Burning the candle at both ends

Disclaimer: OK maybe I'm not burning it at both ends, but I'm certainly burning it at one end pretty quickly while entirely neglecting the other end.

I don't know what it is. Maybe it's the realization that I'm "graduating" in May from college, but lately I seem to have been trying to do stuff. Doing stuff includes going to Buffalo every weekend to get drunk and then crashing at a friend's place (or friend's crashing at my place). Doing stuff includes driving from Buffalo to Elmira to see a friend in a musical (Check it free plug!). Doing stuff apparently does not include doing thesis work.
Obviously this last part has to change. I need to finish this thing by the end of May and it's not going to write itself. It just seems that I have zero motivation when I sit down and write it. I stare at the screen for an hour and write a sentence. Then I get frustrated and surf the internet for another hour and before I know it the day is gone. Case in point: Right now I probably should be working on it, and instead I'm typing up a blog post. Lucky for me I have a negligible amount of work for my other classes, so I can afford to spend a ton of it on this.
And yet I'm not going to stop doing stuff. Next week is Beerology at the Buffalo Museum of Science. Never has science been so delicious! Let's just hope that this lack of sleep combined with a build up of work doesn't end up killing me! Hell, even if it does, it was probably worth it.

I can now update this thing from my phone? Neat but I'll probably stick to Twitter

Image Detection Algorithms

Recently I discovered a "Nudity Detector" () web service. Basically you give it an image and it gives you a Nudity score. Most likely this is used to censor images on websites that don't allow nudity. However I've decided to use it in conjunction with the Facebook API to rank pictures so one could more easily find the "more interesting" pictures on Facebook. My protoype seems to be working, however I lack the webspace to host it currently, but when I do I shall share it with all of you.

As most image processing algorithms nothing is perfect so you'll get some false positives and false negatives. However the following image scored by far the highest score of any image I've seen so far at a whopping 99.9. This means that it's nearly certain that nudity exists in this image if I understand this algorithm correctly. Without further ado, below is that image: (Click for full size)

What I want more than anything in the world

At this moment, right now at 1:27 AM on Tuesday, February 24th, 2009, more than anything in the world I want to look like Paul Rudd in this picture.

(Click image for a larger one)
You could offer me sex with a supermodel or a cure for Crohns and right now I would choose to look like Paul Rudd in that picture.

Tumbling through the blogosphere

So there's this thing called tumblr that's like some sort of Micro-blogging site. Since Nussypaloozy has gotten a little stagnant I figured I'd spice things up. Now Nussypaloozy.blogspot.com has a sister site located at nussypaloozy.tumblr.com. It's like this sites kid brother or something. Anyway, I don't think anyone reads this site so I doubt anyone will read that one either.

Summer Movie Spectacular

Iron Man came out last weekend and that means the Summer Blockbuster season has started. In honor of this event I'm going to run down some of the more awesome movies coming out this summer.


First off we have Iron Man of course. This is the movie based off of the Marvel comic book of the same name. Basically super rich engineer Tony Stark makes a robotic suit to fight crime/protect humanity. It's really fucking cool, and doubly so because he engineered the whole thing.

Why you should watch it: It's another superhero movie which means its a great popcorn action flick, but more importantly it stars Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark. He's very convincing as Stark and he's just so damn charming. Furthermore this movie makes engineering look cool without being too hokey (I'm looking at your Michael Bay and the "science" in your Tranformers movie). I can see this movie getting more kids into engineering. If they release a Iron Man branded erector set or robotics kit it'd probably sell really well! It's also the best superhero movie since Batman Begins!

Second up is the archaeologist/adventurer himself, Indiana Jones and the Mother Fucking Crystal Skull. This movie brings back old Indy in all of his glory. He's pretty old now, but judging from the trailers he still knows how to kick some ass.

Why you should watch it: If you enjoyed any of the Indiana Jones movies you're already obligated to come see this one (and really who didn't enjoy any of the Indiana Jones movies?). Also don't forget The Motherfucking Labeouf is in this. Furthermore, it seems Stephen Spielberg and Harrison Ford are keeping George Lucas in check as far as dumb "Star Wars Prequel style" cheese is concerned.

Next is another comic book movie, The Dark Knight. This is the follow up to one of my favorite superhero movies Batman Begins. Christian Bale is back as Baman and this time he's gotta fight the Joker (played by the late Heath Ledger).

Why you should watch it: Christopher Nolan is back at the helm as director and between him and Christian Bale I have yet to be disappointed in their respective work (and collaborative work). Furthermore, initial reports are saying this is some of Heath Ledgers best work to date. Finally, you've got monster actors like Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine reprising their roles from the previous film and newcomer Aaron Eckhart, who was great in Thank You for Smoking, rounding out the cast. This movie might just be better than Iron Man!

Finally, rounding out our list of must see movies this summer is Wall•E. The computer generated tale from Pixar about a small little robot who's left on Earth to clean it up.

Why you should watch it: I don't even quite understand what this is about other than a little robot, and I don't know if I want to find out until I go and watch it. It's Pixar so its gonna be pretty decent and really can you say no to these eyes?


P.S. While not coming out this summer I have to point out that when the Arrested Development movie does come out I expect everyone reading to buy at least 1 ticket... per showing.

Yes Binging

I've found that my life is very very predictable recently and I want to shake it up a bit. The easiest way for me to do so is to go on what's called a Yes Binge. James Gunn (of Slither fame) went on one and wrote about it a couple months ago. He described it as such:

A Yes Binge is basically making a commitment for six months to say "YES" to anything you're on the fence about. If it's an automatic "no," say "no," but if you have to think about it, say "yes." This has been a blast for me, since I'm usually pretty stingy with my time, both socially and work-wise. Now I'm overbooked and tired as hell from going out most every night, but I'm happier than I've been in a long time too. So, if you find yourself in a rut, try out a Yes Binge.

So that's what I'm doing. I'm going to say "Yes" to things I normally wouldn't. I started this Great Experiment off by going Ice Skating (oooh big step there!) and getting my hair cut. Both of which turned out well. So, feel free to abuse me with this, and constantly remind me that I have to say "yes" to any iffy call. Obviously I won't say yes to anything since automatic no's still get a "no", but it should be fun and/or interesting!

Feel free to leave comments about yes binges you've been on! (Or on if you think my new haircut looks alright)