Today’s word was sent to me by David. The word is juggernaut. It, like pundit, is an english word borrowed from India.

Juggernaut is a noun with has three definitions. Although they are all closely related, two of them completely new to me. This first definition is the one I am most familiar with- an unstoppable force. The other definition are more religious in nature and are derived from the Sanskrit Jagannāth meaning “lord of the world.” One use of Juggernaut is the title of the Hindu god Krisha or Vishnu. The remaining religious definition is a belief or institution that elicits unquestioning devotion or to which people are sacrificed.

David sent me this word after I confessed I wasn’t aware of very many english words of Hindi or Sanskrit origin, but he wasn’t the only one. Craig Patchett of the GodCast podcast also sent me two list. One of Hindi words and one of Sanskrit words. I never would have guessed shampoo, swastika, sugar &orange were derived from Indian languages.

How do you hide a message in plain sight? Steganography. It is an idea I have appreciated for a long time but I still have no idea why I would use it. Steganography is the art or science of hiding the existence of a message. A steganographic message typically looks like something simple like an innocuous photo or a newspaper article. The secret message is hidden in the photo or newspaper article. The idea being if those spying on you don’t know there is a message, it is much harder to crack.

Clever techniques include using the first word of a each paragraph in a longer document to compose the message. Of course this is very simple trick.

I wish I better understood the math of the more complex techniques. Fortunately there is software available to help you with these techniques. Pict Encrypt for OS X allows you to hide some text in an image file.

Want to do it on Windows? Check out securekit.com.

To my earlier point, I think steganography and cryptology are very cool. I just wish I had a reason to use them.

Be sure, if you want to know more, to read the interesting thread on Slashdot.org about steganography & steganalysis.

With all the fear of terrorism I am sure steganography & steganalysis (the detection of steganographic messages) will be increasingly important fields of study.

Steganography and Podcasting? I am sure there is a way to hide a message in a podcast. Anyone interested in figuring out how?

Today’s word can be found in a recent post at BoingBoing.com. The word is laconic and it is used to describe the voice of the narrator used in many of Walt Disney’s promotional movies in the 1950’s.

Laconic is an adjective and it is used to describe concise speech. In some cases in can mean rude or curt but usually it just describes an economy of words, brevity. The word originates from the Greek state of Laconia, an ancient state famous for its capital city, Sparta and its reputation for terseness of speech. It is not hard to see a relationship between the word laconic and the word spartan.

I value your time as a listener so I try to produce laconic podcasts.

A side note: I am surprised at the amount of coverage of Hunter S. Thompson’s death. I didn’t think his passing would be such a hot topic in the mainstream media.

Today’s word is two words, Gonzo Journalism, probably my favorite form of journalism. Gonzo Journalism was pioneered by Hunter S. Thompson, among others, in the the late 1960’s. It is a form of journalism, based on fact but with room for embellishment, in which the author is part of the story. The motivation or benefit of this style of journalism is to give the reader more of the flavor of the story. A flavor that cannot be captured by just the facts.

The term was coined by Bill Cardoso- a journalist and friend of Thompson. According to Thompson’s website Gonzo is “a corruption of g-o-n-z-e-a-u-x. Which is French Canadian for “shining path”". However, this etymology seems to me to be a urban legend.

Besides Thompson, P.J. O’Rourke and George Plimpton employed Gonzo Journalism to tell engaging stories. George Plimpton wrote a series of articles and a best selling book, Paper Lion. The book Plimpton’s experience, at age 36, playing third string quarterback for the Detroit Lions. Plimpton was not an athlete he was a writer. A writer who got to play pro football and then write about his experience. He created the story around himself, hence the Gonzo.

O’Rouke, one of my most favorite writers, especially when he was writing for Rolling Stone, also employed the technique in a series of articles that lead to a book. The articles are about O’Rouke’s travels to the some most troubled spots on earth, Bosnia, the Czech Republic, Haiti and Vietnam. The book is All the Trouble in the World. I heartily recommend both All the Trouble in the World and Paper Lion. Most importantly, if you want raw Gonzo Journalism, read Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. I haven’t seen the movie and as much as I like Terry Gilliam I doubt it does the book justice.

In case you hadn’t heard Hunter S. Thompson took his own life this past weekend.

Today we have a quote from Immanuel Kant the 18th century German philosopher noted for arguing we are all born with minds full of innate forms and concepts. And these concepts combined with our experiences form knowledge.

Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life.

Immanuel Kant

I chose this quote because lately I have been try to get my life a little more organized. Perhaps that will imbue me with a little knowledge.