Sciolism Rocks

From a Maupassant text that I’m reading :

My latest obsession is with Mad Men, a television series that follows the smoky lives of people involved in the advertising world.

Does anyone else find it ironic that two of the five best-actor nominations in the 2008 Emmys are for performances on AMC series ?

I spent my youth in rural Dunn, North Carolina, doing many of the things you see children do on the Andy Griffith Show (and a few things that you didn’t see.)

Lots of the time that my friends and I spent together was down the “dirt road” : an unfinished part of the hardtop that my house was on. It snaked through cotton, corn, and crowder pea fields, and was subjected to all sorts of games and folklore.

One thing that puzzled us was a large metal marker that stuck out in the middle of a field. On a recent trip to Dunn I snapped a couple of pictures of it:

It’s a large metal pole with a strangely specific cross tie shaped like an arrow. Near the top is a hoop-like attachment. It’s looked exactly the same since I was eight years old.

The fire plug at the bottom is a pretty big hint as to the purpose. I swear, the hydrant wasn’t there in my formative years, but I suppose the pole is simply to mark the plug so that it doesn’t get hit by the tractor.

As a kid, we always heard that this marked the spot where the devil was killed (with that arrow). He was then hung atop the pole for everyone to see.

Anyone know the real reason they would have made a pole like this ?

From Slate.com’s Explainer column:

Why do the Olympic divers shower after every plunge?

To keep warm. Diving venues are air conditioned and can feel especially cold after a dip in the pool. Competitors shower in warm water to keep their muscles loose and then often retire to a hot tub. They towel off shortly before the next dive so that their hands don’t slip during tucks or other maneuvers.