Truth Meets Fiction—Sort Of

 

February 18, 2024

 

A female manta who has no male companion at a North Carolina aquarium has become pregnant.

 

Some people speculated that one of the sharks swimming in her tank might responsible, but scientists are ascribing it to good ol’ parthenogenesis. If you remember your high school biology, that’s the process of asexual reproduction where offspring develop from unfertilized eggs.

 

(This reminds me of the old story in which a class was assigned to write an essay mixing royalty, religion, sex, and mystery. One student wrote, ‘“My God!” said the Queen. “I’m pregnant. I wonder whose it is?’” The story is apparently a myth, but it is a funny coincidence.)

 

 

Selectively Blaming God

 

February 18, 2024

 

 

Missouri Senator Sandy Crawford asserts, “God is perfect. God does not make mistakes and for some reason he allows that to happen. Bad things happen.”

She was talking about rapes that result in pregnancy.

I notice she didn’t say anything about people getting injured, traumatized, or killed by gunfire at a Kansas City Chiefs victory parade. Can it be that she's not sure that's also God's will? Or perhaps she believes it, but doesn't want to deal with the outrage that might follow such a statement.

I'm curious: Is Sen. Crawford accusing God of selectively allowing atrocities, or are all atrocities covered? Or maybe just the ones that result in babies? 

 

I hope she can clarify the situation.
 

 

 

An Original Frontiere?

 

February 4, 2024

 

I was watching an episode of “12 O’Clock High” (“The Albatross”) last May and I heard a distinctive set of notes: Bum ba DAH, bum bum bum bum bum”. Yep, it was the opening sequence of the “Star Trek” theme, except for the final “Da DAH”. I even called in a couple of witnesses to verify that it was the same tune. I looked at the credits to see if Alexander Courage, the composer of the “Star Trek” theme, was listed, but he wasn’t.

 

So: Who did compose those notes? A guy by the name of Dominic Frontiere. Considering the opening lines of Star Trek—“Space: The Final Frontier”—I think it’s a fascinating Fun Fact.

 

 

It Was Such a Simple Pleasure

 

January 30, 2024

 

A while back, I discovered that the way to keep cereal from going to the bottom of the box when you pour it is to tuck one of the side flaps in—it gets between the bag and the box, so the cereal slides back into the bag, not into the box. It’s worked like a charm—no stale cereal left over in the bottom of the box when the bag is empty.

 

So, imagine my dismay when the box of cereal I just opened turned out to have much shorter flaps; it’s almost impossible to tuck them in.

 

Do you ever get the feeling that the universe is just messing with you for the heck of it?

 

 

February 2, 2024: Now that the cereal level is down a bit, the flap is adequate.