The Life Experience ~ Summer '10

[bloodyrosemccoy]

What I Learned Since The Summer Solstice

• Flash photography really does damage exhibits.
• I knew about the state dinosaur, but I had no idea Utah had an official state cookware. Upon learning this, however, I did correctly guess what it was: the Dutch oven.
• The story of Marco Polo bringing noodles to Europe from China is a myth.
• Every year in Teton National Park at least one family assumes that “bear spray” works like bug spray. So before going on a hike they line their kids up, and … well, I hear the park’s clinic is very good.
• Never try to do a road trip after missing a day of Zoloft.
• There are petroglyphs like EIGHT FEET off the road to Moab. Why have I never seen them before?
• Grendel was a velociraptor!
• Okay, maybe not.
• In the study of prehistoric animals and so-called “transitional fossils,”* the question of whether an animal was reptile or mammal is settled by checking the jaw and inner ear apparatus.
• Psittacosaurus was a great dinosaur—basically a badass parrot.
• Those Wheel of Morality bumps at the ends of kids’ TV shows—Knowing Is Half The Battle, And Now A Message From The POWER RANGERS!—have a distant ancestor in medieval theater, when people would perform stupid farces in churches and conclude with a sudden random promo for Christianity. “And so the shepherds found out their friend had stolen the sheep and pretended it was his son, and they all had a good laugh, in conclusion Christ Child.”
• Speaking of Power Rangers and tolerance, David Yost left the show one day when the homophobic taunts of the crew, who apparently never watched those bumps, got to be too much for him. AND UPON LEARNING THIS, ALL THE PIECES OF MY SHATTERED CHILDHOOD SUDDENLY FIT TOGETHER. All I had known of those dark times was that suddenly Billy was no longer on the show, and so I was no longer watching it.
• Ear drops are more trouble than they’re worth.
• Pets don’t always live their full life span.
• Neither do people.
• Even when you know it’s coming, death is a shock.
• Losing a twin is more traumatic than losing a non-twin sibling.
• Dad is a Led Zeppelin fan.
• Magnetic clasps for necklaces are expensive, but totally worth it.
• Ngila Dickson is my new hero: she designed the costumes for Lord of the Rings, and thus had to figure out what each culture would wear. Also, she had to have each costume made around forty times—and in the case of the hobbits, she had to weave the fabrics twice so they’d fit the same on both the actors and their smaller doubles.**
• YES, CORN IS GRASS.
• Quad-ruled notebooks are the best kind for clear thinking.
• The Hawaiian Islands were, in fact, plagued by wild cattle after Captain Cook introduced them as an ill-advised gift to King Kamehameha I.
• Major depressive disorder is insurable, but PCOS isn't.
• Glass stovetops can be hazardous additions to any kitchen.
• Mint is a thug. Never plant it in your container garden. And thanks to the Awesome Power Of The Internet, not to mention kitmf , I didn’t even have to learn this the hard way!
• The Northern and Southern Air Temples were run by monks, while the Eastern and Western Temples were run by nuns. Just as I suspected!

*This phrase always bugs me.  All fossils are transitional fossils, really.  But it does make sense for the transition of our nomenclature.

**She also gets bonus points for something I noticed a while back: she does the same thing to differentiate Rosie Cotton that they do in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast to set Belle apart from the villagers. Notice how both Belle and Rosie are the only ones in their villages to wear blue.

Comments

[sunshine-shaman.livejournal.com]

Psittacosaurus has nothing on the Oviraptor for being a badass parrot.

DINO NERD AWAY!

[fadethecat.livejournal.com]

* The bear spray bit has me wincing, and cracking up. Poor kids.

* I know exactly what play you're talking about for the Wheel of Morality, and I still think that playing that out in class was one of the highlights of tenth grade English class.

* Woo, Airbender nuns! ...though it sort of makes me wonder how child-rearing worked in the Air Tribe. Or marriage, for that matter. I sort of picture it as being a lot of affectionate but loose relationships that would break up naturally as people might nomad their way in opposite directions, with little communities forming and dissolving continually, and then the temples being were kids were deposited for education and raising a la boarding school, without a whole lot of blood family ties maintained--given, for example, how Aang talks about the monks, but never his Family as such. But this is pure fanon on my part.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

That's kind of the background I had loosely formulated, too--I had this image of the Airbenders as a rather fluid group. I keep trying to figure out if there WERE Air Nomads who weren't benders. If there were, maybe the temples were where benders went to learn their art? Or maybe they were more inclusive boarding schools. But yeah, I am totally with you on the loose basis for relationships and communities--it just seems so natural for people whose symbol is the wind. ;)

[fadethecat.livejournal.com]

Word Of God says that all of the air nomads were also airbenders. (Insert handwavey thing about 'spiritual connection' in the culture, apparently.) So I can totally see society being this sort of overlap of uber-flexible adult behavior, and fairly regimented--if, by all appearances, happy and not overly strict--child-rearing/training. And, on a practical level, if your culture migrates by air... Even with air bison, you want to make sure that all the kids are old enough and competent enough to handle "Whoops, fell off my bison"--or, for that, "whoops, that shipment we're trading just fell off"--fairly adeptly before you send 'em off in the convoys.

[wendyzski.livejournal.com]

Mint is perfectly lovely in a container garden - as long as it gets its own container. (and you keep an eye out for sneaky attack tendrils)

[van.livejournal.com]

I found my old collection of Power Ranger toys the other day. I thought you might get a kick out of it. Sense a theme? Yeah. I stopped watching exactly when you did, though I'm rewatching now and am anticipating going further than I did the first time. BUT I WON'T LIKE IT.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

BUT WHICH CHARACTER WAS YOUR FAVORITE?!

I am painfully consistent in this regard: I pick The Nerd to love every time. Donatello, Beast, Billy, Data, Spock ... I like big brains and I cannot lie.

[van.livejournal.com]

I kind of liked the blue one I think, I don't really remember what his name was or something. XDXDXD

I do usually pick the nerds, though in TMNT I picked Raphael, at least in the cartoon, because he was the underdog really. I definitely picked Data and Spock though. I don't mind. It's a type I'd rather have.

Also, Billy was smoking later on. I know you're not too turned by such things, but dayem, he was fine ahahha. I am definitely noticing this much more on the second time around. XD

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

*examines overwhelmingly blue photo* Yeah, I SUPPOSE it could be interpreted that you liked the blue guy ... ;)

My sister likes Raphael, although she also just likes his voice actor in general. He was cool, but he did not do machines, so he got second place with me.

I only remember Billy as seen through the eyes of a ten-year-old, so I will have to take your word for it at this point. I may have to go back and actually watch some old Power Rangers ...

[van.livejournal.com]

Try this one. Billy looks particularlly fine in it, and it's a Billy episode. (Though I miss his glasses like something fierce.) Edit: apparently he's still wearing them in this one, yay. He stops shortly thereafter, which makes me saaaad.

[queenlyzard.livejournal.com]

"I like big brains and I cannot lie" needs to be an icon.

[stagemanager.livejournal.com]

Those Wheel of Morality bumps at the ends of kids’ TV shows—Knowing Is Half The Battle, And Now A Message From The POWER RANGERS!—have a distant ancestor in medieval theater, when people would perform stupid farces in churches and conclude with a sudden random promo for Christianity. “And so the shepherds found out their friend had stolen the sheep and pretended it was his son, and they all had a good laugh, in conclusion Christ Child.”

Truly fascinating; I had no idea.

[dark-phoenix54.livejournal.com]

Every year in Teton National Park at least one family assumes that “bear spray” works like bug spray. So before going on a hike they line their kids up, and … well, I hear the park’s clinic is very good.

Despite all the time I've spent listening to rangers tell Stupid Tourist stories, I'd never heard that one. Totally priceless! If it happens in Teton, it HAS to happen in Yellowstone, too. Heh.

[daiq.livejournal.com]

Those Wheel of Morality bumps at the ends of kids’ TV shows—Knowing Is Half The Battle, And Now A Message From The POWER RANGERS!—have a distant ancestor in medieval theater, when people would perform stupid farces in churches and conclude with a sudden random promo for Christianity. “And so the shepherds found out their friend had stolen the sheep and pretended it was his son, and they all had a good laugh, in conclusion Christ Child.”

Hence why they are caled Morality plays! (I love medieval theatre!)

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Oh, I knew that, I just always tought morality plays were a little more ... cohesive. You know, like Aesop's fables or parables or such. Stapling on a Bible quote was not what I had in mind.

[gwalla.livejournal.com]

Metaquoted again!

[azurelunatic]

Here via metaquotes, and giggling madly.

[black-rider.livejournal.com]

Wheel of Morality, turn turn turn, tell us the lesson that we should learn...
...and today's moral is, how did you manage to personally learn that flash photography really damages exhibits?

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

I got that information secondhand from Liz The Museum Nerd. Never really believed it before ...

here via metaquotes

[archersangel.livejournal.com]

Ear drops are more trouble than they’re worth.

i knew that from when i needed them as a kid.

Mint is a thug.

that amused me for some reason.

[westrider.livejournal.com]

Glass stovetops can be hazardous additions to any kitchen.

My Step-dad is pretty much the ultimate example of this. He's killed like three of them in four years.

[queenlyzard.livejournal.com]

Fascinating! I always wondered if the flash photography bit was true or if it was just another scheme to try and keep people from taking photos.

Wait... what exactly is "bear spray?" And if it isn't to keep bears away, what on earth does anyone want it for?

Death sucks.

I rather like the notion of a Plague of cattle. Hawaii does seem to have a lot of trouble with imported species, though.

Why would anyone make a stovetop out of glass?? That sounds about as smart as bear-spray.

And yes, mint is a thug. Never let it loose in the yard, either. And corn is a monster grass. I think most grains are, actually...

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Well, another term for bear spray, which is sold in bear-heavy national parks, is "bear mace." It does, in fact, stop menacing bears cold, but it does not work on QUITE the same principle as bug spray ...

Glass stovetops have worked well for people I know--they clean off easily and heat more evenly. However, they also BREAK easily in some case.

The cattle thing was a follow-up on that movie Dad and I watched, Castaway Cowboy. The people in the movie insisted you couldn't get cattle off the island to sell them. I wound up trying to figure out how you get cattle ON Kaua'i.

Actually, mint in our garden is rather nice--we just have to periodically beat it back into the Designated Mint Area, which is loosely defined anyway. But in a container? CHAOS!

[lycheetwist.livejournal.com]

I can't believe I haven't told you yet!

Look who I found at Kumoricon!
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u120/lychee-twist/WheelofMorality.jpg