Add Acronym Finder search to Internet Explorer 7 (IE7)

One of the many new features of Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7.0 is a convenient search box in the upper right of your browser window. This search box allows you to do web searches or other kinds of searches, and can contain a number of different search providers.

You can now install Acronym Finder as one of your search providers. All you have to do is click here to install it! (Note: you must be running IE7 to install this.)

AcronymFinder.com Sponsors Peak 10 Louisville Technology Acronym Bee

Annual competition to benefit the National Center for Family Literacy October 26
Estes Park, Colorado September 6, 2006 – Mountain Data Systems LLC, the publisher of Acronym Finder (www.acronymfinder.com) has logged on as a general sponsor of the Peak 10 Louisville Technology Acronym Bee (LTAB), an annual fund-raising event for the nationally recognized National Center for Family Literacy set for October 26.

LTAB is similar to the numerous successful corporate spelling bees held in communities around the nation every year. However, instead of spelling obscure words, adults participating in LTAB will define obscure technology acronyms. Participants form corporate teams to compete for the title, prizes, the LTAB Champion Trophy Cup and bragging rights. All of the proceeds will benefit the National Center for Family Literacy, recognized internationally as the leader in family literacy.

The event is organized by Peak 10, the Southeast's leading data center operator and managed services provider. It will be held October 26 at Louisville Slugger Field in Louisville, Kentucky from 11:30 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

“We’re really pleased to be working with Peak 10 to help raise money for the National Center for Family Literacy. We feel that literacy is so fundamental to success in life and in technology. The Acronym Bee is a really fun concept, and it’s such a great fit with what we do,” said Mike Molloy, founder and developer of AcronymFinder.com.

More than 30 million adults in adults in the U.S. lack the skills to complete a job application, vote, use the Internet, or read a bedtime story to a child, according to the National Assessment of Adult Literacy.

“The support NCFL receives from this entertaining event enhances our ability to meet the educational and economic needs of at-risk children and families across the nation,” said NCFL founder and president Sharon Darling.

Shannon McIntyre-Alward, Director of Marketing at Peak 10, says, “We are pleased to coordinate LTAB, which since its inception, has raised nearly $50,000 for NCFL. We are thrilled to bring together so many people in the technology community for such a worthy cause. “

For more information, visit: 2006 Peak 10 Louisville Technology Acronym Bee

About AcronymFinder.com:

The privately held AcronymFinder.com is the largest and most authoritative acronym and abbreviation reference website. Users from a wide variety of disciplines visit this free resource to look up acronyms from every imaginable subject area. Each month AcronymFinder.com receives over 1 million unique visitors from over 180 countries and answers more than 3 million acronym and abbreviation queries.

About Peak 10:

Peak 10 is the leading independent data center operator and managed services provider in the eastern United States, delivering scalable, economical and reliable solutions for hosting and managing complex information technology infrastructure. The company combines its eight data centers and portfolio of managed services with localized engineering and support to serve market-leading companies including Rivals.com, Global Knowledge, Pergo, Churchill Downs, LendingTree and the Jacksonville Jaguars. Peak 10 owns and operates world class facilities in Nashville, Tenn.; Louisville, Ky.; Tampa and Jacksonville, Fla; and Raleigh and Charlotte, N.C. The company was recently ranked as one of the fastest growing private companies in America by Inc. magazine. For more information on data center solutions from Peak 10, visit www.peak10.com.

About the National Center for Family Literacy:

The National Center for Family Literacy, the worldwide leader in family literacy, was founded in Louisville in 1989. NCFL has impacted 1 million families and trained 150,000 teachers, practitioners and advocates. To learn more or to donate to this effort, call 1-877-FAMLIT1 or visit www.famlit.org.

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Copyright ©2006, Mountain Data Systems, LLC

Press Contacts

Mike Molloy
AcronymFinder.com
970-586-5556

Shannon McIntyre-Alward
Peak 10, Inc.
502-315-6007

Marvin Young
National Center for Family Literacy
502-584-1133 x173

Unfortunate Acronyms in the News

We're always amazed (and often amused) at how often an unfortunate acronym is developed to refer to a concept or organization.

Last month, the US organization National Association of Local Government Auditors (NALGA), based in Lexington, Kentucky, decided to change its name to Association of Local Government Auditors (ALGA). Why the change? Well, "nalga" in Spanish means "butt" or "rump" which made the organization the butt (pun intended) of too many jokes and pranks. If this wasn't bad enough, the organization only owned the .org version of the NALGA domain name. Someone else owns the .com version of the site, and it has nothing to do with government auditors! You can read more at ALGA's new website, http://www.governmentauditors.org/

In another recent acronym incident, the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) is trying to revoke the vanity plate owned by 74 year old Pat Niple. For the last 10 years, her plate read "NWTF" which referred to her business, Northwood Tree Farm. The Ohio BMV is apparently saying she can't use NWTF because it could be Internet/chat slang for "Now What the F***"! Never mind that NWTF also refers to "National Wild Turkey Federation" and has over a dozen other perfectly legitimate meanings. There is an BMV appeal process, so it will be interesting to see if she wins.

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AcronymFinder.com now has over 500,000 acronyms and abbreviations

Mountain Data Systems, LLC, publisher of Acronym Finder, the world’s most respected acronym and abbreviation reference resource, announced that its dictionary has grown to more than half a million human-edited definitions.

Estes Park, Colorado July 24, 2006 – The editors at Acronym Finder (www.acronymfinder.com), just added their 500,000th human-edited definition to the database.

Mike Molloy, founder and developer of AcronymFinder.com, said, “We are thrilled to reach this milestone in our site’s content. Since we’ve been on the web, our database has grown by over 1000%, making it the fastest growing dictionary of its kind. We verify, edit and add about 250 new terms every day, and our visitors suggest most of these new definitions. There’s no way we could create and maintain such a large dictionary without the help of people from all over the world working in every imaginable discipline.”

The half-million definitions in Acronym Finder are searchable by acronym or abbreviation, or by words contained in a meaning. Users can also sort and filter results on several major categories. The site offers free tools to improve convenience and usability for novice and power users alike. Users can also read the Acronym Finder blog for the latest news on the site and its features, and can interact with other site users in a forum.

Molloy believes Acronym Finder’s continued growth and success is not only about how many definitions there are -- it’s also about a quality user experience. “We listen carefully to suggestions and feedback from our users and we continue to work hard to be the world’s largest and best resource for acronyms and abbreviations.”

About AcronymFinder.com:

Launched with about 43,000 definitions, the privately held AcronymFinder.com quickly became the largest and most authoritative acronym and abbreviation reference website. Users from a wide variety of disciplines visit this free resource to look up acronyms from every imaginable subject area. Each month AcronymFinder.com receives over 1 million unique visitors from over 180 countries and answers more than 3 million acronym and abbreviation queries.

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Copyright © 2006, Mountain Data Systems, LLC

Press Contact
Mike Molloy
AcronymFinder.com
970-586-5556

April is National Poetry Month (NPM)

Each year in April, the Academy of American Poets (AAP) sponsors National Poetry Month (NPM), our featured abbreviation.

The AAP's FAQ about NPM explains:

"What is National Poetry Month? National Poetry Month was established by the Academy of American Poets as a month-long, national celebration of poetry. The concept was to increase the attention paid-by individuals and the media—to the art of poetry, to living poets, to our poetic heritage, and to poetry books and magazines. In the end, we hoped to achieve an increase in the visibility, presence, and accessibility of poetry in our culture. National Poetry Month has been successful beyond all anticipation and has grown over the years into the largest literary celebration in the world."

As I surfed the AAP's website, I was surprised that even a poetry organization has so many of its own acronyms: AAP, NPM, APLP, POTD

Technorati tags: abbreviations, acronyms, poetry, poems, Academy of American Poets, National Poetry Month