Forbidden Planet

You're Iceman from the X-Men movies You're the coolest person around! When other people's tempers heat up, you find a way to stay calm and focused. You're great at staying cool physically, too - who needs air conditioning when you can regulate your own body temperature? Like Bobby Drake, you might have trouble communicating with your family, but you have supportive friends who understand you. Since you never have to worry about getting too hot or too cold, you're great at outdoor sports like snowboarding. (I had hoped for Spiderman.) Nimbly nabbed from Elvina 's blog.

What a wonderful word. A languid, viscous word proceeding out from the pit of chest distending the throat and smothering the tongue as it oozes out. It is a word that begs for exaggerated pronunciation, loo-oo-oo-goo-oo-oo-bree-ee-ee-us, yet it has a serious short coming: The meaning is all wrong. It means sad, mournful, gloomy, miserable, melancholic. Yet ... that is not at all what it sounds like. To me, it sounds like it should mean something thick, heavy, slow moving, plodding. I want it to mean languid and viscous, but it doesn't. I feel cheated, deceived and betrayed. (There are other words that fit in this category, where the actual meaning is not what I intuitively feel they should be, such as condone or vicarious, their meaning and understanding is a conscious effort.) I want to use it in sentence like, "He had a lugubrious moustache." and I want it to mean he had a large, heavy, drooping walrus moustache. I want to be able to say, "He was feeling lugubrio...

JJ has eczema and while doctors (here and in Peru) insist it has nothing to do with his diet, we know otherwise (it is one of my peeves of people in sciences, they wear extreme blinders, if it is not published in a peer reviewed journal, it isn't real. They are well disciplined reject anything that is not accepted dogma). Dairy, nuts (of any sort), soy, spinach and MSG definitely aggravate his condition. Fortunately, he seems to tolerate goat's milk fine. For frozen desserts, he was always limited to gelato or sorbet, recently I have been making him ice cream from goat's milk and it is surprisingly easy to do. 1 litre (4 cups) milk 100g (4oz, about 2/3 cup) icing sugar 1 341ml frozen drink concentrate Combine the ingredients, mix until blended and put in the freezer. Periodically mix, scraping down the frozen stuff on the side. I mix it about once every 45 minutes or so. After 4-6 hours it will get fairly stiff and you can stop mixing it and let it freeze on its own. The or...

I first met my friend Emad back in 1992. Megumi invited me over, telling me that she had a friend whose wife was coming over. We went to his student apartment and I brought some Pujabi mix with me. Emad grabbed a handful, popped it in his mouth and thought he was going to die. Apparently, Sudanese do not eat spicy food and Punjabi mix is pretty high on the spicy snack scale. He was incredulous that both Megumi and I seemed to enjoy it without ill effect. Since then, he has learned to tolerate and even indulge in spicy food. He still remembers that first encounter with me when he thought I tried to kill him. Image credits: Richard of Forbidden Planet.

Four clips from my favourite Marx Brother's movie, Animal Crackers .

I find this picture pretty nauseating. It is sarcophagid larvae in the gums of an Israeli man. Aside from live maggots crawling around in his gums, the condition of his teeth also leave a lot to be desired. Image nabbed from here .

Saw this on Tena 's blog, so it saves me the trouble of actually thinking of real content. What Be Your Nerd Type? Your Result: Science/Math Nerd   (Absolute Insane Laughter as you pour toxic chemicals into a foaming tub of death!) Well, maybe you aren't this extreme, but you're in league with the crazy scientists/mathmeticians of today. Very few people have the talent of math and science is something takes a lot of brains as well. Thank whosever God you worship, or don't worship, so thank no deity whatsoever in your case, for you people! Most of us would have died off without your help. Literature Nerd   Social Nerd   Drama Nerd   Gamer/Computer Nerd   Musician   Anime Nerd   Artistic Nerd   What Be Your Nerd Type? Quizzes for MySpace

Tried out this recipe yesterday that I found inside a Baker's Dark Chocolate box. They are really, really good. Incredibly rich and decadent without drowning you in chocolate. Very, very suitable with a nice tall glass of cold milk. 112g (4oz) dark (70%) chocolate 125ml (1/2 cup) butter 250ml (1 cup) icing sugar 2 whole eggs 2 egg yolks 90ml (6 tbsp) flour Ensure you have everything prepared before hand because the whole process is very quick. Preheat oven to 220C (425F). Butter and flour 4 custard cups (I had no idea what custard cups were, so I used a 4 muffin muffin tin – I really should have used a larger one, since I had enough batter for 6). Place the butter and chocolate in a reasonably large microwaveable dish. Microwave on high for about a minute. Whisk the melted butter and chocolate together until smooth. Add the icing sugar and blend. Add the eggs and yolks and blend (this was actually kind of tough, just keep going at it). Blend in the flour. Pour into prepared custard...

42. That is what I am today. According to Douglas Adam's trilogy in five parts The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy , 42 is the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything. I'm not too sure about that. Ford: "It's unpleasantly like being drunk." Arthur: "What's so unpleasant about being drunk?" Ford: "Ask a glass of water." - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Photo credit: Richard of Forbidden Planet.

You're the time of day right around sunrise, when the sky is still a pale bluish gray. The streets are empty, and the grass and leaves are a little bit sparkly with dew and the day smells new. You are the sound of a few chirpy birds outside the window. You are quiet, peaceful, and contemplative. If you move slowly, it's not because you're lazy – it's because you know there's no reason to rush. You move like a relaxed cat, pausing for deep stretches that make your muscles feel alive. You are long sips of tea or coffee (out of a mug that's held with both hands) that slowly warm your insides just as the sun is brightening the sky. (Courteously borrowed from Ingrid 's blog.)

it's just that I wanted to live; to enjoy life in all its fullness." Rowan Yew, age 43, a first class dilettante and entrepreneur, lay in his bed, covered up to his chin, in his darkened bedroom. Attending him were his friends, Dr. Jason Reselda, the eminent pathologist, and Gabriel Malachi, the no less distinguished geneticist. While all three were super-achievers, Rowan led the pack; his power, opulence and extravagance a testament to his ability to seize opportunities and profit from them. He did nothing by half measures and never considered failure as a possible outcome. "That's good to hear, because dying is just what you are doing", said Jason. "Are you sure?" "I see no other outcome. The last sample I examined continues to show an expanding infection. In fact, you are more pathogen than man. You should have been dead long ago." "Then perhaps I am not dying." "You're dying alright. Shortly you will cease to be a ...

I really dislike (bordering on zealous detestation) of things that don't make sense, are obviously wrong or, worse yet, deceptive (except as humour). That great provider of comedy, satire and parody - AOL - recently ran a consumer piece comparing prices between warehouse retailer Costco and normal retailer Giant and showing where you got better savings. What struck me was the way the savings were expressed - they were nonsensical. If I say you can save 50%, you would expect (at least I would hope you would expect) to pay 1/2 the price for it. If I tell you that you can save 100%, you would expect the item to be free (zero cost). That it not how AOL does math. In fact, on some products you can save as much as 267%! ????? I don't see how you can save more than 100% and I would expect any person to look at that and go, "That is just plain wrong." For your consideration two examples pulled from the AOL piece claiming 100% and 267% savings. (The real savings is 50% and 72....

While I was taking a little lie down back in January, Hye awarded me a Certified Honest Blogger award. I believe this is the first blogging award I have recieved.

I was listening to Dispatches (with Rick MacInnes-Rae) on CBC radio recently and there was a segment on slogans in China. Apparently China is very keen on slogans - short aphorisms to instil good social and moral values and behaviour. Although, they are so widespread that people pretty much ignore them. When a Chinese man was asked about the Olympic slogan for 2008, "One World, One Dream" , he said he didn't like it. Why should there be only one dream. Why couldn't he dream his own dream? I agree with him. Image nabbed from here .

Three friends die in a car accident and find themselves in a processing room in the afterlife. As they are processed one by one, the angel asks them, "When you are lying in your casket and friends and family are mourning over you, what would you like to hear them say about you?" The first friend replies, "I would like to hear them say that I was a great doctor who helped the lives of many." The second friend says, "I would like to hear that I was a wonderful teacher who made a difference in the lives of the children I taught." The last friend thought a moment and said, "What I'd like to hear them say is, 'Look, he's moving!'"

"A world of fear and treachery and torment, a world of trampling and being trampled upon, a world which will grow not less but more merciless as it refines itself. The old civilizations claimed that they were founded on love or justice. Ours is founded upon hatred. In our world there will be no emotions except fear, rage, and triumph. Everything else we shall destroy." Adapted from George Orwell's 1984. The text was extracted and modified from a longer quote from 1984 that I previously posted. Properly marked up it would look like this: "Do you begin to see ... what kind of world we are creating? ... A world of fear and treachery and torment, a world of trampling and being trampled upon, a world which will grow not less but more merciless as it refines itself. ... The old civilizations claimed that they were founded on love or justice. Ours is founded upon hatred. In our world there will be no emotions except fear, rage, [and] triumph ... Everything else we shall de...

Today is Ash Wednesday and begins the 40 day period of Lent in the Roman Catholic and other Western Christian churches (Eastern churches start on a different day as do the Oriental churches. This year, Eastern Rite churches begin Lent on 10-March. It begins on Clean Monday and last 42 days. The Coptic Church begins Lent on 03-March this year and it lasts 55 days. For Western and Eastern Rite churches, Sundays are excluded from Lenten observation. In the Coptic Church they are not). It is a period of fast and abstinence. The ashes distributed on the forehead are a symbol of repentance from the Jewish tradition of using ashes and sackcloth to signify repentance. I am not aware of any official requirement to use sackcloth during the Lenten period, but I have seen a strip of sackcloth draped over crucifixes in church and a number of Catholics I know carry around a small piece. It is not part of my tradition and I do not participate in that manner. (I recall first observing the use of sackc...

One of life's questions.

I saw Metropolis about 15 years ago and then read the book about 8 years later. The book is better than the movie. As I grow older, the futile image of constantly feeding and tending the machines grows stronger in my mind. I recognized pater noster as Latin for Our Father (as in the opening of the Lord's Prayer) and assumed that Thea von Harbou's references to the pater noster machine were overt references to a machine that consumed and ate its workers (much like Cronus in Greek mythology ate his children – or perhaps Moloch, to whom children were sacrificed). I only recently discovered that a pater noster machine is a type of slow moving elevator invented in 1884 . Image nabbed from here .