7/21/2003 ·  8/ 6/2003
 5/29/2003 ·  7/18/2003
 4/25/2003 ·  5/28/2003
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 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.

The Catholics drive another soul right into the heathen arms of the Methodists.

Inedible Prank
High School student bakes cake filled with his body hair
Wednesday, January 31, 2001

CHIPPEWA FALLS, Wisconsin — A Chippewa Falls High School student has been sentenced to probation for baking hair in a cake and serving it to teachers.

John Smith was a senior at the time. He shaved his body hair, baked it in the cake and brought it to school for his class. But, when he couldn't serve it in class, he brought it to the teacher's lounge. After it was half eaten, school officials discovered hair throughout.

The 18-year-old Smith pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and got 12 months probations.

Chippewa County Judge Roderick Cameron also ordered Smith to perform 120 hours of community service.

Ambrosial Bread

1 1/3 cups	Water
3/4 cup	"crushed peanut butter and coconut candy (e.g. Chick-O-Stick)" [3/4 cup is about 2 Chick-O-Sticks]
1/3 cup	honey
1 1/2 tsp	salt
3 Tbs	powdered milk
4 cups	bread flour
2 3/4 tsp	yeast

If you have trouble locating Chick-O-Stick just click here for a list of retailers. Or, you can order them from the manufacturer Atkinson's. Or from here or here or here or here. I got mine at Osco in Kansas City.

Current read: Bravo Two Zero by Andy McNab.

We haven't slammed Microsoft in a little while!

When I worry about any lack of privacy here, I am reassured by this: Shop Mandiberg

Another Webring: Naked Truths which is "For journal writers who are willing to put it all online. People who tell it like it is, and arent ashamed to say anything and everything. Creativity is the essence, where even if life is full of the dull and tedious, there are still the stories to tell and the adventures and feelings that must eventually find some time in other peoples minds so the moments arent wasted... And besides - everybody likes a good rant in the end!"

Coming this spring, rail service between Boston and Portland, Maine! Not since 1965.

There is a downside to trains, sort of, I guess. Or maybe a downside to houses that move. I dunno.

Seen On Usenet I
Subject: Re: CGI Perl vs. Java Servlets...
From: Jeff Boes <jboes@eomonitor.com>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.perl.misc

Ryan Bedford wrote:
>
> All things being equal which is faster? CGI Perl or Java Servlets?
>

Perl is faster than the day breaking over the ocean.
Java is slower than the arrival of the wayward son.

Perl is stronger than the smell of fear in Redmond.
Java is weaker than green tea made in a hurry.

Perl is more worthy of praise than am I.
Java is more worthy of scorn than is the world.

All things being equal, Perl is better than Java.
All things taken exactly as they are, Perl is no better than Java.

The wise man chooses a sword for war, and a hoe for gardening.
The fool strikes out with whatever is at hand.

Seen On Usenet II
Genius!

 Subject: Re: Programmer(s) wanted ...
From: Kell <kell@locationworks.com>
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.misc

In article <03951c164a.rob@digital-scurf.org>,
   Rob Kendrick <rob@digital-scurf.org> wrote:
> In message <4a16193074gatherer@argonet.co.uk>
>          Nigel Gatherer <gatherer@argonet.co.uk> wrote:

> > Richard Blythe, address <rab@ph.ed.ac.uk>, responded:
> >
> > > Kell Gatherer <location.works@argonet.co.uk> writes
> >
> > > > You have missed a matter of design consideration.
> > > > Had it been spelled RISC OS, it would have ruined
> > > > the perfect left- and right- justification of the
> >
> > > You cheated with a space here ^ didn't you? I think
> > > it is correct practice with these extended prefixes
> > > to omit the space after the final hyphen. Possibly.
> >
> > Had it been spelt RISC OS, imho, it would have ruined
> > the perfect left- and right-justification of the said
> >
> > ...and so on. The real question is what kind of brain
> > wastes time trying to work these things out? Who used
> > to puzzle us all with every email perfectly justified
> > with no double spaces, etc? Then he admitted he'd put
> > together a program which counted the letters, divided
> > them, came up with alternatives to words, and printed
> > it out as neat as you like. I can't remember his name
> > but he was a lot better at it than I. Well well, back
> > to work, guys. Can't waste any more time on this. :-)
> >
> > Nigel Gatherer, Crieff PH7 3HB gatherer@argonet.co.uk

> If people are going to use the width of the quoted text
> including the quote symbols, then this will be nice and
> easy very shortly, for people like me to join in and be
> silly with a simple use of English that is easy to use.

I was delighted to discover that there are others such as
myself willing and able to take up this cause. The advent
of the internet has, in my opinion, led to the lamentable
laziness of the average e-mailer when composing his mail;
too often do we see lines of such variable length that it
offends the eye. The real challenge, of course, would be
to compose one's emails such that the typographic style
conveys another, perhaps more serious message. One may
wish to, for example, convey to the reader a sense of
exasperation. Within the conventional usenet chatter
users seem pleased enough to use strong language to
convey their displeasure, or perhaps abbreviations
that challenge the eye. There may be many however
who will agree with me, that there exists a more
challenging method of getting exactly or nearly
the same message across. The day may come when
we will abandon profanites, or other offences
and get our message across using paragraphic
structure alone. Who amongst us for example
could deny that the structure of this self
same transmission is communicating, in no
uncertain terms, that I do not have much
interest in seeing this thread continue
much further than it already has. Much
has been made of the power of the web
to expand our horizons, but does it,
can it expand our vocabulary? I say
that these threads make an example
of exactly the kinds of things we
do NOT want to tolerate, heaping
inanity upon verbosity, just to
massage the over-inflated egos
of those involved. Why should
people have to read all this
guff? In order to grasp the
underlying meaning we need
only glance at the shapes
of the communications to
ascertain what messages
the writers are trying
to get across. I wish
more of us would try
this effective, yet
simple method that
clearly makes the
writer's meaning
beyond doubt. I
am requesting,
as you'll see
that threads
like these,
finalised
by short
phrases
finish
off -
like
for
me
!

 

An innocent visitor's impressions of Boston.

From yourdictionary.com
Today's Word: Niveous (Adjective)

Pronunciation: ['niv-ee-ês]

Definition 1: Resembling snow, snow-like.

Usage 1: The noun is nivosity. (Thanks to Dr. Audra Himes of yourDictionary for today's word.)

Suggested Usage: For those of you with a musical ear, try bringing niveous into your caroling this winter: "It's beginning to look quite niveous outside (tra la tra la)." Also, "I bought my niece a glass sphere filled with water and a niveous flakes for a Christmas gift" (translation: snow globe). If the substance on your windshield no longer is snow but originated as such, try: "The wipers couldn't clear the nivosity quickly enough, so we pulled over until the blizzard died down."

Etymology: From Latin niveus, from nix (nig-s), niv- "snow" which developed into French neige, Spanish nieve, and Italian neve. The underlying PIE from, believe it or not, is *sneigwh-, with several sounds that have worn off over the years. So the same PIE root gave us English "snow" and Slavic (Russian, Bulgarian, Serbian) sneg "snow."


Today's Word: Nychthemeron (Noun)

Pronunciation: [nik-'the-mê-rên]

Definition 1: A 24-hour period, comprising a nighttime and daylight segment.

Usage 1: Many people erroneously spell this word "nycthemeron." Don't you fall into that trap! Also, remember that when you add the suffix -al to derive the adjective, you must drop the Greek suffix -on; in other words, nychthemeron + al = nychthemeral [nik-'the-mê-rêl] "occurring in 24-hour periods."

Suggested Usage: Many languages have separate words for the two meanings of day: "the daylight hours" and "24 hours." Russian, for example, has "den'" and "sutki" for those two meanings and both are used frequently. "If you don't have this room cleaned up in a nychthemeron, you're grounded" is less likely to work than "in a fortnight." (Too bad these two words could not have swapped meanings. But maybe if we clip it to "a nichthy" it will catch on.)

Etymology: Greek adjective nykhthemeron neuter of nykhthemeros "lasting for a night and a day" from nykh, nykt- "night" and (h)emera "day" (nyktas te kai emar "by night and day"). The PIE root for "night" is negw-t- or nokw-t "night," appearing in Russian noch', Latin nox, noctis, and German Nacht. Underlying stem is probably negw- "dark" found in Latin niger "black" and Italian "negro." This root also appears in "denigrate." For more on PIE, see "Words: Where do they Come from" in the YD library. (Our thanks to YD friend Helen Belisle for discovering this transcendent lexical gem.)


Today's Word: Unremacadamized (Adjective)

Pronunciation: [ên-ree-mê-'kæ-dê-mIzd]

Definition 1: Having not been covered again with MacAdam stone layers or contemporary macadam.

Usage 1: John Loudan MacAdam (1756-1836) invented a method of surfacing roads consisting of laying down successive layers of broken stone, each layer compacted and bonded to the previous by the pressure of ordinary wheel traffic. Today, each layer is bonded by tar, asphalt, or some other bituminous material and is usually compacted by heavy equipment. MacAdam has become the eponym of the new process (see Word of the Day for 01/03/2001 for "eponym").

Suggested Usage: Today's word was selected because it reflects the extent to which English-speaking nations are cultural "melting pots" (see "Etymology"). The mixtures of cultures in English-language societies contribute wholesale to the English language, leaving a permanent, indelible imprint on our speech. Conceivable situations calling for this word are imaginable, however: "Our road remained unremacadamized for 20 years."

Etymology: Today we have a lexical Dagwood sandwich for you: an English prefix and suffix surrounding bits and pieces of four other languages. The prefix un- "not" and the past participle suffix -ed are pure English. Between them we find the Latinate prefix re- "again", the Scots Gaelic prefix mac "son of" from "MacAdam," the inventor of macadam, the Hebrew word adam "man," and, finally, -ize from the Greek verbal suffix -iz as in archa-iz-ein "to be old fashioned."


Today's Word: Fossick (Verb)

Pronunciation: ['fa-sik]

Definition 1: To search for gold in a disorganized manner, especially in abandoned mines.

Definition 2: To fossick about: to rummage around for something, to nose about.

Usage 2: Here is a concept susceptible to quite a bit of regional variation. In the northern and western U.S. the term is "rummage." In Australia and New Zealand today's word seems to prevail. In the southeastern states "plunder" is widespread.

Suggested Usage: Well, one can fossick about in a drawer for a sharpened pencil or fossick about the shells on the beach for sharks' teeth. Even dogs may fossick about the yard for yesterday's bone. Closets are a good place to fossick about for just about anything (if yours are like mine).

Etymology: The origins of this word are passing mysterious. It apparently comes from a British dialect, probably Cornish.


From Merriam-Webster.com
sui generis \soo-eye-JEN-uh-rus or soo-ee-JEN-uh-rus\ (adjective)
: constituting a class alone : unique, peculiar

Example sentence: "No one before or since has had such a blend of wildness and vulnerability, such pretty-boy looks crossed with such rawness ... James Dean was sui generis." (Robert DiMatteo, _Video Review_, December 1990)

Did you know?
English contains many terms that ultimately trace to the Latin forms "gener-" or "genus," (which are variously translated as "birth," "race," "kind," "gender," and "class"). Offspring of those roots include "general," "generate," "generous," "generic," "degenerate," and "gender." But "sui generis" is truly a one-of-a-kind "gener-" descendant that English speakers have used for singular things since the late 1700s. Its earliest uses were in scientific contexts, where it identified substances, principles, diseases, and even rocks that were unique or that seemed to be the only representative of their class or group. By the early 1900s, however, "sui generis" had expanded beyond solely scientific contexts and it is now used more generally for anything that stands alone.


edacious \ih-DAY-shuss\ (adjective)
1 : having a huge appetite : ravenous
*2 : excessively eager : insatiable

Example sentence:
Fiona, an edacious reader, completed a book every few days, and usually had her next one begun before she was finished with her last.

Did you know?
"Tempus edax rerum." That wise Latin line by the Roman poet Ovid translates as "Time, the devourer of all things." Ovid's correlation between rapaciousness and time relates directly to the history of "edacious." That English word is a descendant of "edax," which is in turn a derivative of the Latin verb "edere," meaning "to eat." In its earliest known English uses, "edacious" referred broadly to eating of any kind (especially ravenous eating). Although it is still used generally as a synonym of "voracious," it is even today most likely to be used in contexts referring to time. That's how Scottish essayist and historian Thomas Carlyle used it when he referred to events "swallowed in the depths of edacious time."

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.


sternutation \ster-nyuh-TAY-shun\ (noun)
: the act, fact, or noise of sneezing

Example sentence:
During cold and flu season, a chorus of sternutation could be heard around the office as employees gave in to fits of sneezing.

Did you know?
"Sternutation" comes from Latin, a descendant of the verb "sternuere," meaning "to sneeze." One of the earliest known English uses occurred in a 16th-century edition of a medical book on the subject of midwifery, in a passage about infants suffering from frequent "sternutation and sneesynge." The term has long been used in serious medical contexts, but it has also been used for humorous effect. In 1850, for example, author Grace Greenwood observed that U.S. senators of divergent politics came together to share snuff: "A Whig may be seen passing his (snuff) box to a Democrat, who passes it to a Southern ultraist, who passes it to a Northern 'incendiary.' And all three forget their sectional differences in a delightful concert of sternutation. No business is too grave; no speaker too elegant to be sneezed at."


vespertine \VESS-per-tyne\ (adjective)
*1 : of, relating to, or occurring in the evening
2 : active, flowering, or flourishing in the evening : crepuscular

Example sentence:
A vespertine fog crept over the farm, concealing the outbuildings and the orchard and stranding the house in an inky ocean of darkness as the evening turned to night.

Did you know?
Imagine this vespertine scenario: Hesperus, the Evening Star, shines in a clear sky; little brown bats flutter near the treetops; somewhere in the distance a church bell calls worshipers to the evening service. Can you find three words (other than "vespertine") associated with the Latin root, "vesper," which means "evening," hidden in that scene? The evening star was once known as "Vesper" ("Hesperus" is from the Greek for "evening"); "vespertilian" means "batlike" (the Latin for bat is "vespertilio"); and we still call an evening worship service "vespers."

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.


infix \IN-fiks\ (noun)
: a derivational or inflectional affix appearing in the body of a word

Example sentence:
"In Inuktitut, all the characters needed to express an idea are joined together. In addition to suffixes and prefixes, the language has infixes, denoting tense or gender, in the middle of a word." (Stephanie Nolen Iqaluit, _The Independent _, July 29, 2000)

Did you know?
Like prefixes and suffixes, infixes are part of the general class of affixes ("sounds or letters attached to or inserted within a word to produce a derivative word or an inflectional form"). Infixes are relatively rare in English, and can be remnants of a much earlier time in the word's history. For example, "cupful" and "spoonful" can be pluralized as "cupsful" and "spoonsful" using "s" as an infix, which hearkens back to the time when both were open compounds and therefore pluralized as "cups full" and "spoons full." A related example is the insertion of an (often offensive) intensifier into a word, as in "fan-freakin'-tastic." Such whole-word insertions are also sometimes called "infixes," though this phenomenon is more traditionally known as "tmesis."


hyperborean \hye-per-BOR-ee-un or hye-per-buh-REE-un\ (adjective)
1 : of or relating to an extreme northern region : frozen
*2 : of or relating to any of the arctic peoples

Example sentence:
"In the winter of '46-7 there came a hundred men of hyperborean extraction swoop down on to our pond one morning.... they came and went every day... from and to some point of the polar regions, as it seemed to me, like a flock of arctic snow-birds.... " (Henry David Thoreau, _Walden_)

Did you know?
In ancient Greek mythology, the "Hyperboreoi" were a people who lived in a northern paradise of perpetual sunshine beyond the reaches of the god of the north wind. Their name located them within the Greek world; it combined the prefix "hyper-," meaning "above," and "Boreas," the Greek name for the north wind. When "hyperborean" first appeared in our language in the 15th century, it named those legendary folk. By the late 1500s, though, the word was being used more generally for anything relating to the far north or the people who lived there. (Incidentally, the "Hyperboreans" who came to Walden Pond were, Thoreau tells us later in the passage, "literally, a hundred Irishmen, with Yankee overseers, [who] came from Cambridge every day to get out the ice.")

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

Announcing! the exciting Ron's Log T-Shirt/Link Exchange Program! You can receive by postal mail one of my very own personal t-shirts ABSOLUTELY FREE!

These aren't some characterless mass-produced t-shirts right out of the plastic bag still smelling of insecticides and too much dye. Nossir! Nor are these the sort of t-shirts that would embarrass you with a flashy displayed on your chest. No ma'am!

In fact, the t-shirts I am giving away are my t-shirts, the very same ones I have worn these past many weeks, months, and years. They could be plain, or ugly, or gorgeous. They could be medium, large or x-large. There are a few that have shrunk down to small, too. Any color imaginable! They might be beer shirts, AIDS Ride shirts, old souvenir shirts. Who knows? My choice. They will not, however, be a Boston-Provincetown Ride t-shirt. No, I'm keeping those!

You can be assured the that whatever t-shirt you get, it will be freshly laundered, even if it shows some stains or wear. BUT, if you think you'd like one a little soiled with the perspiration of many hot nights of html-coding, just let your wishes be known and I'll try to accomodate.

You must be asking, "How do I get one of these highly desirable bits of fashion detritus, Ron?"

I'll tell you: just follow these easy, easy steps...

1. Include a link to Ron's Log on your own web site. That's a link to http://www.rbgilbert.com/log/ronslog.html The code would look something like this:
   
   <A HREF="http://www.rbgilbert.com/log/ronslog.html">Ron's Log</A>

2. E-mail me at ronslog@rbgilbert.com and tell me 3 things: (1) that you've done the dirty deed, (2) what the URL of your website is, and (3) a postal address to which I can mail a t-shirt. (If you don't want to give me your postal mailing address, then we're gonna have to meet for coffee or a beer so I can turn your t-shirt over to you.)

A negative story about Acela!

Cook Laces Cop's Food With Pot

THE COLONY, Texas (AP) -- A restaurant cook was arrested for allegedly putting marijuana in a breakfast taquito sold to a police officer.

Benjamin Roberts, 18, was charged with possession and delivery of marijuana and released on $2,000 bail Thursday. He could get up to six months in jail and a $2,000 fine.

An officer ordered the tortilla-wrapped egg items from a Whataburger for dispatchers back at the department. One of the dispatchers noticed less than a quarter-ounce of marijuana had been rolled into her taquito before she took a bite, said spokesman Capt. Mike Carroll.

The teen-ager was fired.

"There are mirrors there, so this guy making the food knew he was giving it to an officer," Carroll said.

A call to Roberts' home was not immediately returned Friday.

Check to see if this Google search still works accurately: http://www.google.com/search?q=dumb+motherfucker

This is probably rather irregular, but there are these three guys who were friends of mine way back during the glorious 70s who I completely lost touch with years ago. On a semi-irregular basis I go searching for them on the web, coming up dry. So I had this brain wave (nearly killed the battery!) that I would just rudely list their names here and maybe they'll find me if they get on the web and search for themselves. How likely is that? Anyway, if you can tell me anything about any of these guys, just drop me a line.

• Kevin Wulfert, born around 1955, from southeastern Missouri. I knew him when he was a student at the University of Missouri.
• William "Bill" Glessner, born around 1956 or 57, eastern Iowa. I met him in Clinton, Iowa.
• Dr. Thomas Muzzy born late 1940s, I'd guess. If he's a doctor now, he's a chiropractor. He's also from eastern Iowa, and the last I saw of him he was heading to California.

"People have to understand that cold, stiff, blue people can be resuscitated." Especially in Ashland, Mass. [I fixed this URL!]

15 inch knife. 18 inch dog. Don't worry, there's a happy ending.

Ginger! GINGER! GINGER!! Damn, we don't know what it is, but you can still buy, buy, buy it! Or, put it on your Wish List^® at least.

No Darwin Award here! What a cluster-fuck!

Here's someone not quite as stupid...maybe.

I don't know if this is cool new technology, a dangerous privacy issue, or just another sign of laziness and criminality in public schools.

Do you suspect hidden brain damage is the problem? Find out by taking this objective, scientific test.

Good, unusual reads here.

Pee On Your Own Time

Waiting for the window men to show up, I've done a little re-styling on this page. Let me know if I've lost you.