Wondering about Mephisto

Last week, scientists announced that a nematode has been found living almost two miles below the surface of the Earth. Before this discovery, nothing living had been found deeper than 1.2 miles below the surface. The name they gave this creature is Halicephalobus mephisto. This made me wonder about the term "mephisto".

Wikipedia tells me that Mephisto and Mephistopheles are one and the same. Both refer to the demon (whose picture you can see here). Sometimes Mephisto is seen as the devil himself. The term comes from German folklore and was first seen in print as the demon in the Faust legend. The name is familiar to me in part from Faust but more because of the movie, "The Mephisto Waltz (which I wrote about in this post).

So: a devil, a demon. But why name the worm after this creature? I wondered if it was because the mythical hell lies deep beneath the Earth so I googled my way to this reference:

". . . Halicephalobus mephisto, an entirely new species, with the mephisto portion given in reference to its residence in the underworld" 

Mystery solved and the meme of mephisto is passed on to another generation . . . well, to science and work geeks, anyway. Oh, and you.

Does not compute

What would John Lennon have to say about this? A lot, I imagine. New York's mayor Mike Bloomberg has decreed from on-high that musicians and singers may no longer, you know, make music or sing in Central Park. At least, not in the "Quiet Zones" and Strawberry Fields has, incredibly, been designated as a "Quiet Zone". This picture tells the tale. What boobery, what nincompoopery! It's astoundingly out of step -- but then, that's NY's mayor Mike Bloomberg. No clue about how the soiled masses might view this.

Can you imagine what John would say? It would be such fun. He'd have a huge musical gathering in Strawberry Fields by nightfall with TV cameras following his every move, and live broadcasts going out over the net to the entire world. He'd call on people everywhere to join him. "Bring a musical instrument and a bed, and plan to stay for months!" It would morph into a park-wide artist's festival that no one on the planet could shut down. And suddenly, world peace would break out all over.

And then he'd write great songs about the whole thing and make us feel like we were there when it all came down. Dang, I miss this man. And Bloomberg -- you're an artless twit.

That popey guy's quite a guy!

I saw this today in the NYT:

NEW YORK (AP) — A Maryland Episcopal parish will be the first in the United States to join the Roman Catholic Church under a streamlined conversion plan created by the Vatican.

Isn't that sweet? The popey guy has opened his fragrant arms to the most hateful Episcopal parishes that want to retain the "right" to act viciously toward gay people. The popey guy essentially said to them:

"If your church is becoming too humane and moral, come -- be with us! You can be as hateful as you want on our side of the street because it is the Catholic god's glorious mission to spread bigotry over the Earth. Rejoice!"

Watta guy! So now the Episcopal church can continue to act as immorally as they want -- because the popey guy's got them covered. Hooray!

In other church news today:
"Three current or former priests and a former Roman Catholic school teacher in Philadelphia are rejecting a proposed plea offer to serve 7 1/2 to 15 years on child-rape charges."

Getting the date right

It's hard to pin down exactly when the United States passed the point of no return and fell into irremediable idiocy.

Was it the day someone first used "prank" as a verb? Did it happen when "I'm OK, You're Okay" hit the bookstores? Or the day we began to watch the Loud family on TV? Was it when the country voted Bush in for the second time? I want to know the exact date and time when we lost all our hopes and dreams. It seems we should note it down somewhere, maybe file it or put it in a history book or something. I could at least list it here on the blog.

But so many events could have begun the cascade. When do you think the collapse began in earnest?

Even the Red Sox are doing it!

I was happy to see a story about the Red Sox making an "It Gets Better" video. Yay, my team's doing it. Now if only the Mets would jump in. We need major sports teams to come out for gay people and say bullying is uncool. Who knows? This may make a big difference. Anyway, I'm proud of my guys. Way to go!

Now, about those other teams. Ready to step up, fellas? Now's the time. (PS: The Cubs did one too.)

Here's my entry, by the way.

I need some help

There is a gay male character in one of my books and he's always saying things are "faaaaaabulous!"

The problem is that it's the year 2030. Would a gay man speak like this 20 years in the future? It doesn't seem likely, does it? I mean, he might do it for a retro thrill but there would probably be some wonderful new word that gay people use with a sense of style and fun and exaggeration.

I need suggestions. It's 2030 and you're a gay man. What word would you use in a gay, campy way? This one's got me stumped. Any thoughts?

The pool at the St. George Hotel

In the good old days, New Yorkers had a slew of great beaches they could visit in the summer. But for die-hard, concrete-loving, stay-in-the-city types, there was also an option -- the pool at the St. George Hotel in Brooklyn.

I found this image at brooklynhistory.org (you can see it here, if you like; it's on my graphics version of this blog) but I must confess, I don't remember it being quite that grand or being filled with salt water. It was nice, mind you, maybe even very nice but I don't remember the high ceiling or balconies. I was young; perhaps I forgot. In any case, it was a great pool and one of my uncles was a lifeguard there for a time. His name was Jim O'Connor and he looked very cute in his official bathing suit and whistle.

Back in the day, smoking cigarettes was both accepted and expected. I remember that there was a recessed area right by the pool, a "room" where you could smoke. It was tiled and had tiled seats along the walls so it was sort of a steam room without the steam, featuring an open doorway through which you could see the exciting goings-on at the pool. And it did seem exciting at all times. This wasn't just a pool, it was the pool at the St. George Hotel. Posh.

Inside the smoking area I remember that they had small, recessed cubbyholes right by the door, each just the right size to hold a pack or two of cigarettes and your lighter. No one stole in the old days. Anyway, with all the insane smoking laws going into effect everywhere these days, I thought it might be nice to revisit this lovely, civilized convenience -- a genteel, poolside smoking area.

I don't smoke now but I did back then and it was very nice indeed to smoke at the St. George Hotel pool.