You’re no nitwit, just misfit
Published 1:06 pm Sunday, December 18, 2011
As Yukon Cornelius says to Rudolph, after the red-nosed reindeer is denied his request to live on the Island of Misfit Toys: “How do you like that? Even among misfits you’re a misfit.” Don’t ask why, just embrace your inner misfit this week. Let’s look at the headlines that don’t quite fit in:
•”Comet survives close pass by sun”: That would be “Coach Comet” from the aforementioned “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” Christmas TV special. He’s the one who famously says to Rudolph: “Oh no, not you. You’d better go home with your folks. From now on, gang, we won’t let Rudolph join in any reindeer games. Right?”
So no one was that concerned when he flew too close to the sun. Hermey, the dentist-elf, denied messing with Coach Comet’s GPS system.
•”Do toddlers really need computers to learn?” If the misfit, smart people who invented computers managed to make it through toddler-hood without them, we’ll go out on a limb and say “no.”
”Bezos, wife donate $15 million for Princeton brain center”: The founder of Amazon.com and his wife are alumni of Princeton University; the donation will create the Bezos Center for Neural Circuit Dynamics in its neuroscience institute, dedicated to understanding the brain, the Seattle Times reported.
For those interested in reading more about brain science, Amazon recommends checking out the The Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle, funded by Paul Allen, located near Amazon’s new headquarters.
Do West Coast and East Coast brain centers represent the right and left brain? (What river, or gas pipeline, would represent the corpus callosum?)
Next up: Bezos, in another Allen-like move, will play guitar and start a band called The Neural Dynamics.
•”New superrich boost demand for British butlers”: Apparently newly rich Chinese and Russian citizens have created an international demand for properly trained butlers, the Guild for Professional English Butlers told Bloomberg News. Everybody’s getting one. Well, except here. Where we like our butlers fictional.
How many ways could Alfred Pennyworth, Batman’s (Bruce Wayne’s) butler, politely kick the buttocks of Mr. French, the stuffy gentleman’s gentlemen from the show “Family Affair”? Discuss among yourselves.
•“Brazil: 50 tons of corn stolen from moving train”: The re-emergence of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and the High Fructose Hole in the Wall Gang?
Investigators are still searching for a motive, but believe it may be related to another crime, “Thief slips away with truckload of margarine.”
Dasher, Dancer, Prancer and Vixen. Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen. Do they work better as butler or reindeer names?
Let the games begin.
