I saw Bowling for Columbine on Friday night when it was playing on campus. I thought the first hour was rather interesting, but the second hour was completely unnecessary. He simply re-said what had been stated in the first hour. Also, his points made no sense. First he said, "Guns are bad, guns are evil." Then it was "But guns aren't what cause the problems." And finally, "But still, guns are evil, even though they're not the problem." And of course, I was the only one in the auditorium who seemed to think these two points were rather contradictory.

The sincerity, the honest tributes of the blogosphere are what keep bringing me back. Reading what everyone has written about the Columbia tragedy today brings tears to my eyes. There are so many intelligent, compassionate people out there and I feel privileged that I can read and take comfort in their thoughts on this sad event. Check, as always, the links to the left. They can say most anything better than I can. The image that got to me the most while watching the news this morning was footage of a van driving the families of the astronauts away from the landing site. My thoughts and prayers are with them.

Two items in the State of the Union struck me as somewhat surprising (I didn't get to watch it, but I read the transcript). First, the pledge to help fight AIDS in Africa and second the dedication to engineering a hydrogen-powered car. Both of which I think are wonderful proposals, just not something I was expecting to hear in the speech. As for the real political analysis, I'll leave that to those more qulified.

The art of commercials.

Toothbrush trounces car as top invention.

Check out the quote of the day over at The Kitchen Cabinet.

What? There are supposed to be antiwar protests this weekend? We've been at school for a week and I haven't heard anything about this. The Brandeis activists seem to be dropping the ball.

CriticalMass is a website set up for Harvard students to express their opinion about classes and professors. It seems students are usually too scared to speak up.

This is quite the opposite of how things are at Brandeis. While the administration doesn't always listen, students are always willing and eager to start up a petition or a protest about school policies. Two years ago there was a two week vigil by students hoping to gain tenure for a popular professor. The professor did not get tenure, but since then the administration has created a position to gain student input on tenure decisions.

Just one more way Brandeis is better than Harvard. We don't have grade inflation either.

Slate's wonderful Explainer column (which I don't read often enough) gives us the origins of the expression "Pie in the Sky".

The fifth Harry Potter book will finally be published on June 21st. And apparently, it's longer than the last one!

Why We Won’t Invade North Korea. A clear, concise, easy-to-understand analysis. (Link via Megan McArdle

The first Israeli astronaut will carry this drawing by a boy who died in the Holocaust into space with him. The moon landscape depicted in Petr Ginz’s drawing attests to his aspiration to reach a place from where the earth, which threatened his life, could be seen from a secure range.

I missed this post on coming up with names for groups of people a while back. My favorite is "A categorizing by species is artificial, and degrading to the uniqueness and authenticity of each individual, and therefore this entire excercise is empty and moot of deconstructionists."

Now this is just cool.

New York unveiling new WTC proposals. I don't know, none of them really grab me. I think they're all a bit too modern for my taste. And where are the memorials?

I put up a hit counter on the site a little while ago and I seem to be doing much better than I thought. I don't think I could quite get up to where I am thanks only to my sister and my parents. So thanks to all of you that aren't obligated to read this for checking out what I have to say. I'm taking my last final in half an hour (what, I should be studying you say? Nah.) so I should have more time to waste on this little project over winter break. Hope you all keep coming back. It's great to have you here.

Check out how popular your name is, compliments of the Social Security Agency. Apparently Hanah and Dahlia aren't in the top 1,000, while Hannah seems to have peaked from 1992-1994. Though, personally, I think originality in baby names is a good thing. Props to my parents for their imagination.

(Link via The Agitator)

I know you've all been wondering what happened to Al, Tim Allen's sidekick on Home Imporvement. No? Well, honestly, neither was I, until I came home one day and my roommate was watching Family Feud. He's the new host and the show is definitely more addictive than I remember. Just what I need to distract me during finals time.

Geologists discover worlds oldest rocks

The Kitchen Cabinet is reporting that U.S. currency will be getting colorful next year. I'd link to the actual article, but it requires registration and I'm too lazy for that right now.