Friday, May 27, 2011

Claims about Osama

Do you believe what the U.S. government said about Osama bin Laden's death is true? Take the survey! >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

A few weeks ago President Obama released news that Osama bin Laden was killed by DEVGRU in his three story mansion in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Pictures of the compound where he was hiding and one in particular of his bedroom with a pool of blood on the floor have been released.



However no photographs of Osama's body have released or leaked to the public. There are a few fakes floating around on the internet that look real though.



It was also said that his body was properly "buried" in the ocean and that DNA evidence was taken to confirm that he was killed. This has lead many to believe much of the government's story is false and that Osama was not really killed.

Because this can be such a controversial topic, a friend and I decided to use it as the topic for our final project in AP Statistics. We wanted to take a sample of individuals at a shopping center in our area, asking them "Do you believe the government's claims about Osama bin Laden's death?" and we would then group each person's answer based on their ethnicity. Then we would have an Arab friend of ours ask the same question to a sample of people in the same shopping center. We would then use a chi-squared test of independence to test the hypothesis that when the question was asked by a person of Middle-Eastern decent, peoples of most or all ethnicities would change their proportion of yes answers. This would provide cause to believe that the ethnic background of the interview can create a bias in the response of the subjects, especially on such a controversial topic as this.

When we submitted our proposal, our statistics teacher naturally thought this type of survey was a bit too racy, and warned us, but decided to allow us to follow through with it otherwise. So we went to the nearest major shopping center, a mall a few miles away, and stood outside one of the main entrances asking our question.

Unfortunately, after taking a decent sample size, we realized that one demographic of peoples was blatantly missing from our survey, and this demographic might have been one of the most interesting to get a sample of. We couldn't continue sampling as we were, because without that one group (I'm not going to say which) the whole synopsis of our survey was ruined. We also couldn't just go somewhere else and continue sampling, because that would mess with our data in unforetold ways, and we couldn't just stop because a report of our data was due the following morning.

Our only option was to quickly modify our survey and continue sampling. We decided that the best way to do this was to instead group people by their age, whether they were younger or older than 30 years of age, and use a two proportion z-test to see whether there was a difference between these two groups on the opinion of the government's story about Osama bin Laden's death.

Switching to this was a very good idea, because we were able to gather enough data to perform the statistical testing in a relatively short amount of time, leaving the rest of the day for us to do the two proportion z-test and write the report.

But one can never gather enough data to produce a completely accurate estimation of the population's opinion, so I decided to post it here to see if I could gather a little bit more data. It's completely voluntary (duh) but it would be cool if you could answer the survey over there >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I will post the complete results with the survey and statistical test in a week or so. Also, if you feel like it, go ahead and post a comment stating your ethnicity and what you answered in the survey, just for the hell of it.

Monday, May 23, 2011

Uncle Fred's Used Bedpan

When I was a kid one time I mixed milk and Gatorade together because I thought it might taste good. I remember as soon as I poured the two in the same glass I saw everything separate into multiple layers - the water, the fat in the milk, the electrolytes in the gatorade, some other weird stuff I couldn't recognize. It was so disgusting looking I can't even describe what it looked like.

But as an adventurous child, I wanted to know what it tasted like. So I took a sip. Let's just say it tasted better going out than it did coming in.

So you can imagine what I thought when I heard about this:



Ingredients:
1 oz. Wild Turkey 80 proof Bourbon
1/4 oz. Kahlua
1/4 oz. Creme de Banane
Chocolate Milk
Yellow Gatorade


I almost gagged. That has got to be the most disgusting drink I've ever heard of.

Would you ever try this?

Friday, May 20, 2011

SHTF

 
Is it the end of the world tomorrow? Unlikely.

The end of the world has been predicted so many times it's hard to keep track of all the religious nutzos who make the predicitons. 1666, 1844, 1914, 1918, 1925, 1942, 1981, 1988, 1989, 1992, 1993, 1994, 2006 all had dates that were supposed to be the rapture or judgment day or whatever. People predict the end of times every day. So far no one has been right.

I, as an Agnostic Atheist, do not believe that a god is going to destroy the Earth or whatever tomorrow. I believe more in a zombie apocalypse than that. In fact, it is more possible that tomorrow is the zombie apocalypse than people magically floating away into the clouds.

But I still am an Agnostic, so I don't believe we can know for certain until it has already happened (and even then, we still can't know). So here is a fun little prank you can play on your neighbors tomorrow afternoon:


However if tomorrow really is judgment day or the second coming of Jesus or a nuclear holocaust, I'll probably just sit around singing "It's the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine)", because it's doubtful that I will be part of the 144,000 that are supposedly being saved (where did that number even come from?!?!?!?).


Thursday, May 19, 2011

Boredom in Statistics

So one day a long time ago in my AP Statistics class we were conducting an experiment with dice. I didn't feel like paying attention that day - for whatever reason - so I had to find some way to occupy myself. So I did this:


No that's not an optical illusion and no I did not use glue. That is actually a die balanced on the corner of another die balanced on its corner on the face of another die.  Tricky stuff trying to get it right. But it took less than 5 minutes to perfect my technique, and soon I was able to stack dice like this in only seconds. So I decided to move on to something a bit harder:


It doesn't look much harder but it is. Adding the extra die on top takes a heck of a lot of balance and extremely stable hands, because the added weight causes even the slightest imbalance to become detrimental to the structure. The dice are in the same arrangement as the picture before because I had been practicing this awhile before we decided to take pictures. But I got bored again, so I decided to go further:


This was ridiculously hard to do. It must have taken me a good 20 or 25 minutes to get this. I think I was only able to get this far twice the whole period. It is probably the most difficult thing I have ever done in Stats class. I tried for a 6th die but I failed miserably.

Maybe next time I'll be able to obtain unreached heights and get to the 6th or possibly 7th die.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

An Easy Fix for a Common Computer Virus


"What's this, a virus?"


"Oh noes! My Identity!"


"Wait, how did this antivirus program get on my computer? I didn't install it, I use Norton/Mcafee/whatever!"

That's not an antivirus, that IS the virus. Yes, a virus that disguises itself as an antivirus. It is a clever idea, and it pays hackers big time by tricking you into buying their fraudulent software to get rid of non-existent viruses. It goes by many names - Antivir, Antimalware Doctor, Spyware Doctor, etc. - and generally leaves your computer useless and unable to access any part of the internet, except for the fake company website where it takes you to buy the "full version".

A friend of mine frantically called me yesterday asking for help because his computer received a virus similar to this. He has Mcafee installed on his computer, and it didn't stop this. This type of virus is super common and can appear on any windows computer without warning. I've helped family and friends with this virus so many times now I can almost start a business to remove it.

It's really easy to get rid of actually. Heres what you do:
  1. Check to see if you can still access the internet. If you can, great. If you can't, find another computer or try playing around with your internet options/preferences (usually disabling connecting through a proxy does the trick, since the virus sets up a proxy connection when it infects your computer).
  2. Download and save a program called rkill. Google it or download here. MAKE SURE YOU DOWNLOAD EVERY VERSION LISTED, AS SOME MAY NOT WORK WITH YOUR COMPUTER.
  3. Save all the rkill files somewhere accessible, such as on your desktop or on a flash drive if you are on a different computer.
  4. Download Malwarebytes Antimalware. Save it in the same place you saved rkill for convenience.
  5. Run rkill on the infected computer. Run every single one until you find one that works. You'll know when it does because the virus will stop giving you those annoying popups and you'll suddenly be able to use your computer again.
  6. Install Malwarebytes Antimalware on the infected computer.
  7. Update it, then run a full scan of every drive on your computer. When it's done let it restart your computer if it needs to and tell it to delete all threats it found.
That's it! It's so easy a cave man can do it.


Windows is shit, because it gets so many viruses. It is impossible to 100% protect your windows computer from viruses because there are so many and they are being created every day. If you want to avoid the problem of viruses all together, switch to linux. You'll never have another virus again.

Or if you choose to stay with windows, I'll give you the same advice I gave my friend: STOP DOWNLOADING PORN OFF THE INTERNET. Seriously, those sites are like the STD infested vaginas of high school dropout sluts. They spread disease to EVERYONE. If you stop doing that, your computer will be like a thousand times less likely to get a virus.

Oh, and wear a condom.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

To Plank or Not to Plank

Ever hear of the Planking? You know, this?

No, this man isn't passed out drunk (well, we can't know for certain). He is planking. Planking is literally lying face down on or between objects in random places, and stiffing yourself out like a plank of wood.

Looks stupid, right? Sounds even stupider, right? Well try telling that to Acton Beale of Brisbane, Australia, who died while planking. He was drunk and decided to plank on the balcony of a seven story building, and then fell to his death. Apparently this "planking" is the newest form of extreme sport.

Granted, he was drunk. But like many, my first reaction to hearing this story was, "what a dumbass!" I mean, how stupid do you have to be to hang half of your body off the ledge of a seven story building. Wouldn't you be afraid of falling? Granted, he was drunk, and drunk people tend to do stupid things.

Yes, that's exactly what I thought, that is, until I saw this:
And then I thought, "Holy shit, this is awesome. I have to do this."

Now I understand why poor Acton Beale of Brisbane, Australia wanted to plank off a seven story building. He had a dream, to be the best, the best planker there ever was. And he died doing what he loved. For this I salute him, the martyr of the planking revolution.

My heart and prayers go out to Mr. Beale's family and friends.

Monday, May 16, 2011

First Post

This is my first post. WOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Yea anyway, I'll probably use this blog to write about random stuff that comes up in my life. I will try to keep it as unboring as possible, because I know there are too many boring blogs about boring stuff written by boring people with boring lives in the universe.



My first order of business is to call my state of residence communist, anti-AMERICAN, and against the individual freedoms of the people. So here it goes:
California - or should I say Kalifornia - is a backwards-@$$ pro-Marxism anti-Freedom state of hypocrites run by idiots who think regular law abiding citizens are criminals for being able to protect themselves. 

That's right, protecting yourself is illegal in Commiefornia. Or, it will be once this bill is approved by the Senate. Apparently lawmakers don't think the United States constitution applies to subjects - errr, citizens - living in California, especially the second amendment, which guarantees "the right of the People to keep and bear arms". But it's okay, now I can order a cheese burger without the holding the burden of needing to protect myself, my friends, or my family from a criminal trying to rob the joint or a psychopath on a killing spree. Yep, I sure do love average police response times of over 5 minutes, especially when everyone will be dead when they get there.

This is why I want to move to a free state, like Vermont or Montana. Because I love freedom. America, Fuck Yeah!