Table of Contents
<:>inter alia<:>
02 June 1999
In Today's Issue
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1. A Word A Day -- mugwump
2. Graphic of the Day -- Jean Lafitte NHP
3. Reading List -- a) Business backs brutality
b) Fundies block PBS gay documentary
4. HotSites -- Bugs
5. Quote of the Day -- Jon Western
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1. A Word A Day
mugwump (MUG-wump) noun
1. A person who acts independently or remains neutral, especially in
politics.
2. Often Mugwump. A Republican who bolted the party in 1884, refusing to
support presidential candidate James G. Blaine.
[Massachusett mugquomp, mummugquomp, war leader.]
"Mr. and Mrs. America are hopelessly moderate mugwumps,
difference-splitters par excellence."
Chris Tucker, Middle class sees few fringe benefits,
The Dallas Morning News, 26 Apr 1998.
--
>From A Word A Day:
http://www.wordsmith.org/awad/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
2. Graphic of the Day -- Jean Lafitte NHP
Jean Lafitte NAtional Historical Park
by David J. L'Hoste
http://lhostelaw.com/ia/ia2/gotd/jeanlafitte.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
3. Reading List -- The Killer Trade in Shahtoosh
Crackdowns
Business backs brutality
By Arvind Ganesan
In the sleepy fishing village of Veldur in India, Sadhana
Bhalekar, a young woman in her mid-twenties, was taking
a bath on the morning of June 3, 1997 when police broke
down her door, beat her retarded nephew, and mercilessly
dragged her naked out of her house. They beat and then
arrested her. She was three months pregnant at the time. The
police officer in charge reportedly said, "This is Baba
Bhalekar’s wife, bash her head on the road." Why? Vithal
"Baba" Bhalekar, is a leading opponent of the Houston-based
Enron Corporation’s Dabhol Power project — the largest power
plant in the world — in the state of Maharashtra, India. The
brutal police raid on Veldur village was clearly an act of
terror to silence critics of the project.
Read the full story: http://www.dollarsandsense.org/223ganesan.html
--
From Dollar and Sense: http://www.dollarsandsense.org/index.html
******************************
Fundies block PBS gay documentary
June 1, 1999
The award-winning film "It's Elementary: Talking About Gay
Issues in School" will be featured on PBS this month, but
thanks to the religious right, not everybody will have the
chance to watch.
People for the American Way and James Kennedy of Florida's
Coral Ridge Ministries (instigators of the "ex-gay" ads of
last year) have headed up the fight against the film, which
is scheduled to air in June as part of National Gay and
Lesbian Pride Month. The film's opponents have underwritten
multiple mass-mailings to PBS affiliates calling the film
"pro-homosexual" and "a propaganda program ... that will
encourage children to embrace homosexuality." So far about
1/3 of all PBS affiliates nationwide have decided not to
show the film, including stations in Cleveland, Ohio;
Memphis, Tenn.; and Orlando, Fla.
The film's director is Debra Chasnoff, who won an Academy
Award for her previous work, "Deadly Deception," about
General Electric's shady nuclear weapons operations and
environmental abuses. Chasnoff says "It's Elementary" does
not deal at all with sex or endorse homosexuality, but
focuses on tolerance and age-appropriate education about
gay issues to prevent future discrimination and violence
against gays and lesbians.
--
From Mother Jones: http://www.mojones.com/
More on the issue from PlanetOut:
http://www.planetout.com/pno/news/article.html?1999/05/28/6
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
4. HotSites -- Bugs
WoodyPest Main Page
http://www.ifas.ufl.edu/~pest/woodypest/index.html
Moths of North America
http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/distr/lepid/moths/mothsusa.htm
Leps journal index.html
http://www3.sympatico.ca/lepsjournal/index.html
The Butterfly WebSite
http://mgfx.com/butterfly/
Myrmecology - The Science about Ants
http://members.aol.com/dinarda/ant/index.htm
Insect-World Front Page
http://www.insect-world.com/
Entomology Index: Beekeeping
http://www.ent.iastate.edu/List/beekeeping.html
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5. Quote of the Day -- Jon Western
"We've already bombed his house. We've already bombed his
wife's business. If that didn't wound him or change his thinking,
I don't think an indictment will." Jon Western, a former war-crimes
analyst at the State Department, wondering whether Slobodan Milosevic
will much care that he was indicted for war crimes
http://www.newsweek.com/
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Table of Contents
<:>inter alia<:>
11 June 1999
In Today's Issue
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
1. A Word A Day -- nabob
2. Graphic of the Day -- Isla Mujeres Fan / 1981
3. Quote of the Day -- Espaillat
4. Another Quote of the Day -- Clinton
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
1. A Word A Day
nabob (NAY-bob) noun
1. A governor in India under the Mogul Empire. Also called nawab.
2. A person of wealth and prominence.
[Hindi nawab, nabab, from Arabic nuwwab, pl. of na'ib, deputy.]
American History since 1865: Spiro Agnew (SPEER-oh AG-nooh, AG-nyooh),
The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, 1 Jan 1988.
"Agnew was elected vice president in 1968 and 1972 as the running mate of
Richard Nixon. He attacked opponents of the involvement of the United
States in the Vietnam War, calling them `an effete corps of impudent
snobs' and `nattering nabobs of negativism.' In 1973 Agnew pleaded nolo
contendere to charges of income tax evasion, and resigned from office."
>From A Word A Day:
http://www.wordsmith.org/awad/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
2. Graphic of the Day -- Fan
Isla Mujeres Fan 1981
by David J. L'Hoste
http://lhostelaw.com/ia/ia2/gotd/81isla_fan.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
3. Quote of the Day -- Espaillat
Roach
A leggy speck, a fleck of brown
caught flicking on the rim of sight:
when he saw me it must have been
apocalypse by reading light.
A jolt of current triggered by
nothing so convolute as grief —
and yet so like despair I winced —
flattened his body like a leaf,
snapped back his pinhead face to stare
at landscape hugely gone awry,
electrified him out of choice
and gave him barely time to die.
I clubbed him with the nearest book.
I've heard the cells that help them tense
are so like ours that microscopes
can barely tell the difference.
--
Rhina P. Espaillat
Where Horizons Go
New Odyssey Press/
Thomas Jefferson University Press
Copyright © 1998 by Thomas Jefferson University Press.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
4. HotSites -- Normandy
http://normandy.eb.com/
5 days ago was the 55th anniversary of D-day.
This site from Encyclopedia Britannica is very
well done and can take hours to explore. It includes
documents, photos, news stories, personal accounts,
published memoirs, and much more.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
5. Another Quote of the Day -- Clinton
"Tonight, for the first time in 79 days, the skies over
Yugoslavia are silent."
President Clinton addresing the nation on Thursday evening,
10 June 1999.
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Table of Contents
<:>inter alia<:>
18 June 1999
In Today's Issue
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
1. A Word A Day -- mnemonic
2. Graphic of the Day -- Paris 1977
3. Quotes of the Day -- Kids and guns and violence and such
4. HotSites -- Pushing the Envelope
5. Useless Information
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
1. A Word A Day
mnemonic (ni-MON-ik) adjective
Relating to, assisting, or intended to assist the memory.
noun
A device, such as a formula or rhyme, used as an aid in remembering.
[Greek mnemonikos, from mnemon, mnemon-, mindful.]
"Creative use of mnemonics helps. `Beware of hot gorillas eating nitrates
casually, pop' is code for the Central American countries of Belize,
Honduras,Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama."
Sam Allis, Quick! Name Togo's Capital: An inventive teacher battles
against geographic illiteracy, Time, 16 Jul 1990.
Why is it so difficult to remember the spelling of the word mnemonic?
--
>From A Word A Day:
http://www.wordsmith.org/awad/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
2. Graphic of the Day -- Paris 1977
Train Station, Paris / 1977
by David J. L'Hoste
http://lhostelaw.com/ia/ia2/gotd/77paris.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
3. Quotes of the Day -- Kids and guns and violence and such
"This is not a serious conversation about youth violence.
"This is politics."
--Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) during gun control debates
"This is crazy for the United States to be the only advanced country in the
world that doesn't take comprehensive, sensible, thorough steps to keep
handguns out of the hands of criminals."
--Pres. Clinton to reporters in Paris
"We place our children in day care centers where they learn their
socialization skills among their peers under the law of the jungle."
--Rep. Tom DeLay (Majority Whip)
"Our school systems teach the children that they are nothing but
glorified apes who are evolutionized out of some primordial soup of
mud."
--Rep. Tom DeLay (Majority Whip)
"We teach our children that there are no laws of morality that transcend
us, that everything is relative and that actions don't have
consequence -- what the heck, the President gets away with it."
--Rep. Tom DeLay (Majority Whip)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
4. HotSites -- Pushing the Envelope
Lynda.com features several sites notable for their innovation
and/or beauty in catagories such as animation, illustration,
color, simplicity etc. Take a look at these spectacular web sites:
http://www.lynda.com/resources/inspiration/index.html
More spectacular websites:
http://www.kimble.org/
http://www.unimark.ch/english_flash.html
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5. Useless Information
The most common invention of the 19th century was the
washing machine. Between 1804 and 1873, at least 1676
patents were issued by the United States Patent Office
for various forms of this device.
Source: Household Wonders (The History Channel)
The five most stolen items in a drugstore are batteries,
cosmetics, film, sunglasses, and, get this, Preparation H.
Apparently people are just too embarrassed to purchase the
last item. And, just in case you are curious, one of
Preparation H's main ingredient is shark liver oil.
The oil not only helps shrink hemorrhoids, but will shrink
any tissue. As a result, many older women in Florida use
the stuff to help reduce the appearance of wrinkles!
Source: Do Pharmacists Sell Farms by Vince Staten
(1998, Simon & Schuster)
It's widely known that Alexander Graham Bell beat Elisha Gray
to the patent office by a mere two hours with his application
to patent the telephone. However, ten years after Bell's patent
was issued, patent examiner Zenas Wilber admitted in a sworn
affadavit that he had taken a $100 bribe from Bell, had taken
a loan from Bell's patent attorney, and had given Bell the
complete details of Gray's caveat.
Source: Inventor's Digest, July/August 1998, pages 26-28.
Why do ostriches bury their heads in the sand? They actually
don't. In a study of 200,000 ostriches over a period of eighty
years, no one reported a single case where an ostrich buried
its head in the sand (or attempted to do so).
Source: Reader's Digest Strange Stories, Amazing Facts, 1976, p. 324
A South Korean movie theater owner decided that the movie The
Sound of Music was too long. His solution? He shortened the
movie by cutting out all of the musical scenes!
Source: Uncle John's Fourth Bathroom Reader, 1989, page 63
.
The Malaysian government decided to solve their disease-carrying
mosquito problem by spraying the infested areas with DDT. This
worked, but the cockroaches then devoured the dead mosquitos.
This was followed by the region's gecko lizards consuming the
roaches. The geckos did not die from the residual poison
(surprisingly), but their central nervous systems were greatly
affected, causing the lizards to slow down. Moving up the food
chain, the cats ate the slow-moving lizards and started to
die off in large quantities. Of course, fewer cats means more
rats, and the country's rat population soared. As a result,
the World Health Organization was forced to step in and ban
the DDT. In an effort to restore the ecological balance,
they flew in planeloads of cats to kill the rats.
Source: The Best, Worst, & Most Unusual by Bruce Felton and
Mark Fowler, 1994, p. 180, Galahad Books
Way back on August 13, 1903, police entered the Liverpool,
England home of William and Emily Shortis. Worried friends
had contacted the authorities because the couple had not
been seen for several days prior. There they found William
near death. Oddly, he was pinned under the dead body
of his 224 pound wife. Did she die during a moment of passion?
Not at all. The coroner concluded that William was following
Emily up the stairs of their home when she lost her balance
and tumbled down the steps, pulling him down with her. Emily
immediately died from a blow to the head, trapping William under
her body for over three days. Sadly, William did not survive
his injuries, either.
Source: The 20th Century by David Wallechinsky, 1995, Little, Brown, & Co.
--
From Useless Information:
http://home.nycap.rr.com/useless/contents.html
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Table of Contents
<:>inter alia<:>
29 June 1999
In Today's Issue
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
1. A Word A Day -- costive
2. Graphic of the Day -- Perpetual Motion 1975
3. In the News -- All in the Family
4. HotSites -- PowerLists
5. Origins of Words and Phrases
6. Current U.S. Cabinet Secretaries (How many can you name? Don't peek)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
1. A Word A Day
costive (KOS-tiv) adjective
1. Suffering from constipation. Causing constipation.
2. Slow; sluggish.
3. Stingy.
[Middle English costif, from Old French costeve, past participle of
costever, to constipate, from Latin constipare.]
"Yet at the same time there was something costive about Johns, in sharp
contrast to the effusive generosity of Robert Rauschenberg's vision. He
didn't want to give anything away."
Robert Hughes, The Arts: Behind the Sacred Aura Jasper Johns Gives
Nothing Away, Time, 11 Nov 1996.
--
>From A Word A Day:
http://www.wordsmith.org/awad/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
2. Graphic of the Day -- Perpetual Motion
Perpetual Motion / 1975
by David J. L'Hoste
http://lhostelaw.com/ia/ia2/gotd/perpetualmotion.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
3. In the News -- All in the Family
PHILADELPHIA, June 28 — A 70-year-old woman
who admitted Monday to smothering eight of her
young children decades ago will not go to jail so
researchers can study her to learn more about
why new mothers sometimes kill newborns.
Marie Noe pleaded guilty to killing the children
between 1949 and 1968 and was sentenced to 20
years’ probation, the first five of which must be
served under home confinement. Noe also must
undergo mental health treatment sessions with a
psychiatrist to determine the cause of her
repeated infanticide.
Story: http://www.msnbc.com/news/284617.asp
=======
Published Monday, June 28, 1999, in the San Jose Mercury News
Suspect links slaying, revenge on wife
BY RICK CALLAHAN
Associated Press
FRANKLIN, Ind. -- On Father's Day, Amy Shanabarger found her
chubby-cheeked infant son, Tyler, face down and dead in his crib.
Two days later -- just hours after the tot's funeral -- Ronald L.
Shanabarger told his wife he'd killed their son. The next day he gave
police a confession saying that not only did he kill the boy, he planned
the crime even before the child was conceived as a way of exacting
revenge against his wife.
Tyler didn't die of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome as the coroner had
ruled, Shanabarger said. He confessed to suffocating the 7-month-old
with plastic wrap.
He said it was revenge because Amy, before they were married, had
refused to cut short a vacation trip to comfort him when his father
died in 1996.
Story: http://www.sjmercury.com/premium/nation/docs/revenge28.htm
=================
Police, town searching for reasons for multiple killing
By Steve Bailey, Associated Press, 06/29/99 05:05
GREENVILLE, Ky. (AP) A man accused of killing his parents
and two neighbors was being held without bond while police
tried to determine a motive behind the crimes.
Police said Terry Todd Wedding, 27, shot and killed his
mother; police officer Joey Vincent, also a pastor and
Wedding's first cousin; and Vincent's wife. He used a baseball
bat to bludgeon his father to death, police said.
Story: http://www.boston.com/news/nation/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
4. HotSites -- PowerLists
Maybe all the bookmarks/favorites you'll ever need --
Essential Links
http://www.EL.com/
Britannica-Newsweek Internet Guide
http://www.newsweek.com/nw-srv/inetguide/inetguide.htm
myGO Start Page
http://www.mygo.com/
The Search Beat
http://www.search-beat.com/
refdesk.com
http://www.refdesk.com/index.html
--
HotSites Archive: http://lhostelaw.com/iaa/ia_hs.htm
Another: http://lhostelaw.com/ia/ia2/hot_archive.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
5. Origins of Words and Phrases
At sixes and sevens--
[T]he phrase "at sixes and sevens," which we use to mean
"confused" or "at odds with someone" originally came
from gambling with dice. As first used by Chaucer in
"The Canterbury Tales" around 1374, "to set on six and
seven" meant to risk your entire fortune on the unlikely
chance that a single roll of the dice would produce a high
score. Only later on did the phrase come to describe a
person who would be sufficiently confused or rash to make
such a bet, and, still later, to mean disorder or disagreement.
Hoodwink--
[B]ack in the 16th century, "wink" meant to firmly close the eyes,
not the brief, jaunty wink we know today. To "hoodwink" someone
was to literally blindfold them with a hood, often the sort used
by executioners. Hoodwinking was also a tactic of thieves, who
would throw a hood over their victims' heads before robbing them.
This literal sense of "hoodwinking" was joined in the 17th century
by the metaphorical sense of "hoodwinking" we use today -- to
blind someone by trickery or deceit in order to take advantage of them.
Three sheets to the wind--
The phrase "three sheets to the wind" does indeed come from the world
of seafaring, specifically sailing ships. The "sheets" in the
phrase are not sails, but ropes. Of course, the first thing one
learns about ropes once aboard ship is that they are never called
"ropes." They are named according to their particular function:
halyards (which move or hold things, usually sails, vertically),
sheets (which move or hold things horizontally), and lines
(which hold things in a static position). The sheets in this case are
those ropes which hold the sails in place. If one sheet is loose,
the sail will flap in the wind and the ship's progress will be
unsteady. Two sheets loose ("in the wind"), and you have a major
problem, and with "three sheets in the wind," the ship reels
like a drunken sailor.
The specific number of "three sheets" in the phrase wasn't random,
by the way -- there was, at one time, a sort of rating system
of inebriation among sailors, where "one sheet" meant "tipsy"
and so on, up to "four sheets in the wind," meaning to be
completely unconscious.
--
From The Word Detective
http://www.word-detective.com/index.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
6. U.S. Cabinet Secretaries
Secretary of Agriculture: Dan Glickman
Secretary of Commerce: William Daley
Secretary of Defense: William Cohen
Secretary of Education: Richard Riley
Secretary of Energy: Bill Richardson
Secretary of Health and Human Services: Donna Shalala
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development: Andrew Cuomo
Secretary of Interior: Bruce Babbit
Attorney General: Janet Reno
Secretary of Labor: Alexis Herman
Secretary of State: Madeleine Albright
Secretary of Transportation: Rodney Slater
Secretary of Treasury: Robert Rubin
Secretary of Veterans Affairs: Togo D. West Jr.
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