Table of Contents
<:>inter alia<:>
04 May 1999
In Today's Issue
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1. A Word A Day -- impassible
2. Graphic of the Day -- Young boy
3. Quote of the Day -- Shakespeare
4. HotSites -- Miscellany
5. Reading List -- No Sweat
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1. A Word A Day
impassible (im-PAS-uh-buhl) adjective
1. Not subject to suffering or pain.
2. Unfeeling; impassive.
[Middle English, from Old French, from Late Latin impassibilis : in-, not + passibilis, passible.]
"At the sound of the gold, Aramis raised his eyes, and Porthos started; as to Athos, he remained impassible." Dumas, Alexandre,
Three Musketeers: Chapter XLVIII.
--
>From A Word A Day:
http://www.wordsmith.org/awad/
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2. Graphic of the Day -- Young boy
Young boy - 1977
by David J. L'Hoste
http://lhostelaw.com/ia/ia2/gotd/youngboy.htm
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3. Quote of the Day -- Shakespeare
Sonnet 29
by William Shakespeare
When, in disgrace with Fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state
(Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven's gate;
For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.
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4. HotSites -- Miscellany
Investors who like getting their company information
straight from the source will enjoy BestCalls -
http://www.bestcalls.com
BestCalls is a public directory of investor conference
calls. Registration is free.
News From 61 Newspaper, Broadcast & Online News Sources
http://www.1stheadlines.com/
Search and browse over 1,700 Star Wars resources.
http://www.project-m31.com/
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5. Reading List -- No Sweat
Mighty minds
By Alison Motluk
forget the gym: you may be able to body build
without even getting off the couch. Mental exercise
can increase strength almost as much as physical
practice, researchers announced at last week's
meeting.
Dave Smith and his colleagues at Manchester
Metropolitan University measured the push that 18
male volunteers could exert with their little fingers. Six
of the group were asked to repeat the exercise twice a
week for a month. Another six had to imagine doing
the workouts, aches and all, but not actually do them.
The rest were asked to do nothing at all.
Four weeks later, when the volunteers were tested
again, the researchers found that the average strength
of the physical-practice group had increased by 33 per
cent, and that of the mental-practice group by 16 per
cent. The group that did nothing stayed roughly the
same. "It's due not to what's happening in the muscle
but in the brain," says Smith.
The researchers think imagined exercise initiates the
same motor programme in the brain as real exercise,
and improves the neural pathways. "If you can
improve the neural input to the muscle, you can
recruit more muscle fibre and exert more force," says
Smith.
The study suggests that mental practice could help
build strength in athletes and speed up rehabilitation
of patients following brain injuries, Smith adds. There
is already anecdotal evidence that stroke victims
benefit from mental practice, he says. "And the
physiotherapist at the Royal Ballet swears by it."
From New Scientist, 4 April 1998
http://www.newscientist.com/home.html
© Copyright New Scientist, RBI Limited 1998
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Table of Contents
<:>inter alia<:>
11 May 1999
In Today's Issue
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In Today's Issue
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1. A Word A Day -- specie
2. Graphic of the Day -- Luxembourg
3. Quote of the Day -- Collins
4. HotSites -- Miscellany
5. Cool Fact of the Day -- Popping Joints
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1. A Word A Day
specie (SPEE-shee, -see) noun
Coined money; coin.
idiom. in specie.
1. In coin.
2. In a similar manner; in kind.
3. Law. In the same kind or shape; as specified.
[From (in) specie, (in) the actual form, from Latin (in)
specie, (in) kind, ablative of species.]
"Since the earliest application of computers to banking and
securities, information about money has often been more
important than the physical money itself. Today it would
be absurd to think of wealth in terms of gold bullion, let
alone some form of specie."
Jeffrey F. Rayport, Managing in the Marketspace, Harvard
Business Review, 1 Nov 1994.
--
>From A Word A Day:
http://www.wordsmith.org/awad/
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2. Graphic of the Day -- Luxembourg
Luxembourg -- 1976
by David J. L'Hoste
http://lhostelaw.com/ia/ia2/gotd/76luxembourg.htm
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3. Quote of the Day -- Billy Collins
I Go Back to the House for a Book
I turn around on the gravel
and go back to the house for a book,
something to read at the doctor's office,
and while I am inside, running the finger
of inquisition along a shelf,
another me that did not bother
to go back to the house for a book
heads out on his own,
rolls down the driveway,
and swings left toward town,
a ghost in his ghost car,
another knot in the string of time,
a good three minutes ahead of me —
a spacing that will now continue
for the rest of my life.
Sometimes I think I see him
a few people in front of me on a line
or getting up from a table
to leave the restaurant just before I do,
slipping into his coat on the way out the door.
But there is no catching him,
no way to slow him down
and put us back in synch,
unless one day he decides to go back
to the house for something,
but I cannot imagine
for the life of me what that might be.
He is out there always before me,
blazing my trail, invisible scout,
hound that pulls me along,
shade I am doomed to follow,
my perfect double,
only bumped an inch into the future,
and not nearly as well-versed as I
in the love poems of Ovid —
I who went back to the house
that fateful winter morning and got the book.
Billy Collins
Poetry
Volume CLXXI, Number 1
Eighty-Fifth Anniversary
Special Double Issue
October-November 1997
Copyright © 1997 by the Modern Poetry Association.
All rights reserved.
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4. HotSites -- Miscellany
The Encyclopedia Smithsonian - The Smithsonian from A to Z
The Smithsonian website is huge, and this site will help you
get the most out of it. This is their FAQs and guides page. It
will help you find information about the countless resources
available at this big site.
http://www.si.edu/resource/faq/start.htm
Listen_To_The_News is a great news resource! Real Audio and
Video World News & Info has Hundreds of direct Real Audio and
Video radio and television news links and live current news links
from around the world.
http://ListenToTheNews.com/
LOCATORplus -- NLM
The National Library of Medicine's (NLM) LOCATORplus is a Web
catalog of the world's largest medical library, with over 5.3
million books and other materials. Bringing together previously
disparate databases and information formerly available only to
Library staff, the site allows users to search by a variety of
specific fields and then email the results to themselves. Search
returns are ranked by relevance and feature standard library
catalog information as well as a link, in the case of electronic
resources. LOCATORplus also offers tutorials on using the
site and the NLM physical Reading Room and links to additional
online catalogs and a variety of other authoritative online
medical resources.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/locatorplus/
COMING SOON: Help make Dave a MILLIONAIRE!
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5. Cool Fact of the Day -- Popping Joints
Do a deep knee bend, and it's very likely you'll hear popping
sounds coming from your knee joints. There are also popping
sounds when you "crack your knuckles." What causes the popping
sounds? Actually, there are two kinds of sounds.
The joints in your fingers are enclosed in capsules that contain a
lubricating fluid. When the joint is moved near the end of its
range, gas that is dissolved in the joint fluid suddenly comes out of
solution, forming a small bubble and making the popping noise.
The joint can't be "popped" again until the gas redissolves.
The knee-bending sounds are most likely made by tendons (fibers
that connect muscles and bones) that snap into new positions
when the joint moves under stress. This kind of popping noise can
be repeated many times, because the tendons shift back and forth
as the joint moves.
More about popping joints:
http://www.sciam.com/askexpert/medicine/medicine11.html
--
From the Learning Center
http://www.LearningKingdom.com/
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Table of Contents
<:>inter alia<:>
15 May 1999
In Today's Issue
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HotSite -- NoteTab
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===>NoteTab<===
Great text editor!
Cost = 0
===========
http://www.notetab.com/
NoteTab is a top-rated text and HTML editor for Windows 95, 98, and NT4. It
is user friendly and feature rich with many innovative productivity tools.
Whether you create web pages, write source code, send E-mail, take notes,
analyze text, read files, or do anything related to text, you will certainly find
NoteTab a worthy tool and a great time saver.
There are currently two variants available. NoteTab Pro provides functionality
and performance that will suit the more demanding users. It is also ideal for
HTML editing as it provides tag highlighting. NoteTab Standard/Light uses
the Windows Rich-edit control and appeals to users with a smaller budget
(the Light version is Freeware) or who prefer to display their text with
variable-pitch fonts.
http://www.notetab.com/
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Table of Contents
<:>inter alia<:>
21 May 1999
In Today's Issue
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1. A Word A Day -- Promethean
2. Graphic of the Day -- Canal Houses
3. Reading List -- TV "journalism"
4. HotSites -- Basic but useful
5. Quote of the Day -- Quayle
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1. A Word A Day
Promethean (pruh-MEE-thee-uhn) adjective
1. Relating to or suggestive of Prometheus.
2. Boldly creative; defiantly original.
noun
One who is boldy creative or defiantly original in behavior or actions.
[From Prometheus, a Titan who stole fire from Olympus and gave it to
humankind for which Zeus chained him to a rock and sent an eagle to eat
his liver, which grew back daily.]
"Nonetheless, (W.C.) Fields is a Promethean figure in the world of film
comedy, and even at less than his absolute best, he still commands our
attention."
Never Give a Sucker an Even Break, Magill's Survey of Cinema, 15 Jun 1995.
--
>From A Word A Day:
http://www.wordsmith.org/awad/
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2. Graphic of the Day -- Canal Houses
Amsterdam Canal Houses -- 1976
by David J. L'Hoste
http://lhostelaw.com/ia/ia2/gotd/canalhouses76.htm
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3. Reading List -- TV "journalism"
=Buchanan's brother threatens Clinton associate=
"Hardball" host Chris Matthews reportedly triggered assault by
wrongly accusing Cody Shearer of being the "jogger" who
harassed Kathleen Willey.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
BY JAKE TAPPER
May 20, 1999 | WASHINGTON -- Chris Matthews' report
that Kathleen Willey was threatened in January 1998
by Cody Shearer, a Washington journalist and
investigator with close ties to the Clinton
administration, nearly had tragic repercussions here on
Sunday night.
After hearing the allegation -- first broadcast May 11
on CNBC's "Hardball" -- presidential candidate Pat
Buchanan's older brother Hank, a 61-year-old former
accountant with a history of mental illness, drove from
his Maryland home to Washington to find Shearer.
And he had a gun.
Read the complete story:
http://www.salon1999.com/news/feature/1999/05/20/buchanan/index.html
Related story:
http://www.salon1999.com/news/col/cona/1999/05/18/hardball/index.html
--
From: Salon
http://www.salon1999.com/index.html
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4. HotSites -- Basic but useful
United States Postal Service
No crowds. No lines. This post office is open 24/7.
Buy stamps, change address, find zip codes, etc.
http://www.usps.gov/
Kelley Blue Book
Used car prices and more.
http://www.kbb.com/
1st Headlines
News From 101 Newspaper, Broadcast & Online News Sources
http://www.1stheadlines.com/
COMING SOON: Help make Dave a MILLIONAIRE!
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5. Quote of the Day -- Quayle
I support efforts to limit the terms of members of
Congress, especially members of the House and members
of the Senate.
-- Dan Quayle, Former Vice-President
The Holocaust was an obscene period in our nation's
history...this century's history.... We all lived in
this century. I didn't live in this century.
-- Dan Quayle, then Indiana senator and Republican
vice-presidential candidate during a news conference
in which he was asked his opinion of the Holocaust
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Table of Contents
<:>inter alia<:>
27 May 1999
In Today's Issue
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1. A Word A Day -- peremptory
2. Graphic of the Day -- Tuileries
3. Reading List -- Pushing chiru over the edge
4. HotSites -- History
5. Quote of the Day -- Federal Judge Nickerson
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1. A Word A Day
peremptory (puh-REMP-tuh-ree) adjective
1. Putting an end to all debate or action: a peremptory decree.
2. Not allowing contradiction or refusal; imperative: The officer issued
peremptory commands.
3. Having the nature of or expressing a command; urgent: The teacher
spoke in a peremptory tone.
4. Offensively self-assured; dictatorial: a swaggering, peremptory manner.
[Latin peremptorius, from peremptus, past participle of perimere, to take
away : per- + emere, to obtain.]
"Internally, decisions were reached by consensus, the chairman having no
peremptory authority."
Melinda W. Cooke, India: Chapter 10D. Organization, Equipment, and
Training, Countries of the World, 1 Jan 1991.
--
>From A Word A Day:
http://www.wordsmith.org/awad/
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2. Graphic of the Day -- Tuileries chairs
Tuileries 1977
by David J. L'Hoste
http://lhostelaw.com/ia/ia2/gotd/tuileries.htm
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3. Reading List -- The Killer Trade in Shahtoosh
The Tibetan antelope, or chiru, may be nearing
extinction. According to reports by
environmental groups, the numbers of the
high-altitude ungulate, whose millions were
reduced in recent years to an estimated
75,000 worldwide, have recently plummeted.
The proximate cause is poaching, but the
underlying pathology is consumerist.
Three months ago, the Voice reported
warnings from the Wildlife Conservation
Society that the international trade in
shahtoosh, a shawl woven of hairs from the
undercoat of chiru was posing a serious threat
to the species. The trade is being driven by
fashion. Over the past several years,
shahtoosh have become a ne plus ultra luxury
item. So fine that they can allegedly be drawn
through a finger ring, the mesh shawls are
typically dun colored and can cost thousands
apiece on the black market. They're the rich
person's pashmina. Yet, from a fashionista's
viewpoint, they're even better than these fine
cashmeres since they are so seasonlessly
gossamer they can be worn year round.
Despite being protected since 1975 by CITES
(the United Nations's Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species),
as actively enforced by the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, the trade in chiru continues
unabated. Since the first article on shahtoosh
appeared, the Voice has visited several local
shops selling shahtoosh under the counter,
and learned of a Manhattan socialite who
regularly stages private parties where illegally
imported scarves are sold at prices starting at
$2000.
Read the complete story:
http://www.villagevoice.com/columns/9921/trebay.shtml
--
From The Village Voice: http://www.villagevoice.com/
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4. HotSites -- History
Selected History Sites
http://lhostelaw.com/djl/historysites.htm
COMING SOON: Help make Dave a MILLIONAIRE!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
5. Quote of the Day -- Judge Nickerson
"When you put the stick up towards his face, having shoved
it into his rectum, was a part of your effort to humiliate him?"
-- Judge Eugene H. Nickerson of Federal District Court
accepting guilty plea of N.Y. police officer Justin A. Volpe.
Complete coverage from the N.Y. Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/regional/052699ny-louima-trial.html
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