Alpha, Beta, Communication, Durian

It was going to happen sooner or later, and today seems the right day to do it. I'm talking about migrating upward to Blogger Beta, in the process introducing some enhancements that hopefully will add more appeal to its look.

Blue has always been my favorite color, especially the turquoise variant. Just look at the sky on a clear and cloudless day, miles and miles of bluey expanse filling one's vista.

Of course I'm also mindful of the mental mood associated with blue, or rather blues, as in the Monday blues. But this is one such occasion that I will depart from the norm, and embrace blue as the color of linkage, of inter-dependency, of symbiosis, of synergy, of peaceful co-existence among the inhabitants of the Blue Planet that we all have a stake in ensuring her continuous wellbeing.

Ever wonder why we usually refer to planet Earth or a country using the female gender such as her citizens, her long and tortuous route to independence, etc.? It must have something to do with the child bearing ability of the female species. Just think of Mother Earth, Motherland, and so on.

Then there are the assigned names of hurricanes. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita come readily to mind. Further back in time are Georges, Betsy, and Clauddete, to name just a few. Perhaps a woman's fury knows no bound? Or the weather has a temperament of a woman? But to her defense, we also have the likes of Andrew and Hugo, two decidedly masculine names bestowed upon two devastating hurricanes that wreaked havoc along the Eastern seaboard.

Perhaps the naming conventions of hurricanes here can take a page from typhoons in Asia. The latest typhoon that walluped the Philippines and to a lesser extent, Vietnam, is named Durian. Now Durian, which in the Malay language means thorn-ful, is considered the King of Fruits from where I come from. It's the king because of its richly fragrant taste that seems to linger on forever, provided of course one can get over the strong aroma shrouding the fruit that may border on pungency to the untrained nose, first. Secondly, there is also the physical barrier in the form of the many sharp thorns that populate its hard skin. See for yourself, courtesy of Durian Online, and the fruit is well worth the effort, I can assure you.

So how about Avocado/Apricot, Blueberry/Blackberry, Cantaloupe/Cherry, ... but then I got stuck in D (other than Durian). So the name list does make sense.

On the other hand, we used to employ the male gender to refer to all people in general when used in the third person. Now it is politically correct to use the hybrid form he/her or his/her in a similar context.

Until I read the following paragraph in the news article entitled "Businesses, Schools Target Bad Writing" under National Spotlight in today's Tampa Tribune:

"They have to focus on the needs of the reader," O'Rourke said, "Otheriwse, she won't pay attention, she won't do what you want, she won't retain what you said."

So now the generic reader is referred to in the feminine. I'm not sure how prevalent this practice is as this is the first time I've seen this in print, especially from one whose business is to teach students to write correctly, he (Jim O'Rourke) being a management professor at University of Notre Dame and director of the university's Fanning Center for Business Communication. Or was he misquoted by the reporter? Not likely either. Anyway, personally I still feel that the hybrid form, albeit appearing clumsy, is the way to go.

So 06-12-06, that is today's date using the day-month-year format, or year-month-day if you prefer, adds some symmetry to the occasion of my blog change from alpha to beta.