I Can't Help Myself, I'm Obsessed!

I tried very hard not to look at any more swine flu stuff, and I was successful yesterday. Today, however, is a different story. In my readings, I found some more very interesting stuff. I'll share some of it with you.

First off, I'll give you the new graph that I generated using numbers from the CDC website.


Basically, this shows that numbers aren't leveling off at the moment. It doesn't seem like they will be too soon.

We also have a new death from the flu in the United States. So everyone can stop saying that it was only one death, a toddler from Mexico. Here is a little snipped from the news story I read about this death. It comes from "Second swine flu death reported in the US" on Hurriyet Daily News.com.

Texas health officials late on Tuesday announced the first death of a U.S. resident with swine flu, and said she was a 33-year-old schoolteacher who had recently given birth to a healthy baby. The only other swine flu death in the U.S. was of a Mexico City baby who also had underlying health problems and had been visiting relatives in Brownsville, near Harlingen. He died last week at a Houston children's hospital.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, said it expected "more cases, more hospitalizations and more deaths from this outbreak" in the weeks ahead. But at the same time, health authorities eased the restrictions for school closures, a move seen as a possible sign that the worst of the outbreak might well be over.

The CDC expects "more cases, more hospitalizations and" WHAT!?! "more deaths" from the swine flu. If the CDC is expecting it, then so should we. I understand that the flu normally kills a shit ton of people every year, but I still think this seems much worse than just the common flu. If it were just a regular flu, the CDC wouldn't be tracking it and sending out millions of doses of antiviral drugs out to all the states.

Another interesting article that I read is from blogger Leva Cygnet at Firefox News. In his article, "Crunching Some Swine Flu Numbers", he gives us some scenarios of how this could play out. I'm not sure what qualifications he has to make these predictions, but they seem reasonably sound to me. Given that it was written over a week ago, and the flu has been spreading pretty wildly over the last week, I think we should give him a little credit.

Let's hope that this isn't as bad as it might seem. But in the meantime, don't go kissing any pigs.

हाउ वेल दोएस यौर कंप्यूटर क्नोव यू

My friends, the staff over at Maggie's Octopus and I have a game we like to play sometimes. I like to call it "How well does your computer know you?" Seeing as it's finals week, and I only have a million more hours worth of studying to do, I decided to play this game for a bit. Unfortunately, my friends at Maggie's Octopus are VERY busy, probably coaching girls softball or something equally as lame. So, instead, I decided to share with you, my avid readers, the results of this game.

The way the game is played is:
1. Open Facebook. Everyone has it. Nobody should be ashamed of it.
2. Click the Profile tab at the top to go to your profile.
3. Look at the sidebar on the right labeled Advertisements. Scroll down and click "More Ads"

This should bring you to a page called Advert Board. Here is where the fun begins!

On my Advert Board today, the first six ads were:


1. Mensuas Designer Swimwear

This one clearly screams my name. Not only does the picture look like it could be my twin brother, but the ad also appeals to my desire to find "the latest fashions and styles of mens underwear, swimwear and jewelry."

2. Good Boyfriend?

Again, perfect for me. "Find out if you could be a good boyfriend" too!

3. Mathematics Major?

Wow! I am a mathematics major. And I just happen to love surveys. 3 for 3!

4. Only if you are gay

A social network for gays. Gays.com. It doesn't get any better than this.

5. Threadless T-Shirts

I was actually hoping that I could find some rubber t-shirts.

6. Find a Tough to Love

You know me. I DO have a soft spot for toughs. I also love funs, intelligents, nices, generouses, and funnies.

I believe 4 out of the 6 advertisements on that page were specifically geared towards gay men, based on the pictures and the descriptions. Hmm... I guess my computer does really know me.

Let's scroll down to the 24 other advertisements on my Advert Board. Shall we?






Of these, there are:

14 Gay/Social Networking
5 NYC
4 Clothing
3 Religion
3 Marriage and Divorce
2 Shaving
1 Gardening
1 Cars
1 Art/Photography
1 Math

That about sums me up. I'm a gay, New Yorker who is into clothing, shaving, gardening, cars, nude male photography, and math. And I'm looking to get married and then divorced soon, in a very religious way.

Your turn!

Oh, and the Title is supposed to look that way. My computer knows me so well that it decided to change the language of my title. I love it!

I Just Might Pack Up and Head for the Woods

For those of you who don't know, I've been following all this swine flu crap lately. It worries me a little. Being in NYC doesn't help the situation. It's still the area of the country that's been affected the worst. Regardless, I'd like to share a little graph that I created on Excel.


I know a lot of people think that there's nothing to worry about. Kevin tells me constantly that I'm ridiculous for worrying about it. I have had other people tell me that it's just a flu and that there is really no need for concern.

In my readings, I came across this:

from "Swine Flu Cases Up, But CDC Cautiously Optimistic" by Michael J Himowitz, Deputy Managing Editor, MedPage Today, published May 3, 2009

U.S. antiviral drugs distributed

[Anne Schuchat, M.D., the CDC's Interim Deputy Director for Science and Public Health Programs] said CDC has finished deploying 25% of its antiviral drug stockpile to the states -- enough for 11 million regimens. CDC's parent agency, the Department of Health and Human Services, has ordered another 13 million courses from manufacturers.

"We don't have an unlimited supply of antivirals, but we're in a lot better shape than we were a few years ago," she said.

She said doctors should try to limit use of antiviral drugs to those with severe symptoms.

Dr. Nancy Cox, Ph.D., director of the agency's Influenza Division, said CDC has also been working with an academic laboratory to create a candidate virus that can be given to vaccine manufacturers in time for fall production if authorities decide it's necessary.

Technical issues will determine how much vaccine can be produced -- but the stickiest question may be who gets it should there not be enough to go around.

CDC typically recommends seasonal flu vaccine for its most susceptible victims -- the elderly and young children. But Dr. Schuchat noted that this novel strain has been far more likely to attack older children and young adults. In fact, the median age of confirmed patients is only 17, and relatively few are over 50.

Older children and young adults? I'm still a young adult. This is not good. And they're worried that it might be worse in the fall! There's no doubt that it's no longer containable. The graph above shows that. The CDC realizes it as well. They sent 11 million regimens of antiviral drugs to the states. They're purchasing 13 million more. They definitely are not thinking that it's going to be kept in the thousands. At this point, I think we should just accept that we're probably going to catch it. I just hope that when I do, there's enough medicine still left for me.

What's That Famous Wizard Doing in My Homework?

Here we see an assignment for Complex Variables II. The picture may be a little hard to see. I didn't have a scanner to scan it. Instead I took a picture with my high quality camera phone. Maybe a better picture will make its way up here eventually.

What the question asks is:
Show how to define [(1+z)/(1-z)]^1/2 as a single-valued analytic function f(z) in the z-plane slit along the real segment [-1,1], with f(z) defined to be +1 at z=0 on the upper edge of the slit. What is the relation between the values of f(z) on the upper and lower edges of the slit?

Here is an overview of my answer:


First, I converted this into an exponential equation:
[(1+z)/(1-z)]^1/2 = e^[1/2 log(1+z)+1/2 log(1-z)]
I illustrated this in the graph to the left.
Then: "Poof! Proof by magic!"


In the enlarged picture, you can see Harry Potter with his lightning scar. I added the wand with an arrow pointing to it to let the grader know that "There's a phoenix feather in there!" Some people aren't aware of these things.

You might think that I forgot to answer the crucial part of the question. NOPE! It's in there too! "They're related by half-blood princes!"


Clearly, the grader was impressed. I got a "Nice." He took off half though. I think it was because of my grammar... related by half-blood princes? What was I thinking?

Esposito Pork Shop

Yesterday, Kevin and I decided to take a walk to K-Mart to buy some toilet paper, as well as a few other things that we needed at the apartment. But mainly for toilet paper. It was a beautiful day out. We strolled down 9th Avenue. We happened upon a little known gem in Hell's Kitchen.



According to Kathleen Squires, "...Even the most unusual requests can be met within 24 hours at this family-run butcher, a West Side favorite for more than 100 years. The bone saw is always awhir inside the clean, fluorescent-lit room, dominated, of course, by the meat showcase and the amusingly dated celebrity photos on the walls (Brenda Vaccaro and Pat Cooper, anyone?). The men in white coats may even offer cooking tips as they coach you through cuts of meat, poultry and game. Esposito's is primarily known for its pork, however, so much so that it manufactures 10,000 pounds of sausage for area restaurants each week. So don't go home without some house-made links, like the hot Italian varieties or meat, broccoli, and mozzarella-stuffed tubes, all great with the selection of fresh-baked breads brought in from Valente Bakery of Fairview, New Jersey. Anyone who wants to test-drive the terrific combo can visit the shop's long-standing booth at the annual Ninth Avenue Food Festival—the only time you can buy the sausage ready to eat."

In the picture, it's a little hard to read the specials, so I made sure to get a bigger view of a few of my personal favorites.



Pig toes? Do pigs even have toes? I thought that they had hooves. Weird. But also very yummy. Even better than that though....



WHAT!?! Do you eat them? Do you use them for sick, perverted playthings? I don't get it!

I asked a good friend of mine, a chef, about it. And he said, "Anyway, like I was sayin', suckling pig is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, sautee it. Dey's uh, suckling pig-kabobs, suckling pig creole, suckling pig gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There's pineapple suckling pig, lemon suckling pig, coconut suckling pig, pepper suckling pig, suckling pig soup, suckling pig stew, suckling pig salad, suckling pig and potatoes, suckling pig burger, suckling pig sandwich. That- that's about it."

I hope you enjoy! And if you're looking for some good pig toes or suckling pig, try the store at 500 Ninth Avenue at 38th Street, New York, NY.