Science and Environment

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Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Random Crabbiness (And Notes): Thank The Goddes For Whoopi

by Nanette

I’m sorry but… what do you mean you don’t know if the earth is flat? 

It’s not that I’m a huge Whoopi Goldberg fan, it’s just that I am so glad that the black woman named Sherry something is not the only black woman on The View. She’s funny and all that, but man… my mom had the show on this morning and there she (Sherry something) is, sitting there saying that not only does she not believe at all in evolution - which is bad enough, but in that she’s not alone - but that she has no idea if the world is flat or not! She’s never thought about it, she says.

I’m all for respecting people’s religious beliefs (or, at least some of them) but c’mon. Anyway, at least Whoopi was there to balance her out with a belief in science (as well as and in conjunction with deities) otherwise it would have been conventional wisdom in no time, among the viewers of that show, that “Black people think the world is flat!”

I guess the idea (if they were even considering it) of having Margaret Cho AND Whoopi on the same show sounded just a bit too combustible, even if far more interesting - thus anti-science, anti-sense, but funny, Sherry something.

[added] Quote for… maybe not the day. Maybe not even a good quote, but there you go - it does have the advantage of being true:

Jena’s problem is not that it has proved itself more racist than the rest of the country, but that it has manifested its racism with insufficient subtlety.

Gary Younge, Guardian UK

I have started an offline journal. In part because when I used to keep one, I liked it - like most people, I write more freely when I know no one (besides me and the NSA) will be reading it until I make it public. This way, I can natter on about this or that thought before pulling them together into something um… finished. And polished. And with all sorts of proper punctuation and grammar.

Okay, sure… let’s not get carried away here.

[added 9/19] about the flat earth and via Oliver Willis, the co-host’s name is Sherri Shepherd. Here is a partial transcript of the exchange and a link to the video. Sigh.

WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Is the world flat?

SHERRI SHEPHERD: Is the world flat? (laughter)

GOLDBERG: Yes.

SHEPHERD: …I Don’t know.

GOLDBERG: What do you think?

SHEPHERD: I… I never thought about it, Whoopi. Is the world flat? I never thought about it.

BARBARA WALTERS: You’ve never thought about whether the world was round or flat?

SHEPHERD: I tell you what I’ve thought about. How I’m going to feed my child–

WALTERS: Well you can do both.

SHEPERD: …how I’m going to take care of my family. The world, is the world flat has never entered into, like that has not been an important thing to me.

ELIZABETH HASSELBECK: You’ll teach your son, Jeffery, right?

SHEPHERD: If my son, Jeffery, asks me ‘is the world flat,’ I guess I would go…

JOY BEHAR: You know, didn’t some person already work this question out? I mean, why are we doing this again? (laughter, applause)

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Thursday, September 13, 2007

Not Really Related…

by Nanette

Although, looked at in the right light, it could be. 

I’ve been reading these threads off and on, over the past couple of days. Interesting points, much to think about, but… and this is no doubt a consequence of having sometimes decidedly odd thought processes…

... what most comes to mind while reading these is that, very often, people will buy low-fat cookies - and then proceed to eat twice as many of them. 

Posted by Nanette on 09/13 at 08:01 PM
Science-Environment •
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Tuesday, July 03, 2007

I Just Saw the Oddest Thing on PBS…

by Nanette

A Black person! Who wasn’t singing, dancing, cooking or Martin Luther King. OR Gwen Ifill.

Two, actually. It didn’t hit me at first, how odd it was. I passed by the living room where my mom was watching the show, glanced at the TV and was well on my way to the kitchen before I stopped and said “Whoa, wait - what was that?” and had to come back and look again.

A science show. With a Black host. On PBS! Will wonders never cease. I remember seeing Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson as an explainer before - I believe he’s an astrophysicist - I can’t remember who he was associated with (no doubt his bio says) but now he is the actual host of NOVA - Science Now, on PBS. This is a good thing. He’s a good talker and makes science seem fun and interesting… which it is, of course, or at least can be.

It’s good to see him (or someone like him) there. I know (and know of) sooooo many Black techies or geeks… online and offline, including in my own family… I didn’t inherit this particular gene, but my father (in Nigeria) is a microbiologist, one brother has a doctorate in engineering, another is a scientist - and that’s just on that side of the family - but it’s a rarity you see that sort of thing reflected in the media. Big surprise, I know.

And there is another show on called History Detectives, with Tukufu Zuberi as one of the researchers. I really like this show, the few times I’ve seen it - possibly because I do love both researching the past and unraveling mysteries.

So, two whole Black folk in non-stereotypical roles on PBS. It’s a start.

Mind you, I live in a red state area of California so in other areas there may already have been loads of people on PBS of various ethnicities hosting various non-stereotypical shows and they’ve just not aired here, but still. Good news.

Posted by Nanette on 07/03 at 08:06 PM
General • Civil Rights • Whosoutthere • Just Life • Science-Environment •
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Thursday, February 08, 2007

It Seems a Shame to Separate Them Now

by Nanette

Did they somehow know they were dying, of whatever cause, and decide to lie down, wrap their arms and legs around each other and die while looking into each other’s eyes? 

AP Photo

These skeletons, recently discovered in Italy - a couple not only hugging but what appears to be completely intertwined - are thought to be 5,000 to 6,000 years old.

According to the BBC, -- "The pair from the Neolithic period were discovered outside Mantua, about 40km (25 miles) south of Verona. The pair, almost certainly a man and a woman, are thought to have died young as their teeth were mostly intact, said chief archaeologist Elena Menotti.

"It's an extraordinary case," said Ms Menotti. "There has not been a double burial found in the Neolithic period, much less two people hugging - and they really are hugging," she told Reuters news agency. --

Arrowheads and a knife were found beside the couple, along with other tools, but there will have to be more study by scientists and archeologists to determine how and when they died and, hopefully, how and when they lived, although that will be a bit more difficult, no doubt.

While it will be science that determines what actually happened, it's hard not to let ones imagination supply the details.

Did they somehow know they were dying, of whatever cause, and decide to lie down, wrap their arms and legs around each other and die while looking into each other's eyes? Or maybe they were just peacefully sleeping, snuggled closely for warmth, and death came so suddenly that they didn't even have a chance to move. It's possible that they were positioned in this manner after death, by some ancient group of mortuary attendants with a romantic bent, but that seems the least likely to me. Not that I know much about ancient burial practices but even Ms. Menotti, who does, says "I've been doing this job for 25 years. I've done digs at Pompeii, all the famous sites, but I've never been so moved because this is the discovery of something special."

Maybe we'll never know... and maybe that's okay.

Posted by Nanette on 02/08 at 08:10 AM
Just Life • Science-Environment •
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