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I’m a firm capitalist, and I understand that you have to take the good with the, well, absurdly bad, but it’s a damn shame for the sport of boxing and professional sports in general that Mike Tyson, a convicted rapist who said in an interview that he wants to rape (again?) the woman who accused him, is getting support to make a come back.

I agree with Lennox Lewis: “It’s setting a bad precedent for other athletes. Instead of being noticed for doing good things, it’s the bad things that get publicized.”

catbird :: May.30.2003 :: socio-pop :: Comments Off

I remember a time when to remove a page from a website, leaving visitors a “page not found” message and the web strewn with dead links, was just not done. Now links to news stories created merely a couple weeks ago are leading no where.

catbird :: May.29.2003 :: cat rants :: Comments Off

“The fastest-growing dining category nationwide last year wasn’t fine dining or family restaurants: It was doughnut shops.”

The doughnut category plumped up the public with $3.6 billion in sales last year and acheived 9% sales growth - that’s about double the industry average.

catbird :: May.27.2003 :: socio-pop :: 1 Comment »

I have been spending some time following the Jayson Blair incident and fallout. The entire situation is interesting from a cultural (socio- and techno-) perspective. However, it has also helped me to realize that I don’t really believe anything I read/hear in the news, anyway.

catbird :: May.27.2003 :: socio-pop :: Comments Off

So this skeleton walks into a bar. He goes up to the bartender and orders a beer and a mop.

Thanks Non-Expert.

catbird :: May.23.2003 :: cat rants :: Comments Off

For their final project in course MAS 863, How To Make (Almost) Anything, Hayes Solos Raffle and Dan Maynes-Aminzade created a urinal which allows the user to play a “whack-a-mole” type game while, um, peeing.

The best part?
“In order to allow both men and women to participate in the demonstration, I created a customized game controller. It is a play on nintendo-style game controllers, plumbing equipment, and strap-on dildo harnesses. The oversized phallic nozzle is powered by two water reservoirs located to suggest oversized ovaries, making it oddly hermaphroditic.”

Check it out

catbird :: May.23.2003 :: socio-pop :: Comments Off

A relative of my friend Heather is serving in Iraq. His recent email to friends and family provides a glimpse into the daily life of the troops.

catbird :: May.20.2003 :: cat rants :: Comments Off

First, I was bombarded with video of high school girls beating other high school girls. Then I found out that the families of some of those girls are filing suit against the school for suspending them (the school proposed a deal). And just this morning I heard that the families of the high school boys who went to a strip club on a school-sponsored trip are also filing lawsuits against that school.

John Warner’s column was a dose of sanity as well as a point of view I agree with 100 percent.

catbird :: May.20.2003 :: socio-pop :: Comments Off

As an avid lover of the Bouvier breed, I am thrilled about DogBlog, a weblog with pictures and stories about Sandra’s life with her Bouviers. I have heard and read about Bouviers not being great with other dogs or with kids, so this weblog gives me hope that some day I will convince my hubby that we should rescue one.

catbird :: May.19.2003 :: woof :: 1 Comment »

Bob Monsour is right, this article is important. It discusses a “new gender gap” in which girls are gaining an advantage in education, with boys being left behind due to the teaching methods and policies.

One point that I find very interesting, and disturbing, is the extensive use of Ritalin for children. I was appalled at the number of kids taking Ritalin in the school where my mother was working, and that was about 5 years ago. I can’t imagine what it is like now. (Think about it, how can so many kids need drugs to function “normally”. That just can’t be right.) With studies showing that today’s adolescents have an average attention span of 11 minutes, the “sit-still-and-listen” teaching paradigm may be losing relevance.

Also, the idea of same sex schools for kids is very interesting. While I am not necessarily a proponent of same sex schools for a child’s entire educational life, I do think that there are times when it could be advantageous for both sexes. Maybe the answer isn’t separate schools, however, but maybe some separate same-sex classes within a school for both boys and girls so that kids can still have interaction with both sexes. Separate classes for math, science, and/or language arts so that different teaching methods could be used. (Hmmm. are we back to the topic of underpaid teachers?)

I suppose that, as with most things, balance is the answer. A reactionary response could hurt all that girls have gained, but we don’t want to forget boys along the way. For some reason that my not-enough-coffee-yet brain can’t fathom this morning, I think there is a link between this topic and the retro-sexism post last week.

catbird :: May.19.2003 :: socio-pop :: 2 Comments »

Check out Kevin Cornell’s sketchbook. I especially enjoyed pages 68 and 75. Oh, and don’t forget to check out the homepage and interact with the bear, who might just need a refreshing drink.

catbird :: May.19.2003 :: cat rants :: Comments Off

Am I alone in being skeptical that in 1994 this guy from Marshalltown, Iowa came up with the idea for American Idol that included voting via the Internet? 1994? Marshalltown, Iowa? Seriously?

The story.

catbird :: May.16.2003 :: socio-pop :: Comments Off

Hooters, The Man Show, Maxim, the Wonderbra, and Lara Croft….

“It is as if millions of American men�many of them well educated�took a look at the lifestyle prescribed by modern feminism and decided, No thanks, we’d rather be pigs.”

But is it just a social irony in which men can say, “I’m not a crude ogler or a loser porn addict. I’m a hip ironist. I’m playing a media-savvy game, and therefore I have permission to spend hours looking at women in their underwear?”

A very interesting look at retro-sexism and other cultural movements from David Brooks.

catbird :: May.16.2003 :: socio-pop :: Comments Off

Gilbert Waldbauer, an American professor emeritus of entomology, “very soon persuades us that, while the insects could very well get by without humans, insects are essential to human survival. This is not flattering to the pride of man. Insects perform many vital functions without which man could not survive, such as the pollination of flowering plants, the prevention of the uncontrolled spread of vegetation that might otherwise take over entire habitats, and the disposal of animal remains and excrement.”

The story.

catbird :: May.16.2003 :: cat rants :: Comments Off

… or led me to learn.

15. Good human-dog communication, good training, and a good game of fetch.

14. The power of distraction - especially with a manipulative dog.

13. How to communicate in “dog” and read dog body language.

12. Almost any toy can be destroyed if you put your mind to it, even those black Kongs.

13. How dogs are wired to behave, especially with regard to the pack.

10. The best dogs sometimes act bad.

9. How to read a dog food label and what foods are bad for him (oh, and to keep the dog food in a very, very secure place).

8. How to break up a dog fight.

7. That I can never know too much about dog breeds and behavior.

6. To have a thick skin when people make judgments based on the way he looks.

5. Dog first aid.

4. That every dog has his own challenges.

3. That a tired dog is a good dog.

2. I have a lot more to learn.

And the number one thing my dog has taught me…

1. I’m not as clean as I think I am.

catbird :: May.13.2003 :: woof :: 1 Comment »

In fact, I kind of like the fresh, offbeat format of the show. It’s certainly a stand out in the weekend tv mush for kids. And I definitely agree that Hilary Duff, who plays Lizzie, is “not threatening to girls … not inaccessible to boys … [and] comforting to parents.”

But these two quotes make my stomach turn:

Psychologist Dr. Shauna Laughna says, “It’s not just the [Lizzie McGuire] movie’s Cinderella fantasy, it’s this pretty young girl, wearing great clothes, singing and dancing and attracting the cute boy. Girls identified with her before they even made a movie. Girls are pretty much raised to need this fantasy.”

Barbara Schecter, professor of psychology at Sarah Lawrence College says, “Movies and TV shows built around this fantasy ingrain the idea that something material - clothes, physical beauty, a prince - can be the thing that changes a girl’s life for the better … Kids are very vulnerable to the message that the culture sends them.”

YIKES! Girls are raised to need a Cinderella fantasy? And girls are being ingrained with the idea that material things can make life better? Maybe I should hate Lizzie McGuire and her ilk.

catbird :: May.12.2003 :: socio-pop :: 1 Comment »

In reference to Jack pulling a tree limb out of his leg after the plane crash with Nina early on:

“Nazir recommends that real secret agents apply a pressure bandage, clean the wound as soon as possible and not parachute from an airplane later the same day.” (the full story)

Maybe all the reality shows have gotten some viewers confused. True, in reality no man could do what Jack is doing, however, this is fiction. The writers have done a damn good job keeping things moving along (with the exception of some yawn scenes between Carrie and Michelle back at CTU).

catbird :: May.12.2003 :: socio-pop :: 1 Comment »

In Taylor County, Georgia, high school students are having two proms: “one all-white, the other integrated.”

Wayne Smith, superintendent of Taylor County Public Schools, says, “We are being shown to the world as a bunch of racists, which is absolutely not true.”

Hmmm… I guess racist has a different definition in Georgia.

Okay, to be fair, both events are privately funded, not school-sponsored. But in a way, that fact makes it more scary - the kids hatched this plan on their own. Who’s setting the example down there?

catbird :: May.12.2003 :: socio-pop :: Comments Off

Typing Monkeys Don’t Write Shakespeare

Researchers at Plymouth University in England reported this week that primates left alone with a computer attacked the machine and failed to produce a single word.

The Story

catbird :: May.09.2003 :: socio-pop :: Comments Off

Steve Martin made the list, but feels that his beauty is “actually a burden”.

“Sometimes I go to a party and not one of the other 49 most beautiful people is there. That makes me feel very solitary and alone, because it means I am the most beautiful person in the room.”

Yahoo News story

catbird :: May.02.2003 :: socio-pop :: 3 Comments »