Logical Eccentricity

I  recently watched The Punisher again, and I have to say, the ending lines of it are worth quoting and remebering:

I leave this as a declaration of intent - so no one will be confused.

1. Sic vis pacem parabellum. Latin. Boot Camp Sergeant made us recite it like a prayer. Sic vis pacem parabellum. If you want peace, prepare for war.
2. Frank Castle is dead. He died with his family.
3. In certain - extreme situations, the law is inadequate. In order to shame its inadequacy, it is necessary to act outside the law. To pursue - natural justice. This is not vengeance. Revenge is not a valid motive, it’s an emotional response. No, not vengeance. Punishment.

Those who do evil to others - killers, rapists, psychos, sadists - will come to know me well. Frank Castle is dead. Call me - The Punisher.

Beyond just this quote, there was a lot more to the movie that I enjoyed. The development of the character is very believable, and realistic. You can almost see yourself doing similar things in his place. I think that’s the beauty of the Punisher in the first place. It could be anyone; you don’t need to be bitten by a super spider, or come from another planet, anyone can become the Punisher. While the action is intense, there could have been a whole lot more, but is very tasteful in what is shown. As a result, enough is left up to your imagination that makes it seem much worse than it probably is. Overall, this is one of my more liked superhero movies. Watch it if you haven’t seen it yet.

This is the story of about how I bought a PlayStation 3 four days before Christmas. I went to my mom’s office to eat lunch, and then afterwards, I went shopping for a bit. As I was driving by a Circuit City. I decided to stop by and see when they would be getting another shipment, so I would be ready to buy it when more came in. As I walked into the store there was a big sign saying that they had no PS3s, which I completely expected. I spoke to one of workers, and he had no idea when they would be getting more. This Circuit City is across the street from Broadway Mall, which has a Target, so I thought that I might as well check to see when they would be getting more. The Target employee said sometime in late January. Oh well. As I was walking around Target, trying to figure out how to get out, I saw a GameStop, and thought to myself that I might as well ask them as well. The employee that I ask, mumbled the following back to me: “I don’t know when we’re getting more, but we have some in the back. Do you want one?” I was floored by this statement; I did not expect to find it anywhere, let alone at a GameStop. And so, that’s how I walked away with a PlayStation 3 four days before Christmas.

A little while ago, I had posted a relationship diagram on Facebook. Since so many people enjoyed it, I thought I would follow it up with another diagram that, like the first one, is based on common sense. If you ignore the Greek in it, you should still be able to understand it, the Greek is there to make is easier for me to explain all the connections. For all of you that enjoy looking at diagrams, here you go:

So, what does this mean? Let me boil it down for you. We have two people, Person A, and Person B; Person A likes Person B, but is not sure if there are reciprocal feelings. The formula gives you a probability of the relationship working out; as it is a probability, it ranges from 0 to 1, with 0 meaning no possibility at all, and 1 meaning sparks are flying.

The first variable is Ζ this is the amount that Person A likes Person B. Since we are doing this as Person A, we should be able to quantify this number. Next up, is Θ. This is the amount that Person B likes Person A; most likely, very unknown at this point. These typically are positive, as you wouldn’t do this analysis on a person that you didn’t like and didn’t like you back. As a result, you add them together. The next few variables are most likely going to negatively affect the relationship, so you would subtract them.

We start with Λ, the other people, if any, that Person A likes; common sense this should be subtracted in the formula. Next is Ξ, the other people, if any, that like Person A. This is replicated with Person B, with the Π and Υ terms.

Finally, we come to Γ and Δ. These terms stand for the mental well-being of Person A and B respectively. Since these could be positive or negative, they are added for simplicities sake. The output of the formula, the probability is known as Ω.

This is a very simply demonstration, the real fun comes when you have incorporate multiple people. Lets say for example, Person A is trying to figure out who to ask out B or C; for each new person added into the mix, the formula multiplies and becomes so much more interesting.

First semester of senior year is done, and this has been the best semester so far. Not necessarily in terms of grades, since I haven’t gotten any of my grades yet, but rather in a personal sense. In regards to school, of my all time top three classes, I had two of them this semester; Intro of Photography and Emerging Markets. I’ve put these classes as my favorites not just because of the material covered, but because the professors were amazing. For EM, my professor was Marty Siegel, he used to work at Long Term Capital Management, the hedge fund that almost brought down Wall Street due to Russia’s defaulting on their local currency bonds. But the class was awesome, because he was talking about his life story and everything that he’s experienced and been through.

As far as the rest of the semester, Stern had its Stern Summit on Global Business, and IAG ran its second ever Investment Competition along with it. The presentations this year were very good, close to on par with standard IAG presentations. The SSGB was a great way for IAG to continue to get its name out there. Going on with IAG, my presentation this semester was on Genentech, a bio-tech company with amazing growth potential. It was a great experience trying to sell a growth story and company to a room full of value investors, needless to say, it didn’t get into the portfolios. Since this year is the tenth anniversary of IAG, we had an alumni mingle to mark the event. We had a great showing of alumni at the event, and I definitely think we should have more in years to come.

As far as everything else goes, I made some new friends this semester, and continued to build on old friendships. Looking forward to next semester, I’ve got six credits; 2 for Ethics, 3 for Corp Fin, and 1 for an Independent Study in IS, so I’m hoping to have plenty of free time next semester to chill.

My future cell phone is on sale now… The only places that I see it on sale right now are resellers that are just selling the phone and nothing else. The best price I can find right now is $291.17… Don’t like this idea all that much because most cell companies give a nice discount if you buy a phone and service with them. But at least the phone is finally on sale now