Riba Rambles:
Musings of a Mental Magpie

Posted by Lis Riba at 8:25 PM

So, I started the week with a wedding picture, and I'm going to finish the week with another photo from the same wedding, taken by Auntie Ellen:

Context:

As the reception finally started winding down, the groom joined the band on drums.

This seemed like the only appropriate response from the admiring crowd of cousins.

When I saw this photo, it felt like an iconic image for the wedding as a whole.

Incidentally, the silver sheath and black skirt was the bridesmaids' dress. It also came with a black shawl, in deference to the frigid temperatures outside. [Many guests, myself included, accessorized our dresses with shawls.] Very lovely, and looked good on the different bodytypes of the bridesmaids.
Just passing that along for any brides who've heard the horror stories and don't wish to inflict ugly gowns on your female friends.

PS: I hope one of the newlyweds is an X-Men fan. At the reception, they had a framed photo for people to sign -- more than just a guestbook, people were adding pithy quotes. I finally decided on "Welcome to the family, hope you survive the experience." It seemed appropriate at the time, and hopefully somebody will recognize the reference...

Posted by Lis Riba at 8:15 PM

From the Report of the APA Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls (PDF):

Chronic attention to physical appearance leaves fewer cognitive resources available for other mental and physical activities.
One study demonstrated this fragmenting quite vividly (Fredrickson et al., 1998). While alone in a dressing room, college students were asked to try on and evaluate either a swimsuit or a sweater. While they waited for 10 minutes wearing the garment, they completed a math test. The results revealed that young women in swimsuits performed significantly worse on the math problems than did those wearing sweaters. No differences were found for young men. In other words, thinking about the body and comparing it to sexualized cultural ideals disrupted mental capacity. Recent research has shown that this impairment occurs among African American, Latina, and Asian American young women (Hebl, King, & Lin, 2004) and extends beyond mathematics to other cognitive domains including logical reasoning and spatial skills (Gapinski, Brownell, & LaFrance, 2003).

Am I wrong that this passage makes me feel better about the fact I almost never wear makeup? I'm saving my cognitive resources for other mental activities. ;}

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:47 PM

A recent New York Magazine article making the rounds is titled How Not to Talk to Your Kids: The Inverse Power of Praise.

The one line summary is that children actually do much better in the long term if you praise them for their effort rather than praising them for their smarts. In the words of psychologist Carol Dweck,

"Emphasizing effort gives a child a variable that they can control," she explains. "They come to see themselves as in control of their success. Emphasizing natural intelligence takes it out of the child's control, and it provides no good recipe for responding to a failure."

Many adults who were once "gifted kids" are seeing themselves in the article, recognizing their lifelong problems with persistence.

And I do recommend the article for any parents of young children.

But Ian noticed another parallel.

Anyone remember the Sorting Hat in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone?

You might belong in Hufflepuff,
Where they are just and loyal,
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true
And unafraid of toil;
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,
if you've a ready mind,
Where those of wit and learning,
Will always find their kind;

Or, if you've read further in the series, from Harry Potter and the goblet of fire:

For Ravenclaw, the cleverest
Would always be the best;
For Hufflepuff, hard workers were
Most worthy of admission

Quick quiz on how well you read the article -- which group will do better over time?

Posted by Lis Riba at 10:50 AM

A few days ago, I mentioned this week's storyline in Get Fuzzy, introducing Satchel's friend Shakespug.

It's been amusing, but today's denouement had me laughing aloud:

Posted by Lis Riba at 10:35 PM

A few weeks ago, I had the scary idea of recasting Titus Andronicus with the Weasleys and Malfoys.

Well, I found a good synopsis of the play and tried transposing the characters to see how well it would work.

Here's a short excerpt:

The full outline is available here. It fits disturbingly well, but I'm not sure I'll ever write a full treatment.

Posted by Lis Riba at 6:54 PM

I think that "Lola" by the Kinks is one of the most romantic songs played regularly on the radio.

Anybody else agree with that assessment?

Posted by Lis Riba at 6:10 PM

A conversation with Ian last night, after we saw this Pharyngula entry.
Annotated with video clips:

Okay, so you're an octopus, and you're given a pool of points with which to buy abilities:

"I want super-chameleon cloaking powers!"

"Sure, no prob."

"Well, I want to be able to flash so brightly I'll distract predators!"

"Ok."

"I want ink!"

"Isn't that part of your basic package already?"

"I want a freakin' CLOAK!"

"Ooookay. . . "

"Oh yeah? Well, I want to be able to WALK!"

"Um, sure. . . "

"I want to look like a coconut!"

"Now you're just messing with me."

And those are just some of the traits we've heard of. For example, by now most people have seen the invisible/decloaking octopus.

And while looking up the videos for all of these, I found yet more: Steganographic Squid with a hidden communication channel through skin pigmentation.

Ages ago, Ian came up with an Octopus Intelligent Design Theory, temporizing:

Now, the only reason why octopuses HAVEN'T developed actual sapience, I think, is because of their 1) darn short lifespans and 2) dying after breeding. But if an octopus developed that actually stayed ALIVE after breeding, and then actually RAISED its offspring, well, THAT would be a creature an intelligent Intelligent Designer could be proud of designing.

Guess what:

[A] team of ocean scientists exploring the inky depths of the Monterey Canyon off California has discovered that at least one squid species cares for its young with loving attention, the mother cradling the eggs in her arms for months, waving her tentacles to bathe the eggs in fresh seawater.

We're doomed.

Posted by Lis Riba at 6:00 PM

Ronald Reagan once declared that the Eleventh Commandment was "Thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican."

How the party has fallen...

According to the front-page story in this morning's Boston Herald:

[T]he Mass Republicans for Truth plans to launch a nationwide attack on the former governor's record - including radio and TV ads.
<snip>
The group will post "The Romney Report" on its website on Monday, vowing to expose his flip-flops on a host of key issues, from abortion to taxes to gay rights.

Meanwhile, the International Association of Fire Fighters is hosting a bipartisan forum for which they invited all "serious" presidential candidates -- except Giuliani. Here's the letter they drafted, explaining that decision:

Rest assured, our exclusion of Mayor Giuliani is not about any particular contractual or policy issue or disagreement, nor is it based on his unfriendly relationship with our New York City affiliates prior to 9/11 -- which we will document and explain in additional correspondence later on during the campaign. In fact, we invited several candidates with whom we have had substantial disagreement on policy issues because we feel very strongly that our members have the right to hear from all candidates, not just those who tow the IAFF line.
Regrettably, the situation with former Mayor Giuliani is very different. His actions post 9/11 rise to such an offensive and personal attack on our brother and sisterhood -- and directly on our union -- that the IAFF does not feel Rudy Giuliani deserves an audience of IAFF leaders and members at our own Presidential Forum.
<snip>
The fundamental lack of respect that Giuliani showed our FDNY members is unforgivable - and that's why he was not invited. Our disdain for him is not about issues or a disputed contract, it is about a visceral, personal affront to the fallen, to our union and, indeed, to every one of us who has ever risked our lives by going into a burning building to save lives and property.

Romney and Giuliani are both hated within their home states, by the people who know him best.

Doesn't that say a great deal about whether they should be elected?

Posted by Lis Riba at 5:54 PM

Two recent finds while web-trawling that I thought folks might find interesting:

First, from CalTech, a 1987 NPR interview:

Last month, I spoke with Neal Israel, one of the screenplay writers of Real Genius. I learned that the Lazlo Hollyfeld character is based on the legend of an actual Caltech student. We tracked down that legend, and at the end of the track we found Chuck of Arabia.
Tonight, we've invited Chuck to tell his side of the story.

Yes, it's The Legend of Laszlo!

More recently, last week MIT hosted a most fascinating debate:

Students and members of the MIT community filled 10-250 Monday night to watch six MIT faculty lecturers and professors argue the superiority of one of two Jewish delicacies -- the latke, a fried potato pancake, and the hamentash, a triangular fruit-filled cookie.
...
In the battle that followed, both sides used contradictory mathematical, historical, literary, and scientific "evidence" to prove their respective claims.

Straight from the Tech: Faculty Debate Jewish Delicacies

Speaking of Real Genius, I've found copies of the shooting script online @ IMSDB, sfy.ru and some place called davesource.

I haven't compared them in detail, but they appear to be the same version.

It's rather interesting, because it's not just a transcript of the finished film. Characters have different names, some of the gags aren't in their finalized form, and they even include some scenes which were either cut or never filmed -- such as a longer scene between Chris and Sherry Nugil.

Also, it helps resolve a question Ian and I have sometimes debated -- namely the crowd reaction to Mitch's phone call.

Everyone stops eating and listens to Mitch begging his mother to come home. They share his embarrassment and lower their heads. Even Kent's friends are uncomfortable. Kent, on the other hand, is laughing it up, having a great time.

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:40 AM

Regarding the earlier Daylight Saving Time and all the computer problems it's engendering:

Clearly, Bush regrets not having been president for the Y2K rollover, so implemented this to compensate.

Heck, according to Wikipedia, some folks are even calling this weekend's changes Y2K7

More info for users of MS Windows and Outlook (including patches) @ LifeHacker.

Unfortunately, according to my company's IT department:

The Outlook calendar tool was designed to fix calendar items. But the flaw with this tool ... is that it is not intuitive enough to know which calendar items were created before the OS was patched or after the OS was patched. So in fact it could have gone through and moved calendar items that were actually correct.

So, all week long, I've been receiving reschedule notices for all my repeating meetings.

Posted by Lis Riba at 8:25 PM

A few new books I've spotted recently that I'll want to read:

• Perfect royal mistress: a novel by Diane Haeger (about Nell Gwynne, famous lover of Charles II)
• Innocent traitor: a novel of Lady Jane Grey by Alison Weir
• Virgin: the untouched history by Hanne Blank
• Dreaming in code: two dozen programmers, three years, 4,732 bugs, and one quest for transcendent software by Scott Rosenberg

Also, just for the record, the four books I bought for my nephew/godson's third birthday, which should arrive with tomorrow's mail:

I do hope he likes them.

Hopefully I'll see him soon, and can sit down and read to him.

And if they don't go over well, I've got a plushie bean-bag Spider-Man I'll give him in person -- about the same size as the plush Batman we got him last summer...

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:54 PM

I know everybody's posting this, but I can't resist:

(click to view full-size)

Also, if you're not reading Indexed, with daily graph-related humor, I recommend it.

Posted by Lis Riba at 12:55 PM

For the record, this is how I replied to my classmates on the message board:

There were actually four classmates whose whereabouts I was curious about, but I thought that was too much to ask in an introductory post. [The other two are Mike Clemens and Eric Anderson, who were both known in HS for theater.]

BTW, if the guestbook quotes seem a bit garish, I feel obligated to inform you that those were our school colors: garnet and gold. Yes, one of our school's unofficial nicknames was CountryClub High.

PS: You've heard of stereotype threat -- where people perform worse after being reminded of negative stereotypes regarding their ability?
This morning, after writing the above and thinking about high school, I had tremendous trouble finding an outfit and getting dressed...

Coincidence? I think not!

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:50 AM

My twenty year high school reunion is coming up this summer. [I'm not really planning to attend; some time I'll blog my experiences at my tenth reunion to explain.]

At any rate, I just found out there's an official reunion website and went to poke around. I opened the guestbook/messageboard and the top item on the page read:

Whaa!?

I'll confess, my gut reaction was to wonder whether this was one of those pages which just filled your name in automatically to catch your attention... then I recalled that I hadn't yet logged in anywhere on the site.

Yes, I do intend to post a reply; but I decided to blog this while thinking of what to say. [I started drafting something which began “What a flattering assessment...” and realized that sounded pretentious -- the long words sounded like I was putting on airs, rather than being my genuine sentiment.]

Well, that's certainly a wakeup call. And right after the week's Free Will Astrology horoscope, which said:

When Emperor Joseph II heard Mozart's opera Abduction from the Seraglio in 1782, he remarked, "Too many notes, my dear Mozart, too many notes!" Sound familiar? I suspect you are exuding so much complex beauty and mysterious intelligence that, like Mozart, you may elicit responses akin to the emperor's. Don't take it personally. Though it is possible you'll get a bit excessive, what's more likely is that you'll be as deep and rich and concentrated and emotive and vivid as you need to be in order to express what's true for you right now. Will that make some people feel nervous or overwhelmed? Probably.

So how's your morning?

Posted by Lis Riba at 10:10 PM

Moving along, a few personality quizzes I've taken recently:

First, even though I'm not in the market, enough friends have taken The 32-Type Dating Test by OkCupid that I finally decided to give it a try.

The Maid of Honor
Deliberate Gentle Love Master (DGLMf)

Appreciated for your kindness and envied for all your experience, you are The Maid of Honor.

Charismatic, affectionate, and terrific in relationships, you are what many guys would call a "perfect catch"--and you probably have many admirers, each wishing to capture your long-term love. You're careful, extra careful, because the last thing you want is to hurt anyone. Especially some poor boy whose only crime was liking you.

We've deduced you're fully capable of a dirty fling, but you do feel that post-coital attachment after hooking up. So, conscientious person that you are, you do your best to reserve physical affection for those you respect...so you can respect yourself.

Your biggest negative is the byproduct of your careful nature: indecision. You're just as slow rejecting someone as you are accepting them.

---

ALWAYS AVOID: The False Messiah, The 5-Night Stand, The Vapor Trail, The Bachelor

CONSIDER: The Gentleman, someone just like you.

Need I add that when I asked Ian whether he'd taken the test, he revealed himself to be a Gentleman.

Further proof (if any were needed) of how well-suited we are to one another.

Then, I discovered The Everything Test:

I'm rather confused by the "Punk Rocker" appellation (anybody care to 'splain?) but at least I'm intellectual enough to notice the mispeeling of adventurious.

So, is this actually the be-all and end-all of online quizzes? Do these results obviate the need for me to waste my time (and yours) on other such questionaires?

Probably not.

How are you?

Posted by Lis Riba at 9:30 PM

Last night, after reading a (very well done, imo) Draco/Neville fanfic before bed, I dreamed up a tantalising little plot-bunny.

Draco/Neville stories have been moderately popular since A.J. Hall's Lust over Pendlefirst made it plausible.

But last night, I started dreaming of Neville and Narcissa -- a pairing I'm not sure has been written. Fanfiction.net's search engine doesn't turn up anything.

At any rate, this is what I came up with:

For failing Voldemort, Draco was subjected to the Cruciatus curse, and tortured to insanity. He ends up St. Mungo's Hospital -- in the same Permanent Spell Damage ward as Alice and Frank Longbottom (Neville's parents, who were similarly ). While seeing their respective relatives, Neville and Narcissa meet regularly during visiting hours, and as the months pass, a friendship develops.

I've been teasing it out a bit further, but I'm really trying not to start (writing) any new fanfic stories in the Potterverse, since Book 7 is only a few months away, jossing any fics I don't finish before its release...

Still, it's an intriguing idea. I have this image of Draco folding Alice's gum wrappers into tiny origami cranes...

Posted by Lis Riba at 10:00 PM

Is anyone else amused by the fact that NPR's chief reporter on the "Scooter" Lewis Libby trial is named Libby Lewis?

Posted by Lis Riba at 10:20 PM

Maybe I've always overlooked the obvious, but I just noticed the following parallel:

Sarah Newhouse as Anne and John Kuntz as Richard: photograph by Kippy Goldfarb, Carolle Photography

Titus Andronicus, Act II, Scene 1:

She is a woman, therefore may be woo'd;
She is a woman, therefore may be won;

Richard III, Act I, Scene 2:

Was ever woman in this humour woo'd?
Was ever woman in this humour won?

And while confirming these quotes, I found a third echo:

Henry VI, Part I, Act V, Scene 3:

She's beautiful, and therefore to be woo'd;
She is a woman, therefore to be won.

And how sick is it that the only repetition which follows these lines by promising the lady in question "therefore must be loved" is uttered by the rapist in Titus...

Shakespeare really was a sick fuck, wasn't he?

PS: You know you're a warped Shakespeare geek when you have to stop and think whether Titus is a comedy or tragedy, because you can't recall whether the title characters is among the pile of corpses at the conclusion.

Posted by Lis Riba at 10:10 PM

BTW, here's the mashup we mentioned Saturday night:

"Stand by me" by Ben E. King + "Every breath you take" by the Police =

Posted by Lis Riba at 9:58 PM

Speaking of weddings, a news story for my mother-in-law and Central-Florida sister-in-law:

Disney has teamed up with couture bridal designer Kirstie Kelly to transform blushing brides into their favorite princesses, complete with billowing gowns and crystal tiaras. At a cost of $1,100 to $3,000 for each gown, brides will be able to walk down the aisle in dresses inspired by Cinderella, Snow White, Belle, Sleeping Beauty, Jasmine or Ariel.

As Ms. Kelly sees it, Cinderella is "classic glamour" -- the dresses in her line come in high-shine satin with ball-gown skirts and make generous use of silver embroidery and crystals. Snow White has a slightly more conservative look dubbed "sweet elegance." Ariel and Jasmine models are considerably racier. Ariel, who played the title role in "The Little Mermaid," has a "sultry allure" and is "comfortable showing her body." Jasmine, from "Aladdin," is "bohemian chic," and her various dresses are big on sheath and lace. In all, Disney will offer 34 princess designs for its first season.

The new wedding gowns, which will go on sale made-to-order at bridal boutiques in North America in June, are an effort by Disney to extend its line of princess paraphernalia to older consumers. [...] But don't expect the gaudy princess costumes that kids run around in. Ms. Kelly says her designs are more about capturing the "mood" of the princess than creating an exact replica of each of the cartoon characters' outfits.

That means using more subtle colors than the startling pinks, yellows and blues of the mini-princess world. [...]

The dresses aren't Disney's first venture into weddings. The company has a popular wedding service at its theme parks. Thousands of couples have been married to such tunes as "Someday My Prince Will Come," with their wedding rings offered up in a glass slipper before being whisked away in Cinderella's coach. On Wednesday, the company unveiled a new wedding-planning service from celebrity party planner David Tutera, starting at around $75,000 for 50 guests.

Until now, brides who wanted the full princess experience had to design their own gowns. In its research leading up to the decision to make the dresses, Disney found that brides tend to spend more on their dress than they plan to, which amounts to an average 10 percent of a $26,000 total budget.

The midrange market marks a shift for Ms. Kelly, who usually designs couture dresses costing as much as $20,000 for celebrity clients, including some of the cast in the movie "Wedding Crashers."

To maintain a luxurious look at lower prices, the 38-year-old designer found a Chinese factory three hours outside Guangzhou that was experienced at making wedding dresses.

She used cheaper materials in parts of the dress that don't meet the eye. The Snow White-inspired dresses, for instance, combine silks on the surface with polyester fabrics underneath.

The dresses will be unveiled in April at NYC's Bridal Week.

According to another news article I found:

Solutions Bridal in Winter Park will be the only store in Central Florida to carry the dresses. Dresses will run anywhere from $1,000 to $3,000.

Meanwhile, other packages can be found at DisneyWeddings.com...
Want a planning DVD?

Aww darn:

Disney Characters are not available to participate in the actual ceremony in any way. However, they'd be delighted to attend your reception to mingle with guests, pose for unforgettable photographs, "cut in" on the first dance, and even help you cut the cake.

However they can provide a theme wedding at the Living Seas pavillion in EPCOT.

My future brother-in-law is going to kill me for this, isn't he?