A list of random thoughts too brief, and random, to merit posts of their own

[capri0mni]

• If I should die away from home, and my body or face is mangled somehow, investigators wouldn't have an easy way to identify me via DNA: no siblings, scattered cousins who probably would never get the message that I was missing (and therefore, wouldn't know any DNA comparisons were required), and both parents were cremated, which destroys the DNA molecule (and all their personal effects, like used toothbrushes and combs, have been thrown out).



• My local PBS station will be shutting down analog broadcasts after February 17th, because 98% of households around here are ready for it now, and they would rather use the money they're spending on the rent for the analog transmitter tower on programming. Also, it turns out that my suspicions (hopes) are correct: they are not yet broadcasting their digital signal at full strength, because while we are in this in-between time, many stations are broadcasting from two different towers, and normal footprints are all weird; right now, they're only putting out a fraction of their signal strength to avoid interfering with another station (I forget if the man said "in Maryland" or "in North Carolina"). And if that's true for PBS, it's probably true for all the others, too. So I'll wait on the antenna decision.



• Barbie, the doll, made her debut in 1959. I've heard about three retrospective reports about the doll on the radio about her in as many days, all of them talking about how she's a cultural icon, and shaped the views of two generations, now. I never owned a Barbie. My mother would probably have allowed me to get one, if I'd asked (though she might have tutted to herself about my cultural sheepitude). But frankly, I've never seen the appeal, even when I was eight years old. I'd go to friends' houses after school, and on weekends, and they'd bring out their collections to play with, and I always found them a little boring, and bland. You couldn't even bend her knees, or spread her legs, so she couldn't ride any of the model horses I liked to play with.
  And besides, I preferred rag dolls and stuffed animals -- things that felt good to hug. And puppets: things I could tell a story with.
  
  I had this fabulous, almost-real looking, furry grey rabbit hand puppet that was very cuddly. And a raccoon and a skunk that were real-looking (and real-feeling, too): they were just the head, body and tail (no legs). But there was a stiff spring inside, so they moved when you stroked them. And if you cradled it in one arm while petting them in just the right way, it looked like you had a real wild animal in your arms. The same company made a red fox, which I never got. But I loved those things. I took them everywhere. And I loved the horrified looks on grown-ups' faces when they saw me coming with a living raccoon, and my mother blithely calm as she pushed my wheelchair. My mother got a kick out of it, too. I wonder if the company that made them is still around... probably not... :-/



• I'll probably let my dragon egg die (but I'm not so callous as to "kill" it). Looking at the stats of those that survive into adulthood, it seems pretty clear that they're just vehicles to boost the viewing stats of the website of the guy who created them, so he can charge more for the advertising on his site (a high ratio of unigue views to overall views, more views than clicks, and better if the clicks come from lots of different people). And I don't really want to support capitalism soley by means of emotional manipulation. I have no trouble supporting capitilism for things I derive real pleasure from, like ordering a pizza when I have food in the house, or going to the movies, or buying a 99c mp3 of a song I like. But I don't get enough pleasure from a thumbnail-sized picture (that doesn't even move) to alter my Web habits to "ensure its survival."



• There should be a fifth thing on this list, because odd numbers feel right, somehow, and there are five fingers on a hand. But the fifth thing going around in my head is uncomfortable and unwieldy, and all over the place, and I should probably filter it, but I'm not sure about which filter would be best, and... yeah. So I'll stop, now, and try to post this.

Um, some of those things were not brief at all, were they? Oh well, I couldn't decide which to post, and I didn't want to make multiple entries, today, so....

Comments

[trinalin.livejournal.com]

My hatchling died, which I've decided is OK. Means I don't have to fiddle with the thing. Since it was an abandoned egg anyway, I did give it a chance it hadn't had otherwise. ;-)

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I saw that...

Besides, it was just a picture -- a picture drawn and held in copyright by someone else.

Oh well.

I coud draw my own picture of an egg, and post it. And then, a week later, draw a baby dragon, and post that, and then draw a grown up dragon, etc.

And I would not be so damned sexist about it. Pink and purple dragons are always and only female? Female dragons never eat meat unless a male brings it to them?

Puh-leeaase!