May 2008
Week of 5-30-08:

Word:

Eschew:
To abstain or keep away from; shun; avoid: to eschew evil; circumvent, boycott; forgo

Obfuscation:
Confusion resulting from failure to understand; the activity of obscuring people’s understanding, leaving them baffled or bewildered; darkening or obscuring the sight of something

Quote:

Eschew obfuscation.
(Anonymous)

Week of 5-23-08:

Word:

Progress:A move under progress toward a goal or to a further or higher stage

Quote:

Everyone's in favor of progress; it's change they don't like.
(Anonymous)

Week of 5-16-08:

Word:

Desert:
To leave (a person, place, etc.) without intending to return, esp. in violation of a duty, promise, or the like; to forsake or leave one's duty, obligations, etc.

Quote:

We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.
(Edward R. Murrow)

Week of 5-9-08:

-Word:

Odious:
Deserving or causing hatred; hateful; detestable; highly offensive; repugnant; disgusting

Quote:

Punishment is now unfashionable... because it creates moral distinctions among men, which, to the democratic mind, are odious. We prefer a meaningless collective guilt to a meaningful individual responsibility.
(Thomas Szasz)

Week of 5-2-08:

-Word:

Tolerable:
Capable of being borne or endured: "the climate is at least tolerable"; about average; acceptable; bearable, supportable; passable, middling, indifferent, so-so

Quote:

What is the use of a house if you haven't got a tolerable planet to put it on?
(Henry David Thoreau)

April 2008
Week of 4-25-2008 :

Word:

Tyranny:
Arbitrary or unrestrained exercise of power; despotic abuse of authority. The government or rule of a tyrant or absolute ruler; oppressive or unjustly severe government on the part of any ruler

Quote:

If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.
(James Madison)

Week of 4-18-2008 :

Word:

Liberal:Favorable to progress or reform, as in political move under liberal or religious affairs. Of, pertaining to, based on, or advocating liberalism. Favoring or permitting freedom of action, especially with respect to matters of personal belief or expression

Quote:

I read Shakespeare and the Bible, and I can shoot dice. That’s what I call a liberal education.
(Tallulah Bankhead)

Week of 4-11-2008:

Word:

Learn:
To acquire knowledge or skill in by study, instruction, or experience; to become informed of or acquainted with; ascertain; to gain by experience, exposure to example, or the like

Quote:

Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten.
(B. F. Skinner)

Week of 4-4-2008:

Word:

Aficionado:
An ardent devotee; fan, enthusiast; an enthusiastic admirer or follower; a serious devotee of

Quote:

Why is it drug addicts and computer aficionados are both called users?
(Clifford Stoll)

March 2008
The week of 03-28-08:

Word:

fact:
Something that actually exists; reality; truth.
Something known to exist or to have happend.
A truth known by actual experiance or observation; something known to be true

Quote:

It is not so very important for a person to learn facts. For that he does not really need a college. He can learn them from books. The value of an education in liberal arts college is not learning of many facts but the training of the mind to think something that cannot learned from textbooks.
(Albert Einstein)

The week of 03-21-08:

Word:

Impossible:
Not possible; unable to be, exist, happen, etc.
Unable to be done, performed, affected, etc.

Quote:

Attempt the impossible in order to improve your work.
(Bette Davis)

The week of 03-14-08:

Word:

Fair:
Free from bias, dishonesty, or injustice: a fair decision; Legitimately sought, pursued, done, given, etc.; proper under the rules

Quote:

Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you are a good person is a little like expecting the bull not to attack you because you are vegetarian.
(Dennis Wholey)

The week of 03-07-08:

Word:

Entitlement:
Expected reward; right

Quote:

The sense of entitlement, the sense that because we once dominated global commerce and geopolitics - and Olympic basketball - we always will, the sense that delayed gratification is a punishment worse than a spanking, the sense that our kids have to be swaddled in cotton wool so that nothing bad or disappointing or stressful ever happens to them at school is, quite simply, a growing cancer on American society. And if we don't start to reverse it, our kids are going to be in for a huge and socially disruptive shock from the flat world.
(Thomas L. Friedman in The World Is Flat)

February 2008
The week of 2-29-08:

Word:

Busy:
Actively and attentively engaged in work or a pastime; full of or characterized by activity

Quote:

It’s not so much how busy you are, but why you are busy. The bee is praised. The mosquito is swatted.
(Mary O’Connor)

The week of 2-22-08:

Word:

Complicated:
Composed of elaborately interconnected parts; difficult to analyze, understand, explain, etc.

Quote:

Buying the right computer and getting it to work properly is not any more complicated than building a nuclear reactor from wristwatch parts in a darkened room using only your teeth.
(Dave Barry)

The week of 2-15-08:

Word:

Wisdom:
The quality or state of being wise; knowledge of what is true or right coupled with just judgment as to action; sagacity, discernment, or insight.

Quote:

Knowledge speaks but wisdom listens.
(Jimi Hendrix)

The week of 2-8-08:

Word:

Average:
A typical amount, rate, degree, etc.; norm

Quote:

The average pencil is seven inches long, with just a half-inch eraser – in case you thought optimism was dead.
(Robert Brault)

The week of 2-1-08:

Word:

Accountable:
Subject to the obligation to report, explain, or justify something; responsible; answerable.

Quote:

It’s not only what we do, but also what we do not do, for which we are accountable.
(Moliere)

January 2008
The week of 1-25-08:

Word:

Degenerate:
Having fallen below a normal or desirable level, esp. in physical or moral qualities; deteriorated

Quote:

Our earth is degenerate in these latter days; bribery and corruption are common; children no longer obey their parents; and the end of the world is evidently approaching.
(Assyrian clay tablet, 2800 B.C.)

The week of 1-18-08:

Word:

Insolence:
Contemptuously rude or impertinent behavior or speech

Quote:

Wit is educated insolence.
(Aristotle)

The week of 1-11-08:

Word:

Perseverance:
Steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, etc., esp. in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement

Quote:

The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won’t.
(Henry Ward Beecher)

The week of 1-4-08:

Word:

Intolerant:
Not tolerating or respecting beliefs, opinions, usages, manners, etc; different from one's own, as in political or religious matters; bigoted

Quote:

My mother said I must always be intolerant of ignorance but understanding of illiteracy. That some people, unable to go to school, were more educated and more intelligent than college professors.
(Maya Angelou)