PROPS AND SUMS

I don't normally shill for other people, but I beg your indulgence, dear reader, for a couple of media moments over this past week have brought me great joy, have fostered a modicum of respect for the media itself -- or at least a couple of its practitioners.

First up is Keith Olbermann. For this rant I must give unto him mad props. Partially for the content; it is a righteous demand for words to mean what they mean, an enraged plea for the word sacrifice to be given it just due rather than be reduced -- like so many other words -- to a facile meaninglessness. But further, I must bow my head to his superior ranting skills. I have always considered myself a top-tier producer of outraged diatribes, but this, dear reader, puts me to shame. Thus, I doff my cap...



And secondly there is this moment on Hardball. Little need be said about it; Chris Matthews finally just reaches his limit and demands that the word "appeasement" be used properly. While Matthews undoubtedly leans Democrat, I actually believe he had just had enough -- pardon that cliché -- and just had to stand up for -- and that cliché -- linguistic decency. The fact that the recipient of Matthews' tongue-lashing was a right-wing wack-job is just the icing on the cake.



This linguistic decency -- pardon the repetition -- seems to be a recurring motif as of late, not just here on the blog, but in the larger realm of 4IOE. Perhaps I must think more specifically about this.

Oh... On a lighter note, I have determined the title of the next book I shall design for the Aquababy -- as I continue working on "Some Rather Long Words Every Child Should Know." The next one shall be called "Some Sums," so if you have any particular sums that you have particularly liked, I am open to suggestions. I have always loved the fact that every number divisible by nine ultimately adds up to nine [i.e. 1953: 1+9+5+3=18; 1+8=9 1953/9=217]. Or perhaps I shall do the entire book by playing with the Fibonacci sequence -- undoubtedly, at the very least, it will be involved somehow. And, seeing that I love numbers -- as well as the letters and words I have been making for the wee one thus far -- it seems only appropriate that she get a book of sums.