Uh-oh. Snookums already hates the Mouse House for what they did to his beloved Winnie-the-Pooh, and this Coke business could very well push him over the edge. He does not take kindly to childhood icons becoming merchandising whores.

I just stumbled across a totally fascinating publication called The Naming Newsletter, which bills itself as “A Quarterly Report On The Strategy & Tactics of Naming.” There are lots of little articles filled with tips and lessons for naming a business or brand. I especially liked “Where Did They Get That Name?” Did you know that “Chef Boyardee” is a phonetic spelling of “Boiardi”, the man who invented the recipes?

So in the space of, like, 12 hours, Seattle’s had to deal with Mardi Gras riots and an earthquake. Some sort of divine karmic retribution for unleashing Starbucks and grunge on the world? We may never know.

Where the hell have I been? Apparently the official site for Bridget Jones’s Diary is up. You can even see the preview trailer, which I wasn’t a big fan of. The clip itself — Bridget and Daniel making out on the floor — seemed very true to the book, but the editing and music of the trailer give it an overall sucky vibe (at least, to me). They also restrict Zellweger’s voice to a couple of “Oh!”‘s, so it’s hard to get a feel for the accent. It does sound a bit posh for Bridget, though.

The Onion shrewdly observes that everyone should have a supportive gay friend to counsel them on romance. I’ve got one. Have you?

More quiz madness: According to the London Zoo, my ideal animal blind date would be a “Moon Jellyfish.”
 
If the jellyfish wants you, you’re an easy catch. It’s covered in stinging cells, which are used to paralyse its prey. Conversation is doomed if you don’t enjoy speaking to a cucumber, since the jellyfish consists of 96% water and that doesn’t leave room for much of a brain… Treat yourselves to an afternoon in a flotation chamber.
 
Which sucks, because if there’s one kind of animal I hate, it’s the slimy ocean-dwelling kind. *shudder* Why couldn’t I have gotten a nice kitty cat? (Link courtesy of brigita.)

Apparently that niece of Dubya’s, the one with the crush on Prince William, has launched a new career as a catwalk model. Whatever.

“It’s a souvenir of a national disaster. It’s a very British thing to do, isn’t it?” The scavengers have descended upon the remains of the Millennium Dome. The most expensive item sold at auction yesterday was a “Giant hamster and cheese,” which was purchased for £3,000 for a visitor attraction in Kent. Very sad.

The Guardian has a very interesting article about whether the Pill changes a woman’s ability to sniff out genetically appropriate mates. Someone did an experiment where they had a group of women smell T-shirts that various men had worn and say which one they liked best. Most of them, like mice, preferred the mate with genes for immunity that differ from their own. But women on the contraceptive pill picked the exact opposite! Some researchers think that this could be very bad for the human race, evolutionarily-speaking. Others don’t even think that smell really makes that much of a difference. What do you think? Personally, I think body odor is very important in picking the people that you wanna, you know, get close to.

Another interesting survey. This one is the Bem Sex Role Inventory. My results? “Your Femininity Score is 4.15. Your Masculinity Score is 4.65. You are sex-typed as near masculine.” Huh. I’d probably agree with that assessment. Most girly-girls piss me off. (Link courtesy of Hit-or-Miss.)