I mentioned “w00t” in passing in my last post, but now it’s time to write more on “w00t.”

First of all, “w00t” is not a word. Woot may be a word, but “w00t” is not.

According to Wikipedia, woot goes all the way back to Middle English, where it meant “know.” Modern usage can be traced back to “whoot” or, alternatively, as an acronym for “We Own the Other Team.”

Where do the zeroes come in?

In “leet-speak” (a.k.a. “l33t-speak” or “1337-speak” and so on), numbers are used in place of letters. For example, “A” becomes “4″ and “O” becomes “0″ (A=4, B=8, E=3, G=6, O=0, T=7, and so on*).

Although some of the “leet” ciphers become words in and of themselves, for the most part, it is just a form of code to try to trip up outsiders or (as you may well recognize from your spambox) spam filters.

In other words, “w00t” is nothing more than “woot” in semi-coded form. Take away woot, and “w00t” has no meaning.

People may type “w00t” but that doesn’t change the fact that the word is “woot.” While people may have voted “w00t” as the word of the year, Merriam-Webster** should have known better than to present the word as “w00t” when it should have been presented as “woot.” Instead, they went for what is fanciful and “cool” instead of what is correct.

Or, should I have typed “‘c001′ 1ns734d 0f wh47 1s c0rr3c7″?

*Follow the link and you’ll see that some numbers can stand in for several letters, for example, “1″ can be I, L or T, and other characters can be used as well.

**If you’re using a Merriam-Webster dictionary, perhaps now would be a good time to consider investing in a dictionary from Oxford. You can subscribe to their Word of the Day RSS feed too.

Seriously?

Think of your current doctor. Remember the first time you met at his office. Did you ask him (or her) to strip naked for you before you would take him seriously as a medical professional?

Didn’t think so.

Apparently, things are different in Hollywood-land. Reportedly, Jessica Simpson is looking for a movie role with some full-frontal nudity so she can be taken seriously as an actress.

Seriously?

Now, whether films should have nudity is a separate issue, and beyond the scope of this post. But, as to whether one needs to strip naked to be taken seriously… Seriously?

I think that the idea that one must run around naked to be taken seriously is largely a fallacy. Does anyone view a streaker at a sporting event as a serious individual?

Plenty of dramatic roles, both in film and on television as well as on stage, require no nudity at all. So, to think that you must appear naked to be taken seriously is seriously delusional. Otherwise, porn stars would dominate the Oscars and other award shows.

On top of that, I can’t recall a single male actor who sought out nude roles in order to be taken seriously as an actor. This seems to be a line of thinking reserved for actresses.

This used to be a line used by hormone-driven men to get their favorite actresses naked in front of the camera. Now, the men don’t even have to feed them any lines. The actresses just feed the lines to themselves and each other.

Seriously.

“A Vorlon said understanding is a three edged sword: your side, their side, and the truth.”
–John Sheridan, Babylon 5, “Into the Fire”

The thing is people don’t want to understand. They don’t want to know the truth. They want to believe that their side, whatever it may be, is the truth.

Because sometimes truth is hard. It may be complicated. It is probably something people don’t want to hear. So, they pick a side, their version of the truth. If anyone says anything contradictory, they get angry, they get frustrated, they cover their ears and sing “lalalalala” because they don’t want to hear it.

Truth? Some don’t even believe there can be truth. Truth isn’t objective, it is subjective, they argue. Such muddy thinking may be a worse oppression than even shackles and chains can manage.

In this day and age, few are immune to the demands of dogma, even those who think they are thinking most rationally. A critical examination of people on the right or left, liberal or conservative, religious or agnostic/atheist will reveal that each has their own versions of the “truth” and critical thinking, reason and even science are accepted, rejected or rationalized away based on the person’s own concept of the “truth” and not what evidence or anything else shows is the truth.

One need only look at forwarded eMails from friends and relatives to see this at work. A quick look at Snopes.com will show the truth of many urban legends. Yet, even when pointed out to people, they will continue to believe a forwarded eMail and continue to pass it along, because it seems true to them. Or, well, they just want to help other people. No big deal if it’s not true, right? It might be true, so why take the chance?

And, so myth becomes truth. Truth becomes mistruth. And a “dumbing down” effect takes hold as people throw out critical thinking in favor of “I just want to help!” Sometimes the truth may hurt, but mistruth rarely ever helps.

We see this in other areas too. People don’t want to be told they are wrong. They don’t want to admit they’ve been doing things the wrong way. They would prefer to fail again and again, or to remain in the same station for life, than to accept that their “truth” is wrong.

Thus, we see why so many people, while working hard, don’t necessarily work smarter. They don’t like criticism. They are resistant to change. They don’t want to learn new ways of doing things.

They would rather believe in their own “truths.” They would rather believe that it is someone else who is keeping them down, than to accept the truth that it is they themselves who are holding them back. They would rather work harder at doing the same thing again and again, each time believing that this time will be different, this time they will succeed, rather than to accept that they are doing things the wrong way and will likely never succeed because of it.

To be successful means that you have to be willing to learn. One must also learn to accept that what you previously learned may have been in error, or that you have remembered it wrongly, or that things have changed and the old ways are no longer the best or right way.

Success comes from understanding. And understanding comes from not from caressing either side of a blade, but by running your finger across its edge and risking getting cut. The truth may hurt, but avoiding the pain will hurt you more.

Believe. Act. Achieve!

This one goes on for a bit, so please bear with me through the end. Thanks!

I think perhaps I should sue Debo Hobo dot com. Here it is, the third day of September, and Deborah’s blog is still decorated in Halloween colors, black and orange. Since she’s part of my virtual neighborhood, this reflects badly on me. I also believe that this is hurting the financial potential of my blog, as people turned off by her unsightly blog may decline to visit mine as well.

She’s also using white text on a black background, which is completely inappropriate. I see that Pete is doing the same. This is an eyesore and may even be difficult for some people to read. How dare they not think of others when designing their blogs? They are part of a community and they should put aside their own preferences and do what is best for the community!

We shouldn’t let people like that in our community! If they don’t like it, they can take down their blogs and write in their own journals. Some things are best kept to themselves anyway.

If I can’t convince them voluntarily to change, I’m going to get a group of my other neighbors together. People like Jon, Joanne, Mike, Doug, Ann and Mike. They all have sensible color schemes, and black text on a white or light background. We’ll get together, and we’ll vote on a set of standards with penalties for non-compliance.

If Deborah and Pete don’t comply within a reasonable amount of time, they’ll be fined. Then, the work will be done for them, and they’ll be billed for it. Something needs to be done to set these people straight!

Come to think of it, I think that John Chow should sue for Pete’s blog. John Chow could certainly monetize MyGPSCameraPhone.com better than Pete has. Why should Pete be allowed to keep something when he’s not making it reach its full potential? It’s better off in the hands of someone like John Chow who can turn it into a profit-maker. Naturally, Pete will be reimbursed for the loss of his site, you know, ten bucks to cover his registration fee for the domain name. But, John Chow will put it to better use, so he should have it.

But, you say, their blogs are theirs to do with as they please!

Not so fast! You see, they are part of our community. More importantly, they are part of my community. That means I have a communal ownership interest in their blogs. So do you. That means that we, as a community, can decide for them what is best for their blogs. I don’t care that they’ve spent time and money on their blogs that I haven’t. I still have an ownership stake; we all do. They can’t just decorate their own blogs willy-nilly without regard for how it may affect the rest of us. They have got to be team players, or pay the penalties for their individualistic tendencies.

But, leave my blog alone. It’s mine! I’ll do whatever I please with it, thank you very much. I’m an esteemed member of the community, so I have earned more flexibility than Pete or Deborah. Who do they think they are anyway?

Sound ridiculous?

Of course it does, because it is ridiculous!

Yet, it’s happening every day in the “real” world.

People lose their property because a big corporation comes in and convinces the city council to let them seize the property so they can build a superstore, which will generate more tax revenue than the homeowners’ property taxes. So, out of the “public good,” the homes are taken, destroyed and a new store is built.

People have in their minds what their neighborhood should look like, and they don’t want anyone to ruin that vision of the “perfect” neighborhood with pink flamingos, garden gnomes, the wrong style of mailbox, the wrong paint colors or even, gasp!, a flag pole with the nation’s flag. So, they define rules and regulations through the local homeowners’ association, or their county or city zoning department. All to restrict what others do with their own property.

Community rights, they argue, outweigh individual rights.

Our Founding Fathers were smarter than that, and I would argue that the collective wisdom of the Founding Fathers far outweighs the collective wisdom in Washington, D.C., as well as many state and local governments as well.

For the most part, the U.S. has prospered in the last 200+ years with the idea that individuals have an inalienable, indisputable, God-given, inherent right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, something which many today seem to think is an idea from a bygone era.

Today, you cannot build a house without a permit. You have to build your house a certain way. You will likely be restricted as to what changes you may make to your own property. You may even be restricted as to how you may decorate your exterior, even to the extent of being limited to a specific selection of colors or the type of landscaping!

And, you could lose your house entirely (though you will be reimbursed for an estimated “fair market value”) if some big corporation comes along and views your area as prime real estate.

Compare the U.S. with how the Internet has grown and expanded, largely without regulation. Though, that is gradually changing too. Not too long ago, the domain name registrars were pushing for tiered domain name pricing, which would allow them to adjust pricing based on the estimated value of a domain name rather than a flat rate. Some TLDs already permit this, most notably .TV. But, you can expect that to change in the future, because ICANN, the association that’s supposed to be on “our” side, isn’t. It answers to the people that pay its bills: the registrars. Not you and me or small or family businesses.

Today, you can set up a blog. You can write about just about anything you want. You can decorate it as you please.

Enjoy it while it lasts.

You see, we’re already heading down that slippery slope. Government, through the whims of our neighbors as well as powerful interests, is already dictating how you can use your property, such as your house. If things continue, it will only be a matter of time before they’ll begin dictating more how you can use your virtual real estate as well.

Somebody, somewhere is not going to like something you’re doing. And, when a republic becomes a pure democracy, where rights are subject to the whims of the majority instead of a constitution, all they need do is convince 51% of likely voters that you shouldn’t be doing what you’re doing. People worry about the person in the White House or the people in Congress, when they should be worrying a little more about the person next door.

Or, themselves. Because when you think something like “they shouldn’t be allowed to have a bird feeder in their front yard,” you’re part of the problem.

Welcome to the future, where big brother is your neighbor, or you.

At the one extreme, there are students that go off the deep-end and harm or even kill their classmates. At the other extreme, we have schools that ban stuff like tag at recess. And, the list of things you cannot do in school seems to keep growing.

When you were in K-12 school, what did you do that might get you in trouble today? Besides tag.

When I was in grade school, we used to play a game at recess called “Kill the Man with the Ball.” I’m sure that would be allowed today…

In junior high, we used to play a game called “War.” This was all done on paper. You had your tank; your opponent had his. You’d take turns firing at each other with a pen stroke, until one had decimated the other’s tank. I think we may have had little armies of people to kill off too. I’m sure that would be allowed today…

In high school, I’d write short stories, and had a couple novels in the works (who didn’t, eh?). One took place at a school where students were being killed off one by one. Yeah, I bet that would get me sent to counseling in this day and age. But, you know, you’re supposed to write what you know, and what do students know about if not going to school?

On the one hand, I understand the need to be cautious and preventing tragedy. But, on the other hand, I worry that sometimes creative students may be discouraged by school officials who are themselves unable to separate intent from fiction. Sometimes writing “dark” things may be a sign of trouble or a cry for help; othertimes, it’s just a budding writing career.

So, what did you do in school that might land you in trouble today?