"We all came out to Montreux, On the Lake Geneva shoreline..."

Wheee! I gave you the first two lines and didnt pull them out of the middle!

-Julie E., I apolagize for not sending you these sooner, hope you enjoy this.  and you can see all my old ones right here.  I hope that link works...

-I'm just chillin here at home.  again.  I'm not even listening to loud raucus music because my family is home.  i dont know what i'm going to do today.  its memorial day, and so my brothers are home from school, and they really like computer games.  i may have to get this email done quicklike so that i dont cause a row.  Hehe, thats the influence of too much (psh!) Harry Potter.  i read goblet of fire in two days, and i plan on finishing order of the phoenix by sunset tonight.  its only 870 pages...  i guess thats what i'll be doing today.  wow, i figured something out for myself.

-My dad was making bread just now, and as he was kneading, he said "the trick is not letting it get attached to you" which i take to mean, "don't let it name you"

-Last night at dinner, my dad, Andy and I discovered artificial candied yams.  Its true.  we had some carrots and potatoes with out roast and they were all nice and soft, and then my dad went to the refridgerator to get some steak sauces and worcestershire sauce, etc. and he came back with a bottle of chocolate syrup.  so i put it on my potatoes.  andy decided to try it on his carrots, and he said it tasted like yams, so i tried it, and indeed it tasted just like yams.  so if you ever dont want to mess with yams and marshmallows and brown sugar and all that weird junk, just steam some carrots and add our friend chocolate.

- I missed a few days' worth of holidays.  the 29th was JFK Day, the 30th was Water a Flower Day, and today is: Memorial Day, World No Tobacco Day, National Macaroon Day, and Save Your Hearing Day.  Hmmm.  perhaps no raucus music then.

-Today is the birthday of:
Henry Sidgwick, 1838
Willem Ravelli, 1892 (baritones can be famous, marc!)
Martin Schwarzschild, 1912 (gah!  i dont remember quite was he did... OH!  the radius.  thats right)
Viscount Ingleby, 1926
Clint Eastwood, 1930
Peter Yarrow, 1938 (questionable character, cool music)
Yoshiko Sakakibara, 1956 (sailor moon, vampire hunter, etc)
JIM CRAIG!!!!!!!!!!!!, 1957  (Olympic gold 1980!!!! against USSR!!!!)  (I do not pretend unbiasedness)

-Famous Death for today:
Hermann Schell, 1906 (read Gott und Geist, in english if you prefer)

-Some things happened:
Rome captures 1st wall of Jerusalem, 70 AD
Emperor Maximilian, Pope Alexander VI, Milan, King Ferdinand, Isabella & Venice sign anti-French Saint League, 1495
Lady Godiva rode naked through Coventry in a protest of taxes, 1678
US copyright law enacted, 1790
HMS Beagle anchors in Simons Bay, Cape of Good Hope, 1836 (PRIZE: WHO OWNED THE SHIP??)
DeSemdt patents asphalt pavement, 1870
Dr John Harvey Kellogg patents "flaked cereal", 1884
Alexis Ahlgren runs world record maraton (2:36:06.6), 1913
1st wedding held in an aircraft, 1919
Charles Schmid kills first Pied Piper victim, 1964 (grrrrrr....)
John Lennon & Yoko Ono record "Give Peace a Chance", 1969 (one of my favorites... not.  actually its ok the first time, but i can only handle about 300 lines of the chorus before it drives me batty)
57th National Spelling Bee: Daniel Greenblatt wins spelling luge, 1984

-Does anyone else wake up at exactly the same time every morning or is it just me?  i never set an alarm, yet i wake up at presicely 8:00 every stinking day.  is that normal?  just wondering if i'm a freak.  Oh, and i think i may have given up on reading Faust.  Harry Potter is simply more gripping.  i read about 30 pages of Faust, and i dont think i can do it anymore.  i get sidetracked.  this is exactly what happened with Timeline and a few other books that i started this summer.  I cant handle this, there are too many books in the world that i havent read.  it is my goal to read all of them.  and also to listen to every song ever written.  and also to walk to the boise public library and rip off that stupid exclamation point.  i dont know why its there.  you drive by and see "Library!"  it makes no sense, and i kind of want that "!" in my room, maybe over my bed or something.  but thats stealing, so i wont.  i'm trying to be a good person now.  its a little tempting still though.

-I heard a pretty odd joke yesterday.  it goes like this:  What happens when a Catholic, a Mormon a Jew and a Baptist walk onto a cruise ship?  the answer is: nothing, because there is no punch line.  I dont know about anyone else, but i thought it was pretty funny and i laught and laught.  hehe, thats another fun game i like to play with myself, i use -t as a past tense marker where there should be a -ed.  Yes i know i'm a loser.  or perhaps you could call me a word-nerd.  hehe, it rhymes!  i like rhymes, times, limes, grimes, slimes, The Sublimes, crimes, dimes, climbs...  wow.  thats enough of that then.

-Words of the Day!
demotic:  of, relating to, or written in a simplified form of the ancient Egyptian hieratic writing;
              popular, common;
              of or relating to the form of Modern Greek that is based on everyday speech
causerie:  Chat; a piece of informal writing

Focal an Lae:  uisce = water
Usage:  uisce fuar (ISH-kyuh FOO-uhr) = cold water
           uisce faoi thalamh (... fwee HAH-luhv) literally means "water under ground", but the figurative meaning is "intrigue, plotting"
           uisce beatha (ISH-kyuh BA-huh, BA as in "bat") = water of life = whiskey. Whiskey is simply "uisce", a bit mangled by English. Interestingly, Irish later borrowed the word "whiskey" back, in the form "fuisce".
History:  Uisce comes from the Indo-European root *wed- (wet, water), viaa derivative *ud-skio- (the suffixed zero-grade, for those who care).

Quotes of the day!

I am no more humble than my talents require.
          Oscar Levant (1906 - 1972)

Men have become the tools of their tools.
          Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862)

An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered.
          G. K. Chesterton (1874 - 1936)

When the politicians complain that TV turns the proceedings into a circus, it should be made clear that the circus was already there, and that TV has merely demonstrated that not all the performers are well trained.
          Edward R. Murrow (1908 - 1965)

-And here is your random picture of the day.  Hope you like tomatoes :) click this

Have a good day, everyone!  play some frisbee, its good for your soul.

---

Get 200+ ad-free, high-fidelity stations and LIVE Major League Baseball Gameday Audio!

"He heard one guitar just blow him away..."

Name that Band!

So last night it rained a lot, and there were huge puddles all around, so we (me and Ryan and Julie and Kim and Erin) decided after watching to go drive through them (obvious choice).  We drove through a couple in the parking lot, but then we saw this big ol' fatty fountain.  So we all took our shoes off (I didn't have to deal with this) and ran around in it and got completely soaked.  And of course it was still raining.  And then we found some huge puddles in the Centennial parking lot, so Julie drove through that and the splash covered the whole car, and it was way sweet, but we didnt really get to see just how big the splash was, so Ryan and I got out and watched, and once again got completely soaked.  and cold.  and giddy.  So we got back in the car and drove kim home, but first we drove through this big puddle by her house, and it looked even bigger than the one at Centennial, and so Ryan and I got out again and stood on the sidewalk next to it and got completely soaked again.  Heehee!  It was a blast.  And by that time it was about 12:45am so i went home and went to bed.  I think it was the most fun i've ever had in the rain.  I think next time, I'll take Brock's plan and go sit on some curb by a big puddle with a sign that says Splash Me.  That would be cool.

 

Today is Amnesty International Day.  Their website is HERE.  If you care about the human race, you should at least check it out.

 

Words of the day:

Kibosh - something that serves as a check or a stop

Olla podrida - A stew of highly seasoned meat and vegetables; a mixture; a hodgepodge

 

Today's Birthdays:

Joseph Ignace Guillotin, 1738

Andy Kirk, 1898

Phil Regan, 1906

Ian Lancaster Fleming, 1908 (creator of James Bond)

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, 1925

Dionne Quintuplets, 1934

John Fogerty, 1945 (CCR vocals)

Damian Rhodes, 1969 (Sens goaltender)

Pat Peake, 1973 (Caps center)

 

Today's Deathdays:

Noah Webster, 1843 (HAHAHA!!! THIS GUY IS MY HERO!!!)

Walter Connolly, 1940

Jacques Lipchitz, 1973

Joseph Hardy, 1990

Sidney Greenbaum, 1996 (he's a grammarian!)

 

Today in History:

1st Baptist Church organizes, 1664

1st indoor swimming pool opens (Goodman's Fields, London), 1742

1st black regiment (54 Mass) leaves Boston to fight in Civil War, 1863

Tatars declares Azerbaijan, in Russian Caucasus, independent, 1918

Armenia declares it's Independence, 1919

Eisenhower signs farm bill allows govt to store agricultural surplus, 1956 (Farms Christina!!)

Amnesty International founded, 1961 (Nobel Peace Prize 1977)

White House "plumbers" break into Democratic Natl HQ at Watergate, 1972

Joe Darby does a standing long jump of 12'5", 1980

Pope John Paul II is 1st pope to visit Great Britain, 1982

"Ricky" by Weird Al Yankovic hits #63, 1983 (hehe, wierd al rocks my world!)

Wallace Berg, 42, is 4th American to scale Mt Everest for 3rd time, 1997

Bob Dylan hospitalized in England with histoplasmosis, 1997 (histoplasmosis -

A disease caused by the inhalation of spores of the fungus Histoplasma capsulatum, most often asymptomatic but occasionally producing acute pneumonia or an influenzalike illness and spreading to other organs and systems in the body.)

I listened to Linkin Park and annoyed my mother, 2004

 

Hm...

 

Focal an Lae: (Irish word of the day)

cú - hound

Usage:  Probably most familiar outside the language in the name of themythical Ulster hero "Cú Chulainn" (KOO XOO-liny - first OO as in moon,second OO as in book, x as the guttural in loch, ny as in the middle ofonion, meaning "The Hound of Culann". Cú was not an uncommon element in names in the heroic old days: Cú Roí and Cú Chonnacht, for example.While "cú" means "hound" in Irish, in Scottish Gaelic it just means "dog".

History:  Old Irish "cú" derives from Indo-European *kwon- (dog). Thederivation is more apparent in the genitive plural form of the Irishword, which is "con". Welsh for "dog" is "ci" (cf. "corgi" <- cor(dwarf) + ci). English cognates are "canine" and "kennel".

 

And quotes.

"Too many people are thinking of security instead of opportunity. They seem more afraid of life than death."

             James F. Byrnes (1879 - 1972)

"Music is the only language in which you cannot say a mean or sarcastic thing."

             John Erskine (1879 - 1951)

"If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn't part of ourselves doesn't disturb us."

             Hermann Hesse (1877 - 1962)

"Never knock on Death's door: ring the bell and run away! Death really hates that!"

            Matt Frewer as Dr. Mike Stratford in "Doctor, Doctor"

"I can forgive Alfred Nobel for having invented dynamite, but only a fiend in human form could have invented the Nobel Prize."

             George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)

 

Wurd.  It's raining, and I'm going to a party this afternoon.  possibly outside.  Oh, and all you Centennial people (or ex-Centennial people, rather) I am coming tomorrow night! :) 

Ooh, i forgot to mention something else i did last night.  I watched Braveheart, and it re-inspired me to give up my worldly life and become a highlander.  I could raise sheep and vegetables in a little village and fight the English.  Wouldnt that just be the coolest?  I'm not a big fan of the English.  They caused a lot of trouble in pretty much every corner of the world.  But they're all right now.  Tony Blair is one of my heroes, but their history is a little upsetting.  The whole Plantagenet line was rotten, and in general, the whole country was pretty vile for about 1.000 (notice my European punctuation on that) years.  The one thing i do wish we had here though is public execution.  If we had torturing/executions out in the streets now, I would so be there!  I wonder what the requirements are to become an executioner...

 

Anyway, on to a happier paragraph.  that msn reality show thing is gaytarded-lamehead-sauce.  i was kidding about being addicted to it, but nobody called me a freak.  i was surprised :)  nobody ever doesnt call me a freak.  wow.  that didnt even make sense, and if it did, it probably wasnt true.  Actually i'm sure it wasnt true.  some people i dont think have ever called me a freak.  sorry about that.  So anyway, my friends are coming to visit me this weekend!  and i'll finally get to meet Christina!  I've talked to her at least a hundred times, but i have yet to meet her, so its going to be happy fun time.  She likes playing in the rain probably more than I do, so we'll have a little party out in the street or something.  maybe jump around on top of cars or something.

 

So until next time, Go gcreime cúnna ifrinn do chroí.  actually not.  that means "may the hounds of Hell gnaw at your heart"  I'm not that cruel.

 

Beir bua agus beannacht, (Best Wishes,)

Brian

---

Learn to simplify your finances and your life in Streamline Your Life from MSN Money.

"I'm high as a kite, I just might stop to check you out..."

UGh, iths only 8 :00 and i'm alltead y up

 

Wow.  lets try that again...

Ugh, its only 8:00 and i'm already up.

There.

 

Today is *sigh* not a holiday.  Sorry everyone.

 

Oh, random thought.  lots of you probably got that little MSN email 9 message in your inboxes, and, well, I was really bored so i read it and clicked all the links and I accidentally got interested in a new reality show based on msn messenger.  I'm a horrible pathetic slob.  Is there a cure?  I like the characters...  *cry/laugh*

 

Happy Birthdays:

Ibn Khaldun, 1332 (those Arabs had it together)

Maximilian I Jozef, 1756

Cornelius Vanderbilt, 1794 (B&O Railroad dude/rich dude.  I want to own a railroad and be rich)

Julia Ward Howe, 1819 (wrote Battle Hymn of the Republic)

"Wild Bill" Hickok, 1837 (actually James Butler.  that just doesnt ring like Wild Bill Hickok, does it?)

Emiel van der Straeten, 1887

Mario del Monaco, 1915

Yasuhiro Nakasone, 1918 (read about japanese political history if you've never done so)

Henry Kissinger, 1923

Siouxsie Sioux, 1957 (crazy Britons)

Ray Sheppard, 1966

Richard Park, 1976 (leading his Penguins to glory...)

 

Happy Rest In Peaces:

Achsah Young, 1647 (first woman known to be a witch.  now how do they know this?  its a pity "Good Omens" wasnt written until ca.1991)

Jeremiah Carlton, 1790 (laziest man in history, heir to a large fortune at 19 went to bed & stayed there for next 70 yrs, died at 89)

Jeffrey Hunter, 1969 (Thus ends Christopher Pike of Star Trek Cage)

Pud Brown, 1996

 

Aaaaaaaand today in history:

Denmark & Sweden sign ceasefire, 1660 (I would bet that if all of Scandinavia united they could take over the world in as little as three months)

St Petersburg founded by Peter the Great, 1703 (**WHAT IS IT CALLED NOW?)

Bubonic Plague breaks out in SF, 1907 (Haha, bubos!)

Charles Strite patents pop-up toaster, 1919

Richard Drew invents masking tape, 1930

1st full scale wind tunnel for testing airplanes, Langley Field Va, 1931

Piccard & Knipfer make 1st flight into stratosphere, by balloon, 1937

Supreme Court declares FDR's Natl Recovery Act unconstitutional, 1935

Golden Gate Bridge dedicated, 1937

1st black light is sold, 1961 (hehe, i have one of those in my room)

3 NJ businessman purchase NHL Colorado Rockies, & get approval to move them to NJ Meadowlands (Devils), 1963

     (SEE?!? THEY CORRUPTED SOMETHING INCREDIBLE AND TURNED THEM INTO THE NEW JERSEY DEVILS!  THIS IS EXACTLY THE SAME AS MUTILATING ELVES AND TURNING THEM INTO ORCS!!  YOU JUST DON'T DO THAT KIND OF THING AND EXPECT GOOD RESULTS!!  NEW 

JERSEY IS THE GREATEST EVIL OF OUR TIME!!)

 

John Hinckley attempts suicide by overdosing on Tylenol, 1981 (he didnt die because acetamenophines will only induce coma, unless you mix it with something else)

1st all female (20 British women) team reaches North Pole, 1997

 

AAAAAAAAAAAnd today's random question of the day... Lionesses have no manes, how do they know when they've grown up?

 

And another one.  these are so fun!  If you were a pirate how would you avoid laughing when saying "the poop deck"?

 

Heeehee!  i read through these all day!

 

Do you believe that forks are descendants (or evolved from) spoons?

You've just inherited a manufacturing plant that specializes in plastics.  what do you make?

Your superpower is that you smell like dandelions whenever someone lies.  How do you conceal your secret identity?

Your hand has been replaced by a rubber stamp.  What does it say?

You forgot your mom's birthday.  What can you make out of super glue and olive pits?

If you were a cannibal, what would you wear to dinner?

You've rented a sky-writer to propose to your significant other, but it's completely overcast.  What do you do?

You've written a hit musical.  How will you keep the fame from going to your head?

 

And thats all, i really need to do something else.

 

Your worthless words for the day:

Spadassin - a duelist; fighter; a bully

Fetor - a strong, offensive smell; a stench

 

Not so many good words anymore.  I used to get a really good one every day in my email, but this week's theme is something like "coined words" so some of them are useless.  Like today's is "heebie-jeebies".  I checked my email and I didn't learn anything.  I don't want that to ever happen again.

 

Quotes!  (one of my favorite parts of each day... :D)

"History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives."

          Abba Eban (1915 - 2002)

"It's so much easier to suggest solutions when you don't know too much about the problem."

          Malcolm Forbes (1919 - 1990)

"Being in politics is like being a football coach. You have to be smart enough to understand the game, and dumb enough to think it's important."

          Eugene McCarthy (1916 - )

"All human beings should try to learn before they die what they are running from, and to, and why."

          James Thurber (1894 - 1961)

"Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it."

          Olivier

"The man who has no imagination has no wings."

          Muhammed Ali (1942 - )

"Faith: not *wanting* to know what is true."

          Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 - 1900)

"Education makes people easy to lead, but difficult to drive; easy to govern, but impossible to enslave."

          Henry Peter Brougham

"I cannot call to mind a single instance where I have ever been irreverent, except toward the things which were sacred to other people."

          Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)

 

Mmmmm quotes.  So I was looking at peoples' profiles that i dont know, and there are some really strange and probably really cool people out there.  someday i want to be able to say that I know everyone.  I guess that would make it easier to get into power.  i dont know anyone that actively dislikes me.  as far as i know.  i think im probably pretty easy to get along with, so if i meet/get along with everyone, then I'll have the path to power paved with gold.  thats a good goal.  let me meet your friends.

 

I heard that natural fertilizers are better than chemical based ones.  And in the newspaper it says that some dude's shoe shop in Boise (ewwww, i just capitalized boise!  boise boise boise boise.  there, i hope that is enough to undo what i did)  is closing.  I don't know why that's important, I just report my random findings.

 

Have a good day everyone.  I made it my goal to finish Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by 1 pm today, and its now 9:15 and i'm on chapter 2... So i'd better get going.  Actually it's not really worth it.  I'll fail.  unless i don't try.  they say that trying is the first step toward failure, you have to admit the truth in that.  But as i have nothing relevant to say anymore, goodbye.

Brian "The Yellow Dart" Harris (yes i stole that nickname from Kyle Smith...)

---

"Shake it like a polaroid picture..."

Ok, no prize for today's name that band.  that would be lame.  I was just looking through the songs i have on my compy and thats one of them.  Mmmmm, I am eating spaghetti right now.  I made it last night, and there are massive leftovers because my brothers didnt eat any...  And i donated blood and voted, so now i think i'm a good citizen for at least a while.  sometimes i have to do things like this so that i dont become a sociopath or something.  I heard that it's hard for sociopaths to get government jobs like ruling the world and so forth.  froth.  what are some things that are frothy?  dishsoap, laundry soap, all manner of soaps, shaving cream, hot chocolate in a blender (i imagine that would be pretty frothy, i've never tried. yet.), root beer floats, bubble baths, the ocean(s), beer.  My mom says that sometimes people describe the stock market as being frothy, also whipped cream is frothy, and egg whites when beaten at high speeds, like merengue.  Things that are definitely not frothy: beef steaks, spinach, my little brothers, steel wool, gasoline, cherry trees, leather, and blood (i think, i've never seen it foam).

 

Today is Sally Ride Day.  Ride sally, ride...
Today's birthdays and deaths are irrelevant.  except for lots of them...

Birthdays:

Alexander Pushkin, 1799
Peter Cushing, 1913 (acted in Dracula, Star Wars, Dr. Who, etc.)

That baby who was born without a brain, 1788

 

Deaths:
No one that I care enough about to write down.

 

Worthless words for the day:

jejunosity - adj., Jejuneness, naievete
cap-a-pie - adv., **FIRST TO TELL ME THE DEFINITION WINS!!

 

Irish Gaelic word for today:

beo (BYOE - rhymes with Joe)
beo = alive, living

Usage:  Tá siad beo. (TAW SHEE-uhd BYOE) = They are alive.
           Tá siad beo bocht. (... BOXT) = They are living in poverty. (literally, they are alive poor)
           Slán beo! (SLAWN BYOE) = Take care! (lit., healthy alive!) - a nice way to sign off on a message

History: Sanskrit "jivas", Latin "vivus", Old Irish "béo" and Welsh"byw" all derive from the hypothetical Indo-European word *gwiwo(living). English cognates are "vivid", "survive" and "quick"(!).

 

I hope you guys are all taking notes on the "Focal an Lae".  We could all learn this wonderful language together, and talk to each other as in code.  Or you could all think I'm crazy for attempting to learn another language and become Irish.

 

Qououtes!

"If the human mind was simple enough to understand, we'd be too simple to understand it."
     Emerson Pugh

"There is no abstract art. You must always start with something. Afterward you can remove all traces of reality."

     Pablo Picasso

"Contrary to general belief, I do not believe that friends are necessarily the people you like best, they are merely the people who got there first."

     Peter Ustimov

"One comes to believe whatever one repeats to oneself sufficiently often, whether the statement be true of false. It comes to be dominating thought in one's mind."

     Robert Collier

"If there were in the world today any large number of people who desired their own happiness more than they desired the unhappiness of others, we could have paradise in a few years."

     Bertrand Russell

 

Ok I have to leave now, to go somewhere...  probably crazy...  i think i'll go drive aaaaround.  ['eI-,raund] emphasis on the "aaaa" pronounced like 'may' or 'hate'  aaaaround!  practice saying that a few times.  aaaaround!  i'm off now.  see you aaaaround.

Brian

---

"All the world is grooving on Banapple gas..."

Name that Band!

 

Well, I haven't done one of these in about 5 days, so I'm a little rusty.  I think I'll get back in my groove by recounting the holidays between last Thursday and now.  Jeez, thats a lot of holidays...  here goes.

 

The 21st (I think that was Friday) was National Memo Day and National Waiters and Waitresses Day.  Saturday the 22nd was Buy A Musical Instrument Day.  Oh, how I long for musical instruments.  My brother takes my old trombone to school every day.  I was thinking about maybe starting a little trombone band to play in the mall for money.  maybe thats a bad idea, i dont know.  let me know if you're interested (and in boise).  Sunday the 23rd was International Jazz Day (anyone seen Calle 54?) and Penny Day.  Monday the 24th was National Escargo Day, and today is Missing Children's Day and Tap Dance Day. Hehe, good times, good times...

 

I noticed that coming up on the 28th is Amnesty International Day.  This is one of those cool yet overlooked clubs.  We had a chapter in my high school, but I didn't actually know anyone who was in it.  I'm not sure anyone WAS in it.  But I was checking out their website, and I'm not going to join their little organization but they have some good thoughts.

 

Today's Births:

Camillus de Lellis, 1550

Christian August Jacobi, 1688

Friedrich Johann Eck, 1767

Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803

John Raleigh Mott, 1865 (organizer of YMCA and Nobel winner 1902)

Igor Sikorsky, 1889 (inventor of the hepliclopter)

Eddie Maxwell, 1912 (anyone know the song Yes We Have No Bananas?)

Robert Ludlum, 1927

Roger Bowen, 1933

Ian McKellen, 1939

Frank Oz, 1944

Mike Myers, 1963

David Shaw, 1964 (defenseman for TB Lightning. sad day, philly lost on saturday)

 

Today's Deaths:

Pope Boniface IV, 615

Aldhelmus of Ealdhelm, 709

Edmund the Older, 496

Pope Gregory VII, 1085

Hendrik V, 1125 (last Salische German king)

Leon Felix Augustin Joseph Vasseur, 1917

Symon Petlyura, 1926

Gustav Theodore Holst, 1934 (he's one of those cool Gustavs who make me want to change my name or perhaps name my firstborn son Gustav.  I'll have to find a wife willing to name a child Gustav...)

Patty Smith Hill, 1946 (she wrote the song we all sing on peoples' birthdays)

Muhammad Fadhel, 1997

 

And today's history:

Constitutional convention opens at Philadelphia, 1787

Oscar Wilde sentenced to 2 years hard labor for being a sodomite, 1895

Eyre M Shaw, 1900 (oldest Olymic gold medal winner ever, in yachting)

Babe Ruth suspended 1 day & fined $200 for throwing dirt on an umpire, 1922

Henry Ford stops producing Model T, 1927

Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Haurietis aquas, 1956

JFK sets goal of putting a man on Moon before the end of decade, 1961

Isley Brothers release "Twist & Shout", 1962

Gateway Arch in St Louis dedicated, 1968

"Return of the Jedi" released, 1983

 

So I had a thought while I was writing these in.  The NHL situation right now is a little troubling.  The bad news: Colorado, Boston, and Vancouver are all long dead.  Vancouver made a nice effort, the others didnt even try.  And Philadelphia held out a long time against the #1 seed Tampa Bay, but alas, they lost in game 7.  So now we're left with Calgary Flames and Tampa Bay Lightning.  Which is really too bad.  The only good news is that the New Jersey Devils and Detroit Red Wings are all long dead as well.  I wouldn't really have minded if Dallas or Minnesota or even Nashville had won, but Calgary and Tampa Bay just doesn't do it for me.  Oh well.  I'll watch the finals anyway, although I don't really care who wins.  And whoever I root for always seems to lose anyway.  I started the season by cheering on the Pittsburgh Penguins and they embarassed themselves.  So I tried cheering for TB against the Flyers so that TB would lose, but it didn't work.  I think I'm a curse.

 

Today's Word(s) of the Day:

Potvalient - bold or courageous under the influence of alcohol

Riparian - relating to or living on the bank of a natural watercourse or sometimes of a lake or tidewater

Agrestic - Pertaining to fields or the country; rural; rustic

 

Irish-Gaelic Word of the Day:

Dia (JEE-uh or DyEE-uh) - noun, god

Usage:

   Usually appears capitalized
   The all-purpose greeting in Irish is "Dia Duit!" (JEE-uh Ditch) or its more colloquial Dia Dhuit (JEE-uh gwitch - find an Irish speaker to demonstrate that last word)
   This means God to you/for you.  And the canonical reply is "Dia 's Muire Duit!"  (JEE-uhs MwIH-ruh Ditch), "God and Mary to you"

History: Old Irish "día", Sanskrit "devas" and Latin "deus" all derivefrom the hypothetical Indo-European word *deiwos (god), from the root*dei- (to shine). Modern cognates are "deity" and "divine".

 

Quotes of the Day:

"You are not superior just because you see the world in an odious light."
          Vicomte de Chateaubriand (1768 - 1848)

"Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed."
          Alexander Pope (1688 - 1744)

"Money can't buy friends, but it can get you a better class of enemy."

          Spike Milligan

 

That's going to have to do for quotes.  I'm tired and lazy and my mom doesn't want me to spend all day in front of the computer.  It's already noon, and I have been on the computer since I woke up.  Bleh.  at least I got my website thingy fixed up.  Oh yah, I got me a new place to put my Daily Emails because I was having lots of issues with my cableone hosted site.  So now they can all be found at http://fricative.blogspot.com  I'm still working on getting my stud list put up there, but soon enough it will be there.  Complete this time.  About 100 of my names got cut off last time I tried to post them online.  That was a little upsetting.  A lot upsetting.  I haven't been at all happy with cableone/my computer/the internet lately, but I'm dealing with it rather well I think: give up and run away and start something else.  yah.

 

Um here's a link.  Hope you enjoy it, it's the Encarta list that I selected for today.

And here's your picture for the day.

And... have a good day.  I'm out of things to ramble about and I haven't had breakfast yet.  I think I will have cheese.  Mmmmm, Tillamook Medium Cheddar.... the best!

Thursday, May 20, 2004

"I wouldn't suffer like this for just anyone- you're the only one I want to suffer for..."

Today's Name That Band will be pretty hard. I don't know of anyone else who for sure knows this, but someone might surprise me. I'll let you all know tomorrow what it was, and then I'll suggest that everyone listen to it. I just want to lie down and listen to Death Cab For Cutie today. Hmmm... what a great band. and no, thats not the answer for todays Name That Band contest.

Today is Good Neighbor Day and National Be A Millionaire Day. And its also my day to do dishes...
Happy Birthday to:
William Thornton, 1759 <--FIRST TO TELL ME WHAT BUILDING HE DESIGNED WINS A PRIZE!!
Craig Patrick, 1946
Cher Bono, 1946
Michael D Crapo, 1951 (haha! someone from idaho on a list of 'famous' people! whats going on)
Joseph Sinnott Edwards, 1964 (definitely not a stud he made the FBI's most wanted list though)
Jason York, 1970
Niklas Andersson, 1970 (played for Sweden and the Islanders)

Happy Deathday to:
John XXI, 1277 (Petrus Juliani/Hispanus, Portuguese Pope)
Bernardinus van Siena, 1444
Christopher Columbus, 1506
Marquis de Lafayette, 1834
John Clare, 1864 (has anyone read anything by Clare?)
Ratu Agung-Agung Gd‚ Ngurah, radja van Mataram, 1895
Gustav Heinrich Graben-Hoffman, 1900 (I love people named Gustav. there are so many cool Gustav's in Earth's history. maybe i should change my name)

Things that happened on this day but not this year:
Earthquake kills 250,000 in Antioch, Syria, 526
Earthquake strikes Kamakura Japan, 30,000 killed, 1293
Shoes were first made for both right & left feet, 1310
D Hyde patents fountain pen, 1830 <--- FIRST TO SAY WHAT THE "D" STANDS FOR WINS!!
George Sampson patents clothes dryer, 1892
Thomas Edison says Americans prefer silent movies over talkies, 1926 (hmm...)
Amelia Earhart leaves Newfoundland for that one famous thing she did..., 1932
Igor Sikorsky unveils his helicopter invention, 1940
Japanese-Americans regain their citizenship, 1959
Rebel XD (rappa) hits 674 syllables in 54.9 seconds, 1992 (12.2 syllables per second!)

And today's word listing:
Cavil; v., To raise a trivial or frivolous objection
Abecadarian; n., One who is learning the alphabet, or one engaged in teaching the alphabet

And your Irish word for today:
Word: tír
Meaning: land, country
Usage:
ar muir agus ar tír (ehr MOOir uhguhs ehr CHEER; OO as in wood) = on sea and on land
Tír Eoghain (CHEER OH-win) = Tyrone (Land of Eoghan), a county in the middle of Ulster
Tír agus Teanga! (CHEER uh-guhs CHANG-guh) Land and Language!
(a well-known old slogan)
History: Old Irish "tír" and Welsh "tir" derive via the reconstructedInsular Celtic "tíros" from the Indo-European root *ters- (to dry),with a simple dichotomy at work: water is wet and land is dry. Cognatesinclude "terra", "terrain" and "terrace".

And the quotes:
"The only winner of the war of 1812 was Tchaikovsky" Solomon Short

"Honesty pays, but it doesn't seem to pay enough to suit some people." F.M. Hubbard

"My one regret in life is that I am not someone else." Woody Allen

"I hate mankind for I think myself one of the best of them, and I know how bad I am." Joseph Baretti

"He is suffering from Politician's Logic. 'Something must be done, this is something, therefore it must be done' " Yes, Prime Minister (UK tv show)

"There is a luxury in self-reproach. When we blame ourselves, we feel that no one else has a right to blame us. It is the confession, not the priest, that gives us absolution." Oscar Wilde

"No man is an Island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee." John Donne

AND HERE IS THE QOUTE THAT DESCRIBES ME BETTER THAN ANY OF THE REST OF 'EM!
"Where is human nature so weak as in the bookstore?" Henry Ward Beecher

Heehee! today has been pretty good so far, and I haven't even done anything yet. I wrote this, which is almost always fun. It was today. And I talked to a few cool people online, and when I woke up this morning there was a message from my friend Amy (but she didnt say which one, she only left clues... I'm guessing Amy Hansen!) and I got a phone call from Maryland, which was pretty awesome. And I listened to this song that I've never heard before and made it my subject line. It's a pretty cool (though its a little short) song. And I also just went out in the front yard and helped my mom figure out where we want our new flowerbed, and the shape of it, etc. we decided that we want a little bush. But junipers are the devil, so we're not doing those. I think they should be against the law to plant those.

And as much as I'd like to keep typing random things, I have only eaten one meal in the last two days, so I think I'll go eat something. I'm not hungry though. Oh well. Talk to y'all later (I'm not really a cowboy, I just don't know any better way to specify 2nd person plural in English)
Peace Out,
"voiced bilabial stop followed by a voiced alveolar retroflex liquid followed by a dipthong (primary stress syllable) consisting of the lax low mid vowel and the lax high frontal vowel followed by an unstressed schwa and ending with a voiced alveolar nasal"

Wednesday, May 19, 2004

"I never had the least notion that I could fall with such emotion..."

Name that singer!

Today is Boys' Club Day and National Ride Your Bike to Work Day. Not very exciting I think. Actually to be honest, there are very few cool ones left in May. Sorry everyone. It's not my fault though. Write some letters to your government officials, and get some cool holidays going down. Perhaps Four Square Day, or Chase Snakes Around Town With Metal Objects Day, or Join an Obscure Cult Day, or something cool like that. It's up to the people to get this ball rolling, Congress will never pass new holiday acts unless we show them that there is a demand for them.

I got a package in the mail yesterday, but really it was just Sister Reeves (my mom for the last year) sending back the picture that I turned in to the helaman halls art display (which was actually cooler and had more "real art" than the Boise art museum. Last time I went there, they had this creepy carnival thing and it was covered in some kind of yellowish ooze, and there was a stuffed deer head on a man's body standing guard with a rifle over a music stand with pictures of Indians taped onto it, and then there was a little video of this stewardess looking out a plane window and every once in a while it would cut to these insane women dancing around on a football field. If it was supposed to mean something, I must have missed it. The only cool thing in the whole building is the metal wall downstairs where you can play with magnets and make your own poetry. The whole experience was rather frightening and it cost me four dollars. I miss Provo!) So getting my package wasn't terribly exciting, but at least now I have my picture back.

Happy Birthday to:
Innocent XI, 1611 (Benedetto Odescalchi, 240th Pope)
Sven Thofelt, 1904 (pentathlete who bears the name of my future child. Just look at those fricatives!)
Florence Chadwick, 1918 (first to swim English Channel in both directions. I think when she turned around it became La Manche...)
Pol Pot, 1915
Peter Townshend, 1945 <--- NAME THAT BAND FOR A PRIZE!!
Phillip Rudd, 1946 <--- DRUMMER FOR WHICH BAND?? (PRIZE)
Mark Janssens, 1968

Happy Deathday to:
Alcuin of York, 1804
Sebastian Vrancx, 1647
Josiah Bartlett, 1795 (I remember The Blaze talking about him once, but I don't remember much)
Thomas E Lawrence (OF ARABIA!!! 8^) died in a motorcycle crash. thats how the movie starts)
The Tortoise supposedly given to the king of Tonga in 1773 by Captain Cook, 1966

Today in History:
English queen Elizabeth I arrests Scottish queen Mary, 1568
About midday, near-total darkness descends on much of New England, 1780 (no one knows why still)
First department store opens, 1848
Mexico gives Texas to US, 1848
Ringling Brothers circus premieres, 1884
First mass production of shoes, 1885
Heavy rain wash "quick clay" into a deep valley, kills 111 (Norway), 1893
Patricia R Harris named 1st US black female ambassador (Luxembourg), 1965
USSR ratifies treaty with Engl & US banning nuclear weapons in space, 1967
Weird Al Yankovic gives live performance at Wax Museum in Wash DC, 1983
"King Of Suede" by Weird Al Yankovic hits #62, 1984
Pat LaFontaine scores 2 goals within 22 sec in an NHL playoff game, 1984 (hehe, friggin awesome!)
World's youngest doctor, Balamurali Ambati, 17, graduates Mount Sinai, 1995
Syzygy, 2161 (8 of 9 planets aligned all on one side of the sun)

I'm going to ramble a little about yesterday. So I got really bored and fed up with Boise not having any culture, etc. so I went to the Garden City library (roughly the size of a small classroom) and I wandered around for a bit and didnt find anything, and then I looked on the catalog, and nothing was checked in or else it was in another library (not even the Boise library, they were all in flippin' Nampa or Caldwell or something) and then I gave one last effort to find von Goethe's Faust and it was actually there, and so I got something and now I won't go mad and kill everyone! Probably. So I got Faust and it came with Egmont and Christopher Marlowe's Dr. Faustus. And I also found next to it Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince, Thomas More's Utopia, and Martin Luther's 95 Theses, Address To The German Nobility, and Concerning Christian Liberty, so I got those too. These should keep me occupied for at least 4 days. If you've read anything by these guys, I would like to talk about them with you. I was pleased with how many of you knew the O Fortuna reference, and I know that I have a lot of cultured friends, so I hope someone has read up on Faust particularly. It's intriguing.

If anyone knows how to turn an mp3 file into something that my cd player can recognize, please email me or catch me online or something. I already got 28 cds burned, but then my free trial version of MusicMatch Plus ran out, so now I'm lost and confused like a little sheep. So I've gotten rid of roughly 325 files, but i have 583 left, and I need to get them off my computer so that it will keep running and not die. It's getting pretty slow lately...

Person of the Day: (there are two today!)
1. Het'um The Armenian, (c.1245 - c.1315)
Historian of Armenia, Georgia and the Tartars, documented the history between the reigns of Chingiz-Khan (1st Tartar Emperor) and Monge-Khan (4th Emperor) Can you imagine being a historian and writing down everything you find out? He undoubtedly knew a lot more than he wrote down, and he wrote a TON! Het'um was definitely a genius. I want to be a historian I think. I can't decide. I'll probably want to do history and philosophy and music and linguistics all at once, but I can't see how that would work.
2. Procopius of Caesarea, (c.490/507 - c.560s)
Historian of Byzantium and the reign of Emperor Justinian I. Procopius was an advisor to Belisarius, the greatest military leader of his day, and helped in Belisarius' first Persian offensive, and helped to defend Italy against the Goths. (sorry I can't help but think of the mesh-wearing black faced punk kids invading Rome, haha) Procopius actively hated Emperor Justinian and Empress Theodora and wrote his Secret History in 550 AD. This is his most well known work. I've read bits of it, and I think he probably exxagerated, but who's to say? I also read a lot about Justinian I and he seems to be a cool enough guy. I'm not saying that Procopius was wrong to dislike Justinian or that it's wrong for writers to say what they think. Writers are famous for being biased. It's their job. Persuasion is one of the basic purposes of language, and Procopius was very gifted with languages. He was fluent in several (granted, bilingualism was more common then) Justinian was definitely a jerk, but there was some good that came out of him too. So they are both on my Stud List, for different reasons.

Insalubrious: not condusive to good health; unwholesome
Objurgation: a harsh rebuke
Doyen: The senior member of a body or group; One who is knowledgable or uniquely skilled as a result of long experience in some field of endeavor.

Irish Word of The Day (Focal an Lae)
Word: óg
Meaning: young
Usage: bean óg (BAN OHG) = a young woman
Tá mé óg. (TAW may OHG) = I'm young.
óg can also be a noun meaning "young person", as in the famous Gaelic otherworld, Tír na nóg
(CHEER nuh NOHG), The Land of the Young
History: óg comes from Old Irish "oac", which comes from a Common Celtic word reconstructed as "yuwankos". Modern Welsh "ieuanc, ifanc" and Breton "yaouank" more closely resemble the ancestral word, which comes ultimately from the Indo-European root *yeu- (vital force, youthful vigour). English cognates include "young" and "juvenile".


Quotes of the Day:

"I am not so lost in lexicography as to forget that words are the daughters of earth, and that things are the sons of heaven" Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784) (in the preface to the American Heritage Dictionary, written in 1775)

"Grown-ups never understand anything for themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them." <--- NAME THAT AUTHOR/BOOK FOR A PRIZE!!

"Never despair; but if you do, work on in despair." Edmund Burke (1729 - 1797)

"Words are the physicians of the mind deceased." Aeschylus (525 - 456 BC)

"High thoughts must have high language." Aristophones (450 - 388 BC)

"Grasp the subject, words will follow." Cato the Elder (234 - 149 BC)

"When ideas fail, words come in very handy." Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)

"Words have a longer life than deeds." Pindar (522 - 433 BC)

"No one has a finer command of language than the person who keeps his mouth shut." Sam Reyburn (1882 - 1961)

"Broadly speaking, the short words are the best, and the old words best of all." Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965)

"The end of speech is not ostentation, but to be understood." William Penn (1644 - 1718)

Well there I go destroying all my resources without any thought for the future. You'll probably not get another quote from me about language, because, well... I don't really have any more. I have one, I didn't feel right about using them all at once, so I saved it...

Oh, hey I got the results back from my little surgery and I'm not going to die of cancer after all, but they did find a ... some big word... trying to remember... di- something.... AHA! displastic nevis. So that's kind of a problem, and I'll most likely have cancer later on at some point. Meh. I'm still all right. I just have to have periodic skin cancer/melanoma/Basil cell checks all the time for the rest of my life. *cry* so thats my report.

And I'm out now. I just spent three hours today doing this email, with some slight distraction (e.g. chocolate chips, Instant Messenger, singing along to Postal Service and The Notwist, etc.)
Go raibh tú sona inniu (May you be happy today)
Brian Fricative Harris

Tuesday, May 18, 2004

"Leave at your own chosen speed, I'm not the one you want babe..."

Name that band!! (oh, yesterday I had a plethora of responses and the correct answer was indeed Carl Orff's Carmina Burana's first movement, O Fortuna. Jordan is the winner for that. wurd up dawg)

Hagol! (hello in OE) Sorry I haven't done much personal stuff lately, it's been all random facts. But today, I'm going to just type whatever comes into my head. You know those markers that smell like fruit and things? Well, they don't taste like fruit. One day I licked every single color, and none of them tasted like they smelled (this was after smelling all of them, maybe I wasn't thinking straight) And the dark green one will turn your tongue blue. Interesting, no? And my dad says I'm not allowed to experiment with our toaster. He's heard of the SPT experiments and things too... check out this link Hehe, I found this after thoroughly exploring www.toaster.org another high quality site. I'm sure I've included the link before, but I'm also not everyone went there and has since forgotten, and are now glad for the reminder . So thats it. I'm going to include another link that I've already shown the world, but I'm thinking not all of ya's got it. It's this French dude playing horns French Guy Playing Horns hehehe! I love it... Oh! And here is the cool Kodak Picture Of The Day: Click Here It's pretty sweet, no? It's Sarajevo City Hall taken by Sulejman Omerbasic. What a cool picture, seriously. At first I thought it looked like Singapore, but it really wasn't at all. Oh and this is one of my new favorite sites :) :) :) HeeHee! I know at least a couple of you will get a HUGE kick out of this!
I'm still upset about my library situation. I would like to read more, but there is nothing to read. In Provo I could go to the library, pick a floor, any floor, walk randomly around for 15 minutes and find an exxellent book to read, but here in Boise, I can walk randomly around the library for 3 hours and find only raff. That's my dilemma. I don't even think the BPL carries normal books like anything by Geoffery Chaucer, or Johann Wolfgange von Goethe, or Edward Gibbon, or John Dryden, or Procopius... I could go on forever like that. Its really a depressing situation. Boise is stifling and oppressive. *cry, cry*

Sooo... Today's Holidays: International Museum Day (GAH!!! I WISH WE HAD DECENT MUSEUMS IN BOISE!!! our art museum is really quite frightening and then the only other museum here that i know of is that lame historical museum next to the "library" that basically covers the only time period in earth's history that i abhorr. "What does it take to get a drink in this place..." Oh well...), No Dirty Dishes Day, and Visit Your Relatives Day.

Today's Birthdays:
Hugh Clapperton, 1788
Nicholas II, 1864 (if you're into the whole Russian history thing, check out http://www.westinghousenuclear.com/pdf/E3e_CZAR.pdf
Bertrand Russell, 1872
Frank Capra, 1897 (Stud Listed!)
Bhagwat Chandrasekhar, 1945 (this dude played a mean cricket!)
William Wallace, <--- 1949 NAME HIS BAND FOR A PRIZE!!
Jari Kurri, 1960
Marty McSorley, 1963
Darren Van Impe, 1973


Today's Deaths:
Alexander III (The Great.), 323 (Yah, Emperor of Macedonia meant something back then!)
Erik IX Helgi (The Saint), 1160 (If you have never read about the Christianization of Scandinavia, do it now. NOW!!)
Johann K Amman, 1724
GUSTAV MAHLER!!!!!, 1911
Daws Butler, 1988 (He did the voices of Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, etc.)

Today in History:
Montreal Canada founded, 1642
Edwin Budding of England signs an agreement for manufacture of his invention, the lawnmower, 1830 (in the words of one man, "Saturdays are destroyed forever" XD)
Massachusetts rules all school-age children must attend school, 1852 (hehe, now weekdays are destroyed forever too!)
US passes Selective Service act, 1917 (grrrr....)
TNT explosion in chemical factory in Oakdale PA kills 200, 1918
Jacqueline Cochran is 1st woman to break the sound barrier, 1953
"If You Wanna Be Happy" by Jimmy Soul hits #1, 1963
Gene Roddenberry suggests 16 names including Kirk for Star Trek Captain, 1965
"Canterbury Tales" closes at Eugene O'Neill NYC after 122 perfs, 1969 <--- FIRST TO NAME THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR OF CANTERBURY TALES WINS A BIG OL' FATTY PRIZE!!

So that was a little bit fun. I got way sidetracked just writing the last three paragraphs. I was looking everything up and it cost me about 45 minutes. Oops :)

Words of the day:

Cromulent: 1. A nonsense word used in an ironical sense to mean
legitimate, and therefore, in reality, spurious and not at all legitimate. First used by Miss Hoover on The Simpsons. 2. A word to be added to the OED at a future date meaning exceptionally fast. I first learned it from Cambell but I forget where it really originates. It's probably Cambell's word, at the least, someone that Cambell knows.

Raffish: adj., 1 : marked by or suggestive of flashy vulgarity or crudeness
*2 : marked by a careless unconventionality : rakish
"Raffish sounds like it should mean "resembling the raff." But what is "raff"? Originally, "raff" was rubbish. That term derives from the Middle English "raf," and it was being used for trash and refuse back in the 1400s. At around the same time, English speakers were also using the word "riffraff" to mean "disreputable characters" or "rabble." The origins of "riffraff" are distinct from the "rubbish" sense of "raff"; "riffraff" derives from an Anglo-French phrase meaning "one and all." By the mid-1600s, the similarities between "raff" and "riffraff" had prompted people to start using the two words as synonyms, and "raff" gained a "rabble" sense. It was that ragtag "raff" that gave rise to the adjective "raffish" in the late 1700s." <--- Courtesy of Merriam-Webster's Dictionary.

accede \ak-SEED\, intransitive verb:
1. To agree or assent; to give in to a request or demand.
2. To become a party to an agreement, treaty, convention, etc.
3. To attain an office or rank; to enter upon the duties of an office.
FIRST TO IDENTIFY CORRECTLY ALL THE MORPHEMES IN THIS WORD WINS A PRIZE!!
novercal (NO-vur-kuhl) adjective
Of or relating to a stepmother; stepmotherly.

Focal an Lae (that's Word Of The Day in Irish Gaelic!)


Word: rua (ROO-uh)
Meaning: rua = reddish, red-haired, rust-coloured
Usage: fear rua = a red-haired man
capall rua = a chesnut horse
Máire Rua = Red-haired Mary
pingin rua = a copper penny
Níl pingin rua aige. = He hasn't got a red cent.
History: Rua comes from Old Irish "rúad", which harks back to the Indo-European root *reudh- (red, ruddy). Forms in the other Celtic languages are Scots Gaelic "ruadh", Manx Gaelic "ruy", Welsh "rhudd", and Breton "ruz". English cognates include "red", "ruddy", "rouge" and "rust".

Quotes of the Day!

Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory.
Albert Schweitzer (1875 - 1965)
In times like these, it helps to recall that there have always been times like these.
Paul Harvey
If you haven't found something strange during the day, it hasn't been much of a day.
John A. Wheeler
It took me fifteen years to discover that I had no talent for writing, but I couldn't give it up because by that time I was too famous.
Robert Benchley (1889 - 1945)

Not too many quotes today, but that's ok once in a while right? especially since I have today a special treat. Thanks to Jordan, I've got this list:
Ten Words You Simply Must Know
Seriously, a good list. And if you like that link, also try this one: http://home.mn.rr.com/wwftd/ and then click the Word List link on the left side.

Well, thats all for today friends, have a good one, keep it real.
Brian David James Milford Tennyson Esbern Freak Shadowboy Harris

Monday, May 17, 2004

"O furtuna, vela luna, statu variabilis..."

Hehe, normally I would say name that band, but this time, Name That Symphony!
Anyone who has hung out with me in the last three months should know this. It's the only CD I've ever bought in my life!

If you are new to my daily emails, welcome! You rock. I'm trying to get a solid reader-base, but people keep leaving and refusing to check their email for two years... psh!

Bands that everyone should give thought to: Swell Maps, Phish, Enon, The Postal Service, Velvet Underground. Mos!

Since I haven't written a daily email since Saturday, I'll catch up on the obscure holidays today. Friday was Dance Like a Chicken Day and National Receptionist Day (I think this includes Royal Official Advisors too). Saturday was International Migratory Bird Day, Hug Your Cat Day, Police Memorial Day, and National Chocolate Chip Day. Sunday was Love a Tree Day and Wear Purple For Peace Day. And today is Armed Forces Day and Pack Rat Day!

Words of the Day!!
Ludibrious- Inclined to scoff, scornful, mocking.
Maffick- to celebrate with boisterous rejoicing and hilarious behavior
Redoubtable- 1. Arousing fear or alarm 2. Illustrious, eminent, worthy of respect or honor

Irish Word of the Day!!

Word: pós (POHS)
Meaning: pós = marry
Usage: Verbs are shown in Irish dictionaries in the imperative singular, which for almost all verbs is identical with the verb root. "Pós!" by itself means "Marry!" or "Get married!" Other forms:

-Phós mé. (FOHS may) = I got married.
-Níor phós mé. (NEE-uhr FOHS may) = I didn't get married.
-Tá mé pósta. (TAW may POHS-tuh) = I am married.
-Níl mé pósta. (NEEL may POHS-tuh) = I'm not married.

History: Pós is not a native Celtic word. It was borrowed into Irish from Early French "espouser" or a similar form, descended from Latin "sponsare", which in turn comes from the Indo-European root *spend- (to bind oneself by a ritual act). Cognates are "spouse" and "sponsor".

Happy Birthday:
Antoine Court, 1691
John Penn, 1741
Edward Jenner, 1749 (STUD LIST!!) <--- FIRST TO TELL ME WHAT HE DID WINS A PRIZE!!
Joseph Norman Lockyer, 1836 (discovered Helium and founded Nature magazine)
Gerrit Mannoury, 1867
Werner Egk, 1901 (cool dude!)
Bob Saget, 1956 (hehe, anyone remember Save The Saget? I donated a quarter...)
Enya, (Eithne N¡ Bhraon in), 1961 <--- FIRST TO TELL ME HER BIRTH-CITY WINS A PRIZE!!
*Yesterday's birthday: Stephen Longmuir (aka Canada, Canuck, Linda's Lover)

Happy Deathday:
Guido van Arezzo, 1050
Alessandro di Botticelli, 1510
Jacob Wilhelm Lustig, 1796
Niccolo Paganini, 1840
Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1864
Adolf Bernhard Marx, 1866
Lawrence Welk, 1992

Fun things that happened today in history:
1st merry-go-round seen at a fair, 1620
Niccolo Zucchi sees two belts on surface of Jupiter, 1630
Lewis & Clark begin exploration of Louisiana Purchase, 1804
Rubber band patented, 1845
Saxophone patented, 1846 (by Antoine Joseph Sax)
Edwin T Holmes installs first telephone switchboard burglar alarm, 1877
Congress changes name "Porto Rico" to "Puerto Rico", 1932
Pennsylvania declares legal holiday to honor A's manager Connie Mack, 1941
Prayer Pilgrimage, 1957 <--- FIRST TO NAME THE CITY WINS A PRIZE!!
Thor Heyerdahl crosses Atlantic on reed raft, 1970
Mick Jagger punches a restaurant window, gets 20 stitches, 1975
Stanley Cup: NY Islanders sweep Edmonton Oilers in 4 games, 1983

Random Invention of the Day: Play-Doh. Invented by Noah McVicker and Joseph McVicker in 1956. Cool stuff. Definitely very tasty and salty.

Ranom Influential Person of the Day: Joseph Lister (1827 - 1912), inventor of antiseptics. Definitely a good move.

Quotes of the Day:

The rule is perfect: in all matters of opinion our adversaries are insane.
Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)
The best way to predict the future is to invent it.
Alan Kay
They sicken of the calm that know the storm.
Dorothy Parker (1893 - 1967)
Love is an exploding cigar we willingly smoke.
Lynda Barry
What if everything is an illusion and nothing exists? In that case, I definitely overpaid for my carpet.
Woody Allen (1935 - )
I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence.
Frederick Douglass (1817 - 1895)
The sword the body wounds, sharp words the mind.
Menander (342 BC - 292 BC)
A bad neighbor is a misfortune, as much as a good one is a great blessing.
Hesiod (~800 BC)
Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.
George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)
So there are your random useless facts for the day, I hope you enjoyed them. Personal stories: I went out a couple of nights back with Steve and Kelv and we broke a Nalgene bottle. It took a few tries and we dragged it behind Steve's car and I chucked it out the window, going 75. And then we dropped it 8 stories. So that was pretty cool. And uhhh, I mowed the lawn... There really is nothing to do in Boise. I wish I could go see one of those rockin cool International Cinema flicks, or possibly catch a free concert in the HFAC. Alas, I'm stuck in Boise, where there are rarely good concerts, let alone free ones. And no one ever wants to go anyway. Lots of benefits there at the Y. Oh well. I cleaned out the fridge today. It was really really nasty. There was a bowl of potatoes in there that I didn't recognize as potatoes until I dumped it out, there was so much mold on top. Now aren't you glad I write to you? I hope you're all having a great time doing whatever it is you've been up to. Marc, I hope your white blood cells prevail against those accursed loser-cold-germs. Kevin, we need to plan. Or something. Mallory, thanks again for the uber-cds! *big smile* All the rest of ya's, keep being my friend please
Your Buddy,
Brian Harris

Friday, May 14, 2004

"Money is like us in time, It lies but can't stand up. Down for you is up..."

Name that band!! This one will earn you points with me if you get it!
Today is: National Receptionist Day and Dance Like A Chicken Day. Seriously I want everyone to do this for me. It would be sooooo cool to know that all of my friends are sillies.
Tomorrow I won't be able to get an email out probably, cuz I'll be camping, so here are tomorrow's holidays too: Hug Your Cat Day, Police Memorial Day, and National Chocolate Chip Day.

Happy Birthday:
Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit, 1686
Robert Owen, 1771
Harry Joseph Chick Daugherty, trombonist (Spike Jones & City Slickers), 1915
Heloise, 1919
Robert Jarvik, 1946 (inventor of the Jarvick 7 artificial heart)
Robert Zemeckis, 1948
Gillian Anderson, 1968 (FIRST TO TELL ME HER MOST MAJOR TV ROLE WINS)
Ken Belanger, 1974
Jayna Hefford, 1977

Happy Deathday:
Pachomius, 347 (Egyptian monastery (Coenobieten) founder)
Nicolaus von Amsdorf, 1565 (seriously if anyone knows of cool reformers, let me know, im researching that right now)
John van Speijk, 1832
Megan Lloyd George, 1966
Hugh Griffith, 1980
Hugh Beaumont, 1982
Mohammed Munir, 1985 (FIRST PERSON TO TELL ME WHAT HE DID WINS)
William Randolph Hearst, 1993

Today in History:
1st smallpox inoculation administered, by Edward Jenner, 1796
1st admission charge at a football game, Harvard beats McGill 3-0, 1874 (anyone remember BYU vs. Utah?)
Vaseline is 1st sold, 1878
1st Olympics in US are held (St Louis), 1904
Flagpole at the White Sox ballpark breaks during pennant-raising, 1906
Florence Allen is 1st woman judge to sentence a man to death, 1921
USSR launch 1st (unmanned) space capsule, 1960
Kuwait is 111th member of the United Nations, 1963
Skylab launched, 1st Space Station, 1973 (I assure your majesty, this spacestation is fully operational...)
"Little Shop of Horrors" is released in Germany, 1987 (hehehe)
Dalai Lama proclaims 6-year-old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima 11th reincarnation of Panchen Lama, Tibet's 2nd most sr spiritual leader, 1995 (so what do the Chinese do? they kidnap him...)
Last episode of Seinfeld on NBC, 1998 (commercials cost $2M/30 seconds)

Words of the Day: (I'm going to be a lazy today, sorry folks)

Objurgatrix
"Objurgatrix comes from the verb objurgate, to
chide or rebuke harshly, and means a scolding,
sharp-tongued, shrewish woman, a Xanthippe."
- C. H. Elster, There's a Word for It!


maith (MAHH) [Note: "th" in Irish is pronounced "h"]
maith = good

Usage: Adjectives follow the noun in Irish, and adjectives following a feminine noun are subject to mutation:
fear maith = a good man
bean mhaith = a good woman (WAHH)

Maith is also a noun, meaning "the good, what is good", for example, in the common phrase for "thank you":
go raibh maith agat (guh ruh MAH-huhguht)
(lit., may there be what-is-good at-you)

History: Maith descends from the Indo-European root *ma- (good), via the Common Celtic *mati-. The earliest evidence we have for this word is on the Coligny Calendar, a bronze plaque of Gaulish provenance, where the auspicious months are marked "MAT". Modern Breton "mat" (good) is a cognate. A distant cognate is "mature".

And your Influential Person of the Day:
René Descartes: French philosopher (some of my favoritest people are French philosophers!) and mathematician. Cognito Ergo Sum was his creation. Cool guy.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04744b.htm (provided by our friendly Catholic Encyclopedia. I think this is the coolest online reference book ever!)

"In science, Descartes discarded tradition and to an extent supported the same method as Francis Bacon, but with emphasis on rationalization and logic rather than upon experiences. In physical theory his doctrines were formulated as a compromise between his devotion to Roman Catholicism and his commitment to the scientific method, which met opposition in the church officials of the day. Mathematics was his greatest interest; building upon the work of others, he originated the Cartesian coordinates and Cartesian curves; he is often said to be the founder of analytical geometry. To algebra he contributed the treatment of negative roots and the convention of exponent notation. He made numerous advances in optics, such as his study of the reflection and refraction of light. He wrote a text on physiology, and he also worked in psychology; he contended that emotion was finally physiological at base and argued that the control of the physical expression of emotion would control the emotions themselves. His chief work on psychology is in his Traité des passions de l'âme (1649)."

So there's Descartes, awesome stuff...
Here are some good Icelandic poems if you can find the translations, kudos to you. With a little practice reading alongside english, the Icelandic really starts to make sense.

Mér Vantar Kraftaverk Því Ég Er Að Drukkna Syndir.

Læstur Er Lokaður Inn Í Búri
Dýr Nakinn Ber Á Mig
Og Bankar Upp Á Frelsari
Ótaminn Setur Í Ný Batterí
Og Hleður Á Ný

Í Kjaftinum Sem Rífur Upp Gamalt Gróið Sár
Er Orðinn Ryðguð Sál
Rafmagnið Búið
Mig Langar Að Skera
Og Rista Sjálfan Mig Á Hol
En Þori Það Ekki
Frekar Slekk Ég Á Mér
Aleinn Á Ný

And the regular quotes of the day:


Lawyers, I suppose, were children once.
Charles Lamb (1775 - 1834)
I'm going to stay in show business until I'm the last one left.
George Burns (1896 - 1996)
Arguments are to be avoided; they are always vulgar and often convincing.
Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900)
Okay, thats all for today, i'm tired and i still have to mow the lawn and make some phone calls and finish watchin lawrence of arabia and go camping today. feel free to email me, i love hearing from all of you. and some of you havent talked to me in like a month, thats not very nice :'(

go raibh maith agat (FIRST TO TELL ME WHAT THIS MEANS WINS)

Thursday, May 13, 2004

"Just your smile leaves me satisfied, though you're not mine..."

Name that band!
Today is... no fooling... Leprechaun Day. This is INSANE! ok, thats all.

The bizarre picture of the day, can be found at http://www.bizarrenews.com/friend/chiccar.jpg

Happy Birthday to:
Arthur Seymour Sullivan, 1842 (you know, like Gilbert and Sullivan)
Peter Henry Emerson, 1856 (first person to call photography "art" good call!)
Jim Jones, 1931 (ever hear of the Jonestown massacre? this guy was a reverend and he poisoned over 100 people)
Stig Gustav Schonberg, 1933
Stevie Wonder, 1950 *cringe, cringe*
Danny Kirwan, 1950 (with Fleetwood Mac)
Dennis Rodman, 1961
Darryl Sydor, 1972 (dallas stars)
Sara DeCosta, 1977 (Olympic hockey goalie! I think I'm in love...)

Happy Deathday to:
Robert II the Steward, 1390
Theodor Schwartzkopff, 1732
John Nash, 1835 (planned Regent's Park)
Israel Ashkenazi of Shklov, 1839
Sholem Aleichem, 1916 (TELL ME WHAT HE WROTE FOR A PRIZE!!!)

Today in History:
Crusaders march into Beirut, 1110
Excavated corpse of heretic David Jorisz burned in Basel, 1559
English colonists lands near James River in VA (Who was leading that party? PRIZE TIME)
University library at Vienna opens, 1777 (I'm going to live there someday. in the library.)
Republic of Ecuador is founded, 1830
1st foreign embassy in Hawaii forms, 1835
Native American Day is 1st observed, 1916
Black Friday on Berlin Stock Exchange, 1927 (oooh, friday the 13th. if you are afraid of that, you are a triksedekaphobiac)
Only known fatality due to hail, 1930
Pachyderm Building at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo opens, 1956 (I did a whole unit on pachyderms in geology. ask me anything!)
3 astronauts simultaneous walked in space for the 1st time, 1992

Words of the Day:

trouvaille, (troo-VYE) something discovered by chance; a windfall

disingenuous • \dis-in-JEN-yuh-wusslacking in candor; also : giving a false appearance of simple frankness : calculating

Aqueous, a. Of, or of the nature of, water; watery; diluted with water.

suasion \SWAY-zhun\, noun:
The act of persuading; persuasion.

polyvalent (pol-ee-VAY-luhnt) adjective:
1. Having many layers, meanings, values, etc.; multifaceted.
2. (In chemistry) Having multiple valences.
3. (In medicine or biology) Effective against multiple agents.

Irish Word of the Day:
fear /fær/ n., Man
Usage: Fear is the ordinary word for man. The plural is fir (FIHR - rhymes with "cheer"). Just as mna/ (women) is commonly seen on certain doors, fir is common on the others. Those into Irish mythology will have encountered the Fir Bolg (The Bolg Men), one of the early races said to have occupied Ireland.
History: Fear can be traced back the reconstructed Indo-European form *wiros (man), making it cognate with words such as "virile" and "werewolf". Latin for "man" was "vir" (v pronounced like a w)

Person of the Day:
Muhammad: conqueror of Arabia, prophet of Islam.
Exerpt from Michael H. Hart's book:

"My choice of Muhammad to lead the list of the world's most influential persons may surprise some readers and may be questioned by others, but he was the only man in history who was supremely successful on both the religious and secular levels...

Muhammad founded and promulgated one of the world's great religions, and became an immensely effective political leader. Today, thirteen centuries after his death, his influence is still powerful and pervasive... Like all religions, Islam exerts an enormous influence upon the lives of its followers. It is for this reason that the founders of the world's great religions all figure prominently in this book. Since there are roughly twice as many Christians as Moslems in the world, it may initially seem strange that Muhammad has been ranked higher than Jesus. There are two principal reasons for that decision. First, Muhammad played a far more important role in the development of Islam than Jesus did in the development of Christianity. Although Jesus was responsible for the main ethical and moral precepts of Christianity (insofar as these differed from Judaism), St. Paul was the main developer of Christian theology, its principal proselytizer, and the author of a large portion of the New Testament.

Muhammad, however, was responsible for both the theology of Islam and its main ethical and moral principles. In addition, he played the key role in proselytizing the new faith, and in establishing the religious practices of Islam. Moreover, he is the author of the Moslem holy scriptures, the Koran, a collection of certain of Muhammad's insights that he believed had been directly revealed to him by Allah. Most of these utterances were copied more or less faithfully during Muhammad's lifetime and were collected together in authoritative form not long after his death. The Koran therefore, closely represents Muhammad's ideas and teachings and to a considerable extent his exact words. No such detailed compilation of the teachings of Christ has survived. Since the Koran is at least as important to Moslems as the Bible is to Christians, the influence of Muhammed through the medium of the Koran has been enormous It is probable that the relative influence of Muhammad on Islam has been larger than the combined influence of Jesus Christ and St. Paul on Christianity. On the purely religious level, then, it seems likely that Muhammad has been as influential in human history as Jesus.

Furthermore, Muhammad (unlike Jesus) was a secular as well as a religious leader. In fact, as the driving force behind the Arab conquests, he may well rank as the most influential political leader of all time... the Arab conquests of the seventh century have continued to play an important role in human history, down to the present day. It is this unparalleled combination of secular and religious influence which I feel entitles Muhammad to be considered the most influential single figure in human history."

Ok so thats really about all i have for today, im sitting here with a can of Campbell's soup (do you know awkward it feels to put a 'p' in Cambell's name?) and i have these blasted stiches in my stomach, so i cant really do much else besides sit here. not that i ever do anything besides sit here anyway, but yah. I'm going to get started on my lunch, as its five minutes to noon. Have a good day everyone. Don't get into fights, dont smack your lips or talk on cell phones, and eat a popsicle. also, girls: do your hair in ponytails, its better that way ;^D. Ok, im gone now. catch y'all later.
Nairb

Wednesday, May 12, 2004

"I'd buy you a green dress, but not a real green dress, that's cruel..."

*only 2 offers for prizes today*

everyone needs to check out this site: http://www.comingsoon.net/movies/h/harrypotter3.php
Go about halfway down the screen and click on the last blue link. Its high, high quality (and Hermione is dang hot!) So yah...
Oh and my own website is having some serious health problems, so probably its best not to visit for a while.

This week is Nurse's Week and Wildflower Week. Today is Fatigue Syndrome Day and Limerick Day. I will provide some limericks for you pleasure.

The limerick packs laughs anatomical
Into space that is quite economical.
But the good ones I've seen
So seldom are clean -
And the clean ones so seldom are comical.

-- Anonymous
A Texas Tech grad who's a Saudi,Though he graduates summa cum laude, Has forgotten his rootsHe wears cowboy bootsAnd instead of "Salaam", he says, "Howdy!"
--Ted Lawson
I planted a limerick seed, And up popped a hideous weed. Of a sickly green tone, Guess we reap what we've sown. See my first line doth suck, yes indeed.
-- Dwarvenkind (don't ask me, he chose the name)
there once was a kid named fredwho had a really big head,he tried on a hatbut it made him look fatso he bought big shoes instead
--Marc P.
ther once was a girl named nikkiwho said everything tasted icky,she never ate a thing,so her body looked like string,till she stopped being so picky
-- Marc P.
Ok, now for the Words Of The Day (collected from various sources that you could easily find)
Imbibition • \im-buh-BIH-shun\ • noun *1 : the act or action of drinking 2 : the act or action of taking in or up : absorption
Bromide \BROH-myd\, noun:1. A compound of bromine and another element or a positive organic radical.2. A dose of potassium bromide taken as a sedative.3. A dull person with conventional thoughts.4. A commonplace or conventional saying.
retroussé/re-tru-SAY/
turned up (fitting that the French have a convenient word to describeturning their noses up, eh?)
apostate (uh-POS-tayt, -tit) noun
One who abandons his or her religion, principles, political party, or some other allegiance

Irish Word Of The Day:
bean (BAN) noun, "Woman"
Bean is the ordinary word for woman. It is best known in the English-speaking world as the name of an uncanny being, the "banshee", or "bean sí" in Irish spelling. A bean sí is literally a "woman of the the fairy mound". The plural of bean is... mná! Pronounced MRAH or MNAH, it is commonly seen on WC doors in Ireland and in Irish bars around the world.
History: Bean, from Old Irish ben, goes back ultimately to the Indo-European root *gwen-, (woman), making it a distant cousin of English "queen" and Persian "zan".
Scots Gaelic: bean (BEHN) & mnathan (MRAH-huhn)

Okay, so get this (and keep in mind that my favorite color is green). I'm sitting here writing this email today and I'm listening to Flogging Molly (Irish punk rock) and talking to people online about Limericks (I'm typing in green too) and I'm wearing my new "Feeling Lucky?" shirt with a big green shamrock. And last night I watched a movie about Irish people, and it's all rainy here so my lawn is exceptionally green. And I just looked down and found a green cd case on the table next to me. And now i just typed in the Irish word of the day. Something creepy is definitely happening here. I don't understand. Maybe this is some sort of sign. If I get called to Ireland on my mission, I dont think I will ever come back. I've always wanted to live there, you know. Ack! Irish Blessing! That's why! I'm subconsciously trying to spend time with my friends again, and my brain nodes found Ireland-related things to be soothing and friendly. Or maybe it stems from my obsession with wanting to be one of the Three Irish Tenors when I was a child... Or maybe it's somehow linked to my fascination with St. Cuthbert and The Venerable Bede... Or maybe my fascination with William Wallace has something to do with it, even if he is Scottish. Its all the same place really, isnt it? I mean Wales isnt really so far away from Ireland. Maybe this subconscious Irish thing has been going on longer than I thought... I tried teaching myself Welsh last summer, and and when I was 12 I made a bookmark celebrating Irish culture... I think maybe I was really born in Ireland and my "parents" only told me that I'm from Colorado... I think I need to go find my real birth parents in Ireland. I'm so confused! Somebody help me!

Lincoln Ellsworth, 1880 (led first transarctic and transantarctic flights)
Wilfrid Hyde-White, 1903
Oscar Beregi Jr, 1918
Lawrence "Yogi" Berra, 1925
George Carlin, 1937
Dave Christian, 1957
Warren Rychel, 1967
Monique de Bruin, 1977 (Olympic athlete, name the sport for a prize)

Happy Deathday to:
Gerbert, 1003
Lindbergh baby, 1932 (he was taken for ransom, and Charles Lindbergh paid a whole heck of a lot of money but the baby was dead anyway. grrr...!! dont mess with babies!!)
Joe Valdez Caballero, 1989 (he invented the hard taco shell) ¿Stud List?
Hubert William Dean, 1996 (air armaments specialist!! how cool is that!)

Today In History:
Battle at Mailberg: Vratislav II of Bohemia beats Leopold II of Austria, 1082
San Marcos University in Lima Peru, opens, 1551
1st ice cream advertisement (Philip Lenzi-NY Gazette), 1777
Toilet that flushes itself at regular intervals is patented, 1792
Crouching start 1st used by Charles Sherrill of Yale, 1888
Louisiana legalized prize fighting, 1890
National Hospital Day 1st observed, 1921
Goofy, aka Dippy Dawg, 1st appears in 'Mickey's Revue', 1932
1st H Bomb test, on Enewetak Atoll, 1951
Bob Dylan walks off Ed Sullivan Show, 1963
1st quadrophonic concert (Pink Floyd in London), 1977
In Fatima Portugal, a Spanish priest with a bayonet is stopped prior to his attempt to attack Pope John Paul II, 1982
Bicycle is pedaled 65 mph, 1986
Dow Jones for 5th straight day of the week sets a new record (4430.59), 1995
Martin Brodeur ties NHL record getting his 3rd playoff shutout in 4, 1995
Russia & Chechnya sign peace deal after 400 years of conflict, 1997
Susie Maroney, 22, of Australia, is 1st to swim from Cuba to Florida, 1997
Tornado narrowly misses downtown Miami, 1997

Random Invention of the Day:
Nylon, invented in 1938 by Wallace Hume Carathers.

"In 1931, DuPont started to manufacture neoprene, a synthetic rubber created by Carothers' lab. The research team then turned their efforts towards a synthetic fiber that could replace silk. Japan was the United States' main source of silk, and trade relations between the two countries were breaking apart. By 1934, Wallace Carothers had made significant steps toward creating a synthetic silk by combining the chemicals amine, hexamethylene diamine and adipic acid to create a new fiber formed by the polymerizing process and known as a condensation reaction. In a condensation reaction, individual molecules join with water as a byproduct. Wallace Carothers refined the process (since the water produced by the reaction was dripping back into the mixture and weakening the fibers) by adjusting the equipment so that the water was distilled and removed from the process making for stronger fibers. DuPont patented the new fiber as "nylon" the following year."

So I hope you're all having a wonderful summer/day/however often you read these. This email took me longer than any other. This is a new record! and you got to participate in it! congratulations, and beir beannacht.
Brian (aka Elfed)

Tuesday, May 11, 2004

"This place is a prison, these people aren't my friends..."

Hello everyone, I hope you had a great yesterday and that you got to sleep in this morning. I again had to wake up at 6 am to call my boss and find out once again that they didnt need me after all... I want to either scream or go back to bed, and I can't make up my mind, so I'm writing this email instead.

Happy Eat What You Want Day and Twilight Zone Day.
Your Words of the Day are:

heteroclite (HET-uhr-uh-klyt)
adjective:
1. Deviating from the ordinary rule; eccentric.
2. (In grammar) Irregularly inflected.
noun:
1. A person who is unconventional; a maverick.
2. A word that is irregularly formed.

diapason (dye-uh-PAY-zun)
1 a) a burst of harmonious sound b) the principal
foundation stop of an organ c) (i) the entire
compass of musical tones (ii) range, scope
2 a) tuning fork b) a standard of pitch

hackneyed (HAK-need) adjective:
: lacking in freshness or originality

high-street, adjective:
Of, relating to, or characteristic of a high street (esp. as the principal shopping street of a town) or the shops typically found there, the goods sold in them, etc. Hence: designed for, directed at, or readily available to the general public; popular, mainstream.

conflagration \kon-fluh-GRAY-shuhn\, noun:
1. A large and destructive fire; a general burning.
2. Something like a conflagration; conflict; war.

Irish Word Of The Day:
cara (KAH-ruh) noun: friend
Usage: Cara is seen regularly in the opening line of letters (including letters to the editor, etc., that are otherwise in English)
-Z, a chara = Dear Z (uh XAH-ruh; x = guttural in loch)
-(literally, "Z, o friend")
History: Cara is derived from the Old Irish verb root "car-", to love, and originally meant "(one who) loves". It may come from the Indo-European root *ka- (to like, desire), which would make it a distant relative of such words as "caress", "charity" and "whore".

So I was reading this book the other day and I realized that I like it a lot. If you're into that wacky British humour, check out some Terry Pratchett books. I reccomend: Mort, Good Omens (start with this one, for sure!), Colour of Magic (read this second, if you make it past Good Omens!), The Amazing Maurice And His Educated Rodents, and any others you can find. He's got a lot, shouldnt be too hard to miss if you're looking. He's possibly the funniest man on the planet (I'd say he ties with Dave Barry and he is a little funnier than Jack Candy) His use of imagery is astounding, seriously. If you read one of Terry Pratchett's books, tell me and I'll send out a prize for that too.

Happy Birthday to:
Johann Gottfried Seyfert,1731
Chang & Eng Bunker, 1811 (tell me what they're famous for, and you win the prize!)
Charles Warren Fairbanks, 1852 (tell me who he worked with for a prize!)
Mr Reyskens, 1878 (this dude was the oldest man in the Netherlands in all of recorded history! so old that they forgot his first name, evidently)
Irving Berlin, 1888
Margaret Rutherford, 1892
Martha Graham, 1894 (choreographer for Appalachian Spring, born in Alleghany, PA)
Clare Grundman, 1913 (Kentucky 1800, anyone remember that one?)
Eric Burdon, 1941 (singer for the Animals)
Mark Herndon, 1955 (drummer for Alabama)

Happy Deathday to:
Matteo Ricci, 1610 (tell me what he did for a prize)
Joseph Kerckhoff, 1772
John Heart, 1779 (he signed the Declaration of Independance, yet no one has ever heard of him. try telling me thats fair)
John Herschel, 1871 (hes on my Stud List)
Karl Schwarzschild, 1916 (anyone recognize this name? think Feghoot)
Edward H Thompson, 1935 (Mayan archaeologist)
John D Rockefeller Jr, 1960
Bob Marley, 1981
Carlos Herrera, 1922 (inventor of the margarita)
Leonard Friedman, 1994

Things that happened today in history:
Constantinople (Byzantium) becomes capital of Roman Empire, 330 (heehee! the word Constantinople always reminds me of that great song by They Might Be Giants on their album Flood, called Istanbul. They Might Be Giants is the band that I took yesterday's subject line from. My dad won that one, congratulations!)
Emperor Frederik I Barbarossa & 100,000 crusaders depart Regensburg, 1189
1st US hospital founded (Pennsylvania Hospital), 1751
1st US fire insurance policy issued (Philadelphia), 1752
Waltz introduced into English ballrooms, 1812 (as one commentator commented, "Most observers consider it disgusting & immoral. No wonder it caught on!")
Henri Desgrange establishes 1st bicycle-world record (35.325 km), 1893 (even I could beat that one)
Einstein's Theory of General Relativity presented, 1916
Pulitzer Prize awarded to Robert Frost, 1924 (tell me where he was from for a prize!)
1st Polaroid camera sold $89.95 (NYC), 1949 (tell me who invented it! oh wait, I talked about him earlier this week...)
Siam renames itself Thailand, 1949
Bangladesh windstorm kills 17,000, 1965
Richard Harris releases "MacArthur Park", 1968 (hehe... this song is almost as messed up as "Lola")
Stanley Cup: Montreal Canadiens sweep St Louis Blues in 4 games, 1968
1st heart-lung transplant take place (Baltimore), 1987
Kenya announces worldwide ban on ivory to preserve its elephant herds, 1989
"Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult," released in France, 1994 (I don't know if anyone cares, I just provide what I find)

So um, just out of curiosity, how many of you are actually still reading? I was just thinking that maybe everyone stops reading somewhere up near the top, and nobody really finishes...

Today's Quotes:

A kleptomaniac is a person who helps himself because he can't help himself.
Henry Morgan

I like to believe that people in the long run are going to do more to promote peace than our governments. Indeed, I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of the way and let them have it.
Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890 - 1969)

The only reason for being a professional writer is that you can't help it.
Leo Rosten (1908 - )

It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859 - 1930)

Baseball is 90% mental, the other half is physical.
Yogi Berra (1925 - ) (this guy's a genius)

Words ought to be a little wild for they are the assaults of thought on the unthinking.
John Maynard Keynes (1883 - 1946)

If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at the people he gave it to.
Dorothy Parker (1893 - 1967)

He who can does, He who cannot, teaches.
George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950) (I personally disagree with this one, but it does explain the overwhelming number of incompetent teachers in public schools. I think I only liked about 10% of my teachers, but that's okay, none of them knew me or cared what I thought anyway.)

Depend not on fortune, but on conduct.
Publilius Syrus (~100 BC)

Employ thy time well, if thou meanest to get leisure.
Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790) (name the book this was published in)

Thats all for today, dont forget to claim your prizes, tie your shoelaces and eat your crusts. Hey, speaking of eating crusts, does anyone remember on Bill Nye the Science Guy, when they'd have that pointless little black and white film clips of "Ritchie, Eat Your Crusts" and then something cool would happen like an earthquake or an attack by giant ants, and then his mom says "Ritchie, you should have eaten your crusts"... ok now I'm really done. Also, I've fixed a few things on my website, particularly the Stud List. so now if you check out http://myweb.cableone.net/djhar7/Fricative2.htm and go down to the bottom, you can submit new names to The List and there is also a section for feedback on the site in general. If I can get a lot of people to visit, then I can take the next few steps in conquering the world...
Peace out, Brian

Monday, May 10, 2004

"I found a new friend underneath my pillow. Come on and wreck my car..."

Hey everyone, and happy Clean Up Your Room Day. Don't forget to email me the name of the band (from my subject line). I actually found a great way to send real (and pretty good) prizes now, so my promises won't be empty anymore. And I'll try to catch up on the prizes I haven't given out yet. Oh yah, I need your address too if I am to send the prize, obviously...

Words of the Day: (lots of 'em, sorry if you're not into this kind of thing. words are my life)

polyhistor (pol-ee-HIS-tuhr) noun, also polyhistorian; A person of great or wide learning.
[From Latin polyhistor, from Greek polyistor (very learned), from poly- (much, many) + histor (learned). Ultimately from the Indo-European root weid (to see) that is also the source of words such as guide, wise, vision, advice, idea, story and history.]

accidie (AK-suh-dee) noun; apathy, boredom

manifesto (man-uh-FESS-toh) noun; a written statement declaring publicly the intentions, motives, or views of its issuer

sentient (SEN-shee-uhnt; -tee-; -shuhnt), adjective;
1. Capable of perceiving by the senses; conscious.
2. Experiencing sensation or feeling.

sacred cow (say-cruhd kau) noun; a belief, custom, etc. that people support and do not question or criticize

Today's Irish Word of the Day:

beannacht (BAN-uhxt) blessing, greeting
Usage: Beannacht is often seen in the complimentary close of letters:
-Beir beannacht = Best wishes to you
-Slán agus beannacht = Farewell and a blessing
History: Beannacht comes from Old Irish bendacht, which comes from Latin benedictio. This is one of many words relating to Christianity and book learning that were borrowed from Latin early on. The Scottish Gaelic spelling is beannachd.

And Happy Birthday to:
Johann Michael Schmidt, 1741
Kaufmann Kohler, 1843 (probably should go on the Stud List, what do you all think?)
Thomas Johnstone Lipton, 1850
Gustav Stresemann, 1878
Maximilian Raoul Walter Steiner, 1888 (composer for Gone With the Wind)
Carl Albert, 1908 (speaker of the house)
Duncan Watson, 1926 (president of World Blind Union)
William Lithgow, 1934
Donovan, 1943 (sang Mellow Yellow)
Sly Dunbar, 1952
Homer Simpson, 1955 (definitely if he was real he would be Stud Listed)
Mark David Chapman (not a stud), 1955 (shot John Lennin, stud)
Mikael Andersson, 1966
Adam Deadmarsh, 1975

Happy Deathday to:
Picander, 1764 (has anyone read/heard of Die Weiberprobe?)
George Vancouver, 1798 (hmmm I would have to say he was pretty influencial. Stud List?)
Paul Revere, 1818
Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson, 1863
William Huggins, 1910 (discoverer of stellar nature of Andromeda)
John Wesley Hyatt, 1920 (heehee! I just added him to the Stud List the other day. First to tell me what he did wins a prize)
Andre Bertulot, 1943 (Belgian resistance fighter)
Armand Fraiteur, 1943 (same)
Maurice-Albert Raskin, 1943 (same)
John Wayne Gacy, 1994 (stupidhead, foshmos not a stud)

Today In History:
Scottish nobles recognize authority of English king Edward I, 1291 (noooooooooooo!! bad move!!)
Amerigo Vespucci leaves for 1st voyage to New World, 1497
Church reformer John Pistorius caught in the Hague, 1525
French navigator Jacques Cartier reaches Newfoundland, 1534
Czar Ivan IV becomes Protestant, 1570
Benjamin Franklins first tests the lightning rod, 1752
Jefferson Davis captured at Irwinsville Georgia, 1865
Golden Spike driven, 1869
Jem Mace defends his heavyweight crown against Irish champ Joe Coburn, it lasts 1 hr & 17 minutes, & neither is struck by a punch, 1870
Russia's Duma meets for the first time, 1906
1st Mother's Day observed, 1908 (in Philadelphia)
Halley's comet's closest approach to Earth, 1910
J Edgar Hoover appointed head of FBI, 1924
Smith v Allwright declared illegal, 1944
Keith Richards, Brian Jones & Mick Jagger arrested on drug charges, 1967
Turtles play White House, Mark Volman falls off stage 5 times, 1969
Stanley Cup: Boston Bruins sweep St Louis Blues in 4 games, 1970
Nelson Mandela sworn in as South Africa's 1st black president, 1994
104 miners killed in an elevator accident in South Africa, 1995
Alaska resumes burial of dead, 2004
I got hosed by employers all over Boise and Meridian, 2004
I ate 7 tacos for lunch, 2004. Make me tacos and I'll probably love you forever! yum!

Today's Quotes: (there are quite a lot today, hope you enjoy!)

Never explain--your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe you anyway.
Elbert Hubbard (1856 - 1915)

If all the rich people in the world divided up their money among themselves there wouldn't be enough to go around.
Christina Stead (1903 - 1983)

Paradise is exactly like where you are right now...only much, much better
Laurie Anderson

There is only one thing a philosopher can be relied upon to do, and that is to contradict other philosophers.
William James (1842 - 1910)

People are more violently opposed to fur than leather because it's safer to harass rich women than motorcycle gangs.
Unknown

Half of the American people have never read a newspaper. Half never voted for President. One hopes it is the same half.
Gore Vidal (1925 - )

There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full.
Henry Kissinger (1923 - )

Rogues are preferable to imbeciles because they sometimes take a rest.
Alexandre Dumas (1802 - 1870)

Why are we surprised when politicians play politics? It's not like they are supposed to be real adults... they are, after all, politicians and don't have real jobs and aren't playing around with their money.
Max

A poet more than thirty years old is simply an overgrown child.
H. L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)

It is always easier to believe than to deny. Our minds are naturally affirmative.
John Burroughs (1837 - 1921)

Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell 'em, 'Certainly I can!' Then get busy and find out how to do it.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858 - 1919)

It has yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival value.
Arthur C. Clarke (1917 - )

I am returning this otherwise good typing paper to you because someone has printed gibberish all over it and put your name at the top.
An English Professor, Ohio University

If you are very valiant, it is a god, I think, who gave you this gift.
Homer (800 BC - 700 BC)

When truth is nothing but the truth, its unnatural, it's an abstraction that resembles nothing in the real world. In nature there are always so many other irrelevant things mixed up with the essential truth.
Aldous Huxley (1894 - 1963)

Wake up and smell the catfood.
They Might Be Giants (who - knows)

Thats about all I have for today. Email me lots. i have only gotten about 7 emails since saturday, and the key to my creative inspiration is talking to lots of people. so dont be selfish, its not just me you're hurting, its everyone who gets my emails. and now its also hurting all the people who visit my website. also, if you make me tacos, I'll probably get some of that creative spark back. I feel so tired and dead since I've gotten home. The good idea particles aren't hitting the right nodes in my brain anymore. I miss the Cannon Center open access lab. Also, I left a bunch of pictures there that I had downloaded, and so now they are all lost unless I go there and save them, but I dont think that would be very efficient without cd burning capabilities. Have you any idea how many floppy diskettes I would have to go through to try and keep all my (60ish) pictures? It would be madness. And I emailed the office of IT and they said they cant send me my files and theres no way to access them from home (go figure!) so I think I'll just do without. Farewell, my friends.

Slán agus beannacht, Brian

Previous Posts

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