 What’s the biggest threat to American security? |
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| Anyone who thinks the answer is A, B, or C | ||||
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| A T-shirt worn to the State Of The Union address | ||||
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| Human-animal hybrid studies to cure human disease | ||||
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| A Tom Toles cartoon in the Washington Post | ||||
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Hooray for the Purdue Pudus!
Thanks to reader Jeremy, a visionary beyond his years, who recently proposed in a Purdue student newspaper that the school’s unofficial* mascot should be changed from Pete the Macronogginous Large-Hammered Tiny-Hatted Slightly-Psychotic-Looking Boilermaker to, well, a pudu.
I think it’s about damn time.
As a matter of fact, if you listen closely, many pudus speak English
with a slight accent, often making their own name sound a bit more like
"Purdue."
And frankly, since pudus believe the university was named after these timid animalitos in the first place (contrary to this official creation story the college seems intent on sticking to), it only seems fair.
As Jeremy himself has put it so brilliantly:
[H]ow does Pete relate to chemical,
nuclear, biomedical and biological engineering? He announces to the
world that we are on the cutting edge of the Industrial Revolution…
nuclear, biomedical and biological engineering? He announces to the
world that we are on the cutting edge of the Industrial Revolution…
Further, the pudu would be a unique mascot. Too many college mascots
are disfigured men. But how many are pudus? I challenge the reader to
present even one!
If you think it’s time for Purdue to adopt the pudu
as a mascot, there’s even an online petition, open to students,
faculty, and concerned pudus (acting as friends of the university):
as a mascot, there’s even an online petition, open to students,
faculty, and concerned pudus (acting as friends of the university):
Click here to view the petition.
As one student put it, "I believe one should be able to explain to others what your school mascot is."
There’s also a Facebook group, "Purdue People for the Purdue Pudu." I
do hope the effort succeeds. Especially if they decide to use the
genus and species name, which would lead to the Purdue Pudu Pudus. (I
assume this will only be used as a formal greeting, as on black-tie
invitations sent to the mascot.)
So far, it’s still just a very small movement. But then, pudus are very small. This is as it should be.
There is power in numbers, however. (In the case of pudus, very large numbers.) All hail the Purdue Pudus!
*The "official" mascot, incidentally, seems to be a railway locomotive.
This is bulky to transport to the sidelines of Big Ten football games.
Thus the need for the large disturbing-looking man with a hammer, or a small endangered deer to take his place.
Fox: America’s Soviet-style news agency
Wow.
Just stumbled across the 6 pm EST top of the hour news break on Fox News. Amazing. Bizarro world stuff.
Not a single word about the Scooter Libby fingering "his superiors" [Cheney].
Not a single word about Brownie making clear that the White House lied their asses off.
Not a single word about the CIA’s head Middle East guy saying Bush cherry-picked intel to start a war.
These are all top stories on any legit news site you want to look at. Period. Not arguable.
In other news, not a single word about Abramoff meeting Bush a dozen times, or the trade deficit hitting an all-time high, or that the world is the warmest it has been in 1200 years.
Nope. Not one word. Instead:
Lead story: Jill Carroll. Message: The world is dangerous. You are powerless and blameless.
Second lead: Bird Flu. Message: The world is dangerous. You are powerless and blameless.
Third story: Big car crash on Mexican border. (Wow. Pretty
desperate.) Message: The world is dangerous. And you are powerless and blameless.
And… that was it. The biggest news on this day, according to Fox.
It’s hardly, um, news, that Fox is awful and biased and bad for your brain. But this was amazing, even to me.
PS: Actually, there was a crawl along the bottom throughout, which included three other stories:
1) Bush job approval low, despite increased consumer confidence. Message: Bush deserves more credit.
2) Big fires in Orange County. Message: The world is dangerous. You are powerless and blameless.
3) World record pumpkin pie. Message: Mmm. Pie.
D’oh!
Not dead…
Thanks for asking, though.
Getting the book finished has been a pretty gigondous task for the last two weeks. And there are still a couple of smaller rounds left.
The good news is, there will be a book on the stands sometime this autumn which a) I hope a lot of people might really enjoy, and b) will thank a few people who have made my life a lot more interesting.
More later. Gonna catch up with the blog for real when I get just a few more things done.
Meanwhile, enjoy this tease of upcoming scenes in our next episode: I’m informed there is an effort (appropriately small, I assume) to rename the Purdue University mascot the "pudu," so people can cheer for the Purdue Pudus.
More on this soon. Definitely.
Many people say the first two are the same thing, actually
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Where does dishonest memoirist James Frey go now? |
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| His own show on Fox News | ||||
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| The White House press office | ||||
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| The next vacant seat on the Supreme Court | ||||
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| Bush’s liaison to FEMA or FISA, whichever | ||||
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The Republic is in danger! GAAAAAHHHH! But from what, pray tell? You decide. New poll at upper left.