7/21/2003 ·  8/ 6/2003
 5/29/2003 ·  7/18/2003
 4/25/2003 ·  5/28/2003
 3/24/2003 ·  4/24/2003
 3/ 1/2003 ·  3/21/2003
 1/28/2003 ·  2/28/2003
11/30/2002 ·  1/23/2003
11/ 1/2002 · 11/29/2002
 9/23/2002 · 10/30/2002
 9/ 5/2002 ·  9/20/2002
 8/10/2002 ·  9/ 4/2002
 7/24/2002 ·  8/ 9/2002
 6/27/2002 ·  7/23/2002
 6/ 3/2002 ·  6/25/2002
 4/24/2002 ·  5/31/2002
 4/ 1/2002 ·  4/23/2002
 3/ 1/2002 ·  3/31/2002
 2/10/2002 ·  2/28/2002
 1/22/2002 ·  2/ 9/2002
 1/ 3/2002 ·  1/16/2002
12/16/2001 ·  1/ 2/2002
12/ 2/2001 · 12/15/2001
11/ 1/2001 · 11/29/2001
10/16/2001 · 10/31/2001
 9/23/2001 · 10/13/2001
 9/11/2001 ·  9/22/2001
 7/29/2001 ·  9/10/2001
 7/ 2/2001 ·  7/28/2001
 5/29/2001 ·  6/30/2001
 5/ 1/2001 ·  5/21/2001
 4/ 8/2001 ·  4/29/2001
 3/25/2001 ·  4/ 7/2001
 3/11/2001 ·  3/24/2001
 3/ 4/2001 ·  3/10/2001
 2/18/2001 ·  3/ 3/2001
 2/ 4/2001 ·  2/17/2001
 1/23/2001 ·  2/ 2/2001
 1/ 1/2001 ·  1/22/2001
12/18/2000 · 12/31/2000
11/30/2000 · 12/ 7/2000
11/ 6/2000 · 11/28/2000
10/29/2000 · 11/ 5/2000
10/11/2000 · 10/19/2000
10/ 1/2000 · 10/ 9/2000
 9/24/2000 ·  9/30/2000
 9/15/2000 ·  9/22/2000
 9/ 7/2000 ·  9/13/2000

Search rbgilbert.com

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

Globe Gets Witty!
It isn't often that the Boston Globe makes a little funny in its headlines - in fact, in the 20 years or so that I've been reading it I don't remember a single such witticism. But yesterday their Democratic bitterness rose to the top as they snippishly gave Geo. Bush an asterisk. BTW, for those of you who don't get it yet, this doesn't mean I'm a Republican or a Bush supporter.

Update on Atlas Shrugged on TV
This is from the 11/21/2000 Dish column in Variety by Michael Fleming

SHRUGGING OFF "ATLAS" DELAYS: Forgive producer Al Ruddy for crowing that he's got a finished script for the Turner miniseries adaptation of the Ayn Rand novel "Atlas Shrugged," and is now looking for weighty stars and a director to start production shortly.

He's been trying to adapt the book since, well, right after he produced "The Godfather," and it's been more than two decades since he followed that pic by getting Rand randy about a Paramount adaptation of her work that he told her would star Clint Eastwood, Robert Redford and Faye Dunaway. "This thing's been around longer than my Chrysler, but it blew up over a contractual point, her insistence on final script approval and I knew better, even though this book's sold more hardbacks than the Bible," said Ruddy. "There's a 60-page speech, when John Galt says goodbye to America, and she'd have wanted it all in there."

Ruddy and Rand parted with some acrimony. "I told her, 'I'll wait until you drop dead if I have to,' and she said, 'I'll put it in my will that you'll be the only person not doing it,' " said Ruddy, who added that the author was deathly afraid the Soviets would hijack any plane she took to discuss the book, or that they would buy Paramount just to derail the adaptation. But when her estate checked through her notes, Ruddy was told he'd been favorably depicted by the author, and Ruddy rejoined the project after UMC Holdings chairman John Aglialoro took the rights off the table in a seven-figure deal.

Ruddy said Rand, whose "The Fountainhead" is being developed by Warner Bros. as a vehicle for Oliver Stone, would have liked the script penned by Sue Black (who wrote the Ruddy-produced TNT pic "Running Mates" with Tom Selleck). The script has been endorsed by the Objectivist Center, flame keeper for Rand's philosophies.

Seen On Usenet
Subject: Re: OT: Time for a quiz!!!
From: wald@ford.uchicago.edu (Kevin Wald)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.cecil-adams

In article <m38ztfn1nc.fsf@civetsystems.com>,
Michael Lorton <mlorton@civetsystems.com> wrote:
>colton@socrates.berkeley.edu (John S. Colton) writes:
>
>> That's funny, because of course "dwarves" is the incorrect spelling of
>> the plural of "dwarf". The correct spelling is "dwarfs". The "dwarves"
>> variation was made popular by Tolkien, who intentionally used it
>> because of the similarity with "elves". Personally, I prefer the "v",
>> too.
>
>And every other English word that ends with a single f or with fe is
>pluralized as "-ves".

Assuming, of course, that this isn't a spoof,
But your honest belief -- do you have any proof?
Can you try to convince us with arguments, chief?
On each letter and serif of some legal brief
There is no need to toil and strain (like a serf
On a nobleman's fief or his own patch of turf);
Merely cook up some reasons ad hoc, like a chef --
Maybe sing them out loud in your favorite clef
While some goof plays along on a trumpet or fife,
Just to soothe every oaf who might elsewise cause strife
And (as surf in a gulf overwhelms every reef)
Overwhelm him. (We're done now? Well that's a relief.)

===================================================================

Subject: Re: Weekends
From: arke@dircon.co.uk (Richard Kennaway)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.fandom

Alia <fnorky@home.com> wrote:

> Copule? Any relation to a cupola? Perhaps it's an irregular polyhedron
> projecting from a geodesic dome.

The copule is the SI unit of sexual activity.

One copule is a single person-act of sexual intercourse of standard intensity and duration. A conventional act of intercourse between two people would thus amount to two copules. Orgies are usually rated in the more convenient unit of hectocopules (1 hectocopule = 100 copules).

The concept has been broadened to cover non-standard sexual activities. This is the subject of some controversy, and there are at least three different standards in use: ISO, Purity, and DIN. The ISO scale consists of an enumeration of a large range of sexual and sex-related practices, together with their copule ratings. However, the actual figures appear to have been plucked out of the air by a committee which avoided obtaining knowledgeable input. The scale is generally regarded as being no more than a codification of its compilers' prejudices, especially as part of their remit was to produce a legal definition of obscenity. Any wearing of latex clothing, for example, rates at least 0.8 ISO copules per item, which is surely excessive, and all acts of gay male sex rate at least 3 copules. Specifically lesbian sex is completely ignored. Despite its flaws, it cannot be ignored, as it is still used by the British Board of Film Censors and the Customs and Excise for certification or confiscation. Films rating 100 ISO copules or more are invariably prohibited, and any scene rating more than 10 copules per minute must be cut.

The Purity copule is the performance of any one of the items on a recognised Purity Test, one copule going to each participant.

The most authoritative standard is the DIN scale, which being of German origin includes an exhaustively researched body of data on SM practices. As yet it is only available in the original German, pending its assessment for obscenity on the ISO scale. Besides giving a more systematic classification, the DIN standard is based on clearly set out general principles which allow it to be extended to areas not explicitly covered. These have been used to draw up several quasi-standard appendices for specialised communities.

Its most controversial aspect is the rating of the male's participation in a single act of intercourse as 1 copule, and the female's participation in the same act as 1.3 copules. Positions on this issue are strongly polarised, with such unlikely bedfellows as Germaine Greer and Rupert Murdoch finding themselves on the same side. Some of the other ratings on the DIN scale which may seem strange can be understood at once by observing German porn on the satellite channels.

ARPANet at the beginning
December 1969

Click for full size

This is from Hobbes' Internet Timeline v5.2.

Are You A Nerd?
Then maybe you think you can answer this question: Pop Quiz: What was the first personal computer? But I bet not!

The holidays are here now! You have to stock up on your cake decorations from Sugarcraft!

Auroral Activity Right Now
Notice the two fascinating buttons I've added at the top of this column. These reveal vast forces sweeping our puny globe at this very moment! In addition here is a depiction of the current state of the aurora in the northern hemisphere. A southern hemisphere version is available, but I know only three people in the southern hemisphere, and they give no sign of actually reading this website, so there.

The red arrow points at local noon. Click on the image for more info.

It's A Sale
Got this bit in the mail today from Photonlight. If you're thinking of buying one (or some) here's a chance to save some bucks. I make no money on this deal. I just like the things.

Subject: 5 Days Only! Photon 15% off Super Stocking Stuffer Sale!
From: bryan@photonlight.com
Date: Wed, 22 Nov 2000 01:01:56 -0800

We're kicking off the holiday season with a 5-day only Super Stocking Stuffer sale. All Photon products & accessories are on sale for 15% off! Hurry, this sale ends Sunday, 11/26/00.

This Christmas, give the gift of light. The Photon is a universal gift that will be used and appreciated daily for years to come.

Order online at http://www.photonlight.com, or call us at 877-584-6898 to order by phone.

And of course, shipping is always free within the U.S.

-Bryan Avery-

PhotonLight.com - Lighting up the World, one pocket at a time.

Christmas Shopping Lists
The best way to fill 'em out is to paw through all the free research available for you on the internet, this greatest consumer tool of all time. For instance, the good people at shopinprivate.com have troubled themselves to research the qualities of various nosehair trimmers on the market. And they found a winner! Go here to read about it.

Ramblin'
I've had my rest and my coffee and I got myself down to the barber shop for a very overdue haircut and then a bike ride around town on this mostly sunny, cold November afternoon. Now I've got a glass of winter warmer at my side, so I ought to be able to ramble, eh?

Yale beats Harvard.

I hope you appreciate that I do not mention the goings-on in the Citrus State, or is it the Orange State? Or the Panhandle State? Or the Seminole State? Swamp State would work. Let's hope that the Yale/Harvard dust up is not a foreshadow.

At the barber shop in came a young man who let us know his native tongue was French but he would bravely endeavor to speak the English, since it is the beautiful language of the world. In only a couple of sentences it was understood that he wanted a shave. No problem there. But he didn't seem to understand how the barber shop culture worked. This was a surprise to me, since barber shop culture seems to be such a manly thing to me, I thought it was universal throughout all cultures, rather like locker room behavior. In case any women are reading this I'll explain that barber shop culture is nothing more than each guy quietly noting to himself when he enters the shop who is ahead of him. Then he sits himself wherever he wants. There is never any discussion or argument over who's next. The barber with an empty chair will simply cue the men with "Who's next?" if the next guy hasn't already settled himself in the chair. This completely peaceful cooperation in an all-male environment should be pretty amazing, considering how men are universally bad-mouthed as violent selfish pigs.

How does it work in other cultures? It seems like such a sensible way to do things, it ought to be universal. Maybe in other cultures there are so many barbers there is never a wait to get a haircut.

At the video store last night, waiting in line to return an overdue DVD and the young women in front of me, probably students, probably from some prosperous east Asian land were asking the extraordinarily young clerk (I mean, like, maybe he's Generation Z, but just small - is there a Generation Z Prime or ZZ?) if the store had a copy of "Coo' Han' 'uke". Young clerk gave no sign of having any familiarity with the film, typed it in his terminal and had to tell them that while the store did own a copy, it was currently out. The state of video stores and youth today [sigh]. A movie loving employee would KNOW if they owned a copy of "Coo' Han' 'uke". Why, when I was a youngster and my Mom gave me the video card and I dashed off to the video store, the store didn't even EXIST! Yeah, that's how tough it was when I was growing up. Get this, video entertainment consisted of three (3!) VHF stations. That was it. That was the whole effing scope of video. That's what made radio so much better then than it is today.

Regarding the universality of male culture (referenced above), doesn't it seem true to you that men can relate to other men quite nicely across all sorts of barriers in all-male environments? So it seems to me. Do you suppose nationalism is an artificial construct resulting from sort of secret matriarchal order? The trick is getting everyone to lay the blame for nationalism at the feet of MEN! Can you believe it? Innocent boys who just want to play ball games and war games and such. I'll have to ponder this and get back to you -- that is, if the Great Lurking Matriarchy doesn't take me out first.

Consider how happy "Coo' Han' 'uke" was amongst the men of the prison.

Next up, the meaning of life. Today I got the following in my e-mail. Take a look:

"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.

"Attitude to me is more important than facts.

"It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than success, than what other people think or say or do.

"It is more important than appearance, gift or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home.

"The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day.

"We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way.

"We cannot change the inevitable.

"The only thing we can do is play on the string we have -- and that is our attitude.

"I am convinced that life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent how I react to it.

"And so it is with you... we are in charge of our attitudes."

--Charles Swindoll

• Self-respect
• Food
• Air
• Water
• Shelter
• Your life
• The lives of those who are close to you
• Your beliefs (religion, for some people)

Here is some of the story on that Swindoll fellow.

It seems he's written a book on Esther! Must read that to learn whether Esther had a good attitude and accepted the inevitable -- or did she save the Jews? I am so rusty on my history. Somebody remind me.

But more significantly he has a book entitled Man To Man! Oh yes.
atarnow@clemson.edu from Clemson, South Carolina writes:

This book is a wonderful reference. I really enjoyed reading this book and highly recommend it to any man who is looking to live a more spiritual life. Mr. Swindoll does a great job covering a number of topics in an very easy to read, Biblically sound, enjoyable way. Give it a try!

A Lesson Yesterday I spotted an elderly man on the street carrying an oxygen tank that was hooked up in the usual fashion to his nose. A sad sight you think? Ha! He was riding a bicycle! The oxygen tank was duct-taped onto his luggage rack. He wasn't making any speed records, but he was rolling along through downtown Boston. I point this out for the benefit of those people who insist they don't have the energy or time to exercise.

Please! Start an exercise program while you still have the strength to lift and duct-tape your own oxygen bottle to your bike. It would be so embarrassing to have to take it in to the bike shop for that.

Here's a handy little utility if you create or edit web pages!

Help Build a Brain
Mindpixel is a bit interesting, and can be used to waste a few minutes of your time. These guys at Mindpixel are trying to create a genuine artificial intelligence. The theory is that the device needs at least a billion "mind pixels." A mind pixel would be sort of a "factoid" except CNN probably already has a trademark on that.

You go to Mindpixel and register yourself and then you can "talk" to the AI. Really all you do is give it a statement or question that can be evaluated to Yes/No/True/False. The AI takes a guess as to the answer and then displays a list of 20 other factoids...excuse me, Mindpixels. You then answer true or false to each of them. Sometime, as the AI collects more facts and forms patterns from our millions of answers, it's little bit of self-awareness will flicker on. The light will dawn. And before you know it it's all "Open the pod bay doors, HAL."

The Boston Globe - what a luzer paper!
This morning I could go to www.nytimes.com and find out just how many votes Hillary got. And I could go to www.sfchronicle.com and get all up to date on Feinstein as well as plod tediously through the myriad California questions to read the vote totals on all of them. So do you think I could go to The Boston Globe and find out how many votes Ted Kennedy got (you know I really just wanted to know how Carla Howell did)? Not hardly! I could read a puffed up, glowing piece about how fat Ted won by another record margin, a huge margin, why it was a gigantic margin, a majority not to be believed, my my my what a margin. But could they find the space to include an actual number? No. And the Herald wasn't any better! The Herald doesn't even claim to be The Newspaper Of Record, but on-line it's much more interesting than the Globe. But no real numbers on the questions or candidates.

So where did I finally find complete local election results? Channel 5! That is www.wcvb.com! They were all there!

Voting
Yes! Of course I already voted. Got there before the polls opened and was a little surprised that in my polling place, where there is almost as much business conducted in Spanish as in English, to see so many recent Russian immigrants there clutching their fresh, blue American passports.

The View
This week I'm taking a Visual Basic course in one of those office parks overlooking the Cambridge Reservoir along Route 128. Until I biked up to the building, I had no idea how high those mountain-lettes were. There is a fabulous, nearly 360 degree view from there. I can see downtown Boston and Corey Hill (my home) clearly, but to the west I can also see Mounts Wachusett and Monadnock. Gorgeous sunsets.

Yeah, the course is good, too.