Awesome Things & Odd Things

Awesome Thing:

I am sure that you have heard about the penguin colony at the California Academy of Sciences, and that link is an awesome waster of time, but now you cn do this on the go. I stumbled upon the apps for both Android and iOS devices. TEA has decided that he wants to be a marine biologist and I am sure that we are going to spend a lot of time just staring at these penguins.

Odd Thing:

Chuck Norris For Newt



Via Politico

Awesome Thing:

My friend Elizabeth's second cookbook is coming out this week. You can order it on Amazon and I am sure that you can find it at your local bookstore.

Odd Thing:

I had a dream that I won the MegaMillions (all $171 Million of it) and after that two women (both of which I love though in completely different ways) both expressed interest in dating me. We were sitting in a conference room, with myself on one side of the table and the two women sitting side by side on the other side of the table. Let's call the women RHD and BLG. They both expressed interest (now that I was a multi-millionaire) and I told them both that "While I love you, I cannot trust either of you with my heart." BLG asked if there was anything that they could do to change that. RHD looked at BLG, looked at me, and looked at BLG again and then delivered a devastating right cross to BLG's jaw. Odd, no? Neither of these women would fight over me in real life.

The Web Video That Will Never Be Made

(This is partially a response to the Kony 2012 video...which I am sure you have watched and now have a very strong opinion about the LRA. If I had the time, I would actually make the video, but I do not, so you get this.)

Open on a man sitting in front of a well appointed book case in a leather club chair. Picture someone like Edward Herrmann for the role.

"When Herod realised that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: "A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more." (1)

For two thousand years, we have known about the destruction of these children, yet we do not speak of it.

Cut to view of children playing in village.

The purpose of this message is to ensure that everyone who watches this video knows that Herod (2) has not been punished for his crimes against children.

Yes, he died from scabies (3) related symptoms but was he punished.

We need you to get involved.

Cut to image

Voiceover

This man must be brought to justice.

(4)

This is why we need you to go to Herod-2012.org and spread the message.

This man as responsible for the deaths of dozens of children (sotto voce well, probably, but historically unlikely...unless your only historical reference is the Bible) (visibly shrug) and yet was allowed to die in his own bed.

These long dead children need your help.

Close on image of Herod-2012 logo.

Santorum versus the Slayer

(NB: If you are reading Buffy Season 9 or plan on it, avoid this post. There are spoilers. If you do not care about Buffy and are turned off by this, keep reading, because it makes a larger point.)

"Into every generation a slayer is born: one girl in all the world, a chosen one. She alone will wield the strength and skill to fight the vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness; to stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their number. She is the Slayer."*

So, here we have Buffy.

As most recently seen on the cover of the most recent issue.

The Slayer. The Slayer of Slayers. Bad ass. Saved the world countless times (or in the show, one of her tombstones said, "She saved the world...a lot.") and even though she is extraordinarily powerful, she is a hot mess. She cannot hold a job, she dropped out of college...she is a women in need.

She, Buffy made a mistake. Buffy is pregnant. Buffy needs to make a choice.

Now, Senator Santorum would say that Buffy does not deserve a choice. That Buffy made her choice when she decided to have unprotected sex and now must live with the consequences.

Well, what are those consequences?

Buffy is the SLAYER. Yes, there are the Slayerettes and the Scooby Gang and the various other groups that fight the things that go bump in the night, but Buffy is their leader, and the best of the best. In all of recorded history, Buffy has no equal and she cannot be the Slayer and a mother at the same time. They are mutually exclusive. One is founded in love and the other founded in rage and fear. There is no overlap in that Venn.

Buffy can put her effort into being a badass or she can put her efforts into being a mother. (Yes, I know that second wave feminism says that you can have it all but when trying to have it all, sometimes things suffer.) If she fails to put her efforts into being a Slayer, we know what could happen. Another rotation in the cycle of poverty and early motherhood, even with the support system that Buffy has built around her. If she puts all her effort into being a mother, the world could end again.

In things like parenthood or saving the world, half efforts are bad.

Now, Senator Santorum will argue that the choice is not hers. The choice belongs to society where the life of Buffy's unborn child outweighs the almost-literal weight of the world that Buffy carries on her shoulders. Buffy's career does not matter.

But, much like Buffy, Senator Santorum does not exist in the real world.

Buffy does make her choice.

I know that Senator Santorum will disagree with this choice, but then again, that just proves that the Senator is on the side of the demons, vampires and things that go bump in the night. The strong young women of America deserve better.

(See io9 for better images from the comic.)

*Quote via Wikipedia

Explaining Daylight Savings Time

This is a great video about the stupidity of Daylight Savings Time.



Via Slate

Spring Forward

• Coffee Shops should offer two for one deals when you spring forward. (Yes, we should also have another national conversation about the efficacy of the concept but that is another post.) speaking of coffee shops, I have noticed that the one in my neighborhood, which has a wonderful Costa Rican Dark Roast (not too dark but close to perfect), has started playing "Praise" music over the PA. Isn't coffee fuel for the godless? Is this a new ploy by the Christianist agenda?

• Union defeated RPI last night, making me very happy, and now we wait to see who we play in the ECAC semis.

• I have been experimenting with succotash. I hate lima beans. (Who, honestly, likes lima beans?) I am thinking about trying it with edamame. Why is this a thing for me? Well...I just like the way the colors play on the plate.

• Back to springing forward: Why is the day that we lose an hour always one of the mornings that I wake up at 5 and fail to fall back asleep? Is it some weird thing to exhaust me for the day? Some vague trick of my subconscious to let me know that everything is going to suck? I spent the morning, tossing and turning, listening to old Slate Double X podcasts, which did nothing but make me chuckle at the hosts.

• It is a bright and chilly morning here, with an expected high in the low 60s, and as I was headed to the aforementioned coffee shop, the Go-Go's "Vacation" came on. I listened to it three times in a row. Why? Well, for years it has been little but background music for me but today I really listened to the lyrics, which are heartbreaking and to the music, which is great. The backbeat alone is something to listen to with awe and wonder. (okay, maybe not awe and wonder, but allow me a rhetorical flourish now and then...)

• Today is my family's annual St. Patrick's Day dinner which means corned beef sandwiches this week. This is a goodness and I can see the weight that I have lost being out back on because of this.