Musings of a scribbler froglette

http://unreasonablefaith.com/2009/11/12/south-carolinas-religious-plates-unconstitutional/

A win for the Constitution, but a mixed blessing (heh) for the non-religious:

But it’s telling that there were no atheists along with the religious individuals. I’ve come across this before – the ACLU sometimes asks not to have any atheist plaintiffs because they think it’ll damage their chances of winning. Sad, isn’t it?

It’s possible that our involvement would influence judges in these cases and attract negative public attention. What does that say about our justice system and the state of our society? Even as we fight (and win!) these battles in court, we have far to go in our culture.

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Working out at home tonight. Usually don't go to the gym unless it's late, and we're meeting up with a friend tonight.

3 sets, 10 lb dumbbells.
Chest press, 12 reps.
Shoulder press, 10 reps.
Bent over rows, 10 reps.

Was working on slowing down the return movement, making the training harder tonight, and needing a longer recovery.

During Singin' in the Rain rehearsals, one of the choreographers called a cast member by the wrong name:  Britney.
Suddently Britney took on a life of her own and became an invisible cast member who was always doing the wrong things.  Can't find your eyeliner?  Blame Britney.  Hose got a run?  Britney again.  Forgot to turn off your cell phone?  That's right... Britney.

This all happened in the women's dressing room.  Women that weren't there when this happened would ask, "Why are you all so mean to this Britney?" and we'd explain.  The men kept trying to figure out who she was.  A mannequin head was even used to depict her in the cast picture (complete with wig and scarf). 

It's hard to explain, but it's one of the funniest things I've ever been a part of backstage at a show. 

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Getting back into after being sick. This is just frustrating to be sick for over a month.

Single leg press: 20 lbs, 8 reps, 3 sets.
Single leg prone curl: 10 lbs, 10 reps, 3 sets.

Elliptical, double hills, 10 minutes.

Getting back into it slowly so I don't take a step back and get sick again, but I wouldn't be surprised if I do.

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And what better way to celebrate than with a clip of this:



Ok, ok. For those of you looking for a nice nostalgic moment whose minds were just broken, try this:

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Erk.

So, for the majority of you that have not been watching this show, here's how it works. Most of the episodes so far feature a bunch of rather depressed and angry people realizing that yet another component of their incredibly old and decrepit spaceship is falling apart, and watching said rather depressed and angry people run around like mad trying to fix things while snapping at each other and being Really Mean until yay, the ship manages to rescue itself making all the humans look kinda dumb and petty. This is all a lot more fun than I'm making it sound and gloriously cheesy and stupid. Love it. I would love it even more if I had any way of distinguishing the characters beyond "angry one," "angrier one," "seriously angrier one," "hey, that chick from ER," and "oooh, breasts," but I digress. Also, occasional sex, so, yay Stargate for, um, breaking boundaries, I guess.

(I live in serious hope that another ER veteran will show up, so I can go, "Oooh, that chick from ER! No, that one!)

And then there's the rest of the show. Because by an incredible coincidence, the people happen to have brought along some stone thingies that let them switch minds with people back on Earth. The immediate question that leaps to mind (er, excuse the pun) is that if minds can be switched and, um, brought back, why can't bodies, and the second question is, why does mind switching make everybody so cranky and mean, and shouldn't someone be investigating this phenomena? But I digress. The point is, when this happens, the show gets Very Serious and Deep, and not incidentally, morally questionable and pretty disturbing.

( Cut for mild spoilers for the most recent episode and a brief reminder of what rape is. )

The series continues.

So, as I mentioned, this weekend we headed off to the Florida Aquarium. The drive to Tampa is, alas, not all that exciting except for the appearance of rather incongruous and unrealistic looking dinosaurs, which I must, but must, visit some day. It wasn't this weekend, because my companions are not dinosaur people. "It doesn't look very interesting," said A.

"Fake dinosaurs!"

This did not encourage anyone else to stop.

Fortunately, the Florida Aquarium has Utterly Cute Otters, along with many other species of varying levels of cuteness and utter disgustingness (and, cardinalximenez and fizzgig_bites: cichlids! Lots of cichlids!) and things to touch and some birds. It's quite well done - informative but not overly educational or technical. Plus, otters. If I do have a negative note about the Florida Aquarium, it is this: the disabled accessibility. The disabled parking – well, in fairness, all of the parking – is no place near the entrance; the ticket booths are too high for most wheelchair users; getting into the bathrooms with a scooter was extremely difficult; and reaching the top exhibit on aquaria, accessible to most users through the wetlands exhibit area, required leaving the general exhibits, going back to the elevator, heading outside and going around on the roof, and then reaching the exhibit.

( Cut for pictures. )

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http://www.sophos.com/blogs/gc/g/2009/11/08/iphone-worm-discovered-wallpaper-rick-astley-photo/

ikee is never gonna give you up

In non- entertainment news, last weekend, gargoylerose and I took a brief trip to SeaWorld, heading to the new Reef and Stingray exhibit. It works somewhat like this:

Tourists ENTER the DARK and FORBIDDING looking area with its CURVING FAKE STONE walls made of concrete, heading to a tank that mixes Atlantic and Pacific corals and fish, a large and impressive stingray tank, a tank with various and completely unlabeled invertebrate critters, a tank with somewhat labeled sea dragons, a second tank with more completely unlabeled invertebrate critters, a tank where you can have your picture taken so it looks as if your head is stuck in the aquarium – which happens to be completely inaccessible to kids in wheelchairs – and the other side of the fish/stingray tank.

Tourists: Oh, thank god. Air conditioning!

Less overheated tourists: Oooh, spooky! Ghosts!

Kids: LOOK! SOMETHING STUCK TO THE TANK! WHAT IS IT!

Parents, forgetting that the new purpose of SeaWorld is Pure Entertainment, LOOK around desperately for ANY information about the critters in the tank, and find absolutely nothing.

Me, wearily: Anemone.

Parents: What?

Kids: LOOK! MOMMY! DADDY! AUNT LUCY! ANOTHER TANK AND SOMETHING ELSE STUCK TO THE TANK! WHAT IS IT!

Parents: Er.

Me, wearily: Sea urchin.

Kids continue to SHRIEK, unhappy that no one can tell them what anything is, and speculate at high volumes. Sound continues to ECHO through the area, AGGRAVATED by MYSTERIOUS MOOD MUSIC.

Yesterday, tgregoryt, his friend A and I headed to the Florida Aquarium in Tampa, which works somewhat like this:

Excited child: WHAT'S THAT???

Parent, quickly reading wall: Anemone!

Excited child: SILENTLY STARES IN AWE.

Me: Yay.

Not surprisingly I did much better at the Florida Aquarium.

Sea World's new exhibit isn't all bad – the section where you can stand directly under stingrays is quite lovely. But I couldn't help remembering the reef exhibit that had been there previously – mostly demolished to make way for the new roller coaster. It was a rather nice exhibit of various coral reef fishes and other habitats, and if not precisely highly educational it at least gave some basic information about what was in the tanks. And it always seemed filled with people – although to be fair that was doubtless in part because of the air conditioning. And yet, it was relatively quiet.

I've noticed the same dumbing down at Epcot's The Living Seas, presumably because someone somewhere figured that people come to amusement parks for entertainment, not education. That assumption isn't entirely incorrect, especially here, where the main attractions are roller coasters. But one of the main things that used to distinguish Sea World from Disney and Universal was the focus on the animals instead of thrills. And, from my observation, removing very basic identification signs actually lessens the enjoyment of some people – specifically families with curious children. It most certainly greatly increases the volume – which in turn made me incredibly dizzy.

But anyway. Watching dolphins leap around cheered me up, as always, as did the seals and the sea lions. (I love seals and sea lions.)

More about the Florida Aquarium in the next post. And pictures!

Bah. I've had a severe case of the blogging blahs recently. But I sense I'm about to – very briefly – blog with a vengeance here before retreating right back to the blogging blahs. And watching Hurricane Ida swirl round and round. Weather satellites are not always good for me.

But first, a little chat about V, which I finally got around to seeing this weekend. (We're a non-TV household, and for some obscure reason, ABC/Hulu are not putting up new V episodes until Saturday. The next day I'm used to, and a week for particularly popular shows I get, but this seems odd. Anyway.)

Disability fail AND snark! What more do you want? ( 'Cause if it's a strong science fiction show, you're out of luck. )

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http://freerangekids.wordpress.com/2009/11/07/the-real-threat-online/

As far as kids go, the biggest danger online is not predators (just like predators aren’t the biggest risk off-line, either, in what we quaintly used to call the “real world”). No, the thing I realized I have to sit down with my kids and talk about is “reputation management.”

Read http://katie-keysburg.livejournal.com/228670.html and http://katie-keysburg.livejournal.com/229479.html. Excellent insight on why the US can seriously use some help about its self-entitlement mentality.

I wish I could articulate the way I feel better than "People suck." This did it. Thanks katie_keysburg .