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Wednesday, October 30th, 2002
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1:08 am - hot & lit
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| Tuesday, October 29th, 2002
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6:40 pm - word
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tetralogy \teh-TRAH-luh-jee or teh-TRAL-uh-jee\ (noun)
1 : a group of four dramatic pieces presented consecutively on the Attic stage at the Dionysiac festival
*2 : a series of four connected works (as operas or novels)
Example sentence:
_The Raj Quartet_, Paul Scott's long and complex tetralogy of India, was made into a highly praised television series.
Did you know?
The original tetralogies were sets of four plays (three tragedies and a comedy) performed serially on the Athenian stages of ancient Greece. These sets of plays were similar to the "trilogy," a group of three serial Greek tragedies. The
word "tetralogy" is formed by combining the Greek prefix "tetra-," meaning "four," and the suffix "-logia," which in turn comes from "logos," meaning "word." Other "tetra-" words include "tetrahedron" (a solid shape formed by four flat faces)
and "tetrapod" (a vertebrate with two pairs of limbs).
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
current music: DK
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| Sunday, October 27th, 2002
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12:24 am - *word*
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artless \ART-less\ (adjective)
1 : lacking art, knowledge, or skill : uncultured
2 a : made without skill : crude
b : free from artificiality : natural
*3 : free from guile or craft : sincerely simple
Example sentence:
I wasn't offended when Sonia told me, in her artless way, that my outfit was unbecoming; rather, I appreciated her honesty.
Did you know?
"Artless," "ingenuous," and "naive" all refer to freedom from pretension or calculation, but there are subtle differences in their uses. "Ingenuous" implies an inability to disguise or conceal one's feelings, while "naive" suggests a credulous lack of worldly wisdom. "Artless" generally indicates an utter naturalness, one in which a person is innocent of the effect of his or her speech or behavior on others.
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
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| Saturday, October 26th, 2002
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3:53 pm - word
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kakistocracy \kak-uh-STAH-kruh-see\ (noun)
: government by the worst people
Example sentence:
The free election won't guarantee an end to kakistocracy,
because none of the candidates have any more integrity than the
corrupt dictator currently in power.
Did you know?
A reader of _Time_ magazine was once so surprised to find
this rare and unusual word in the pages of that publication
that he decided the occasion warranted a letter to the editor.
"Where in the name of Semanticus, did your writer come up with
that word 'kakistocracy,'" he wrote in a letter dated February
6, 1956. "Is it a government of parrots?" (A "kaka" is a New
Zealand parrot.) Good guess, but "kakistocracy" actually
originated as a combination of the Greek "kakistos" (superlative
of "kakos," which means "bad") and the English suffix "-cracy,"
meaning "form of government."
NOTE:
Today's Word of the Day is taken from _Webster's Third New
International Dictionary, Unabridged_. You can find this word
and many other uncommon words on our new site. Merriam-Webster
Unabridged: http://www.Merriam-WebsterUnabridged.com
Sign up now for your 14-day free trial!
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| Friday, October 25th, 2002
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5:44 pm
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2:07 pm - word of the day
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vatic \VAT-ik\ (adjective)
: prophetic, oracular
Example sentence:
Andy's years of experience bird-watching have given him a vatic ability to name the precise day each bird will appear in the spring.
Did you know?
Some people say only thin lines separate poetry, prophecy, and madness. We don't know if that's generally true, but it is in the case of "vatic." The adjective derives directly from the Latin word "vates," meaning "seer" or "prophet." But that Latin root is in turn distantly related to an Old English word for "poetry," an Old High German word for "madness," and an Old Irish word for "seer" or "poet."
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Garfield defines Halloween as "an excuse to eat candy until you
explode." Check out the Merriam-Webster and Garfield Dictionary.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/book/diction/garfield.htm
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| Thursday, October 24th, 2002
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2:17 pm - a favorite picture
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1:26 pm - Word of the Day
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louche
LOOSH ("OO" as in "food")
(adjective) : not reputable or decent
Example sentence:
Her novels are populated by louche characters wasting their days in seedy bars and brothels.
Did you know?
"Louche" ultimately comes from the Latin "luscus," meaning "blind in one eye" or "one-eyed." This Latin term gave rise to the French "louche," meaning "squinting, cross-eyed" or "shady, devious." English speakers borrowed the term in the 19th century, using it to describe both people and places of questionable repute.
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12:59 pm - random information
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Click here for an exhaustive, cross-referenced list of every musician who has ever recorded on Dischord Records, as of last year.
Yes, more useless information to occupy space in your brain; the site it's on is cool, though.
current mood: awake
current music: the hum of the hard drive spinning
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| Monday, October 21st, 2002
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5:01 am
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4:22 am
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| Sunday, October 20th, 2002
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7:06 pm - hmm
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having officially decided that life is not an utter waste of time, i have come to terms with the fact that there may be no point, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be enjoyed while it lasts. on that note, i have started attempting to enter the land of the living again. a rather painful process if you ask me.
i've started drawing again, albeit with wighlt limitted supplies, as i'm basically broke; but then that's when some of the most interesting stuff comes out. lots of simple, organic shapes in pen, with some blobs of bright color and/or collage thrown in for good measure. still not sure if i like any of it, but then since when has that mattered? i can't seem to find any of my paint brushes, which is particulary annoying since i have found my paints and even some canvases. gr.
at any rate, it looks like i'll be heading up to vermont this week to visit sascha and matt. hopefully i'll be able to get some new ink, as matt is apprenticing at a friend's new tattoo shop in holyoke. if nothing else, i'll be able to get the hell away from this awful city for a few days. i'm so fucking sick of massachusetts, and this country. i've started the process of applying for a residency visa in new zealand, so with any luck and a hunk of cash i'll be away from this wretched country in about a year. doesn't seem nearly soon enough, but i suppose a bit of patience is in order. don't know how/if i'll be able to bring my snakes with me - i understand if i bring them, they'll have to sit in quarantine for something obscene like 6 months; i don't know if i can bear for that to happen. but then the alternative is giving them away...
well, another slow week has come and gone. i really need to do something with my time, other than researching grad schools and airfares to nz. i need more paper to draw on. anyone out there work at pearl or charette or the like, and want to get me some nice paper with their discount? i didn't think so. oh well.
current mood:  bored
current music: husker du
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| Tuesday, May 21st, 2002
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9:19 pm - p.s.
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also, don't forget, as previously mentioned in this journal - today's the day:
the new NOFX double-CD coming out on May 21 called "45 Or 46 Songs That Weren't Good Enough To Go On Our Other Records"
i think the fact that it's on Fat Wreck Chords and not Epitaph or whatever crap-label they have a contract with speaks volumes that this may be some of their best shit in years. yay!
if anyone gets it let me know how it is....
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9:08 pm - Urge Congress to Protect Human Health by Ending Misuse of Vital Antibiotics in Factory Farms
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Take action against the dangerous overuse of antibiotics. Tell your Senator to support legislation that limits the feeding of important antibiotics to healthy livestock.
You can take action on this alert either via the web at:
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/abr4/iniw6u4278xdde
Spread the word about efforts to fight antibiotic resistance!
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/abr4/forward/iniw6u4278xdde
We encourage you to take action by June 20, 2002
Urge Congress to Protect Human Health by Ending Misuse
of Vital Antibiotics in Factory Farms
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Senator Kennedy has just introduced S. 2508, the PRESERVATION OF ANTIBIOTICS FOR HUMAN TREATMENT ACT. Urge your Senators to support this vital health legislation, which restricts the use of medically important antibiotics in animal agriculture.
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2508 would restrict the routine feeding of medically important antibiotics to healthy livestock and poultry. This overuse of antibiotics promotes the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, making antibiotics far less effective when needed to treat illness in humans. This threatens all Americans, but especially the most vulnerable - the very young, the very old, and those with already weakened immune systems. The National Academy of Sciences estimates that ending the routine use of medically important antibiotics in healthy farm animals would cost less than a dollar a week for a family of four.
The bill also phases out use of Cipro-like drugs (called fluoroquinolones) in treating sick poultry. The Food and Drug Administration proposed such a ban in 2000 based on data showing that such use undercuts the effectiveness of fluoroquinolones in treating certain types of severe food poisoning in humans.
current mood:  sad
current music: clatter in the kitchen and the real world in the other room
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(5 comments | comment on this)
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| Monday, May 20th, 2002
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1:07 pm - *word*
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The Word of the Day for May 19 (today's was a boring word) is:
edulcorate \ih-DUL-kuh-rayt\ (verb)
: to free from harshness (as of attitude) : soften
Example sentence:
Desperately in need of a loan, Martin used every trick he knew to cajole, flatter, and edulcorate his well-heeled but frugal Aunt Clara.
Did you know?
An old saying advises giving sweets to the sweet, but pragmatic types may feel it's better to use them to edulcorate the sour. "Edulcorate" has the ideal history for a "sweets-to-the-sour" term; it derives from the Latin root "dulcis," which means "sweet." It is often used in contexts that refer to sweetening up a sourpuss, either with something that is literally sweet (such as candy) or that is figuratively so (such as flattery). "Dulcis" is also the source for several terms related to soft, sweet music (such as "dulcet" and "dolce") and an instrument that produces it ("dulcimer").
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current mood: waiting
current music: cars passing by and roommates talking in the other room
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| Monday, May 13th, 2002
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1:40 am - *Word*
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The Word of the Day for May 13 is:
indagate \IN-duh-gayt\ (verb)
: to search into : investigate
Example sentence:
The defense attorneys requested an adjournment so that they could fully indagate the new evidence.
Did you know?
A close examination of "indagate" reveals that it's a rather uncommon word. If we delve into the past, we discover that it first appeared in an English dictionary in 1623. Probing further, we see that its synonym "investigate" was already a hundred years old at the time. Despite the fact that our search turns up the derivatives "indagation," "indagator," "indagatory," and "indagative," we see that none of these words was ever used as widely as "investigation," "investigator," "investigatory," and "investigative." If we hunt for the etymology of "indagate," we sniff out the Latin verb "indagare" ("to track"), which often referred, as did Latin "investigare," specifically to tracking done by hunting dogs.
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| Sunday, May 12th, 2002
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8:53 pm - *Word*
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The Word of the Day for May 12 is:
memento \muh-MEN-toh\ (noun)
: something that serves to warn or remind; also : souvenir
Example sentence:
The attic is filled with mementos of Julie's basketball career -- awards, newspaper clippings, team photographs, her old uniform.
Did you know?
"Memento" comes from the imperative form of "meminisse," a Latin verb that literally means "to remember." The word's history makes it clear where its spelling came from, but because a memento often helps one remember a particular moment, people occasionally spell the term "momento." That second version is usually considered a misspelling, but it appears often enough in edited prose to be considered acceptable for entry in _Webster's Third New International Dictionary_ and the _Oxford English Dictionary_.
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| Saturday, May 11th, 2002
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8:49 pm - *Word*
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The Word of the Day for May 11 is:
uxorial \uk-SOR-ee-ul or ug-ZOR-ee-ul\ (adjective)
: of, relating to, or characteristic of a wife
Example sentence:
Joe's idea of uxorial duties -- cooking, cleaning, planning parties, and balancing his checkbook -- didn't sit well with his co-workers.
Did you know?
The Latin word "uxor" means "wife." In addition to being the root of "uxorial," "uxor" also gave English the words "uxorious," which means "excessively fond of or submissive to a wife," and "uxoricide," which can mean either "murder of a wife by her husband" or "a wife murderer."
Do we have equivalent "husband" words? Well, sort of. "Maritus" means "husband" in Latin, so "marital" can mean "of or relating to a husband" (although "maritus" also means "married," and the "of or relating to marriage" sense of "marital" is far more common). And while "mariticide" is "spouse killing," it can also be specifically "husband-killing."
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| Friday, May 10th, 2002
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12:14 am - Word of the Day
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pachydermatous \pak-ih-DER-muh-tuss\ (adjective)
1 : of or relating to the pachyderms
2 a : thick, thickened *b : callous, insensitive
Example sentence:
"Cutler, the British officer, was pachydermatous to ideas,but punctilious about behaviour."
(G. K. Chesterton, _The
Wisdom of Father Brown_)
Did you know?
Elephants, rhinoceroses, hippopotamuses -- it was a Frenchzoologist named Georges Cuvier who in the late 1700s first called these and other thick-skinned, hoofed mammals "Pachydermata." The word, from Greek roots, means "thick-skinned" in New Latin (the Latin used in scientific description and classification). In the 19th century, we began calling such animals "pachyderms," and we also began using the adjective "pachydermatous" to refer, both literally and figuratively, to the characteristics and qualities of pachyderms -- especially their thick skin. American poet James Russell Lowell first employed "pachydermatous" with the figurative "thick-skinned" sense in the mid-1800s: "A man cannot have a sensuous nature and be pachydermatous at the same time."
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
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| Thursday, May 9th, 2002
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11:56 pm - some Good Music news
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click here for an e-card about the new NOFX double-CD coming out on May 21 called "45 Or 46 Songs That Weren't Good Enough To Go On Our Other Records" Also, and I quote from the Fat Wreck Chords Newsletter: "No Use For A Name to play free show and shoot video! Their new record, "Hard Rock Bottom", comes out June 18th and according to the dude in charge (that'd be Fat Mike) it's the best stuff they've ever done. But here's the deal, they'll be playing a free show and filming a new video on May 18th at the Glass House in Pomona, Ca. The fun and festivities will start at 1 pm and they'll be giving out a ton free shit including CD singles, posters, doughnuts, hugs, shirts, etc. It's gonna be a party, bro. If you live in the L.A. area and plan to go, mail us at mailbag@fatwreck.com with subject heading "NUFAN VIDEO". That'd help, thanks." A good local hard emo-ish corish show to go to if you're local to me: sector nine eight is playing on friday may 30th at The Hideaway Pub in Cambridge, MA with Plastik, Muck In The Miers, and The Coffin Lids. It's $5, 18+ (i think), and the show starts around 9 or 10. The number to the club is 617.661.8828. And go to http://www.eindie.com to download good local nyc mp3s, check on their tour dates and order their CDs. It's my friend's site and he's got some great bands there....
current mood: awake
current music: eye of the beholder metallica
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