The Prom Draft

Following the sterling example of the N.F.L. draft, a group of boys at Corona de Mar High School in Newport Beach, California launched their own draft: this one involving which girls would be invited to the Prom!  The idea was, each girl would be scouted and ranked by the participants, who would get to choose which girl to ask without fear of poaching by some other guy.

http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-0509-prom-draft-20140509-story.html

According to reports, 40 boys wearing sports coats convened, obtained their position in the draft by lot, and each was given two minutes to make his choice.  The criteria used by the boys in their selection was individualistic; but presumably would factor in such elements as the girl assenting to go with him to the prom, her physical attractiveness, and her likelihood of putting out(?).  A sociologist, writing in Huffington_Post, viewed it as an interesting experiment.  This seemed like a calm, rational reaction to me.  Sometimes innovations work; and in the realm of social practices we would do well to be content with partial improvements.

It must have been a slow news day, and a lot of journalists and commentators mounted on their elevated equines about this offense to morals and mores on the part of these misguided teens.  The line was, this Prom Draft objectified the girls!  People, listen up!  Teen boys tend to do just that anyway, if you ever bother to listen to them. 

If there's anything that motivates people, it's a chance to deplore some recent trend.  In fact, no girl had to accept an invitation, unlike the N.F.L. draft.  Teen boys with their artlessness and their overtness make for an easy target for these would-be moralists.  Kind of like hunting cows with a cannon.  The fact that they lived in an affluent beach community, the Sodom of Choice for the Californian moralists, was a bonus.

Apparently, some of the girls who were included in the draft were less than annoyed by the existence of this draft; but I think that their reaction would depend on whether they were a first round pick, or one of the also-rans.

Hmm....Angel as a first round pick?  I could have  lived with that.  When I was in high school, the Prom event was complicated by a lack of information.  Because so many boys and girls attended single-sex schools this resulted in some girls who were available and who would have accepted being unknown entities.  In short, for many guys, several girls were unknown entities.

Political Leanings of Cartoon Characters

One of the hazards of being too, too much into politics is the tendency to find politics in odd places.  Just out of idle curiosity, I did a search on the political leanings of political characters, including popular ones from the Warner Brothers and Disney canons.  There, surprisingly, I find that people have stated their opinions regarding the likely politics of Mickey Mouse (Republican), Donald Duck (Paranoid with ideas about conspiracies), Chip and Dale (Democrats), Bugs Bunny (Democrat), Daffy Duck (Liberterian), Foghorn Leghorn (Republican), Elmer Fudd (Republican), the Smurfs (Communist), Yogi Bear (Republican).

Democrat?

This is despite two limitations: these are imaginary characters, and animals besides.  The only species of animals allowed to vote in the United States are humans and jackasses.

To date, no one has speculated on the politics of Ash Ketchum, or Misty, May, and Dawn.  They are probably not NRA members, as they seek to tame the Pokemon monsters rather than shoot them.

Princess Lum would be ineligible to participate meaningfully in Japanese politics because she's an alien oni and underage.  And her fans, being otakus, are typically nonpolitical.


http://www.democraticunderground.com/1018176739

http://www.unknown.nu/cartoon/

http://www.toonzone.net/forums/toonzone-general-animation-discussion/227399-cartoon-characters-political-beliefs-serious-thread.html




Apolitical



Almost Losing It

There's a time in a girl's life when she finds that she needs to take the ultimate step of being a woman. At 17, I found the status of being a virgin oppressive, and wished to rid myself of it despite my Mama's advice to wait until 19. (Which I did, it turned out.) Anyway, I was 17 and impatient, and found the term as used by my peer group to be oppressive and condescending. Seriously, even putative virgins tended to speak scornfully of those intacta.  Anyway, I was legal, in the sense of Louisiana law, and tired of not Tommy being allowed anything past second base. "Poor Tommy," I thought.

I really liked Tommy. Thought it was love. And so I did the discreet feminine things in preparation: bought a more adult scent, and some lacy lingerie. I was going to look right and smell right for the occasion.

The big night. I was primed. And coyly hinted.

Tommy showed up on my planned evening wearing a baseball hat, and would not remove it. And a grody sweat shirt, which he didn't, thank goodness.

There's no way that I would give up my virginity to a guy who wears a baseball hat indoors. I had my standards.

666

For the people who worry about such things as numerology, the number 666 is significant as it supposedly is the Number of the Beast.  Now this is not universally accepted; some say it might be 616.  Anyway, it's supposed to be a particularly inauspicious number.

Some people try to get this number changed if it is on their badges, addresses, or in other forms.  However, just to be safe, these numerophobics* should consider others:

666             Number of the beast
668             Neighbor of the beast
660             Approximate number of the beast
DCLXVI          Roman numeral of the beast
666.0000        Number of the high-precision beast
0.666           Number of the millibeast
1/666           Common denominator of the beast
1010011010      Binary number of the beast
-666            Negative number of the beast
00666           Zip code of the beast
$665.95         Retail price of the beast
$699.25         Price of the beast plus 5% state sales tax
$769.95         Price of the beast with all accessories and replacements
$656.66         Wal-Mart price of the beast
$646.66         Next week's Wal-Mart price of the beast
$333.00         After-Christmas sale price of the beast
$222.00         Going-out of business liquidation price of the beast
Phillips 666    Gasoline of the beast
Route 666       Way of the beast
665             Older brother of the beast
667             Younger brother of the beast
666 UP          Soft drink of the beast
666lb cap       Weight limit of the beast
666 F           Oven temperature for cooking roast "beast"
666k            Retirement plan of the beast
666 mg          Recommended minimum daily requirement of the beast
20/666          Vision of the beast
1-800-666-6666  Toll-free number of the beast  
999             Australian number of the beast
6"X 6"X 6"      Lumber of the beast
66.6 GHZ        Computer processor of the beast
666-66-6666     Social security number of the beast
6/6/66          Birth date of the beast
666.AC.com      URL of the beast   
IAM 666         License plate number of the beast
Formula 666     All-purpose cleaner of the beast
666 calories    Diet of the beast
969             Dyslexic number of the beast
WD-666          Spray lubricant of the beast 
66.6 MHz        FM radio station of the beast
666 KHz         AM radio station of the beast
Chanel No. 666  The beast's favorite perfume

*People who have a fear of numbers.  The most common form is triskaidekaphobia, fear of the number 13.

Peer Review and the Publishing of Scientific Journal Articles

In getting an article published in scientific journals, the possible author must submit to the process of peer review.  Depending on the seriousness of the reviewers, the quality of the journal, and the theoretical or practical importance of the research finding,  the paper may be subjected to intense scrutiny.  While the process usually yields quality articles to be ultimately published, one article in psychology was negatively reviewed by peer reviewers of several journals before ultimately being accepted by the Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology.  This article (by Garcia and Koelling, 1966) was reviewed by one with "the probability of obtaining these results is the same as finding birdshit in a cuckoo clock." 

Ironically, the Garcia and Koelling article ultimately published became one of the most widely-cited ones in the conditioning and learning literature.  It demonstrated that certain forms of conditioning could be situation-specific.  Also, it demonstrated that conditioned taste aversions could be readily acquired to nausea-invoking stimuli.

Not all papers submitted for review get the full treatment; some reviewers, busy with their own research, gloss over papers that they are peer-reviewing and make few critical comments.

With regard to the journal-publishing activity itself, there has been a tendency for multiple authors of scientific journal articles within the past 20 years or so.  The apotheosis (or the final absurdity) of this occurred with an article by E. Topol et al. published in The New England Journal of Medicine (1993).  It listed 976 co-authors from 15 different countries!  Now that journal is perhaps the most prestigious in medicine, but that may be overdoing it a bit.

Somehow, the various strategies for increasing the number of citations on one's vita can be likened to stuffing one's bra.  (Let's be honest, many of  us have done this on occasion.)  The expectation, which often is true, is that the people scanning the vita as part of the academic or research hiring process, or in screening candidates for a research grant will simply look at the quantity of publications cited, not their quality.

Teaching of Evolution Map

Like climate change, evolution is a scientific concept that stirs strong emotions and dubious political activity, such as the venture into asshatery that resulted in the Scopes trial in 1925.  However, curriculum is set by the individual states.  Which states do a good job with evolution?

The answer is that curriculum-based coverage is exemplary in CA, CT, HI, IN, NC, NJ, PA, and SC.  The states that really miss the mark are AL, AK, AR, FL,  GA, IL, KY, ME, MS, ND, OH, OK, TN, VA, VT, WI, WV,  and WY.

Iowa is uncolored.  Apparently, evolution does not happen there.

In general, those are the states which leave science curriculum matters to science educators and actual scientists. It's not only amazing that curriculum might be impacted by legislative action, but it's sheer egotism on their part!

It's just as well that the Laws of Thermodynamics are not in question, usually.  But I have heard of a group in Kansas that doubts the Second Law of Thermodynamics. 

Why Do Women Put on Guys' Shirts?

In a conversation that several of us ladies had, after a few fun drinks, the talk (naturally enough) went around to sex.  Now after the usual matters were disposed of, one of the group broached a question, "After you spent the night with a guy, did you put on one of his dress shirts the next morning?"  Interestingly, several admitted that they did.

So reflexively, I went into my behavioral science mode and begin to wonder why.

As a matter of fact, this seems to be a common post-coital motif if the couple spends the night at his place.

One possibility is that the woman, after having mated, does this to mark the guy's clothes subtly with her lingering scent.

Here's another view:  When a girl has finally sex with a guy, having done so generates a little conflict.   So after she had engaged in sex, she unconsciously wants to tell herself that he is a good guy who can take care of her and has the potential of loving her.  By putting his shirt on, she is in a way affirming to herself that she is comfortable with him. She reassures herself that he has the necessary qualities, habits and personality which will allow her to feel at ease with him and somehow justifies having sex with him.

Still a third possibility is that she thinks she will look cute and sexy; and possibly inspire an encore.  

Finally, she dons her lover's dress shirt as a type of victory trophy.  Have you any opinions on this?

Anyway, I have not found any research that specifically addressed this topic.  I wonder how the NSF would react to a grant application?