"I DK, my BFF Jill?"

I understand the title of this post. My roommates understand it. You understand it. (Maybe not you, Adam, but I'm sure if you ask one of your roommates, they'll explain...)

Apparently, the code is too complicated for the US Navy to crack. The subtle nuances of using initials and acronyms to represent larger concepts is far beyond the comprehension of this particular service branch, and in order to bridge such a significant cultural gap, the Navy has started leading trainings for its recruitment officers in order to make sure they understand the "youth of tomorrow". And sidenote-- Aren't we the youth of today? And the adults of tomorrow? Anyway...

A PowerPoint presentation that the Navy is using in these training sessions has begun to circulate the internet, and is worth combing through for pure entertainment value. At one point, for example, the presentation points out that today's typical teenager "has always been online" and "has never known a world without digital phones." Because of such global communications technology, his "best friend may be Chinese". Wonkette's reaction was pretty great: "My god, Chinese?? Ye gods, is nothing sacred in this godless post-9/11 Facebook world?" I heart Wonkette. (And I'm not just saying that so I can demonstrate my nifty knowlege of teen slang, I really do heart Wonkette).

Another great slide presented a pop quiz on teenage culture; questions asked of the recruitment officers addressed topics as diverse as the Black Eyed Peas, emoticons, the Video Music Awards, and Brangelina's baby. I'm not going to lie, those are all important parts of my life, but I was stumped by their question on Degrassi: The Next Generation. I must have missed that trend.

The presentation did eventually get around to more serious topics, such as our generations' over-reliance on planners (excuuuse me for being organized...) and our general apathy towards the Navy and military service in general. It seems to blame such feelings on our parents' "coddling", but I tend to think the war in Iraq might have something to do with it...

Anyway, if you want to sift through the presentation in it's entirety, you can download it from Danger Room, who was first to post it online. There's a link in the first paragraph.

OMG, have fun reading, and ttyl!