Eye on Springfield, 11/12/06
Springfield Mystery Spot
Neologistical Convergence For Things That Don't Exist:
In an episode of The Powerpuff Girls, #1 Best Powerpuff Girl Bubbles demonstrated, as one of her unique superpowers, a scream that was visually marked by a series of red circles expanding outwards and away from her mouth. Within picoseconds, this superpower was known to me and other fans – mutual strangers all – as the "Sonic Scream." That, of course, is deliciously redundant – I mean, what is any scream if not sonic? – but, hey, in the realm of the Super, that's the naming convention. Although I could never have articulated any such convention before then (nor, probably, could I now), and although I am no particular fan of things Super, the fact that I was just one of many to so christen that superpower makes it, to me, an interesting example of cultural competence (unconscious knowledge about the workings of a culture, that usually only manifests in applied contexts: the difference between "being" Roman and merely "doing as" the Romans).
Anyhoo, in a similar (or, perhaps, inverted) vein, is Gravity Hill in Bedford County, Penna. When I saw the billboard my first reaction was along the lines of, 'Wow — the old-timey See Rock City and Ruby Falls ads along I-24 may make central Tennessee the capital of the overhyped natural attraction, but Pennsylvania's in on it, too!' (Maybe it's to do with having "-enn-" in the state name.) Because, come on: are there any hills where gravity isn't operative? Funny I should ask — that's Gravity Hill's claim to...ummm...notoriety? So of course, instead of calling it by what it purports to demonstrate – Anti-Gravity Hill, or something of the sort – they call it by the thing the absence of which it purports to demonstrate. (Of course, it also served to reveal how my own cultural competence is incomplete: having no idea how any relationship between gravity and a hill could be at all remarkable, I had to look the place up on-line. And, for the record, the effect is only an optical illusion, and not a unique one.)
(If you've ever wondered what the Springfield Mystery Spot really is, to some it's just a mud puddle, and to others it's a vortex [thus (A.) validating the site's motto, "Where logic takes a holiday and all laws of nature are meaningless," and (2.) providing yet another opportunity to gauge cultural competence: technically, a vortex is simply a mass exhibiting angular momentum, but in the vernacular it is a gateway to another "sphere" of existence, usually a dimension].)
Associated Press: the Few, the Proud, the Stupid
Note to AP writers Randolph Schmid (a science writer, for god's sake) and John Heilprin:
Using 'pound' instead of 'kilogram' does not make them the same units. A 4 kg rock lobster weighs 8.8 lbs, not 4 lbs.
An Opera Within an Opera
Ahhh, self-importance. Where would opera be without it? But credit where credit is due: without the audience's money and boorishness, things like this would never happen (and may not in future).
Neologistical Convergence For Things That Don't Exist:
In an episode of The Powerpuff Girls, #1 Best Powerpuff Girl Bubbles demonstrated, as one of her unique superpowers, a scream that was visually marked by a series of red circles expanding outwards and away from her mouth. Within picoseconds, this superpower was known to me and other fans – mutual strangers all – as the "Sonic Scream." That, of course, is deliciously redundant – I mean, what is any scream if not sonic? – but, hey, in the realm of the Super, that's the naming convention. Although I could never have articulated any such convention before then (nor, probably, could I now), and although I am no particular fan of things Super, the fact that I was just one of many to so christen that superpower makes it, to me, an interesting example of cultural competence (unconscious knowledge about the workings of a culture, that usually only manifests in applied contexts: the difference between "being" Roman and merely "doing as" the Romans).
Anyhoo, in a similar (or, perhaps, inverted) vein, is Gravity Hill in Bedford County, Penna. When I saw the billboard my first reaction was along the lines of, 'Wow — the old-timey See Rock City and Ruby Falls ads along I-24 may make central Tennessee the capital of the overhyped natural attraction, but Pennsylvania's in on it, too!' (Maybe it's to do with having "-enn-" in the state name.) Because, come on: are there any hills where gravity isn't operative? Funny I should ask — that's Gravity Hill's claim to...ummm...notoriety? So of course, instead of calling it by what it purports to demonstrate – Anti-Gravity Hill, or something of the sort – they call it by the thing the absence of which it purports to demonstrate. (Of course, it also served to reveal how my own cultural competence is incomplete: having no idea how any relationship between gravity and a hill could be at all remarkable, I had to look the place up on-line. And, for the record, the effect is only an optical illusion, and not a unique one.)
(If you've ever wondered what the Springfield Mystery Spot really is, to some it's just a mud puddle, and to others it's a vortex [thus (A.) validating the site's motto, "Where logic takes a holiday and all laws of nature are meaningless," and (2.) providing yet another opportunity to gauge cultural competence: technically, a vortex is simply a mass exhibiting angular momentum, but in the vernacular it is a gateway to another "sphere" of existence, usually a dimension].)
Associated Press: the Few, the Proud, the Stupid
Note to AP writers Randolph Schmid (a science writer, for god's sake) and John Heilprin:
Using 'pound' instead of 'kilogram' does not make them the same units. A 4 kg rock lobster weighs 8.8 lbs, not 4 lbs.
An Opera Within an Opera
Ahhh, self-importance. Where would opera be without it? But credit where credit is due: without the audience's money and boorishness, things like this would never happen (and may not in future).
posted by Anonymous at 11:55
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