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12/16/2001 ·  1/ 2/2002
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10/16/2001 · 10/31/2001
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11/ 6/2000 · 11/28/2000
10/29/2000 · 11/ 5/2000
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10/ 1/2000 · 10/ 9/2000
 9/24/2000 ·  9/30/2000
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Search rbgilbert.com

This is my blogchalk:
United States, Massachusetts, Boston, Brighton, English, Ron, Male, Photography, Nudity.

Here's a story about a change in an old landmark on the route of the Boston-Provincetown bike ride.

It's the autumnal equinox, and I guess that's enough reason to turn on the steam heat in my building. The outdoor temperature reached 70° today. And you thought there was supposed to be a heating oil shortage in New England.

And tonight on my way home from the 119 I saw that they were FINALLY tearing down the old Registry [of Motor Vehicles] building on Nashua Street. This cheap, old faux art deco thing has been sitting empty for a couple of years, waiting for the Big Dig to come along and eat it.

You should not miss The Big "E"

Consider the gecko.
I lifted this from the July 15, 2000, issue of Science News, Vol. 158

Gecko toes tap intermolecular bonds

Lizard, lizard on the wall, why is it you do not fall? Scientists have been asking that question of the limber little gecko for at least 75 years. These scaly climbers can scuttle nimbly across a polished glass ceiling. In a pinch, they can hang by one toe.

Over the decades, experiments and observations have ruled out suction, electrostatic forces, and glue as possible explanations. Now, a West Coast team of scientists and engineers has discovered that a surprisingly large sticking force arises when tiny hairs, or setae, on gecko feet rub up against surfaces.

From each seta sprout even tinier stalks, called spatulae. When a gecko gloms a foot onto a surface, the billion-or-so spatulae that carpet its sole snuggle so close to the surface that intermolecular forces such as van der Waals bonds may come into play, the researchers say.

"Our calculations show that van der Waals forces could explain the adhesion, though we can't rule out water adsorption or some other type of water interaction," says Robert J. Full of the University of California, Berkeley.

He, Kellar Autumn of Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Ore., and their colleagues report the first direct measurements of the force on a single seta in the June 8 NATURE. Wowed by the strength of that attraction, the researchers have also set out to develop an adhesive modeled on gecko anatomy.

The scientists got a tip about how setae adhere from the peculiar walking style of geckos. The lizards set their toes down with motions like tongues uncurling and then lift them again as

The downward step apparently both presses the setae against the surface and tugs them parallel to it. The new tests, done on individual setae, showed that the tugging action increases each seta's grip 10-fold compared with just pressing. Setae hold fast until the angle between them and a surface reaches about 30 degrees, the research also shows. When geckos unpeel their toes, they presumably lever setae to that critical angle, the scientists say.

Today is the birthday of both Stephen King and Gustav Holst! And it is the anniversary of the death of Chief Joseph, the leader of the Nez Perce, in 1904.

For more, better commentary on the Mormons, read Roughing It by Mark Twain. You can find a free, complete copy here at the University of Virginia.

My Trip To The Temple

Unloaded at the Temple we were handed a little pamphlet and a postcard with an architect's rendering of the proposed final appearance of the Temple [seen above]. Construction work was going on all around us. The most notable deficiency in the Temple is its lack of the tall spire(s) that Mormon Temples usually have. This, in case you haven't been following the Boston newspapers for the last few years, is due to objections from some fine well-to-do intolerant neighbors of the Temple there in Belmont.

The Mormons had selected the very highest spot they could get in the Boston area for their building. I suppose the Great Blue Hill is higher, but that was not available for development. It would have been a great sight if they had built a temple as big as some of the others I've seen and with multiple spires lighted in a rainbow of colors all night long. But this would be Boston and the heavy-handed conformism of the Congregationalists is still with us. The building was made smaller and NO SPIRES. They are still fighting in the courts over the spires. The plan is to have only one. Ted Kennedy and the first amendment are on the side of the Mormons in this battle, so I think victory is inevitable.

With our pamphlet and postcard we are ushered into a neat white tent with a plywood floor (the AIDS Rides could learn something from these Mormons). Inside the tent chairs are arranged in front of two TV sets. They show us a tape explaining the significance of Temples in Mormonism. They indicate their Temple is no less important than the Temple of Solomon. They show actors wandering in the desert with Moses and the tabernacle. And they show chestnut-haired Jesus hanging around Solomon's Temple. Lots of talk of the Israelites, but they never use the word "Jew." Also, they use no time references when speaking of the Temple of Solomon. They don't say the Temple of Solomon "is" in Jerusalem or that it "is" the Temple of the Israelites. Only that the Israelites built it. Do they have some issues around the Temple of Solomon? Do they claim it is a Mormon Temple too? Or do they not want to claim that any other religion can have a real Temple?

To explain to those of you who aren't up on your Mormonism, the Temple is not a church. It has no sanctuary. The regular Mormon chapels are modest buildings that are easily overlooked. The Temples, on the other hand, are where you go to do big Mormonism: marriage, proxy baptisms, getting your endowment (which, unfortunately, does not mean you get a bag of gold & jewels).

Then our group of about a dozen and a half are escorted to the Temple itself. Before we can enter we go past a line of seated Mormon kids who slip white plastic covers over our shoes to protect all the new carpeting from the construction dust outside.

The first real sight on our tour is the proxy baptism pool which sits on the backs of 12 white oxen [statues]. I thought the oxen were a bit dull. They are in four groups of three facing the primary compass directions. The four groups are identical. The center ox looks straight ahead; the one on the left tosses his head to the left; the one on the right is a mirror image of the left hand one. How about some creativity here? Why not 12 individual oxen? There are only 100 Mormon Temples on earth. Surely they aren't churning these oxen out of a factory.

We are then taken up some stairs and into the main entrance area. We are shown the dressing areas. When Mormons come to visit the Temple officially (which won't start happening until October 1) they change into all white clothing before they go about their business. The tour guide told us that the plain white clothing removed all distinction of class, race, education, etc. Everyone became equal before God. Sounds the same as naturism to me, although I suppose the white clothes help to mask physical differences too.

Around about here was when I first spotted the digital clocks on the wall. These were gray squares about 10 inches by 12. They had 6 display areas in them. One displayed the current time. Another displayed the date. Four areas were blank. Of course I immediately guessed that two of those areas would show the time and date in Salt Lake City, but then what would the remaining two areas be used for? Or it could be that the 4 blank areas are there simply to represent the life before birth and the life after death. The Mormons are really focused on that tripartite division of existence.
[A correspondent has clarified that "The digital clocks you wondered about are actually to show when the next session begins in each of the rooms. So, If one has arrived and prepared one's self to participate, it is easy to know which room will be seating next. Nothing to do with Salt Lake City time, I'm afraid." 1/17/2001]

Then they took us upstairs and whisked us through the first endowment room (which represents life before birth) and into the second endowment room (which represents life on earth). These two rooms were just small chapels with comfortable auditorium seating, nice lighting, and a good bit of real gold trim. From there they then moved us into the third endowment room, which is the celestial room, representing life after death. In here, they say, they will do nothing but contemplate and pray. It was all sunny and light with comfortable living room style furniture and heavy sculpted carpet. The marbled columns were fake, which I think might put me off a bit if I were actually expected to sit in here and contemplate heaven.

Throughout the Temple were scattered silk flowers and plastic trees and shrubberies. I'm sure these will be replaced with live ones after the Temple goes online. Some of my friends thought that perhaps the Mormons had no more taste than Southern Baptists and would settle for the artificial plants. I am sure though that the people who made the desert bloom would be able to maintain healthy living plants even deep within a Temple.

From here we proceeded to a "Sealing Room." "Sealing" is marriage, but you can also seal children to parents. The rooms are big enough for a small party. Two walls bear large mirrors. One wall has a floor to ceiling stained glass window. In the center of the room, under an Italian banquet hall style chandelier is a bit of furniture (I'm sure there's a name for it) that's designed for a group of people to kneel around.

That was the end of our official tour. We were escorted down the back stairway, past the building engineer's office, around one or two more corners until we popped out where we came in. A different line of Mormon kids pulled off our shoe coverings and we were escorted to the cookie and lemonade tents. There, despite my shyness, I was approached by a nice young lad who impressed me as being 100% to the bone heterosexual, so we didn't have much to talk about. I got to ask him what those Mormon missionary boys were always doing riding my Green Line. He admitted that they did like to ride back and forth on the Green Line, but that they did other things, like visiting people who asked them to come and lay on the word of Mormon. It doesn't sound like they show up uninvited. I asked why I only see men, and he introduced me to a "Sister." He said I just don't notice the Sisters because they don't wear name tags, and they get to dress better. The Sister said they had tried to get them to wear white shirts and dark skirts, but it didn't work.

It was all quite the good show. Definitely a pleasant (for us) bit of outreach. Besides our tour guide, we were accompanied by a half dozen other name-tagged Mormons who sort of drifted along with us. They were obviously there to keep us from wandering or chipping the paint or trying to sneak a snapshot (cameras were not allowed). Besides these folk, the corridors and rooms of the Temple were teeming with name-tagged Mormons whose job it was to hold out an arm to tell us which way to go. Every single one of the Mormons had just come from intensive "Smile Camp." They looked like sincere smiles, but boy, they never dropped 'em.

By the way, I only got to eat one cookie because the "Elder" (that lad) kept me too busy talking, but it was a pretty mediocre cookie. I think it came out of a plastic box from Star Market.

The official website of the Temple

Just got back from visiting the new Boston Mormon Temple. Too late tonight, but you know I have things to say.

Instead, I've just decided to try to lighten the look. More tomorrow.

Dignity, self-respect and liberty: Nation of Cowards

Libertarian Party National Convention news.

Are YOU a libertarian? Find out fast using the world's smallest political quiz.

On the other hand, This American Life by Ira Glass I can't get enough of.

This is too good!