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11/30/2002 ·  1/23/2003
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12/16/2001 ·  1/ 2/2002
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10/16/2001 · 10/31/2001
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12/18/2000 · 12/31/2000
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11/ 6/2000 · 11/28/2000
10/29/2000 · 11/ 5/2000
10/11/2000 · 10/19/2000
10/ 1/2000 · 10/ 9/2000
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Search rbgilbert.com

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

A new photo of the Cambridge Hyatt at night.

Watching The Sopranos tonight, episode 6 of the first season, when I was delighted to see a drug dealer killed at the Passaic Falls. On my rides across New Jersey those falls have been one of the very loveliest sights. Especially so, because they lie in the midst of one of the ugliest cities on the route: Passaic, of course. In this episode of The Sopranos the dealer was tossed from the bridge you can see in the pic below. It was witnessed by a handful of what I suppose were intended to be local lads, but they looked way too nice to be real Passaic boys.

Teenage son of a co-worker who downloaded and installed Opera (after long suffering with IE) says with "Wow, Dad, this is almost like having DSL!" Ah, that youthful exuberance. Still, he is not entirely wrong. Browsers Of The World, Unite! Throw off your sorry-ass, leaden, monstrous browser software. Try Opera.

Magnetics:

• A magnetic poetry site
  
• Another
  
• Another
  
• Yet another, but this one has almost no 3rd person singular verbs, no 1st person pronouns, no spare "S"s, and I can't make up sentences that sound like a brand new immigrant.

Schizophrenia institutionalized.

Evil-eyed, red-headed, bear-eating, over-hyphenated monster walks the Earth today! (Claims relationship status to author of Ron's Log!!)

Click for full size

New pic, taken last month, of the waterfront of downtown Boston on a Saturday night.

Click for full size

Here's a column by a woman who has absolutely nothing to worry about. She's got to pretend that tall people might be offended by being described as "tall." Lordy.

Bedwetting research. Anybody know anything about delta waves?

"Ethnic counselor Edward Teng '02 said he believed that although everyone has the right to free speech, the banner might create a hostile environment for some ethnic minorities." Yeah, yeah. Everybody's got a right to free speech, except for this speech, or that speech, or some speech that might maybe offend someone over there, or might titillate some guy who we don't know, or might get some off-balance guy excited, maybe. Yeah, fucking bullshit. Free speech is free speech, and for plenty of goddammed good reasons.

"Kill 'em all! Let God sort 'em out!"

If you're offended or confused, think again.

Goodwill Industries struggle to defend us from Communism.

And don't nobody say nuthin' about the First Amendment or court decisions. I'm talking about free speech for free speech's sake. The First Amendment is only one room in the big house of free speech. (Hmmm. "Big house." Probably not best choice. Should I say "grand mansion?" Or "ocean-view highrise apartment building?" Yes, that's nice. Free speech and the First Amendment should live in some highly desirable location in a pleasant clime.)

My mom told me that was a dangerous neighborhood. Now I beleive her. Next time I'm there I'll carry bleach and detergent, just in case.

Krispy Kreme hits Issaquah, Washington today. Article here on how they prepared yesterday.

On the left is a food packet of the type being dropped in Afghanistan. On the right is a cluster bomblette of the type being dropped in Afghanistan. Our Department of Defense assures the Afghanis that the two are being dropped only in separate areas, many miles from each other. I express my dubiosity.

A new idea (I think) is Make a Shorter Link. You know how sometimes you have those godawful long URLs that you want to send to someone, and you're afraid that somewhere along the line some crap program is gonna wordwrap it rendering it nearly useless? Well, no more! Haul that long snake of a URL over to Make a Shorter Link and they create a shorter URL that will link to your destination. Then you pass that shorter URL along!

Israel was said to be "secretly" (we read in a Sunday Times from last year) considering planting neutron bomb land mines along any new border with Syria in the Golan Heights. "Neutron" bombs, to refresh your memory, are those with greater radiation, but a lower energy shockwave. The result is less damage to structures and equipment, but more dead.

Plans afoot for American military forces to steal Pakistan's nuclear weapons, if it becomes necessary.

Neckties and scarves depicting diseases and yuckies of the day. This is anthrax:

You can also find syphillis, e. coli, cholera, staphylococcus and even dental plaque.

Courtship among the Taliban.

Even the dead can be young Christian men:

Favorable review of the iPod for the lonely (and music-loving) Mac people here.

Is this cartoon offensive to Mac users?

Or this one?

Pedophile R.C. priest, fired by the Pope himself, complains "I am weary of an environment characterised by a lack of loyalty." Yeah. Tough world, huh?

Excellent Halloween sound effects from Martha Stewart.

"The Muslim Has A Sense Of Humour," but Dr. Muhammad Ali Al-Hashimi's site will convince you otherwise.

Mammal penis bones. Real!

Gawd, there's a malt liquor web ring!

Visited the eye doctor today and got the photos below. As you can possibly see, my macula show no indication of being degenerates. My parents' macula exhibited degeneracy, so I am pleased to see that I'm not going down that path…yet.

The Gallery Of "Misused" Quotation Marks. Example: "OAK" FIREWOOD FOR SALE. Certainly a peeve of mine. Somewhere in the neighborhood of produce pricing like ".79¢ / lb." A scourge which is showing up even at Bread & Circus.

A short list of uncommon English words with their meanings, including:

• Mumpsimus (opposite of "sumpsimus")
• Zeugma
• Clavus
• Chisanbop
• Hapax Legomenon
• Abirritate
• Screeno
• Haplopia
• Logomachy

Linguistic Phenomena/Devices listed and explained, including:

• aphaeresis
• apocope
• aposiopesis
• diaeresis
• dystmesis
• elision
• ellipsis
• eponymy
• hendiadys
• holonym
• hypernym
• hypocorisma
• hyponym
• kenning
• litotes
• meiosis
• meronym
• metonymy
• paronomasia
• periphrasis
• pleonasm
• procatalepsis
• syllepsis
• syncope
• synecdoche
• tmesis ("un-freakin-believable")
• zeugma

William Safire's list of self-breaking rules, such as "A writer must not shift your point of view."

Dictionary of Library and Information Science, i.e., Librarian-speak. Tediously complete, of course. For example: "aisle - The space left unoccupied between two parallel bookcases or shelf ranges to allow for the passage of library staff and patrons."
And surprisingly current: "Zip disk - A 3.5-inch removable diskette developed by Iomega which can store 100MB or more of data, much more than a standard floppy disk, at relatively low cost. A special Zip drive must be installed on a microcomputer to allow the user to write to and read from a Zip disk"

The Alternative Dictionaries which is (are) much more interesting than the name suggests. It includes 3128 slang and obscene words in 79 languages. Lots in English to assist the culturally challenged. In always-useful Portuguese there are 53 always-useful words, such as:

• bicha
• biscate
• cacete
• caralho
• chupar
• comer
• cu'
• dar o rabo
• esporra
• filho da puta
• Foda-se!
• foder
• frango assado
• gozar
• passar um cheque (oh my!)
• pau
• pinto
• porra
• puta que te pariu
• puta, puto
• queres que te chupe?
• vai tomar no cu
• veado

In Brazil pigs say "croinh croinh." Learn more at Sounds of the World's Animals

A little different view on the losses we suffered on 9/11/2001 by Marylaine Block. Other essays here.

The Phobia List; from Ablutophobia (fear of washing or bathing) to Zoophobia (fear of animals), including cyberphobia and cyclophobia and logophobia.

What does your phone number spell?

Joe Lavin columns for yucks.

Sniglets

Wicked good guide to Boston English. This one covers it pretty well, not just the usual 2 or 3 jokes about "pahking the cah in Hahvahd yahd." (Includes a handy list of public restrooms in Boston!)

Important list of unusual place names:

• Berlin: BER-lin.
• Billerica: Bill-ricka or B'ricka
• Cochituate: Co-CHIH-chew-it
• Concord: CON-cud
• Leicester: Lestuh
• Leominster: Lemon-stuh
• Norfolk: Norfork, Nor-F'K or Nor-folk
• Peabody: Pea-B'dee
• Quincy: QUIN-zee
• Waltham: Wall-tham
• Woburn: WU-bin
• Worcester: Wuhstah

Watched Pasolini's Arabian Nights tonight with George. He wanted me to mention it. Lots of nice scenery, but rather tedious when the flesh wasn't on display.

Bicycle with electro-luminescent panels.

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is still at it. He plans to build a 144-story, 2220-foot pyramid shaped skyscraper in India to house the World Center of Vedic Learning. It will be the tallest building in the world - by far! The Petronas Towers are only 1483 feet.

A sex blog.

This year's winner of the Tom of Finland Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award goes to Larry Flynt.

DiskOnKey is a little keychain-style device that can hold up to 128 meg. It plugs into a USB port and includes its own CPU. Very rugged; one has gone through a wash and still works. No mention of price. Claims it works now with Mac OS9 and X, and Win ME and 2000. No mention of the dreaded Win XP. Can be made to work with Win 98.

Marijuana growing machine story. Manufacturer's website here, which requires Flash and has some nice touches to it, even though still incomplete. This machine is for Canadians of course. It sounds like just a self-contained hydroponics unit with good ventilation. Before I laid down my bucks for a marijuana growing machine it would also have to harvest and dry the crop. Luxury units would also clean it and possibly even roll it for you!

Marijuana to be reclassified in Britain. It will not be an arrestable "offence." Isn't that similar to policy The Netherlands?

Interesting article by a person who organized "orgies" in the Portland, Maine, area. They go bad. These orgies are controlled, mixed-sex affairs, and they are nothing like any I have ever been to. But, then, I've only been to gay ones which have all been a lot more relaxed, fun and spontaneous than the group sex he describes. Tell me, reader, if you have had experiences similar to those described in the article. I suspect part of the problem was that all of the participants are coming from a small-town hetero or bisexual background. What do you think? I want especially to hear from you who are into the S&M, B&D scene, since that was a major part of of these parties in Maine.

A whole page devoted to Tom Cruise's civil suits in which he tries to prove he is heterosexual.

"Gay rights are human rights and as such are non-negotiable" Cyprus' intolerance becomes a problem with the EU.

Archbishop Chrysostomos, the veteran primate of Cyprus' all-powerful Orthodox church, recently made an impassioned appeal to … "revolt against homosexuals. They are depraved sinners," snapped the spiritual leader who has also pledged to "personally excommunicate the perverts" if they refuse to repent their "unnatural acts … You must stop them."

Gideons distribute New Testaments in public schools in Warren County, Tennessee. Students who felt uncomfortable or did not want a New Testament were permitted to leave the room before distribution. "As far as I know, it's legal," the school system's director, Jerry Hale, said. Wow! Obviously this country has a nearly infinite supply of rocks for these people to live under.

The boycott of Berkeley, California, begins.

Really useful and big list of internet chat and e-mail acronyms. The kind you really need, like "BFD."

The Straight Dope

There's plenty of fascinating stuff here!

These apricots and these peaches make me and to come water in the mouth. That's from English as She is Spoke.

ENGLISH IS TOUGH STUFF

On my way home tonight I was walking from the Green Line to Bread & Circus to refresh my supply of carrots. There in the parking lot was a white-haired man with a portable manual typewriter open on the hood of his [presumably his] Toyota. There was a sheet of 8½ x 11 white inserted and he was just a-typing away.

East Village bar equipped with 60 video cameras controlled by patrons. Story here. Web site here.

Just got this announcement from friend Kevin Patton:

Hi Everyone,

Next month I will be having my first ever performance as a storytelling "feature". Probably most of you have never gone to a performance of storytelling for adults. Well, it's way more fun than it sounds so I encourage you to come, have fun and support me. I expect to be telling 2 stories. "Why I Ride" is about my experience fighting AIDS by riding a bicycle thousands of miles and "Ordinary-Extra-Ordinary" is the story of a man's ordinary life and one extraordinary night in 1969. And just think, one day when I'm more successful than Spaulding Gray (another Rhode Islander) or Garrison Keillor you can say "I saw him when …" OK, so you've never heard of them, but you've heard of me. So come out if you can.

Thanks,
Kevin

STORYTELLING FOR GROWNUPS
OPEN MIKE FOLLOWED BY FEATURE [ME]
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 9TH, 7:00PM
BESTSELLERS BOOKSTORE CAFE
24 High Street Street (Rte 60)
Medford Square - Medford, Massachusetts
Donation requested but not required Medford Square is at the Rte 60 exit from I-93. It can also be reached from Rte 16 or Mystic Avenue in Somerville/Medford. For more info call me at (617) 666-2185 or for detailed directions call the store at (781) 391-7171

Piss Beer. It's real!

Finally got around to watching the episode of Enterprise that I taped a couple of weeks ago. I think it was the 2^nd episode, the one where they come across an apparently dead spacecraft with bio signs inside. They make contact and find a dozen corpses hung up, connected to some kind of plumbing. What a crock! I'm willing to suspend my belief quite a bit, but…. I can go along with it when the linguist learns a completely alien tongue in just an hour or so and is able to make herself understood by one of those aliens. But when she finally gets through to the ugly thing, it nods its head to indicate understanding and agreement! What?! Has it been watching I Love Lucy broadcasts?

I agreed with the Vulcan bitch: they never should have stopped, they shouldn't have investigated, they shouldn't have returned. Has the captain never studied naval history? Boarding a ship with a mysteriously dead crew is a good way to lose your own.

Coming from Malden Mills: electric fleece.

ASCII charts, keyboard scan codes, hex to decimal or octal, links to other handy references

How to Obscure Any URL

Damn that Bill of Rights! After just a month our Justice Department is looking for a way to shred it.

The Threat Matrix

Cat and 3 kittnes found alive in World Trade Center

Somebody's tossing around the idea that this device will replace the CD:
The disc is described as "Just bigger than a quarter." It will be able to hold 500 megabytes of data, or 5 CD-quality albums. I'm confused. A CD is bigger than 500 megabytes, but it can hold only one album in CD quality. So, they must be planning on incorporating some compression, but the article never mentions what kind of compression or what (if any) loss might result. It will also have copy protection built in (ah ha!). They suggest a scheme where you buy a disc so you can listen to one album on it, but it may have 4 more on it that are encrypted. If you want one of the other 4 you fork over some bucks and the recording company unlocks it for you. The article says "The cost would be much lower than a typical purchase because the albums would be on the same disc." That's a load of hooey. As it is now, the cost of the physical CD is only about 50 cents, but audio CDs still sell for $12 to $16, because the record labels and the artists still want their bucks. I expect one of these new DataPlay discs to cost $15 to $20, and each additional album you unlock would cost you about $15. Why would it be any lower? Of course, all the greatest minds will focus on breaking the encryption, which will be broken shortly before the product debuts on the market.

The American Sniper Association is NOT a joke! Well, I mean, they are real and legitimate.

Professional photographer shooting at the WTC scene on 9/11/2001 kept going until the second tower collapsed. His cameras and film were found relatively intact by his body. Here is the last photo he took at 10:28 AM.

Britsh Concorde to return to service November 7.

Seen on Usenet: a good variation on the old "gay agenda" joke.

Subject: Re: An additional basement (was Re: Car towing question)
From: huey@interaccess.com (Gary S. Callison)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.cecil-adams

N Jill Marsh (njmarsh@bigfoot.com) wrote:
: "Jason Quick" <jsquick@hotmail.com> wrote:
: >I dunno...I think the "gay lifestyle" has something to do with chintz
: >drapes. Anyone have solid info on this?
: No, but I've been told by someone who know a LOT about this topic that
: the gay agenda appears to have something to do with getting everyone
: to live in houses that appeal only to the gay aesthetic.

Ah, the 'gay agenda'. I have a sort of interesting story about this.

Have you ever heard the song "Bobby Brown", by Frank Zappa? No? Well, let me explain the long form then.

There I was- there I was- there I was- crossing the tundra, and-

...shit, wrong story. Ah, here it is. So I'm in the middle of a messy divorce, right? And I'm out at a bar, drowning my sorrows in cheap tap beer, and there's this other construction-worker-lookin'-like dude there, and we commence to talkin'. I fire off one of those "Women, can't live with 'em; pass the beer nuts" lines, and he very calmly and rationally begins explaining something to me.

"You like women, right?". Well, yeah. Who doesn't? But none of them seem to like me much. "It's because you don't really understand them" he says. "You need to get inside their minds more. What's really important to a woman turns out to be what's really important to everybody. They want security, and openness, and understanding, and compassion, and honesty, and tenderness. And a well-appointed comfortable home, a smartly-dressed spouse, and fabulous sex. Do you think you can do that?"

"Damn. I dunno. I think I've got the security and the honesty bit down, but I've never really been in touch with my own feelings, much less understand somebody else's. And look at me! Smartly dressed? Pshaw. As if."

"Come with me" he says, and we get in his truck (turns out he IS a construction worker) and we drive to the other part of town, a neighborhood I'm not real familiar with. Nice area, though. Pretty architecture, the yards all look well-kept, the cars are all a little nicer. We stop at another little bar, that looks a little upscale compared to the one we had just left. "There's some people I want you to meet."

We walk in, and it _is_ a much nicer place, but nobody really looks twice at the two of us dressed like workin' man. He leads me to the back, where there's a big table full of attractive people, and says "Huey here just had a messy divorce. I think we can help him." I sit down, order a stiff gin & tonic, and wonder what I'm getting in to, but as I sit there and make idle chitchat (and the liquor goes by quickly- more is brought as quickly) with these people, it seems to me that they are all really supportive and wonderful.

Then, he turns to me, "do you want to tell the whole story? Start at the beginning. The whole evil nightmare." This is pretty weird. I mean, I don't know any of these people. But they seem nice, and interested in hearing it, so I eat & order another gin & tonic, and begin.

I'm telling the story, about how it all went wrong, how I'm not sure she ever loved me, about how I find myself hating the part of me that still loves her, and sure enough, by the end of the story, I'm crying like a baby. He leans over, puts his hand on my shoulder, and pulls me to him. As I look at him, tears streaming down my face, he gives me a kiss.

I look up, startled. Looking around the table, I notice for the first time that men and women are not interspersed. Men are sitting next to men! And women are sitting next to women! And some of them are HOLDING HANDS! Suddenly, it hits me: I'M BEING RECRUITED BY THE GAYS! Boy, was _I_ ever suprised.

...A couple days later, I get a big package in the mail, and you wouldn't BELIEVE some of the stuff in there. There were these slacks (and they were just FABULOUS!) and some silk underwear (feels ~very~ nice), a complete set of Indigo Girls discs, and a new shower curtain- I didn't really understand that until I thought about it for a minute- all gay men have clean shower curtains! So THAT'S the deal... And there were also some books on design, and decorating, and gardening, and this really cool Gay Rulebook. I haven't read the whole thing yet, but apparently I'm gonna hafta buy some Kool & The Gang and Pointer Sisters tapes and learn how to dance. There was a coupon for dance lessons at the local leather bar. And there was a copy of the Gay Agenda:

6:00 am:	Jogging in the park, then aerobics at the gym
8:00 am:	Breakfast (raisin bran and grapefruit)
9:00 am:	Hair appointment
10:00 am:	Shopping (Bloomingdale's, Nordstom, I Magnin)
Noon:	Champagne Brunch
2:00 pm:	- Assume complete control of all U.S. Federal, State, and Local Governments, as well as the UN - Undermine american family values - replace all teachers in grades 1-12 with pedophiles - destroy all non-gay-friendly houses of worship (see secret webpage for updated list) - secure total control of the Internet and all mass media
2:30 pm:	Nap. Total world domination really takes it out of you.
4:00 pm:	Activism: - work on committee to re-elect Jesse Helms and Strom Thurmond - send letters in support of Rush Limbaugh (C'mon! You _knew_ these guys had to be working for Our side! Like you could explain them otherwise!)
5:00 pm:	Cocktails (~Spritzer~!) If you feel like being catty, arrange it so the ex-wife sees you with your new boyfriend, drop subtle hints that she put you off women forever
6:00 pm:	Light Dinner- veal saltimbocca, arugula salad with balsamic dressing and some Merlot
8:00 pm:	Theater
10:00 pm:	Recruiting. Hang out in straight bars, and look for other lost souls to turn to the Dark Side. (REMEMBER! Ten Percent is not enough! Recruit! Recruit! Recruit!)
11:30 pm:	Disco until dawn

Now, I know what some of you are saying. "But Huey- face it, men are pigs, and I can count the number of them I'd actually want to sleep with on one hand!" DON'T WORRY. I feel the same way, and I love women way too much to give that up too. Which is why, if you act now, we can throw in the Special Bonus Bisexual Pak for only $39.95! [*] Sure, you don't get to decorate, or dance, or dress as well, but you don't have to spend so much time being with all of those fags! Just remember, you only get as much out of being gay as you're willing to put into it. The more gay you are, the more women will be attracted to you! But the Bisexual kit enables you to pick your own level of gay! If you just want to wear nice clothes and learn how to disco without looking like a complete doofus, without actually swishing when you walk, it's completely up to you! But act now! Very soon, if you can't pass a simple test (i.e: "Does this window treatment go with this
wallpaper?") you'll be the first one up against the wall when the revolution comes...

[*] Money back if not completely satisfied! (Offer not valid in Utah.)

--
Huey
Woody Allen was wrong: the best thing about being bisexual is NOT doubling your chances of getting a date, it's doubling the potential material for jokes involving sexual innuendo.

I've edited the thumbnails on my thumbnail page, making them smaller so the page loads faster. I also added a photo of yours truly standing on top of Hoover Dam.

I went back and got some photos I took on my bike ride across the Triboro Bridge in August 2000. I had planned a much larger collection of photos showing my whole ride from Boston to Pennsylvania, but never completed the work. I don't want these Triboro shots to go unseen. I got to the bridge just at dusk, so my pictures are all taken from the Queens end. None of the photos I attempted on the Manhattan end came out. Thumbnails are on the thumbnail page or use the following list to view the full size pics.

• View of Manhattan from Triboro Bridge
• The Amtrak bridge as viewed from the Triboro Bridge
• View towards Queens from Triboro Bridge
• On the Triboro approaching midspan
• Looking at the west tower from midspan
• Tower of the Triboro from midspan
• Especially this tower of the Triboro Bridge
  

The frightening stories of stupid abuses of the rights of law-abiding Americans begin.

Click for full size

"The Raytown [Missouri] Police Department announces a bicycle safety program. If you see a bicycle officer and you are wearing your helmet and practicing good bicycle safety you may receive a prize. Flag down the bicycle officer and he will give you a certificate good for a free small French Fry from McDonalds. The following McDonalds are participating: 8909 E. 350 Hwy., 5260 Blue Ridge Blvd. & 6996 Eastwood Trfy. Remember that wearing a helmet reduces your chance of serious injury or death.  

"The concept of this program was construed by Alderperson Barb Schlapia."

I'm not going to whine that it seems you only get one single french fry (not to exceed 2 inches in overall length), but I would like to know what it means to construe a concept. After all, this is just Raytown, Missouri, not Berkeley, California, where construing concepts is their very lifeblood.

This is a photo of 10 of the 12 members of the Raytown, Missouri, SWAT team. Now Raytown, for those who don't live around there, is a little town just east of Kansas City with a population of about 30,000. The police department has 59 full time officers. I don't think it has a reputation for terrorism, hostage-taking, or wild drug abuse. The webpage suggests Raytown has become a haven for meth labs. It did have (25 years ago) a reputation for strings of cheap motels.

Click for full size

Teacher in California's Anaheim Union High School District thinks patriotic pins are some kind of gang symbols???

Two more night shots from the Vegas Strip: Caesar's Palace and the Strip in front of Caesar's Palace. Thumbnails are on my page of thumbnails (where else?).

Boondocks does it again.

"a hot, moist steam iron and moist fabric could kill anthrax spores."

I've updated my thumbnail page with some pics that you've not seen thumbnailed before, like this one of Science Park station (225 Kb).

Just had my first experience with HBO's The Sopranos. Very enjoyable! I don't have access to HBO, so I rented the first (of four) DVDs containing all of the programs from the show's first season. The disc contained the first four programs. I like that Tony Soprano. Got it from Netflix, of course.

Non-metallic room temperature magnetism. Could provide great benefit for computers.

Textism

Pretty cool site if you are a southern California driver.

Your Honking Has Shown Me The Error Of My Ways

infonesia

Infonesia is an inability to remember where you saw or heard an item of information. The condition is usually temporary but can recur frequently. It is more common in "information societies", with their flows of e-mail, seasonal catalogs, personal digital assistants, and trial magazine subscriptions. Possibly the most pernicious form of infonesia is internesia, the inability to remember which Web site you saw an item of information on.

A person who is racking their brain to remember the information source could properly be termed an infonesiac, although this usage is not common.

I read that at Whatis.com, I think.

Click here to view an interesting optical illusion.

• More here
• Another
• Avoid this one if you are prone to seizures!
• An old one
• If a little bit of an old thing is good, then a lot of it must be better
• Buncha links here

This shot was certainly among my very favorite bits of cinematography in 2001: A Spacy Odyssey:

Click for full size

Long Flash animation of the events of 9/11/2001 with Enya music and an unnecessary editorial at the end.

bloviate \BLOH-vee-ayt\, intransitive verb: To speak or write at length in a pompous or boastful manner.

Anyone who has ever spent an idle morning watching the Washington talk shows has probably wondered: how did these people become entitled to earn six-figure salaries bloviating about the week's headlines?
--Robert Worth, "Quick! The Index!" New York Times, June 3, 2001

After five years as president and thirty years as a political figure, this colossal oaf is still unable to discipline his urge to... bloviate.
--R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr., American Spectator, December 19, 1997

[W]e follow him minute by minute through a day in his office -- bloviating amiably with colleagues on the telephone, letting his secretary rewrite his clumsy letters and worrying about the possible hatred of his subordinates.
--John Brooks, "Fiction of the Managerial Class," New York Times, April 8, 1984

Bloviate is from blow + a mock-Latinate suffix -viate. Compare blowhard, "a boaster or braggart." Bloviation is the noun form; a bloviator is one who bloviates.

Trivia: Bloviate is most closely associated with U.S. President Warren G. Harding, who used it frequently and who was known for long, windy speeches. H.L. Mencken said of him, "He writes the worst English that I have ever encountered. It reminds me of a string of wet sponges; it reminds me of tattered washing on the line; it reminds me of stale bean soup, of college yells, of dogs barking idiotically through endless nights. It is so bad that a sort of grandeur creeps into it. It drags itself out of the dark abysm of pish, and crawls insanely up the topmost pinnacle of posh. It is rumble and bumble. It is flap and doodle. It is balder and dash."

from www.dictionary.com

One libertarian essay on how the government should be dealing with terrorism now.

Five members of the Berkeley city council return to Earth long enough to confirm their own foolishness.

The Maneater is on the web!

With police and fire departments stretched to the limit defending our Blessed Homeland, it's going to be up to the U.S. Forest Service to take care of routine police duties.

The Tour de Grave returns. I was involved in setting up the routing for this ride back in its first couple of years. If they do it like we used to do it, the ride visits every city-owned burial ground in Boston. Some of them have impressive historical qualities, but all are interesting.

The best of Kansas City. This is a really worthless list. Click on a category like "book store" and a little window pops up that just says "Barnes & Noble" period. Nothing on why it's the best, no address, no link, no phone number. Nothing to say if any particular B&N is the best in KC, or if they are all equally glorious in their superiority over every other store. The best art gallery is "UMKC?" That's an entire university! Care to narrow it down? And I think some justification is required to explain why it is superior to the Nelson Gallery or something at the Art Institute. Best barbecue is "Fiorella's Jackstack?" Somebody in Kansas City will have to tell me about that one. At least they have a good website where you can actually order their food! They also win best barbecue beef sandwich and best beans and best burnt ends and best ribs. Somebody at Fiorella's is sleeping with the right people. Best cheap lunch is Taco Bell! Oh my gawd! Best gay bar is the Cabaret. Oh lord. Best local author is C.W. Gusewelle who has four books listed at Amazon. Best seafood at McCormick & Schmick's.

Handy list of KC BBQ restaurants.

Another handy list of the same thing, but more of it.

Kansas City barbecue reviews by a bunch of white guys. Read their review of Fiorella's here.

The Smokering barbecue webring.

The Kansas City Barbecue Society where they spell it "barbecue," "barbeque," and even "bar b q" all on their home page.

A page discussing that very spelling issue.

You can find all sorts of useful photos on the web:

This site wastes an incredible amount of space to make sure you know what pieces of chicken look like.

The story of some fat white New England barbecue lovers who make their first trek to the fountainhead (Kansas City) for a barbecue competition.

My niece Erica and her friend Michael were here visiting from the Bay Area this past weekend. Had dinner last night at McCormick and Schmick's where they told me they had gotten engaged, just yesterday, after some 7 years of dating. We approve. Wedding next summer, so I can definitely count on at least one trip to SF next year.

Blogging

Your handy guide to Islam.

Webrings have been freed from Yahoo!!

Recent news on the Attleboro S&M party.

What is Queer Jihad?
"Queer Jihad is the queer Muslim struggle for acceptance: first, the struggle to accept ourselves as being exactly the way Allah has created us to be; and secondly, the struggle for acceptance and tolerance among Muslims in general."

The original photo via the U.S. Navy showing a Navy officer chalking "High Jack This Fags" on the bomb:

Click for full size

Here's the GLAAD article about it.

Here's an improved photo where the bomb bears the legend "Show Some Ass, Jarhead!".

Click for full size

Send your complaints to me at RonsLog@rbgilbert.com
Maybe I'll create a "Letters" space.