fmfundamentals

No Updates

Sat, 10 Jun 2006 00:45:35 GMT

So I haven't updated in a while. That's because I intend to start posting my comics on a different site, and write comments about them here. I am slowly accumulating material to put on the new site, and will try to adhere to some type of regular schedule, most likely a mon/wed/fri schedule. Until then, all my stuff stays on my desktop.

GIMP Success

Sun, 04 Jun 2006 00:09:14 GMT

Hell yeah. I chose to draw a cupcake because they seem popular among the one off web comic crowd. Natalie Dee has done them before, I believe, and I wouldn't be surprised if it looked a lot like this. I'm very proud of myself, I learned how to draw lines, circles, and curves in The GIMP. It may look more like a muffin, but I don't care. It looks good. And it's hot.

More from the concert

Thu, 01 Jun 2006 20:32:58 GMT

Yeah, I saw a girl with this tattoo on her back. But I recognized it right away, skipping the need to talk to her. She was otherwise attractive. So sad. I know you're reading this Dennis, so let me say again that you missed how tight my outfit was yesterday, and unless Bobby or Eric tell you, you'll have to wait a while to see just how tight it was. Not really much to blog about. I saw X3, it was good.

Frickity Fresh

Wed, 31 May 2006 17:11:16 GMT

So this happened to me last summer, but of course I had not yet seen the Juggernaut video, so this was not my response. It should have been. How some CC mothafucka gonna run up on me and think I don't know about root mean squared? He then had the nerve to ask if I knew what root mean squared meant. I told that bitch, "I invented root mean squared." He knew who his daddy was.

So this happened to me yesterday, well kind of, I saw it happen to someone else. But the joke is better if you tell it in the first person, see? This is also my first drawing done entirely in this new program I got called The Gimp. It's great, except I don't really know how to draw lines, rectangles, or circles. That would help a lot. The previous and following pictures were colored using The Gimp as well.

I saw In Flames at Club Revolution in Ft. Lauderdale last night. Despite the fact that they played mostly new songs that aren't their best, it was very good. The lead singer dressed like the punks in high school dressed, which is to say, mind bogglingly. Anyways, I got there and stood in line for about 5 minutes when these two girls walk by wearing super skank tops and skirts, and yes, one of them had a skirt so small, she had to chose between showing the top of her ass or the bottom of her ass. She chose the top, sometimes called the "coin slot". It was amusing, and she was more or less hot, so I enjoyed it. Great decision making all around.

Last Day at School

Mon, 29 May 2006 05:36:20 GMT

So it's Saturday and my flight leaves Newark Airport at 3:47. This will be my last Princeton blog until September. I don't have a comic ready, but there will be one soon if the scanner in my house is still there and still works. It recounts a tale of a beaver I saw in Quad's backyard. Anyway, for the first time, leaving Princeton for the summer is not completely a one sided positive event. I made actual friends this year, had actual fun with them, and will actually miss more than one person I know here. The party last night was a good opportunity to say goodbyes, and luckily the two ladies I wanted to say goodbye to showed up. I don't think either of them realizes how much their friendship improved my college experience this semester. It's a shame I didn't get to know them much earlier, like last year or something.

It's time to look forward to the summer. A job, friends, the gym, there's huge potential. Let's do this right.

Funniest Movie Ever

Wed, 24 May 2006 01:45:00 GMT

Yesterday, with the help of a little bit of serendipity, I was fortunate enough to see the R. Kelly movie Trapped in the Closet Ch.1-12. You may have heard of this movie, as it's been made fun of a bunch by different people. If you've seen it, you probably have some opinion of it, good for you. If you haven't seen it, you need to see it. Now. I'm serious. There are maybe only a few situations in my life I can think of where I wouldn't have been better off dropping what I was doing and going to see this movie. It's one of those anomalies that years from now, no one in the world will be able to explain. There are more people around who understand General Relativity than the thought process behind making this movie. I won't spoil the impact of it by trying to describe it, and honestly, I don't think I could. See it.

Also, I believe this is my first math related comic. http://www.xkcd.com this a huge influence here, as you can see.

Quality? What's that?

Sat, 20 May 2006 05:40:38 GMT

Yeah, so these kinda look like crap. Even in comparison to my other cartoons. I drew them on paper without preprinted boxes, and they are smaller than usual. I had to do a bunch of work in post production, which isn't fun when you don't have a mouse. If they're as bad as I suspect, they may require some explanation.

Don't Cha: Yeah, the guy in a hat is the guy, and the bearded girl is the girl. Except that she's a guy, cause she's not female. Hence, shouldn't the hat guy wish his girlfriend was a woman, like the actual woman on the right. In the case that you don't know, there is a popular song called "Don't Cha" with several lines of the form "Don't you wish your girlfriend was ____ like me." It's kind of dumb, so I'm making fun of it in what seems to be a fairly ineffective way.

Pandora's Box: Yah see there's this Greek myth about Pandora and her box. It was an actual box. It contained all the bad things in the world that didn't exist before she decided to open it, against the advice of somebody. Then badness escaped and made the world bad. And she takes the blame. I first thought of Pandora's Box in a pornographic way a few weeks ago, and I've been struggling to come up with a good implementation of the concept. This isn't that good. I kind of just wanted to draw a comic tonight, so I took that idea and threw it down as I saw fit. Oh well, I reserve editing powers if I think of a better formulation.

Once again I am blogging from the QSL. I like this space, in my 2 days of experience it's usually comfortable, not very occupied, and is in a good location. Not a game of Halo can go down in the game room next door without me knowing about it. Taking my laptop to Quad with me has been a good experience, too. No more jockeying for a cluster computer and having to log in and out every time I come back. Didn't watch any TV today, but seeing the season finale of The OC (Marissa died, holy shit!) while IMing the alpha male in the comfort of the multilevel cushioned seating yesterday was hot.

http://www.xkcd.com is what I'm trying and desperately failing to emulate. If I'm really cool I'll actually develop my own style at some point and not have to steal someone else's. Awesome.

No Cartoon

Thu, 18 May 2006 23:01:57 GMT

I apologize for updating with just words, and I further apologize for not having a new comic to display. It's finals week and a half, and I have tons of stuff to do. As we speak I am in the Quad Small Library studying for my Logic exam tomorrow. Earlier today I finished up a group presentation that will be given tomorrow at 9 effing AM. "You can't be serious! This mothafucka talkin' 'bout me?" That's early like whoa, I will be hurting. I get Saturday off, if you count having to study for a Sunday (!?!?!?) morning oral final exam being "off". I may miss the last party of the year. Boo-hoo. Then comes the huge Monday afternoon presentation for which my team is almost certainly the least prepared. Oh, and it's more or less our entire grade. And the rest of next week? Just the final exam for the hardest math class I've ever taken. It's fun to make things sound really bad. The truth is I have less work than most people. Less than a week and a half until I go home. Let's see if this summer can be as great as I think it can.

Back

Mon, 15 May 2006 03:19:54 GMT

So it's been a while since I posted. Houseparties was last weekend, and it was crazy, fun, and uber exhausting. I slept 13 hours Sunday night. With as little to do this week as I had, I should have done about four of these, but I only did one. In my defense this was done a couple days ago, but not scanned until now.

I go home in two weeks. This summer has the potential to be very good. I hope it is.

http://www.xkcd.com created the format. Check out the Jurassic Park comic in the archives, it may be my favorite.

I'm not a misogynist

Tue, 02 May 2006 15:20:17 GMT

A little Windows XP humor. And no, that's not me in the picture. If I ever want to make a social, political or economic statement with my cartoons, I will explain it explicitly in the journal entry. I just thought this was funny. I think women working is great. My goal in life is to be a house husband, except for the cooking part. I guess I can learn. This would have been up yesterday but the scanner was unavailable.

Visit http://www.xkcd.com if you think I'm original.

MAE 222

Thu, 27 Apr 2006 15:20:59 GMT

One of the more enjoyable engineering classes I've taken is Fluid Mechanics. The professor was Australian, and as excited about fluids as Steve Irwin is about reptiles. This is a quote from class, towards the end of the semester. For whatever reason, it has stuck in my mind, an icon.

Ooh, and it's my birthday.

The mold: http://www.xkcd.com

The enemy's gate is down

Wed, 26 Apr 2006 22:51:09 GMT

This one was fun. I suspect the one guy who reads this won't get it (shout out to my homie in Lantana). I have two more ideas that are ready to be drawn, which is better off by two than I was this time yesterday. Such a good time waster. I think I've spent more time making these than doing work.

You have already been given a hint.

http://www.xkcd.com, for the source of this style.

Sorry

Tue, 25 Apr 2006 16:39:49 GMT

Yes, another Juggernaut cartoon. I really have to get this out of my system. Having a roommate named Charles isn't exactly helping. I promise that I have several non-Juggernaut concepts in development for everyone to look forward to (can everyone say "Timecube"?). Everyone being me and the other person who has seen this page. For anyone (me) who can't get enough of the Juggernaut, there will be more of those as well. I think I could make up 100 more haikus in a few days if I wanted to. This shit is fun.

Again, style and some concepts shamelessly stolen from http://www.xkcd.com. Also, content inspired by http://www.wimp.com/juggernaut/.

If anyone had any suggestions for making these look cleaner, I'd love to hear them. Preferably a process that doesn't require painstakingly tedious effort.

Birthday

Tue, 25 Apr 2006 01:05:35 GMT

I turn 21 on Thursday.

My new hobby

Tue, 25 Apr 2006 01:03:02 GMT

Stick figure cartoons. I stole this style from http://www.xkcd.com. That guy is funnier than me, so check it out. More on hopefully a regular basis. The actual cartoon is based on the funniest video I've seen this year, http://www.wimp.com/juggernaut/.

Hope you like it.

Settled Down

Thu, 13 Apr 2006 16:18:18 GMT

Not so angry anymore. More acceptance, really. And hope.

Holy Fucking Shit

Wed, 12 Apr 2006 23:51:05 GMT

HOLY FUCKING SHIT. I'm mad. You know why. I really need to investigate ways to get rid of my anger. This is a borderline flip out and do something regretable level of angry. Mother fucking god dammit.

Back on Track

Fri, 10 Mar 2006 04:09:21 GMT

One hundred percent confident. Forget the last post, I'm ready for anything and everything. I will succeed, I will accomplish, I will meet and surpass any expectations. My goals will be met, possibly better than expected. I really can't wait. That goes for the future as well.

Foreseen Catastrophe

Thu, 09 Mar 2006 18:04:24 GMT

Does this ever happen to you? You know something terrible is going to happen to you, but there is no way to avoid it. No way that doesn't cause something even worse to happen, anyway. It's kind of amazing, foreseeing your own doom. You ask yourself how you got into this position, and the answer always involves the best of intentions. Theoretically it could all work out well. Theoretically you could bat 1000, dominate the circumstances, and come that much closer to accomplishing some major goals. But early polls are in, and it ain't looking good. The Drudge Report has already announced your embarrassing and painful defeat hours before it's official (or even real). You tell yourself, if only I had mastery of particular skills and a library of particular knowledge, maybe I'd be able to fight the inevitable, overcome the impossible, do a good job. You could probably destroy the sun with enough resources and knowledge. Or enough pessimism.

The Saturday Party

Mon, 20 Feb 2006 06:03:07 GMT

Wow, it was a full year ago when I described my experience at Quad initiations in this very blog. The theme then was Dante's Inferno. This year the theme was Quadelodeon, a throw back to the TV shows of our youth. I had absolutely nothing to do with it. I did, however, attend the after party.

After listening to about half an hour of pump up music (who knows what possessed me to do this) I headed out the door at 11:30. Weather.com claimed that it was 16 feels like 0 outside, and I can't really argue with that. I was darn cold, wearing an undershirt, short sleeve button up shirt, sweater, and semi heavy jacket as well as a knit cap to protect my ears. When I got there, the beirut tables were full, but the dance floor was empty like a toilet paper roll when you need it most. But the night was young, and I wasn't ready for dancing anyway. I role up to the bar, and no one is there. Naturally, I just pour my own beer, but I'm not the best tapper around, and the Beast wasn't being terribly cooperative. Tons of foam later, I mosey over to the beirut tables to watch some friends finish up the back half of a game. They finish, and good timing sees my usual partner walk in. After some initial confusion about cups and pitchers, we start the game. Things are going along as normal, slow and even, both teams getting to the rerack before anyone fell below 6 cups. We even doubled (a single double) to go from 3 cups to 1 in the end game. Sadly, the other team managed to hit two spaced cups before we could hit one, and we lost by one. No biggie.

So I go out to the dance floor with the remaining beer from the game, ignoring the encumbrance of the cup because of the song that's playing, "Gold Digga" by Kanye West. I think he's an idiot, but it's a great party song, second only in my mind to Snoop Dogg's "Drop it Like it's Hot" which wasn't played at the party. Anyway, I find some nice looking young ladies to dance near, and through my own stupid attempts to drink while dancing, I manage to swallow a whole bunch of beer all at once unexpectedly. It wasn't pleasant. My stomach's first reaction was to throw it back, but I wasn't havin that on the dance floor, and I managed to keep it down. I bailed, ran upstairs to the bathroom and leaned over the toilet, expecting it to come up, plus more. For whatever reason it didn't. I felt terrible for several more seconds, decided it was going to stay down, and went back downstairs. The good song was over, so I decided to watch some more beirut. One of my friends had just turned 21, so he was going to town. It was very amusing, and he was bringing a few girls along for the ride with him. They played and won several games like pros. Afterwords we went to the dance floor, more packed with people than I've ever seen it, and danced our inebriated hearts out. It was totally sweet, the best time I've had in a while, possibly ever at school. My legs are still sore from the dancing, however. Like I said to a certain friend this morning, "You do the crime, you do the time."

Lazy Sunday

Mon, 13 Feb 2006 04:15:19 GMT

The last four days, Wednesday through Saturday, were pretty cool. Gotta love sign-ins week. Wednesday was movie night. Three movies on the projector with candy and beer, starting at 9. I got there just as the first movie was starting and got a really good seat. Punctuality pays.

First up was PCU, a movie no one has heard of but everyone should see. Cause it's funny. This square kid visits a college, meets some wild and crazy students, gets into a bit of trouble, and helps his new rag tag college friends save their house. Maybe not the most original plot, but unexpectedly funny in all the right places and more. A real winner. I also managed to drink two beers in under ten minutes, which is a personal best.

The second movie was the more well known Eurotrip. A graduating high school senior finds out his recent ex-girlfriend is a slut, and travels to Europe on a dime to meet his German penpal, who he has just found out is a hot chick instead of a nerdy guy. Naturally he brings along his friend and meets up with a brother and sister already touring through Europe. The gang of four have a number of wacky adventures in different countries, the expected sexual exploits, substance abuse, and money problems. Perhaps the funniest scene in the movie sees the main character enter into robot battle with a French street performer. Highly enjoyable movie overall.

The third and final movie was Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle. From all the hype I expected a better movie. Did enjoy the Princeton sequence, however. Anyway, a bunch of pot, some social conflict, and a Dougie Hauser later, all was right with the world. Hooray for movie night.

Thursday was poker tournament and board games night, off tap but with enough left over pub night drinks not to matter. With the help of a crowded table, some bad beat whining, and an amazingly annoying effeminate know nothing midget sitting next to me, the poker tournament was a terrible experience, and I was glad to bust out. Would have been a bad night were it not for the board games. First off was Jenga. But not just any Jenga. Super ultimate double Jenga, using the blocks from two entire sets to make a Jenga tower twice that of any previous. To add awesomeness to grandeur, there was a heated game of Crossfire going on at the same table, ensuring the tower remained anything but motionless at any time. The game didn't last too long, but we played like pros, and I didn't lose. Having experienced the extreme, we decided to dial it down and play using only a single set. Several games ensued, including one very long very tense game that I was one move away from losing. After a short hiatus, I joined a new game of Apples to Apples, and hilarity ensued, as it always does when playing Apples to Apples. I started off badly, not winning a single round while some people picked up three. Then I went on a rush, getting up to four before the game was interrupted by a ginormous delivery of Wendy's. I had two boxes of nuggets, a frosty, and some fries. Some memorable plays: Unhealthy-Hiroshima1945, Demanding-The South*, Refreshing-The Electric Chair, Ancient-Clint Eastwood (instead of Inside the Sun AND A Full Moon). Great night, and the Yeungling and two Budweisers didn't hurt.

Friday was the semiformal with open bar, followed by DJ Bob downstairs. Awesome. I've said quite a bit about how much I like open bar, so there's no need to repeat. The progression was as such: Jack and Coke, Screwdriver, White Russian. That was enough to get me where I wanted to go, but there's always room for more. A little after eleven we headed downstairs to play some beirut. I was surprised to find that beer, normally somewhat unpleasantly tasting, really didn't taste bad at all after all that liquer. This presented a dangerous situation which I managed to come out of intact. Beirut was followed by dancing, and when I say dancing, I mean I took it to a whole new level. There was foot work I had never even considered before, aided by the almost gripless dress shoes I wore. The dancing felt good, and so did meeting a few people on the dance floor for the first time. Establishing people to dance with in the future, and maybe even to engage in friendship off the dance floor, is totally sweet. Perhaps the most amusing part was being pulled off the floor so that she could guess whether I was a Republican or a Democrat. Neither one, but she did comment on my tie. I still haven't guessed what her major is. A great party, indeed.

Saturday's party was your standard Saturday party, but attendance was a bit lacking due to the blizzard. Some beer, some cider, some beirut. I had fun. Not really enough people to get a good dancmosphere going, but that was alright with me. Had to stop drinking in the middle of a cup to avoid the risk of booting, but I was where I wanted to be. I accomplished what I had set out to accomplish, drinking four days in a row. I managed to do so with apparently no negative consequences, avoiding hangovers at every turn. If only every week were as much care free fun as sign-ins week.

Danish Cartoons

Tue, 07 Feb 2006 01:32:08 GMT

This is unacceptable. Anthropologists say that there are no "inferior" cultures. Bull fucking shit. If your culture demands you destroy property when someone says something that upsets you, you have an inferior culture. When your government suspends trade with a whole country because of what a private organization in that country says, you have an inferior culture. When you can hold up a sign that says "behead people those insult islam" and enjoy sympathy from a large group of people, you have an inferior culture. When you fire bomb an embassy because a newspaper from that country printed something you don't like, you have an inferior culture. Yes, I realize a large number of muslims do not advocate violence like this, but there are far too many who do to attribute this to the 'fringe'. This is actually an absurdly good demonstration of the difference between modern western society and a large part of islamic society. We explicitly recognized the need for freedom of speech and the press over two hundred years ago. Judging by these events, islamic society isn't even close to recognizing any type of freedom of speech.

They can't even acknowledge the distinction between an independent media outlet and the government of the country it is based in. This is fucking ridiculous. If you weren't concerned before, the now very apparent fact that there are a bunch of countries which are composed largely of insane retards (rhetoric compliments of http://egyptiansandmonkey.blogspot.com/2006/01/can-foolishness-stop-now.html) who will destroy your property and kill you for saying something upsetting, or even if you are just from the same country as someone who said something upsetting, should be enough to convince you that there is something seriously wrong with islamic culture and that it is a problem which has to be dealt with. There can be no more hiding behind the notion that nonviolence can't be bad. We can either hand over the world to murderous religious fanatics or exterminate them. I can't make you defend yourself, but you sure as hell can't stop me from defending myself.

If you give a mouse a cookie

Sat, 07 Jan 2006 04:09:24 GMT

Getting annoyed at this terribly misused argument. Goes a little something like this: You shouldn't let the government do anything that in a different context might be bad because it is impossible to restrict the application of whatever they do to only good situations. Before seeing why, try to realize that this principle prevents the government from doing anything at all. From parking tickets to capital punishment, from police patrols to any Big Brother inspired invasions of privacy, there isn't a single thing the government does that couldn't be abused if the person doing it decided to. There is certainly a question of severity, but this is not grounds for this argument, and if you think it is, I may have to address that later. Anyways, by definition, the things the government should be doing (if we can agree to not be anarchists) are good. Do we then reject all government despite this, on the basis that the system will inherently create more bad than good, because of corruption or whatever? I think you still have to be an anarchist to take this position.

(Note: When I use labeling terms like pacifist or anarchist I'm rejecting them on intellectual grounds, not the popularized disdain for people labeled this way that we see in the media or popular culture or whatever. If you don't know why or disagree that pacifism or anarchy is inherently bad, this argument may not be for you.)

If we accept the premise that government should play a primary role in crime prevention, criminal punishment, and national defense, you can't then prevent them from doing so because it's possible to abuse these powers. You already knew that and decided to have government anyway. Now if we all of a sudden find ourselves with a new technique for crime prevention, or national defense, or any other thing you've agreed the government should be doing, and you agree that there are real situations where it is both useful and ethical to use this technique, there's no rational basis for line-item-vetoing this new technique just because you realize it can be abused. You implement the technique in such a way as to limit or prevent abuse. Just like every other thing the government does is implemented. Time for some examples.

1. A lie detector with very high reliability Should law enforcement, local and federal, be prevented from implementing this new technology because it's possible for them to unlawfully force you to answer questions unrelated to criminal activity, and know when you're lying? Realize that the only new thing introduced in that question is the last phrase 'and know when you're lying'. Nothing presently prevents law enforcement or the government from illegally detaining you and forcing you to answer questions, using a variety of techniques ALREADY AVAILABLE. I reject that a new technology is going to create this problem.

2. The military Well, on the one hand, they might protect us from attacks by other countries. On the other hand, they have all those guns, tanks, and planes, so they could pretty easily stage a coupe and take over the country, instituting a totalitarian dictatorship, which is bad. I guess we shouldn't have a military then. Yes, this has happened in other countries. For real and visible reasons, it probably won't ever happen to us. How sure of this could we have been a few hundred years ago? I'm guessing most people arguing against my point would have opposed creating a national military.

3. Torture Yes, torture. If you really don't think that there are real situations where it is both ethical and useful to torture someone, you can either think about it until you do, or go read something else. Is torture disgusting and inexcusable in most of the cases it has been used throughout history? Yes. Does this mean we should refuse to use it? Absolutely not. It would be a disservice to everyone expecting to be protected by the military or law enforcement agencies to arbitrarily disallow the use of torture where it is permissible and advantageous just because the concept has a sour taste in our mind. It's time to grow up.

4. Probable cause You mean the police can enter my home or search my car if they merely have a reason to "suspect" something is wrong? Surely this is the most arbitrary government power we've seen yet, but show me the advocacy group trying to eliminate probable cause. I'll show you the ten thousand lawyers whose job it is to make sure probable cause wasn't used incorrectly to implicate their client, because if it was, they're not going to jail.

I think this tendency to reject things we aren't doing yet while accepting the things we are doing is a lot like the tendency to protest new labor saving machinery, seen most in the industrial revolution and a lot since then. We see this new thing as a direct threat with all these negative consequences that surely outweigh the positive ones, and once implemented and used successfully, we forget our objections because they were dumb. I can't wait for the next big development in government efficiency to get upset about.

How do your spell 'fickle'?

Thu, 05 Jan 2006 01:13:26 GMT

Good guess on my part. Reading and posting in Paul Phillips's journal again. I like arguing and feeling superior to other people. Not to mention all the technical info I've picked up there. Just have to rein in my temper or whatever.

X-mas, New Year's

Sun, 01 Jan 2006 10:10:17 GMT

The former went much better than expected, best Christmas in years. The later was weak. Wooptie doo.