Danger of long-term effects Fukushima fallout little discussed in media

 

Prevailing view harmless, Opposing views called laced with hysteria

AUSTIN, Texas. March 23, 2011. With radioactive elements from Japans Fukushima Daiiachi disaster finally reaching the continental US this week, the Global Language Monitor’s NarrativeTracker has found that the possible long-term dangers of Fukushima Daiiachis radioactive fallout has been little discussed in the media. In fact, there has been little or no discussion of the ongoing debate about assessing the long-term risks associated with Cesium-137 and Iodine-131, etc.

The prevailing view of the global print and electronic media is to pronounce the radioactive elements harmless, which is in direct contract to the accepted view of the National Academy of Sciences, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and many others. In fact, the discussion that does appear, labels opposing views as irrational or laced with hysteria, as in a recent article in the New York Times.

According the the Global Language Monitors NarrativeTracker there have been only two references to the controversy in the past week in the major global media, or even to the fact that the analysis of the heath impact of the escaped radiation could be far off base. An article in the Malaysian Star was the most insightful. Even on the web news side, NarrativeTracker picked up fewer that half a dozen references to the controversy in the last week.

On the Internet and in Social Media, there were some 10,000 references to the controversy, which pales in comparison to news about, say Charlie Sheen (who has hundreds of million citations). In addition, there were about three million references to the harmless effects of the Fukushima fallout, with about 7,000,000 references to its dangers.

Therefore, the prevailing and accepted view of the National Academy of Sciences, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and, for that matter, the US Congress has been overlooked in the global media discussion. This is the view that holds sway in legislation ranging from the regulation of cigarettes, CT scans and the Hanford Reservation cleanup. In addition to the risk to human life, billions of dollars in government are at stake.

The controversy concerns Linear No Threshold (LNT) methodology to calculate risk from exposure to radioactive elements. The LNT dose-response relationship is used to describe the relationship between radiation dose and the occurrence of cancer. This dose-response model suggests that any increase in dose, no matter how small, results in an incremental increase in risk. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) accepts the LNT hypothesis as a conservative model for estimating radiation risk.

There are two competing theories here.

1. There is no lower-level threshold to the threat from radioactive exposure. Basically this means that even a small exposure to radioactivity will increase the chance of cancer occurring in a corresponding small percentage of the population. The smaller the exposure, the smaller the risk, but the risk never falls to zero.

2. There is a lower-level threshold to the threat from radioactive exposure. This is model that the media has adopted in claims that the fallout is harmless while still recognizing that it is harmful in large doses. Some scientists adhere to the radiation hormesis model that radiation might even be beneficial in very low doses

The LNT model is generally accepted by most governments and scientific agencies and predicts higher risks than the threshold model. Because the current data is inconclusive, scientists disagree on which methodology should be used.

However, the fact that there has been little or no discussion of the topic in the media is cause for concern.

Tags: cesium-137, Cigarettes, CT scans, fallout, Fukushima, Fukushima Daiichi, Hanford, iodine-131, Linear No Threshold, LNT, National Academy of Sciences, NRC, Nuclear Regulatory Commission

 

Japanese Disasters Need-to-Know Glossary Update

Added: Chest x rays, Black swans, Dinosaur extinction event, Two packs-a-day

AUSTIN, Texas, March 21, 2011 (Updated Daily) The Global Language Monitor has assembled the Japanese Disasters Need-to-Know Glossary to help understand the sometimes obtuse and ofter obscure terminology used in describing the concurrent Japanese Disasters that we are now witnessing.

We will add to the document as events continue to unfold.

This is a tragedy of unprecedented proportions.

We believe it is our responsibility to help people around the globe more fully understand the depth of the destruction and the nature of the circumstances that have already have and continue to unfold, said Paul JJ Payack, President and Chief Word Analyst of the Global Language Monitor.

Can Your Family or Business Survive a Disaster for Three Days

Term Definition
1.6 microseconds Number of microseconds the Earths spin was increased by the Sendai earthquake
9.0 magnitude The Japanese quake was 9.0 on the Richter Scale. This makes it about 700,000 times more powerful than last years Haitian earthquake. (See Richter Scale.)
12.5 magnitude Theoretical magnitude of the Chicxulub asteroid impact 65,000,000,000 years ago that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. (However, mammals live through it.)
900 kph The waves of the tsunami traveled traveled about as fast as of typical passenger jetliner (About 560 mph/900 kph)
Black Swan Black Swan: rare but Nation-destroying disasters: an asteroid hitting the earth; a super volcano (Yellowstone Caldera) rending half a continent lifeless; a solar flare that destroys all modern communication systems. The Japanese Tri-Crisis qualifies as a Black Swab.
Cesium-137 Metal of the Alkali group that can signal the presence of a nuclear reaction. The half-life of Cesium 137 is 30 years. This means it would take about 200 years for something contaminated with it to lose all signs of radioactivity. Its name is derived from the Latin for a bluish-gray color
Chernobyl The Chernobyl incident in Ukraine in 1986 was considered the worlds worst nuclear accident until now. A carbon-fed fire sent the radioactive elements high into the atmosphere affecting every country in Europe.
Chest X Ray Each chest x ray exposes you to about .04 mSv. A major surgery might require 1,000 x rays, which would result in 40 mSv. A single CT heart scan results in a 12 mSv exposure.
China Syndrome Theory that a molten nuclear core breeches its containment vessel (in the US) and proceeds through the Earths core all the way to China. This is not actually possible. (See Tierra del Fuego syndrome.)
Containment Building (or vessel) Reinforced concrete structure made to serve as final barrier to entrap radioactive gases
Earthquake Shaking of Earths crust due to underlying tectonic forces
Epicenter The center of the earthquake, ofter miles underground.
Fuel Rods The affected Japanese reactors have thousands of 12-foot long, zirconium-alloy fuel rods. Each contain thousands of uranium-oxide ceramic pellets. The fuel rods are densely packed into the reactor.
Fukushima 50 The fifty workers serving as the final defense against a catastrophic meltdown at Fukushima Daiichi.
Fukushima Daiichi The nuclear reactors site with six boiling water reactors. 1, 2 and 6 were built by General Electric. 3, 4 and 5 were built by Toshiba. Fukushima Daiichi is 241 km (150 miles) from Tokyo.
Half-Life The time it takes radioactive material to expend one half of its radioactivity. The longer the half-life, the more dangerous the material.
Hiroshima Bomb The Hiroshima atomic bomb was detonated on August 6, 1945. Its yield was estimated between 13 and 18 kilotons of TNT. It was set equivalent to a 6.2 magnitude quake.
IAEA International Atomic Energy Agency is headquartered in Vienna.
Indian Ocean Tsunami The Indian Ocean Tsunami on Boxing Day in 2004 resulted in waves over 18 meters (50 feet) high. Over 250,000 people were killed, some 5,000 km (3000 m) away.
International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES) The INES, introduced in1990 by the IAEA, has seven levels, with 1-3 considered incidents and 4-7, accidents. The Fukushima incident was recently moved from Level 4 to 5 (equivalent to Three Mile Island). Chernobyl is the only Level 7 accident on record.). The French Nuclear Agency suggests Fukushima to be a Level 6.
Iodine-131 Iodine-131 is a highly radioactive element that signifies at least a partial meltdown. The half-life of Iodine-131 is about 8 days, which means that it decays far faster than Cesium-137. The radioactive iodine is concentrated in the thyroid, however taking iodine potassium tablets fill the thyroid to capacity so the radioactive Iodine -131 is more likely to be excreted.
Krakatoa Indonesian Volcano that exploded in 1883 with a force equivalent to 8.5 magnitude (and some 200 megatons). Purported to be the loudest sound ever heard up to 5,000 km (or about 3,000 miles). The sound waves were measured to circle the earth seven times.
Linear No Threshold Model LNT basically it means that even a small exposure to radioactivity will increase the chance of cancer occurring in a corresponding small percentage of the population. The smaller the exposure, the smaller the risk, but the risk never falls to zero. The LNT model is generally accepted by most governments and scientific agencies, but is considered controversial in some scientific circles. This is why you hear conflicting views from experts on the cancer risk.
Meltdown When a core meltdown catastrophic melting of the core of a nuclear reactor due to a loss of cooling
No. 5 The earthquake was the fifth strongest since 1900.
Nuclear reactor Devices that use chain reactions of fissionable materials to boil water to create steam. The steam runs through turbines to create power.
Plate tectonics Theory that the continents rest on plates that drift into each other, causing earthquakes and mountain building
Prefecture States or Provinces of Japan. There are 47 prefectures.
Richter scale The logarithmic scale that measures the strength of an earthquake named after Charles Richter. It is a base-10 logarithmic scale. This means that an earthquake that measures 3.0 is 10 times more powerful that one measuring 2.0. The scale is open-ended, though the 1960 Chile quake measured at 9.6.
Sendai Earthquake At 9.0 the Sendai earthquake was the fifth largest since 1900. The Sendai quake was equivalent to about 100,000 Hiroshima-class bombs.
Sievert and millisievert (and millisievert) A unit of measurement for radiation dosage. According to the World Health Organization, the average person is exposed to about 3 millisieverts a year from natural sources and 3 mSv from human-made sources.
Three Mile Island In 1979 Unit No. 2 of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania experienced a partial meltdown. Later it was found that the molten radioactive material penetrated within 1 centimeter of breaking through the containment barrier. Because of its location and the prevailing wind patterns, the fallout could have traveled over the heavily populated Eastern Seaboard, passing over Philadelphia, New York and possibly Boston with a population of more than 30,000,000.
Tierra del Fuego Syndrome The China Syndrome when applied to the Far East (See China Syndrome.)
Tokyo Capital of Japan with more than 30,000,000 people in its metropolitan area.
Tsar Bomba The largest hydrogen bomb ever detonated, by the Soviet Union in 1961. It was about equal to a 7.8 magnitude quake in the general range of the San Francisco earthquake 0f 1908 and the Mount Saint Helens volcanic explosion in 1981.
Tsunami From the Japanese tsu (harbor) and nami (wave); waves caused by undersea land movement; usually caused by earthquakes. A tsunami gathers destructive force as it nears land. Depending on the configuration of the shoreline, wave rise over ten-times in height.
Two Packs a Day Smoking two packs of cigarettes a day exposes you to about 17 mSv per year. Smoke for a lifetime thats 850 mSv.
Tags: Black Swan, cesium-137, Chernobyl, chest xray, China Syndrome, containment building, containment vessel, CT scan, earthquake, earthquake magnitude, epicenter, fifth strongest earthquake, fuel rods, Fukushima, Fukushima Daiichi, half-life, Indian ocean tsunami, iodine-131, Japanese casualties, Krakatoa, Linear No Threshold Model, meltdown, millisievert, nuclear reactor, partial meltdown, plate tectonics, Prefecture, radiation exposure, sievert, speed of a tsunami, three mile island, tierra del fuego syndrome, tokyo, Tsar Bomba, Tsunami, Two packs a day
Posted in DisasterTracker | No Comments

 

Casualties in Japan Disasters could reach 25,000 or more

AUSTIN, Texas, March 14, 2011 According to Global Language Monitors NarrativeTracker Technology the ultimate number of casualties resulting from the Japanese Quake and Tsunami should ultimately climb to over 25,000 and possibly reaching 50,000, or more.

The depth of this tragedy is even deeper than what we had already imagined it to be said Paul JJ Payack, President and Chief Word Analyst of the Global Language Monitor. Only our understanding of the true magnitude of the tragedy, will enable us to move beyond it, to rebuild what needs to be rebuilt and renew what needs to be renewed. Our hearts and prayers go out to the families of those who were struck down and the survivors who carry on.

The analysis is based on NarrativeTrackers analytical methodologies. Statements by public, corporate and military officials as well as outside agencies and various experts were complied and examined with appropriate trendlines extrapolated. The progression has been noted from the earliest reports where casualties were said to be several hundred, then nearly a thousand and now in the tens of thousands.. At the same time, GLM noted the many reports of still-missing trains, ships, and good-sized villages where fewer than half the population has as not yet been accounted for.

The analysis compared trends in casualty-reporting with several disasters including the Haitian earthquake, Hurricane Katrina s inundation of New Orleans, and the Southeast Asia Tsunami.

The analysis assumes that there are no deaths associated with the partial meltdowns of a number of nuclear reactors. GLM notes that this is an analysis is an estimate that is based on trending factors and should be considered as such.

Posted in Analysis, DisasterTracker, NarrativeTracker, Top News | No Comments

 

You can read relevant articles from the GLM archive, such as “Five Years Later, Katrina Continues to Impact Language and “Media Abounds with Apocalyptic-based Messages in Wake of Katrina”.

 

 

Charlie Sheen Tops Gaga, Obama, Kate Middleton Palin in Social Media

However Ranks No. 18 in the Global Print and Electronic Media

Austin, TEXAS.  March 9, 2011.  If it seems as if the actor Charlie Sheen has been everywhere you look or listen, from your smart phone to the Internet to your favorite social media site, you are correct. In an exclusive analysis released earlier today, the Global Language Monitor has found that Sheen tops all Internet and social media discussions with followed by the iPad, Lady Gaga, President Obama and Sarah Palin. Rounding out the Top Ten were David Beckham, Bill Gates, Julian Assange, Nicolas Sarkozy and Kate Middleton.

“If it seems as if Charlie Sheen is everywhere you look or listen , that is because it is true He is everywhere and apparently everywhen,” said Paul JJ Payack, president and chief word analyst for the Global Language Monitor.   “The growing pervasiveness of Social Media only enhances this Global Echo Chamber. However, when you insert an editorial process in between the news and the audience Mr. Sheen tumbles to No. 18, following the major newsmakers of the time.”

Check the Reuters Story

The analysis was completed on March 8.  The analysis focused on individual people and things (such as the iPad). Broader topics, such as climate change the Mid-East Unrest were excluded from the analysis.  For this analysis, GLM analyzed the Internet, Blogosphere, and Social Media together. The Global Print and Electronic Media were analyzed separately. That analysis is discussed below.

The Top Twenty Persons of interest on the Internet and Social media list follows.

1 Charlie Sheen
2 iPad
3 Lady Gaga
4 Barack Obama
5 Sarah Palin
6 David Beckham
7 Bill Gates
8 Julian Assange
9 Nicolas Sarkozy
10 Kate Middleton
11 Hosni Mubarak
12 Muamaar Gaddafi
13 Bill Clinton
14 Queen Elizabeth II
15 Silvio Burlusconi
16 David Cameron
17 Angela Merkel
18 Vladimir Putin
19 Hu Jintao
20 Pope Benedict XVI
.

In the Top 75,000 Print and Electronic media sites Charlie Sheen ranks as No. 18, which shows what happens when you have an editorial process that helps discern which news is most significant for the reader. For those sites the Top Stories concerned Barack Obama, Nicolas Sarkozy, Hosni Muburak, Angela Merkel and David Cameron. Completing the Top Ten were Silvio Burlusconi, Julian Assange, Bill Clinton, Sarah Palin and lady Gaga.

The Top Twenty Persons of Interest in the Global Print and Electronic Media follows.

1 Barack Obama
2 Nicolas Sarkozy
3 Hosni Muburak
4 Angela Merkel
5 David Cameron
6 Silvio Burlusconi
7 Julian Assange
8 Bill Clinton
9 Sarah Palin
10 Lady Gaga
11 Vladimir Putin
12 Hu Jintao
13 Muamaar Gaddafi
14 iPad
15 Queen Elizabeth II
16 David Beckham
17 Kate Middleton
18 Charlie Sheen
19 Pope Benedict XVI
20 Bill Gates
.

The Global Language Monitor uses a proprietary algorithm, the Predictive Quantities Indicator (PQI) to track the frequency of words and phrases in the global print and electronic media, on the Internet, throughout the Blogosphere, as well as accessing proprietary databases. The PQI is a weighted Index, factoring in: long-term trends, short-term changes, momentum, and velocity.

About Global Language Monitor

Austin-based Global Language Monitor is the pioneer in web-based media analytics. Founded in Silicon Valley, GLM collectively documents, analyzes and tracks trends in language usage worldwide, with a particular emphasis upon the English language.

GLM is particularly known for its Word of the Year, political analysis, college and university rankings, High Tech buzzwords, and social media analytics. One of its algorithmic methodologies is the NarrativeTracker for Internet and social media analysis. NarrativeTracker is based on the national discourse, providing a real-time, accurate picture of what the public is saying about any topic, at any point in time. NarrativeTracker analyzes the Internet, blogosphere, the print and electronic media, as well as new social media sources (such as Twitter).

For more information, go to www.LanguageMonitor.com, call 1.512.801.6823, or email pjjp@post.harvard.edu.

Tags: Beckham, Bill Gates, Burlusconi, Charlie Sheen, IPad, Julian Assange, Kate Middleton, Lady Gaga, Merkel. Cameron, Muiburak, Obama, Sarah Palin, Sarkozy
Posted in NarrativeTracker, Predictive Quantities Indicator, Social Media | No Comments

Social Media Have Become Warrior Media

Social Media as a Strategic Weapon

By Edward ML Peters and Paul JJ Payack

Austin, Texas. March 1, 2011 An analysis by the Global Language Monitor has found that a new weapon has recently been detected in the worlds strategic arsenal.

According to Paul JJ Payack, President and Chief Word Analyst of GLM, To the uninitiated, it might appear to be part neutron bomb, which destroys only living things with little collateral damage, part some as yet unidentified weapon, which has the ability topple dictators, regimes and unsuspecting governments while rendering both living things and physical structures unharmed.

We are speaking, of course, about Social Media (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc.), which have the apparent ability to re-align the social order in real time, with little or no advanced warning.

In June 2009, we named Web 2.0 the 1,000,000th word in Global English.  Many in the media were confused by our definition: the next generation of products and services from the web, currently beyond imagination.  Later in 2009, we named Twitter the word of the year.  Some were surprised when we defined Twitter as the ability to encapsulate human thought in 140 characters. They were thinking of Twitter as a means for BFFs to gratuitously unfriend each other. We were thinking of it as a radical new form of communication.

Social Media is adhering to its etymological roots more tightly than one might expect. The word social ultimately derives from secg, an Old English word for warrior. The social media warrior now understands that the role of social media is not a fad but a mechanism to better understand socio-economic trends and issues in real time.

So it is even more surprising that the events of the last six weeks in the Middle East appear to have come as a shock to the Western Powers and Global Media.

Again.

Three years ago the media was shocked when an unexpected series of financial events set the global financial markets spinning out-of-control. In retrospect, we now see that only the strongest intervention of the Western Central Banks prevented what was horrific into becoming something downright catastrophic. The Western economies still suffer from the consequences.

A few month later, the media was shocked by the unprecedented run of a relatively unknown and untested Black man to the presidency to the United States. (Undoubtedly, it would have been shocked if his primary nemesis, the current US Secretary of State, had successfully navigated her campaign to become the first female president of the United States.)

Then a year ago, the media was shocked by 1) the rise of the Tea Party, 2) the shellacking the President took in the Mid-term elections, and 3) now the upheavals in the Middle Eastern world that appear to have come as a shock to both the Western Powers and Global Media.

At least we are consistent in our on-going sense of shock.

The question becomes why do we continue to be shocked whenever we witness this new reality foisted upon us by means of communications never before imagined Obviously, even to the casual observer, there is an on-going global transformation of industries, wealth and influence as evidenced by the evolving role of nation-states, the rise of Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs), and the proliferation of trans-national causes and corporations that is apparently out of the span of command of many contemporary institutions.

Read More From These Authors on The Hill

The question remains: why the surprise Why the sense of shock Weve seen this all before, but have apparently lacked the vision to put it all together. A common thread among recent strategic advances is that all are new forms of communications. We should keep this in mind and not dismiss social media as a passing fad for the young and foolish, but rather as new tools, new social instruments, or even strategic weapons that can, will and are having societal and strategic influences around the globe today.

So once again we have a list of surprises to confront:

People voting with their thumbs
Simultaneous uprisings in the Middle East
Long-ingrained totalitarian dictatorships falling
Christian and Muslim groups celebrating together
And our astonishment only continues to grow as the future unfolds.

After all, weve never seen anything like this before.

Again.

Tags: Facebook, Middle East Uprisings, NGO, Social Media, Strategic Weapons, Twitter, YouTube
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Did Watson Really Beat Humans on Jeopardy We Think Not!

Analysis into the natural language processing claim.

AUSTIN, TEXAS. March 1, 2011 An analysis by the Global Language Monitor has found that Watson, the IBM Computer specifically designed to compete on the Jeopardy television show was not the victory of a machine tackling natural language processing that many had been led to believe but rather a a massive marketing coup, as described in the Boston Globe.

When Watson bested two live-wear, carbon-based lifeforms named Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter, on the Jeopardy Television show a few days ago, it was widely viewed as a great advance in natural language processing. Natural Language Processing is concerned with the interactions between computers and human (natural) languages.

As Ben Zimmer in the New York Times put it, Watson ‘came through with flying colors.’ And he was certainly not alone in his judgment. There were many comparisons to the John Henry man vs. machine tale where the legendary steel-driving railroad man challenges a steam hammer, and wins, only to collapse and die shortly thereafter. It appeared as if the entire media went a little bit gaga (no pun intended) with stories on this great milestone in cyber (and possibly human) history.

Is this analysis true As Steve Colbert might put it, there is some truthiness in the statement. Watson did, in fact, best his human competitors, but if we are to speaking truthiness to power, we should ensure that we fully understand the nature of the competition.

“Comments like the above missed the mark for a very simple reason”, said Paul JJ Payack, President and Chief Word Analyst at GLM. “Watson did not prove adept at processing language in a manner similar to humans. In fact, computers have dramatically failed at this task for four decades now. What Watson has accomplished is a far cry from natural language processing”.

Rather what Watson achieved was a very close approximation of appearing as if it had acquired an acuity at understanding of the English language. This, in itself, is an accomplishment to be acknowledged. (But as in the old joke goes about a dog talking, its not that it was done well but rather that it was done at all.) After all, Watson was designed from the ground up as a question-answering machine, as IBM readily admits. However this, in itself, is not quite accurate because Watson was specifically built as a Jeopardy game-show answering machine .

One problem is that few commentators understand what it means to actually program a computer at all, let alone the machine coding which might be construed as the most basic unit of computer thought. Even those who are familiar with todays coding techniques are familiar with HTML or a variation of C++ or Linux, etc. All of these languages are as distant from machine coding technology as they are from understanding the mathematics of the Higgs boson and why it has been described as the God particle at CERN. Unfortunately, there will be no friendly, Watson-like, avatar that will announce from the CERN lab that the God Particle has been identified, when and if ever. We might also find out about that discovery when (as has been estimated by the CERN staff) the acceptable risk the 1 out of 50,000,000 chance hits and the whole enterprise results in the destruction of the entire planet though the creation of an, admittedly small, black hole.

The field of artificial intelligence has for decades been handicapped with the idea of emulating humans; whether their thinking, their speaking, their chess-playing ability or their ability to perambulate. To make the advances we have seen recently, computer scientists had to literally re-think (and in many cases reverse) their earlier positions.

The key, as found in recent research, is not to emulate humans; rather the key is to define machine logic or how would a machine do it, given its capabilities and limitations. In other words do not attempt to see like the human eye sees but attempt to see as a machine would see. Rather than teach a machine everything there is to know about how a human gets around, the task becomes to teach a machine the few basic rules it needs to move forward, back up and to work around obstacles. This is much different than a baby learning how to crawl which involves cognition, motor skills, sight, volition, and the sense of feel.

In the same way most would construe natural language processing would be the ability to understand basic sentences, concepts or instructions in a straight-forward manner. Is this what Watson accomplished. Consider the following:

Heres what Watson needed to handle the natural language of Jeopardy.

90 IBM Power 750 servers
Each of the 90 IBM Power 750 servers is equipped with eight processors
A total 2,880 Central Processing Units (CPUs)
1 network-attached storage (NAS) cluster
21.6TB of data
15 full-time technical professionals, as well any number of advisors and consultants
5 years of development time
1,000s of computer algorithms to run simultaneously
1 overlying algorithm to review the results of all the others
1 power robotic finger
Incidentally, the effort required a minimum of $100,000,000 funding for personnel, some $25,000,000 in equipment, as well as all the costs associated with cooling, administration, transportation, and the like.

All of this reminds us of Gary Kasparov losing the famous chess match to IBMs Deep Blue back in 1997. IBM was allowed to modify its program between games. In effect, this let IBM programmers compensate for any Deep Blue weaknesses Kasparov exposed during the game. How, in any way, could this be considered a level playing field Once this was discovered, Kasparov requested a rematch, but IBM had already dismantled Deep Blue.

As for those comparisons with the legendary iron-driving man, we have one piece of advice: John Henry, call your lawyer.

Note: Each year GLM releases the Top High Tech Words Everyone Uses But Nobody Quite Understands. This years edition will be released in conjunction with SXSWi on March 13, 2011.

Tags: Alex Trebek, Brad Rutter, carbon-based lifeforms, IBM, Jeopardy, Ken Jennings, liveware, Natural language processing, SXSWi, Watson
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Kate Middleton Tops Gaga for Top Fashion Buzzword

The Annual Analysis by the Global Language Monitor

Austin, TX February 8, 2011 Kate Middleton, the commoner set to marry Prince William in Westminster Abbey on April 29th who is having a most uncommon effect upon the world of fashion, was declared the Top Fashion Buzzword of the upcoming season by the Global Language Monitor (GLM). Knock-offs of Kate s royal blue Issa dress that she wore to her engagement announcement, sold out on-line within hours.

Top Fashion Capitals here

Kate dethrones Lady Gaga, the enigmatic performance artist, nee Stefani Germanotta, who fell to No. 2. MObamna, Michelle Obama s moniker as a fashion icon, moved back into the Top Ten after a lackluster 2010. Recently criticized for wearing an Alexander McQueen gown to a state dinner, MObama responded, Look, women, wear what you love. Thats all I can say. Thats my motto. This is the first time that three names broke into the top ten of GLM s annual ranking.

Rounding out the top ten after Kate and Gaga were Sheer, Shirt Dresses, Sustainable Style, Articulated Platforms, MoBama, Stripes, and Monet Redux (flowers everywhere).

New York Fashion Week begins February 10th and kicks off the global calendar, immediately followed by London, Milan, and Paris.

Fashion provides an oasis of personal expression to millions around the world in these sometimes troubling times, said Bekka Payack, the Global Language Monitor s Manhattan-based fashion correspondent. Accordingly, the upcoming season will provide women with an eclectic palette of globally influenced fashion choices.

The words were chosen from the global fashion media and nominated by key fashionistas from around the world. This exclusive ranking is based on GLM s TrendTopper MediaBuzz technologies that track words and phrases in print and electronic media, on the Internet and throughout the blogosphere, now including social media. The words and phrases are tracked in relation to their frequency, contextual usage and appearance in global media outlets.

 

The Top Fashion Buzzwords with commentary follow:

Kate Middleton Kate dethrones Lady Gaga as the No. 1 fashion buzzword for the upcoming season, reaching a crescendo on the occasion of her April 29th wedding to Prince William.
Lady Gaga Gaga s global influence continues unabated especially among her ever-growing legions of little monsters (reportedly surpassing the 8,000,000 mark).
Sheer Translucent, transparent and transcendent again en vogue for the season.
Shirt Dresses From the Upper East Side to 6th Street in Austin to LaJolla, California shirt dresses are everywhere (and everywhen).
Sustainable Style Clothing make of recycled fabrics now entering the mainstream.
Articulated Platforms Move over Armadillos, platforms are taking on a life of their own, now to be found with every type of embellishments from McQueen inspired butterflys, to florals and feathers. What s new Flatforms.
MoBama Moving up the list again after a lackluster 2010.
Stripes Classic black and white stripes with striking mathematically inspired motifs.
Flowers Everywhere Monet redux: As if Monet updated his water lily meme to the 21st c. catwalk.
Blocked Colors Bright and bold, color blocks are ever so popular (and fashionable).
Edun Mrs. Bono s (Ali Hewson) line of ethical couture gets a boost with the Louis Vuitton for Edun bag.
White Shirts Clean and crisp for a classic, say Aubrey Hepburn, look.
Fruit vs. Fruit Salad Either way fruit is big (as are animals). Veggies Not so much.
Leggins Flourishing around the globe. Women voting with their feet, er, legs.
Anime Anime inspired looks with big eyes and pursed lips; definitely not haute but hot, especially among young Asians.
That 70s Look The Neo-Bohemian, updated from the 60s but cleaner and more refined.
Embellishments Embellishments now encompass tassels, pewter, sequins and studs to anything else that works.
Black Swan Natalie Portman s adds to the ever-popular ballerina meme.
Yama Girls Trekking outfits include fleece miniskirts brightly colored leggings and style-conscious boots.
Jersey Shore wear Unsophisticated, tawdry, outrageous, And definitely not to be seen in polite company. But that s precisely the point, isn t it.
Global Fashion Capitals

Each Summer, the Global LanguageMonitor ranks the Top Fashion Capitals by Internet presence. New York has regained the title of World Fashion Capital of 2010, after being bested by Milan in 2009 according to the Global Language Monitor s annual survey. Topping the list for 2010 are New York, Hong Kong, London, Paris, and Los Angeles. Milan, Sydney, Miami Barcelona and Madrid followed. This was the first time the two Iberian cities were ranked in the Top Ten.

Top movers included Hong Kong, Madrid and Melbourne. In the battle for the Subcontinent Mumbai again outdistanced Delhi, while Sao Paulo continued its leadership over Rio, Buenos Aires and Mexico City in Latin America. Top newcomers to the expanded list included No.17 Amsterdam, Nos. 23 and 25 Cape Town and Johannesburg, No. 27 Vienna and No. 32, Bali.

Tags: Fashion, Fashion Week, Lady Gaga, MObama
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Obama Echoes Lincoln and King in Dignified Tucson Memorial Address

Could presage a new narrative for the president

AUSTIN, Texas January 13, 2011 Echoing Lincoln, King, and, even, Bill Clinton, President Barack Obama gave his strongest speech, perhaps since his Yes, We Can! victory speech delivered in Chicagos Grant Park last November.

The president delivered the speech with the cadence of a eulogy to the packed audience of some 12,000 at the University of Arizonas McKale Memorial Center. The crowd had none of the hallmarks of a hand-selected, pre-screened crowd that we have come to expect for such occasions; tickets were distributed on a first-come first-served basis.

Obamas remarks echoed Lincoln and Martin Luther King in at least two respects: 1) the use of scriptural passages to set the tone, 2) and the emphasis on worthiness and living up to expectations of the children, particularly those of Cristina Green, the inspirational nine-year old girl, who was born on September 11, 2001.

Structurally, the address was nearly identical to his Yes, We Can! speech, Martin Luther Kings I have a Dream, and Lincolns Gettysburg Address . Though delivered to differing audiences in different eras, the speeches each had nearly identical understandability statistics in terms of grammatical constructions, rhetorical elements, tone and vocabulary. In terms of empathetic concern, he echoed Bill Clinton, who was often referred to as the Mourner in Chief with his I feel your pain mantra.

It was a somber, sorrowful message filled with future-related, hopeful constructions with words such as hope, light, and love address delivered to a respectfully attentive crowd. With the 2010 Mid-term elections now in his wake, this can be an opportunity to begin a new narrative for the remainder of Obama s term.

Tags: Abraham Lincoln, Bill Clinton, Book of Job, Cristina Green. Tucson, Gabby, Gettysburg Address, Grant Park, I Have a Dream, Job, Martin Luther King, Obama, Psalms, Readability, Rhetorical Flourish, tone, Understandability, University of Arizona, vocabulary, We Can, Yes
Posted in Obama, Obama Tracker | 2 Comments

 

Top 300 Colleges and Universities Ranked by Internet Brand Equity

Wisconsin Tops Chicago and Harvard in Universities; Davidson over Occidental and Williams in Colleges

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Historic Re-alignment of what is considered an elite school

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AUSTIN, Texas January 11, 2011 (Updated) The University of Wisconsin at Madison, one of the nations most storied land-grant institutions, leaped over Chicago, Harvard, MIT, Columbia and two-time defending No. 1 (and fellow Big Ten academic powerhouse) Michigan, as the Top University according to the TrendTopper MediaBuzz Internet analysis released by the Global Language Monitor.

There have now had three different schools taking the top spot for Universities in the last three years: Harvard, Michigan and now Wisconsin. As for Harvard, it slipped to No. 3, while the University of Chicago moved into the No. 2 spot. Cornell University and the University of California at Berkeley broke into the Top Ten, knocking out Stanford and Princeton. UCLA also fell out of the Top Ten. Other big movers included Georgetown, California-Davis and CalTech, each moving up 10 or more spots.

The flight to quality continues unabated. The savvy consumer of the education marketplace appears centered on the price-sensitive public ivies and technology-centered schools, as well as on-line alternatives. The solidly performing little ivies are now now fairly well distributed across the country and are holding their own, said Paul JJ Payack, President of the Global Language Monitor. One aftermath of the recent recession is that consumers understand that it is smart not to accept retail pricing and that colleges are no different in this regard from any other institution.

The TrendTopper MediaBuzz Rankings are a way of seeing the schools through the eyes of the world at large. It is a democratic, self-generating ratings system, since it captures the brand equity associated with each of these fine institutions. GLM s TrendTopper MediaBuzz Rankings actually removes all bias inherent in each of the other published rankings, since they actually reflect what is being said and stated on the billions of web pages that we measure.

The TrendTopper MediaBuzz Analysis uses the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching s classifications as the basis to distinguish between Universities and Liberal Arts Colleges. The schools were ranked in the last week of December with a mid-year snapshot, and the last day of 2009 as the base.

TrendTopper MediaBuzz utilizes a mathematical model that normalizes the data collected from the Internet, social media, and blogosphere as well as the top 75,000 print and electronic media. The end result is a non-biased analytical tool that provides a gauge of relative values among various institutions, as well as measures of how that value changes over time.

The Top Ten Universities by the TrendTopper MediaBuzz Internet rankings follow.

1. Univ. of Wisconsin Madison

2. University of Chicago

3. Harvard University

4. Mass. Institute of Technology

5. Columbia University

6. Univ. of Michigan Ann Arbor

7. Cornell University

8. University of CaliforniaBerkeley

9. Yale University

10. University of Texas Austin

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The Top Twenty Universities now include four Ivy League schools, four Public Ivy s (two from the Big Ten), one technological institute and the always formidable University of Chicago.

The College category also produced a new No. 1, Davidson College of North Carolina. This is the fourth different college to take the top spot since these rankings began which now have been represented by the West (Colorado College), the East (Wellesley College) and the Midwest (Carleton College). Wellesley was also the only Womens College to top a general college ranking.

Davidson, as well as L.A. s Occidental College (where President Obama spent his first year in college) both leaped over the Little Three (Amherst, Williams and Wesleyan University) as well as all three previous No. 1 s.

The Top Ten Colleges by the TrendTopper MediaBuzz Internet rankings follow.

1. Davidson College

2. Occidental College

3. Williams College

4. Wesleyan University

5. Carleton College

6. Amherst College

7. Bucknell University

8. Oberlin College

9. United States Air Force Academy

10. Pomona College

The Top Ten among colleges included Bucknell, Oberlin, Pomona and the US Air Force Academy. The Top Twenty included the Little Three, four of the former Seven Sisters (though Vassar is now co-ed), two Patriot League schools, two US Service Academies, the top Catholic College in the US (College of the Holy Cross), two of the Claremont Colleges, and two schools that are not included in the traditional college rankings: the Juilliard School and Pratt Institute, both in New York City.

The TrendTopper MediaBuzz Rankings are the only to include specialty schools, such as Art, Business, Design, Music, as well as Internet-based (and for-profit) All these were included in the College category with the exception of the online university, which was assigned to the University category.

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In addition, the BOC notation signifies Best of Class; it is noted for those schools that are either first in the overall ranking, or first in a specific classification.
Top in the US/Best of Class (BOC) designation was awarded for:
[Read More]

Download your TrendTopper MediaBuzz College Guide for only $9.97!

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Tags: top colleges
Posted in TrendTopper Media Buzz, top colleges | 28 Comments

Wikileaks declared English-language Word
By: PJJP
Published: December 21st, 2010
Another New Media Company that Passes into the Language

AUSTIN, Texas December 21, 2010 WikiLeaks.ch, which that has increasingly upped the ante of the kind of information that it leaks into the public sphere from anonymous sources, has been deemed an English language word by the Global language Monitor. GLM recognizes a word as being part of the English language once it meets the requisite criteria of geographic reach as well as depth and breadth of recorded usage.

In the case of wikileaks, the word appeared sporadically in the global media in 2006 until it has now been cited more than 300 million times, even with a quick Google search. This, of course, correlates with WikiLeaks most recent release of diplomatic correspondence and other classified government information. GLM standards include a minimum of 25,000 citations of a new term in the global media that encompass the English-speaking world, which now encompasses some 1.58 billion people. (In 1960, there were about 250 million English speakers, mostly in former British colonies.)

Wikileaks joins a number of new media and high technology companies whose names and functions are being incorporated into the language, said Paul JJ Payack, President and Chief Word Analyst of Austin-based Global Language Monitor. These include Google, Twitter and the friending function of Facebook. The most recent language spin-off from Google appears to be Xoogler, referring to ex-Google employees who bring their talents to other start-ups.

The word wiki is Hawaiian in origin and is usually defined as quick or fast especially when used in rapid succession: wiki, wiki, wiki!. In computing, a wiki describes software that lets any user create or edit Web-server content. The WikiLeaks organization was originally set-up as a wiki.

There is no official English language institution charged with maintaining the purity of the English language and to maintain vigilance of the corrupting influence of other languages. English accepts any and all contenders as long as they meet the requisite criteria of geographic reach as well as depth and breadth of usage. The LAcad mie fran aise is the official arbiter of the French language; it has famously declared the word email (as well as hamburger ) verboten from official French correspondence. The Royal Spanish Academy serves the same function for the Spanish language; it has recently eliminated two letters from the Spanish alphabet to the howl of Spanish speakers outside Spain.

The most recent words acknowledged by the Global Language Monitor include refudiate a malapropism coined by Sarah Palin, vuvuzela the brightly colored plastic horns made (in)famous at the South African World Cup, and snowmageddon that President Obama used to described the winter storms that nearly shut down Washington, DC during the recent winter.

Tags: Facebook, Google, L’Acad mie fran aise, President Obama, Refudiate, Royal Spanish Academy, Sarah Palin, snowmageddon, South African World Cup, Twitter. xoogler, Vuvuzela, Wikileaks
Posted in High Tech Buzzwords | 13 Comments

 

Top News Stories of 2010 by Internet Ranking

South African World Cup tops iPad Launch and Rise of China; US Healthcare Reform & Wikileaks follow

First time a product launch contends for the top spot; First time a sporting event reaches the top spot

Austin, TX December 19, 2009 In an exclusive global analysis performed by the Global Language Monitor, the Top News Stories of 2010 are South African World Cup, the iPad Launch, the Rise of China, US Healthcare Reform, and Wikileaks. The Tea Party movement, the fall of Obama, the Gulf Oil Spill, Haitian Earthquake, and the Political Anger and Rage witnessed in the major western economies, followed. The list is notable for two firsts: the first time a sporting event tops the list and the first time a product launch contends for the top spot.

Chinese Dignitaries

The globe has witnessed the major news sources of the 20th century fragment into thousands of micro-focused outlets in the twenty-first. At the same time, the major global media are playing an ever-more important role when major events occur, as aggregate communities for shared experiences, said Paul JJ Payack, President and Chief Word Analyst of the Global Language Monitor, the media analytics and trend tracking company. For these reasons we performed two independent analyses. The first focused on the number of citations found over the course of the year on the Internet, blogosphere, and social media sites. The second focused on the top 75,000 print and electronic media sites. Finally, the two analyses were normalized with the final results appearing here.

The Top News Stories of 2010 follow.

Rank/Story/Comment

1. South African World Cup The South African World Cup towered over all other news stories.

2. iPad A product launch is the No. 2 worldwide news story!

3. Rise of China Top Story of the First Decade of the 21st century, still very strong.

4. Health Care Reform The debate over the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Ac t continues unabated.

5. Wikileaks Not a wiki in the usual sense of an open environment which anyone can edit, the story of revealed institutional secrets that will continue to resonate well into 2011.

6. Tea Party The US political movement which emphasizes scaled back government intrusion, influence and spending.

7. Fall of Obama His fall is relative to the great heights to which he ascended.

8. Gulf Oil Spill An unprecedented environmental catastrophe broadcast live around the world via the BP Spillcam.

9. Haitian Earthquake Hundreds of thousands killed, millions displaced and the agony continues.

10. Political Anger and Rage Frustration in the US and much of the developed world about the financial and political situation.

11. EU Financial Crisis The economies of Ireland, Portugal, Greece and Spain threaten to consume Billions of Euros in bailouts.

12. Shanghai Expo The Grand Gathering of the World Cultures was visited by some 70 million in 2010.

13. Growth of Facebook With 400 million members it now touts itself as the fourth largest nation on the planet. However, there is no word of UN membership or plans for a standing army.

14. Pakistan Floods Garnered more attention worldwide than in the US.

15. Scott Brown Election The turnover of the Kennedy seat after half a century to this upstart, pickup-driving Republican caused quite a stir.

16. Tiger Woods Previously notable for the first golfer to earn a billion dollars, the news of his serial infidelities continues to impact the golf world.

17. British coalition government David Cameron and Nick Clegg lead a new coalition into power.

18. Chilean Miners The dramatic saga and rescue of Los 33, provided riveting drama (and television) to a world weary of disheartening news.

19. Polish President Killed Lech Kaczynski, his wife, and dozens of high government officials died en route to a memorial service honoring the 20,000 Poles who died in the Katyn forest.

20. Global economic restructuring Also known as the Great Recession in the US, but felt worldwide especially among developed Western nations.

21. Vuvuzela The brightly colored plastic horns that caused much consternation at the South African World Cup.

23. Ground Zero Mosque Officially known as 45 Park Place, the controversial Islamic center planned a few blocks north of Ground Zero.

24. Icelandic Volcano The unpronounceable Eyjafjallaj kull volcano that disrupted air travel over much of Northern Europe.

25. Snowmageddon The unusually heavy snowfalls that virtually shut down Washington, DC during an exceptionally snowy winter.

Tags: China, Eyjafjallajoekull, FIFA World Cup, Gulf Oil Spill 2010, gulf Spill, healthcare reform, iPad launch, Obama, Obamamania, Sarah Palin, Social Media, Social Networking, South African World Cup, Top News Stories of 2010. Top News of 2010
Posted in Top words | 1 Comment

 

Top Words of 2011, Yes 2011

Published: December 6th, 2010
AUSTIN, Texas December 8, 2010 (Updated) The Global Language Monitor has announced the Top Words of 2011, yes 2011.

Typically, we gather our top words throughout the year and rank them according to the number of citations, the size and depth of their linguistic footprint and momentum. To project possible top words for 2011, we analyzed the categories that we monitor and then choose words from each representative of various word trends, said Paul JJ Payack, President and Chief Word Analyst of GLM. Over the last ten years, we ve frequently been asked the question, so this year we are providing our projections.

The words are culled from throughout the English-speaking world, which now numbers more than 1.58 billion speakers.

Projected Top Words of 2011 Rank / Word / Comments

Twenty-Eleven The English-speaking world has finally agreed on a common designation for the year: Twenty-eleven far outstrips two thousand eleven in the spoken language. This is welcome relief from the decade-long confusion over how to pronounce 2001, 2001, 2003, etc.
Obama-mess David Letterman s neologism for 2010 also works for 2011. This word is neutral. If Obama regain his magic, he escaped his Obama-mess; if his rating sinks further he continues to be engulfed by it.
Great Recession Even the best case scenario has the economy digging out of this hole for the foreseeable future,
Palinism Because the media needs an heir to Bushisms and Sarah Palin is the candidate of choice here.
TwitFlocker Can t say what the name of the next Twitter or Facebook will be, so we ll use TwitFlocker as the place holder. (What is TwitFlocker Join the Discussion Here.)
3.0 2.0 has settled into the vocabulary in a thousand differing forms Obama 2.0, Web 2.0, Lindsey Lohan 2.0, so we project 3.0 being used to one-up the 2.0 trend.
9/11 Next September is the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on US soil, so there is sure to be a great resurgence in use of the phrase.
Climate Change (or global warming) Both of these phrases have been in the Top Ten for the last decade, so we see no reason the English-speaking public will abandon either or both of the phrases.
China/Chinese The emergence of China is the Top Story of the Decade and there is little indication that is emergence on the world stage will continue in the media.
Hobbit and/or Parseltongue The blockbuster movies of 2011 will be sure to include Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 and the Hobbit (though the Hobbit premiers on Dec. 31) are sure to spin out some word or phrase that will remain memorable to the Earthly-audience.
For methodology, see Top Words of 2010 announcement.

Tags: 2.0, 20-11, 2011, 3.0, 9/11, Bushism, Chinese, Climate change, David Letterman, Deathly Hollows, Emergence of China, Facebook, global warming, Great recession, Harry Potter, Hobbit, Obama-mess, Palinism, Parseltongue, Refudiate, SEO, SMS, Top Words of 2011, Trending, trends, TrendTopper, Twenty-eleven, TwitFlocker, Twitter, Web 2.0 Lindsey Lohan 2.0
Posted in Top words | 1 Comment

 

Top Words of 2010

Spillcam is the Top Word, Anger and Rage the Top Phrase
and Chinese Leader Hu Jintao the Top Name

AUSTIN, Texas November 27, 2010 (Updated) The Global Language Monitor has announced that Spillcam is the Top Word, Anger and Rage the Top Phrase and Chinese Leader Hu Jintao the Top Name of 2010 in its annual global survey of the English language. Spillcam was followed by Vuvuzela, the Narrative, Refudiate, and Guido. Deficit, Snowmageddon, 3-D, Shellacking and Simplexity rounded out the Top 10.

Our top words this year come from an environmental disaster, the World Cup, political malapropisms, new senses to ancient words, a booming economic colossus, and a heroic rescue that captivated the world for days on end. This is fitting for a relentlessly growing global language that is being taken up by thousands of new speakers each and every day, said Paul JJ Payack, President of The Global Language Monitor.

The words are culled from throughout the English-speaking world, which now numbers more than 1.58 billion speakers.

Methodology: The Global Language Monitors WOTY was conceived in 1999 as a way to create a cultural record of the year as reflected in the worlds current global language, English. Previous efforts were decided by small groups of academics or lexicographers; our idea was to reflect the words used by the worlds 1.5 billion English Speakers.

Accordingly, GLM monitors million of web pages on the Internet, Blogosphere, and social media in addition to over 80,000 print and electronic media sites. In this way we search for words that are the most relevant to various aspects of culture, such as world events (the rise of China, the South Asian Tsunami), politics (the election of Obama to the US Presidency), prominent deaths (Pope John Paul II, Michael Jackson), war and terror (Iraq, Afghanistan and the Terrorist Attacks on the US and London), film (Jai Ho!, Brokeback), sports (Beijing Olympics, South African World Cup), and the like. We then use our analytical engine to determine the number of citations for the words, their prominence, how quickly they are rising or falling in use, and the geographic breadth and depth (various forms of publication) of their use.

 

The Top Words of 2010

Rank / Word / Comments

1. Spillcam The BP Spillcam instantly beamed the immensity of the Gulf Spill around the world to the dismay of environmentalists, BP s PR staff and the President.

2. Vuvuzela Brightly colored plastic horns that first came to prominence at the South African World Cup.

3. The Narrative Though used at least since The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass in 1845, The Narrative has recently been gaining traction in the political arena, virtually replacing the need for a party s platform. (Cf. to truthily .)

4. Refudiate Conflation of refute and repudiate (un)officially coined by Sarah Palin.

5. Guido and Guidette Hey! All things Jersey are hot, capish (Actually, capisci in standard Italian.)

6. Deficit A growing and possibly intractable problem for the economies of most of the developed world.

7. Snowmagedden (and Snowpocalypse ) Portmanteau words linking snow with apocalypse and armageddon , used to describe the record snowfalls in the US East Coast and Northern Europe last winter.

8. 3-D Three-dimensional (as in movies) is buffo box office this year, but 3-D is being used in new ways generally describing robustness in products (such as toothpaste).

9. Shellacking President Obama s description of the old-fashioned thumpin in George W. Bush s words, that Democrats received in the 2010 US Mid-term elections.

10. Simplexity The paradox of simplifying complex ideas in order to make them easier to understand, the process of which only adds to their complexity.

Also Noted: (Spoken Only) Twenty-ten: Finally, a common way to refer to the year; Obamacare (noted as one of the Top Political Buzzwords).

 

The Top Phrases of 2010

Rank / Phrase / Comments

1. Anger and Rage Characterizations of the US electorate by the pundits, though closer analyses has revealed more frustration and disappointment. Also witnessed in France, Spain and Greece.

2. Climate Change (and Global Warming) No. 1 Phrase for the first decade of the 21st century; starts out second decade at No. 2.

3. The Great Recession The media term frequently used to describe the on-going global economic restructuring.

4. Teachable Moment Turning any undesirable outcome into a positive opportunity by using it as an object lesson. Unfortunately, there were a plethora of teachable moments in the first year of the new decade.

5. Tea Party An emerging political movement in the US that has upset the balance of power in the US Congress.

6. Ambush Marketing Cashing in at an event by taking on the appearance of a sponsor of the event. Most obviously displayed at the Vancouver Winter Olympics and South Africa s World Cup 2010.

7. Lady Gaga Gaga, herself, became a buzzword in the global entertainment industry in 2010.

8. Man Up This election cycle s signature retort from the women running for office to their male opponents.

9. Pass the bill to be able to see whats in it Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi s now infamous quip underlying the complexity of the Healthcare Reform legislation.

10. Obamamania Notable only in it fall from grace; Obamamania now ranks at the bottom of this year s political buzzwords.

Also Noted Dont Touch My Junk: One reaction to the TSA new search policies.

 

The Top Names of 2009

Rank / Name / Comments

1. Hu President Hu Jintao, paramount leader of China. Rise of China was the No. 1 Story of the 1st decade of the 21st century; now Hu begins the second decade in the top spot.

2. IPad With over eight million sold in a matter of months, the IPad is now a name on everybody s lips. (Sorry, Steve Jobs, the IPads tests better than you.)

3. Barack Obama President of the United States has had a tough sophomore year.

4. Chilean Coal Miners The ordeal and heroic rescue is perhaps the top inspirational story of the year.

5. Eyjafjallajoekull Does a name that no one can pronounce deserve a spot on a top name s list

6. Nancy Pelosi Speaker of the US House of Representatives, presided over the passing of the healthcare reform bill and the decimation of her party in the Mid-term elections.

7. Sarkozy Nicolas Paul St phane Sark zy de Nagy-Bocsa, the current French president, is attempting to re-define what it means to be citizen of the Republic.

8. Tea Party Leaderless movement in US political circles, the center of much of the angst in the electorate.

9. Jersey Shore Not quite the Cote d Azure, The Shore, as the locals call it, is now known as a breeding ground for guidos and guidettes.

10. David Cameron and Nick Clegg The leaders of the UK s new coalition government.

Also Noted Kate Middleton, recently engaged to Prince William.

 

Top Words of the Decade:

The Top Words of the Decade were Global Warming, 9/11, and Obama outdistance Bailout, Evacuee, and Derivative; Google, Surge, Chinglish, and Tsunami followed.

Climate Change was top phrase; Heroes was top name.

Previous Words of the Year include:

2009:

Top Words: No. 1 Twitter, No. 2 Obama-, No. 3 H1N1

Top Phrases: No. 1 King of Pop, No. 2 Obama-mania, No. 3 Climate Change

Top Names: No. 1 Obama, No. 2 Michael Jackson, No. 3 Mobama

2008:

Top Words: No. 1 Change, No. 2 Bailout, No. 3 Obama-mania

Top Phrases: No. 1 Financial Tsunami, No. 2 Global Warming, No. 3 Yes, We Can!

Top Names: No. 1 Barack Obama, No. 2 George W. Bush, No.3 Michael Phelps

2007:

Top Words: No. 1 Hybrid (representing all things green), No. 2: Surge

Top Phrase: Climate Change

Top Name: Al Gore

2006:

Top Word: Sustainable

Top Phrase: Stay the Course

Top Name: Dafur

2005:

Top Words: No. 1, Refugee No. 2: Tsunami No. 3: Katrina

Top Phrase: Outside the Mainstream

Top Name: (acts of ) God

 

2004:

Top Word: Incivility (for inCivil War)

Top Phrase: Red States/Blue States No. 2: Rush to War

Top Name: Dubya/Rove

2003:

Top Word: Embedded

Top Phrase: Shock and Awe, No. 2: Rush to War

Top Name: Saddam Hussein, No. 2 Dubya

2002:

Top Word: Misunderestimate

Top Phrase: Threat Fatigue

Top Name: W (Dubya)

2001:

Top Word: Ground Zero

Top Phrase: Lets Roll

Top Name: The Heros

2000:

Top Word: Chad

Top Phrase: Dot.com

Top Name: W (Dubya)

Tags: 3-d, ambush marketing, anger and rage, Chilean Coal Miners, Climate change, David Cameron, deficit, Don’t touch my junk, Eyjafjallajoekull, Great recession, Guido, Hu Jintao, IPad, Jersey Shore, Kate Middleton, Lady Gaga, Man Up, Nancy Pelosi, Narrative, Nick Clegg, Obama, Obamacare, Obamamania, Pass the bill to be able to see what’s in it, Prince William, Refudiate. Telewords, Sarah Palin, Sarkozy, shellacking, simplexity, sno, snowmageddon, Tea Party, Teachable Moment, Top Names of 2010, Top Phrases of 2010, Top Words of 2010, Vuvuzela
Posted in Top words | 16 Comments

 

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Number of Words in the English Language: 1,007,711http://f.ast.ly/5yRk7 24 Nov

Talk like a Noo Yawker Heres the cure. http://nyti.ms/aLstbVCheck out the latest news on Global English at (GLM)LanguageMonitor.com 21 Nov

The story of the word Kumbaya being co-opted by politics and business http://ping.fm/8DROu 20 Nov

From MTV India: RT @_mattters_ @MTVIndia: acc: GLM Top Name of 2010 is Hu Jintao. Who Jintao Hes the President of China.#agreeordisagree 19 Nov

Via @nprnews: Tracking 2010s Most-Used Words, Names And Phrases | n.pr/areRAL 19 Nov

German to be allowed in internet domain names The Localthelocal.de/sci-tech/20101 via @TheLocalGermany 19 Nov

 

Miniskirts on Mount Fuji; Japans Yama Girls Spur Trekking

Forget the ice ax and $500 climbing boots.

The mode du jour for today s mountain hikers in Japan is the miniskirt and leggings.

North Face, maker of the Gore-Tex waterproof jacket, and Alpine Tour Service Co. are targeting yama girls, or mountain girls, the nickname of the growing number of women who are taking to the hills of Japan wearing short pants or fleece skirts with leggings and designer trekking boots.

I want to wear something cute like a skirt, said Machiko Miyauchi, 25, who made her first ascent of Mount Fuji, Japan s highest peak, earlier this year after buying new equipment and shoes. Climbing is healing. You can breathe fresh, clean air.

Visitors to Mount Fuji in the two months ended Aug. 31, the busiest climbing season, were the most since the government began tracking traffic using infrared sensors in 2005. The number of women applying for Alpine s treks jumped sixfold from last year, prompting the Tokyo-based company to increase women- only tours to 13 this year from six in 2009, spokesman Yasushi Kodama said.

Clothing companies have hired mountain fashion pioneers like Yuri Yosumi to promote new women s lines for mountaineers. Yosumi s Love Trek website includes red mini dresses and pink bush hats from Paris-based Aigle.

Berghaus Ltd., a U.K. outdoor wear maker, introduced skirts jointly developed with Yosumi in 2009, while and Jarden Corp. s Marmot Mountain LLC, a U.S. outdoor clothing company, followed this year, according to Yosumi s husband Daisuke.

Pants Only

We re giving an option to the market where only pants were available before, Daisuke Yosumi said. He said his wife was not available to comment.

Japan s fashion scene is famous for striking cult trends that sweep the industry, typically for a few years, such as the ganguro look that mixed deep fake tans with white lipstick, brightly colored clothes and orange-to-blond hair. Tokyo ranked 14th this year in Global Language Monitor s annual list of world fashion capitals, trailing Hong Kong and Shanghai in Asia.

 

 

Avoiding an American Lost decade

Published: November 3rd, 2010

What we are experiencing is not a recession, neither great nor small, but rather a global transference of wealth, power and prestige on an unprecedented level, carried out, in von Clausewitz s words by other means.

Note: This is the second in a series; you can see the first article directly below this one.

November 30. Where do we go from here We ve already established that this is not a typical business cycle and this recession falls out of scope of previous recessions. Even the Great Depression was typical in the sense that it set off a worldwide fall in demand and productivity. It is now widely understood that while government intervention did stop the catastrophic collapse of the global economy, this intervention did little to revitalize global economic growth which did not resume until the onset of World War II.

This post first appeared on TheHill.com

Now, fast forward to September 2008 and months following shortly thereafter. There is wide agreement that the direct and dramatic Bush/Obama interventions did, indeed, prevent a global economic collapse. However, for many nations, including the U.S., the revitalization has yet to occur. While the stimulus spending saved many jobs in the public sector, few jobs were created in the private or wealth-creating sector. In retrospect it now appears that the stimulus was the equivalent to eating empty calories when hungry; a temporary rise in blood sugar without sustained nutrition.

This lack of wealth-building focus has led to a weak economic performance of 2.4 percent projected growth in GDP, hardly what one expects after such spending. (This growth rate has already been revised downward to 1.6 percent in the last quarter.) If this scenario does play out as expected, the eight million lost jobs will be replaced with new ones by the 2020 time frame. By way of comparison, the Reagan Recovery created over 11,000,000 new jobs with four years.

While President Obama s economic policies and overall execution of leadership is the current focus of many commentators, it remains a fact that this situation didn t sneak up on us. The United States manufacturing sector has declined as a percentage of non-farm employment from about 30 percent in 1950 to just 9.27 percent in 2010, according to the October estimate of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Also, an underlying statistic is that the U.S. has been losing not just manufacturing jobs, but entire factories, over 40,000 of them since 2000. The ramifications here go far beyond the manufacturing sector itself. Indeed, by some estimates, there is a 15-1 multiplier between other jobs (including manufacturing and service) and each manufacturing position. Therefore, this unprecedented loss of an industrial base and its concomitant plethora of supporting positions leave a greatly reduced platform upon which to launch a successful and timely recovery.

And so the question remains: Where do we go from here

First, take a deep breath, look in the mirror and repeat; the world is different from what it was in 1982 and wishing and acting like it was the same will not bring those lost manufacturing jobs back. No matter what we do, trying to recapture global leadership in industries where the average U.S. salary (excluding benefits) is over $20/hr where the similar cost in China or Mexico is between $2-$6/hr is a losing proposition. This is not to say that the U.S. should not continue to innovate and look to manufacture world-class products, only that we will have to pick our battles in places where we have a strategic competence and a willingness to compete. Specifically, management must be willing to continually analyze each process for best in class behaviors and continually work to improve in order to maintain a leadership position.

Second, focus strategic investment in industries where the U.S. has a substantial lead or could develop one in future. Good examples here are in the area of information technology, where private investment continues to create new enterprises and wealth and green technology whose future is yet to unfold. We need to remind ourselves of the effectiveness of the U.S. Space Program, not only in accomplishing its primary mission, but creating entire industries and market that are still returning value to this day.

Third, fully accept that the old manufacturing jobs will not be repatriated and implement a program that will both create true value for the economy while putting people back to work. In past recessions, workers were typically called back to their jobs as the economy improved. This time however, with the loss of so many factories, the jobs platform is significantly smaller and is unable to support the type of recovery we have seen in the past. Now, we must both create jobs in new markets and industries as well as find employment for those whose skill base will not readily transfer to the new jobs platform(s).

A good example of this is the proposal by the Center for American Progress that outlines a plan to develop an energy efficiency industry to retrofit approximately 40 percent of the country s buildings (approximately 50 million structures) within the next decade. This would require more than $500 billion in public and private investment and create over 600,000 sustainable jobs. Under the plan, energy use in those buildings would be reduced up to 40 percent and generate between $32 billion and $64 billion in annual consumer savings. Those savings would be used to re-pay the construction loans that would support the program.

This type of program would both create private sector jobs and help re-build U.S. infrastructure for the next five decades, all the while creating a buffer between the current economic environment and the one that will emerge.

One word of caution: we need a dozen or more initiatives of this kind to even come close to replacing the 8,000,000 lost jobs.

Paul JJ Payack is president of Austin-based Global Language Monitor. Edward ML Peters is CEO of Dallas-based OpenConnect Systems. Their most recent book is The Paid-for Option , which describes how healthcare reform can actually pay for itself through the application of process intelligence and its attendant gains in productivity.

Tags: Center for American Progress, GDP, Great Depression, Great recession, percent of manufacturing jobs in US economy. President Obama, percentage of the non-farm payroll in manufacturing, Reagan Recovery
Posted in Obama | 1 Comment

 

A Recession Neither Great Nor Small

Published: November 3rd, 2010

What we are experiencing is not a recession, neither great nor small, but rather a global transference of wealth, power and prestige on an unprecedented level, carried out, in von Clausewitz s words by other means.

.Note: This is the First in a series; you can see the second article directly above this one.

This post first appeared on TheHill.com

November 3, 2010. It is about time that we admit that what we are experiencing is not a recession, neither great nor small, but rather a global transference of wealth, power and prestige on an unprecedented level, carried out, in von Clausewitz s words by other means .

Originally alluded to as a Financial Tsunami or Financial Meltdown, the major global media seem to have gained a consensus on The Great Recession . In the beginning, most comparisons were being made to the Great Economic Depression of the 1930s, more familiarly known, simply, as The Depression in the same way that many still refer to World War II as The War . But even these comparisons frequently ended up referring to the recession of 1982, yet another so-called Great Recession .
Our recent analysis has shown that while the major print and electronic media have settled upon Great Recession , the rest of the Internet, blogosphere and social media world have largely eschewed the term. We believe the difficulty here stems from the fact that this economic crisis is difficult to express in words because it does not resemble any economic crisis in recent memory but rather a crisis of another sort.

On War is one of the most influential books on military strategy of all time. Written by Prussian military theorist Carl von Clausewitz (1780 1831), it recorded one of his most respected tenets, War is not merely a political act, but also a real political instrument, a continuation of political commerce, a carrying out of the same by other means, which is frequently abbreviated to War is diplomacy carried out by other means .

We believe that the reason the Great Recession label does not now fit is because what we are experiencing is not a recession, neither great nor small, but rather a global transference of wealth, power and prestige on an unprecedented level, carried out by other means .

This fact has entrapped two U.S. presidents, from radically diverging political viewpoints, in the same dilemma: describing an economic phenomenon, that doesn t play by the old rules. Hence, the difficulty experienced by President Bush as he struggled to describe how the U.S. economy was not in a recession since the GDP had not declined for two consecutive quarters, the traditional definition of a recession, even though jobs were being shed by the millions and the global banking system teetered on the brink of collapse. Now we have President Obama, attempting to describe how the U.S. economy has emerged out of a recession, though the collateral damage in terms of the evaporation of wealth, mortgages, and jobs remains apparently undaunted and unabated.

The regional or global transfer of wealth, power and influence, the destruction of entire industries and the so-called collateral (or human) damage are all hallmarks of what is now being experienced in the West.

If one carefully disassembles the events of the last decade or two, you can see them as the almost inevitable conclusion of a nameless war that began with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the embrace of a form of the free-market system by China, India and the other rising states, an almost unprecedented transfer of wealth from the Western Economies to the Middle East (energy) and South and East Asia (manufactured goods and services), and the substantial transfer of political power and influence that inevitably follows.

It currently appears that the Western Powers most affected by these transfers cannot adequately explain, or even understand, their present circumstances in a way that makes sense to the citizenry, let alone actually reverse (or even impede) the course of history. In fact, the larger events are playing out while the affected societies seemingly default to the hope that they ultimately can exert some sort of control over a reality that appears to be both out of their grasp and control.

The good news here is that the transfers of wealth, power and influence has proven relatively bloodless but nonetheless destructive for the hundreds of millions of those on the front lines of the economic dislocations.

And it is in this context that the perceived resentment of the Islamic and Arab states should be more clearly viewed. This is especially so as they, too, watch helplessly as the new global reality and re-alignments unfold.

In conclusion, it can be argued that the reason the Great Recession label doesn t seem to fit now is because what we are experiencing is not a recession, neither great nor small, but rather an on-going transformational event involving the global transfer of wealth, power and influence on an unprecedented level, carried out by other means .

Paul JJ Payack is president of Austin-based Global Language Monitor. Edward ML Peters is CEO of Dallas-based OpenConnect Systems. Their most recent book is The Paid-for Option , which describes how healthcare reform can actually pay for itself through the application of process intelligence and its attendant gains in productivity.

Tags: Clausewitz, financial meltdown, financial tsunami, GDP Soviet Union, Obama

 

The New Silk Road

Published: November 3rd, 2010

Una serie de reportajes por m s de 25 pa ses, para explicar la conquista silenciosa del mundo por parte de China. Esta serie constituye un viaje desde las minas de la Rep blica Democr tica del Congo hasta las explotaciones de gas en el desierto entre Uzbekist n y Turkmenist n, pasando por la Venezuela de Hugo Ch vez o el Ir n de los ayatols.

En diciembre de 2009, el centro de an lisis estadounidense The Global Language Monitorpublicaba un dato significativo de nuestro tiempo: la emergencia de China era la noticia de la d cada . El crecimiento y expansi n del gigante asi tico desbancaba al atentado del 11-S en Nueva York o la victoria de Barack Obama como hecho noticioso m s publicado, buscado y comentado desde el arranque del nuevo siglo en medios de comunicaci n tradicionales (radio, prensa, televisi n), foros y redes sociales.

Que la emergencia del gigante asi tico sea la noticia de la d cada puede suponer para muchos una sorpresa. Pero no es m s que la consecuencia de una tendencia silenciosa e inexorable que est llamada a cambiar el signo del mundo actual: la expansi n de China por los cinco continentes, el deseo de Pek n de volver a ser una superpotencia.

Esta serie lleva por t tulo La Nueva Ruta de la Sedapor razones hist ricas. Y es que durante siglos la Ruta de la Seda, el comercio, en definitiva, fue una de las pocas -si no la nica, junto a las misiones religiosas europeas- forma de contacto de la China imperial con el resto del planeta, particularmente Asia Central, Oriente Medio y Europa. Si la corte de la dinast a Qing (1644 1912) rechazaba en 1792 la visita del enviado del rey brit nico Jorge III, George Macartney, para abrir m s puertos comerciales a la Corona, hoy Pek n avanza en sentido contrario: un proceso de internacionalizaci n sin parang n en su historia que la lleva a los cuatro rincones del globo.

 

 

Obamas final narrative: A negative melange of historic proportions

Published: November 1st, 2010

 

AUSTIN, Texas, November 1, 2010. The final narrative for President Obama, twenty-four hours before the Mid-term Elections has evolved into a negative m lange of historic proportions. This was reported by the Global Language Monitor (GLM), which has been tracking the narratives that have dominated the perception of the administration and its handling of both its achievements and crises.

In July, the President s five most prominent narrative arcs included being out-of-touch or aloof; being responsible for the ever-increasing deficit; not responding with enough vigor or authority to the Gulf Oil Spill; the victory of pushing through Healthcare Reform; and gaining a reputation as a Chicago-style pol. The President s Oval Office Address on the Gulf Oil Spill seems to have been the temporal demarcation point between a positive or negative narrative carrying over into the 2010 Mid-term Election. Since that time there are many who contend that Obama s narrative has been shaped by forces largely out of his control. And indeed, this may be true.

In the following months no single narrative has risen above the others; on the contrary the five Obama Narratives have largely blended into a largely negative, yet muddled, story line. The result has been an admixture of these five narratives, resulting in an unfortunate amalgam for the president and his party to overcome.

GLM has also been tracking political buzzwords for the last three election cycles. An analysis of the Top Buzzwords of the Mid-Term Elections completed yesterday, and published in a separate release, lend support to these conclusions.

Below is a list of the Obama narratives that have evolved through the last year.

1. Obama as out-of-touch or aloof

This has only grown stronger over time. Professorial has now been added to the mix, which is often considered condescending by certain academic communities.

2. Obama and the deficit

Words linking Obama to deficit have steadily increased as those linking Bush to the deficit have declined.

3. Obama and the Oil Spill

The completion of the relief well apparently did not provide the president with relief from the issue. In fact, the President now has more negative ties to the Katrina inundation of New Orleans than George W. Bush.

4. Obama as HealthCare Reformer

The president s signature achievement has been largely avoided by members of his party for fear of the overall negative reception to the program adversely affecting their personal chances of (re-)election. The mistake is explain away the frustration with how the bill was passed, where many had a first-hand look at congressional (and presidential) wheeling dealing as it best (or worst).

5. Obama as the Chicago-style pol

This usually conveys the ability to make things happen though in a stealthy, force-your-hand manner reminiscent of the days of cigar-filled back rooms. Even this has been undone by the ongoing public perception of Obamas seeming inability to get things done (in spite of the things he actually did).

GLM has been tracking political language for the last three election cycles As we have detailed over the last two years, while in the midst of the positive media frenzy of the election and inauguration, we were already finding the elements of anger and outrage as one of the highest on record. At that time, GLM examined the global print and electronic media for the seven days after the following events: the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the start of the Iraq War, and the week after the Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, and the awarding of the AIG bonuses.

The ranking of outrage found in the media was surprising, even startling.

The AIG Bonuses, 2009
The 9/11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001
Hurricane Katrina and the Inundation of New Orleans, 2005
The start of the Iraq War, 2003
During the last several months our analysis shows that anger and rage largely have been replaced by frustration and disillusionment.In fact, our continuing NarrativeTracker analysis has found what appears to be a major disconnection between what is reported in the media and what is being discussed in Social Media and the rest of Cyberspace. This includes a number of Media Memes that resonant among the media.

These Media Memes include:

1. Outrage in the Electorate

To a large extent, the rise of Outrage in the electorate (accompanying the AIG bonuses) was overlooked while the focus was on the ebullience accompanying the Obama election and Inauguration. Only this year have anger and rage become a focus while the citations show that the electorate has moved beyond this Media Meme to disappointment and frustration .

2. The Great Recession

The electorate makes no distinction between Recession and Great Recession. In fact, the Great Recession Media Meme is found to be used only in the elite media, while the electorate seems to believe that something far larger is taking (or has taken) place. The analysis shows the underlying belief to be that that economy has undergone a structural change that will take years to mend, if ever. (They knew this when Bush tried to explain why the US, according to traditional definitions, was not yet in a recession, and again know this as todays economists try to explain how the Great Recession is now over because we grew 2% in the last fiscal quarter).

3. The Idea of Insurgency

The consensus is that there are now about one hundred, or fewer, congressional seats in play, which means that some 77% of the seats are basically locked in. The idea of insurgency makes great headlines (and ensures a plethora of more great headlines as the future unfolds). But the fact remains that a minimal number of congressional seats are now in play.

4. The Tea Party

Tea Party members have turned out to be older, better educated, and far more influential than their originally portrayal. If the war in Afghanistan is fighting the last wars (the Surge in Iraq and the Vietnam quagmire then viewing the Tea Party as anything other than a grass roots movement, was a mis-reading of the Obama insurgency of 07 and 08.

5. The 24-hour News Cycle

The 24-hour news cycle is true only insofar as the headlines constantly shift. But the deeper currents are a much more prevailing force that apparently actually drive and shape events. Focusing on the swirling froth of the ever-changing headlines, allows many to miss the structural changes that are occurring below much like a tsunami is only apparently when the submerged wave finally hits the shoreline.GLMs Top Political Buzzwords are based on the Narrative Tracker Index. Narrative Tracker is based on the national discourse, providing a real-time, accurate picture of what the public is saying about any topic, at any point in time. Narrative Tracker analyzes the Internet, blogosphere, the print and electronic media, as well as new social media sources (such as Twitter). In addition to the NTI, the NarrativeTracker Arc follows the rise and fall of sub-stories within the main narrative to provide a comprehensive overview of the narratives being tracked.

 

For more information, call 1.512.801.6823, email editor@LanguageMonitor.com, or visit www.LanguageMonitor.com

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