Quote du Jour

The great question which, in all ages, has disturbed mankind and brought on them the greatest part of their mischiefs, which has ruined cities, depopulated countries and disordered the peace of the world, has been, not whether be power in the world, nor whence it came, but who should have it.

— John Locke (1632-1704), English philosopher

Quote du Jour

War, which is simply the subjection of all life and property to one momentary aim, is morally vastly superior to the more violent egoism of the individual; it develops power in the service of a supreme general idea and under a discipline which nevertheless permits supreme heroic virtue to unfold. Indeed, war alone grants to mankind the magnificent spectacle of a general submission to a general aim.

— Jakob Christoph Burckhardt (1818-1897) Swiss historian

Campaign Changelings Need to Change the ‘Change’ Message


Change Management theory for a perfect world

change vt., to put or take (a thing) in place of something else; substitute for, replace with or transfer to another of a similar kind (to change one’s clothes, to change jobs)

Barak Obama started it by saying he had the audacity to do it. Hillary Clinton says she’s been doing it for 30 years already, and John Edwards says he’s the only one who knows the best way to do it to benefit the average Joe. But when Mitt Romney started saying it, you knew it was just over for change. Poor change is now the most over-used and most meaningless word in the campaign for the presidency.

It’s just the word du jour, the phrase o’ the moment, an iota for Iowa, a mantra for Manchester.

The problem with change is, it’s inevitable. Short of a quickie constitutional amendment orchestrated by Karl Rove, the Worst President Ever will leave office next January, leaving a slime trail of abuse, arrogance and excess in his wake. And whether (heaven forfend!) a Republican or (praise Jesus!) a Democrat swears on the Bible to uphold what’s left of the Constitution, there will be some kind of change.

So what do the candidates mean by change? Nothing. It’s just the word du jour, the phrase o’ the moment, an iota for Iowa, a mantra for Manchester. It plays on the campaign trail because the news scribblers and talking heads dutifully repeat it every time it’s said, the crowds clap for it and the candidates can all pronounce it.

But it doesn’t mean anything. Come next January, not much will have changed, except more soldiers will have died in Iraq and Afghanistan, the economy will probably suck even worse than it does now, the housing crisis will be worse still and Britney Spears or her sister still will probably be making headlines.

Fast forward to 2010, and there’s a slim chance that we will be in the process of withdrawing our troops from Iraq, the economy will likely still suck and the United States will still be on the bottom of the world’s popularity list, no matter who gets elected.

My point here is that the change meme is so over before it even starts that if the candidates continue to hammer on it, we should all just boycott the election and let Dennis Kucinich win by default. Now that would herald some real change.

There’s This Newfangled Concept That Might Be Coming to Florida Schools — “Evolution”

There’s a debate going on in Florida right now about the terminology that should be used in teaching public school science courses, specifically biology. I guess I wasn’t paying close enough attention because somewhere along the line, the word evolution was banned from Florida public school science curricula.

It was replaced with, and I am not making this up — ”biological changes over time.” Hmm, sounds kind of like the same thing, only longer, and dumber.

The reason it’s being discussed now is that somebody somewhere noticed that Florida’s public schools are turning out the next generation of idiots because the standards of science taught in our public schools are abysmal, mainly because Bible-thumpers have dumbed the curriculum down to the level of the Good Book.

The state board of education is weighing the matter, taking public comment and is slated to vote on whether Florida continues to be a laughingstock among educators or if the state can actually biologically change over time into a post-Scopes trial, reasoning beast.

As a native Floridian educated in its schools and a long-time resident of the state, I’m thinking it’s just as God made it, and chances are slim to nil that it will evolve into the 21st century.

Quote du Jour

It has been said that the greatest praise of God lies in the negation of the atheist, who considers creation sufficiently perfect to dispense with a creator.

— Marcel Proust (1871-1922) French novelist

At the End of the Day, Throw Me Under the Bus

Since 1975, Lake Superior State University has published a list of misused and overused words and phrases, nominated by people like us who have an intimate and meaningful relationship with the English language — we use it to communicate.

The list began this year by returning truthiness — coined by Stephen Colbert — to the list of approved words. Seems there just is no substitute for it in the lingua franca.

Here’s this year’s list. For explanations about why they nominated them from those who nominated the words, go here.

Perfect storm
Webinar
Waterboarding
Organic
Wordsmith/wordsmithing
Author/authored
Post 9/11
Surge
Give back
Blank is the new blank or X is the new Y
Black Friday
Back in the day
Random
Sweet
Decimate
Emotional
Pop
It is what it is
Under the bus

To which we would add:

At the end of the day — meant to be a kind of summation, but mainly used as a place-holder when someone has nothing better or more intelligent to say
Drill down — used in marketing speak to mean to get down to the nugget of whatever it is that’s currently under consideration
Blogoshpere — just a stupid-sounding word
Social media — is there any other kind?
Web 2.0 or anything 2.0 — duh
Lassitude — a perfectly fine word that no one uses

Do you have some words or phrases that just grate on your ear like fingernails on a blackboard? Let us know. Leave a comment.

The Place Where Bad Gifts Go

bad giftsHaving just wrapped up the gift-wrap season, it is perhaps an appropriate time to reflect on the practice of giving and getting matter. Even more appropriate, however, would be to visit the Bad Gift Emporium.

There you will find a gallery of really terrible gifts, from the poor schmuck whose parents brought him hotel amenities from their trip to the Bahamas, to the guy whose neighbor gave him a jar of homemade pickled hot dogs. The gifts portrayed at the Emporium run the gamut, from the thoughtless to the tasteless to the clueless.

Many of them are available for trade or purchase, depending on the degree of attachment the owner feels for the stuff. And you can submit your own crappy gifts, though we suspect that nothing you got for Xmas compares with the guy whose Uncle Tim gave him a jar of pickled turkey gizzards.

Enjoy!