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Search rbgilbert.com

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

I've successfully turned out a couple of loaves today made with "Salt Rising Yeast" that I got from King Arthur. They're lovely, but not as stinky as the salt-rising bread I remember from my days as a boy in KC. These are the first loaves I've made where I took advantage of my bread machine's ability to separate the kneading and baking steps. I used the machine to knead the dough, then took it out to allow a long slow rise, then returned it to the machine for baking. That, I suspsect, may be the reason for their lovely texture. I'll have to try it with regular yeast and find out.

Short, but enlightening physics article.

An interesting theory of race formation based on UV exposure and light skin to get vitamin D and dark skin to protect from folate depletion..

This seems to be a real book, I think. How to Good-Bye Depression: If You Constrict Anus 100 Times Everyday. Malarkey? or Effective Way?

European space agencies planning the launch of a space sail before the end of 2002! Yes!

A tour of the US in a Smart car.

Here's a gender test that works for me. Try it on yourself.

Zoo keeper mauled to death 'after defecating on tiger'. Can't make this stuff up.

Can somebody familiar with Amsterdam tell me if this site's information on the legal drug scene there is fairly accurate?

Finally, the kind of support a man like you really needs. The Large Penis Support Group.

In case you still haven't let go of that election it's still going on here. Don't bother me with it, though.

I'm quite astonished that this entertaining, creative ad is from PETA, which usually is about as lighthearted and fun as Joe Stalin. If you love cats, you'll especially like it.

I don't know if this is

• a cultural difference beyond my understanding,
• weird gender bending, or
• a really stupid twit.

Go here and click the button that says PLEASE DON'T CLICK ME.

The organizing of the Boston-Provincetown bike ride is underway once again. The committee had its first meeting tonight. Money is not an issue. The t-shirt design is already settled! I'm doing maps and arrows once again. Paul R. has great ideas on improving efficiency and speed of support. Next meeting, free beer!

I rented "Magnolia" today and am part way into it now. I was pretty pleased with myself when I thought I'd use the DVD advantage when I got up to the rap from the little black kid addressed to the cop. I turned on the subtitles! That, however, was not good enough, so I went back and did it again with the subtitles on and at half-speed. I got all the words that time, and it still makes no sense. But at least I'm satisfied that it was intentionally obscure.

I stayed home from work yesterday with a cold and I still have it today, but this morning I had to report to the oral surgeon for my implant. I'm getting a tooth replaced. It was pulled about a year ago, and while I may be white trash, that missing tooth made me feel indisputably labeled as such. So now the implant.

It's a bloody, messy process, cutting away gum and drilling into the jaw bone, but the doctor was nicely generous with the novocaine. And now I have a titanium post buried in my lower left jaw. It's the only titanium I own right now. I used to have a titanium-railed seat on a bike, but the rails broke! The only seat rails that I ever broke. Word was out that they had used the cheap, brittle Soviet surplus titanium in them. When the new bike gets here I'll own some more titanium.

I came home and napped and woke up when all of the novocaine had worn off, so I took one of the 800 mg ibuprofens she'd prescribed me. Now I'm fine, but I don't want to use all of those up. Nice to save a few for bike season!

I had a gift certificate for Crate & Barrel that had been just sitting around for awhile, so yesterday I headed down there (Yes, with the cold) and spent some of it on a french press coffee maker. Never had one before. Had long ago thought about getting one, but that was when the report came out that coffee made with a french press was THE most likely to give you pancreatic cancer, so I put off the purchase. Since then no one has said that it won't give you pancreatic cancer, it's just I need caffein more now. So this afternoon while waiting for the ibuprofen to kick in I made my first pot. I didn't break anything, so I guess it was a success. I underestimated its volume though. The instructions say a scoop of coffee for every cup and it looked like a 4-cup container. The result was too weak, so I reread the instructions and saw that they say a cup is 4 ounces! The thing can hold a quart, so that's 8 scoops! My usual drip coffee maker holds almost a half gallon, but I only use 6 scoops in that. This could be really interesting!

If anyone has any guidance to offer me on exactly how coarse the grind has to be, please let me know.

After the ibuprofen started to work my first meal was yogurt with sliced overripe bananas mixed in. That made my jaw throb like I'd been kicked by a horse! Better tonight.

This cold has had me seeing more movies this week. Two Mel Gibson's in a row: "The Patriot" and "Chicken Run". Enjoyed both.

There's a little search box on this page and every week or so the site that operates it sends me a little list of search terms people have used. Don't worry about your privacy. It doesn't tell me WHO searched, just the terms. Now some time recently someone searched here for "sperm ovum." I've no idea what they may have been thinking, but the next time they come searching, they'll find something!

Forté bought by Dazler Software and they say there will be a version 2.0. Oboy! Maybe I'll be able to piss people off by sending them HTML mail finally.

It was on this day in 1975 that I walked into a "Gay Lib" meeting in Columbia, Missouri (I was underage, and there were no gay bars in Columbia, anyway) and my life changed.

Easter comes

Who in the hell would agree to raise a genetically modified, addictive drug that is almost universally despised?
The Amish!

Tired of speaking only lame? W15h j00 C0Uld 8E @n L33t 5Pe4KER?

Arms that take some bearing!

From Yahoo Dailynews
Wednesday February 21 8:11 AM ET
Student's Science Project Taken Down

DENVER (Reuters) - Officials in Colorado are reviewing a decision to ban a student's science fair project that showed white students preferred a white Barbie doll over a black one.

The student's father, David Thielen, said officials at Mesa Elementary School in Boulder, Colorado, violated his daughter's right to freedom of speech and owed the girl an apology, the Denver Post reported Tuesday.

In the science fair project, all 15 students in a fifth grade class picked the white doll and in a second class nine of the 15 students picked the white doll. Fifth graders are generally 10 years old.

The girl was told to take down her display about an hour after she put it up because officials at the school, which is more than 90 percent white, were concerned that it would upset minority students.

The father told the Post he doesn't believe the students are racist, but rather they appreciate those who look like them. ``They are around white kids all the time,'' he said.

The school district said it did not have an immediate comment.

Here's a blog-sorta thing for kwirz. Don't know why it took me so long to hear of it!

Okay, besides being a cute little hate-filled bigot, he's also woefully ignorant?! Are we supposed to believe this?
From The Advertiser

Rapper did not know Elton was gay
24feb01
LOS ANGELES: Rapper Eminem has admitted he had no idea Grammy Award co-star Elton John was gay.

They sang Eminem's Stan,  an ode to a homicidal and obsessive fan, to a standing ovation at Thursday's event.

Elton John, open about his homosexuality, was criticised for teaming up with the artist whose homophobic lyrics have angered gay and lesbian groups throughout the world.

"Of course I had heard of Elton John, but I didn't know he was gay," Eminem said on MTV yesterday after winning three Grammys and even hugging Elton John on stage.

"I didn't know anything about his personal life. I didn't really care. I think it made a statement in itself, saying that he understood where I was coming from."

Gilroy is not just the garlic capital of the world

If you love trees go here. And here. And not to miss this.

Cascading style sheets give you a hardon?

The Internet Moving Image Archive is a place for those with broadband to really show off their technological superiority over the rest of us mundane souls who have ready and cheap (if slow) access to the internet. Let me know how it is!

Was anyone thinking? From the Houston Chronicle.

Utah Legislature designates Jell-O as state snack

This not Ginger! Or is it?

Hey, it seems that Opera for the Mac was just released this week. My apologies for not being totally on top of that situation, but (it is now revealed!) I'm not a Mac guy.

Another report on the dismal state of DSL today.

A ground-zero report on Kumbha Mela from a westerner. I gotta put that on my things to do for 2013. By then it should be a REAL zoo!

Pravda, of course, still exists. And here the result of a recent survey:

MAJORITY OF RUSSIANS THINK U.S. HOSTILE, ONLY 5% CONSIDER IT SUPERPOWER
Over half of Russians consider the U.S. a country hostile towards Russia (52%), although every third Russian believes that the U.S. is a friendly country (32%). These figures were released by the Public Opinion Foundation on Thursday as the results of a nation-wide poll of 1,500 respondents conducted February 17. The respondents were asked the following open-ended question: "When you hear the words “the United States of America,” what comes to mind?" Most respondents (26%) said their first associations were those of a developed economy and a high standard of living. Many fewer mentioned the role the U.S. plays in the world: 5% of those polled called the U.S. a "superpower" and another 5% "an international gendarme" that wants to "get the entire world under its control." Another 16% revealed even more negative associations. Those respondents said they saw the U.S. as "Russia's enemy," a country where "psychologically primitive" ; "zombies" lived. Among the most frequently named associations named by this group of respondents were the words "illiterate," "chronic absence of culture," "drug abuse, sex," "crime," "organized crime," "shooting, killings, rape." Twenty percent of those polled said they were well disposed towards the U.S. and respected the country, and some even said they admired it. This group of respondents associate the U.S. with "true democracy," "freedom," "observance of human rights," "respect for people." It is a state whose citizens "have confidence in tomorrow" and where "law and order" prevail. It is a country of great possibilities," "an example for everyone," "a dream country" in which "one would like to live," they said, according to Interfax.

I'm not optimistic about this past week's move by the MBTA to appear more customer oriented. I am, however, impressed by the publicity given to the chiefs of the various parts of the MBTA. Never before have I know that there was one chief in charge of the Green Line, so I certainly didn't know his name, phone number, or e-mail address. Now I do. Until now, if you wanted to complain by e-mail you could go to the MBTA website and search really hard until you found the page where they claimed to want to hear from you. Then you would get a form to fill out where it became obvious that YOU were the one under scrutiny, not the MBTA. The form REQUIRED your address, phone number, and e-mail address as well as name. It also required the time and day of "the incident," the driver's number, the route and the vehicle number. All of this assumed that there was some single incident you wanted to complain about. There was no way to complain about chronic problems (like drivers who smoke). The couple of times I complained were fruitless. One complaint was completely ignored. The other complaint, they responded several days later saying they would "check into it." End of story.

If you waste your time at the MBTA website now you will find they have only one single link to reflect the new policy, and it links only to the GRAPHIC of the rider's rights, so none of it is linked to anything. The phone numbers, e-mail and names of the various chiefs are still not on the website. Therefore, I come to the rescue. Here are the e-mail addresses of the chiefs of the four subway lines and of commuter rail. There are chiefs of the various bus garages, but for those to be meaningful you have to know which garage your bus comes from, and that's not at all intuitive.

Green Line
Brian Dwyer
bdwyer@mbta.com

Blue Line
Lisa Bono
lbono@mbta.com

Red Line
Anthony Kinahan
akinahan@mbta.com

Orange Line
Alexander Pickett
apickett@mbta.com

Commuter Rail
Stephen Jones
sjones@mbta.com

I'm also putting them permanently in the right-hand column, so consider it a reference.

More vocabulary masturbation (it's not vocabulary sex until you use it in a sentence with another person):

These are from Merriam-Webster Inc. http://www.Merriam-Webster.com

ex parte \eks-PAR-tee\ (adverb or adjective)
1 : on or from one side or party only -- used of legal proceedings
2 : from a one-sided or partisan point of view

Example sentence:
The report in the papers that the company's director was stepping down due to allegations of impropriety was not based on fact but on an ex parte communication from the director's opponents.

Did you know?
"Latin has not been over-used in a procedural context ('ex parte' being a rare exception)," wrote a correspondent to the London Times a few months back. Indeed, "ex parte" (literally, Medieval Latin "on behalf [of]") pops up quite often in legal settings. For example, an ex parte proceeding is one that occurs at the request of and for the benefit of one party, usually without the knowledge and participation of any other party. Even when "ex parte" steps outside the courtroom -- to be used of an ex parte meeting, interview, chat, conversation, investigation, discussion, or contact, for example -- the "one-sided" sense often has some sort of legal or legislative slant, referring to involvement of just one party or side in a case or dispute.

adamantine \ad-uh-MAN-teen or ad-uh-MAN-tine\ (adjective)
1 : made of or having the quality of adamant
2 : rigidly firm : unyielding
3 : resembling the diamond in hardness or luster

Example sentence:
"Ideas he had, in abundance, along with a ferocious capacity for hard work and a streak of adamantine stubbornness." (Evan Cornog, The New York Times Book Review, October 29, 1995)

Did you know?
The Greek and Latin word for the hardest imaginable substance, whether applied to a legendary stone or an actual substance such as diamond or steel, was "adamas." Latin poets used the term figuratively for things lasting, firm, or unbending, and the adjective "adamantinus" was used in similar contexts. The English noun "adamant" (meaning "an unbreakable or extremely hard substance"), as well as the adjective "adamant" (meaning "inflexible" or "unyielding"), came from "adamas." "Adamantine," which has such figurative uses as "rigid," "firm," and "unyielding," came from "adamantinus." "Adamas" is actually the source of "diamond" as well. "Diamas," the Latin term for diamond," was an alteration of "adamas."

chthonic \THAH-nik (TH as in "think")\ (adjective)
: of or relating to the underworld : infernal

Example sentence:
Sharon compared entering her brother's basement bedroom to a descent into chthonic regions -- it was dark and odd-smelling, and she was a little frightened of what she might find there.

Did you know?
"Chthonic" might seem a lofty and learned word, but it's actually pretty down-to-earth in its origin and meaning. It comes from "chthon," which means "earth" in Greek. "Chthonic" is associated with things that dwell in or under the earth. It is most commonly used in discussions of mythology, particularly underworld mythology. Pluto and Persephone, who reign over the underworld in Greek mythology, might be called "chthonic deities," for example. "Chthonic" has broader applications too. It can be used to describe something that resembles a mythological underworld (e.g., "chthonic darkness"), and it is sometimes used to describe things associated with the earth or nature (as opposed to the elevated or celestial).

taphephobia \taf-ee-FOH-bee-uh\ (noun)
: fear of being buried alive

Example sentence:
Ever since seeing his first horror film, our son has suffered from taphephobia.

Did you know?
"Taphephobia" is an interesting hybrid word. It's formed from the combination of a Greek word, "taphe," with the New Latin "phobia." "Taphe" means "burial, grave" (it's related to the Greek "thaptein," "to bury"), and most people know that "phobia" means "fear of something." ("Phobia" is itself derived from the Greek word "phobos," so both halves of "taphephobia" do ultimately come from Greek.) Taken literally, the two parts of "taphephobia" add up to "a fear of burial or the grave," but "taphephobia" has actually come to refer only to the fear of being buried in a grave while still alive. The fear may be more widespread than the word, as these days "taphephobia" seems to turn up primarily in lists of exotic phobias.

distrait \dih-STRAY (the final "t" is silent)\ (adjective)
: apprehensively divided or withdrawn in attention : distracted

Example sentence:
"'. . . Mrs. Spence, now, she says he was distrait all the evening. Didn't always answer to the point. As though he had "something on his mind." I bet he had, too, if he had a body in the chest! . . .'" (Agatha Christie, "The Mystery of the Spanish Chest")

Did you know?
"Distrait" is a somewhat literary word with an unusual history. Borrowed from Old French, it was used in the 14th and 15th centuries in a sense very close to that of "distraught," which means "deeply agitated or troubled" (both words are ultimately from the Latin adjective "distractus"). Later, during the 18th century, "distrait" appears to have been reborrowed from French in a milder sense closer to "preoccupied" or "distracted." Another peculiarity of the word is that it tends to be treated in English as if it were still a French word: it has a feminine variant, "distraite," like a French adjective, and it is pronounced as if French. It can still suggest agitation, but not as strongly as "distraught"; more often it means simply "mentally remote."

hortative \HOR-tuh-tihv\ (adjective)
: giving exhortation : advisory

Example sentence:
When he learned that the legislature might vote against the proposed budget, Joe sent a hortative letter to the editor urging all citizens to fight for it.

Did you know?
"We give nothing so freely as advice," observed French writer Duc de La Rochefoucauld in 1665. "Hortative" and "exhort" (meaning "to urge earnestly") are two words that testify to our eagerness to counsel others. Both trace to the Latin "hortari," meaning "to urge." "Hortative" has been used as both a noun (meaning "an advisory comment") and as an adjective since the 17th century. The noun is now uncommon, but it made a rare appearance in a 1992 article in The New York Times: "Facing directly into the camera, Mr. [Ross] Perot chronicled what he called the decline and potential fall of the American economy, keeping up a steady stream of hortatives as he went along. 'Let's just raise the hood and go to work!' he said. 'Let's just link arms and go do it!'"

dragon's teeth \DRAG-unz-teeth\ (noun)
1 : seeds of strife
2 : wedge-shaped concrete antitank barriers laid in multiple rows

Example sentence:
We sow dragon's teeth when we engage in idle gossip, because the hurt feelings and angry misunderstandings that arise from passing rumors often hurt us as much as others.

Did you know?
In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne described how Pearl generated imaginary companions, saying, "She never created a friend, but seemed always to be sowing broadcast the dragon's teeth, whence sprung a harvest of armed enemies, against whom she rushed to battle." In Hawthorne and elsewhere, "dragon's teeth" alludes to a story involving Cadmus, the legendary Greek hero reputed to have founded Thebes and invented the alphabet. The tale holds that Cadmus killed a dragon and planted its teeth in the ground. From the teeth sprang fierce armed men who battled one another until all were dead but five. These founded the noblest families of Thebes and helped build its citadel.

philippic \fuh-LIH-pik\ (noun)
: a discourse or declamation full of bitter condemnation : tirade

Example sentence:
I had been warned that mentioning the boss around Susan might trigger a lengthy philippic over her most recent unpleasant encounter with him.

Did you know?
In 351 B.C., the Greek orator Demosthenes delivered a fiery speech warning his countrymen against the imperialistic designs of Philip II, king of Macedon, and chastising them for their timidity and inaction. In Greek, this and subsequent such speeches made by Demosthenes were known as "philippikoi logoi," literally, "speeches relating to Philip." Demosthenes is known to have delivered only three Philippics; in contrast, the Philippics of the Roman statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero attacking Marc Antony some 300 years later -- "orationes philippicae" in Latin (so-named because of their similarity to Demosthenes' orations) -- numbered fourteen. We still capitalize the word when we refer to these famous diatribes, but ever since 1592, "philippic" has been used lowercased in English in its broader sense as well.

caparison \kuh-PAIR-uh-sun\ (noun)
1 a : an ornamental covering for a horse b : decorative trappings and harness
2 : rich clothing : adornment

Example sentence:
"Joseff...was, for example, responsible for Elizabeth Taylor's caparisons in Cleopatra. Gilded and lacquered, the pieces range from surreal cocks' heads to stylised sun and moon gods." (The Daily Telegraph, June 16, 1997)

Did you know?
"Caparison" first embellished English in the 1500s, when we borrowed it from the Middle French "caparacon." (It's probably ultimately derived from "capa", the Latin word for "cape.") Early caparisons were likely used to display the heraldic colors of a horseman, and in some cases may also have functioned as protective covering for the horse. In British India, elephants, not horses, were decked out with caparisons -- as both animals still are in parades and circuses everywhere. "Caparison" also serves English as a verb, a use first recorded in Shakespeare when Richard III commanded, "Come, bustle, bustle; caparison my horse." Today, the verb is often a synonym of "adorn," as in this sentence: "CBS's Bob Schieffer, sportily caparisoned in a tweed cap..." (Neil Hickey, Columbia Journalism Review, Jan-Feb. 2001).

mantic \MAN-tik\ (adjective)
: of or relating to the faculty of divination : prophetic

Example sentence:
"You may be skeptical now of my mantic skills," said the fortune-teller, "but you'll soon learn that my prophecies are true."

Did you know?
The adjective "mantic" comes from the Greek word "mantikos," which itself derives from "mantis," meaning "prophet." (The mantis insect got its name from this same source, supposedly because its posture -- with the forelimbs extended as though in prayer -- reminded folks of a prophet.) Not surprisingly, the combining form "-mancy," which means "divination in a (specified) manner" (as in "necromancy" and "pyromancy"), is a relative of "mantic." A less expected, and more distant relative, is "mania," meaning "insanity marked by uncontrollable emotion or excitement" or "excessive enthusiasm." "Mania" descends from the Greek "mainesthai" ("to be mad"), a word akin to "mantis" and its offspring. And indeed, prophesying in ancient Greece was sometimes believed to be "inspired madness."

From a time when manly men worked together in manly ways!

What's this? Bicycle ASCII art. This and many, many more, big, tiny, and medium are available here. Grab some that you like and use them as you will.

                    __o
 --------- __o     _`\<,_      __o
 ------- _`\<,_   (*)/ (*)   _`\<,_
 ------ (*)/ (*)            (*)/ (*)

Seen on Usenet

Subject: Re: Young Mars Creationism?
From: Moxy <aghull@athomesucks.com>
Newsgroups: talk.origins

Cary Kittrell wrote:

> I am so confused.
>
> The Grand Canyon, as the Young Earth Creationsists have made clear,
> was not carved out by eons of erosion, rather it was excavated
> in a twinkling by the Noachic Deulge.
>
> Well and good, but now those troublemakers over at NASA have
> just released photos of apparent sedimentary features in
> the Valles Marineris, a canyon so vast that it might easily
> put our Grand Canyon in its pocket and walk off with it.
> Some of the sedimentary beds appear to be as much as
> two miles deep.
>
> So, now what? Did God grow peevish with the Martians too? Were
> they terminally naughty as well? What is it with this God guy,
> always drowning his litters? (`And the LORD said to Barsoomah
> "Go ye forth and gather unto yourself three of each creature
> that creeps or swims or flurls, and again nine of each, according
> to its nature. Three shall you gather of all which crawl, yea
> the Flandcoot and its Melfurm together with their Snorfl, neither
> shall you take unto yourself the Lamnizar which doth soar, unless
> you gather also its appointed Blarfed and yet again their Plimpsat,
> Fleeznur, Pomwop, Mnk, Thallasnowump, Ianoor, Telmusk and Qrl, even
> as I have made them. And of the creatures which I have made to
> flense, seventeen of each kind shall you...")
>
>
and Barsoomah said, "uhh yeah, RIGHT Lord. THAT's going to happen..."

famous last words :)

The right to bare arms:

I ordered the bike. Supposed to be shipped around March 14. Here's the spec sheet they mailed me. Feel free to criticize. I have decided to have it done in plain black. It's the best base to start from. I can freely adorn it with whatever color crap I have, and nothing will clash with the frame. I think it will be the first Campagnolo components I've ever owned...not 100% sure about that. Maybe there was some little gewgaw some time that was Campy.

Don't forget about the T-shirt/Link Exchange! I only have a finite number of t-shirts to give away, so dally not!

Anybody catch "Anna Karenina" on PBS last night? Oi, that Vronsky!

In Amsterdam Everything is Okay! Here is an article (in English) about homosexual animals in the Artis Zoo. And here is the Artis Zoo page (in Dutch) about it. I would love to get a report from anyone who takes the tour of homosexual animals. Observations beyond the merely bioligical are especially desired. How politically conscious are these animals? How tasteful? Is there an equivalent of the right-wing homophobe who gets his share of homo-sex only surreptitiously?

I may have negelected to highlight that I'm now also on the Brat Webring. They don't give much of an explanation of their standards. I think we're supposed to figure it out from their name.

Went to see Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon last night. WHY is this nominated for Best Picture? All its other nominations I can accept, but Best Picture?!