URLs du Jour

2008-01-02

  • Ladies and Gentlemen, here is the Lake Superior State University 2008 List of Banished Words: words (and actually phrases too) that have outlived their usefulness. Example, with comments:
    RANDOM — Popular with teenagers in many places.

    "Over-used and usually out of context, i.e. 'You are so random!' Really? Random is supposed to mean 'by chance.' So what I said was by chance, and not by choice?" — Gabriel Brandel, Farmington Hills, Michigan.

    "Outrageous mis- and overuse, mostly by teenagers, i.e. 'This random guy, singing this random song … It was so random.' Grrrrr." — Leigh, Duncan, Galway, Ireland.

    "Overuse on a massive scale by my fellow youth. Every event, activity and person can be 'sooo random' as of late. Banish it before I go vigilante." — Ben Martin, Adelaide, South Australia.

    "How can a person be random?" — Emma Halpin, Liverpool, Merseyside, United Kingdom.

    Actually, I remember "random" being used, and overused, back in my college days. As in: "A random B&G [Buildings and Grounds] troll [employee] was outside my window with a lawnmower at 7am! Bogus! [Unfortunate!]"

    That was over 35 years ago. Nice to see it caught on.

    We were also heavy abusers of the word "dude" back then, also mainstreamed since.

  • Winston Churchill once said: "A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject." The Edge Foundation gathered together the responses of a whole bunch of non-fanatics to the question: What have you changed your mind about?

    It's a rich source for browsers of Big Thoughts, but my favorite (so far) is from that old hippie, Stewart Brand: Good Old Stuff Sucks.

    What have I changed my mind about? Ummmm… I'll get back to you on that.

  • Need a reason to live? Check out the upcoming movies of 2008. Batman, Indiana Jones, Iron Man, James Bond, Rambo, Wall-E. And on Christmas Day, 2008: James T. Kirk.

    There might be stuff for more adult tastes as well.


Last Modified 2012-10-15 11:05 AM EDT