whatever
Anya pointed me to this recording that was leaked of McCain's call to Palin to ask her to be his running mate...
And speaking of nice bodies -- well, dead bodies actually -- there's some controversy about where the bodies in those Bodyworlds and Bodies shows come from. Most are from China (they have lots of extra people...), but there's question about whether some were from executed prisoners.
Maybe I'm obtuse, but what's the big deal -- how is it worse if they were a prisoner? Is it that someone might kill them for the money? Is it that they didn't give consent? Somebody educate me on this...
In other (old) news: When I was in DC I got to see my cousin -- pics below -- we ate and drank and talked and ceteras. It was really fun.
Here we are with roommates and friends/boyfriends. They were exceptionally informed and articulate, especially for being so young. On the right is us having grownup drinks together for the first time ever. One might be forgiven for thinking it's become my mission to corrupt my younger girl cousins by taking them drinking, but you'll have to just trust me that it wasn't so.
We also saw the movie As We Forgive, which was powerful and moving. I highly recommend it.
PS. My 8th grade English teacher* told us that "fun" was a noun, not an adjective, so therefore "very fun" didn't make any sense. To which I say: Baloney. Why is "fun" not an adjective? Just because it started out as a noun? It's natural that words can be more than one thing (eg, "set" -- it can be noun, adjective, or verb), and that words may shift part-of-speech as language continues to develop; nouns are being "verbified" all the time (eg, "access").
I'll tell you why "fun" isn't supposed to be an adjective: because grammarians are like orthodoxists everywhere: they *love* rules, and resist change. Instead of being content to describe how language is used, they all take a hubris pill and decide that once they identify a pattern it is a Language Rule, or possibly a Message From God about how things *must* be. So they say things like "Every sentence in the English language must have a Subject and a Predicate." Ballocks. A one-word sentence can convey meaning perfectly well. (That was meant to be clever, get it?)
*Mr. Berg. He's dead now. As far as I know his body is not on display...
posted by Rob @ 11:40:00 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
I have to say, your shirt is awesome.
Still with the war on the grammar-nazis, huh? Well, I think everyone should feel passionate (or is it passionately?) about something.
As for the bodies, there's a two thousand year tradition of using prisoners' bodies for anatomy instruction, especially if they were executed. In fact, relatives used to go to the public hangings to get the bodies before the anatomists did. In most states, however, even prisoners must give consent before their bodies can be used in this way, the exception being unclaimed bodies from prisons and other institutions--in many states these are still routinely sent to medical schools. This could be the case for the bodies in "Body World" but I haven't read up on it.
On the bodies, yeah, I think it's the consent issue. At the end of one of your linked articles, it says that a CA state assemblywoman has authored a bill requiring proof that there was informed consent for each body put on display.
That said, I've never quite understood the big deal about bodies in our society. I mean, I know in some cultures and societies it's a much BIGGER deal -- there are those who thought that if you had an arm cut off, you'd be wandering around the afterlife without an arm, etc. -- but in ours, for instance, I don't get the obsession we have with how the body is treated and stuff. There are people against the whole concept of Bodyworlds, because it's somehow gruesome or something. I mean, newsflash, they're dead. We're all going to die. What's the huge thing? It's just a body now. There's no soul. There's no nothing. It's a shell. Anything important has moved on. I have always wondered why there should be any shortage of organ donors. I think we should make it so you opt OUT of organ donation, not in. Who cares???? You're not going to be needing that stuff, I guarantee it. I mean, I understand the horror about mass graves or whatever -- but that's just because of the circumstances under which the people died. And I understand that because it's a big deal to some people, the body snatchers should get informed consent -- I just don't understand *why* it's a big deal. I don't care if a whole medical class cuts me up and makes fun of my big behind. Who cares? I'll never know.
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