Sunday, May 29, 2005
crash
Last night I went to see the movie Crash. I heard some friends were going about an hour and a half before showtime, and basically had just enough time to catch up with them before it started. Since I've pretty much been living under a rock for the past few months, I had never heard of it, and didn't have the slightest idea what it was even about so it made quite the impression on me.
I've watched at least 25 movies since The Color Purple, but this was the first since then to evoke any sort of emotional reaction. In some ways I felt like I was being force-fed the point they were trying to make, but as one friend pointed out, "some people just don't get it unless you hit them over the head with something". Definitely worth watching, although perhaps not one to see with your mother...
p.s. Jared...I blame you for me never having heard of this movie. You're supposed to keep me on top of these things!
::edit:: I guess I owe Jared an apology. Sorry! I wasn't kidding when I said I was under a rock!
p.s. Jared...I blame you for me never having heard of this movie. You're supposed to keep me on top of these things!
::edit:: I guess I owe Jared an apology. Sorry! I wasn't kidding when I said I was under a rock!
amr's brain blurted out at 11:40 PM 
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But I mentioned it three different times. ):
http://justjared.blogspot.com/2005/04/fathersdayryanphillppeavapicture.html
http://justjared.blogspot.com/2005/05/newsies_05.html
http://justjared.blogspot.com/2005/04/ryan-and-reese-reunite.html
By 
j4r3d, at
6/12/2005 3:44 AM
my bad :-)
By amr, at
6/13/2005 12:30 AM
mb2
Thursday night I went to see my first (and most likely only) baseball game of the season. The Durham Bulls (AAA affiliate of the TB Devil Rays) vs. the Pawtucket Red Sox. It was Duke Appreciation night and Marybeth was nice enough to hook me up with a ticket (which also included plenty of free food. congrats on 15 years of service!). I also finally got to meet her ever elusive friend Marybeth.Thursday also happened to be Melissa's birthday. While I didn't sit with her and her crew, I did swing by to say hello. The only thing that would have made for a nicer night if if the Pawsox had pulled out the victory. Oh well, maybe next time. I did get to see Kelly Shoppach and John Olerud before their recent callups to the big leagues.
amr's brain blurted out at 12:44 AM
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go jen, it's your birthday
I'm going to have a lot more random pics so I thought I'd start taking advantage of the blogger-hello connection to make things easy on myself. Anyway, last sunday was Jennifer's birthday, and I took a little study break to meet up with her and some other people. I didn't stay long, but people looked like they were having a good time!
amr's brain blurted out at 12:09 AM
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Monday, May 23, 2005
shocking
More arrested in cult case
Tangipahoa sheriff alleges devil worship in child rape, animal sex caseInvestigators arrested four more people on Thursday who are allegedly implicated in the child and animal sex ring, one of them a woman who is married to the already arrested minister of the church.
Thursday's four arrests brought to eight the number of people arrested so far after a six-week investigation into a Hosanna Church splinter group. full story
It pains me to hear about things like this. It's bad enough when people hurt kids, but to do it in the name of "the church" is just disgusting.
Parents: please watch out for your kids. If you don't protect them, who will?
amr's brain blurted out at 2:32 AM
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This comments thing is killing me (have to come here and reply to your comment. Thank God for copy-paste! OK, coming to the PHD comics, yes, I did actually ask Jorge for permission to reuse the images to explore new ideas. And, he objected. Could never fathom the reason but again, life is rather dull if not for such little ironies.
I mean, come on, how many grad students are there in this world? How many of supervisor meetings do all of them have in one single week? How many of these meetings could be cartoonified? And what does it take? A guy sitting on a chair with some words coming off-stage. I think Jorge has missed an opportunity to publish a hundred books :-)
BTW, would be more interested in how you stumbled by and the amount of writing you have is impressive.
Thursday, May 19, 2005
truth
I like to call this one: true confessions, by Brian Basset
amr's brain blurted out at 6:00 AM
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Friday, May 13, 2005
brain teaser
A fun brainteaser I came across at DiploBlogic. It reminded me of the now defunct analytic section from the GRE (which was, of course, my favorite part) . If you're stumped, you can find the answer over there!
THREE GODS
In a country long ago and far away there was a temple to which the people came to request the favor of the gods. In the temple there were three identical statues, and each statue could speak to worshippers on behalf of the god it represented. Though the three statues were identical in appearance, each represented a different god. One statue spoke for the God of Truth, and it always said the truth. Another spoke for the God of Falsehood, and what it said was always false. The third spoke for the God of Diplomacy; it sometimes spoke the truth, and sometimes did not.
The statues would answer any questions the people asked them, but of course different statues would give different answers to the same questions! Since no one knew which statue represented which god, interpreting the answers which the statues gave was pretty tricky, and there were a good many "religious experts" who claimed to be able to interpret the statues' answers and who charged high fees for their services. It seemed to most people, however, that these experts usually disagreed with each other.
One day a logic student appeared at the temple and announced that she knew how to discover which statue represented which god; it could be done by simply asking each statue one question. The answers would, she said, reveal which one answered truly, which one answered falsely, and which one was diplomatic.
So she entered the temple and stood before the three statues and asked the one on the left, "What god's statue is standing next to you?" The answer was: "The God of Truth." Then to the statue in the middle she said: "Which god do you represent?" The answer was, "The God of Diplomacy." And finally she said to the statue on the right, "What god's statue is standing next to you?" And the reply was, "The God of Falsehood."
"Aha!" said the logic student, "That makes it perfectly clear!" She then went into business as a religious expert and soon made a fortune interpreting the answers which the statues gave to people's questions, because it soon became obvious that her interpretations were always correct.
Which statue represented which god?
amr's brain blurted out at 11:44 PM
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what was he thinking?
this is like the worst decision ever. I could see if he were graduating, but why leave early? Shav couldn't even put up the big numbers on the Duke squad, what makes him think he has a chance against all the best prep and college players in the country?
amr's brain blurted out at 6:50 PM
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Wednesday, May 11, 2005
thanks j4r3d!
Remember the guest spot I did on JustJared.com awhile back? Now that I have the means, I thought I'd share my gift with the rest of you. Very cute. Take a closer look at the wrapping paper (click to enlarge). Nice. There was even a picture of one of my hometown Celts on the bottom [aside: if only they could have gotten their act together in the playoffs...but I digress]. So thoughtful! Thanks :-). (credit: avy for wrapping)
amr's brain blurted out at 5:18 PM
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<3
By j4r3d, at
5/11/2005 5:54 PM
Thursday, May 05, 2005
the sky is falling
Talk about bad luck....first the Yankees have their worst start in over a decade. Follow that up with getting 47,000 caps stolen. Guess what...they've been found. Want 'em? It's gonna cost you. Torre has tried shaking up the lineup, even going so far as to make goals for the team (is .500 really too much to ask for? apparently) but that doesn't seemed to have helped. In fact, Joe looks like he's about to cry in the pic I dug up.
So what's wrong? Bob Klaspisch has a theory.
Incredibly, the team that won 101 regular-season games last year is feeling threatened by ... the Devil Rays. Having already split the first two games of their battle for the cellar, the Yankees will be relying on two rookies, Sean Henn and Chien-Ming Wang, to rescue them in the next two days.
How did the Yankees go from being the greatest on-paper team of the Joe Torre era to the division's cesspool? It's been a perfect storm of injuries and age, which is precisely how the '65 Yankees ushered in an 11-year dark age in the Bronx. Club officials refuse to believe history is repeating itself, but no one expected Bernie Williams to lose his skills so rapidly, or Jason Giambi to be quite this helpless or Jorge Posada to look this exhausted just a month into the season. [full]
Injuries and age? Well, the Red Sox have had similar problems this month, and while their record is nothing to write home about, they've managed to get the train headed in the right direction. I wouldn't call Jeremi Gonzalez and John Halama long term solutions, and Foulke has definitely been struggling, but they still managed to go 5-2 on the most recent road trip, landing them in second place, while the Yanks managed to continue the free fall. There has definitely been a disturbance in the force, and the world is not right when the Orioles are leading the AL East after a month of baseball. Could it be that the Sox finally making it to the promised land has irrevocably changed the landscape of the game? Time will only tell.
The best part? There's still another 5 months til the postseason. It will be interesting to see how things shape up. A lot can happen in the span of a few months.
The best part? There's still another 5 months til the postseason. It will be interesting to see how things shape up. A lot can happen in the span of a few months.
i don't think i'll ever get tired of looking at this...
amr's brain blurted out at 10:44 PM
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Tuesday, May 03, 2005
win the bling
Thought it was overkill when the front office decided that (among others), all 50 players who played at least one inning for the Sox in 2004 would receive a personalized World Series Championship ring? Now's your chance to get in on the action. From now until July 3, fans will have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to purchase raffle tickets for one of three (3) authentic, personalized rings (identical to what the players received). Act now because a maximum of 200,000 tickets will be made available. All net proceeds will benefit the Red Sox Foundation. [mlb.com]
I'm too lazy to make sure, but I'll bet the Yanks never did anything like this after any of their 26 championships!
amr's brain blurted out at 10:15 PM
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poor nomah
Athletes say they don't look back, ever.
Athletes lie.
Thus, it is safe to theorize the demons doing wind sprints in Nomar Garciaparra's head right now. Starting with, "Man, I'm glad I got married, otherwise the last 18 months would completely suck." [Ray Ratto - full story]
As any good baseball fan knows, former Red Sox shortstop Nomar Garciaparra suffered what could end up being a season-ending groin injury on April 20th during the third inning of a Cubs 3-1 victory over the Cardinals. I hate to harp on the guy because I actually liked him until he got that chip on his shoulder when they tried to trade him to get A-Rod. Nomar was supposed to be the face of the franchise, playing out his whole career in Boston, and less than a year after he leaves, the Sox have managed to win the World Series, while he gets to spend a very long 2-3 months at home thinking about the big payday he will likely never get. The Sox tried to keep him, offering him a 4-year deal prior to the 2004 season but he declined, hoping to up the ante during his contract year. He elected for minor surgery and no, he doesn't use steroids. He's just really unlucky, unlike Romber (did you see today's episode?!). But I digress. Oh well. Poor nomah.
amr's brain blurted out at 10:00 PM
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Monday, May 02, 2005
linkfest
Apparently, shoplifting is safer than dowloading. So I guess it's time to start hitting up those stores. The best part? no waiting!
I'm a big Firefox fan, but Netscape seems to have an interesting approach in the works for v8.0.
Need a gift for someone? The Google store has all kinds of neat stuff for sale.
Get the latest in Microsoft news (unofficially).
It wouldn't be right for me not to talk about sports at least once today...now that it's seems increasingly certain that Phil Jackson will be returning to the sidelines where do you think he'll end up? I'd like to see him in MSG whipping the Knicks into shape. Your thoughts?
Finally, this story breaks my heart. Is it not bad enough that so many people had to die and/or lose all their possessions in the tsunami? Why are people such jerks?
I'm a big Firefox fan, but Netscape seems to have an interesting approach in the works for v8.0.
Need a gift for someone? The Google store has all kinds of neat stuff for sale.
Get the latest in Microsoft news (unofficially).
It wouldn't be right for me not to talk about sports at least once today...now that it's seems increasingly certain that Phil Jackson will be returning to the sidelines where do you think he'll end up? I'd like to see him in MSG whipping the Knicks into shape. Your thoughts?
Finally, this story breaks my heart. Is it not bad enough that so many people had to die and/or lose all their possessions in the tsunami? Why are people such jerks?
amr's brain blurted out at 5:54 PM
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