The Washington Post’s Style Invitational asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition. Here are some winners:
- Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.
- Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.
- 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.
- Foreploy: Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.
- Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period.
- Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.
- Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn’t get it.
- Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.
- Hipatitis: Terminal coolness.
- Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)
- Karmageddon: It’s like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it’s like a serious bummer.
- Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.
- Glibido: All talk and no action.
- Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.
- Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you’ve accidentally walked through a spider web.
- Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.
- Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a grub in the fruit you’re eating.
And the pick of the literature:
18. Ignoranus: A person who’s both stupid and an asshole.
I pick number 18 for this. Pot, meet kettle:
Unlike the U.S. lo these five years past:
Freedom’s just another word for “sell more guns”.
I wish it were hard to believe this is even a real discussio in the US: NYT
Yep.
I hate to point this out, but the Dems have a pretty good track record for sitting down. Again and again. And Bush already steamrolled McCain’s torture amendment before; I’m sure he’ll do it again, and McCain can again say he was against torture before he voted for it.
It’s a big question whether Bush could get away with another signing statement on this one. The Supremes have already weighed in on this question. That’s why Bush is pushing this on so many fronts… his own legal status (and that of all his evil minions) is in grave danger if they don’t pass legislation that gives full blessing to trashing the Geneva conventions and legalizing torture.
I don’t know how much the Dems will scream, but they’ve found their voice more so lately, so I’m going to remain hopeful. The way I see it, we’re in a race now. The Bushies have to sew up their totalitarian vision for the US in legalizing their strongarm tactics before their whole empire comes apart at the seams. That process has begun, I believe. The question is, will the Dems be ready to deal with the desperation tactics? The Specter legislation legalizing the illegal wiretapping, data mining and domestic spying forever has gotten out of committee. How will we fight against them stealing more elections? Now is the time to pull out all the stops and go for GOP jugular.
FT Financial Times, UK has McCain stands his ground against Bush
Mawaaaaaaaha. wanna bet people are comparing. The truth hurts.
Will someone please give this cry baby a plain old fashioned pacifer. Too much in my face of late. Running scared of an impeachment.
wants to take away your Youtube: ArsTechnica
No:18. There is a place in D.C. where you can find those by the dozens but, in 58 days things could freshen.
Pew Research Center finds Democrats with solid lead.
Edward Lazarus at Findlaw writes one unaccounted casualty of 9/11 is the truth.
Liberty, Security and Government accountability
Words, words. Change the meaning of words.
‘Alternative’ CIA tactics complicate Padilla case
Is this why the Afghan campaign is not going well?
Friend and ally, Pakistan frees thousands of Taliban fighters from jail.
I like auctions and item Tony Blair is up with no bid over a penny.
Going, going. Just itching to spell out the 3rd G.
Geoff Hoon: “Blair may not hang on.”
I’m hoping that those DC folks are victims of their own karmageddon.
Nice news roundup. I love how “alternative CIA tactics” = “torture” these days. It’s so, um, sanitized.
Thanks to you CC for your efforts and comaderie.
oops. CG, Apologise for tiny typo. didn’t have that 2nd cuppa.
Has anyone picked up on the Huffpost item citing a Forbes article with a 09/12 date heading:
“Lawyer Says Rove a Targeted Client”
Huffpost link turns up a blank page with the header. Is article scrubbed? A joker?
I had no trouble following your link to the Forbes story. No joke, but it should read “Lawyer Says Rove Targeted Client”, which changes everything. Apparently there’s a guy in Florida who was arrested for fraud who spammed the president’s website. He accuses Rove of initiating the legal proceedings against him and Rove says “Who, little old me?” Sounds like just another Rovian sideshow.
Thanks Nag.
That explains it. Would think if true this item would have brought down the Net. Left me puzzled.
The first link from Huffpost was to a Forbes link with that header ‘lawyer says Rove a targeted client’ and a scrubbed clean blank page.
After your reply I went over, checked at Huffpost they’ve corrected their post which now links to CBS…”Man accused of fraud blames Karl Rove.”
It must be Friday.
This isn’t exactly a news story but I received this email from Women for Women International this morning and I thought it was worth sharing such good news for this excellent organization (which I encourage everyone to support).
That is great news!
Of course it’s news! And good news at that.
Marmots love to frolic on the beach… is not news. (Not according to a picture I once saw… and pictures don’t lie)
Link
THERE ARE NO MORE TROOPS TO SEND TO IRAQ.
Earlier this week, in a Washington Post op-ed, William Kristol and Rich Lowry called on the Bush administration to send more troops to Iraq.[snip]
The only problem with Kristol and Lowry’s recommendation is that it is premised on an illusion: In fact, there are no more troops to send to Iraq.
That is the unmistakable message of an Army briefing making the rounds in Washington. According to in-house assessments, fully two-thirds of the Army’s operating force, both active and reserve, is now reporting in as “unready”–that is, they lack the equipment, people, or training they need to execute their assigned missions. Not a single one of the Army’s Brigade Combat Teams–its core fighting units–currently in the United States is ready to deploy. In short, the Army has no strategic reserve to speak of. The other key U.S. fighting force in Iraq, the Marine Corps, is also hurting, with much of its equipment badly in need of repair or replacement.
Why isn’t this broken army of Rummy and Bush’s making not discussed in conjunction with the war on terror? Bush has made us safer by allowing a twit to remain as Secretary of Defense and ruin the strongest army on earth? If a crisis were to arise this afternoon, we’d HAVE NO ARMY TO DEAL WITH IT. Why is it so difficult for Dems to break through on this outrageous piece of information? I can’t decide whether this falls under number 3, 13, or 18… maybe all three. (CG, I LOVE that list.)
Billmon has the new version of Be All You Can Be; citing the “Pentagon’s 12 step program to create a Military of Misfits”
According to in-house assessments, fully two-thirds of the Army’s operating force, both active and reserve, is now reporting in as “unready”–that is, they lack the equipment, people, or training they need to execute their assigned missions.
*This may be the real reason why we haven’t seen a draft yet – with no equipment, drafting kids to the front would indeed be a crusade – the Children’s Crusade, like lambs to slaughter…
You know, Larry’s front paged piece this morning brought it into focus for me. Bush has insisted that terror threats should be treated militarily, yet he has allowed Rumsfeld to push our military to the breaking point. How difficult would it be for media to connect THOSE dots? Seen in that light, it blows away the GOP contention that they are better equipped to deal with terror threats.
Using a network of small, automated telescopes known as HAT, astronomers have discovered a “puffy” planet so low in density it could float in water. This new planet, designated HAT-P-1, orbits one member of a pair of distant sun-like stars 450 light-years away, and may indicate a new class of planets not accounted for by current theories of planet formation.
Researchers at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology have succeeded in unraveling the genetic basis of two rare congenital diseases in which afflicted persons have no fingerprints. They found that both conditions – Naegeli syndrome and dermatopathia pigmentosa reticularis (DPR) – are caused by a specific defect in the protein known as keratin 14. The defect induces the body to mark cells in the upper layers of the skin for death. As a result, people with these afflictions lack fingerprints, as well as the ability to perspire normally. They also suffer from thickening of the palms and soles and may have developmental anomalies of the teeth, hair and skin.
A federal court in Trenton, N.J., is sentencing a group of animal rights activists for their part in a Web-based campaign of violence and intimidation against a company that conducts medical experiments on animals.
This story will make Mrs. K.P., a veterinarian, happy: Being licked and touched by dogs and cats can protect their young owners against common stomach bugs, according to new research. Scientists found that incidences of gastroenteritis – commonly called stomach flu – were significantly lower in young children living in homes with pets, than those living without. Previous studies have shown that people who keep pets suffer fewer health problems, such as heart disease and depression.
The detonation of a suitcase-sized nuclear bomb by a terrorist would expose people to various types of radioactive elements. Currently, there are no effective methods to sequester and remove radionuclides from humans in the event of such an incident. But DOE scientists are investigating a unique approach based on a readily available natural material — chitosan — a natural and safe material (made from powdered crustacean exoskeletons) found to be an effective chelator (“molecular claw”) to trap a wide range of nuclides. Chitosan materials can be chemically modified to enhance their affinity to particular radionuclides. [Chitosan has been used for decades to remove heavy metals in water and wastewater treatment – K.P.]
Most Americans prefer white meat over dark meat when eating poultry (the opposite is true in Russia, incidentally), but a new research report says we may soon be clucking for the black meat – its health effects have been legendary in China for a millenium.
Another day, another example of how the US doesn’t play by the rules or get along well with others… The United States has stockpiled millions of pounds of methyl bromide, a toxic pesticide that depletes the ozone layer, according to newly public documents — information that could create a stir during international negotiations next month, when the Bush administration seeks permission to produce more. Methyl bromide has been banned for almost two years under the United Nations’ Montreal Protocol. Under that pact — designed to stop the thinning of the ozone layer, which shields the planet from harmful ultraviolet radiation — the United States is granted annual exemptions to use the chemical at farms that grow California strawberries, Florida tomatoes and other crops deemed “critical.” The sole US producer of the chemical, Chemtura Corp. of Middlebury, CT, said maintaining at least a year’s reserve was critical for agriculture in case “there were a catastrophic interruption in supply or some sort of pest infestation that was unanticipated.”
A two-pronged approach to stabilizing climate, with cuts in greenhouse gas emissions as well as injections of climate-cooling sulfates, could prove more effective than either approach used separately. This is the finding of a new study by Tom Wigley of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), published in the September 14 issue of Science. Wigley calculates the impact of injecting sulfate particles, or aerosols, every one to four years into the stratosphere in amounts equal to those lofted by the volcanic eruption of Mt. Pintabuto in 1991. More here.
…But before this is implemented, someone better factor in the effects of submicron particulates in reducing rainfall, which threatens to leave California parched.
About 40 countries began a meeting in Switzerland on Thursday to discuss bringing developing nations on board emissions curbs and international measures to control climate change. At least 17 developing nations, including major emerging economies China, Indonesia, South Korea, South Africa, and Brazil, were taking part in the two-day informal meeting behind closed doors on the outskirts of Zurich, the Swiss environment ministry said.
Clean energy update: The US DOE is quitting the hydropower and geothermal power research business – if Congress will let it. “Zeroing out” such research could end up being penny-wise and pound-foolish, clean energy advocates say…
And so far, tidal energy – which relies on the rise-and-fall of tides – appears to be garnering more interest than wave energy, which exploits the waves’ rise-and-fall.
…“Small is Beautiful” thinking may be making a comeback for renewable power generation…
Link
FCC draft suggested fewer owners would hurt local TV coverage.
Washington – The Federal Communications Commission ordered its staff to destroy all copies of a draft study that suggested greater concentration of media ownership would hurt local TV news coverage, a former lawyer at the agency says.
The report, written in 2004, came to light during the Senate confirmation hearing for FCC Chairman Kevin Martin.
Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. received a copy of the report “indirectly from someone within the FCC who believed the information should be made public,” according to Boxer spokeswoman Natalie Ravitz.[snip]
“Every Last Piece” Destroyed
Adam Candeub, now a law professor at Michigan State University, said senior managers at the agency ordered that “every last piece” of the report be destroyed. “The whole project was just stopped – end of discussion,” he said. Candeub was a lawyer in the FCC’s Media Bureau at the time the report was written and communicated frequently with its authors, he said.
This story is easy to miss in all the hoopla of Bush scrambling to cover his ass legally on torture. Everything Bush has ever touched is either corrupted or in varying stages of rot.