Year: 2003

I just came across a list of the things NOT to do during “Return Of The King”.
It’s so hilarious…
Here are the ones i loved most, lol…

1. Stand up halfway through the movie and yell loudly, “Wait… where the hell is Harry Potter?”

2. Block the entrance to the theater while screaming: “YOU SHALL NOT PASS!” – After the movie, say “Lucas could have done it better.”

3. Play a drinking game where you have to take a sip every time someone says: “The Ring.”

4. Point and laugh whenever someone dies.

5. Ask everyone around you if they think Gandalf went to Hogwarts.

6. Finish off every one of Elrond’s lines with “Mr. Anderson.”

7. When Aragorn is crowned king, stand up and at the top of your lungs sing, “And I did it…. MY way…!”

8. Talk like Gollum all through the movie. At the end, bite off someone’s finger and fall down the stairs.

9. In TTT when the Ents decide to march to war, stand up and shout “RUN FOREST, RUN!”

10. Every time someone kills an Orc, yell: “That’s what I’m Tolkien about!” See how long it takes before you get kicked out of the theatre.

11. Talk loudly about how you heard that there is a single frame of a nude Elf hidden somewhere in the movie.

12. When they go in the paths of the dead, wait for tense moment and shout, “I see dead people!”

For the rest, check the full list here: What NOT to do during “Return of the King.”.

Here’s a list of the Top 10 dumbest quotes of 2003, lol…

#10: “I think that gay marriage should be between a man and a woman.” – Arnold Schwarzenegger, during the California recall campaign

#9: When U.S. interrogators asked Saddam Hussein how he was, he responded: “I am sad because my people are in bondage.” When offered a glass of water, he replied: “If I drink water I will have to go to the bathroom and how can I use the bathroom when my people are in bondage?”

#8: “You think you are big enough to make me, you little wimp? Come on, come over here and make me, I dare you… You little fruitcake. You little fruitcake. I said you are a fruitcake.” – Rep. Peter Stark (D-Calif.) to Rep. Scott McInnis (R-Colo.), after McInnis told him to “shut up” during a legislative dispute

#7: “George Bush was not elected by a majority of the voters in the United States. He was appointed by God.” – Lt. Gen. William Boykin, the defense undersecretary in charge of hunting down top terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan

#6: “My vision is to make the most diverse state on earth, and we have people from every planet on the earth in this state. We have the sons and daughters of every, of people from every planet, of every country on earth.” – Former California Gov. Gray Davis, during the recall campaign

#5: “I still want to be the candidate for guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks.” – Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean

#4: “Maybe we need a very small nuke thrown off on Foggy Bottom to shake things up like Newt Gingrich wants to do.” – Television evangelist and Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson, on wiping out the State Department

#3: “My answer is bring ’em on.” – President George W. Bush, challenging militants attacking U.S. forces in Iraq

#2: “Reports that say that something hasn’t happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don’t know we don’t know.” – Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld

And the award for the Dumbest Quote of 2003:

#1:“I triple guarantee you. There are no American infidels in Baghdad.” – Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf (AKA “Baghdad Bob”)

[via About.com]

So, it’s been exactly 6 months since i’ve started blogging.
The results: 196 published blogs, a number of loyal readers, an average of about 75-80 visitors a day, a peak day yesterday with 128 visitors, and well that’s about it 😛

Anyway, what i think is really interesting is how the blog has evolved from back then to now.
At first, i started the blog just for the sake of having a blog, and that was the easy part, but then came my biggest problem; what the hell was i gonna blog about ?
One day i’d think about making it a blog about technical issues and programming, but then i’d say nah, i’ll talk about politics, and then i’d think religion, then maybe philosophy, nope life in general, oh well let me talk about myself, now that’s when it got depressing as i didn’t find much to talk about, lol…

And so from one idea to another, i kept on throwing stuff at the blog with no real sense of direction or reason.
And i ended up having 2 blogs instead of one; one which was personal in which i talked about my everyday life and thoughts and one in which i talked about the latest tech news and my comments on them.

A while after that, i merged both blogs into one, and i finally found a little thread of hope on how to try and make it work for me; i decided to just go on and blog about whatever came to my mind and felt was blog-worthy.

Now, months after that, looking back at the different directions i went to, and the things that drove the blog, and how the main categories and issues have changed, i think it’s quite cool, and i’m happy with what the blog has become and can’t wait to see how it continues to evolve and what it will become in the future.

Day after day, i’m becoming more addicted to blogging and allowing myself more freedom to let it all flow and just blog on to new territories.
And well God knows what i’ll be blogging about in another 6 months.
Most probably about where i got to then 😛

This is an interesting list the guys at yourDictionary.com released of the top 10 words in 2003:

1. embedded
2. blog
3. SARS
4. spam
5. taikonaut
6. Bushism
7. allision
8. recall
9. Middangeard
10. celibacy

Plus, another cool fact:

Most frequently spoken word on the Planet:
OK Still the most popular word in languages around the world. “OK” originated in a joke in the 1830’s, spelled “oll korrekt” in Boston newspapers, the joke being, both words were incorrect. It became so popular, that it was soon abbreviated to simply “O. K.” Despite its popularity, the word would have fallen by the wayside had not Martin van Buren, called “Old Kinderhook” for being born in Kinderhook, N.Y. used it in his presidential reelection campaign of 1840. So don’t “misunderestimate” the impact of presidential usage on the growth of our vocabulary. It is also spelled “okay.”

Check out the other Top Word Lists of 2003.

So, i took this other longer test Houssein told me about called Political Compass, and it’s results say that i’m economically more to the left and socially a bit libertarian.

And this is where they put me on a chart:

So, i’m there with Nelson Mandela & The Dalai Lama. Quite interesting.
But even though, i’m sure i’d get along a lot better with them than with the people in the other areas of the graph, i still don’t think an online test like this no matter how long it is (this one is 6 pages long) can really define a person’s political standing correctly.

Anyway, it’s cool and quite fun.

So, i took this short quiz on the net, and well it says that my political philosophy is centrist.

According to their definition:
Centrists favor selective government intervention and emphasize practical solutions to current problems. They tend to keep an open mind on new issues. Many centrists feel that government serves as a check on excessive liberty.

Hmmm…
Some of it sounds like me…
But then again, i can’t truly tell.
The word “centrist” seems too big a word to be defined in such few words, so until i know the full definition, i won’t commit to saying that i am one 😛

I’d rather classify myself as a visionary who is a man of logic and reason with a rather open mind.
Now, those are a few simple and safe words to describe myself with 😉

Anyway, you can go on and take the test yourself: World’s Smallest Political Quiz.