So I was woken up this morning by my house shaking. That’s not so unusual, but it usually involves a garbage truck driving by or a helicopter flying over (they look for pot in the woods pretty regularly). Neither was there. It took me a few minutes to realize I was feeling an earthquake. That’s right–in Indiana! It turns out it was really in southern Illinois, but it was enough to shake the windowpanes and the wine glasses here. Weird. (ETA: there was an aftershock around 11:20 EST, too. That was kind of alarming since I was in the lab at the time. Eeek. ETA again: apparently it wasn’t an aftershock that I felt, but a second quake! This one was a 4.5.)

It was even more surreal to me, since I found out last night that I’ll be spending my summer in Southern California, where they actually have earthquakes.

Wait, what?

I GOT THE INTERNSHIP!!!! SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! It’s a Science Writing internship through AAAS, and I’ll be learning many new and exciting things in Santa Ana this summer. I didn’t say anything about applying for it here, since it’s really competitive and I was sure that I wasn’t going to get it, but I got it! I got a call last night from the paper, to see if I would fit their needs and their philosophy, and it turns out they picked me because they wanted someone with experience on the internet and with blogging. Yup. Can you believe it? Keeping this blog actually did something for me! (Well, besides meeting all the nice people who read it.:) ) So I’ll be helping out with their science blog this summer. And hopefully learning how to surf. It gets really hot in S Cal in the summer, right? Like how hot? Skin melting hot? Center of the sun hot? I guess I need to start knitting myself some cotton socks!

And that brings us to the most important question: Holy crap, what YARN should I take with me?!? I cannot even begin to fathom how I will pack my stash. Nicole, help! How do you pack yarn for an entire summer?

Man. It’s been an interesting last 24 hours. I’m all a twitter! Between the earthquake and the internship, my brain is all over the place. I guess you could say I’m all shook up.

(Oy. Sorry.)

All right, let’s try to come back down to earth. It’s Friday. Here’s what I’ve been

Reading (Yes, after last week I am interested in All Things Jane. I’ve never read this one before.)

Listening to

and

Watching. Okay. This movie was funny and entertaining, but I had SERIOUS issues with it.

(***Spoiler Alert! If you don’t want to know the plot of this movie, skip to the end!***)

Okay, so movie is about a young bee (Barry B. Benson, played by Jerry Seinfeld) who graduates from bee school and then has to decide what he wants to do with his life. Though a series of adventures, he manages to make friends with a human woman (Rene Zwellinger) and learn all about human ways. In doing this, he discovers that humans collect and sell honey. He gets really mad, and sues the honey company owners. He wins. So then all the bees get to take their honey back, so they don’t need to make it anymore. So they don’t. Work at the hive shuts down, and the bees stop pollinating flowers and such.

So this is the part that really pisses me off. In this movie, the no more pollination means that all of the flowers and trees and plants in the world start dying. Central Park turns brown. Barry’s human friend, who is a florist, has to shut down her business because there are no more flowers. Then she sets off to go to the Rose Parade, since they’ll be showing the last flowers on the planet. Then Barry decides to go with her, steals a float, and takes it back to New York (since there are no bees in California, apparently). They do this, the bees pollinate them, and they all magically spring back to life and turn green and colorful again. Yay, the day is saved. Thanks, bees!

Okay, WTF? The last time I checked, flowers don’t need to be pollinated to survive! They need to be pollinated to reproduce. But will they turn brown and keel over from lack of pollination? To watch this movie, you’d think yes. Also the last time I checked, bees were not the only things that did pollination! Most trees are wind pollinated. There are also other insects that pollinate (flies, wasps, moths, etc.) as well as animals that pollinate. Ever hear of a hummingbird? How about a fruit bat? I’m so angry about this blatant lack of respect for the scientific facts mostly because this movie will be watched by children. Little children who will believe this drivel because they saw it on TV. And probably a lot of parents won’t know any better, so they won’t be able to explain that it’s just make-believe and that stupid Hollywood people have no regard for basic science! Okay, that last line was a bit harsh, but dangit! Why are we mis-educating our children? Because it makes a good story? Bah. Those writers should be bitch-slapped. That’s all. Rant over.

(P.S. I’m totally okay with the bees talking and suing people and stuff. I’m also slightly okay, but a little pissed, that the worker bees and pollinators in the movie are mostly men. Male bees, aka drones, are really only around to mate with the queen. They don’t do anything else. If fact, they usually get kicked out of the hive in the wintertime. So it goes.)

(***I’m done! Start reading again.***)

Anyway. Before I go, I want to say Happy Birthday to Huan-Hua! Go over to her blog and say nice things. She’s a nice person. She deserves them.

And also a very Happy Birthday to my mommy! She’s turning 60 today! I made her a very special something that I hope to show you very soon. But, er, it’s not done yet. But I’m reaaaaal close so maybe by Monday.

Have a great day, both birthday girls! And have a great weekend to the rest of you. :)