“The art of progress is to preserve order amid change, and to preserve change amid order.”
So wrote mathematician and philosopher Alfred North Whitehead.
Well, the world is certainly progressing, but just when things seem to make sense, somebody changes the directions.
Case in point: Suggestions that North Dakota be renamed Dakota, the idea being that people associate cold, snowy and inhospitable wastelands with the “north” part of the name.
The state chamber of commerce likes the idea. Tom Isern, a professor at North Dakota State University, suggests that if a change is in the offing, why fool around with derivatives? He suggests renaming it the State of Bison.
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“Let’s be at home on the range,” says he. That’s all well and good, but you’ll only be able to get there via the state of confusion.
Another not-so-new release on the desk suggests that prunes be instead referred to as dried plums.
“Our intent is … to establish a more positive connotation than prunes, which are viewed by many U.S. adults as a laxative for old people,” says the California Prune Board. The matter is not a priority for the Food and Drug Administration, which means you won’t shrivel up like a dried plum after sitting too long in the bath. Still, a name change for prunes seems quite irregular.
Closer to home, last week’s events involved a proposed merger of Agricore and United Grain Growers, to become Agricore United. That name makes sense.
Hey, if Agricore had merged with Macintosh, they’d be Apple Core. If UGG had merged with Nestlé, they’d be UGGlé.
We at the Producer are also undergoing a form of name change. The techies are changing all our e-mail addresses. I used to be glen@producer.com, but now I’m to be found at barb.glen@producer.com.
Other staffers have the same first name dot last name combination.
The change is a bit disappointing, because I used to get the odd message -and I do mean odd – that was meant for Glenn Caleval, our marketing director.
That guy leads a pretty interesting life, if e-mails are a gauge. Now I may never find out if there’s a relationship between barbed wire and data collection.
We’re all hoping this e-mail change will be smooth, but bear with us for awhile regarding message return.
When it comes to progress and computers, the state of confusion is a pretty short drive.
