Musings, Part E

- I am not one of these girls or women: Are We Turning Our Tweens Into ‘Generation Diva’?. I wear Burt’s Bees lip balm, if it’s a special occasion I might venture into lip gloss but I own no makeup and honestly don’t really even know how to put it on. I do own lotion but most of that was given to me. The amount of well…crap people put on their faces is astonishing and quite frankly, scary. If I ever have a daughter, or daughters as the case may be, I won’t let them go down this road. You get what you get and it’s better to be happy with yourself than try to force yourself into something that won’t make you happy and takes too much work to maintain. Though I wouldn’t mind that pill in the Doctor Who episode “Partners in Crime” because at least then the fat is being used for something, creating adorable little creatures. It’s kinda gross but they’re quite cute…
- I am continually amazed we’re still having the whole Scopes debate (Hitchens: Why Texas Is Right on Teaching Evolution). Maybe it’s because I’m not an evangelical Christian and am uncomfortable with evangelization in general (I never was very comfortable with selling anything, not even Girl Scout cookies). Maybe because I just don’t understand how you can reject science. I’m not even very good at it, it never was my favorite subject like history was, but I still value it and regard those who are good at it as heroes among us other types. If the Pope is able to say evolution is possible, after our much publicized rejection of Galileo which we have since corrected, then why, why do evangelicals still push for “Intelligent Design”? To get on the bandwagon for a moment, how long is a day to God anyway? Couldn’t it be a couple million years or so? And really, with some of the stuff? Not that intelligent of a design. Could have thought it through a bit more. Maybe just a few hundred years but still, a bit more. Yes, I am a proud owner of a Darwin fish button. It’s cute. And when I finally get a car of my own? I’m putting one on there too. If I’m feeling especially confrontational, maybe a Coexist sticker.
- I’m quite amused by this bit of news: Space Module Colbert: Democracy in Orbit. I can totally see NASA’s point, Serenity would have been cool. It’s the name of the ship in Firefly, I wonder if the Browncoats organized something for that?, and it’s all, spacy. Like Mare Serenitatis or Mare Tranquillitatis…granted both in Latin but that just makes Sea of Serenity and Sea of Tranquility sound all science-y. At the same time, everyone knows of Colbert’s glee in getting things named after him. The eagle, that one team that had a jersey for him, randomly running for president from South Carolina…did they expect him to pass up the opportunity to get something in space named after him? How cool would that be, to get something named after you that’ll be up there, with any luck, for a few decades? Did they learn nothing from the bridge in Hungary thing? I mean, if he found that, he can find a well publicized campaign right here at home.
- A word or five in defense of puns. I recently read an op-ed about puns, Pun for the Ages that seems to be both praising them and denouncing them like so many do. To be honest, though they make you groan once you finally get them and seem more like a bad joke, I don’t mind puns. Sure, they can be used as quips and digs at people, smack talk if you will, or whatever kids are calling it these days (it seems to change every year) but they can also be pretty funny. Of course, I liken puns and wordplay of the sort to the kind of humor or jokes my dad makes…bad jokes, all of them and yet he persists (but he wouldn’t be Dad if he didn’t so keep going, Dad) so maybe they’re not as interesting as they could be. Still, they’re clever when done well and if you like, we can call it wordplay when they’re done well and puns when done poorly. So as not to offend the “puns are the lowest form of humor” folks out there, you know who you are.
- Oh, NPR. Never change. Considering that this is from before I was born and some of the same people are still on…it probably never will. NPR: Murdoch to Buy NPR?!? Happy belated April Fool’s.