Victoria's Common Knowledge

Anyone out there have the new, revolutionary bra from Victoria's Secret: the Ipex?

Really, is that a proper name for a bra? Is it a PDA or is it a bra? Isn't there a fitness protein powder with that name? Or, doesn't it sound more like a revolutionary new blade from Gillette?

Ipex does not sound like a name I would give to an object whose function it is to support the soft handfuls of joy that is the woman's bossom.

And if I see an Ipex commercial followed by an Enzyte commercial, followed by the Hooty and the Burgerfish commercial, I'll burst into flames of bad commercial rage.

Scottish Games

Hey, taogrl: the Scottish Games.

Morning musings

syreene is doing an excellent job on passing on the news. Of particular interest to me is this New York Times editorial:

Psst...Justice Scalia...You Know, You're an Activist Judge, Too

Sarah Bunting had me in stitches last night with this little gem: Ronco Dependent

Here's a snippet:
Product: The Mouthwash Dispenser

Problem "solved" by product: Having to hide "that ugly, old mouthwash bottle"
Pre-existing solution to "problem": Cabinetry; remembering that it's a bathroom

There is, I am certain, a thesis in American consumer society's frank fear of/refusal to acknowledge what really goes on in the bathroom. Toilet-paper cozies…scented plug-ins…bleach-soaked towelettes…it's like those ads for the Clorox Toilet-Cleaning System or whatever where the lady is staring all horrified at her toilet brush, like, it's a toilet brush. Unless you're using it to stir pancake batter, who cares how germy it is? It's used to clean the place where people pee, shit, and barf, okay? Find a way to live with it already, my God.

On the Environment....
Mother Jones has some interesting articles here.

Most interesting is a round up of conservative think-tanks that fund the "debunking" of global warming evidence.

My Pope Commentary

I don't think I'll add anything significantly new to the whole Pope and Circumstance going on today. So far, I haven't heard anything good said about him; it's either been good or ambivalent. Really, what did we expect? The Catholic Church itself is still conservative.

If you want a faith to match your own value-set, you are going to have to start your own.

I think it would be cool to form my own religion. So, first, I must start my own faith...hmmm...Martin Luther got the Lutheran faith started. Of course, Lutheran flowed nicely. Freitaran won't work. I don't like Freitasist, either. I want to start a faith of rational, yet kind-hearted science-loving folk. I want Annealists. I suppose the Unitarians might come close to this, but there's no "Anne" in "Unitarian". Maybe Unitarianne. But let's stick with the First Anneist Church. Hmmm. But I would have perform some great deed to inspire my flock. Oh, snap!

Given the fact that various parts of the media have a preference for sensational, non-substantive journalism over the truth, I can get Fox News to spin my inspirational story of sacrifice. Maybe I could crusade for dead people's rights. I'm certain that there are a bunch of dead people who would really prefer to be alive again. At least I'm sure I could convince a bunch of people that they do. I could stage emotional protests near recently interred folks.

Gosh, maybe I'm too much of a smart ass to run a religious organization. A cult maybe.

Anyway, onto this Pope business. Because I expected business as usual from the ol' Can of Vati, I'm most interested in Pope Benedict XVI's choice in his name. I mean, haven't we had enough Benedicts? Since when is the Vatican French?

Back in the early days, we had Linus and Cletus. How cool would it be to have a Pope Cletus II? Of course the first three Popes were saints, the first, according to Wikipedia, being Saint Peter, followed by Linus, then Cletus. Perhaps no one took their names because they had some big shoes to fill. Wouldn't Pope Fabian II sound suave? I think so. Then, whenever the Pope would address the public, I could think of the pop artist Fabian's song, "Turn me loose".

Alright, alright, my reasons for naming a Pope "Fabian" are rather shallow. But I guarantee this, my friends, all my reasons for naming a Pope anything other than Benedict will be just as good. That's right.

I guess he wanted to catch up to the number of Pope Johns. We've had 22. Pope Benedicts are now tied with the Pope Gregorys.

Ah well.