The state of the culture

People are submitting their favorite Gary Larson cartoons to Fark in honor of his 61st birthday. The two picture here are ones I had pinned up in my office for several years:

Juxtaposition of the day. Saw this piece in The New York Times about why there are no Big Ideas anymore:

We live in the much vaunted Age of Information. Courtesy of the Internet, we seem to have immediate access to anything that anyone could ever want to know. We are certainly the most informed generation in history, at least quantitatively. There are trillions upon trillions of bytes out there in the ether — so much to gather and to think about.

How quickly things change. It seems like only yesterday when Jerry Falwell was claiming that Tinky Winky was the gay Teletubby. Now we've gone from right-fringe nuttiness to left-fringe nuttiness, with a petition being circulated online to let Bert and Ernie go ahead and get married since they're obvious a gay couple. The petition is getting so much attention that PBS felt compelled to respond:

Never, ever thought I'd be tempted to contribute to PETA. But this is such a darn good cause:

PETA, ever inventive in finding new ways to be outrageous, has hit upon an idea of making Mars a meat-free planet. Toward that end, it has sent a plea to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to make sure this happens, reports Mogulite. How Musk would have that power is an open question.

Hey, fellow straight shooters, we can finally hold our heads high and acknowledge who we are. We have our own special day now:

SAO PAULO (AP) -- The city council of South America's biggest city has adopted legislation calling for a Heterosexual Pride Day to be celebrated on the third Sunday of each December.

Tiny Roselawn, Ind., makes someone's list of the "10 kinkiest cities in America":

Organizers of the 2012 Olympic Games in London have dusted off The Clash's "London Calling" for use as a "come-see us" promo, which some are calling the most clueless use of a song since Ronald Reagan appropriated "Born in the USA."

Some county fairs in Indiana have stopped having competitions that result in a fair queen and/or king being crowned. Go ahead, guess why:

Any fair activity involving competition between 4-H members must be open to both boys and girls, said Renee McKee, assistance director of the Purdue Extension office.

Fascinating: