Monday, October 31, 2005

Happy Halloween!

In honor of Halloween, I thought I would treat my faithful readers to some scary images. I was impressed by this carved pumpkin featured on BBC.co.uk.

Spooktacular craftsmanship














On a more sinister note, here’s a photo of Lee R. Raymond, CEO of ExxonMobil. A true face of evil, Raymond is not going to invest any of its record $10 billion third quarter profit in developing alternative energy. Be afraid, be very afraid. And don’t buy your gas at Exxon.

face of evil

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

I Passed 8th Grade Math!

When CNET directed me to an online pop quiz, I couldn't resist the tempation of finding out if I could still pass 8th grade math. Luckily, for my ego, I got 9 out of 10 correct. I was robbed of a perfect score by not knowing the exact definition of a prime number. I can live with that. Although, after all those years of watching The Transfomers and cheering on Optimus Prime, I really shouldn't have missed that one.

My passing grade was very reassuring given the fact that my highest level math course in high school was Algebra II and my only math course in college was statistics. While I did well in those courses, I felt no need to further my learning in that domain. Plus, we have computers for that stuff. Instead, I took to the written word, where humans still have the upperhand over computers. However, I do admit to having enjoyed the Shakespearean Insult Generator when the 'Net was still young.

The site offering the pop quiz churned out the following html to advertise my results and proliferate participation. Good luck.



You Passed 8th Grade Math



Congratulations, you got 9/10 correct!

Wednesday, October 05, 2005

Lindsay Lohan’s Wild Ride

Perfecting the vacuous stareOkay, I understand that the paparazzi are a scourge upon this planet, but without them how we would know that Britney Spears is white trash, that Jen is totally upset about Brad, and that the Olsen twins are grotesquely thin??

Unfortunately, the paparazzi are a necessary evil that play a vital role in maintaining a core tenant of the U.S. Constitution – freedom of religion. Celebrity worship is as American as ignorance, excess and apple pie.

It’s true that the actions of the paparazzi have had some dire consequences – the death of Princess Diana being the most notorious. However, for all the celebrities they hound, you don’t hear of that many incidents – unless they involve Lindsay Lohan.

Sure, Lohan is a popular media target right now who is attracting her fair share of paparazzi, but there are lots of other stars out there pursued by aggressive photographers who don’t wreck there cars on a regular basis. One begins to wonder if part of the problem lies in Lohan’s driving abilities – or lack thereof.

I’m not saying that the paparazzi didn’t play a role, but if you see a black Mercedes convertible coming your way, you might want to give it wide berth.