I.Am.Nerd.

So I was browsing Xkcd and I stumbled upon one cartoon that I thought was pretty interesting.  Being a nerd, I instantly hit up the search function on Wikipedia to see just what the cartoon was all about.  Why will my friends stop calling me to hang out?  Being a scientist, it's in my very nature to instantly want to do an experiment.

The conjecture states: Take any natural number n. If n is even, divide it by 2 to get n / 2, if n is odd multiply it by 3 and add 1 to obtain 3n + 1. Repeat the process indefinitely. No matter what number you start with, you will always eventually reach 1.

I decided to start out simple.  For my first experiment, I chose the number 11.

n = 11.  Step 1: (11x3) + 1 = 34.  Step 2: 34/2 = 17.  Step 3: (17x3) + 1 = 52.  Step 4: 52/2 = 26.  Step 5: 26/2 = 13.  Step 6: (13x3) + 1 = 40.  Step 7: 40/2 = 20.  Step 8:  20/2 = 10.  Step 9: 10/2 = 5.  Step 10: (5x3) + 1 = 16.  Step 11: 16/2 = 8.  Step 12: 8/2 = 4.  Step 13: 4/2 = 2.  Step 14: 2/2 = 1

Experiment 1 - Successful in 14 steps.

For my second experiment, I chose to use a bigger number: 256.

n = 256.  Step 1:  256/2 = 128.  Step 2:  128/2 = 64.  Step 3: 64/2 = 32.  Step 4: 32/2 = 16.  Step 5: 16/2 = 8.  Step 6:  8/2 = 4.  Step 7: 4/2 = 2.  Step 8: 2/2 = 1.

Experiment 2 - Successful in 8 steps.

Holy crap, I'm on a roll!  And there's a correlation between a larger n and fewer steps to get to 1.  One more experiment and I'll be able to publish my results!

For my third experiment, I decided to choose an even bigger number (they always say: go big or go home!). This time I chose: 123,456,789.

n = 123,456,789.  Step 1: (123,456,789x3) + 1 = 370,370,368.  Step 2: 370,370,368/2 = 185,185,184.  Step 3: 185,185,184/2 = 92,592,592.  Step 4: 92,592,592/2 = 46,296,296.  Step 5: 46,296,296/2 = 23,148,148.  Step 6: 23,148,148/2 = 11,574,074.  Step 7: 11,574,074/2 = 5,787,037.  Step 8: (5,787,037x3) + 1 = 17,361,112.  SHIT.  **Fast Forward**  Step 63: (16,313x3) + 1 = 48,940.   **Fast Forward**   Step 102: (395x3) + 1 = 1,186.  **Fast Forward**  Step 143: (3,077x3) + 1 = 9,232.  **Fast Forward**  Step 177: 2/2 = 1.

Experiment 3 - Successful in 177 steps.

Experimental conclusions:  1) Conjecture stands true...so far. 2) Correlation does not equal causation! 3) I.Am.Nerd.

Cooking Disaster

Gordon Ramsey himself would be proud of my culinary accomplishments of the other night, and by accomplishments, I mean epic failure.  I can cook, I swear I can!  This just happened to be one of my brain fart moments where everything just went to hell.  So without further ado, I give you my recipe for a true cooking disaster.

Ingredients:
1 packet Trader Joe's pre-cut pre-washed Blue Mountain green beans
1 box Trader Joe's Indian Pav Bhaji
1 moment of a lapse of common sense.

Instructions:
Step 1.  Cook rice in a pot instead of a rice cooker.  Watch as it bubbles under the lid and the rice-goo overflows and drips down the sides of the pot.  Watch as this then puddles in the drip pan under the electric burner.

Step 2.  Turn up the heat on said electric burner (complete with dried rice-goo) and watch as said dried rice-goo burns and starts smoking.  Burn and overcook the rice.

Step 3.  Heat up the Pav Bhaji by boiling the sealed packet in water.

Step 4.  Place microwave ready package of green beans into the microwave and heat for 3-4 minutes (according to the package).  Assume that the green beans are fully cooked.  Do not test.

Step 5.  Plate out overcooked rice and pile undercooked green beans on top.  Dish out piping hot Pav Bhaji on top of both the rice and the green beans.

Step 6.  Taste.  Curse.  Smack forehead for own stupidity.  

Step 7.  Take a pair of tongs and try to manually scrape off the Pav Bhaji off each individual green bean onto the rice so that the raw green beans can be cooked properly in a frying pan.

Step 8.  Sauté the green beans long enough so that they're edible but also so that when they're done, the rice and Pav Bhaji are cold.

Step 9.  Place cold rice and Pav Bhaji clusterf*ck into the microwave and heat.  Burn Pav Bhaji.

Step 10.  Epic failure complete.

[Ingredient]

[Step 7]

[Step 9]

Short Films pt 2

It's only fitting that the day after I finally finish a post about short films, that I stumble upon another one that has caught my eye.  It's pretty short, but very nerdy. 

"Pixels"

Short Films

I stumbled upon these short films about a month ago, and true to my nature, I started a blog post about it and waited a month to actually finish writing it.

"Connected"  

Watch the film (it's only 7:32 min long) and behold the ugliness of human nature.  Warning!  Film may cause desire to connect a vacuum cleaner hose to one's own face.

"Logorama"  

One word:  EPIC.  There's a reason why it won the Academy Award for best animated short film.  It's 17 mins, but it's worth it. Check out all the different logos used in the film.  Warning! Film contains NSFW language and animated violence.

"Tag 26"

Probably the most depressing of the three.  18 mins.  Afterwards you'll be much more appreciative of what you've got.  Warning! Film may cause desire for a full rubber attire.