The Emancipation of Jeannie

Why I dream of Jeannie.

When I was a young girl, our TV viewing was limited to TV Ontario and CBC, but for a brief period a local TV shop offered to give you some TV channels from the US!  This was sheer genius and everyone subscribed. No one truly understood what was actually going on then.  Now, we would understand the practice to be "pirating" television from large US conglomerates.  As I understand it, he recorded tv shows on a very primitive VCR (this was the 70s), or reel-to-reel system, and rebroadcast the signal (or recorded shows) to us in chunks.  You didn't know what would be "on" or when. But you could cruise the channels (with a dial, no remote, nothing past channel 13) and you'd have a pleasant surprise when the USA network, or WTBS would appear.  This is how I came to know of "I Dream of Jeannie" and Barbara Eden.  For years, I had this idea that I might find a genie in a bottle on a beach one day too.

But, I learned something from Jeannie.

From Crackle: The Americanization of Jeannie

I learned that it was acceptable to live with a man and not be married to him first.  It was okay to go hide in your bottle (*insert tongue-in-cheek reference here*) and pout.  It was fine to cause mischief and play "dumb".  It was also okay to not do the dishes, because you could blink them clean later.  It all worked out in the end, even when Roger Healey tried to sway you over to his bachelor pad with his ascot.  


I loved Jeannie.  She was iconic and revered to me.  Some called her a sex object!  She caused men to have nasty thoughts about her and little girls to bare their midriffs later in their teen years.  But wait!  Jeannie found independence in a time when women were expected to stay home and cook and clean.  It was Jeannie who paved the way.  For me, anyhow.  She had a naivety, surely.  But she was 1000's of years old and had come from the middle east (with a robot accent) and popped out of the bottle after being trapped by the Blue Gin.  


Yes, Jeannie was a swell gal.  She shaped me in some ways.  Sad, huh?  Shaped by a Sidney Sheldon character.  Oh well, I like to think that the TV pirate of my home town also shaped a lot of the kids growing up in the 70s and 80s.  Without that pirated tv, we would have no clue about American culture. We'd still believe that the man on the Polka Dot Door has still never met the Polkaroo!  Or that Rod Coneybeare, The Friendly Giant had a chicken living in a book bag. Or Mr. Dressup let stray puppets live in the treehouse in his backyard and go to the car wash in a BMW (2:00 mark).  


{Please click through for your own benefit.  I had a tear form in my eye for The Friendly Giant and Mr. Dressup.  Oh, and couple giggles when Rusty popped out of the book bag and Casey paid for the carwash with a $2 bill!}


So, thank you Mr. Nutter for going to jail and risking it all for the sake of some entertainment in a sleepy little northern Canadian town.


signed, the willow

What's your Klout?

So, I see on Twitter one night that someone was tweeting about their Klout score. Thinking to myself....a what?

A Klout score.  It looks like this:


source:  Ask Aaron Lee

I signed up.  All the while I am telling myself, "you'll be damn lucky if you get a positive number".  So, I signed up and within a day I had a score of 47, which apparently isn't too bad.  But, what does it mean?  Well, there is this grid you can place yourself on.  I love these matrix-like wonderments.  It makes me all geeky, I begin to drool when I see a pretty chart to interpret.

There I am right beside IKEA (Hey, imagine that!).  I'm a Specialist.

What does this all mean?

Well my KLOUT score of 47 means my influence measure is 47/100.  So, every time I tweet, update my status or flush the toilet I get a point (or a decimal point).  It's my ability to influence others.  Will they retweet my tweets?  Will they click on my links?  Do they like me?  Because right now I feel a big popularity contest coming on.  In fact, I'm in a cold sweat.  The kind you get into before a high school dance and the cute guy comes in without that girlfriend of the week.



Next is TRUE REACH and this is the number of people you influence.  Mine said:

True Reach

Your True Reach:

124

source:  Klout
Wonder what I did on this timeline to make the jump from 48 to 124?




What about AMPLIFICATION?  What exactly does my score of 21 mean?  Well, I am 21 times more likely to have my message amplified than an "average person".  This would mean who?  I thought I was average.  Apparently, I am 21 times better than an average schmo.

Amplification

Your Amplification:

21

Lastly, we have NETWORK IMPACT.  Mine looks like a hormone swing.  Hmm?  This is how often my top influencers respond to my content.  If you go back up and look at the nice grid with the twitter photos, you'll see that these are my influencers.  If they respond to me, this score will go up.  I don't see Steven & Chris here.  They really should be on there influencing my network impact score!

Network Impact

Your Network:

43

This is what made me really giggle:

Influential about Dentistry?  When have I ever blogged, tweeted or had a status update about my lost passion for dentistry?  Um, maybe once?  Bizarre.  Glad I am so influential with the subject of Dentistry.  Maybe I'll start my own social media for Dentists consulting business?

Now, I want to know...do you have Klout?


signed, the willow

Scientifically speaking

I am on a geek roll and I couldn't help myself.  With science and math on my mind, I'm inspired to paint some mitochondria.


This has made its way around the internet and around it goes again

edible cell biology.  is that a golgi apparatus or endoplasmic reticulum?
source:  se7en






just in time for halloween!
source:  chavezdesigns




laboratory kitchen
source:  pinterest



paramecium necklace
source:  sciencecrush on etsy


How would you incorporate science into your style?


signed, the willow