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Search rbgilbert.com

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

Scanned some old (1980s) B&W prints this afternoon. You can see thumbnails on this page. Or just go directly to the big pics with these links

• New Jersey across the Hudson
• Allis Plaza in downtown Kansas City
• Ceiling of City Hall lobby in Kansas City
• Grill on the Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City

Be no more troubled with boredom!

Who at the Department of Justice would be reading this site? I know one person who works at the DOJ, and I'm pretty certain he doesn't check in here.

How to Good-Bye Depression

I think constricting anus 100 times and denting navel 100 times in succession everyday is effective to good-bye depression and take back youth. You can do so at a boring meeting or in a subway. I have known a 70-year-old man who has practiced it for 20 years. As a result, he has a good complexion and has grown 20 years younger. His eyes sparkle. He is full of vigor, happiness and joy. He has neither complained nor born a grudge under any circumstance. Furthermore, he can make #### three times in succession without drawing out.

In addition, he also can have burned a strong, beautiful fire within his abdomen. It can burn out the dirty stickiness of his body, release his immaterial fiber or third attention, which has been confined to his stickiness. Then, he can shoot out his immaterial fiber or third attention to an object, concentrate on it and attain happy lucky feeling through the success of concentration.

If you don't know concentration, which gives you peculiar pleasure, your life looks like hell.

PFLAG is behind the protest against the Salvation Army's anti-gay discrimination. If you want to join in, here's a massive PDF provided by PFLAG or here's a smaller page of some protest bills that I found on the net. But remember, if you do this, you must also donate to or volunteer for some other good charity.

This is so cool! Google has created a catalog index! Popular mail order catalogs have been scanned and organized. Here, for example, is the King Arthur catalog. And here's page 18 with my bread machine on it. And this scan of the back page makes it clear they used a catalog that had actually been mailed to them by the usual postal process.

The whole thing is searchable too! For instance, a search on "semen" can bring you this page.

Acuminate (Adjective)

Pronunciation: [ê-'kju-mi-nêt]

Definition: Pointed or pointy, coming to a sharp point.

Usage: The verb is acuminate [ê-'kyu-mi-neyt] "to sharpen (an object or point in discourse)." The adjective is very common in the description of leaves that taper to a point (an acuminate leaf). But it may be used to refer to anything, concrete or abstract, that comes to a point.

Suggested Usage: Have you ever wanted to call your boss a pointy-head without getting fired? Boy, do we have the word for you today! Because this word sounds like "acumen," unless your chief is too smart to deserve this epithet, his chest will swell with pride when you say, "Learning from someone with such an acuminate head on his shoulders as you have is so rewarding." The reward is hearing yourself tell off your boss without repercussion. Of course, you may enjoy this word in the usual way, too: "I thought it was a very acuminate point she developed; it could not have been clearer."

Etymology: Latin acuminat-us past participle of acumina-re "to make pointed, sharpen," akin to acumen, "a point, acuteness, cunning." Acumen is derived from acuere "to sharpen" itself from acus "needle" (Greek akis "needle"). Going back farther, the underlying root *ak- developed via Germanic into English "edge" and "ear" (ear or spike of grain). This root also metathesized to *ka- and acquired the suffix -men. The stem *ka-men turns up in English "hammer" and Russian kamen' "stone."

from www.yourdictionary.com

I re-did my webrings today. Moved 'em out of the sidebar, and put them clear at the bottom of this page and added more functionality.

Amtrak trains to go north from Boston to Portland, Maine, starting today. Not since 1965!

Four nobles truths of blogging.

Von Schlegel suggests for the blogger…

An alternative world map.

I have no idea what to do with this, so I'm just gonna put it here:

The American translation of the Declaration of Independence by H.L. Mencken. It begins…

"When things get so balled up that the people of a country have to cut loose from some other country, and go it on their own hook, without asking no permission from nobody, excepting maybe God Almighty, then they ought to let everybody know why they done it, so that everybody can see they are on the level, and not trying to put nothing over on nobody."

Current DVD: The Last Temptation of Christ, which is much better than I expected.

This is not from the movie.

It's the "Baby Jesus Butt Plug!" Here a Virgin Mary product. Buddha gets into it too. Home page here.

A Flash anime re-telling of the Book of Revelations. Look out for that blessed lamb!

Buy the t-shirt!

Biblical box cutters! WTF?

GLBT Blogs

Leatheregg…another Bostonian, well…a Lowellian.

It's the Houston Firefighters 2002 calendar!

Well, here's a little different view of living in Boston: www.corycnc.com I get the impression that he doesn't hang out in Brighton a lot. He's a M*c user.

New Apple store to open Saturday in the Cambridgeside Galleria. It is suggested to me that events of this sort are something not quite like a Dead concert, not quite like the Harry Potter opening, not quite like the end of Prohibition, but in any case quite an entertaining scene. I imagine I would feel about like I do when I, quiet libertarian, find myself amidst hysterical crowds of left-liberals, the sort that come out for Gay Pride or AIDS rides or rallies to legalize marijuana. Perhaps I can show up and pretend I don't have a computer, but that I heard that the Apple-Mac-iPod was just the best, the very best! Should I look rich or poor?

Just in case a reminder is needed, anyone can view my Amazon Wishlist. The cheapest item there is only $1.50 (shipping extra)!

"Gone is a rare tapestry by Spanish surrealist Joan Miro. Dozens of bronze sculptures by Auguste Rodin have vanished. Paintings by Pablo Picasso, David Hockney and Roy Lichtenstein are cinder now." Art work destroyed at the WTC. Most of this Calder "Bent Propeller" still exists, heavily damaged, in pieces:


Also "The Sphere" by Koenig:

Email sent to a few friends today:

I may finally be getting some of the recognition I so richly deserve. Here's an email I got from a NY Times ("nytimes" she says) writer. I was naturally suspicious of a NY Times writer who lacks a Shift key, but I went to her website and it really exists and really links to real articles at nytimes.com by a person with the same name, so I said sure, I'd be happy to pose with a naked NY firefighter or whatever she wanted.

Forwarded Message:
> To: RonsLog@rbgilbert.com
> From: "Pamela L. O'Connell" <pamo@optonline.net>
> Subject: question from nytimes reporter
> Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2001 10:45:08 -0500
> -----
> hi ron,
>
> i write the "online diary" column for the thursday "circuits" section of the new york times. i'm doing an item about google's 20-year usenet archive and the great timeline they put together. i'd like to cite other examples of historic -- or just interesting -- usenet posts that people found in the database. i came across your weblog while looking through daypop's top 40 list and i'd like to point out something you found -- the earliest posting using "gay" to refer to sexual orientation. is that ok, and may i quote your weblog? if you have any other comments about the google archive and the fun people are having with it, i would welcome those as well.
>
> also, may i have your full name? (times prefers to ID people fully)
>
> best,
> pam o'connell
>
> ________________
> Pamela L. O'Connell
> writer // net stuff
> pamo@optonline.net
> http://pam_oconnell.tripod.com

Earliest archived Usenet posting using "queer" to refer to sexuality (July 1983).

Use of "kweer" spelling for the same purpose (October 1991).

First archived Usenet posting using "fag" to refer to homosexuals…and it's a homopobic use, too.

The first posting where "faggot" is intended in a positive sense occurs in this thread from February 1985, but it shows up as quoted text. The original article isn't available.

The most recent use of the word "homosexual" showed up today (surprise!) in this posting in a thread about the war in Afghanistan. Interestingly, it comes as a reply to this post where the author "types black."

If you regret that your kosher or organic turkey lacks a pop-up timer, here's a solution. The timers are reusable, so you can just collect some from your friends who eat trashy, gentile turkeys, and then insert them into your clean, happy turkey.

transpontine \transs-PAHN-tyne\ (adjective)
1 : situated on the farther side of a bridge
2 British : situated on the south side of the Thames

Example sentence: Bella recommended a transpontine restaurant for our evening rendezvous, so we took a cab across the East River from our hotel in Manhattan and met her in Queens.

Usually the prefix "trans-," meaning "across," allows for a reciprocal perspective. Whether you're in Europe or America, for example, transoceanic countries are countries across the ocean from where you are. But that's not the way it works with "transpontine" -- at least, it didn't originally. The "pont-" in "transpontine" is from the Latin "pons," meaning "bridge," and the bridge in this case was, at first, any bridge that crossed the River Thames in the city of London. "Across the bridge" meant on one side of the river only -- the south side. That's where the theaters that featured populist melodrama were located, and Victorian Londoners first used "transpontine" to distinguish them from their more respectable "cispontine" counterparts.

from www.Merriam-Webster.com

Claque (Noun)

Pronunciation: ['klæk]

Definition: People at the theatre paid to applaud or react in the way the producers want the audience to react, a kind of crowd seeding; a clique of subservient supporters.

Usage: A "clique" is an exclusive group of people united by a common interest. A "claque" is an exclusive group whose interest is provided by those who rent them.

Suggested Usage: "Tom and Ray Magliozzi of 'Car Talk' have a clique and a claque following their radio show in France," would mean that some of the people who follow the Tappet Brothers are independent-minded, just united by their love of the brothers' lubricating wit, while others follow them blindly. "We were having a substantive discussion when the boss and his claque of toadies came in and derailed it."

Etymology: French claque "a clap" itself of onomatopoetic (imitative) origin.

from www.yourdictionary.com

There was a lot of whining and sniveling when Google acquired Deja earlier this year, but in just a few months Google not only restored full access, but expanded it to include lots more of Usenet than Deja ever had. Here Google announces they have indexed the past 20 years (YEARS!) of Usenet postings. They highlight a few of the landmarks along the way: first mention of MS-DOS, the first thread about AIDS, first mention of MS Windows, the first posting by an AOL user (May 1992, and it is of excellent quality!), early mentions of Yahoo and Lycos (1994) and the first mention of Google (1998).

And here I point you to the earliest posting using "gay" to refer to a person's sexuality (May 6, 1981).

Here is a posting from Bill Gates (May 22, 1983).

The Make Money Fast!!!!! scam from February 1990.

And now [drumroll, please] MY very first posting on Usenet.

What is Usenet?

Hallmark's old-fashioned sexism.

A lot of the DVD menus I've encountered have been annoying or just plain bad. I'm glad to see someone agrees.

I was mighty surprised tonight while watching the first episode on the 4th DVD of The Sopranos second season (I think that makes it the 11th episode of the season) to see them dumping garbage in front of a deli in Nutley, New Jersey, where I stopped on my last bike ride through New Jersey (August 2000). I picked up M&Ms, orange juice and water. Didn't look like they had changed a thing for the Sopranos. The bike rack was in exactly the same place as when I was there. [I think it's this one: Country Delicatessen; 96 Centre St.; Nutley, NJ 07110 (973)667-4570]

Something you don't see every day: 3 Acelas (Aceli? Acelae?) lined up next to a diesel locomotive.


And on the other side of those 3 Acelas was an electric locomotive.


The occasion was the first anniversary of the Acela. Little Big Man Governor Dukakis was there to say a few words. I kept my Walkman on. Here's a little better photo of a matched pair, with the third in the background.

Our little Johnny Walker, the American citizen who joined the Taliban and survived the prison at Mazar-e Sharif, was a frequent Usenet poster as a teenager in Marin. Read his posts via Google.

Got our first snow!

Bought Adobe Photoshop Elements recently and have been playing with it. Forgive me.

It should be unbelievable. Unfortunately, it's all too believable. Pallotta Teamworks is suing the California AIDS/LifeCycle ride. Read the press release here (61 Kb PDF) (or read this complete text version which is only 7 Kb).

A Chicago cyclist, Dan Korn, attended the entire trial of Carnell Fitzpatrick who was convicted of first degree murder of the cyclist Tom McBride. Korn took notes and wrote up each day's proceedings. It's a fascinating read, I think. You can read it all here, but in case that ever disappears I have made a complete copy here. It's a long, long, interesting summary of a landmark case.

Stein Chiropractic: every year at about this time Dr. Stein gives me a few coupons with which a new patient at his office would get the complete intake work (exam, x-rays, testing, etc.) completely FREE. A value of $163. I try to pass these coupons on to friends, but it seems they all have their own chiropractor already, or they're not at all interested in starting chiropractic, or they live 500 miles away. So this year I'm offering up these coupons here.

If you think you might be interested in chiropractric, whether because of an injury, or for maintenance of good health, or just because those voices in your head have been telling you to try it, and Brookline is potentially within your perambulations, talk to me. I can probably give you one of these.

I would link to Dr. Stein's website at www.SteinChiropractic.net but he doesn't have anything up there yet. (By all means, do not confuse him with www.steinchiropractic.com because that guy is in La Jolla and I don't have a coupon for him.)

Call Dr. Stein at 617-232-7200 if you have questions. You will find he's friendly and totally professional and never suggests weird and exciting treatments like gravity boots or centrifuges.

Lord Of The Rings: I read this and The Hobbit when I was a senior in high school, and I'm glad I did. I liked it a lot. Since then sword & sorcery stuff has seemed silly and uninteresting to me. I think most of it is derivative of LOTR anyway. Tolkien wrote the ultimate sword & sorcery work, I read it, and I don't need to explore the genre any further.

We had to win one eventually. Driver convicted of first degree murder in cyclist's death.

Segway Human Transporter, AKA SHT

A couple of cute icons you might need:
  
  

Ginger

• The Segway Human Transporter home page
• The NY Time story
• Amazon shows a picture of the Segway now, but most of the rest of the page remains unchanged.
• The AP story
• The debut on Good Morning America
• The Time magazine article

Consider the Wheelman.

Christmas lights here in some colors I've never seen before: teal, chartreuse, pink, solid white (as opposed to clear), lavender. Also here.

Pakistanis discover that sending untrained boys into battle is not all fun and silliness.

KPMG

Is your son a hacker? (Of course, no daughter could be a dreaded "hacker"). Here are the warnings signs (the site is hilarious):

1. Has your son asked you to change ISPs?
2. Are you finding programs on your computer that you don't remember installing?
3. Has your child asked for new hardware?
4. Does your child read hacking manuals? Examples provided are: "Snow Crash" and "Cryptonomicon" by Neal Stephenson; "Neuromancer" by William Gibson; "Programming with Perl" by Timothy O'Reilly; "Geeks" by Jon Katz; "The Hacker Crackdown" by Bruce Sterling; "Microserfs" by Douglas Coupland; "Hackers" by Steven Levy; and "The Cathedral and the Bazaar" by Eric S. Raymond. [My god! I've been busted!]
5. How much time does your child spend using the computer each day? If your son spends more than thirty minutes each day on the computer, he may be using it to DOS other peoples sites.
6. Does your son use Quake?
7. Is your son becoming argumentative and surly in his social behaviour? [And does he use British spellings?]
8. Is your son obsessed with "Lunix"? BSD, Lunix, Debian and Mandrake are all versions of an illegal hacker operation system, invented by a Soviet computer hacker named Linyos Torovoltos, before the Russians lost the Cold War. [Not only that, but "lunix" can be used to break into stereos! And "Torovoltos" wrote that notorious hacker program telnet!]
9. Has your son radically changed his appearance?
10. Is your son struggling academically?

Provigil. Exciting new drug for wakefulness with none of the drawbacks of amphetamines. Doesn't interfere with normal REM sleep. Story here.

The woman who inherited the rights to the line "I am the love that dare not speak its name" from Wilde's lover, Lord Alfred Douglas, died on November 15 at age 82.

Some tough guys sample and review those bizarre Asian drinks that crop up everywhere. For example: [Grand Western] Grass Jelly tasted like warm, stale Coke. With sludge. You may especially want to check out "Pocari Sweat"

24 million California birth records have been made easily accessible on the web. There are 49 other states (plus the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico) where identity theft remains a bit more difficult. I'm glad I was born in one of those.

I've put up a couple of pan shots of the Acela here and here.

A pan of the neighborhood behind Symphony Hall.

Click for full size

Another pan along Huntington Ave here.

And another critic of the so-called "Warren Commission" dies of "natural" causes. In "Fort" Worth, Texas. He was a resident on the trauma team at Parkland Memorial Hospital when Kennedy was brought to the emergency room. He was born and reared in Paris, Texas. (Accolades from the family of Lyndon Johnson are noticeably absent from the obit.)

"The fight has now begun. It is the best opportunity to achieve martyrdom," says Mullah Mohammed Omar. Oh, if only we had had such a compliant attitude from Hitler or Hirohito! This Omar is obviously the kind of guy who wants to quickly bring the war to a successful conclusion. Let's roll.

Perhaps we could contact them by radio and designate certain "martyrdom alleys" where the Taliban soldiers could line themselves up for convenient killing runs by our aircraft.

The annual Diagram prize for the oddest book title of the year:

• Fancy Coffins to Make Yourself
• The Flat-Footed Flies of Europe
• Lightweight Sandwich Construction
• Tea Bag Folding
• The Art and Craft of Pounding Flowers: No Paint, No Ink, Just a Hammer!
• And the winner is: Butterworths Corporate Manslaughter Service!

An actual Vermont law says any "person who, without permission of lawful authority, while the United States is at war or threatened with war, makes or attempts to make any map, drawing, plan, model, description, or picture of any military camp, fort, armory, arsenal, bridge, road, canal, dockyard, telephone or telegraph line or equipment, railway or property of any corporation subject to the supervision of the Public Service Board, or of any municipality or part thereof, shall be imprisoned not more than 10 years." It was passed in 1917, and now someone's been arrested for violating it.

"HOMOSEXUALS INTIMIDATING SALVATION ARMY," from our reporter among the idiots: Jerry F.

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