A Tribute to Dikembe

I thought I would introduce some of you to Dikembe Mutombo, the oldest player in the NBA at the time of his retirement a few weeks ago. I will always remember his reaction after defeating the Seattle Supersonics in the opening round of the playoffs (the first time an eight seed had defeated a one seed). He fell backwards onto the court, gripped the ball tightly near his face, and screamed for joy. I was ten years old at the time, but I can still remember how passionate he was about that win. He has been well known for his humanitarian efforts in his native Africa. I found it interesting that the church is on board with one of his recent projects. He's been playing basketball as long as I've been watching it. It's sad to see one of the last players of my childhood gone for good.

More Protests

Some more Iranian election protests took place right in front of the Barlow center. Since I didn't have much to do, I followed them for a while and took pictures and video. I was headed to an art museum and I was pretty sure they were headed to the White House so my plan was to go to take the train to the museum, spend some time there, and then run over to the White House to see the end of the protest. Unfortunately I was a little late, and by the time I showed up the protest was over. Luckily, some news sources picked up what I missed.

Iranian Revolution

On Sunday I ended up in a peaceful protest of Iran's recent elections. I was on my way to church when I realized I forgot a few important things. I turned around to pick them up, and on my way back I ran head-on into the protest pictured below. When I picked up my stuff I of course had to walk back through the all the protesting Iranians. I ended up stuck in the middle since they were headed in the same direction as me. I thought about picking up a sign and chanting along, but my Farsi is a little rusty. So here is a picture of the DC version of the Iranian civil unrest.

Update

After loading my last post, I went to the bio of the artist who created those BofM computer graphics and it made me feel a little bad (though not enough to remove the post). Reading through the bio, I'm convinced that the man's motives are pure, but you've got to admit that Lehi looks a lot like a Gandalf the Grey conjuring some magical spell.

Very funny . . . errr . . . spiritual site

Not to make fun, but this site popped up in my gmail account as one of those customized ads they do. This is my kind of business. All you have to do is computer generate a few Book of Mormon prophets in action, transpose a pertinent scripture, and then wait for the orders to start pouring in. You don't even have to spend anything until you get an order, and then you just take it your thumb drive to the local OfficeMax and have them print your poster. Send it off to the happy customer and you're $10 richer minus your OfficeMax fee. After awhile you invest in a nice color printer and you're set. Why didn't I think of this. My favorite is Samual the Laminite. He looks like he's in the middle of a video game. Actually, maybe this started out as a video game and then the guy decided to scrap it and just sell pictures of the characters. I just know that now someone is going to buy me the set of twelve as a joke.

What I imagine is happening in this picture

"Hey students! It's me, Dean Magleby. I'm just walking up these spiral stairs that don't go to my office. In fact these stairs don't really go to anywhere. Most of the time they just lead to a sign that says 'Exhibition construction in progress. Do not enter.' Come to think of it, what am I even doing here? My office is on the 9th floor of a completely different building. I'm glad that you all fanned out nicely on the stairs. If I were hovering on some sort of magical platform to the side of the stairs, I could probably get all your faces in a picture. Just nobody move while I amaze you all with an impromptu lecture on Family, Health, and/or Social Science."

Hit by a car!

Now that I have your attention -- I'm fine. It happened on the way to work this morning. An old man was entering Washington Circle, which is a large and extremely busy roundabout, and he must have been paying more attention to the cars in the circle than the aspiring intern 2 feet in front of him. I sort of jumped in the air and didn't really fall or anything. I started to yell at him and then I saw it was an accident and I just kept walking. He looked pretty shocked and his wife was squawking (that was a hard word to spell) frantically out the window, asking if I was okay. I just waved and kept walking. The incident was at the entrance to the circle at the very top center of the picture below. It was my first run in with a car after even after a whole two years in crazy Sao Paulo. This one was totally his fault though. There's not much I could have done to avoid it. If I die like that it's just my time to go. Luckily there was a hospital which is visible in the lower left part of the picture.


Washington Circle, minutes from my house and seconds from a hospital!

Google Reader

For all of you who are constantly reading other people's blogs or constantly checking your favorite news site, you should consider consolidating your efforts with Google Reader. Using your Google account, you are able to follow blogs, news sites, and pretty much any other website that you use regularly. Google reader keeps you up to date by putting posts and news updates in chronological order all in one place. It gives you a brief summary of what the post or news update says which gives you a chance to quickly decide if it's something worth your time or not. I've enjoyed getting my updates quickly and in one place. I've been using it mostly for academic blogs and national news sources, but I think I'll start adding family members to the update list.

I need a diet

If this study is true, then I might be in trouble -- or gaining some much needed weight. I'm glad to know that "none of the phantom pregnancies resulted in actual birth." Also check out this.

Actually, I think I'm in the best shape of my life. Without Camille around I've filled my time by running. To prevent scurvy I've begun eating large quantities of fresh broccoli and tomatoes. I feel great. No phantom lumps developing just yet.

Myth Uncovered

I overheard someone talking on the phone with a friend, propagating this, one of the world's most malicious myths. This reminded me of my personal crusade against the falsehood. Together we'll kill it once and for all!