Wednesday, June 16, 2004

Weird Government Titles #1

Trivial pursuit of weird terms...

The Patriot Act is actually an anacronym for:
Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001.


Who knew? I discovered this when browsing the "Best Seller" list of the NTIS (National Technical Information Service) website. My curiousity was piqued at the term "DEATH MASTER FILE." Wow! Is that ominous sounding or what?

"The SSA Death Master File is used by leading government, financial, investigative, credit reporting organization, medical research and other industries to verify identity as well as to prevent fraud and comply with the USA Patriot Act."

Mathematical Methods in Combating Terrorism. Otherwise known as "Einstein's revenge" "This document is a preliminary report on the role that mathematical and statistical methods might play in the defense against terrorist attacks. In no way does this replace the efforts of law enforcement agencies or intelligence activities." Good, glad to hear it!

Fred and the Voice of Food Safety. Yummy!

Not a gov't term, but what the heck... The term "gray literature" was found at this government news site. I was not familiar with this term, but found a good site explaining it (Librarians are so helpful!):
"Gray or grey literature has long been considered the proverbial needle in the haystack. It is commonly defined as any documentary material that is not commercially published and is typically composed of technical reports, working papers, business documents, and conference proceedings."

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