I'm ba--ack!

Now that the semester has started I am going to try to get back into the groove of posting to this blog again! This ought to be an interesting semester...

For my Information Policy class I actually got to view a flick (nice, eh). The movie, "Good night, and good luck" was about Edward Murrow's valient exposure of Joseph McCarthy as an out of control witch hunter. I couldn't help but recognize certain parallels to this time period and what is currently happening today. It would seem that politicians have a dangerous amount of power when it comes to Information Policy. Issues of national security can permit politicians to withhold or classify information as secret. In this way, people can be denied rights to a fair trail and the public can be denied the right to know the motivations underlying government actions. It is definitely a tricky situation. Obviously, there are times when information is highly sensitive; but how can the public and the reporters of the news assess when information is being hidden for malevolent purposes? How often is information withheld for inappropriate purposes or hidden government agendas unpalatable to the public? Ultimately, is the classification of information ever really safe in regard to a democraticly founded republic? Big questions, eh?

Of course, another angle to consider is the power of the purse as related to the reporting of information. When the media is owned and funded by big money that holds definite interests in the news that is released, is it possible to ever really receive an objective, unadulterated news report? Furthermore, currently there is a battle in Congress concerning Internet neutrality. If Internet neutrality is vanquished, than the final frontier of intellectual freedom will suffer irreversible damage and consequences. No longer will the voices and opinions of many be served up on an equal playing field.

If you get a chance, watch the movie. Think about the world of information today. What do you think is going on?

Nifty Words

Okay, I love words and porte-manteaus are definitely a lot of fun; so when my friend e-mailed me these I just had to pass them along! Enjoy!

Here is the Washington Post's Mensa Invitational which once again asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding,
subtracting, or changing one letter -- and supply a new definition. The 2005 winners are:

1. Cashtration (n.): the act of buying or building a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.

2. Ignoranus (n.): a person who's both stupid and an asshole.

3. Intaxication (n.): euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize that it was your money to start with.

4. Reintarnation (n.): coming back to life as a hillbilly.

5. Bozone (n.): the substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.

6. Foreploy (n.): any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.

7. Giraffiti (n.): vandalism spray-painted very, very high.

8. Sarchasm (n.): the gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.

9. Inoculatte (v.): to take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

10. Hipatitis (n.): terminal coolness.

11. Osteopornosis (n.): a degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)

12. Karmageddon (n.): It's when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, and then the Earth explodes and it's a serious
bummer.

13. Decafalon (n.): the grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.

14. Glibido (n.): all talk and no action.

15. Dopeler effect (n.): the tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

16. Arachnoleptic fit (n.): the frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.

17. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

18. Caterpallor (n.): the color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you're eating.

AND...

The Washington Post has also published the winning submissions to its yearly contest in which readers are asked to supply alternate
meanings for common words. And the winners are...

1. Coffee: the person upon whom one coughs.

2. Flabbergasted: appalled to discover how much weight one has gained.

3. Abdicate: to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.

4. Esplanade: to attempt to explain while drunk.

5. Willy-nilly: impotent.

6. Negligent: absentmindedly answering the door when wearing only a nightgown.

7. Lymph: to walk with a lisp.

8. Gargoyle: olive-flavored mouthwash.

9. Flatulence: emergency vehicle that picks up someone who has been run over by a steamroller.

10. Balderdash: a rapidly receding hairline.

11. Testicle: a humorous question on an exam.

12. Rectitude: the formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.

13. Pokemon: a Rastafarian proctologist.

14. Oyster: a person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddishisms.

15.Frisbeetarianism: the belief that after death, the soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there.

16. Circumvent: an opening in the front of boxer shorts worn by Jewish men.