Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Daily Diversion / Law and Order / Silverman New Tennessee State Motto: "Just for the hack of it!"
Posted by Jack Silverman on Wed, Oct 22, 2008 at 12:27 PM
Murfreesboro resident Josh Holly (using the alias TrainReq) bragging to a Phoenix radio station about hacking Miley Cyrus' email account
So I'm strolling the information superhighway this morning, looking to pilfer some sad-sack reporter's many hours of work so I can spend 20 minutes turning it into a couple of paragraphs of pithy commentary, and what should catch my eye but this tiny nugget from NewsChannel 5. Murfreesboro resident Josh Holly claims to have hacked Miley Cyrus' email account and stolen private photos, and he's been bragging about it online for months now (under an alias, natch).
Apparently his claims have some merit. Holly told Wired magazine blog Threat Level that the FBI raided his Murfreesboro home Monday morning, seizing three computers and Holly's phone. All of this in the wake of the arrest of University of Tennessee student David Kernell last month in connection with the hacking of Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin's Yahoo! email account.
So it got me to thinking: With the last two notorious celebrity email hacks coming from the Volunteer State, maybe we should use our computer-savvy spirit to reinvent our state image. No longer would we have to be pigeonholed as redneck ignoramuses. I figured maybe it was time to propose a new state motto: "Just for the hack of it."
Then I realized I didn't even know Tennessee's current state motto.
So do you know Tennessee's state motto? A quick Google provided the pathetic, embarrassing answer.
"Agriculture and commerce."
Are you kidding me? "Agriculture and commerce"? No verb? No adjective? No moral imperative? No call to arms? No inspiration? No reference to a significant historical event?
Consider some other state mottos, many translated from Latin:
Oregon: "She flies with her own wings." (Gender-progressive, uplifting, free-spirited.)
South Carolina: "While I breathe, I hope." (Unfettered optimism—the American spirit encapsulated.)
Virginia: "Thus always to tyrants." (I have no clue what it means, but it inspires me nonetheless.)
North Carolina: "To be rather than to seem." (Whoa, dude. That is trippy. Totally Zen. Someone from Asheville definitely came up with that one.)
Kansas: "To the stars through adversity." (Makes me tear up as I look skyward, remembering all those who gave their lives for my freedom.)
Michigan: "If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you." (Brilliant on many levels, and quite likely the opening lyrics of my new Broadway musical.)
And then there's Tennessee: "Agriculture and commerce." It reads like the sign over a state fair shed that I rushed by on the way to my third corn dog.
That's why I'm proposing "Just for the hack of it" as our new state motto. Whaddya think?
And if not that, have you got any suggestions? Let 'em fly. The person who supplies the best motto will receive a free lifetime membership to Pith in the Wind.
(Scene employees not eligible. Except as expressly provided herein, the Scene does not grant any express or implied right to you under any patents, copyrights, trademarks, or trade secret information. This disclaimer does not cover misuse, accident, lightning, flood, tornado, tsunami, volcanic eruption, earthquake, hurricanes and other Acts of God, neglect, damage from improper reading, incorrect line voltage, improper or unauthorized use, broken antenna or marred cabinet. May contain peanuts.)
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