April 2002 Archives
Guuuuuuurglemmmmmmhm. That's the sound I make when I desperately want something.
Ever wonder about those people who say they are giving more than 100%?
We have all been to those meetings where someone wants over 100%. How
about achieving 103%? Here's a little mathematics that might prove
helpful.
What makes life 100%?
If A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z is represented
as:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26.
Then, H A R D W O R K 8 1 18 4 23 15 18 11 = 98%
K N O W L E D G E 11 14 15 23 12 5 4 7 5 = 96%
But, A T T I T U D E 1 20 20 9 20 21 4 5 = 100%
And, B U L L S H I T 2 21 12 12 19 8 9 20 = 103%
So, it stands to reason that hardwork and knowledge will get you
close,
attitude will get you there, but bullshit will put you over the top.
And look how far A R S E K I S S I N G 1 18 19 5 11 9 19 19 9 14 7 =
122%
or even simple B R O W N N O S I N G 1 18 15 23 14 14 15 19 9 14 7 =
149% will take you!
Try to make ends meet
You're a slave to money then you die
I'll take you down the only road I've ever been down
You know the one that takes you
to the places where all the things meet yeah
No change,
I can't change I can't change, I can't change
But I'm here in my mould, I am here in my mould
But I'm a million different people from one day to the next
I can't change my mould
No, no, no, no, no
Well I never pray
But tonight I'm on my knees yeah
I need to hear some sounds
that recognize the pain in me, yeah
I let the melody shine, let it cleanse my mind,
I feel free now
But the airways are clean
and there's nobody singing to me now
Bittersweet Symphony, The Verve
I want to sleep inside a box and live outside the box. What's wrong with that?
It's Mohammed's birthday today and Ammar's on the 30th. As a birthday tribute to them both I will present you with interesting schtuff to do with the month of April.
Diamond is the birthstone of April. Here's a photomicrograph of diamond and other birthstones. (Also check out the Silicon Zoo.)
Renée Zellweger, William Shakespeare, Al Pacino, Ella Fitzgerald and Kirsten Dunst all have birthdays in April.
There are quite of few holidays and observances in April, the most famous being April Fools' Day. If you're stuck for ideas next year, here are a few pranks you can play.
Song Recommendation of the Day:
Title: April in Paris
Artist: Ella Fitzgerald featuring Louis Armstrong
The mood created: Umm.....it's a song with April in the title
......I've run out of things about April.....HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Alright.. so I run out of my regular shampoo and I find this bottle of Head & Shoulders, the dandruff shampoo in the closet and I go "hmmm ok.. even though I don't have dandruff.. what the hell.."
So i'm massaging away.. singing and what not.. and the damn thing seeps into my eye! Now I've done this before... and NEVER has it hurt this bad. I seriously thought I was going to go blind in my right eye.. but it subsided after a couple of minutes.. and me flushing it repeatedly... So yeah.. watch out kids!
Song Recommendation of the Day:
Title: Where All Life Begins
Artist: Madonna
The mood created: let's dine out... ;)
Thank you uncle Rafi!
I had to ride the subway last Saturday to get to the pro-Palestinian protests last Saturday, and since I imagined there would be lots of walking to be done, I chugged down around a gallon of water before-hand. Not a good idea. The 40 minute ride downtown was unbearable. The only thing that kept me from "exploding" was the song "Aaj Mausam bara Bay-iman Hai" by Mohammad Rafi that I kept singing over and over almost throughout the train ride.. I'm actually listening to it again right now.. and it talks of a coming storm.. and bad weather..hmm.. reverse psychology DOES work!
My cousin sent me three links today and all three are blogworthy.
Elmo testifies in favour of school music education. Elmo in a suit?!? How cute is that?
Oh bugger, I missed the Channel 4 programme, "The Truth about Gay Animals". But here you can find out if your pet is gay and also how gay you are yourself. I am 33% gay: "You're a straight-laced girlie girl with just a hint of your butch side sometimes poppingup". I'm sure this test is 89.5% accurate too.
If you're interested in Forensic Science and/or love the programme CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, check out their site. The Handbook and Crime Lab sections are particularly informative
"The winning ticket in the lottery of life is to be born English" -Richard Madeley. Happy St. George's Day!
Also, happy birthday Shakespeare.
Apparently I belong In Rochester, NY out of all the places in the whole world. Spooky since the only pen pal I had while I was a kid lived there. Yep, the Flower City sounds perfect. Where do you belong?
Song Recommendation of the Day:
Title: Machinehead
Artist: Bush
The mood created: The desire to whip out your air guitar and give it some serious thrashing.
The Covers Project: "...a database of cover songs (songs performed by an artist other than the original performer) with the intention of creating cover "chains." A cover chain is a set of songs in which each song is a cover of a song by the band who covered the preceding song."
Jyoti Mishra. Ring any bells? Remember that song "Your Woman"? Remember White Town? Well that's Jyoti's band and he earnt my respect when his song went to number one here in the UK but he refused to perform on TOTP because he said dance acts always came across crap on it. Couldn't agree with you more.
I think it's so funny when people put a * next to a URL on their link list to show who on their favourites list they've met in real life. It's like they think I actually care...or maybe they don't care that I don't care. Funny nonetheless.
These hairstyles are filed under "funky". I'd like to re-file them under "FUGLY".
This is the cutest thing I've seen in a while. Oh, and this too.
In my 'Favorites' folder I have a section labelled 'thingstoblog' which contains links I want to one day write and tell you about. Unfortunately sometimes I forget it's there and as a result I accumulate a lot of links that have a) most probably been talked about everywhere else by now or b) are just not that interesting in retrospect. However sometimes I go back to that folder and am reminded about a gem of a link. Like:
The chemistry alternative to the Jabberwocky poem. Because I'm a big geek.
Something Sally might be interested in: Cats Painted in the Progression of Psychosis of a Schizophrenic Artist.
A different take on the Mid-East crisis that is making more sense to me than viewing either side as totally innocent.
"Asher D's never fading, smoking mad Gs like a Jamaican.."
Younger sister: Oh I don't like him (points to Arnie on the screen). Wasn't he in "The Communicator"?
Everyone falls about laughing for a few minutes.
Me: Yeah I can imagine how that would be scary. "Sarah Connor?" "Yes." "I have been sent here to kill you but before I do, let's talk about the options that we are faced with and hopefully reach a informed resolution."
1) Keep saying that Ryan Phillipe is just a pretty boy.
2) Use all of my Oil of Olay Active Body Fluid.
3) Pinch my cheeks, especially the ones on my face.
4) Play the "circle game" with me without informing me what it is or that I'm playing it.
5) Be Arnie in Commando.
6) Look like an inorganic chemistry book.
7) Tell me how you've been revising for the last six months.
8) Be a fish that refuses to eat anything but the other fish in the tank.
9) Say "So?" fifteen times in a row just to be irritating.
10) Call me "Thaima car". It's cute because you're 2 years old but I'm not taking you out in the car for the twentieth time today.
Thumb nails taste better than finger nails.
A back catalogue of Calvin Klein ads. I must say Mark Wahlberg has always been a particular favourite. Umm, apart from Antonio Sabato Junior of course.... That's why The Big Hit is such a great movie.
I'm organising the music for a party this weekend. Any song suggestions?
Meanwhile, a mini tour of Japanese art.
Elmer Fudd translates this web page. In fact the Cockney one is exactly what I sound like...init.
1) Wake up at five to one in the afternoon.
2) Wake up to your sister asking you for a lift to college. She needs to get there for one o'clock.
3) Realise that the people in the neighbouring town don't like you.
4) Wash your filthy car that has bird droppings on it in the freezing cold till your hands are numb.
5) Imagine the prospect of telling a rather large man why you've splashed his brand new car.
6) Run downstairs when your little sister screams that one of your fish have eaten the other fish only to discover it was just hiding behind a plant.
7) Have a kid throw Ribena over your brand new white apparel.
8) Watch an interview with the So Solid Crew.
9) Realise you have less than a month to revise for seven exams.
10) Eat raw cheese by mistake.
Monique has expressed precisely my feelings about the web lately. Let's start a revolution. When I can be arsed.
Note: Sea monkeys are an anti-climax.
Song Recommendation of the Day:
Title: Rock the Boat
Artist: Aaliyah
The mood created: Sudden urge to take a ferry ride from Dover to Calais and proceed in making a prat of yourself by painfully describing what ice cream you want in 'French' and not realising the person working there is in fact English.
Recently I've just been signed up to Bloglet. Yeah, great tool but someone subscribed for me without even informing me! I am capable of making my own decisions and subscribing myself. I've been subscribed to http://foolishness.net, a site I've never even visited before! The cheek of it all.
Song Recommendation of the Day:
Title: Red Alert
Artist: Basement Jaxx
The mood created: I wanna dance, I wanna get down tonight
Following the Saima tradition of advocating higher learning, we bring you: Chinese Lessons!
Maybe that last entry would be less confusing if it had a little indicator at the end that let everyone know who I was. i.e. posted by Ammar. (me!) Yes people, thats right. I'm actually a guy. The whole Saima thing was one big psychology experiment. Kidding kidding. I'm Saima's so-called "robot" who will also be rambling alongside of her. Can you figure out who's talking when? hint: i'm funnier! (or sexually deprived according to Hina.. see last entry)
So I've been offline for a good 3 days now (i.e. not on AIM) and I begin to wonder how people have taken to my absence. I decide to have a little fun. I get on and I msg my good friend Hina and tell her that I am a friend of Ammar's, and I ask her if she has any idea as to why he would've chosen to commit suicide. She is unphased, and tells me that "Ammar seemed to be a happy guy", although he was sexually deprived - and to give condolences to my mother. Now she claims she was just playing along.. I'm not quite sure what to think. Do people you talk to online REALLY care about you? Find out!
I used to be a well behaved kid contrary to what this picture may show. I'd stay exactly where my mum would leave me for hours. Not moving because I didn't want to get my clothes dirty. I'd stay away from all the naughty children and even tell them to refrain from acitivities that would get them (and me) into trouble.
I spent a lot of my childhood in Pakistan. Being good. I went to nursery school (kindergarten) there, sat exams even (yes, exams at age 3) and scored the highest score in the school's history. I got picked on my the other kids but I was still good. Good, good, good. And then I got 'bad'. Cue evil maniacal laugh.
In some ways I'm glad I'm a selective vegetarian. Especially in McDonald's. It decreases the chances of weird freak food accidents. You know the type. Where they accidentally give you a chicken head instead of chicken nuggets.
"But Saima, that would never happen!"
Tell that to the mother of two who demanded $100,000 for their food faux pas. [via The Don]
p.s. I didn't forget your Easter Egg.
This is mainly for my sister who tends to hog shotgun while we're up in Glasgow. I had my hand on the door dammit!
And this is probably the best Mirror Project photo explanation I've read.
Song Recommendation of the Day:
Title: Child of the Wild West
Artist: Cypress Hill
Where have I heard this before: Blade II
The mood created: Let's get jiggy!
We bought Sea Monkeys! One minute we were looking them up along with seahorses, catfish and dogfish on the internet and the next thing you know, we're at "Pets at Home" buying them. I'll let you know about the progress.
On a related note, I learnt some interesting things about those beautiful creatures, seahorses. Did you know the male seahorse incubates the eggs laid by the female in a pouch? Seahorses also have a vertical mating dance that can last for hours. Oooh la la.
Well it looks like I'm back. But why the boring old page you may ask. And an answer ye shall receive. Mainly because I came up with about five fancy schmancy designs that just didn't do it for me. It got to a point where I gave up but then thought all I really want to do is write. So here you have it. My ramblings without all the fluffiness. When I have more time I might jazz this place up a bit but for now, it's just you, me and a white page. I still love you.
While I was away, I figured out that large tongues freak me out, mini people dancing on my computer screen please me and that the periodic table isn't as boring as it may seem. It's a shame it took me so long to figure the last one out considering I'll finish my degree in chemistry in a month or so.
Q: Do the questions in the brain of your icon indicate that it's missing?
A: Yes.
The conflict between Galileo and the church is a well-known incident in history often portrayed as a battle between the tyrannical Catholic Church and a heroic scientist. As recently as 1992 the Roman Catholic Church admitted they had made an error in their persecution of Galileo at a meeting of the Vatican's Pontifical Academy of Sciences in Rome, much to the ridicule of the media who interpreted this as obvious result which had taken a Papal commission thirteen years to derive. To fully assess the reasons behind the condemnation of Galileo’s Dialogue concerning the Two Chief World Systems we shall examine the events that preceded it’s publication and also the condition of Italy at the time.
