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Cziltang wanders the trackless wastes in search of truth, beauty and personal enlightenment. He had tried to be self-sufficient, growing his own ideas, but they withered and died in the great intellectual drought that gripped the land in his youth. One day, as he gazed at the parched landscape around him, he realized that somewhere there must be ideas growing. Somewhere, rational discourse must still survive. Since that day, he has searched for a mythical land of fields and forests of living ideas. Now and again he finds a thought or two in the rubble of an occasional deserted outpost of civilization. Its a hard way to live and its not much of a life, but that's just how it is, out here in the Ratlands |
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Greetings and Promulgations
link I really detest the word "promulgate." It is one of those words that became fashionable a few years back in correctional circles. I always thought it was one of those $3 words that people use to sound educated and refined, when a 10 cent word would do. My father used to tell me that the problem with these kinds of words is they generally have quite specific meanings and are therefore very easy to use incorrectly. A few years back we had a boss who was really into the words "promulgate" and "re-visit". I sort of made peace with "re-visit," but I never got over "promulgate". It just strikes me as being esthetically displeasing (or maybe just downright ugly). And, I could never get over the mental association with being a yuppie, trendy piece of nonsense. Anyway, he used to try to work "promulgate" into just about everything. He used to talk about one of our jobs in administration being to promulgate policy. I thought maybe just writing policy would be sufficient, but no, we had to promulgate it. When I thought about writing this entry, I looked it up: promulgate \Pro*mul"gate\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Promulgated; p. pr. & vb. n. Promulgating.] [L. promulgatus, p. p. of promulgare to promulgate; of unknown origin. Cf. Promulge.] To make known by open declaration, as laws, decrees, or tidings; to publish; as, to promulgate the secrets of a council. Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.So, basically, he was misusing the word, because you can't promulgate it til you've written it or developed it or something. (I knew there was something wrong with it...) And, as is the case more often than I would like to admit, my father was right. What's the point? None. I just detest the word "promulgate".by Cziltang Posted: Wednesday, September 03 2003 07:47:45 PM
Good People
link When I first saw this billboard in Wichita, I thought, "Wow, an advertisement supporting homosexual marriages!" 
Of course, it isn't. It's a billboard announcing the merger of two hospital/physician networks. But I don't think the people who came up with the PR campaign thought this one through... by Cziltang Posted: Wednesday, September 03 2003 07:32:37 PM
EPL Update
link Things went weird on me this weekend. I haven't written anything for a couple of days. But, in the EPL, Liverpool scored, so its not all bad. I finished week 3 at 373rd, my highest so far, and my cumulative score is 511th of 1298 active players. I made some changes to my lineup, but won't know whether they were a good idea or not for 2 weeks, due to the EPL taking a week off so players can play for their national teams.by Cziltang Posted: Tuesday, September 02 2003 11:44:05 PM |
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