But, this gauntlet had been barely thrown down before it invited a rebuttal from mathematician Dino Sejdinovic. In his article, "Mathematics of the Human Vampire Conflict" (Math Horizons, November 2008) Sejdinovic faults Efthimiou and Gandhi's logic, since they have not "accounted for the birth-rate of non-vampires and death-rate of vampires (actually the death-death-rate since they are already dead, but when they die again they should stay dead but stop being living) due to close encounters with stakes, garlic and holy water." Moreover, "vampires are presented exclusively as greedy consumers: a rational strategy of managing their human resources is not considered."
They seem to assume that once a vampire bites you, you automatically become a vampire, and that one human can only ever provide one "meal". Maybe it doesn't work that way.
These guys are clearly vampire slaves creating a smoke screen, if not vampires themselves.
I'm thinking that, too. Didn't they ever watch Blade??? I mean, anyone who's anyone knows you can totally raise humans like cattle for evil vampire overlords, and that a human isn't typically a 1-time-use-only product for said vampire overlords.
Buffy had 'vampire brothels', where humans would get paid to get bitten -and vampires would feed, of course. Of course, humans served as many, many meals for vampires. They also had vampires eating different animal blood if it was necessary for them to for-go human blood, and raiding hospital blood banks. Drinking 'from the tab' as it were wasn't the only solution.
And yet I skipped this article when I saw the "Why is new Kirk such a douche?" article link.
Incidentally, I've always preferred the exchange-of-blood method of vampirism. The only way to turn someone into a vampire is to replace enough human blood with vampire blood that the body will start to produce vampire blood, resulting in the metamorphosis from human to vampire.
Gradual change, to be certain, and not at all efficient.
No, not yet, but I've been meaning to write it. The submission packet for the writing workshop is due this Friday -- once that's in, I'll have a few glorious days before a mountain of work falls on my head -- I'm including time for my sad old lady version of partying ("Let's all have mint julip spritzers!!!"), getting the June issue of Byzarium lined up, and writing that review. Because I have a LOT of stuff to say about the 6th movie. So, hopefully Monday? Thanks for lighting a fire under me though! HUGS!
It's what you call the folder all the stories first get dumpe....uh...I mean, ceremoniously placed into, before you read through them all and weed out the one's you're interested in publishing. :)
It's actually a nightmare. Byzarium typically gets good quality submissions. I can count the number of eye-punchers on one hand. So it becomes this gut-wrenching task of being a merciless gomba. >_o
This is our science departments doing what they do best. I'm betting the vampire model gets used as an introductory problem to the field that spawned it.
Yep. Scientists often have great senses of humor - they just don't really get the time or the ability to stick the jokes into their research papers and articles. ('S too bad. There should be more joke-making in academic papers in general.)
There should! I think stuff like this puts a "fun" spin on science that would appeal to a lot of people. I mean, look at this particular example -- it's a fun, fanciful topic and it's sparked a healthy debate about the logic behind it. It's a great exercise in critical thinking. :)
And good science. There's a reason I liked watching Square One, Bill Nye, and other science and math shows aimed for kids - you learned the concepts, but you also learned how to put those concepts to pretty fun use. Doesn't everyone learn about chemical reactions through baking soda/vinegar volcanoes these days?
I miss Bill Nye so much. Whatever happened to him? Is his show still on somewhere? 3-2-1 Contact was great, too. I used to love that stuff when I was a kid.
Doesn't everyone learn about chemical reactions through baking soda/vinegar volcanoes these days?
I don't know if he still has a show, but he appears in places here and there to do his science (SCIENCE!) thing.
I think those programs vanish'd when Sesame Street became the Elmo show and multiple-choice tests took over the educational landscape. I don't think PBS has a whole lot of programming geared in that way anymore, unless it's animated, and even then, I'm not sure.
I’m no mathologer, but it seems to me that there’s some faulty reasoning in there. I mean, if you pose roughly the same argument (if every human kills and eats three cows, or two chickens and a cow, or a chicken, a fish and a rabbit or what have you, each and every day …) it just looks silly. Of course you don’t eat the entire cow, and you certainly don’t eat it all at one sitting. You breed the cows; you cultivate them as livestock. Which is most likely what our vampire overlords would do, at least according to “Thirst” arguably the most point-missingly obtuse vampire movie ever made. But mathematically, probably much closer to reality.
Actually, when I was a young sprout, I spent a lot of time working on a screenplay about a serial killer in NYC whose victims were all vampires. The killer was also a vampire, thinning the herd after a particularly indiscreet fellow vampire had gone around willy-nilly, “making” waaaay too many of them. It was more complicated than that, but you have to assume that a scenario like that would have to be more-or-less self-correcting, if the vampires had any sense of self-preservation.
You should write that!!! I swear no apple-polishing -- I would really read a story/watch a movie/whatever with that plot. It sounds interesting. AND I'M NOT JUST SAYING THAT. ;)
Most of the vamp fiction I've read account for that. They have methods by which the vamp controls who it makes into another vamp and who dies (most die) and people/things that kill the vamps, thus keeping the vamp population under control.
Either physicist read entirely different books than me, or they have vampires confused with zombies. o.0
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But, this gauntlet had been barely thrown down before it invited a rebuttal from mathematician Dino Sejdinovic. In his article, "Mathematics of the Human Vampire Conflict" (Math Horizons, November 2008) Sejdinovic faults Efthimiou and Gandhi's logic, since they have not "accounted for the birth-rate of non-vampires and death-rate of vampires (actually the death-death-rate since they are already dead, but when they die again they should stay dead but stop being living) due to close encounters with stakes, garlic and holy water." Moreover, "vampires are presented exclusively as greedy consumers: a rational strategy of managing their human resources is not considered."
These guys are clearly vampire slaves creating a smoke screen, if not vampires themselves.
They also had vampires eating different animal blood if it was necessary for them to for-go human blood, and raiding hospital blood banks. Drinking 'from the tab' as it were wasn't the only solution.
Sniffle.
Some days, I really miss Buffy. Especially the good years.
"Publish or perish", indeed. :)
Incidentally, I've always preferred the exchange-of-blood method of vampirism. The only way to turn someone into a vampire is to replace enough human blood with vampire blood that the body will start to produce vampire blood, resulting in the metamorphosis from human to vampire.
Gradual change, to be certain, and not at all efficient.
Wish I was more into Sci-fi. You sound like you need help, and I have so much free time at work where I'm not allowed to read.
Don't tempt me. I will totally drive out to Vegas, kidnap you, and lock you into my guest bedroom to read slush pile entries all day.
Just kidding!
Sorta.
@_@
Hee - don't worry - after the June issue I'm taking a well-deserved Period Of Absence. I'll be way busy this summer. :)
What, you're not planning on stuffing my inbox full of forwarded submissions?
What's a Slush Pile, anyway?
Maybe I should start doing that podcast.
If you DO ever want help being a gomba and have e-mail submissions, I wouldn't mind not being bored. ^_~
Doesn't everyone learn about chemical reactions through baking soda/vinegar volcanoes these days?
I used to LOVE making those. :)
I think those programs vanish'd when Sesame Street became the Elmo show and multiple-choice tests took over the educational landscape. I don't think PBS has a whole lot of programming geared in that way anymore, unless it's animated, and even then, I'm not sure.
I agree. They seem to forget that vampires are people, too! VAMPIRE POWER! ;)
Either physicist read entirely different books than me, or they have vampires confused with zombies. o.0
jk
There there...It's ok. He's real, and so is Nick Knight, and Angel, and Lestat. Well...maybe not Lestat. He's kind of a dick.