In the land of the Freeze and the home of the Brrrr-ave!

 Ah yes, here we are back in the land where men are men and frozen solid like the rest of us. I'm  still shell-shocked enough by the change in climate from where I was to where I am that this entry could easily and instantly devolve into a tedious whine about being back here where socks, boots and overcoats ( does anyone still call them "overcoats" out there ?? )  are de facto as well as de rigueur.

 But I won't totally digress, for once. I will say, before I stop caterwauling (luv that word!)  that there are three words I will never put together in this order again and say with all honesty, and they are " I love winter "

What has deflected me  enough by to forego my egocentric yapping, Carolyn, is your mention of being rigorously edited ( dripping red, I believe she said ! ). I know, when I first got into this editor stuff, that this was one of those necessary standing naked while delivering a speech kind of experiences that I have to face at some point if I did the writing thing. I'm still wrestling with that, although my plans of using time in Meh-hee-co to write went for the same kind of sh*#-kickin' that my reading intentions suffered.






So, as this is essentially a blog loosely but umbilically attached to sci-fi,  I have to acknowledge the Obama jedi mind meld thing. It's really intriguing in a way.  That it got such a heaping helping  of mainstream media coverage certainly says something about how sci-fi has penetrated popular culture.  My response to that aspect of it can best be summed up pop culture-wise by the last  line of the chorus in the " Thrift Shop " song that's all over You Tube and well beyond. 


  



What that whole  nerdesque kafuffle also did was send me back to something I picked up in one of the bargain bins at the supermarket a few months back and just got into a bit ago. Science is Culture is a collection of  " Conversations at the New Intersection of Science + Society "  edited by Adam Bly, the founder of Seed  magazine. I guess it was languishing in the reduced bin because it didn't rush off the shelves like Fifty Shades of Grey ( Which, BTW, I saw in Spanish down there in hot and sultry Mexico, albeit only in one of the trendiest, toniest suburban malls.)

One of the participants in one of the "conversations" in this collection is Lawrence Krauss, a University of Arizona theoretical physicist - (  those guys who really do think seriously about time travel and the Theory of Relativity, etc.,) On the topic of using Star Trek in teaching and writing about the role of science in the political and cultural landscape, he notes that " The Star Trek universe  was a way to seduce readers into thinking about the real universe," and marvelled on " just how deeply it was ingrained in the consciousness of not just Americans, but of Australians now and Canadians."

I'll politely ignore the fact that he gives we Canucks third billing here ( C'mon eh! Captain Kirk may have said he was from Iowa and only working in space, but he's actually a Montreal boy - a Canadian! ) and  simply use this whole Obama meld-down item as another illustration of what Mr/Dr. Krauss was referring to.




Okay, mortarboards off! Class is over for to-day. On to the you-know-whats.


My last item was actually soap, which does come in operas and, for me at least has a habit of getting away in the indoor rain/shower. I confess that I have absolutely and positively no idea what your last one was. It's most confuscating, as Bilbo would say. The swinging left and right thing completely mystifies me - I guess I'm thinking in another plane lately - maybe even an airplane winging its way back to sunny Yucatan. So I'll actually surrender on that one, Carolyn. I just know it will be something completely familiar and obvious.

 But I will offer this one up in response:

Sudden explosion precipitates blessing

Gooey, raspy and often repetitive

Harbinger of germ invasion

Burglar alarm for infinitesimal particles 

Don

 

 

 



P.S. Good luck on your heroes journey Carolyn. I'm going to get to those interview questions quite shortly. We're in the midst of playoffs in my 8-ball league and the next couple of evenings are spoken for but thereafter it's on the short list.

P.P.S.  I had intended to spend at least part of this entry grilling you (pun excruciatingly intended) on your coming out as a pepper lover. I shall have to pursue that menu item at another time, I guess.