pencil, n. [pen-suhl, pěn-səl]
-The story behind modern English pencil begins with Latin penis 'tail.' The diminutive form of this was peniculus 'brush,' which came to have its own diminutive form penicillus 'paintbrush, pencil,' literally 'very little tail.' Penicillus was a variant of Vulgar Latin penicellus with the same definition. It is from this word that Old French pincel, peincel 'paintbrush' was derived. By 1325 CE, Middle English had borrowed the French word and created pinsel 'artist's paintbrush.' Approximately 60 years later, the spelling and pronunciation had changed to pencel. Until 1612 CE, there is no written record of pencil being used to describe a 'writing implement made of graphite,' though we do find pencil case for carrying such tools recorded in 1552 CE.

Hi all,
I have an extra May 2008 Adult's TTC metropass on my hands. I can meet anywhere along the subway line. Asking price: $50 or your best offer! If you're interested, please drop me an email at: lilea_c@hotmail.com
Thanks! :)

I meant to get back on LJ yesterday, post my podcast episode link, etc. Then I ended up with a migraine that landed me in bed for about 18 hours. Spent maybe 20 minutes at the office yesterday before going home, and just barely made it before it would have been unbearable to drive out there in the sunlight.

At work now. Feeling some better, though still not a fan of loud noises.

Hope you're all doing well. It may be time to consider formally downsizing my presence here, since I'm spending a lot less time in these parts than in times past.

In case anyone's interested, we were mini-featured (about a paragraph) in O Canada, Where Have Your Bargains Gone? by Matt Gross, an episode of the Frugal Traveler. The article also has some tips on other things to do in the neighbourhood, in case anyone's planning an outing down here and needs a few more things on their dance card.

If anyone has any experience herding sparrows in the direction of a door, I would be much obliged.

(GAH!)

robot, n. [roh-bot, rō-bŏt]
-A rather modern word for this community, robot comes from the Czech play 'R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots),' written in 1920 by dramatist Karel Capek (though his brother, Josef, actually came up with the word a few years earlier and used it in a short story.) Capek created the term robot to describe 'mechanical people constructed to do menial tasks.' It was fashioned from Czech robota 'forced labor, drudgery,' which comes from an Old Czech source similar to Old Church Slavonic rabota 'servitude,' from Old Slavic rabu 'slave.' (From this stem was also created related to Old High German arabeit and German Arbeit 'work.') Robot was brought into English via German and was first recorded in an English written text in 1923.

Hello,

When graduating with a Masters at U of T, is there such thing as graduating with 'distinction' or is that only for the undergrad degree programs?


Thanks,

i need to open a bank account, preferably one with branches and atms conveniently located near the St. George campus / downtown. which bank have you had good experience with? are there any that offer free checking or checking accounts specifically for students? which banks are inexpensive / have low fees?

my transfer brochure lists the following, but i'm unfamiliar with all them!:
-TD Canada Trust
-The Bank of Nova Scotia
-The Royal Bank of Canada
-The CIBC
-The Bank of Montreal

thanks a bunch!!

We'll be closed this coming Monday, May 19th, but we'll be open Saturday and Sunday for all your long-weekend reading needs. And check out all the new books!

Mass Markets
Reaper's Gale, Steven Erikson
Hilldiggers, Neal Asher
One Jump Ahead, Mark L. Van Name
Grantville Gazette III, Eric Flint, ed.
Green Glass Sea, Ellen Klages
Spirit Stone, Katherine Kerr
Omega Sol, Scott MacKay
Cruel Zinc Melodies, Glen Cook
Grimspace, Ann Aguirre
Front Line, Denise Little, ed.
Mainspring, Jay Lake
Kushiel's Justice, Jacqueline Carey
Winterbirth, Brian Ruckley
Kop, Warren Hammond
Warlord, Jennifer Fallon,
Last Wish Andrzej Sapkowski

Trade Paperbacks
House of Suns, Alastair Reynolds
Prefect, Alastair Reynolds
Goddess, Fiona McIntosh
Ninth Circle, Alex Bell
Digital Plague, Jeff Somers
Mirrored Heavens, David J. Williams
Wanderer's Tale, David Billsborough
Cosmos Incorporated, Maurice G. Dantec
Requiem: Tribute To Heinlein, Yoji Kondo, ed.
Identity Theft, Robert J. Sawyer
Jamestown, Matthew Sharpe
Rant, Chuck Palahniuk

Hardcovers
In Milton Lumky Territory, Philip K. Dick
Immortal Prince, Jennifer Fallon
Null-A Continuum, John C. Wright
Edge Of Reason, Melinda Snodgrass
Snuff, Chuck Palahniuk
Wolfman, Nicholas Pekearo
Sharing Knife: Passage, Lois McMaster Bujold
Little Brother, Cory Doctorow
Small Favor, Jim Butcher
Year of Disappearances, Susan Hubbard
Host, Stephenie Meyer
Storm, Carrie Mac
From Dead to Worse, Charlaine Harris

Dear Stuttering Craig.

I love you like an astrainged brother who likes to play video games with me on his days off from trying to score with college chicks and beating on the lab computers because they don't work anymore. Your Screwattack.com site has given me something to look forward to almost every freaking day and gives me something to amuse myself when I get board with trying to figure out how badly Linux sucks for people who just wanna use a GUI because GUI's actually work. I know you and Tom had an argument and I'm sorry you two had to split up over it, I've dealt with this kind of problem many times in my real life, it sucks ass, I know.

It's the way you handled it that kinda makes people want to side more with Tom, Mickey, and Liz. I mean I understand you and Tom washed your hands of eachother and don't wanna do anything together anymore, but you've done so assey things reguarding Tom on Screwattack. Like deleting threads that talk about Tom's new site, The Game Heroes, people talking about the site I work for, Healing Touch, and it's somewhat quintasential relationship with Tom and TGH, and just for wishing Tom good luck on SA.

I understand the two of you split up your already awesome partnership in the holy name of "business" but playing this game of "Who got who in the ass in the parlor room with a lead pipe" and "no no talking about that jerk anymore or else you're banned" isn't an impressive way to deal with it.

I'm still one of SA's number one fans and one of TGH's number one fans and wish both of you some good times head but you being so insecure with "Tom related" issues is just immature and lame. Please stop or me and a possible legion of fans will leave your fanbase. You're lucky you still have the Angry Video Game Nerd or else I'd never come to SA again now.

Thank you for looking at this, and good night:

Joel Holmes
aka
The Bastard Gamer

so im thinking now is the time to look up work-study opportunities.

can someone direct me to a website which lists them?

thanks!

here

note product placement on skateboard

You know what's a really delicious meal to make real quick? Hotdogs boiled in water for about ten minutes. I like them better that way, beats eating them grilled.

I recently bought a beautifully illustrated 'Peter Pan' book. Hopefully it will help me figure out my peter pan tattoo design. I took a few photos of some of the illustrations to share with you since they are too beautiful not to share. Artwork is by scott gustafson.

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... for an extended long weekend. Be back on Wednesday-ish. Have fun!