Sour Symbolism

We live in an era of symbolism. We swim in this sea so much that when something comes around in the real world we only know how to respond to it with symbols.

The European MPs have backed a ban on patio heaters. You know these things: a pole with a propane burner on top that radiates heat back down on you. The report suggests these patio heaters are putting as much CO2 out as a car over a year. I expect that's true if you ran it every day for a year. But I suspect these units were not in use during the heat waves in previous years. Or in Greece-- except maybe during that bizarre snowstorm. But people use their cars every day. IPatio heaters are and easy symbolic target. Who in the East End has a patio? Who in Italy needs to heat one?

Speaking of symbolic gestures, The Beatles "Across the Universe" is going to be beamed directly into space (and here) on February 4. This is to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the recording of that song and the 50th anniversary of the launching of Explorer I. Michael Griffin better get the cut of the alien royalties in writing. Apple has a history of stinginess. Here, boys, do this in lieu of something useful.

Nowhere is symbolism more rampant than sex and here are Gizmodo's 10 Most Blatantly Sexist Gadgets Ever Made. My favorite is the USB Pole Dancer. That's something I want on my desk.

Some symbols take over. Hello Kitty seems to have conquered the world. Michael Shermer of Skeptic Magazine talks about this at a recent TED conference. I mean, would you trust a God who has to show his face in a cheese sandwich?

We can even pull meaning and aesthetic satisfaction out of random noise-- or at least what is to us, random noise. Witness the pictures derived from JP Thivierge and the art from a petri dish of rat brain here in this article on neural networks.

Of course, none of these compare to the brandishing of symbols by political candidates. McCain bludgeons Romney with the Reagan stick. Romney pounds on McCain with the business club. Edwards couldn't make the populism symbols stick since he was caught between the Hammer of Historical Woman and the Anvil of Historical Black and they use their symbols to bludgeon each other. One wonders if in the political locker rooms if they compare symbol size.

Wait for the general election when things get really interesting. My friend Mark thinks McCain will twig to the ultimate symbolic soundbite: "First Obama, then Osama." You heard it here first.

Remember, reality's just a whisper away.

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Links of Interest
Real water problems because of climate change.
A real new species of elephant shrew.
Old age memory decline might really be reversible.
Stem cells my really repair eye damage.
Lips evolved. Really. Here are some ideas on that.
Companies don't really have to be evil.
Double dipping chips really carry bacteria.
Vaccines really don't cause autism.