Three Interesting Things

1. There was a time when "Baywatch" was the highest exported TV show. Even before it went from the first season soapy fun to what I considered comparatively sillier, it made sense that it was a show that did not require an understanding of the dialogue to appreciate.  It always fascinates me the shows that get translated and remade, whether the zillion versions of "Ugly Betty", or the US to UK version of "Who's the Boss?" called "The Upper Hand", the choices and results fascinate me.  So, this apparent Japanese interpretation of "Two and a Half Men" is especially interesting to me.  It uses the actual show, and yet, well, I suggest watching.  (Safer for work than the actual show might be, but the video will have sound once you click play.)
2. I took this photo of a daffodil at Dupont Metro end of February. 
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/93599710@N00/8555247052/" title="First Daffodil at DuPont Metro by mememe20016, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8377/8555247052_a56a017424.jpg" width="282" height="500" alt="First Daffodil at DuPont Metro"></a>
I found it's presence joyful, even if Daffodils in February are probably not a great sign for the environment overall.  But a daffodil!  Well, apparently it's part of some, er, unapproved planting.  On the one hand, I certainly see why metro does not want to encourage folks to roam about in the not approved for passengers parts of the stations.  But, the daffodil!  (And morning glories, and other planty things.) Hopefully a workable solution can be found. 
3.The folks at the NPR code switch blog have mapped out the basics of being a bro.  It includes both a diagram and the sentence, "Damn right we're overthinking this," so you know I loved it. 

You Don't Have to Know What New Adult Is

So, in an attempt to be a better person, or at least a less annoyed person (sometimes), I shall try to assume some things are due to lack of knowledge rather than intentional, um, ignorance. 
New Adult is a weird term. I get that.  There are places all across the web that will explain to you what it means, but my version is that it - like YA (young adult) or MG (middle grade) is an age category that references the approximate age of the protagonist(s).  In the case of New Adult this range is 18-22, post-high school, possibly college, possibly not.  So it encompasses folks more firmly establishing themselves, but still newly experienced at running their lives.  Yes, like all age-based categories, there have always been books about people of this age.  No, it doesn't have to be it's own category, but certainly one could understand why some people browsing might want a space to identify stories about that time of life. 
It is not "sexed-up YA" as I keep seeing and hearing.  First, because that seems to imply there is no sex in YA, which, is not always the case.  (I hear teens have been having sex, well, since ever actually. Not all teens, but this is not a new development.)  Second, this implies New Adult stories require sex, which again, no.  Certainly, the number of gatekeepers involved with New Adult stories is probably* less. There are adult books that do not have sex, or have closed door sex, or well, every variation up to and including lots and lots of sex.  So, while, yes, there is New Adult erotica, and I don't anticipate that happening on the YA front, that doesn't mean there aren't and won't continue to be New Adult sweet romance, New Adult historical, New Adult paranormal, and so on.  So basically, now that the characters are all at the age of consent one expects a greater range of sexual choices, but that doesn't mean that New Adult books are only about sex. 

*Yes, I realize this implies no one younger than that age reads up.  I figure on or about the time people let you pick up adult or new adult stories, well, probably the gatekeepers are giving you free reign.

Three Interesting Things

1. XKCD is often a good choice, but this one showing how people have worried about the pace of modern life for a century or two, is particularly amusing to me. 
2. I found this study suggesting reading fiction makes you more comfortable with ambiguity interesting. For some reason everyone seems to keep stressing that it was a literary short story, but given that the alternate group read non-fiction, I see no reason to believe a genre short story might not do the same thing. Of course, I tend to like genre fiction for it's clarity of outcome, so maybe that's why.
3. And should you be having a week, well, here's hoping it's better than this person's - who's doctor visit resulted in the discovery that he was not the biological gender he thought he was. 

Stop it, Man

I am old enough to recall debate about gendered words back when every time a female type person did something it got tagged with -ess or -ette or girl.  And while I fall down on this myself, and certainly I have seen little movement on actress and waitress, the point being made at the time was twofold.  The -ess and -ette are diminutives, and yes, while they can indicate femininity one can argue that it's a little like calling someone a cute little thing  with all the accompanying dismissiveness.  And well, girl is a word for a child, and no one says, oh that new CEO boy for that company, we only seem to regress when referring to female types. 
So, in the interest of equality, I would like to point out it is just as offensive (and annoying and irritating) to stick man in front of everything.  Or merge into everything.  I love intriguing new compound or combined words, but murse and manny, no.  If it's a purse, it's a purse.  If you want to call it something else, you can call it a bag.  Personally I think nanny is a dated term, although I understand that some people might feel it indicates a higher level of skill or time commitment than babysitter, but in general, unless I am the person who needs to recognize your nanny, I'm not clear why I need to know you have a manny, instead of just nanny.  Sure, if you tell me your nanny is called Kevin I might make assumptions, but all that will happen if you say manny is that I will cringe in horror - at the word. 
Man date confuses me since it's used only when it's not really a date.  So, apparently two friends of the same gender who are not attracted to one another cannot just be hanging out now. We must call it a man date. (I must not. Really.) 
But, in case you were wondering what sent me over the edge, mantiquing.  No.  No, no, no.  No.  Stop.  Antiquing does not need or deserve a gender adjusted version.  It's a verb.  The verb contains within it no assumption of gender. Just because it contains to of the letters in the word man does not excuse this travesty of a word. 

Three Interesting Things

1. It was Stitch and Pitch (aka Tara's annual baseball game) last week, and due to all the weather we'd been having I might have done some research into field drying times (apparent answer - it depends) and come across this story about one, shall we say, creative attempt to speed drying time by setting the field afire.  (Spoiler - side effects may include field being shut down as an environmental hazard.) 
2. The LA Craft and Folk Art Museum is covered in granny squares.  No really. (h/t to rviser)
3. And drones are being tested out in South Africa to see if they can be used to catch poachers.