Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year is …. “W00t”.
I'm not a great language purist (I'm a Webster's New World fan, and don't much care for the overly prescriptivist American Heritage), but I don't know that I would call this interjection from leetspeak a 'word' exactly.
I'd have gone with 'waterboarding' myself.
The state of Florida is looking for a new state song.
The current (written in 1851 by Stephen Foster, officially adopted by Florida in 1935) state song's official name is “Old Folks at Home,” (lugubrious mp3) but most people know it either for its first line “Way down upon the Swanee River…'' or for its racist lines including “Still longing for the old plantation” and “Oh darkies, how my heart grows weary.”
They had competition for a replacement, and now they are down to three finalists which can be heard at justsingflorida.org. And apparently the public is invited to vote online for the winner. Ballot stuffing anyone?
Here are direct links to the syrupy contenders:
'Florida (Where the Sawgrass Meets the Sky)' | Music and lyrics by Jan Hinton
'My Florida Home' | Music and lyrics by Christopher Marshall
'Florida, My Home' | Music by Carl Ashley, lyrics by Betsy Dixon
I think the first one is awful, the second one dull, and while the third may be the least bad, I don't much care for it, and it would be hard to sing. I hope I never have to hear any of them again, but I suppose they'll start popping up at graduation.
Do any states have good anthems?
It's been too long since I recommended that people read the Daily Howler. Today's, Daily Howler: Parents should show their children the Post—and tell them they mustn't be like that, is a real classic.
ICANNWatch, a website I edit, was recently cited by the ABA Journal as one of the Top 100 top legal blogs.
ICANNWatch actually could use some fresh blood. If you're a legal academic or law student with an interest in ICANN or in domain names or internet architecture, maybe we should talk?
[Link to “vote” fixed]
Like a dam weakening, the little trickle of news about misdeeds at Guantanamo and in CIA torture labs is becoming a bigger trickle.
Can we hope for a flood of revelations now?
Bonus: Emily Bazelon and Dahlia Lithwick, If the CIA hadn't destroyed those tapes, what would be different?
Secrecy News, Intelligence Oversight Flexes One New Muscle, is sort of a good-news, bad-news item.
The good news is that the Senate Intelligence Committee has reported out language that makes expenditures conditional on every member of the committee being briefed on a specific intelligence issue.
The bad news is that the committee apparently wasn't able to figure this out for itself: it had to have the idea explained to it by by former Rep. Lee Hamilton.
If I had any boggle left in my mind this week, that would use it up.
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