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The Great Stanford Buffy Population Equilibrium Study
Suture writes "A PhD candidate in ecology at Stanford University has done an ecological analysis of humans and vampires in Sunnydale, the home of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
He took some initial assumptions on rates of population growth, vampire feeding, etc and plugged them into a differential equations model. What he got was an equilibrium human population of 36,346, and an vampire population of around 18, and furthermore the equilibrium is stable. His conclusion was that even though the show's designers are not ecologists, they managed to come up with ideas that actually made ecological sense.
Scroll to the bottom of the page to see a pretty cool spiral graph of human population vs vampire population."
Well, we can all make pretty charts too if we make a lot of assumptions. But a nice little analysis of some differential equations. Can we apply this to what's been going on in Smallville, Everwood, or other series? If we go back in time, and to different media, can we analyze Riverdale and what Archie and Betty and Veronica might have been up to?
for next year's Ignobel awards.
"Don't mind me cutting myself on Occam's Razor"
...all the demons, witches, and number of times Angel has been resurrected?
This paper isn't a thesis paper for pete's sake! It isn't a dissertation! It's OBVIOUSLY a lark. He's a fan of Buffy, and he decided to engage his brain and see what he could conclude about the Buffy-verse. It's a hoot, relax people.
-- L.
- Buffy's success at finding a mate versus others' successes (hers should be assumed to be higher, which would increase the incidence of vampire-killing traits in the population),
- the (Dubya) Bush administration's environmental policy, and whether increased pollution is more harmful to the living or undead, and
- If you introduce population genetics to "The WB Frog," will he suddenly change sex and have the potential to bear young (as do amphibians when populations are all female, i think)?
the plot thickens...
That's my purse! I don't know you! -- Bobby Hill
This looks like a clever way to exercise one's professional tools to solve a trivial yet interesting problem. Why are all of you whiners jumping on him?
One factor that he left out was the attrition of vampires due to recovered conscience or suicide, which might be high considering their lifestyle. There must be a percentage of vampires that accidentally get caught in sunlight as well, although those dim bulbs might be the kinds that get slayed eventually anyway. Other than that the numbers look good.
Right. Because Ph.D. students never have free time. They spend all their time on serious, groundbreaking research, only. And Ph.D. students never have their own webspace. If it's on the Internet, it must be a serious, peer-reviewed, critically analyzed piece of high academic merit.
;)
And in that supposed "free time" that Ph.D. students don't have, they'd never think about writing a mock paper using some differential equations that any second-year science student would understand because it amuses them.
For Christ's sake, the guy watches Buffy (Yes, Ph.D. students at Universities do other things besides do research and contribute to "political, social, and scientific development;" sometimes they even watch television!) and ran some variables through a model, wrote up a silly paper, and published it on his web page.
It's funny. Laugh.
Where in heck does this #"$& soviet jokes come from? Did it originate here, like the "insensitive clod" and Natialie Portman? Or is something like "All your base are belong to us"?
J.
Have you ever watched it?
And I mean really watched it, sat down and watched the two-hour roughly-in-order shots on FX at 7:00 EST?
It's quite possibly the best-written low-budget hot chick show ever. Every inconsistency is either explained away or simply believable, given a simple modicum of suspension_of_disbelief.
Contrast this with, oh, Star Trek or Andromeda or Farscape, or the other common "sci fi" series setups, and you'll see the "internal realism" he was talking about.
It doesn't take into account how the citizens feel. Having grown up in a town of 40,000, I can tell you that one murder was pretty big news. I can only recall hearing about murders two times during my ten or so years living there. Even assuming that I missed a few, that still wouldn't account for 18 vampires feeding once every three days (that's 2190 deaths per year--13 percent of the total murder rate for the ENTIRE UNITED STATES (~16000/yr)).
Anybody with half a brain would have moved out of that town long ago... and people ceratinly wouldn't be moving in.
Just watched it. Then had the misfortune of watching Men in Black II right after. Ugh! talk about a letdown.
I've never been a big Buffy fan, but I have watched a few shows, and I've been impressed with the quality of the writing and the chemistry between the actors.
Firefly has the same kind of humor that Buffy does. Joss seems to like poking fun at cliches (although this time, the good guys let the bad guy go instead of kicking him into an engine.) The acting is good. The characters are realistic and each have their own reasons for being on the ship.
People have put Firefly down as a ripoff of Gene Rodenberry's 'Wagontrain to the Stars' idea, but from what I have seen, they have taken the idea literally and created a frontier that is more low tech and 'old west' in feel than anything in the Star Trek universe.
As for MIB II, I wish I had a neuralyzer so I could wipe the memory from my mind.
Oh yeah, and to everyone who didn't think the human-vampire ecology article was funny, or who thought it was a waste of time: good lord! you need a new humor chip upgrade.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
It takes a handful of episodes to 'get it'. It really is phenominally deeply well written. It also has self parodying fluff on top that is, at it's best, witty banter that rivals Oscar Wilde. Once you're in, you realize that these are really well written episodes. As you watch, you realize the season has a structure. As you watch seasons, you realize that the seasons have a pattern and the entire show, has a structure where things from season three play out in season six, and themes that are treated one way in season two (when they are in high school) are revisited and reexamined in season six (when she's trying to raise her little sister after her mother dies).
It does parody itself, but it's a tongue in cheek, knowing parody when it does. Buffy will acknowledge in side comments about her wardrobe. In season five and six, when things get much more 'real' and very gritty, they still have their Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (and Johnathan), who lighten things up, but wind up with a similar end.
Good writing, surprisingly good acting (even Sarah Michelle Gellar, who I thought was a ditzy figurehead of the show until Season 5's 'The Body')... it's a great show. There's a reason some people say it's the best thing on television.
--
Evan
"$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
how the vampires can even get a stiffy
Answer in 3 words:
Sarah Michelle Gellar
*BOING*