Dreams of Flying

Everyone's had flying dreams. And if you just talk with people about "dreams where you're flying," most folks know what you're talking about and have similar stories about how they feel during that or how they with they could really do it.

But I got to talking with a group of people on Friday about the specifics, and it turns out we were wildly different! So I want to hear from you -- YES, you -- leave comments -- about your flying dreams.

1) How do you take off? Do you jump and hover? Are there multiple jumps? Do you fall forward? Do you have to jump off of something?

2) How do you fly? Are you upright or on your stomach? What are your arms doing -- superman? airplane? at your side?

3) How do you propel yourself? How do you navigate yourself?

4) How high off the ground are you? One way to refer to this is how much of the ground you can see below you: the street? A city block? A city? the world?

5) Why are you flying? Is it usually for travel/transportation? To escape? Just b/c you can?

Try to remember all you can; I'm really curious about this!

Chicks and IQ

Went to the library last night for a community forum about energy policy. It was a terribly interesting conversation, and stimulated us to walk to the grocery store later that night rather than drive. That's not what I want to talk about, though.

After the grocery store, we watched an episode of Eureka. For those who don't know, it's a Sci-Fi Channel original series about a secret government-run town full of geniuses who do crazy & awesome research...which occasionally goes badly and makes for a good episode. The main character is Sheriff Jack Carter, a former US Marshall who ends up in town. He's pretty much an everyman, and watching him struggle in a town full of geniuses is a lot of the comedy of the show. In the last episode, one of the side plots is that the high school students were given IQ tests. Carter tells his daughter Zoe not to worry about -- the genes run well in the family: "I got a 111. Didn't even study. Got better than 100%."

At the end of the episode, Zoe gets her results. Carter assures her he loves her no matter what her IQ. She got a 153 (way, way above genius level -- and something like 4 std deviations from the norm, Eric tells me, meaning in the top 100th of 1% -- anyway), but she tells her dad she got a 112. He hugs her, tells her "great job! You did your dad one better."

I don't mind Carter's character here...he's everything he should be: supportive, loving, not pissed that his daughter is smarter than he is. But the more I think about this, the more it bugs me. The TV producers create a female character...who's clearly smart and also has a ton of personality and interest... who deliberately dumbs herself down in an attempt to fit in better and gain acceptance.

Wow, if that's not exactly the story of "Why There Aren't More Girls in Math and Science"... and I just think it's an irresponsible way to play her story. I guess that was a lot of build up for very little rant, but I'm not furious about it...just... a bit distressed that they went there.

CNN pissing me off again

So I walk by to wash my oatmeal bowl, and the headline on CNN is "Chris Rock: Not the Boy's Daddy"

...


First: Why is Chris Rock's paternity on CNN?
Second: Why is the headline not something more like "Chris Rock: Not the Boy's Father"

you know what this means to me? It means that CNN is less than a year from

"Chris Rock: Not Her Baby Daddy"

...which is, interestingly enough, the 5th Horseman of the Apocalypse.

They don't get it...

I was taking one of my frequent ZoomPanel surveys and was asked this question:

Which of the following kinds of media do you spend the most time with? (Select one)
- TV
- Magazines
- Newspaper
- Internet
- Radio
- iPod/mp3

Well, I selected "Internet," but the question made me realize how much the older generation really -- and STILL -- doesn't quite get this whole Internet thing. In a typical day, I watch some YouTube videos, maybe some posted clips of TV shows, catch up on my news reader, listen to Pandora and/or NPR. In other words...
- I watch TV...on the Internet.
- I read magazines... on the Internet. (Newsweek, particularly!)
- I read newspapers... on the Internet.
- I surf the Internet.
- I listen to radio... on the Internet.

They just don't get it.