Pop Culture

You know that old conundrum about which came first: chicken or egg? Some British researchers claim to have finally found an answer using the power of science. The chicken came first.

There’s a special protein called OC-17 that’s found in the ovaries of chickens. It’s crucial to the formation of chicken egg shells. In other words, without a chicken to provide OC-17, there would be no egg. Therefore, logic dictates the chicken preceded the egg. Problem solved. No?

If the chicken preceded the egg, where did the first chicken come from? Are the researchers saying that the chicken came from an egg, just not a chicken egg? Are they assuming the chicken evolved from another bird species, such as a turkey? If so, I think these guys have been pointing out what everyone has been assuming all along.

On the other hand, maybe these researchers are claiming that chickens didn’t come from any egg at all. Maybe they were born the way all mammals are born.

In short, the chicken or egg dilemma has not been solved. Instead, here’s a great example of a researcher who has found a way to make people care about his otherwise boring and pointless discovery. The chicken vs. egg question continues. But one thing we do know: these brainiacs should be working at a marketing agency.

Wonder Woman’s new costume will definitely take some getting used to. I don’t want to be too snarky, but she looks like a Gen13 character.

DC Comics addressed the new costume in a blog post saying:

It’s a look designed to be taken seriously as a warrior, in partial answer to the many female fans over the years who’ve asked, “how does she fight in that thing without all her parts falling out?”) She can close it up to pass unnoticed… open it for the freedom to fight… lose the jacket or keep it on… it has pockets (the other fan question, “where does she carry anything in that outfit?”, it can be accessorized… it’s a Wonder Woman look designed for the 21st century.

Is this really what Wonder Woman’s female fans care about? Stylish dregs for the 21st century? Logical design? She has a freaking lasso that makes people tell the truth!

Truth be told, I’m perfectly fine with the costume. The only thing I hate is the jacket. Take a look at the picture and imagine her without the jacket. She’s still Wonder Woman. Except now, she wears pants. Big deal. The jacket, however, makes her look like a 90s character with ‘attitude.’

You might be wondering what plot contrivance will necessitate this change in wardrobe. The answer may surprise you:

Suppose someone went back in time and changed one thing, and it changed your life to the point that you had little or no memory of what life had been like before the change happened. What would you do to get it back? Should you get it back? Who did it? And maybe more important… why did they do it?

Basically, someone or something changed the DC timeline. This in turn led to the DC gods lifting their protection from Wonder Woman’s Amazonian country. This in turn led to the country being attacked. The new Wonder Woman is a refugee who grows up in the streets. Don’t mess with her because she’ll cut ya. And she’ll do it while wearing clothes that of the same color scheme as her counterpart in the now erased timeline.

All kidding aside, I can sort of see why Jim Lee redesigned Wonder Woman’s costume. I’ve always felt the character looked archaic next to the other DC heroines. Standing beside Black Canary, classic Wonder Woman looks like someone’s old aunt in her bloomers. The new costume, as goofy as it looks, accomplishes the task of making her look younger. She needs to lose the jacket and shed the poser attitude. But everything else looks fine to me.

Today, a true gentleman and national treasure passed away. Coach Wooden is best known for his 10 national titles for Men’s Basketball at UCLA and for crafting the Pyramid of Success: an instructional model for team building. But he was much more.

In my last year at UCLA, I had the honor and privilege of hearing Coach Wooden talk about his life at a book signing event. Unlike many alumni, Coach Wooden continued to be involved in the UCLA community after retirement, attending every home game at Pauley Pavilion until a few years ago and engaging with students. His most important advice was one he obtained from his own father: “make every day your masterpiece.”

I could go on and on about Coach Wooden’s his humble and faithful life, his great love for his wife, his passion for social justice, his fiery demeanor against bad referee calls, his micromanagement of players’ footwear, and his love for making boys into men of integrity, on and off the court. But then, I’d be writing a novel.

Goodbye, Coach Wooden. Have fun meeting up with Nell in the flash sideways.