Is it Something in the Water?

According to Ray Lovegrove,

"The substances in the [contraceptive] pill may be altered a little  by the body but for the main part, pass through  the bloodstream and eventually into the urine.  Urine ends up in water supplies and eventually back in the drinking water - so what has happened to those hormones during this process? Well, much of the hormonal material is still present but very diluted - so diluted in fact, that it is hard to say what effects it is having. Hormone replacement therapy employs similar hormones and these also get into the water supply. This issue is beginning to cause concern for a number of reasons..."

More:

"You will doubtless have read news items about young males having a much lower sperm count than they did twenty or thirty years ago. The average young man in the UK, for instance, has a much lower sperm count than a man in his forties or fifties! Various causes for this phenomenon have been put forward, including the fit (or not...) of underwear, pesticides in the environment (many of which are surprisingly similar to hormones) and hormones in the water supply."

I started considering this issue after reading my fellow Amentior blogger Cathy of Alex's piece "We Are a Nation of Pansy Children" where she noted the sissification of today's youth. 

I now wonder if the oral contraceptive hormones in our water supply are responsible for a disturbing trend, something I'm certain we all have noticed but I've yet to see discussed anywhere.

The Emasculation of Corporate Logos

This pattern can't simply be an accident. These designs are overly horrid, excessively effeminate, exorbitantly ugly, and the situation is far too pervasive.

Nor can these exceptionally shitty designs merely be a design fad.  No one in his or her right mind could possibly see another company's weak all-lower-case logo and say, "Oh yeah! We gotta get ourselves one of these!"

Clearly the cause must be either a conspiracy such as a nefarious government mind control program, malevolent Extra-Terrestrial intervention, widespread demonic possession, or the most likely reason:  contraceptive hormones.

Yes it must be estrogen in the water that is affecting the brains of advertising professionals, graphic designers, and corporate CEOs (both male and female alike.) And just like the reduction in sperm count, it's getting dramatically worse over time. 

Examples of hormonal logo neutering:

They could have selected a designer by randomly picking someone's name from the white pages and obtained a better result. Were they intentionally trying to convey weakness and lack of leadership?

The first logo looked very appropriate for a pizzeria - a place where you can sit down inside and dine.

The second one, designed a couple decades following widespread hormonal contamination,  gives me a headache.  Perhaps the design was meant to suggest the idea of speed (like crappy take out/delivery pizza places?)  And the final one is an anomaly.  I'm not sure what the designer was thinking here. Maybe it was a leftover unused design for a hardware store? Does it evoke the idea of Italian food, or any kind of food?

Obviously they were going for a soft friendly environmentally conscious look. 

Anyway, I thought it might be fun to predict what will happen to other logos that have thus far escaped this trend.

IBM, "Big Blue," the grandfather of the (non-Apple) PC you are probably using to read this blog.  According to Wikipedia, this logo has been around since 1972. To me it conveys leadership and strength. But since those attributes are no longer desirable today, they need a new design that reflects weakness and failure. We're a nation that elected Barack Obama, who is trotting the globe apologizing for America's greatness.  Who needs silly antiquated ideas such as technical innovation, profits, success, and growth? So we will probably see something like this soon:

A chart of NASCAR demographics indicates that their fanbase is 60% male and 40% female. For the sport to grow and attract greater interest among females, something has to be done to soften its image.

Surprisingly according to Scarborough Research, the fanbase of the NFL is 52% female and 49% male.  However, loyal fans are 63% male, 37%  female.  And "avid fans" are 69% male, 31%  female. So, it's very possible that a future emasculated Dallas Cowboys logo could look something like this:

I really like Sony's timeless logo.  But if my theory of hormonal water contamination is valid, good sense will go out the window and we might see a new design similar to this:

And a potential new design for the National Security Agency needs no explanation:

Raspberry white chocolate ganache

From the baking genius Green Girl:

More

Pacman

Faithfulls wait for Pope Benedict XVI to arrive at the papal summer residence in Castel Gondolfo near Rome on July 7, 2010. (Getty Images)

'Never slaughter a chicken in front of a monkey'

Friday, 09 July 2010 12:33

A Chinese man who saved a one-armed, one-legged monkey says the primate has paid him back - by killing all of his chickens.

Li Chun, from Menghai village, Yunnan province, says the monkey has become a member of his family since he nursed it back to health.

It has become to devoted to the family and performs many chores around the home - but it also copies everything Li does.

When it saw him crack some eggs to make a meal it went into the hen coop and smashed all of the eggs it could find.

And when Li slaughtered a chicken, the monkey copied him and has since killed about 80 chickens, reports the Chuncheng Evening Post.

"From then on, whenever it's not occupied, it jumps into the chicken pen, and kills the chickens, no matter how big or small, and tries to pluck them," said Li...

• Link

Star Trek Love Boat

Viral Alien Disco Classic

Clinton to Perform Weiner Wedding

"Bill Clinton is not giving away his daughter Chelsea’s hand in marriage for another three weeks. But he is going to get a little practice at the altar on Saturday, when he officiates at the wedding of Representative Anthony D. Weiner and Huma Abedin, a longtime aide to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. 

The ceremony will be at Oheka Castle in Huntington, N.Y., in the early evening. 

Matt McKenna, a Clinton spokesman, told The Associated Press that Mr. Clinton would conduct the ceremony and was authorized to do so, but did not elaborate. Aides to Mr. Weiner, who represents Queens and Brooklyn, declined to comment..."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/10/nyregion/10weiner.html

We are a Nation of Pansy Children

It used to an insult to call someone a pansy. Maybe it still is. I don't know and I don't currently care. Anyway, this is a short diary entry like rant about my 4th of July weekend (last weekend for my non-U.S. readership because I want to be global and all that and not confuse nationalism with patriotism blah, blah, blah)

Went swimming, tubing, water skiing. I marveled at how wimpy some of my cousin's kids are. Good grief. None of them can swim. They all have to wear life jackets even wading in the water AND surf shoes because of the rocks and STUFF in the water (waaah, waah), WTH?! Honestly, why not just put them in a bubble and push that out? Even water skiing for kids now is this set of skis that are bolted together with a rope attached to them. It was so bizarre to me. Then someone has to HOLD the other end of the rope in the boat-you can't attach it. That's so if they fall they don't get dragged. Uh, hello, most people learn after one time to let go of the dang rope if you fall.

We are a nation of pansy children. I'm sorry but it was insane (amentior!). When I was a kid we learned on a shorter set of skis but there was none of this goofy drama. Two of my little 2nd cousins got on the huge tube together and my cousin drove the boat dead slow. Two of the girls fell off and screamed like they were going to die. It was so bad that my cousin and I (I crap you not) had to jump in and get them. Did I mention they had life jackets on? Did I mention there are no sharks in inland waters in South Dakota and the last lake sturgeon attack was probably 3 centuries ago? I rode the tube and proclaimed watch an old chick like me do it and see how easy it is. Good grief.

When I came home from the hospital my Mom held me in her lap. It's a miracle I survived. Now, I think 15 years olds have to be in car seats.

That's all.

Father Z: Star Wars Auditions!!

Not it's really not Father Z. I think Father looks like Bobby Darin but other bloggers think he looks like Kevin Spacey so here we go again!

Kevin Spacey, believe it or not, plays all three of these roles from a 1997 episode of Saturday Night Live. Trivia fact: Christopher Walken really was a finalist for the role of Han Solo in Star Wars.I know you are all fascinated!


Kevin Spacey Star Wars Auditions - Christopher Walken

| MySpace Video

Need my Halloween flashlight

In attempting to stay in line with the slightly Medieval theme of the blog header, I opted for a visual post on the dark, so very backwards, scientifically and intellectually challenged Dark/Middle Ages.

Yessirree, the only thing people could do back in the day was contemplate how long it was before the Black Death might draw their number.

No time to contemplate architecture....



Aachen Cathedral, frequently referred to as the "Imperial Cathedral" (in German: Kaiserdom), is a Roman Catholic church in Aachen, Germany. The church is the oldest cathedral in northern Europe and was known as the "Royal Church of St. Mary at Aachen" during the Middle Ages. For 600 years, from 936 to 1531, the Aachen chapel was the church of coronation for 30 German kings and 12 queens. The church is the episcopal seat of the Diocese of Aachen.


Charles the Great (Charlemagne) began the construction of the Palatine Chapel around 792, along with the building of the rest of the palace structures.

It was consecrated in 805 by Pope Leo III in honour of the Virgin Mary. It was extensively renovated in the 10th century and restored in 1881. The core of the cathedral is the Carolingian Palatine Chapel, which is notably small in comparison to the later additions.



In order to sustain the enormous flow of pilgrims in the Gothic period a choir hall was built: a two-part Capella vitrea (glass chapel) which was consecrated on the 600th anniversary of Charlemagne's death. A cupola, several other chapels and a steeple were also constructed at later dates. In 1978, it was one of the first 12 items to make the entry into the UNESCO list of world heritage sites, as the first German and one of the first three European historical ensembles.


The Aachen cathedral treasury displays sacral masterpieces of the late Classical, Carolingian, Ottonian and Staufian period - among them there are some unique exhibits like the Cross of Lothair the Bust of Charlemagne and the Persephone sarcophagus. The Cathedral Treasury in Aachen is regarded as one of the most important ecclesiastical treasuries in northern Europe. (Throne of Charlemagne, above)

When he died in 814, Charlemagne was buried in a vault in the cathedral.

In 1000, Otto III had Charlemagne's vault opened. Otto of Lomello, one of the courtiers who accompanied him, recorded the event, which is reported in the Chronicle of Novalesia, written about 1026. The account reads:

"So we went in to Charles. He did not lie, as the dead otherwise do, but sat as if he were living. He was crowned with a golden crown and held in his gloved hands a sceptre; the fingernails had penetrated through the gloves and stuck out. Above him was a canopy of limestone and marble. Entering, we broke through this. Upon our entrance, a strong smell struck us. Kneeling, we gave Emperor Charles our homage, and put in order the damage that had been done. Emperor Charles had not lost any of his members to decay, except only the tip of his nose. Emperor Otto replaced this with gold, took a tooth from Charles’s mouth, walled up the entrance to the chamber, and withdrew again."

A large picture representing Otto and his nobles gazing on the dead Emperor was painted on the wall of the great room in the Town Hall.

In 1165, Emperor Frederick Barbarossa again opened the vault and placed the remains in a sculptured sarcophagus made of Parian marble, said to have been the one in which Augustus Caesar was buried. The bones lay in this until 1215, when Frederick II had them put in a casket of gold and silver. A vellum codex found interred with him was removed.

The Shrine of St Mary rests in the choir of the church and dates from 1220-1239. Adorned with the figures of Christ, Mary, Charlemagne, Pope Leo III and the Twelve Apostles, the shrine contains the four great Aachen relics: St. Mary's cloak, Christ's swaddling clothes, St. John the Baptist's beheading cloth and Christ's loincloth. Following a custom begun in 1349, every seven years the relics are taken out of the shrine and put on display during the Great Aachen Pilgrimage. This pilgrimage most recently took place during June 2007.

Here's a good book that addresses the misconceptions of the Middle Ages.

New Apple Friend Bar Gives Customers Someone To Talk At About Mac Products

Former NASA Director Says Muslim Outreach Push 'Deeply Flawed'

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden

By Judson Berger

(Fox News) The former head of NASA on Tuesday described as "deeply flawed" the idea that the space exploration agency's priority should be outreach to Muslim countries, after current Administrator Charles Bolden made that assertion in an interview last month.

"NASA ... represents the best of America. Its purpose is not to inspire Muslims or any other cultural entity," Michael Griffin, who served as NASA administrator during the latter half of the Bush administration, told FoxNews.com.

Bolden created a firestorm after telling Al Jazeera last month that President Obama told him before he took the job that he wanted him to do three things: inspire children to learn math and science, expand international relationships and "perhaps foremost, he wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science ... and math
and engineering...."  (read more)

NASA Muslim Outreach Store

• Former NASA Director Says Muslim Outreach Push 'Deeply Flawed'
• NASA Muslim Outreach Store

Not so cool in Manhattan

• Link

USDA Recalls 96,000 Pounds Of Tainted Beef From One Family

Founding Fathers' Rap - 2010

h/t Belinda