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I was at Costco last night and confirmed that they do indeed sell the Minolta Dimage X. The price is the SRP of $400, so you won't save any money. But they have the 128 mb memory cards for only $70, which is much cheaper than what I was paying to get them at B&H in NYC. They didn't seem to have spare batteries, but I see that the camera itself comes with 2 batteries now. That's worth about $40, right there.
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"'This is an event that people will remember like 9-11 and when Kennedy was shot,' said Robert Barrera," in the hyperbole of the moment. Buddy found guilty of racketeering. He remained defiant: "I didn't do this stuff. I will go all the way to the Supreme Court, The Hague, wherever they want to go."
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It has become popular to use the 2000 U.S. Census data to consider two unmnarried persons living together to be gay. By this rather ridiculous rule, my household is not gay, but the two college men across the hall are, even though they go out with women every weekend and watch the Superbowl to see the game. Anyway, from this morass of misunderstood data, people extract things. One recent thing is a listing of most popular cities for gay people (or, more accurately, households of unmarried same-sex people). Guess what the most popular city is for "gay" men? San Francisco! No, really! (Dog bites man). Most popular for "lesbians" is Santa Fe, New Mexico. Number 10 on the men's list is Portland, Maine?! On the female list, Iowa City?! Fourth most popular for women is Springfield, Massachusetts! Personally, I've not met a single lesbian in Springfield, ever. You must remember that all they are really counting are same-sex unmarried roommates. Cities with high populations of students or transient labor could also have a high number of same-sex unmarried people living together. Wonder how nunneries affect this.
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Gary Dretzka of Salon.com likes satellite radio, both Sirius and XM.
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America as seen through vintage postcards.
More Kansas City postcards here.
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::My own photo of the New England Building in late 2000.
::Kansas City Power & Light building, also in late 2000.
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From WizardWear.com
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I think my Lifecycle contribution database is all complete now. Total contributions were $7,908.50! When we calculate the matching from the Ed Gould Foundation, the real total becomes at least $13,317! Wowzer.
And now we know ("we" meaning me, god and yourself) those who promised to send a check, but never did. It is now too late to contribute to my fundraising for AIDS Lifecycle, but there are hundreds of ways you can make up for that.
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::Bread and Circus last night
::Back Bay fire house
::The ACLU at last year's Pride Parade
::Panorama in the Boston University campus in front of Marsh Chapel, at Martin Luther King memorial (430 kb)
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For you early adopters, the long-awaited internet refrigerator is finally here.
Introducing the new LG Internet Refrigerator. Imagine managing your calendar, downloading new recipes, watching the evening news and even buying groceries -- right from a touch screen panel in your refrigerator door. And with a built-in digital camera, you can even record video messages to leave for your family or email to a friend. Now everything you would ever need in the kitchen is available at the touch of a button.
Everything I would need in a kitchen available at the touch of a button?! Let's just quietly point the hyperbole-finger accusingly. What it seems to lack is the most desirable feature: automatic inventory and shopping. OTOH, it comes in any color you like, so long as it's titanium.
If you're in the Boston area, you can (theoretically) see this fridge at Gray's Appliance in Melrose.
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The skyscrapers of Kansas City, Missouri.
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The five "sweatiest" cities in the U.S.: San Antonio, Dallas-Ft. Worth, New Orleans, Houston and West Palm Beach. I guess those Texans are proud! The list was provided by Old Spice deodorant who based it solely "on the average high temperature and humidity during June, July and August."
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On its 90th birthday Oreo is still teaching us how to put black and white together…uh, and brown, too.
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Apparently unable or unwilling to convince people of the correctness of their point of view, a buncha twits in Berkeley are attempting to restrict the market. (Dog bites man).
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Possibly due in part to the World Cup, sales of Guinness stout in Japan have doubled in the last year. There are now 70 "Irish" pubs in Japan. That's almost as many as in Allston.
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Big flash animation to entertain you broadbanded folks. Written by "Steve Martin." The Steve Martin? Looks like it could be.
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Have just watched Big Eden which is set in Montana, where all the men are masculine, about a third of them are gay, the women are virtually sexless, absolutely everyone is 100% tolerant, and no one has to work even the littlest bit to live a comfortable, healthy middle class life. There is a brief bit in NYC where up and coming artists live in vast loft apartments in Brooklyn, scant blocks from the bridge, with nice furniture and fabulous vistas. Damn good fantasy material! Happy ending, too, of course.
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NPR seems to think they can require me to ask permission to link to something in their site. Get a clue guys. Wired article about this. And Wired commentary here. NPR's position is the equivalent of standing naked in a lighted room in front of an open window at night and insisting that people on the street not look at you without obtaining your consent first — except NPR isn't that consistently interesting. If you don't want your web pages linked to, don't make them public. Here boingboing rips a new one for NPR.
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Southwest Airlines will start charging "large" passengers for two seats. This makes perfect sense to me. The problem with their implementation is they are giving no objective rules to the gate agents. It's a judgement call. Lame. They can measure luggage. They just need to get a bunch of wide people to test their seats on various aircraft so they can establish a maximum width. Then they can measure a passenger's width.
Some fools are calling this discrimination. Hardly. On my recent flight back from LA, the man in the row ahead of me was definitely a two-seater. Fortunately for all of us, the flight had lots of empty seats and he was alone in his 3-seat row. The choices for wide people are: 2 coach seats, 1 first class seat, drive a car, take a train, ride a bike, or (very long term) get smaller. Obviously, the 2-coach-seat rule will work easiest for most people. On Southwest they even get a refund for the extra seat if there were empty seats on the plane. This is no more discrimination than the fact that dark-skinned people spend less on sunblock, or bald men spend less on barbers.
Let's hope they don't go to the opposite extreme and try to squeeze 4 skinny people into a 3-seat row.
Would the 2-seat wide guy get 2 meals - or 2 snacks on Southwest? Seems like he ought to.
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The Webby Awards. Winner in the "Government + Law" category is the Library of Congress, to which we are rather partial. eVites won in "Services" category. How'd they do that? My experience with eVites is pretty sucky, although I've only been on the receiving end of them.
Lots of other excellent sites there.
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This is cool! A London Underground map as a geographical index of webloggers in London! Man, that is density!
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"Open the pod bay doors, Hal!"
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Netflix has 10 regional distribution centers now. The one they call "Boston" is actually Worcester, but I'm getting one-day turnaround now, so no complaints.
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Purple wins the M&Ms contest.
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"Subtle" colored background to be added to the U.S. 20 dollar bill as early as fall 2003. Do you think there's any chance they'll be as democratic as M&M/Mars and let us all vote on the color?
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The really nice thing about this banner, which I found on villainsupply.com is the figure looking over Greenspan's shoulder. It's Ayn Rand. Greenspan was a member of her inner circle back when she had an inner circle. It's also nice that its message is fairly accurate — although you have to temper it with the consideration that the current income tax started at about the same time. Both the fed and the income tax have been the twin engines for centralization of power in this country. Couple of world wars helped too. And Social Security (which is basically just an income tax). And I suspect the direct election of Senators has made things worse, too. Those damn progressives and Woodrow Wilson have earned my eternal scorn! Thank god we've still got an electoral college to award the Presidency to the most incompetent, inadequate fool that ever stumbled out of the oil industry.
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Plastic donkey and elephant statues scattered around D.C. are badly vandalized. Many theories are advanced, but none consider the fact that there is very little respect on the streets of D.C. for the two major political parties who run the District (through Congress) without any regard for the democratic will of its inhabitants.
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Toshiba will be releasing an iPod imitator in Japan. Slightly larger and heavier, it comes with only a 5 gb hard drive at a cost of about $400. It substitutes USB 2.0 for Firewire. The HD is on a PC card, so it can be ejected. That's a plus, but unless the price drops A LOT, I'd say forget about it. Better to just add Firewire to your PC and get an iPod.
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Philips has produced a prototype blue-laser optical device that fits 1 gb of data on a 3 cm disc. A standard CD is 12 cm and holds 650 mb (or so), mini-CDs are 8 cm and hold about 180 mb.
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Irony.
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This happened last Friday morning. A 100-meter wide asteroid came within 120,000 km of earth. That's well within the orbit of the moon, and only the 6th asteroid known to have come so close. The real shocker is that we didn't even know about it until three days later! I'm just a little surprised that Homeland Security didn't at least upgrade to Orange.
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MTV has a program on young people coming out to their familie scheduled on Thursday, June 27 at 10 pm eastern time. It includes the story of one Mormon, Jayce, who turned to a Mormon organization that "cures" homosexuality:
Jayce says electrodes were hooked up to various parts of his body, including his genitals, and he was shocked while being forced to look at images of gay pornography. "It just hurt so much. It would just shake me and jolt me, and I would sit there and try to endure the electricity as long as I could," he tearfully recalls. "Every session the voltage would increase. I wasn't allowed to tell anybody what was going on. I was supposed to lie at all costs."
Straight out of the new testament, eh?
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Man, talk about being in the closet! If you're going to have a kink, you should also have the self-respect not to go nutty when people around you find out about it.
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Robinson high school in the Tampa bay area protects our precious bodily fluids and the delicate minds of young men and women who can be too easily confused by inappropriately worn neckties and "scoop-necked drapes."
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Is that a thermometer in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me? Spotted this in an ad for used cars.
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This past Saturday was way too cold and rainy for the annual Boston-Provincetown ride. Even so, about 75 of the 275 riders started and finished. I traveled about the Boston Harbor Cruise fast ferry, which was like a wild rollercoaster from hell. With all the windows fogged and seas crashing across the decks, we passengers couldn't see waves, sky, clouds, horizon, anything. It was like an airplane inside a thick cloud, only much worse as we suffered sudden lurches in random directions, followed quickly by the shock of the bow crashing into another big wave. There was a lot of seasickness all 'round, but I made it okay. Weather in P-town over the weekend was mostly wet and cool, but very friendly nonetheless. John Waters was in town, but I never saw him.
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The Boston Minuteman Council of the Boy Scouts of America invited David Brudnoy to speak at its Salute To Scouting dinner to show this council's decision not to discriminate based on sexual orientation, contrary to Scouting's national policy. They may not have realized that on top of being gay, David Brudnoy is an atheist. Not even the Boston Minuteman Council wants those people. Here's Brudnoy's column from The Boston Metro:
Scouting is for all, even the atheists
The other night I had the honor of participating as master of ceremonies at the 26th annual Salute to Scouting dinner. Not because I was a great Scout; the high point of my scouting was walking my grandmothers back and forth across the streets trying to earn merit (if not a badge). I,was invited because the Boston Minuteman Council wanted to signal by its choice of an "out" gay man that it means, seriously, its commitment to its policy of nondiscrimination, including nondiscrimination against gay scouts and leaders.
Joining six other big-city councils in adopting this policy, Boston indicates that it won't judge the worthiness of a boy to share the remarkable experience of scouting on the basis of sexual orientation.
In my youth subjects like sexual orientation rarely if ever rose during scouting activities. We knew nothing of gay-bashing because nobody talked about such a thing, not because no such thing happened. No one spoke those wounding words of exclusion the national Boy Scouts insists are appropriately directed at boys who are homosexual, or think they may be. On the other hand, nobody spoke any words of mentoring and encouragement to give a kid who's different a sense that he mattered. We lived in blissful innocence, and blissful ignorance too.
Gone now are the days when scouting seemed unwelcoming to kids of the "wrong" color or ethnicity or race. Now the Minuteman Council insists that gone, also, should be the days when scouting is unwelcoming to kids of the "wrong" sexual orientation. But the BSA's national headquarters in Irving, Texas, stands in opposition to this enlightened view, and support for the Minuteman Council's policy is by no means unanimous.
The Boston Minuteman Council came to its senses last year but has one more policy shift to make. Currently, official BSA policy denies membership to agnostics and atheists. Commendably, BSA policy rejects bigotry based on the religion a boy is born into or professes but the organization should go the final step and declare that so none should be discriminated against because he professes no religion.
As a dear friend, who graduated last month from Emerson College, said to me just hours before I spoke at the dinner, when he hears the words "Boy Scouts of America," he thinks all boys, all Americans, not some boys, some Americans. A change of BSA policy to bring about a true openness to all American boys won't happen overnight. The bigotry against gays has led to a cold war of rhetoric and policy standoffs between the national BSA and progressive councils like Boston's. Ending bigotry against boys who don't declare a religious faith will be a battle royal as well. Stay tuned.
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For the past three years students in the Investigative Reporting class of the Department of Journalism at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have attempted…to identify the Post's secret source of information - a man known only as "Deep Throat." They explain the steps they went through to narrow the search. They've got it down to seven possibilities now:
- Patrick Buchanan (their top choice)
- David Gergen
- Jonathan Rose
- Raymond Price
- Stephen Bull
- Fred Fielding
- Gerald L. Warren
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More about those transgenic goats producing spider silk (and a bit about goat semen extraction methods).
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The "Ellis The Rim Man" sign is gone now, replaced with an ultra heavy duty flag pole. At least we have our photos and memories.
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The Mirror Project
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Registration for AIDS LifeCycle 2 is open!
Settlement between Pallotta and AIDS LifeCycle.
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Pride.com is up and running, I think. It's a gay ISP. Looks like it has a decent price, but I'm not sure why one would need a gay ISP. I know AOL censors, but to get away from that you only need to leave AOL. Pride.com might provide discounts on products consumed by gay people. That would be, uh, let me think, alcohol and travel. It's a headache (or worse) trying to sell liquor via the internet, so that pretty much leaves gay travel. Oh wait, how about real estate. Gay real estate makes sense in big cities. How about 1% off new home purchases for Pride.com customers? Or no real estate agent fee, if you're selling?
I feel like I'm missing something. If you have a clue, please give it to me. And don't tell me porn, sex toys and leather. Nobody discounts that stuff, except desperate dealers at the tail end of IML.
Poking around at their website I noticed that their "system requirements" repeatedly specified Windows operating systems. I e-mailed them to ask about MacIntosh and whether Pride.com uses some sort of proprietary software, the way AOL does. They wrote back to say that YES, the user has to download their proprietary software and YES it is only for Windows. MacIntosh users (and users of other operating systems) cannot use Pride.com. This seems breathtakingly backwards, stupid, shortsighted and insulting as it presents a lowest-common-denominator product to the gay market, which we all know is not at all tolerant of that sort of crap. So I say forget Pride.com and go with somebody who gives you a good product or service for a reasonable price. That does not mean AOL.
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It's Here Now! Bigger even than the Segway Human Transporter. It's Lindows OS pre-installed on PCs — availabe at [drumroll please] Wal-Mart! Buy one and pretend it's OS X only dirt-fuckin' cheap. Prices range from $299 to a crushing $599. Sorry, but that includes no monitor. OTOH, you do get a 1.8 ghz Pentium, 256 mb of RAM, 40 gb HD, CDRW, network card, modem, USB (1.1, I'm sure), and cheap speakers. It also comes with the pleasure of saying NO to Microsoft, and official certification that you are a "Junior Geek, Beginner Level." There are also options with AMD chips, in case you also feel like telling Intel to shove it, too. (You dog, you!)
Lindows info here.
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On the right you have Abdullah al-Muhajir, the recently arrested "dirty bomb" conspirator (formerly Jose Padilla). On the left is "John Doe No. 2" from the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. Read about possible connections here. Terry Nichols was married to a woman named Padilla, and Nichols spent considerable time in the Phillipines.
Salon article about loose ends and crappy FBI investigation in the Oklahoma bombing.
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American Science & Surplus Superstore to satisfy your need for junk.
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Argh! This is not me! It's Captain Ron who maintains Captain Ron's Log!
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Generic lesbian kiss, for educational purposes only. These are real women [models], not cartoon characters turned into movie characters, so life on earth will probably not be destroyed as you view this. Also, the picture is blurry, so that probably helps. Let's hope I'm right. |
All life on earth was nearly wiped out. Fortunately, this little downer was prevented by cutting the lesbian kissing scene out of Scooby Doo Who Do You Do. Close call, huh?
More here about the thorough cleansing of Scooby Doo, Doo Doo Dooby, Scooby Dooby Doo, including removal of a scene that included a toothbrush with erotic overtones. Producers assure the audience that no Roman Catholic priests will be depicted at all.
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U.S. spy plane photo transmissions are being broadcast unencrypted for the entire world (the "entire world" including people like Mr. Al Kayda, nutties running around in Kashmir, our old pal Sodom Who's Sane, and the usual assortment of bad old commies) to enjoy. The chairman of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board said "There are plans to encrypt this data." (I'm already sleeping better knowing that!)
Major Bill Bigelow, a spokesman for the U.S. European Command in Germany, said "Raw information such as that video does not mean intelligence. Intelligence means analysis of data that comes from many different sources." I'm sure that such solid and excellent semantic quibbling will crush the morale (if not the very bodies) of our enemies at a stroke!
A little more informative article here.
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Here's the L.A. Times article covering the California AIDS Ride 9 which ended this past Saturday. About the same number of riders, but only $2.7 million raised, versus Lifecycle's $4.4 million.
AIDS Ride Is Smaller But Still Joyous
Volunteers: The annual fund-raiser ends with cheers in Santa Monica. The event also caps a painful chapter sparked by financial questions.
By CARA MIA DiMASSA
The California AIDS Ride concluded its seven-day, 575-mile trek Saturday in Santa Monica, ending a tumultuous year for an event that has become the granddaddy of cycling treks in support of AIDS research.
After a 12-month period that has seen the loss of a major corporate sponsor, the withdrawal of the two major beneficiaries and the launch of a competing ride, the ninth annual AIDS Ride was subdued in comparison with past events.
Last year, more than 2,000 cyclists attended closing ceremonies at the Los Angeles Coliseum. On Saturday, friends and families cheered 715 riders from the bleachers of Santa Monica City College's Corsair Field. For those who rode, many for the first time, the buzz that came from pushing themselves to the limit for seven days straight was not easy to kill. Before the closing ceremonies, they added silk leis, Mardi Gras beads, feathered hats and even angel wings to their long-sleeved red shirts and bicycling shorts.
"Fifteen years ago, I never thought that I'd make it to age 41," said Scott Deshong of Los Angeles, who said he was riding in honor of 15 friends who had died of AIDS. "But here I am."
Jeff Gary, 43, of Danville, said the ride was an opportunity to meet new friends, many of whom signed his shirt in black ink. "I wanted to challenge myself," he said. "And I wanted to ride for the cause, to raise money for AIDS research."
Yet the question of how much of the money raised by riders--each of whom must contribute or solicit $2,700 in donations--actually goes to research and AIDS charities has been the source of ongoing controversy for Pallotta TeamWorks, the California AIDS Ride's producer. The for-profit organization, which describes itself as "sort of a fund-raising company, sort of an event productions company," organizes 24 events in the U.S., Canada, Africa and Europe, supporting such causes as breast cancer, suicide prevention and support for foster children.
In 1998, a group of Florida AIDS charities dropped Pallotta TeamWorks after only 11.83% of money raised went to charity. Sponsors of the Washington, D.C., AIDS Ride have said they will sever ties with Pallotta TeamWorks after this year's ride, which will begin June 13. And a class-action suit has been filed by participants in four AIDS Vaccine rides, who say that only $8 million of the $28 million raised during those events went to charity.
In California, such criticism has meant the splintering of the AIDS ride into two competing events. In October, the two charities that have benefited from the California AIDS Ride--the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation--broke ties with Pallotta TeamWorks, saying unexpected cost overruns had cut into proceeds from the ride.
Two months later, the groups announced that they would hold a competing ride in May 2002, two weeks before the California AIDS Ride.
Pallotta TeamWorks unsuccessfully sued to block the new AIDS/Life Cycle Ride, which drew 670 riders and raised $4.4 million. Last week, the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and Pallotta TeamWorks issued a joint statement that they had resolved "all of their outstanding differences pertaining to the California AIDS Ride. The Center and the Foundation wish to acknowledge Pallotta TeamWorks' pioneering efforts in helping to raise millions of dollars in the fight against AIDS/HIV."
Both the California AIDS Ride and AIDS/Life Cycle Ride will return next June. Organizers of the California AIDS Ride said 18 charities across the state, including AIDS Project Los Angeles, will share an estimated $2.7 million raised from this year's event.
On Saturday, rider Diane McClain, who has worked on and off for AIDS Project Los Angeles since 1989, tied congratulatory balloons, a gift from her partner, to her bicycle helmet before entering Corsair Field.
Asked how the ride had gone, she shook her head. "It was rough," said the 41-year-old. "I got sick and didn't do yesterday. But I got through it, bad knees and all."
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Spamgourmet, a site where you can get temporary, disposable e-mail addresses. Not only can you use it to prevent getting spam, but it would be good for sending a bitter message to an ex!
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The punchcard revived. Herman Hollerith, he's our man!
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Got my first hit from someone doing a search with Altavista (they're still around?!) and I'm disappointed to say that it makes Yahoo searchers look like bright students. The search string used at Altavista was "10." That's it. 10. Do you suppose the user researched the single digits first, or was he leaping right into double digits? Did he mean decimal 10 or perhaps hexadecimal? I hope he learned something from Ron's Log where we have had frequent and compelling reasons to refer to "10" (often just before we refer to 11). I hope he wasn't searching for the movie, because I've never seen it.
Meanwhile from Yahoo we still get stuff like "pig intercourse" and this obscure string: "read im any computer same time log on."
OTOH, from Google we still get tons of excellent searches like "Northeast AIDs Ride, Closing Ceremonies, Meeting Friends," all of which are real and have been dealt with here.
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Rent control/stabilization in New York City — much worse than I thought.
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Yet another study indicating that the risk of HIV transmission via oral sex is very, very small.
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McDonald's in Hawaii begin serving Spam®.
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Spent all of yesterday spray painting the arrows on the road for the annual Outriders P-town ride, which is this Saturday. 130 miles (or so) with David driving, and faithful Reggie in the back seat protecting the cans of spraypaint from possible theft by irresponsible juveniles.
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A refreshingly unambiguous sign seen in Allston (please click for full size).
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We cut imports of Russian steel because we, like, believe so strongly in the free market. The Russians banned our chickens because they, you know, believe so strongly in the purity of their own home-grown Russian food. Suddenly instead of a steel glut we have a chicken glut and the price of nice leg quarters drops to 50¢. Glory be, our beloved free market continues to function (despite abuse), and Americans (including those of Russian background) buy chickens, and they don't see much need to pay $3.50/pound for a piece of pork, so there's a pork glut. And today, Miss W. Bush walks into the World Pork Expo in Des Moines where he will try to 'splain why we should all be happy that we have a glut of high-priced steel.
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Drumroll, please! Next month the first non-stop airline service between Des Moines and New York (well, Newark, actually) begins. There ya go boys. Two hours and you can be right in the heart of the corn and the beans — and the pork glut. What's holdng you back?
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Oil drilling to be undertaken on the Roland and Debbie Carlson farm near Shambaugh, south of Clarinda, in Page County, Iowa. "'We could go as deep as 3,400 feet, or if we are blown off the hole by too much oil, we will quit sooner,' [James Christiansen] said." Ten-year prediction: the Iowa oil glut.
By the way, did you know Iowa is now the biggest producer of chicken eggs in the U.S.? Is there anything they don't do?
Okay. Wine. They don't do wine. Piestengel doesn't count, especially if it got a Bronze Medal at the Indiana State Fair in 1998. I mean really. If a bunch of Hoosiers thought they had found 2 other things better than your rhubarb wine, then we are never going to have a glut.
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"[Astronaut Peggy] Whitson's flight will become the most important event in Beaconfield's history since the first Hy-Vee grocery store was built there in 1930." Beaconsfield is more than just a minor stop on the Riverside line. It's Iowa's smallest town (pop. 11) and birthplace of Whitson.
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When the RC church settles with one of its many victims, it generally includes a secrecy provision. Most people accept it and take the money, but a few people who are perhaps braver or have more self-confidence or more anger, refuse the secrecy. The church then offers a lower settlement figure, but not very much lower. It's still a settlement. Some of those victims who accepted the secrecy and accepted the higher payment for it are now trying to sue the church to void the secrecy agreement, but they don't want to give the money back! Ha! Cake. Eat. Have. These people cite the extreme emotional stress they were under at the time. Yes. And how does that keep you from renegotiating a lower settlement now without a secrecy agreement (meaning you'd have to give a couple thou back to the church)?
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God's blog.
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It's the Periodic Table of the Elements. No, really. I mean it's a periodic TABLE of the elements. And here's one of the coasters:
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On rebuilding the World Trade Center.
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It's no longer "Live Free Or Die" in New Hampshire, as beer permits are being denied for the big upcoming Motorcycle Week. All because of a bit of boyish Hell's Angel rowdiness and manslaughter.
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John Waters speaks.
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I've probably walked right by this plaque a hundred times without reading it. I'm thinking maybe I should change Ron's Log tagline from "100% Pure Tasteless" to "Dedicated to the service of men who must study, if at all, by night"
Here's the full text of the plaque:
Suffolk Law School
Dedicated to the service of men
who must study, if at all, by night
Founded September 1906 by
Gleason L Archer
With nine students in the parlor of
a modest apartment at 6 Alpine Street, Roxbury
Without endowment or financial resources in
the face of bitterest opposition did its founder
struggle to establish this institution. After
eight years, in March 1914, came Victory - a legis-
lative charter with power to confer law degrees.
To the trustees thus appointed, its founder
then conveyed the school, by a deed of
gift, so that thereafter no individual
might profit from its financial success.
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14th annual World Pork Expo in Des Moines, Iowa, opens today! "This year's theme, 'Hooray for the Red, White and Blue,' celebrates all the things that make this country great, especially pork, 'The Other White Meat®.'"
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There is this Readme file that I guess one or two (maybe more) webloggers think constitutes a good set of guidelines for their readers to follow when approaching the most precious blog of the most precious blogger. Here, let me pick it apart, so you might get an idea of how you, my dear reader, should view my darling blog as you sit in your underwear and pick your nose:
Do not assume that you know everything there is to know about a writer simply because you read their weblog on a regular basis. Any judgements you make will be based on the information they have provided you about themselves, which is probably vague, incomplete or embellished. Whatever opinion you form on them as people, or their life as a whole, is probably best kept to yourself. Remember, you are the reader. An obvious exception to this would be if someone were asking for advice or opinions.
Half right. I do lie, but I see no reason you should keep your nearly worthless opinions to yourself, beloved reader. After all, I crave attention. Send me your goofy, wacked out views and I might copy them here and we can all have a great laugh at your expense.
Never contact the writer for more details on events or personal information than what they have already provided on the site. Chances are if the information you seek isn't readily available, they have found it too personal or innapropriate to share. If you are close to the person they will eventually tell you privately, so intrusive questions are not necessary, just leave it alone. If you are meant to know, you will.
Good gawd, I hope you don't imagine every bit of my life is recorded here. Please, please, please ask for more information. I have no effing idea why anyone would create a blog, include an e-mail address, and then expect to be able to sit on some sort of lonely contemplative state while the rest of the world gazes silently on the totally complete unity of their blog. If I think something's too personal (or even "innapropriate") I'll probably just tell you so (I know how to do that) or lie to you (I've learned how to do that, too).
If you have a real life relationship with the writer, remember that communication is very important. View weblogs as online journals, no less sacred than a diary hidden between the mattresses. First of all let them know that you read their site, especially if they did not tell you personally.
Well, yes, I mostly agree. You guys are expected to read this and it would be nice for you to tell me you do it (eventually there will be a pop quiz), but I'm not sure "sacred" is quite the right word for this. "Gutter-spew" might be closer.
If they do not want you reading it, or suddenly stop posting entries, ask them why and if necessary, stop going to the site. It is important that as a friend, relative, co-worker or whatever you may be to the writer, that your presence at their weblog not impede their ability to express themselves. Remember this is their outlet. They may not want you to read certain things they might write about you or others you care about, in order to spare your feelings, avoid drama or maintain their privacy. You should respect this and immediately stop going to the site, and never relay any information you gather at their site to others who might use it against them.
I'm not sure what they're saying here. Are they saying friends, relatives and co-workers should stop reading, or should just read it and shut up? In either case, I disagree. Your reading Ron's Log certainly does not impede my ability to express myself. If I didn't want this read, I wouldn't put it here, would I?
If someone writes about you and you don't appreciate it, approach them about it. Try to remain calm and polite. Explain that you are entitled to your privacy as well. There are many compromises that can be reached from using vague nicknames to protect your anonymity, or not mentioning you at all. If you are upset because they are writing negative things about you, be reasonable, try to see if there is a way to resolve the issues and mend your relationship with the writer. If that doesn't seem to be possible, stop going to the website. They will eventually get bored and move on.
With this one I agree, although my skin crawls at the patronizing tone. I almost never ask people before I post their picture or write about them here. If you think I've overstepped your bounds, just let me know and we'll figure out how far I need to back up.
Ex-friends, lovers and estranged family members who have been cut out of the writer's life should refrain from reading their journal. If the relationship has ended, there is no reason you should get daily updates on the person's life. If you simply can't help yourself, do it quietly, and never repeat what you read or use it to hurt the writer.
Ha ha hahaha, ha! If I've told you to go to hell, you might as well keep reading because I will probably insult you here, and it will give me no end of delight to be able to feed your emotional masochism. And by all means, repeat anything you read here. It is public, ya know. And I'm always right.
If they have a guestbook, sign it. Compliments will always be graciously accepted and appreciated. Criticisms and reproaches are fine if you have a problem with something, but try to remain constructive and not be an asshole. No one is forcing you to give out your opinions, so if you don't have anything remotely positive to say, it may be best to keep quiet.
I don't have a guestbook, but you can send me negative, positive, middling, or wishy-washy confusedly ambiguous comments. If they're bad enough, you can expect to find me repeating them to the world.
When contacting a person for the first time, have a clue. If they have a detailed biography and personal information that describes their life from the day they were born, chances are they won't appreciate you wasting their time asking them how old they are or where they live. Writers put a lot of thought and time into their sites, so take the time to read the information they provide you with before you ask for more.
Mostly correct, but if you're the right kind of single male, I'll be willing to forgive a lot. Be sure to include a picture and let me know what you enjoy.
Never assume a writer owes you any response. They may receive from a few to hundreds of messages per day. Some will gladly write back immediately, others will never reply. Try not to take it personally, because chances are it has more to do with their schedule than anything else. If you get upset and nasty about feeling rejected, you will probably ruin any chances you had of befriending the person.
Why would I care what you expect. Now, if you express your disappointment by e-mailing me a nasty note, then I might get a good laugh out of it.
Don't delude yourself into thinking that you will be as important to the writer as he/she is to you. Remember, you are peering in on their life, sharing their thoughts, and though they may become quite special to you, you remain a mystery to them. If they are cold or unreceptive to your advances, keep in mind that you are a stranger to them at this point, and they may or may not want to keep it that way. It's entirely their choice.
Don't be a psycho stalker.
Of course, if you have a much more popular blog and are offering to link to me, then I will treat you with all the respect you are due. But for most of you cherished readers, it is correct, I am more important to me.
You shouldn't contact people with messenger services unless they list their handles on their website. If you got it from someone else, forget you ever had it, they probably meant to keep it somewhat private.
You will have noticed that my AOL chatty-cathy tag is YellowBrighton and I have made it public. You may also have noticed that I rarely bother to log into it.
A writer has the right to stop writing at any time for any reason they see fit, and at no point must they justify or explain these reasons to you or any of their readers. It's their weblog, they can do with it as they please.
Well, yeah.
The internet is a place that encourages free and creative expression, and as in any environment where people are given this freedom, conflict may arise. If an author uses language or materials that offend you, leave. Contacting the person or their isp, demanding they remove the content or change their ways is absurd because you are viewing their content of your own free will by visiting their site. Simply stop going there and you won't have to see whatever it is you don't like about the site. An obvious exception to this would be if someone were providing illegal materials, in which case it would be appropriate to complain to their isp or contact wuthorities.
Yeah, fuck off — unless you are underage in your respective political entity, in which case you should be doing your homework or feeding the goats or sump'n, shouldn't you?
Never ask someone to make you a layout, to help with your site or show you how to do a certain script or graphic effect that they have on their site, unless they specifically offer their help. There are plenty of tutorials available to help you, just use a search engine to find what you need.
Oh hell, just ask. If I don't want to do something or don't have the time, I'll just tell you so. I don't have any fabulously sophisticated code here. It mostly just works, except maybe in Netscape. If you are responsible for a website that I really like, or whose message I strongly agree with, then I'll fall all over myself to help you.
Never use anything off a person's site, be it writing, images or html code, unless they say otherwise. People are very attached to their work and don't usually respond well when others help themselves to it. Copyright is protected by law and in effect the minute something is created, whether the author has a © notice or not.
At least give me credit when you take something. I'll probably never notice if you copy some of my code, but I might if you copy my text. There's a slob in the UK who copied everything from another one of my websites (you didn't think this was the only one, did you?) and then just changed a few things to fit his needs. It was a weirdly creepy feeling when I ran across it. It's like coming around a corner and finding yourself there wearing a hat and shoes you never saw before. Then the guy was an asshole to me. Never thanked me. Never even acknowledged me. He thinks he'll never have to deal with me face to face, but he has forgotten what a really, really small world this is.
Here is the bio of the blogger who wrote these silly guidelines. You might not be surprised.
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I was over at Bread & Circus this evening and overheard a customer ask an employee if they stocked any sort of Band-Aids. "No," she was told, "they test them on animals." Good golly Christ, what nonsense. Twenty-five feet away was the butcher department. All those animals died of natural causes in their sleep, I suppose.
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The guys at AIDS Lifecycle finally got off their duffs and updated my database of contributors. We have leaped from 16 donors to 55, with pledges totalling $7,260.00. Yessir! That's more like the donors I know! But there's more to come. There are a few people who said they contributed who still aren't showing up, a few people who promised to send something "real soon," and a few people who actually waved their pledge forms right in my face saying they were sending it in that very day. The only way we can go is up!
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Given a choice, which would you choose:
- Being naked in public
- Dying a miserable death caused by a biological or chemical attack, after first spreading those contaminants to others around you
It seems many Americans opt for number 2. Not me. I will eagerly join the healthy, community-minded, naked people. From what I've seen of these emergency decontamination setups, they're pretty much like the AIDS ride showers. Maybe with my experience I could become a Shower Warden or sump'n.
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"INFORMATION SECURITY BEGINS WITH YOU." Translate that back to the English of the mid-twentieth century and you get "Loose Lips Sink Ships."
What ever would we do without Socialist Realism? | 
WW2 poster |
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The L.A. River Bikeway. Doin' it right. A million dollars a mile! Yes, once you manage to jack the price of a bikepath into the range of motor vehicle roads, then you finally get some real attention from governments and municipal planners. Think of the many years we've wasted trying to build inexpensive, practical bikepaths.
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Wild mayhem in California "near Santa Maria" along Route 1. Law officers use maximum force to assure the safe, secure flow of traffic and commerce along that vital artery (Route 1), and perhaps to suppress some brilliant new terrorist plot. The deservedly deceased include six cows of unknown faiths who had been trying to pass themselves off as heads of iceberg lettuce. (More detailed story here)
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The California AIDS Ride 9 (a Pallotta Teamworks event) is currently underway, but the L.A. Times has nothing on it and the S.F. Chronicle had only this one article rehashing old news the day before the AIDS Ride started.
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Finally, some bad news about Krispy Kreme, to satisfy you curmudgeons.
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Somebody spent good money on a survey to discover the obvious: in a majority of school districts, it's students who provide technical support for the computers.
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A gay private high school in Dallas where "sports aren't big." Hmmm. I think somebody needs to fund a bodybuilding gym for them.
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Guaraná Jesus, made by Coca-Cola for the Brazilian market. One happy consumer writes this:
"O que o Brazil, o Lula, a ópera e o guaraná jesus tem em comum? Impossível ficar impassível: é caso de amor ou de ódio."
Sounds like poetry, eh? Here's how Google translates that:
"What the Brazil, the Squid, the opera and guaraná Jesus have in common? Impossible to be impassível: it is hatred or love case."
(English language WSJ article from 1999 here)
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Mozilla 1.0 is now, finally, available. If you use it, let me know how it goes.
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A man in Seattle becomes the first gay United Methodist pastor allowed to keep his post — through a technicality.
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Pat Buchanan has, apparently, started some new medication or suffered a very fortunate blow to the head. Here he states the libertarian (and Libertarian Party) line, without deviation, regarding foreign intervention and how it weakens America. "Terror on American soil, and eventual cataclysmic and atomic terror on American soil, is the price of American empire." But before anyone gets all sweet on him, be sure to go here to read some standard Buchananisms.
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McDonald's in India uses no beef or pork, but only mutton, chicken and veggie products. Official policy on veggie products here.
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Create your own.
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Fascinating article about the layers and networks of tunnels and passageways beneath Moscow. The subway is just the starting place.
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From www.yourdictionary.com
Prospicience (Noun)
Pronunciation: [prê-'spi-shêns]
Definition 1: Foresight, having the ability to foresee.
Usage 1: Today's word is dedicated to Pratyush Buddiga, 13, who outlasted 249 other contestants this week in the 75th Scripps-Howard National Spelling Bee, to win top prize of $12,000 by spelling today's word. Read more about Pratyush and his accomplishment at http://www.spellingbee.com/02bee/individuals/023results.htm. The adjective is "prospicient" and the adverb, "prospiciently."
Suggested Usage: The English-language dictionaries that carry today's word at all mark it as obsolete. This is difficult to understand since its beauty alone recommends it to the Lexical Hall of Fame. Let us begin by noting that Pratyush was very prospicient to have learned this word in preparation for National Spelling Bee. In fact, all Spelling Bee participants should have the prospicience to subscribe to our Word of the Day in advance of any such competition.
Etymology: Latin prospiciens "looking forward," present participle of prospic-ere "to look forward." The root of the Latin word is spec-ere "to watch," based on the root *spek- "observe" that turns up in many Latinate words: "spectator," "speculate," "inspect," "conspicuous," "prospect," among others. The same root is an ancestor of "spy," Italian spia "spy" and Russian as shpion, as in smert' shpionov "death to spies" or the SMERSH of the James Bond novels. In Greek, the [p] and [k] sounds metathesized, so we find there the root underlying "skeptic" and -scope, as in "telescope" and "microscope," both based on skopein "to see." (We are grateful to the prospicient Brad Ross-McLeod, the newest member of the yourDictionary staff, for foreseeing the relevance of today's word.)
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The Glossarist; a directory of glossaries.
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Story of the long history of one of the worst of the abusive priests…and his very satisfactory conviction and imprisonment.
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Mike Tyson's just a big ol' teddy bear — and he's definitely not homophobic.
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Nova Scotia school board decides not to ban To Kill A Mockingbird. Yes. You read that right. They voted NOT to ban it. My head swims.
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Manhattan postcards, 1900s to 1950s.
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On the Upper East Side (of New York, not Beijing) "the bicycle menace is worse than all other menaces." I'm delighted to know that the problems of drugs, parking, traffic, street crime, domestic violence and threats of terrorism have subsided to such incredibly low levels! On the other hand, these curmudgeons take a different view.
While elsewhere in New York state the worst menace is those pesky kids racing their horses and buggies.
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Fried Twinkies in Brooklyn. "Similar to Krispy Kreme donuts, only better."
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Talk to me!
AIM handle: YellowBrighton
Amazon wish list
Netflix vs Rentmydvd
Index of my AIDS ride and Pallotta links
GeoURL
Ron's Log Index
7/21/2003 · 8/ 6/2003
5/29/2003 · 7/18/2003
4/25/2003 · 5/28/2003
3/24/2003 · 4/24/2003
3/ 1/2003 · 3/21/2003
1/28/2003 · 2/28/2003
11/30/2002 · 1/23/2003
11/ 1/2002 · 11/29/2002
9/23/2002 · 10/30/2002
9/ 5/2002 · 9/20/2002
8/10/2002 · 9/ 4/2002
7/24/2002 · 8/ 9/2002
6/27/2002 · 7/23/2002
6/ 3/2002 · 6/25/2002
4/24/2002 · 5/31/2002
4/ 1/2002 · 4/23/2002
3/ 1/2002 · 3/31/2002
2/10/2002 · 2/28/2002
1/22/2002 · 2/ 9/2002
1/ 3/2002 · 1/16/2002
12/16/2001 · 1/ 2/2002
12/ 2/2001 · 12/15/2001
11/ 1/2001 · 11/29/2001
10/16/2001 · 10/31/2001
9/23/2001 · 10/13/2001
9/11/2001 · 9/22/2001
7/29/2001 · 9/10/2001
7/ 2/2001 · 7/28/2001
5/29/2001 · 6/30/2001
5/ 1/2001 · 5/21/2001
4/ 8/2001 · 4/29/2001
3/25/2001 · 4/ 7/2001
3/11/2001 · 3/24/2001
3/ 4/2001 · 3/10/2001
2/18/2001 · 3/ 3/2001
2/ 4/2001 · 2/17/2001
1/23/2001 · 2/ 2/2001
1/ 1/2001 · 1/22/2001
12/18/2000 · 12/31/2000
11/30/2000 · 12/ 7/2000
11/ 6/2000 · 11/28/2000
10/29/2000 · 11/ 5/2000
10/11/2000 · 10/19/2000
10/ 1/2000 · 10/ 9/2000
9/24/2000 · 9/30/2000
9/15/2000 · 9/22/2000
9/ 7/2000 · 9/13/2000
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This is my blogchalk:
United States, Massachusetts, Boston, Brighton, English, Ron, Male, Photography, Nudity.
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