Is There a Word?

There's some things that feel like they should have words, but English doesn't seem to have them. Like something that makes perfect sense on one level, but on another level is completely ridiculous. For example, a multinational giant corporation like Barnes and Noble stocking Adbusters the magazine. It makes perfect sense on the "sell more stuff" and "get more exposure" levels for each, but it's also utterly ridiculous. Though on another level, I guess it makes sense too, if you believe a bookstore actually stands behind ideals about free speech and stuff (which, working at said giant multinational corporation, I find kinda unlikely).

But still, there oughta be a word. I bet German has one. German has awesome words for everything. And no, I don't think irony is quite the word I'm looking for, though it's part of the concept.

Learning for Journalists

Since I was bitching out lots of journalists in an earlier post, I thought I'd try and help the problem. Here's a list of things all journalistic students should be exposed to, from Mark Kleiman. There's also links in the entry I linked there to a bunch of important books any journalist should read. Honestly, most people would probably benefit from them too.

Here's the list of concepts, with handy wikipedia links for some.

* Institutional culture
* Regression toward the mean
* Moral hazard
* Expected value (of an uncertain outcome)
* Present value (of a stream of gains and losses over time)
* Statistical control
* Correlation v. causation
* Benefit-cost analysis and willingness-to-pay
* Cost-effectiveness
* Separation of powers
* Mill's "harm principle"
* Rent-seeking
* Opportunity cost
* Cognitive dissonance
* Milgram experiment

About half of these would be solved by making them take a basic level economics course.

Which Will Come First?

Alright, so, one of those questions I kick around sometimes. Which do you think we'll have in the US as a president first? A woman, somebody who's not white, somebody who's openly gay/bi, or somebody who's not Christian (yes, I know about Deists, the Founding Fathers don't count)? I'm not really sure. Probably either a woman or a minority, but I could be wrong.