Quote of the Post: "Pay no attention to what the critics say... Remember, a statue has never been set up in honor of a critic!" - Jean Sibelius

Random Playlist Song: ACJC Choir - San Ge Mei Er San

I have no idea what this song is about, since I don't understand chinese.

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Ugh. I fell asleep too early yesterday and now I have a massive sleep hangover.

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"MSN Personal Address is now even better

All current MSN Personal Address customers will be automatically upgraded by the end of September to an improved MSN Personal Address subscription"

So much for July, then "this summer".

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Hi Everyone!

Just wanted to get this important reminder out. To show support for our Presidential candidates, whomever they may be:

If you support the policies and character of John Kerry, please drive with your headlights on during the day on Friday.

If you support George W. Bush, please drive with your headlights off that night.

Thank you.

[JumboJoke]

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Dr. Bob's Quiz Results - August 2004


Q1 - Why is the start of Tarkovsky's amazing film Solaris (1972) so long and boring?

A1 - Tarkovsky hoped that the Soviet censors would get fed up with having to watch it, nick out and skip the rest of the film where the deeper and more controversial statements were.


Q2 - The first book that Gutenberg printed was the Bible. What was the topic of the second book that he printed?

A2 - Come on now, what do you think .... Pornography! Gutty was broke and he thought this would make money.


Q3 - How many people mentioned in the Bible were known to be ambidextrous?

A3 Only 23 persons are actually named and stated to be ambidextrous - in 1 Chronicles 12:2. Take it away Ahiezer, Joash, Jeziel, Pelet, Berachah, Jehu, Ismaiah, Jeremiah, Jahaziel, Johanan, Josabad, Eluzai, Jerimoth, Bealiah, Shemariah, Shephatiah, Elkanah, Jesiah, Azareel, Joezer, Jashobeam, Joelah, and Zebadiah.

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Tym returns to our (common) (communist) Alma Mater:

Neatly uniformed schoolchildren bobbed their heads in well-orchestrated greetings every time a someone walked by, resulting in a wave-like echo of "Good evening ma'am evening ma'am evening ma'am" wherever I passed.

This is all part of the school's drive to turn its students into "you3 yong4 de4 ren2", translated as: "useful people" - useful for what, it doesn't say. If I'm a good bank robber, I'm sure that is useful for some purposes.

Abruptly, my old Principal made an appearance, looking exactly as she did in 1986 when I saw her last, bouffant hairdo and all. I could say that she's well-preserved, I could say that she really knows how to take care of herself

I have a feeling she looked the same in 1978, when she first helmed the place, as in 1998, when she left.

The shrill Mandarin brought me right back to announcements at school assemblies.. The opening strains of the school song brought back not a jot of memory in me; either they've changed the song since my time or I've thoroughly suppressed any recollection thereof. I couldn't even understand half the song --- or, for that matter, half the announcements. Some things never change.

I think they use a different tape now. Luckily I still have a WAV of the old version. Well, not really. It's the one to which I made some... enahncements.

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Refugee who became Dutch MP defies Islam with film about Koran

After describing the Prophet Mohammed as a pervert, Ayaan Hirsi Ali already needs round-the-clock protection from the Dutch security services.

Now the Muslim apostate and rising star of Dutch politics has pushed her luck even further with a film exhibiting verses of the Koran across the chest, stomach and thighs of an almost naked girl.

Mrs Hirsi Ali, who has risen from Somali asylum seeker to Dutch MP in 12 years, produced the film broadcast on Dutch television on Sunday night to highlight the continued oppression of Muslim women in Europe.

The 11-minute programme, Submission, depicts a young Muslim girl confronting Allah at prayer in a mosque. She wears the veil, covering most of the face, but her voluptuous body is clearly visible through a transparent gown.

"All praise to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds," begins the text painted across the actress's throat, which then scrolls down her bare chest. It is taken from the fatiha or opening of the Koran, the lines recited aloud by men, and silently by women, at Muslim prayer five times a day throughout the world.

Four other women act out scenes of torment and repression. One battered victim in a torn dress, exposes her shoulders and arms covered with lash wounds and the text of Verse 34, Chapter 4, The Women.

"Men are the maintainers of women because Allah has made them excel and because they spend out of their property; the good women are therefore obedient. Those on whose part you fear desertion, admonish them, and leave them alone in the sleeping-places and beat them," it says.

The broadcast was watched by 750,000 people, a large audience in a country of 16 million. An estimated one million are Muslims of Turkish or North African origin.

Mrs Hirsi Ali, 34, an MP for the free-market Liberals, has emerged as the unlikely heir of Pim Fortuyn, the homosexual firebrand who launched a mass movement to defend Holland's easy-going way of life against radical imams.

While shunning his party, she has pursued his message, denouncing the country's 30-year experiment with multiculturalism - including 700 Islamic clubs funded by the taxpayer - as a disastrous error born of "misplaced guilt".

Low-level fatwas - or death edicts - have been raining down since she attacked Islam as a medieval, misogynist cult incapable of self-criticism and blind to modern science.

Mrs Hirsi Ali said she chose the naked body formula to open up the opaque world of Islam and show that there is a human being behind the veil.

Steven Huismans, the director of Holland's Institute for Multicultural Development, said: "What she is doing is really provocative." Nabil Marouch, the head of the Dutch wing of the Arabic European League, said: "If the public keeps listening to Ayaan Hirsi, it will do great damage to integration."

But Mrs Hirsi Ali has become immensely popular among the ordinary Dutch, people who have been shocked by the sudden emergence of large Muslim enclaves in their cities - often with ties to militant anti-western groups. A parliamentary report this year found that more than 70 per cent of Dutch-born Muslims were bringing in spouses from their home countries, perpetuating a separatist sub-culture.

Mrs Hirsi Ali arrived in Holland as a penniless refugee in 1992 after sneaking across the German border to escape a forced marriage to a Somali kinsman. She did not speak a word of Dutch. Finding jobs as a cleaner, she went on to study political science at Leiden University.

Her ambition now is nothing less than a reformation of Islam.

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Until death do us ... wed - "A South African man who shot his pregnant fiancee dead before killing himself will be posthumously married to her at the weekend... 'In African culture, there is no death -- there is merely the separation of body and soul,' said cultural expert Mathole Motshekga. 'It is also important because the families are married together... This does not mean the relationship has irretrievably broken down.'"

Norwegian motorist is slapped with parking ticket while stuck in traffic jam"

The school of second chances - "A President's Scholar who lost his award speaks out"

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On Tuesday I decided to try out the engineering canteen, which everyone says sucks, for shits and giggles, and it was a veritable disaster.

To start off, I ordered a $2 plate of Hor Fun, and watched it being prepared Cookhouse Style - the noodles were fried separately, the ingredients were put on top, and sauce was spooned over it. The portion wasn't very big either; I shudder to think how small the $1.50 and $1.80 portions are. Though as a saving grace, it tasted alright.

When I left, I forgot to take with me the bag of junk that I had put at my feet: a bag containing wire, crocodile clips, 'D' size batteries, zinc and copper plates, 2 small metal pots and some other odds and ends. When, 20 minutes later, I realised that I had left it behind and rushed back, it was gone. I asked the uncle cleaning the tables and he told me that my "nu3 peng2 you3" (female friend/girlfriend - I assume the former unless I have a secret admirer. Or maybe it was just a breakdown in communication) took it.

I was thinking that no one would want all the junk in the bag, but then maybe engin students have a use for it. Alternatively, she just wanted the bag. It's a nice bag, decorated with pussies. Actually it's my sister's bag, and she almost certainly has forgotten of its existence. At least until she reads this paragraph.

Now all that's left to do is draw out more stuff, and hope that my Fairy Godmother flies in on Friday and returns the bag to me.


Morals of the Story:

1. Don't leave cute stuff where girls roam
2. Don't leave junk in the engineering canteen
3. Girls like pussies