The 35th Annual Lake Superior State Banished Words List

Last week Lake Superior State unveiled their annual list of banished words. After reading the list as well as the additional comments I have to say that I don't have any argument against any of the words included on the list. In fact, I would be glad to see them go :).

• Shovel-Ready - I had not even heard of this one, but apparently it is in reference to when a project is ready to be implemented. And here I thought it was a term used by the funeral home industry.
• Transparent/Transparency - As in "transparency in government" which is really an oxymoron.
• Czar - I have never understood the use of this term with various higher office positions. I'm always reminded of the Russian Czarists whenever this is used.
• Tweet - No, it is not because of the use of this word in "Rockin' Robin" by Bobby Day. This is because of the Twitter phenomenon which I think has more to do with the media's obsession with talking about "tweet this" or talking about who is tweeting. I think Twitter is a useful method to connect with customers - follow me at Twitter.com/nortman.
• APP - There's an APP for that. Blah, blah, blah.
• Sexting - Once again, overkill by the media is reason enough for the demise of this word.
• Friend as a Verb - "Friending", "Unfriending", etc. on Facebook.
• Teachable Moment - A clever phrase that is another way of saying, "he/she just learned a life lesson."
• In these economic times . . . - You could even get more specific and ban any story referencing Michigan/Detroit in these economic times. I'm just a fed up Michigander when it comes to talking about all of the problems we have in this state. Lets focus on some positives in 2010.
• Stimulus - I'm weary of hearing about the "stimulus" this or that and especially any advertisements that companies label a "stimulus package."
• Toxic Assets - Call them what they are - bad investments/bad stocks.
• Too big to fail - I had a prof in college who said that the one "sure thing" stock segment to invest in was the auto industry as it had been around for so long and was "too big to fail." I'd like to chat with him about that one now.
• Bromance - Seriously? Two guys can't just say they're friends with someone? You have to call it a bromance?
• Chillaxin' - Do we really need to invent more terms for relaxing?
• Obama prefix or roots - For example "Obamanomics" or other such rubbish.

Are you a Michigander or a Michiganian?

The newest poll here at the All Things Michigan blog deals with how we Michigan natives refer to ourselves. Michigander started out as a disparaging remark about then Michigan governor, Lewis Cass, by future president Abraham Lincoln. Basically, Lincoln compared Cass to a foolish goose by combining Michigan and gander [goose]. Here's a snippet of that Lincoln speech:

But in my hurry I was very near closing on the subject of military tails before I was done with it. There is one entire article of the sort I have not discussed yet; I mean the military tail you Democrats are now engaged in dovetailing onto the great Michigander [i.e. Lewis Cass].

So, what do you refer to yourself as? I prefer Michigander as it doesn't sound as highfalutin' as Michiganian.

[poll id="38"]

What is your local library worth to you?

I love this new calculator from the Library of Michigan. You enter some basic information and hit the 'calculate' button for an instant dollar figure of what the services you use in a typical month are worth.

Here is what you can enter into the calculation:

• Books borrowed per month
• Magazines borrowed per month
• Movies borrowed per month
• Music recordings borrowed per month
• Audio books borrowed per month
• Children's Program(s) attended per month
• Program(s) for Adults attended
• Computer use (hours per month)
• Reference questions asked per month
• Number of full-text articles accessed from a library's Web site or the Michigan eLibrary
• Number of hours utilizing library resources in-house
• Museum Adventure Pass(es) Checked Out

The calculator assigns various values to each of the above library uses. For example, the value of a checked out book is figured to be $30 and a magazine is $4.

While the dollar figures assigned to the various uses can be debated it is a nice way to put a dollar amount on the savings you get against the tax burden you pay. Mine calculated out to be $128.05 of value for each $1 of tax. That's a pretty good return on investment.

Calculate your ROI (Return On Investment) at http://mel.org/files/calculatorcode.php.

How fast is your home internet connection?

I ask this question because my "high-speed" internet service has been down for over three weeks now. It was a wireless service that used an antenna on our roof to connect with a tower about two miles away. The service promised speeds of up to 1 MB for upload and download. I never came close to those speeds in the 4+ years of using the service. Trouble is, until recently it was our only option for high-speed internet. Thankfully, my internet service provider was kind enough to have a dial-up connection I could use as a backup so all is not lost. I just can't believe how truly horrible the internet is using dial-up. I thought my "high-speed" connection was slow. Hoo-boy, was I wrong!

Our power company is rolling out a new program that uses existing power lines to transmit broadband. They've hit some glitches already in cooperation with the phone company (Verizon) whom they are getting the T1 connections through. I hope this becomes a workable solution as it seems to be the best hope yet for those living rurally to get high-speed internet access.

My internet service provider is just starting to rollout DSL and I got bumped up the line due to the fact that my "high-speed" connection has been down for three weeks. Hopefully it will be up and running by the weekend. I can't take much more of dial-up.

This brings me to this week's poll question. I really want to know what speed folks are surfing the net at from home. Please take a second and answer the poll.

[poll id="25"]

R.I.P. Mark "The Bird" Fidrych

Former Tigers pitcher and Rookie of the Year, Mark Fidrych, died in a truck accident on his farm. Fidrych won 19 games as a rookie pitcher for the Tigers in 1976. Injuries kept him from having a longer career and since 1983 he had been happy working in trucking and construction. His quirky antics on the mound included scratching at the mound like a chicken, strutting around the mound, and talking to the baseball. His affable demeanor and success on the field endeared him to fans. An all around nice guy that will be missed.

Here is an interview with Mark Fidrych from 1985:

Gardening question for this week's poll

We've been getting our seeds started recently and that got me wondering what other people plant in their gardens. We plant tomatoes, pole beans (higher yield for space used), onions, potatoes, peppers, cucumbers, lettuce, and zucchini. We also have a number of herbs that we use for cooking like chives, thyme, rosemary, and a bunch of others that have slipped my mind. That brings us to this week's poll question. Vote in the poll and feel free to add in the comments the specific plants you grow and even how big (or small) your garden is. I have a feeling there will be a lot more gardeners this year due to folks wanting to save money.

[poll id="21"]