President Bushed

I had occasion to dip into the fall Phi Beta Kappa Key Reporter this morning, and on page eleven, under "Phi Beta Kappa in the News," found the following intro to an item," President Bushed announced May 30 that..." Typo, yeah, I'll bet. Giggle. PBK doesn't strike me as particularly liberal politically. Liberal arts defenders, yes, but I'll bet the old guard is not amused. I am. They'll blame spell check, right ?

Cones, Repurposed

Hurricane Dean has brought in a new phrase along with its class-4 destruction: the weather forecasters keep talking about the cone of concern. This "cone" is a modeled projection of the anticipated sixty-five mile radius (I use that term very loosely) of a hurricane's striking distance, the cone shape being produced by, one assumes, force vectors. The term has been used at a specialized level for years, but forecasters across the nation must have had a seminar, as a quick google 'round the block will reveal that Hurricane Season 2007 is the moment that the "cone of concern" has emerged among the hoi polloi. I think it is a marvelous term, and will have immediate application to venues outside of meteorology, e.g. I'm sorry, but that's not within my cone of concern. Or , if that strays too far from analogy, I suspect it will make itself a presence in political/military strategyspeak, where the phrase can still invoke its reference to an approaching threat e.g. The increased presence of insurgents has created a cone of concern reaching from Fallujah to Baghdad.

The word "repurposed" is here for John B, who lives in a place that has apparently been blessedly free of corporate edu-lingo.

An Evening at Home

The cats and I are watching Guarding Tess (1994). In the scene where Tess has the chauffeur take off from a gas station without her security detail, you can see the prices at the pump. Regular: 1.09; premium: 1.24. Sigh.