Friday, October 03, 2008

Odds and Ends for Friday

  • Have you heard about the Ig Nobels? These awards honor "weird" science (as opposed to "fringe" science which honors Joshua Jackson for being hot). Among the studies tapped this year: researchers who investigated the claim that Coca-Cola works as a contraceptive, a psychologist who discovered that food that sounds better tends to taste better and a pair of archeologists who determined that armidillos can change the course of history.
  • Even though I just pledged not to get into politics, the debate last night got me thinking and now I have to ask: how do you guys feel about the pronunciation of "nuclear?" Does hearing it pronounced "nu-cu-ler" drive you as absolutely batshit insane as it does me? If there is a hell, I'm convinced it will be filled with Joe Don Baker movies and a steady stream of people dropping non-existent "u"s into the middle of words.

9 comments:

Anna van Schurman said...

I think you should have to know how to pronounce nuclear to have your finger on the button. Just sayin'.

Liz said...

Exactly!

Unknown said...

As long as "Mitchell" is played in hell (the MST3K version OF COURSE!) hell will be a happy place! :) But yeah...please get these people some hooked on phonics!

Anonymous said...

I saw "Nick and Nora" in a sneak preview a couple of weeks ago and it was quite good, even for someone like me who hasn't been in high school for a while and didn't have a similar NYC experience growing up.

And to: "These awards honor "weird" science (as opposed to "fringe" science which honors Joshua Jackson for being hot)" I say, HA! I was never that big of a fan of Pacey, but seeing him talk about viewing someone's last-seen images post-death is just dreamy.

Liz said...

Kathe, the MST version of "Mitchell" truly is a divine viewing experience. That movie, along with "Manos," are absolutely my two favorite MST eps.

Mandyannemurray, I've been hearing a lot of really good things about "Nick and Norah." I'm really looking forward to seeing it...even though I haven't been in high school in, well, a really, really long time. :)And yeah, I never had the Pacey love either, but Joshua v.2.0 is a whole other story.

Anonymous said...

I happened to mention the mispronunciation of nuclear at work today and no one else seemed to even notice, let alone be annoyed by it. How can this be?!?! I'm so glad I'm not the only one.

Chewbob said...

I agree with Anna.

And a new Michael Cera movie? My heart is squeeing!

agent57 said...

I read somewhere that lemon juice actually does work as a contraceptive, and kills AIDS as well. Um, but I really don't want to look up sources right now, so you probably shouldn't believe me.

It's true that Micheal Cera plays the same person in everything, but that person is just too adorable to not like. Maybe it'll wear off after a while, but for now I still like seeing him in things.

For Rocktober Fest, I'm having a Hoboween party! But I guess that's not actually going on until November, so I should probably think of some alternate resolutions.

Anonymous said...

"I read somewhere that lemon juice actually does work as a contraceptive, and kills AIDS as well. Um, but I really don't want to look up sources right now, so you probably shouldn't believe me."

It's an acid, no? If I recall correctly, this is the reason for the slightly basic secretions of prostatic fluid--to allow the sperm to survive the acidic vagina (which of course is acidic to kill bacteria).