Tuesday, March 23, 2004

GGW A behind-the-scenes look at the Girls Gone Wild franchise from Slate.  Is there a name for this new brand feminism?  Thong feminism?  Girl Gone Wild Power? 11:34:34 AM    Say what?[]

Minjen Turtles! Never heard of a Minjen Turtle?  Yeah, me neither.  Then one night, Linus was constantly talking about Minjen Turtles.  He'd say it really fast: "Minjen Turtle!", and then he'd do this elaborate five-second routine of karate chops and kicks and sound effects.  Then he'd say it again.  "Minjen Turtle!" Then I figured it out.  "Aw, shit," I thought.  "Somebody's told him about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles." Sure enough, that was it.  Now, I know for a fact that he's never seen the Ninja Turtles on TV or anywhere else for that matter.  Why would he?  It's a crappy 15 year old cartoon franchise that has about as much cache today as the Smurfs, Care Bears or He-Man.  Though, to be fair, the Ninja Turtle video game didn't completely suck. I think he learned about the Ninja Turtles from a kid at school named Benji.  Benji's already five, and naturally, being an older kid, he has become a bad influence on my son.  Today it's Ninja Turtles, tomorrow it's BB guns, then before I know it my son will be on crack and having unprotected sex in Haiti, all because of Benji! I won't have it! Of course, I don't have a rational explanation for why I dislike the Ninja Turtles.  They're violent, for one thing, but he sees other violent stuff.  They're old news, but he loves Scooby Doo.  I can't explain it, but it's real, and I see no reason for him to start a relationship with the Ninja Turtles, but clearly I am too late.  They have captured his imagination, despite the fact that I doubt that he's ever seen them.  I was just going to have to accept this as a phase. First things first, I tried to tell him the proper way to say "Ninja". Me: "Linus, it's not Minjen.  It's Ninja.  NIN-JA." Linus: "Minjen" Me: "No, watch me.  It's not 'min', it's 'nin'.  Nnnnn.  Starts with an 'N'.  Nuh, nuh, nuh.  Try that." Linus: "No, that's not it.  It's Minjen.  That's how you say it.  Minjen Turtles!" Me, as he karate chops and kicks at the air: "Whatever." So we go to the library that night, and lo and behold there is a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles video on the shelves.  And Benji's at the library, too.  Great.  Benji shows Linus the video and tells him to tell me to check it out for him.  I'm thinking, "Hey, Benji, why don't you go play in traffic for a few minutes, OK?" Linus shoves the video into my arms, along with the other videos we have about bears, tigers and pandas.  Then he and Benji go terrorize the other kids with their faux Ninja routine.  Meanwhile, I slyly put the video back, thinking he'll never notice it's missing. Once we were back home he noticed immediately, and began a 20 minute crying fit.  I had no alibi other than to say that I thought I had it, but must have forgotten it.  That didn't satisfy him at all, and I felt bad for lying to him. Last night, we finally came home with the damn Ninja Turtles.  He's all amped to watch it tonight for the first time when he gets home from school.  It will annoy me to no end to have it on, but maybe I can turn it into a positive by using it to engender in him an interest in karate, or perhaps herpetology. 10:36:14 AM    Say what?[]

Mt. Kilimanjaro's Glaciers There is an interesting article in today's New York Times about Mt. Kilimanjaro.  The Tanzanian icon is now a central part of the global warming debate.  Specifically, the huge 11,000 year old glaciers on the summit are a subject of increasing study on both sides of the global warming debate. Actually, that's not true.  There is a large group of scientists who are saying that the glaciers are in retreat (which is not in dispute), and that the retreat is due to human factors such as carbon dioxide emissions.  There is another group who has published a paper in the International Journal of Climatology which says that the ice is shrinking largely because Africa's continent is drying, a process which started well before the human impacts could have impacted the glaciers.  However, the authors of the paper in the IJC are very open about the fact their study is based on only a couple years of research, and that it is meant to simply open the question of human impacts, to challenge the orthodoxy. But does that stop the Greening Earth Society, a private group of scientists financed by industries dealing in fossil fuels, from hailing the IJC paper as definitive proof that humans are not the cause?  Of course not!  As so often happens, interest groups are using a part of the uncertainty of the scientific process to make a definitive claim.  As the NYT article states: ...authors of the new study said they were particularly dismayed that the industry-supported group had portrayed their paper as a definitive refutation of the idea that melting from warming was involved. "We have a mere 2.5 years of actual field measurements from Kilimanjaro glaciers, unlike many other regions, so our understanding of their relationship with climate and the volcano is just beginning to develop," Dr. Douglas R. Hardy, a geologist at the University of Massachusetts and an author of the paper, wrote by e-mail. "Using these preliminary findings to refute or even question global warming borders on the absurd." Glaciers at the summit of Kilimanjaro.  Who knew Africa looked like this? This article caught my eye because I have been reading a fantastic saga about Base Camp's recent expedition to the summit of Kilimanjaro.  I did not fully appreciate how much of a mountain Mt. Kilimanjaro really is until reading about Scott's journey.  He's rolling it out in chapters, and he's not quite to the summit yet.  Do yourself a favor and go check it out. 9:18:19 AM    Say what?[]

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