Word of the Day

Found a word I haven't ever seen so I thought I'd share.

I just finished reading Confessions of a Street Addict, written by James J. Cramer also know as Jim Cramer or the crazy Mad Money guy on CNBC. I have never seen the word Agitprop before and couldn't delve any meaning out of the context so here is the semi-official definition from Wikipedia.

Agitprop is a contraction of agitational propaganda. The term originated in Communist Russia, where the term was a shortened form of отдел агитации и пропаганды (otdel agitatsii i propagandy), i.e., Department for Agitation and Propaganda, which was part of the Central and regional committees of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The department was later renamed to Ideological Department.
The term propaganda in the Russian Language didn't bear any negative connotation at that time. It simply meant "dissemination of ideas". In the case of Agitprop, the ideas to be disseminated were those of communism, including explanations of the policy of the Communist Party and the Soviet State. In other contexts, propaganda could mean dissemination of any kind of beneficial knowledge, e.g., of new methods in agriculture. "Agitation" meant urging people to do what Soviet leaders expected them to do; again, at various levels. In other words, propaganda was supposed to act on the mind, while agitation acted on emotions, although both usually went together, thus giving rise to the cliche "propaganda and agitation".
In the western world, agitprop has a negative connotation. In the United Kingdom during the 1980s, for example, socialist elements of the political scene were often accused of using agitprop to convey an extreme left-wing message via television programmes, theatre and even children's books. However, in a more general sense, a television cartoon might be described as 'agitprop' if it could be interpreted as a marketing ploy to sell toys.
The term is frequently used in the modern Russian language to describe information provided by mass-media, if it is considered to be pro-government and biased.

The mtn.

With all the complaints lately about not being able to watch the local college games unless you have Comcastic cable I'm not so sure you're missing out on much. After watching four games so far on the new network I have an official nickname, "the glitch". And that's just what I hope it is, a short blip on the radar that appears and then never shows up again. The anchors aren't very entertaining and every time there is a big play their video feed glitches and you miss it. The audio feed volume levels are constantly changing and its really annoying. These are the kinds of things you should have ironed out before you piss off a lot of people while you are trying to make big dollar network deals based on your ratings and number of viewers. I'm not even a big football fan but I am believer in good broadcasting and that the mtn definitely isn't.

A Place For Me

I have come to the conclusion that only the handicapped, pregnant and senior citizens shop at Harmon's grocery store. At least that is what I gather from trying to park in the parking lot. Literally 1/3 of the parking lot is reserved for one group or another. I don't mind walking through the parking lot but society's concern over special needs is going way too far. So I made a parking sign just for me. I think that stores should leave at least two spaces near the store that aren't reserved for anyone. Sure the people I mentioned before could still park there but I could also park there without feeling guilty. Speaking about feeling guilty, I have a question. If you're in a parking lot and there are 8 handicapped spots marked with signs and wheelchair painted parking spaces but then there are two spots without signs and faded wheelchair insignia; should I feel guilty for parking in the semi-marked spaces? I'm really not sure if they are handicapped or not but I sure have gotten some crusty looks for parking in them before. You would think I was stealing from a cripple or something. By the way these spots are at the Gold's Gym on 78th and Redwood so if you happen by take a look and give me your opinion.

update 9/21/06
So I'm wondering if the good ole Gold people can read my mind because when I went today things have changed. There are now two "islands" of 4 clearly painted handicapped spots one with a sign one without. However one of the signs that used to be by one of the marked cluster of spaces has been transplanted to stand by the two mostly faded parking spots. Making a difference one post at a time. Or at least I like to think so...

Kraziness Ensues

So my new idol started his 50-50-50 marathon deal today. The official site at the North Face that is supposed to have all this real time gps position/heart rate monitor high tech stuff isn't updated with the race info at all but the guy's blog says he finished the first marathon today in St. Charles Missouri. I'll try to put a link to his blog on mine.

Getting Fed Up With Gold

I really don't like Gold's Gym. They aren't that great. At least not the one I go to. I think I'm about to the point where I'm going to start driving to Kearns where they actually have a swimsuit dryer. I go to the gym minimum every other day and usually every day except Sunday. I have been doing this for quite some time and I know that Gold's has a policy that their lockers are for day use only. However, when I inquired about this around 5 months ago I was told that they really don't do that at this gym. So I have, for a long period of time, been leaving my swimming goggles and related swimming training paraphernalia(yes that's how it's spelled, I had to look it up) in a locker overnight. Meanwhile, I got sick. In the week that I didn't go to the gym apparently they decided to start enforcing their locker policy. So they cut my lock off. Not pleasant but not a huge deal; If they would have put my stuff in the lost and found or somewhere instead of just leaving it in the locker for who knows how long. No they just left it there unprotected. Swimming stuff isn't cheap, it isn't ridiculously expensive but I had near a hundred dollars worth of stuff sitting there for who knows how long. When I went to complain you would think they had been enforcing their policy for ever, "It's always been that way" my ass it's always been that way, what about the last six months I've been here every day. And since when is there an "overnight" at a supposedly 24 hour gym except when they close early on the weekends and half the day Sunday. Give me a break. So to file a complaint I had to write it out on a contract freeze form that they probably tossed in the trash as soon as I walked away. Excellent customer service.