_________________
Tuesday
29 February 2000
Leap Day

11 31 pm pst   [ culling ]

The "keepers" folder has 553 messages in it, and I am nearing my quota. This is web-based e-mail, so I can't download. I must simply delete. Now I cull the important snippets to save, from my subscriptions to the journals and diary-l mailing lists.

  • read The Artist's Way, by Julia Cameron
  • http://css.nu/ has good CSS pointers
  • good stat tracker: wiredstats
  • the Microsoft free TrueType download page
  • the bible -- 7 translations, search by reference, keyword and via restricted database
  • the book Fit For Life by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond "has a great chapter on why humans shouldn't drink milk even human milk after the age of three"
  • how tofu is made
  • http://www.greyday.org/ has good web copyright info
  • an interesting read regarding trademark registration*
  • Alpha-lactalbumin protein -- an ingredient in human brest milk that causes cancer cells to 'commit suicide'
  • '"Inflammable" dates from 1605. "Flammable" dates from 1830. They mean the same thing, and come from slightly different Latin and French roots.'
  • 'the word "prodigal" means "recklessly extravagant, characterized by wasteful expenditure." Most people, however, think it means "returning" or even "repenting" and use it that way.'
  • where to find a free search engine for one's site
  • watch the films Clockwatchers, Henry Fool, and any of director Hal Hartley's other films (Trust, Simple Men, Surviving Desire, The Unbelievable Truth, Flirt, etc.
  • "Any web site is just 19 clicks away from any other web site." so they say
  • Effect = cause (as a verb) or result (as a noun).
    Affect = change (as a verb or a noun)
    "He worked hard to effect change, but his work didn't affect the situation. The effect of all his work was to leave his listeners with a blank affect."
  • "laud" as a verb means to buy copious amounts of single malt scotch for
  • "Swive" is the f-word for the 16th century.
  • "palpebral" means pertaining to the eyelids.
  • "palpebrate" means to wink.
  • "peccadillo" means a trifling offense, a venial sin.
  • "picaresque" means of or relating to rogues or rascals.
  • "parallax" is the apparent change in an object when it is seen from a different point of view.
  • look up "peripatetic", "pyrolysis" and "palaver".
  • burning a green apple scented candle helped with several people's migraines
  • migraines are the result of a loss of blood pressure not high blood pressure
  • write "a middle-aged person" not "a middle-age person" unless your story is set long ago
  • conversation starters and journal prompts:
    • The Book of Questions by Gregory Stock
    • The Conversation Piece by Bret Nicholaus and Paul Lowrie
    • What Would You Do? by Debra Raisner, Glenn Klausner and David Raisner
    • a page-a-day calendar called List Yourself
    • idea catcher: an inspiriring journal for writers from the editors of story press; isbn 1-884910-20-3
    • more prompts
  • a program called Ghost Mail lets you send mail semi-anonymously
  • read A Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
  • what hackers write:
    • hax0r = hacker
    • l33t = 37337 = elite
    • f33r m3 = fear me
  • about search engines:
  • "Write for yourself, but to your audience." -- unknown
  • "Never put anything in writing that you wouldn't want read out loud at your funeral." -- unknow
  • If more than the two pairs of eyes see it, it's defamation.
  • visit the angelika film center in downtown manhattan
  • suit of the loom
  • Brawl -- a realtime card game
  • "I think you may be looking for Van Gogh colors from Polaroid film" -- Michael Hardy
  • call 1 800 578 7453
  • read the poem "Richard Cory" by Edwin Arlington Robinson
  • recommended [childrens] books: The Westing Game, Figgs and Phantoms, The Mysterious Disappearence of Leon (I mean Noel) by Ellen Raskin; The Tattooed Potato; the DARK IS RISING series by Susan Cooper, FACE IN THE FROST;
  • the Betsy-Tacy series; The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes; Ramona, Amelia Bedelia, But NO! Elephants, Mice at Center Ice, Lizards and things you make with strings, the Complete Officer Ugh! Guide to Safety; Someone is Eating the Sun!; Guess How Much I Love You; Encyclopedia Brown; the Sue Barton and/or Cherry Ames nurse books; the Judy Bolton series by Margaret Sutton; The Dana Girls, Trixie Belden; mysteries by Dorothy L. Sayers; Momo by Ende
  • the official postal abbreviations
  • a good CSS book
  • the book Who Killed Homer? has 'a wonderful, erudite refutation for the "Greeks and Romans borrowed from the East" argument.'
  • What is the root of the Christian requirement to evangelise?
    "Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Matthew 28:18-20, (New International Translation)
  • a bumpersticker read "If you smoke after sex slow down and use a lubricant"
  • '"Ayuh" translates to "yeah" - it's a Maine thing.'
  • "Strongarm tactics" (n) -- To compel a behavior through the use of force, threat or political power.
  • "Strongarm tactics" -- coercive actions continued without regard for the wishes of the person on the other end to be persuaded.
  • "Jewish beliefs about the messiah include that the coming of the messiah will bring peace to the world, as well as the resurrection of the dead. Which are some of the reasons we don't believe that Jesus was it. I recommend Raphael Patai's The Messiah Papers if you want lots and lots of Jewish thought about the messiah."
  • according to folklore, the devil's sperm is ice-cold
  • "If a mare came into unwanted heat, we kept a copper bit in their mouths. They never got pregnant."
  • Point-Counterpoint: Abortion
  • FDA approves morning-after pill
  • "In the Norwegian debate, future crimes is the ONLY argument ever used in favor of capital punishment. The idea is that a person that has killed in cold blood once is likely to do it again."
  • "There are presently 3 million couples waiting to adopt in the US alone."
  • FAQ on Soc.Culture.Jewish
  • Who are the Sephardim?
  • "Until, say, the last fifteen years, 'Italian' food in America was almost always Neapolitan. Pizza is Neapolitan, for example. The reason is that Naples, then and now, was the poorest part of Italy, and had the most immigrants to the New World. They brought their food with them."
  • the beginning of the Labern and Shirley song is, "Schlameil, Schlamaazal Hassenpepper Incorporated" or "Haasenpfeffer" (a rabbit stew -- a German dish)
  • "Curiosity killed the cat but twas satisfaction that brought her back"
  • a list I love
  • good PNG (Portable Network Graphics) info
  • some people believe Jesus lived to be 73, married Mary Magedelene had two sons and died in Rome.
  • find out about the Masons and the Knights Templars
  • "Vampires do not like garlic. Vampires are the spawn of Satan. Therefore, garlic is a tool of God!"
  • US Census Bureau
  • a "hen-pecked wife" is a wife who is nagged at constantly [I'd never heard the term before, so I had to ask its user to define it...]
  • a study found that children who are spanked are twice as likely to develop alcohol and drug abuse problems when they grow up
  • when in Chicago:
    • eat at Maggiano's [Italian], The Berghoff (17 W. Adams St.) [German/Bavarian], and Gino's East (160 E. Superior St.) [pizza]
    • the Cultural Center hosts neighborhood tours (it is located across from the north end of Grant Park, in the same building as the Broadcast Communication museum)
    • the Chicago Architecture Foundation offers a variety of excellent tours (one is located below street level at The Hancock Building)
    • consider buying a ticket on The Chicago Trolley
  • "But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." Matthew 5:28
  • American Sexual Behavior: Trends, Socio-Demographic Differences, and Risk Behavior
  • the previously quoted threads on adult toys, erotic stories, and adult anime (hentai anime)
  • "Have had imaginary sexual encounters with 1000 or more partners: Men 32% Women 8%" -- Psychology Today, Sep/Oct 1995
  • see the film Killing Time
  • In certain states you can sue the one your spouse cheated with. "It's an "Alienation of Affection" law, and exists in about 43 states. Originally intended as a way to keep wives in line, the door now swings both ways, so to speak."
  • "Seems to me it's a lot better to judge someone else's relationship (if we must at all) by whether or not it works for them rather than by whether or not it meets OUR standards for a relationship. I'd rather an honest non-monogomous relationship anyday over one where monogomy was enforced by law and guilt." -- Lynda B.
  • see Eating Raoul
  • Alexa indexes web pages and saves them after they are gone
  • "One of the most popular alternative bars in Ottawa is called Zaphod Beeblebrox."
  • famous cowards: Benidict Arnold, Brutus and Cassios, Chicken Boo, Foghorn Legacorn, The Cowardly Lion
  • the word fuck is an infix, because it is used in the middle of other words, like un-fucking-believable or fan-fucking-tastic
  • "Scrumping" in England means "stealing apples"
  • Alt.Troll FAQ
  • alt.sex.fetish.robots
  • "A netsplit is when the servers connected to provide the IRC relay service become disonnected and, essentially, two realms are created from one - and they are not connected."
  • about robot.txt files and here and here and here
  • "In Brazil there the Brazillians / Grow coffee beans there by the billions" -- Good ol' Blue eyes
  • read The Gift of Fear by Gavin De Becker
  • "Otaku is a Japanese slang term which means something like 'Someone so obsessed that they will not leave the house unless it has something to do with thier obsession.' Essentially, it means fanboy-geek and specifically used to refer to Japanese animation fans."
  • the lack of ability to distinguish between L and R sounds is [cruelly] called "lallation"
  • about Moebius Strips
  • purchase a Klein Bottle
  • Is Glass a Liquid?
  • The Sandwich Song
  • "How's the air up there on your high horse?"
    "Considering my high horse is right behind your high horse. . . not too good."
  • "There are portions of South Africa with an HIV infection rate of well over 50%. One small town has an 80% rate."
  • "We're still seeing 16,000 new HIV transmissions daily, world-wide."
  • "Hepatitis A and E are transmitted via food and water; the others (B, C and G) are transmitted through blood and body fluid contact as is HIV. Hepatitis D is related to Hep B in some obscure way that I used to know when I sat for Pathology boards but have now forgotten. Oh, and the vaccine is for Hep B. The next hepatitis virus is called the TT virus."
  • "Eyewire" has a royalty-free music section
  • good corsets to be found at DV8 or Religious Sex in NYC
  • State Legislative Sites
  • changes and irregularities in Daylight Savings Time
  • The official U.S. time
  • Monitor Resolution demographics [or the whole survey]
  • anorexic is an adjective, anoretic is a noun according to From Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bullimia by Marya Hornbacher
  • "The more men in the kitchen the better. In addition to Breadman, I have Juiceman, Mr. Coffee, and Uncle Ben ..." -- Nancy B., Catherine J. added "Mr. Clean, the man from Glad, chore boy..."
  • "80% of boys begin masturbating to orgasm between the ages of 13 and 15. In girls, masturbation (is especially to orgasm) is much less common. Only 20% by age 15, 30% by age 20. Also: 50% of boys in the 8-11 age group experience homosexual exploration (e.g. exhibitionism, group masturbation, and less frequently, fondlng of each others genitals)."
  • visit the Museum of Jurassic Technology in LA (on Venice Blvd. a little west of Robertson)
  • take a downtown walking tour put on by the LA Conservatory
  • Biblical Action Figures
  • Copyright and Line Dancing
  • read Edwin Mullhouse by Steven Millhauser
  • The On-Line Books Page -- full titles online
  • "Book and periodical titles get italics (underlining was the accepted substitute if italics are unavailable, but some people argue it the other way 'round). Short stories, poems, and plays get enclosed in quotation marks."
  • A Glossary of Literary Terms and A Handbook of Rhetorical Devices

 

My name is Rachel and I am a digital packrat.

 

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