Entertainment, Horror | 8 Comments

Some random tips on scientific public speaking

Posted on January 22, 2008 by skullsinthestars

I’m currently in San Jose, at Photonics West, the biggest optics meeting of the SPIE (Society of Photographic Instrumentation Engineers, originally.) I’m only here briefly, and pretty burned out on meetings for the moment. I did see some nice talks that I’ll blog about over the next couple of days.

One session the SPIE provided for students was advice on giving scientific presentations, which is indeed an art and there are plenty of people who never quite figure it out. I thought I’d provide a list of a few of the insights and ‘tricks’ I’ve learned about giving scientific talks at meetings, which will hopefully help someone down the line:

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Posted in Optics, Physics | 4 Comments

My “Cloverfield” Review (sans spoilers)

Posted on January 19, 2008 by skullsinthestars

The girlfriend and I just got back a little while ago from seeing Cloverfield and, this being a horror blog among other things, I thought I would give my impressions of the film (along with probably half the blogosphere).

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Posted in Entertainment, Horror | 5 Comments

More conspiracy-mongering about anti-depressants (revised)

Posted on January 19, 2008 by skullsinthestars

I normally enjoy reading Crooks & Liars, the liberal video weblog, but a post today hit upon a pet peeve of mine. To quote the original news article,

An analysis published in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that studies of antidepressants that had positive results were more likely to be published in medical journals compared with those that had negative or questionable results. The findings showed that 94 percent of all published trials appeared to have positive results, while FDA reviews determined that 51 percent of all trials, both published and unpublished, had positive outcomes.

In the analysis, the researchers examined data for 74 antidepressant studies submitted to the FDA between 1987 and 2004. The results showed that 37 of the 38 trials the agency considered as having positive results were published, compared with 14 of the 36 trials that the FDA considered negative or questionable. Additionally, of the 14 negative or questionable studies that were published, 11 “conveyed a positive outcome” that was not justified by the FDA review, lead author Erick Turner stated.

The C&L post is irksome for a number of reasons.

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Posted in ... the Hell?, Science news | Tagged | 5 Comments

Giant ‘UFO’ spotted over Texas!

Posted on January 17, 2008 by skullsinthestars

Man, if this post doesn’t get my blog stats up, I can’t imagine anything will!

Citizens of Stephenville, Texas have for several weeks now reported seeing an unidentifiable object flying over the city.  To quote CNN:

Several dozen people — including a pilot, county constable and business owners — say they have seen a large silent object with bright lights flying low and fast. Some reported seeing fighter jets chasing it.

“People wonder what in the world it is because this is the Bible Belt, and everyone is afraid it’s the end of times,” said Steve Allen, a freight company owner and pilot who said the object he saw last week was a mile long and half a mile wide. “It was positively, absolutely nothing from these parts.”

Seems UFOs are on people’s minds again these days, what with Dennis Kucinich admitting to seeing an object above Shirley MacLaine’s house (you really can’t make this stuff up).  But let’s return to our new Texas sightings.

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Posted in ... the Hell?, Science news | Tagged | 6 Comments

Big, previously unknown palm tree discovered!

Posted on January 17, 2008 by skullsinthestars

From CNN, we get news that a previously unknown species of palm tree has been “discovered” on Madagascar! I put “discovered” in quotation marks because, as CNN says,

The palm tree, which grows to 66 feet in height and has about 16-foot leaves, is only found in an extremely remote region in the northwest of the country, some four days by road from the capital. Local villagers have known about it for years although none had seen it in flower until last year.

The bizarre flowering ritual was first spotted by Frenchman Xavier Metz, who runs a cashew plantation nearby. After seeing it he notified Kew Gardens.

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Posted in Animals, Science news | Leave a comment

Optics basics: Defining the velocity of a wave

Posted on January 17, 2008 by skullsinthestars

How do we define how fast a wave is going? The question at first glance seems obvious. When we discussed harmonic waves in a previous post, we observed that the velocity of the wave could be measured by measuring how far one of the peaks of the wave travels in a certain amount of time. There are a number of subtle points that arise when talking about wave velocity, however, including the possibility of light traveling at faster than the ‘speed of light’! In this post we’ll try and define the velocity of a wave, and explain why the question is not so easy to answer.

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Posted in Optics, Optics basics | 4 Comments

Robber shoots himself in groin!

Posted on January 16, 2008 by skullsinthestars

A few years back, I was very interested in reading about very dumb criminals.  My interest was rekindled by this story:

Police said a Kokomo man accidentally shot himself in the genitals as he robbed a convenience store early Tuesday.

Well worth a read!  When people teach their kids about what a life of crime could lead to, they should reference this.

Posted in ... the Hell? | Tagged | 2 Comments

An up-and-coming musician… Jeanette Hawkins!

Posted on January 15, 2008 by skullsinthestars

Most of my flights around the country are rather dull, if not genuinely unpleasant.  On the flight back from San Antonio, though, I ended up having a conversation with my row-mates, one of whom is a charming young woman and excellent musician named Jeanette Hawkins!

She credits as her musical influences Sublime, No Doubt, Bob Marley, The Carpenters, though her sound is all her own (as are her songs, which are original compositions).  Her sound is somewhat folksy, and is primarily her vocals backed by her acoustic guitar playing.  If that sounds interesting, you can check out her MySpace page at this link.

I of course normally don’t do musical posts, but this may be my only chance to look back in the future and say,  “I met her when…”  🙂

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Two nice books on movie physics!

Posted on January 15, 2008 by skullsinthestars

One of the nice Christmas gift surprises this past year was a pair of books from my girlfriend’s sister!  (Thanks!) Both books deal with the physics of Hollywood movies, though from slightly different points of view:  Don’t Try This At Home, by Adam Weiner, and Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics, by Tom Rogers.  Both books are quite recent publications (late 2007), and cover quite recent movies.  I give a brief description of each beneath the fold…

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Posted in Entertainment, Physics | 1 Comment