Table of Contents
<:>inter alia<:>
06 February 2001
US population:
1820: 9,638,453 (1,771,656 blacks (18.4%))
1999: 272,878,163 (33,125,326 blacks (12.1%))
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In Today's Issue
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1. A Word A Day -- flews
2. Graphics of the Day -- Pears 2000
3. QOTD -- Cathryn Hankla
4. HotSites -- bills and radio
5. Reading List -- Ted Olson? You've got to be kidding.
6. Weird News -- Hold the thumb!
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1. A Word A Day
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flews (flooz) plural noun
The pendulous corners of the upper lip of certain dogs, such as the
bloodhound.
[Origin unknown.]
"That lesson is implicit in these 15 essays, each stressing the value of
preserving every species. (Richard) Conniff assembles a rogue's gallery
of unlikely candidates for environmentalists' zeal: the sloth, grizzly,
bat, bloodhound (with his slobbery flews), mouse, weasel, shark,
porcupine and mole."
David Walton, Essays ponder beasts whose beauty isn't obvious,
Minneapolis Star Tribune, 22 Nov 1998.
--
From A Word A Day:
http://www.wordsmith.org/awad/
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2. Graphic of the Day - Pears 2000
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http://lhostelaw.com/ia/ia2/gotd/00pears.htm
by David J. L'Hoste
--
Last Issue:
http://lhostelaw.com/jean/001202marc.htm
Archives:http://lhostelaw.com/iaa/ia_graphics.htm
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3. QOTD - Cathryn Hankla
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Self-Reflection
In this poem, I promise, you will learn everything I know about myself. Despite the fact
I get it wrong, I've been looking in the mirror my whole life. I think I see myself, but as
you know from your own experience, that's rarely the case. How ridiculous that we
spend so long gazing at the unattainable, fooling ourselves with our own faulty facts,
our faces flying toward us exactly backwards. We could spend that time dancing or
reading out loud. We could make love more often and try to keep our minds from
wandering. After all of these years I can't even pick myself out in the class
photograph. But I can recognize your face anywhere. It could be that, actually,
objectivity is underrated and love its greatest example. This relegates relativity to
twentieth-century egotism, nothing more than a medieval scheme to place the earth at
the center once again. Just a theory. And there are others. For example, I have
believed that growing a good tomato is as important as writing a poem. For example, I
have believed in the open exchange of ideas. I have believed we are not the same and
this is the greatest liberation.
Cathryn Hankla
Texas School Book Depository
Louisiana State University Press
Copyright © 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000 by Cathryn Hankla.
All rights reserved.
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4. HOTSITES - bills and radio
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Pay your bills online:
https://www.billpoint.com/
http://www.paymybills.com/
http://www.piggybills.com/
Internet radio:
http://www.internetradiolist.com/
http://www.radiotower.com/
http://www.radio-online.com/
http://radio.broadcast.com/
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5. QOTD II -- Ted Olson? You've got to be kidding.
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Ted Olson? You've got to be kidding. How does President
Bush expect to "raise the tone" in Washington by
nominating a right-wing celebrity and Kenneth Starr pal
as solicitor general?
- -By Joe Conason
Feb. 6, 2001 | Controversy rarely accompanies the
appointment of a new solicitor general, the powerful
Justice Department official who represents the United
States government before the Supreme Court. But an
angry confirmation debate could ensue this month if
President Bush names the man whose name was leaked by
the White House last week: Theodore B. Olson.
On paper, Olson's qualifications to serve as solicitor
general are beyond reproach. He is widely acknowledged
to be one of the nation's most experienced and capable
appellate litigators, and he possesses more than a
dozen of the white quill pens that are given to lawyers
when they argue before the high court.
His most recent appearance there occurred in December,
when he represented the Bush-Cheney campaign in the
Florida election case that divided the court and the
nation so bitterly. Aside from the five Supreme Court
justices who voted in his favor, there may be no one to
whom Bush owes his victory more than Olson.
There is another, darker side to the 59-year-old
Republican attorney, however, which may trouble the
Democratic senators who would have to decide whether
Olson should be confirmed. Over the past several years,
this partisan legal warrior has sought the ruin of the
Clinton administration and the personal destruction of
the former first family by any means necessary.
He was a central figure in the shadowy "Arkansas
Project," which funneled more than $2 million through
the tax-exempt American Spectator magazine to private
investigators digging up anti-Clinton dirt. He wrote
anonymous articles for the Spectator that suggested
that various Clinton administration officials were
guilty of felonies, and compared the White House to a
Mafia crime family. And he secretly coached the lawyers
for Paula Jones before their own appearance at the
Supreme Court.
Full article: http://www.salon.com/politics/feature/2001/02/06/olson/index.html
From: http://www.salon.com/
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6. Weird News - Hold the thumb!
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Saturday February 3 9:32 AM ET Make that a sliced
turkey sandwich - hold the thumb
HYANNIS, Mass., (Reuters) - Barnstable High School
students are examining their cafeteria food a little
more closely after one student found a slice of thumb
and a bit of nail in her turkey-and-tomato sandwich.
Sodexho Marriott Services , which serves more than one
million meals a day at schools, colleges and
corporations throughout the United States, said that
one of its cafeteria workers at the high school had
severed the top of her thumb in a slicer Tuesday.
``The student found a foreign object in her sandwich
(on Wednesday). The health department said it was human
tissue. It is our understanding it was not swallowed.
There have been no signs of physical illness,'' Sodexho
spokeswoman Leslie Aun said. ``We're very sorry this
has happened. It is completely unacceptable.''
The worker was sent home from the school in Hyannis on
Cape Cod and is not expected to return to work for
another week, Aun said.
State health department spokeswoman Roseanne Pawelec
characterized the incident as ``an unusual accident,
but there is really no public health threat here.''
She said the local health department was investigating
the matter.
Barnstable County health officials did not return calls
seeking comment Friday. Neither the school's principal
or the school district's superintendent returned calls
seeking comment.
Calling the incident ``gross,'' some students told the
Cape Cod Times newspaper they expected to spend their
lunch at a local fast food eatery. Others said they
would boycott the cafeteria. REUTERS
From Yahoo! Oddly Enough News:
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/od/nm/
Table of Contents
<:>inter alia<:>
17 February 2001
Maha Shivaratree in Sri Lanka
In Today's Issue
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
1. A Word A Day -- mirabile dictu
2. Graphic of the Day -- Cadillac of Bikes 1981
3. QOTD -- Megan Sexton
4. HotSites -- Miscellany
5. Reading List -- Clarence Thomas
6. Weird News -- Imelda Marcus opens shoe shrine
7. Stats Page -- Burgeoning Penal System
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
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1. A Word A Day
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mirabile dictu (mee-RAH-bi-lay DIK-too) interjection
Strange to say; wonderful to relate.
[Latin.]
"A hot-air balloon drifts slowly over a bottomless
chasm, carrying several passengers ... Back in the
balloon, something longed-for and heartening has
happened. On this occasion, mirabile dictu, the many
have not been sacrificed but saved." -- Salman Rushdie,
What is my single life worth? A speech on the occasion
of the 200th Anniversary of the First Amendment, delivered
at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, New York,
Dec 1991.
--
From A Word A Day:
http://www.wordsmith.org/awad/
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2. Graphic of the Day - Cadillac of Bikes 1981
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Cadillac of Bikes 1981
http://lhostelaw.com/ia/ia2/gotd/81cadillacbike.htm
by David J. L'Hoste
--
Last Issue:
http://lhostelaw.com/ia/ia2/gotd/00pears.htm
Archives: http://lhostelaw.com/iaa/ia_graphics.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
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3. QOTD - Megan Sexton
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Marriage Patois
After a thousand days,
our language is fixed
as the Madagascar-shaped mole
on your neck,
and the pink levees
of your eyelids.
Like avid expatriates,
we're perfecting the accent
of our new country,
trading in the rug
of our old tongue.
I say fire the translators,
no more dictionaries.
We're natives now
because last night
I dreamt I stood
in our garden
and spoke my name for you.
With each sound,
one of my teeth fell out,
and from each glyph they made
in the dark loam,
a wild orchid grew.
Megan Sexton
Prairie Schooner
Volume 74, Number 4
Winter 2000
Copyright © 2000 by the University of Nebraska Press.
All rights reserved.
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4. HOTSITES - Miscellany
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--> NHTSA Vehicle and Equipment Information <--
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Vehicle and Equipment Information website has car
safety related information for a wide range of issues
including: Safety Problems & Issues, Testing
Results, Regulations & Standards and Research
& Development.
--> Popular Science: Best of the Web <--
http://www.popsci.com/features/bow00/
The top fifty sites within the field of science,
as judged by the editors of Popular Science.
They are divided into ten categories: Visual Science,
Science Learning, Health & Medicine, The Universe,
Inventions & Labs, News & Answers, Earth & Environment,
Moving Science, High Technology, and Eclectic Science.
--> The American Presidency: A Glorious Burden <--
http://americanhistory.si.edu/presidency/index.html
The Smithsonian Institute's complete history of the
Presidency, from the Foundations of the Office to
campaign trails to life and death in the White House
to the Institution itself. You will find this site
rich in history and resources for all visitors,
including materials for teachers and students.
--
From: Cool Web Sightings
http://www.coolwebsightings.com/
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5. Reading List -- Clarence Thomas
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February 14, 2001
LIBERTIES
Black and White
By MAUREEN DOWD
WASHINGTON — There is nothing like stealing a presidential
election to put a little wind in a guy's sails.
After 10 years in the shadows, after a mute decade on the
bench, Clarence Thomas had a black-tie coming-out party
last night.
* * *
As Bill Clinton went to Harlem seeking validation from
a mostly black crowd, Clarence Thomas went to the Hilton
seeking validation from a mostly white crowd.
Many of the whites who crowded around Clarence can't
stand Bill. And many of the blacks who crowded around
Bill can't stand Clarence.
-
Full article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/14/opinion/14DOWD.html
=======
Leaving little to the imagination
When Clarence Thomas gave a fire-breathing speech at the
"conservative prom," it made my head spin. And not in a good
way.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
By David Skinner
Feb. 15, 2001 | WASHINGTON -- Sometimes called the
conservative prom, the American Enterprise Institute's Francis
Boyer lecture and dinner is an annual black-tie event that brings
together many classes of right-side Washington: ideologues,
intellectuals, bureaucrats, research assistants, foundation heads,
journalists -- and a fair sprinkling of people who actually pay
for the privilege of dining with them.
* * *
But if you ask me, many of the truths, especially the really
conservative ones, that lie within Justice Thomas' heart should
stay there. It seems the opposite of wisdom for a sitting
Supreme Court justice to trumpet his privately held views on
controversial questions of domestic policy.
-
Full article:
http://www.salon.com/politics/feature/2001/02/15/thomas/index.html
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6. Weird News - Imelda Marcus opens shoe shrine
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Saturday February 17 9:47 AM ET
Imelda Marcos, first lady of sole, opens shoe shrine
By Michael Barker
MANILA, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Former First Lady Imelda
Marcos, the world's most notorious shoe collector,
opened a museum in the Philippines on Friday dedicated
to footwear and boosting tourism.
The Marikina City Footwear Museum in Manila includes
hundreds of pairs of shoes, some collected from the
presidential palace after Imelda and her late husband
ex-President Ferdinand Marcos fled the country in
disgrace in 1986.
Others were donated by Imelda herself or by a number of
local politicians and flim stars.
The former first lady, who hopes the museum will boost
tourism and help Marikina's local footwear industry,
said the shoe shrine was a creative way of turning a
negative perception of the country into something
positive.
``Filipinos are very good in recycling problems into
assets and they have done a good job (with the
museum),'' she said.
Among the shoes on display were five identical pairs of
black Charles Jourdans with rhinestones studded in the
heels and a pair of blue canvas espadrilles that Imelda
wore when she and her husband left in a hurry in 1986.
About 1,200 pairs of shoes were said to have been found
in Malacanang presidential palace after the couple
fled. Critics said the vast collection represented
great extravagance and excess particularly in such a
poor country.
She has said on a number of occasions that she
collected such a vast array of footwear to support the
Marikina shoe industry.
On Friday, Imelda spent much of her time walking past
the display cases, taking out shoes and posing for
photographers. A particularly striking red pair of
shoes were a personal favourite, she said.
Asked by reporters on Friday how many pairs of shoes
she presently owned, she smiled and replied: ``I don't
know, I've really lost count.''
From Yahoo! Oddly Enough News:
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/od/nm/
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7. Stats Page -- Burgeoning Penal System
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6.3 million people were on probation, in jail or prison,or on
parole at yearend 1999 -- 3.1% of allU.S. adult residents.
State and Federal prison authorities had under their
jurisdiction 1,366,721 inmates at yearend 1999: 1,284,894
were physically in their custody.
Local jails held or supervised 687,973 persons awaiting
trial or serving a sentence at midyear 1999. About 82,000
of these were persons serving their sentence in the community.
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Table of Contents
<:>inter alia<:>
23 February 2001
Happy National Day in Brunei
In Today's Issue
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
1. A Word A Day -- garrulous
2. Graphic of the Day -- The Greatest
3. QOTD -- Billy Collins
4. HotSites -- Miscellany
5. Reading List -- Pin-Pointless Bombing
6. Stats Page -- Alcohol Use
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
`````````````````
1. A Word A Day
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garrulous (GAR-uh-luhs, GAR-yuh-) adjective
1. Given to excessive and often trivial or rambling talk;
tiresomely talkative.
2. Wordy and rambling.
[From Latin garrulus, from garrire, to chatter.]
"Hoeg, as the garrulous, intrusive narrator, has a gleeful time
disorienting his characters."
Brigitte Frase, Four Hundred Seventy Years of Solitude,
Newsday, 15 Oct 1995.
--
From A Word A Day:
http://www.wordsmith.org/awad/
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2. Graphic of the Day -
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The Greatest
http://lhostelaw.com/ia/ia2/gotd/the_greatest.htm
by David J. L'Hoste
--
Last Issue:
http://lhostelaw.com/ia/ia2/gotd/81cadillacbike.htm
Archives: http://lhostelaw.com/iaa/ia_graphics.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
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3. QOTD - Billy Collins
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Forgetfulness
The name of the author is the first to go
followed obediently by the title, the plot,
the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel
which suddenly becomes one you have never read,
never
even heard of,
as if, one by one, the memories you used to harbor
decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of
the brain,
to a little fishing village where there are no
phones.
Long ago you kissed the nine Muses goodbye
and watched the quadratic equation pack its bag,
and even now as you memorize the order of the
planets,
something else is slipping away, a state flower
perhaps,
the address of an uncle, the capital of Paraguay.
Whatever it is you are struggling to remember
it is not poised on the tip of your tongue,
not even lurking in some obscure corner of your
spleen.
It has floated away down a dark mythological river
whose name begins with an L as far as you can
recall,
well on your own way to oblivion where you will
join those
who have even forgotten how to swim and how to
ride
a bicycle.
No wonder you rise in the middle of the night
to look up the date of a famous battle in a book
on war.
No wonder the moon in the window seems to have
drifted
out of a love poem that you used to know by heart.
--Billy Collins
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4. HOTSITES - Miscellany
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http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/g/ts/
Yahoos! Top Stories Photos -- top news pics of the day linked
to stories.
--
Thinking about becoming a drug addict? Well,
you've gotta talk the talk to walk the walk.
http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/streetterms/Default.asp
--
CyberKit is a collection of network tools for Windows
9x/NT/2000/ME. The following tools are included: Ping,
TraceRoute, Finger, WhoIs, NSLookUp, Time
Synchronizer, Quote of the Day, NetScanner and
DBScanner.
http://www.cyberkit.net/index.html
(Submitted by subscriber Jean L'Hoste. Says
Jean, "Cool Tool!!! Get it....very nice!")
--
Windows tools for making all those CDs you burn play
automatically when inserted in drive:
http://www.winmag.com/columns/powertools/2001/06.htm
(Submitted by subscriber Jean L'Hoste.)
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5. Reading List -- Pin-Pointless Bombing
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Pin-Pointless Bombing
Trying to turn civilians against their government
by dropping bombs on them has never worked. Why,
after 10 years of failure, does anyone think it
will in Iraq?
by Ted Rall
Feb. 20. 2001
Imaginary, but plausible phone conversation between
father and son over the hotline between the District of
Columbia and Kennebunkport:
"I've gotten a good start on domestic policy, Dad.
I've brought back Reagan's trickle-down supply-side
thingie, and we're going to suck so much oil out of
those stupid wildlife refuges that we'll bring back gas
wars. But Colin says I haven't given him anything to
do overseas. I don't want him thinking that I'm
dissing him because he's black, but I don't really have
any ideas for stuff for him to do."
Dad: "You could always bomb Saddam [pronounced "SAD-
dim"]. Worked for me -- my approval rating shot up to
91 percent."
Son: "But you lost the election."
Dad: "So did you!"
Once again, American and British planes last week
rained explosives on teenagers, babies, and the elderly
in the suburbs of Baghdad. Incidentally, a few Iraqi
air force installations also happened to be struck.
According to Bush administration officials, the
bombings were provoked by the Iraqis' locking their
radars on Allied jets patrolling the southern "no fly"
zone established at the end of the Gulf War.
Sen. Carl Levin, the ranking Democrat on the Armed
Services Committee, noted, "This is a continuation of
a policy -- not a very satisfying policy, by the way,
but the best that is available to us probably."
"Continuation" is right. American and British jets also
bombed six Iraqi provinces on Jan. 29. Seven civilians
were reported injured, but American journalists were
still obsessed with the missing "W" keys on those White
House keyboards. And on Aug. 17, outgoing President
Clinton ordered little-noticed air strikes on targets
outside the "no fly" zones, killing 19 people.
We've been bombing Iraq for nearly a decade, and little
or nothing has changed there. Saddam Hussein remains
the nation's undisputed leader, his political support
undiminished by years of economic hardship and the
endless bombing campaign. What remains mysterious is
what the US and its European suck-ups think they're
accomplishing.
--
Full article:
http://www.mojones.com/rall/3.html
From Mother Jones: http://www.mojones.com/
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6. Stats Page -- Alcohol Use
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Alcohol Use
(All figures are for U.S.)
There were 19,515 Alcohol-induced deaths in the United
States each year, not including motor vehicle fatalities (1998)
There were 25,192 deaths in the United States from Chronic
Liver Disease and Cirrhosis (1998)
Chronic Liver Disease and Cirrhosis is the 10th leading cause of
death in the United States (1998)
Source: National Vital Statistics Reports, Vol. 48, No.11
Fifty-two percent of Americans ages 12 and over have drank
alcohol in the past month (1998)
Sixteen percent of these are "binge drinkers" five or more
drinks on the same occasion at least once in the past month
More Men (68 percent) between ages 18 and 25 drink than
Women (53 percent).
Source: Health, United States: 2000
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