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08/10/2001 Archived Entry: "Strange words"
Feeling a bit listless this morning, I flicked through the pages of a local chinese magazine to find the latest instalment of The Adventures of Sidekick Shang, the introductory paragraph of which follows:
The story so far: Our hero Jared "Kicking" Shang was born with remarkable physical abilities. Unfortunately at 8 years of age, his head exploded. Finding himself reborn in a laboratory attached to a new cloned body, Jared is surrounded by scientists, led by Harrison Lee. In the last chapter, the scientists attempted to link Jared's brain to his new body. Meanwhile The White Devil, The Black Devil and Angela are all involved in events that will bring them into Jared's life...And here's me wondering why I hadn't spotted this serial in the past...
Also amusing, for a different reason, was this letter to the Radio Times about the Space documentary I've mentioned here before:
The computer graphics of the first episode of Space were marvellous. The logic of the step-by-step progression of the physics and laws of matter and order, from the Big Bang to the formation of the Earth, and ourselves, convinces me of the existence of the creator of all this - God - but the Almighty didn't get a mention.Before I start, I should point out that I've long since become resigned to the fact that in any argument with a Creationist or psuedo-Creationist, it always boils down to their faith in the Bible, and some dodgy definition of the word 'proof'. So while my opinions as to the validity and intelligence of this guy's argument are probably made clear now, I do find it a bit rich that he wants this science documentary to mention God. Apart from the fact that it's only a 30 minutes long documentary and there was little enough time for science, let alone religion, why don't I reverse the argument and complain that religious programmes don't have enough science in them? I won't, because it's a patently silly thing to do.The programme is asking us to believe that great artists from Michelangelo to John Constable didn't create their masterpieces; an explosion took place in their paint boxes and the results were works of art!
Finally, to round off the day's reading, I read an article in the Times 2 supplement about the hideously expensive camps that America's richest are sending their kids off to (they get taught how to make their own beds, share bathrooms and do without video games - okay, okay, they do other stuff as well, but still...). The idea is that with these kids' jam packed schedules (they are 12 years old, after all) they don't have the time to deal with insignificant little things such as basic life skills, e.g. cooking, cleaning, living without TV; thus, they require attendance at summer camps that cost four figures to give them these life skills.
I quote:
"All [of the kids] are veterans of one camp or another. "I've been to swimming camp, academic development camp and dynamic earth renaissance camp," rattles off one. "I went to Astro camp and we built a satellite in the water," says Jessica. They are all aware that Kennolyn [the camp] is part of a carefully structured programme for character enhancement.Swimming camp? Academic development camp? (what are schools for?) Dynamic Earth Renaissance camp? I don't even know what that means!
I'm aware that I might be taking a bit of a 'when I were a lad we had ice on the inside of our windows' tone here (as I usually do when it comes to kids getting expensive stuff), and I'm also aware of the media's abilities to sensationalise events. However. Building character is a fine thing, as we have all learned from the seminal Calvin and Hobbes books - but paying several thousand dollars to build it is getting a bit out of proportion.
And, y'know, I just can't get over that Dynamic Earth Renaissance thing...