More Wikipedia vandalism

Jaws (film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [2006-11-29]

Jaws is a 1975 horror–thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg, based on Peter Benchley's best-selling novel of the same name. The novel was inspired by the Jersey Shore Shark Attacks of 1916. In the film, the police chief of Amity Island, a summer resort town, tries to protect beachgoers from the predations of a huge great white shark by closing the beach, only to be overruled by the money-grabbing town council. After several attacks, the police chief enlists the help of a marine biologist and later a professional shark hunter to kill the shark. The film stars Roy Scheider as police chief Martin Brody, Richard Dreyfuss as marine biologist Matt Hooper, Robert Shaw as the shark hunter Quint, Lorraine Gary as Brody's wife Ellen, and Murray Hamilton as the greedy Mayor Vaughn.

Jaws is regarded as a watershed film in motion picture history, as it is the father of the summer blockbuster movie and one of the first "high concept" films.^[2][3] Due to the film's success in advanced screenings, studio executives decided to distribute it in a much wider release than ever before. The Omen followed suit a year later in the summer of 1976, and then Star Wars one year later in 1977, cementing the notion for movie studios to distribute their big-release action and adventure pictures (commonly referred to as tentpole pictures) during the summer season. It is thought to be the first film that advanced Steven Spielberg's directorial career.^[4] The film was followed by three sequels, with Spielberg participating in none of them: Jaws 2 (1978), Jaws 3-D (1983) and Jaws: The Revenge (1987).

I love Jaws it be a great movie and I like it a lot it be bout dis shark dat be big and he eat.

LOL

Bengali pronunciation

This morning cuddlymogwai went to consult its Indian friend:

cuddly: "Trinanjan, how do you pronounce 'Rabindranath Tagore'?"
Trinanjan: "It's Ro-BIN-dro-nath THA-kur. Why do you want to know?"
cuddly: "Someone is singing a song tonight with lyrics by Tagore, and I have to introduce the song."
Trinanjan: "What is the name of the song?"
cuddly: "Do not go, my love."
Zoltan and Trinanjan: "HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!"

cuddly doesn't know what was funny about that but it is glad that people found it entertaining. By the way, Trinanjan is pronounced as "Tree-nahn-john"---some A's are read as "ah" and others are pronounced "oh/o[r]". There is something similar in Hungarian: accented A's are "ah" and non-accented ones are "oh/o[r]".

Other people's postings

http://mediamatters.org/items/200611090005
....
"It appears Nerzog was simply pointing out that in the case of Rush Limbaugh's apparent campaign commercial (albeit shaped in the form of a 3 hour show much like chicken anuses and breading can be shaped into McNuggets) it wasn't regulated." - open_mind / Thursday November 9, 2006 05:37:07 PM EST

Ugh! Is that really how they make McNuggets? :)

---
In the context of the 2006 US election results, someone wrote:

"The liberal soul shall be made fat. Proverbs, 11. 25"

• - artvandelay2006 / Monday October 30, 2006 02:08:52 PM EST

Wow, it really does say that in Proverbs 11:25 --- lol!

"Oversight"

"Paula Zahn began her work at CNN on September 11, 2001, joining anchor Aaron Brown in the coverage of the events of that day. She began her scheduled morning shift the next day, and by January she launched her CNN morning news program titled American Morning with Paula Zahn. Over that first weekend of January, 2002, CNN aired an advertisement for American Morning which called Zahn "sexy" and paired the adjective with a sound effect some interpreted to be a zipper opening. The ad was quickly pulled after the network received significant criticism for what was considered an undignified and sexist portrayal of a serious journalist. CNN attributed the ad's content to a lack of oversight." --- Wikipedia

cuddlymogwai finds it interesting that "a lack of oversight" can result in the same situations as "oversight" itself.

Roundoff error is dangerous!

http://mathworld.wolfram.com/RoundoffError.html

Wikipedia vandalism

This is an excerpt from an article that cuddlymogwai downloaded from Wikipedia on 2006-10-27. When cuddlymogwai reloaded the page one minute later, it discovered, with much regret, that the information about Mrs. Donna Keesling had been removed. This information is indicated in boldface below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chordate
Chordate
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Chordates (phylum Chordata) are a group of animals that includes the vertebrates, together with several closely related invertebrates. They are united by having, at some time in their life, a notochord, a hollow dorsal nerve cord, pharyngeal slits, an endostyle, and a muscular tail extending past the anus. Some scientists argue, however, that the true qualifier should be pharyngeal pouches rather than slits.[citation needed] The most famous Chordate's name is Mrs. Donna Keesling. The phylum Chordata is broken down into three subphyla: Urochordata, Cephalochordata, and Vertebrata. Urochordate larvae have a notochord and a nerve cord but they are lost in adulthood. Cephalochordates have a notochord and a nerve cord but no vertebrae. In all vertebrates except for Hagfish, the dorsal hollow nerve cord has been surrounded with cartilaginous or bony vertebrae and the notochord generally reduced.

The chordates and two sister phyla, the hemichordates and the echinoderms, make up the deuterostomes, a superphylum.

The extant groups of chordates are related as shown in the phylogenetic tree, below. They do not match up very well with the traditional groups, and as a result vertebrate classification is in a state of flux, although their relationships are not very well understood.

Classes of Chordata

The Mrs. Donna Keesling breed from Earlham College.

In the subphylum Urochordata classes Ascidiacea, Thaliacea, Larvacea are found. Includes the sea squirts and tunicate worms.

In subphylum Cephalochordata the lancelet worms are found.

In the subphylum Vertebrata (all animals with vertebrae) classes Myxini (hagfish), Conodonta, Hyperoartia (lampreys), Cephalaspidomorphi, Pteraspidomorphi, Placodermi, Chondrichthyes (sharks, rays and skates), Acanthodii (spiny sharks), Actinopterygii (ray-finned fish), Sarcopterygii (lobe finned fish), Amphibia (amphibians), Sauropsida (reptiles), Synapsida, Aves (birds), and Mammalia (mammals) are found.

Amusing musicians

Amy at a rehearsal of Arensky's Piano Trio no. 1:

"Ashley, where is Brian? Go and look for him in the corridor. Yen, make some noise on the piano. Arensky noise."

Marla at an informal rehearsal of "The Crucifixion" by Samuel Barber:

"At the cry of the first bird they began to crucify Thee, O Lo......Swan!"

Marla at an informal rehearsal of Christmas carols:

"Ding dong merrily on high, in heav'n the bells are ringing,
Ding dong! verily the sky is riv'n with angel singing,
Glo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
-o-o-o-o-o-*cough*-*cough*-aaarckgh ... I'll get it right next time."

Oxymoron

Some time ago, cuddlymogwai's mother read to it a list of amusing oxymorons, such as "pretty ugly","open secret", and "clearly misunderstood".

Well, cuddlymogwai used to be puzzled by the following words in its visa: "Leave to Enter the United Kingdom".

(Cuddlymogwai eventually figured out that "leave" can mean "permission", as in the poem by Tagore: "Do not go, my love / Without asking my leave." )

Steering wheel hands

Today cuddlymogwai's lovely violin teacher complained that she had "steering wheel hands" after driving for an hour.

American politics

Dear reader,

Hello and welcome again to the diary of the one and only cuddly mogwai on the web. If you are new to the United States, like cuddlymogwai, you might be wondering what US politics is all about. Especially with the midterm elections coming up soon. Let cuddlymogwai help you out with some pointers.

• Republican party logo: click here.
• Democratic party logo: click here.
• Typical Republican propaganda: click here.
• Typical Democratic propaganda: click here.

Would you rather vote for the elephant or for the jackass?

Ok, let's be a bit more serious now:

• Media Matters is a site that aims to expose conservative misinformation.
• The Media Research Center is a site that aims to expose liberal media bias.
  

(It appears to cuddlymogwai that "media bias" is subjective [it is about presentation], whereas "misinformation" is objective [it is about facts]. Also, at a glance, Media Matters seems to be more serious and professional than the other site.)

Irony in the news

Hello and welcome to the diary of the one and only Cuddly Mogwai on the web. (Well, cuddlymogwai never has trouble signing up with this userid, so it thinks that it is the only cuddly mogwai around...)

Today cuddlymogwai saw this article on CNN News:

"Bombs, mortars mark deadly day in Baghdad"
(POSTED: 10:33 a.m. EST, November 1, 2006)
...
In eastern Baghdad, a parked car bomb exploding near a police patrol, killing a police officer and four civilians. Seven people were wounded.
...
A roadside bomb fixed under a car parked in a Baghdad market detonated at noon, killing two civilians and wounding 10 others.
...

and was amused to see this on the sidebar:

ADVERTISER LINKS
Get a New Car Cheap

Cuddlymogwai is getting used to this kind of bitter irony though. On TV, we see horrible news about death, famine and destruction all over the world, alternating with commercials for health and beauty products and slimming programs...