Plastic Surgery

"Plastic Surgery" by LeWelsch

There are lots of reasons to get plastic surgery.  

I'm curious, though, about people who get plastic surgery to conform with their understanding of beauty.  

Survival of the fittest would say that people with 'beautiful' characteristics will be 'selected' for reproduction more often, which genetically promotes the characteristic.

People who get plastic surgery are hiding their supposed 'less than beautiful' characteristic, so they're mistakenly selected more often for reproduction.

As a result, the 'ideal' of beauty is reinforced in culture, but the people who think they're flawed in that ideal, are genetically passing on their flaw in greater numbers.

Strange.

CBS's "Under the Dome"

On Monday I watched the premiere episode of CBS's "Under the Dome".
It's based on a Stephen King novel that I've never read.

I thought it was an interesting idea.  A dome comes down on a town and they're stuck inside.  They can see outside the dome, but they can't hear and they can't pass through it.
What will happen?

Guess what?  I'm not going to watch it.
Why?  Because the stock characters - I'm so bored of these archetypes.  Can't anyone be mostly normal?  Wouldn't that be interesting enough?

1.  The town councilman is obviously bad and nobody in the town knows it.  He wants power.
2.  The councilman's son is a psychopath and nobody knows it.  He wants to hurt people and has already trapped a girl in a fallout shelter.
3.  The main hero guy is a mystery.  Is he good, is he bad?  We don't know yet.
4.  The journalist with a supposedly philandering husband.
As you might suspect the journalist and the hero have joined forces and he realizes her husband is the man he buried at the beginning of the episode (I missed the first few minutes, did he kill the guy? I don't know.)
5.  Earnest young high school kid who is curious and kind and has befriended the mysterious hero.  His parents are both outside the dome and his friends want to use his house for parties.
6.  Older cop who has a hand in some of the bad stuff happening in town, but he doesn't like it.
7.  Younger cop who is honest and true - she has a fireman boyfriend who's on the other side of the dome.
8.  A wealthy lesbian couple with a daughter who's been in trouble - they're taking her to a camp when they get caught inside the dome.

I enjoyed the show, but really didn't like the councilman and the councilman's son.  I don't dislike those characters because they're evil, I dislike them because there's no motivation for them to be evil.  They're evil only to cause trouble for the hero and the good guys.  I can't imagine it's always in their best interest to be evil, but they will be - just to be the bad guys.

Although the book had an answer for the dome, I read the creators of the television show are giving it a different answer.  They asked Stephen King about their change and, according to them, he liked it and wished he'd thought of it.

Given all that, I read the synopsis of the original Stephen King story.
Eh.
There was an original Star Trek episode about that.

So - good show for those of you who aren't tired of the same stock characters in the way I am.  If you haven't watched as much TV as I have - they're new to you...:)

ABC's "Whodunnit?"

On Sunday I watched the premiere episode of ABC's "Whodunnit?".
I was intrigued - I'll continue watching.

Although, in a couple ways, it confused me.

First, if the contestants are regular folks who signed up to be part of a game, how are they playing dead so well?
The first victim was electrocuted and it was real enough to be creepy.
In the 'morgue', three contestants examined her body for clues.  I would be too self-conscious to lay on the autopsy table realistically.
I suspect the first 'victim' was an actress, but what about the others?
I wouldn't have suspected there were this many ordinary folk who are that comfortable in front of cameras.

Second, the contestants are trying to figure out who the 'murderer' is, and it's one of them.  Very quickly there are alliances and lying.  One group of three who viewed the victim's body in the morgue decided to keep a clue all to themselves and then each one of them went back to the group and told someone else - and got mad at the other ones for telling.  Ridiculous.
So, someone is lying because they're the murderer.  Fine.
But, everyone else is lying too.  I can't tell if the format of the game encourages typical reality game lying, or if the idea of lying on a reality game is typical so no matter what the format, the players would respond the same way.
The contestants themselves make the reality game less interesting when they act unrealistically.  Do they lie in real life when trying to solve a problem?
Wouldn't it be nice if someone came up with a different way of playing?
I find that aspect irritating.

I still think it's a good show.  They had a puzzle that took some thinking (with a little luck), and the game has been setup well.  It reminds me of The Mole, which was also a fun reality game.

#StandWithWendy

Wendy Davis filibuster in Texas

Thank you Wendy!

I'm watching live on the Internet and it's horrifying and uplifting at the same time.  The Republicans are trying to ramrod sweeping anti-abortion laws through, Wendy Davis tried to filibuster, had three violations (weird), Senator Van de Putte (female) tried to call for a motion to adjourn and wasn't heard.  She said "At what point must a female senator raise her hand to be recognized over the male colleagues in the room?"  At that point, the people started clapping and shouting and the voting was suspended (?)  I think they're trying to get to midnight without the vote being completed.  The crowd's been going strong for almost 10 minutes now.  The State troopers are not quieting the people down.  Crazy stuff.
Thank you to all the people who are making an effort to keep a woman's right to control her own body.

Except, I think in the end, the 'question was adopted'.  It's moving too fast for me to know what's going on as it's happening.  I don't really know what the 'question' was...parliamentary procedure is hard to follow.

None of this is on the 24 hour news networks.
No wonder the Internet is winning.

Update 6/27/2013
Governor Rick Perry has called the state senate back into special session on July 1 to vote on SB5 again.  It's expected to easily pass the Republican controlled Senate.
Wendy Davis is getting lots of media attention.
She energized a lot of people and made everyone proud.
I would like Senator Van de Putte to get some attention as well...her question was great..

ALEC - American Legislative Exchange Program

Check out Moyers and Company - "United States of ALEC-A Follow-Up"
ALEC claims to be a "nonpartisan public-private partnership".
Their members are big corporations and legislators.

How are we ever going to get our government back? 

Paula Deen

Paula Deen admits to using racially charged words in the past.  A current lawsuit alleges she continues to speak to African American employees with the same insensitivity and lack of respect.

I've often thought, in our society filled with marketers and public relations handlers, it would be impossible to find out who people really are.
Maybe not.

I don't know the details of this specific case, but it does seem peculiar to me that people who court celebrity and know they live in a fishbowl are audacious enough to call attention to their own faults.

***

Update 6/27/2013 - The story keeps on.  The Food Network, Walmart, and other corporations are ending their associations with Paula Deen.
There is some public discussion about whether the reaction is overblown; if forgiveness is more appropriate.

Here's my take:  You don't use that word - ever.  If, for some reason, it comes out of your mouth, you move yourself out of public life.  You can be forgiven, but get yourself OUT OF PUBLIC LIFE.  You are no longer a role model and you should not continue to make money because people want to be like you.
As far as I'm concerned if you continue trying to be an influence in the public sphere then you have no integrity and that's another reason I want you OUT OF PUBLIC LIFE!!!!  There are plenty of other things you can do in life.
Not only that, but there are plenty of other people who do what you do and have never used that language.

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles

Queen Elizabeth

Prince Charles (first)

Prince William (second), Kate, and future Heir to the Throne (third)

Prince Charles lives his life knowing the only way he'll fulfill his public destiny is when his Mama dies.

I'd need therapy to sort all that out.

I'm watching "Royal Memories:  Prince Charles' Tribute to the Queen" on PBS. 

In the program, Prince Charles notes that one of his mother's legacies is her consistency.  The Queen has remained steadfast through all these 60 years of her reign.

Prince Charles has remained steadfast and now lives beyond the mistakes of his younger years.

As the world moves faster and ever faster (and as I get older), it's a comfort to know some things change slowly.

Reality Bites

Soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division 

Afghanistan War Casualties

US Military:

Total Deaths 2,103

Hostile Action 1,744

Total Wounded 18,734

Allied Fatalities (Britain, Canada + 20 other nations) 1,098

US civilian deaths - not counted by the Pentagon

Afghan military and civilian deaths - uncountable due to wide discrepancies in estimates.  Also not counted by the Pentagon.

Sources:  Total US military fatalities and wounded provided by the Associated Press.

Allied fatalities provided by icasualties.org

Here it is - another year has passed.

This year was more difficult than I expected.
LJB chose someone else, I discovered the 'story' we tell about who I am isn't really true, I've been frustrated by work and my apparent slowness.  I have felt on many (many, many) days that I can't do anything right.  And I've gained about 40 pounds since I moved back here.

Which means next year is gonna be FAN TAS TIC!!!!
I've been preparing for a breakthrough year...
Thank goodness it's finally here - I'm ready...Let's GO! :)

I'm a little early posting this because I don't know how to schedule a post and I don't care enough to figure it out.
(Hmmm...a personality characteristic, maybe?)

Next year I'd like to read books, feel good about work, do art.

And meditate.  And lose weight.  And eat more vegetables.

YeeHaw!

Enjoy my birthday day...:)