Quick Hits

Words. They're so important, aren't they? They're the basic building blocks of fundamental communication. They help construct our subjective realities, how we view the world. Objectivity is almost impossible because of how we frame the events that surround us. Different words mean different things to different people. How a series of words are strung together can elicit any number of responses from any number of individuals. But oh those pesky words. How they can fail us, too, if we don't know how to use them properly. (For a humorous take on the importance of words, check out this Stephen Colbert piece from The Daily Show.) Sen. Joe Biden, a Democratic candidate for United States President, made the mistake of not carefully thinking before speaking.

Not only did he take shots at Sen. Hillary Clinton and John Edwards, but his comments about Sen. Barack Obama seemed especially unappealing. Biden said of Obama, "(he's) the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy." Now, I don't take much offense to that, probably for two reasons: First, I'm not black. Second, I'm not offended by anything people say because, in the end, words can't hurt. In this marketplace of ideas, anything deemed inappropriate or unintelligent or simply ignorant is chased from the arena by those who tend to present substantive and important arguments. Of course, Biden's remarks came on the heels of his announcing his candidacy for president. That mean he had to back track and carefully clean up his missteps. He offered a non-mea culpa mea culpa on The Daily Show last night. By clean, Biden said he meant fresh. Do I believe him? Sure. Why not? What always struck me about Biden was that he didn't speak, typically, with a politician's tongue. He always said what he meant. He rarely minced words. That was a breath of fresh air. Of course, he's gotten in trouble for his remarks before, mostly because politican's are supposed to toe the party line and measure their words. At least people can get a feel of who Biden really is. If that costs him the election, so be it.

A U.S. commander insisted today that the Iraq war is winnable. Interesting how Gen. George W. Casey seems to be the only commander willing to say openly that all is not lost in the quagmire in Iraq. Casey urges that the U.S. demonstrate patience. I doubt patience interrupts the civil war boiling to the surface.

PC World said today that it will stop selling floppy disks once it's stock is sold. I'll never forget those little guys. They're an emblem of simpler times in my life, back when I used an old Apple computer that had a monitor that rendered all graphics, text and otherwise, in a spinach-green hue. How far we've advanced.

Here's an interesting story from ESPN.com about a couple of Portland Trailblazers basketball players visiting the Lorraine Motel on a recent trip to Memphis to play the Grizzlies. I've been to the Lorrain Motel, which is the site of Dr. Martin Luther King's assassination. It was a wonderful experience. I was in awe as I began my tour through the Civil Rights Museum. Visitors not only get to peek into the room in which Dr. King stayed while he was in Memphis, but they're also treated to a view from the window of what used to be a boarding house across the street where James Earl Ray fired on Dr. King. It's an oddly fascinating and depressing tour. For those who don't know, Dr. King was in Memphis for a sanitation worker's strike. When he came to Memphis, he generally stayed at a hotel closer to the river, but on this recent trip, black leaders in the community and in the nation encouraged Dr. King to stay at the Lorraine Motel because it was a black-owned establishment. He agreed, and it turned out to be a life-ending decision.