Musings from the Navel Observatory

The manager of my friendly local comic-book shop asked me a pretty good question yesterday about the cover of a comic book that showed just about every anatomical detail *except* for the title character's belly button. It set off an exchange on navel arcana that I thought might be of interest to folks who have a belly-button of their own.

In an attempt to boost my hit count with the Google image crowd while pumping up my PG-13 street cred, I present the salacious-yet-belly-button-bereft cover in question for Warlord of Mars: Deja Thoris, issue #5:




Gretchen: Why does Dejah Thoris not have a belly button? I was looking at the cover for today's issue and no belly button. But then on the inside art she does. Then looking at a lot of older covers she has no navel. Is she not supposed to have one since she's an alien?

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John Magee: That's a really good question. She's not human, that's for sure. (I've seen human anatomy, and what's on those covers ain't quite human.)

I've been meaning to go back and re-read my old Edgar Allen Burroughs John Carter books -- it's been a couple of decades -- and I'll try to see if there's anything in there on Martian birthing or umbilical cords.

In semi-related belly-button viewing information, I know that the costume designers on the original Star Trek had a lot of issues because they were prohibited from showing belly buttons during a prime-time broadcast in the late 60s. (Oh, the navel-gazing issues they had in the sixties....)

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Gretchen: Whoa! my husband and I are watching the whole original star trek run; we just finished the first episode of season 2. Now i'm going to have to look for that. Strangely though, there was one episode with this girl wearing overalls and nothing more, and there were definite side-boob shots. Weird that they'd allow that but not navels...

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John Magee:I came across another good nugget in the same interview with that costume designer for TOS. He said that what they tried to do for those sorts of outfits was to create the appearance that something could slip and expose more. That *that* was much sexier than just exposing the skin in the first place. It's something I've always noticed in costuming since then, and it's quite true.

Also on the navel observatory front, the possible exposure of America to Barbara Eden's belly button was rumored to be a constant challenge for "I Dream of Jeannie." And supposedly Mort Walker used to always include Miss Buxley's belly button in panels of "Beetle Bailey" specifically because his comic syndicate forbid him to draw her belly button, so it always forced his editor to remove them from the panels with an exacto knife. He allegedly had an entire jarful of Buxley belly buttons by the time he retired.

I have no idea how I've picked up this much belly-button trivia over the years. Just imagine if I had spent that time putting useful knowledge into my head!

By popular demand, another picture of the new toy. Plus, bonus poetry from MC-D!

The public has risen and one and demanded more information about our new toy. (Well, okay, Scott Pollack expressed mild curiosity. Whatever.) And so it is that I shall provide a wee bit more information.

The new toy is a 1976 MGB roadster that I bought last weekend after a lot of research into classic convertible options, but a surprisingly brief search for an actual car to buy. For those with a need to know automotive details, it has the four-speed overdrive transmission and a lot of nice upgrades from the previous owner: a Weber carb, K&N air filter, racing headers, an upgraded cam, electronic ignition, solid-state fuel pump, leather seats, a kickin' Dual stereo (with a big, honkin' subwoofer), and custom low-profile wheels and tires. When all four hamsters in the engine compartment are running full speed on their little wheel, it probably puts about about 100 hp. Most importantly, the body seems to be in really good shape with very little rust ... a bit of a rarity for British cars in Michigan.

We had gobs and gobs of fun this weekend taking it for little drives and errands in the hot July sun.

I don't know that Monique was entirely convinced that we needed a sporty little convertible. However, the nice thing about old MGBs is even really nice ones are pretty cheap, so the fun-to-cost ratio is extremely high. And indeed, much fun was had as she took it out for her first outing behind the wheel:


Monique prepares to take her first cruise in the new toy.


And finally, we close with a commemorative poem from Mary Campbell-Droze. Take it away, Mary:

I learned to drive in an MG Midget!
It was so tiny there was no room even to fidget.
I also learned to drive in a Rambler station-wagon.
My turning radius finesse was, as a result, a bit laggin'.

--Mary Campbell-Droze

Summertime Arrivals

Not much blogging around the ol' Patio Boat lately, but mostly we've been busy with a host of the entirely predictable summertime arrivals:

Stella, who arrived in late June.


Wolverine Lake's weed harvester, which arrived with Wolverine Lake's weeds.


Fireworks, which arrived right on schedule on Tiki Night.


Kayaking expeditions, which arrived with the sunny summertime weather.


Wendy's ski boat, which at long, long last arrived with its boat lift.


Stella's friend Ann, arriving at the airport.


Henry and Malcom, also arriving at the airport.


Michelle, seen here with Monique after they arrived at the Oakland County Fair.


John's midlife crisis, which arrived in our driveway this week with a convertible top and a shiny black paint job....

A Wee Bit of Philosophy

For various reasons I was thinking about life lately, and this philosophical thought popped into my head:

Life is a series of choices. Who we are is the sum total of the choices we have made, for good or for bad.

This is something that I don't think I understood very well when I was younger and making some bad choices, often without even realizing at the time that this was what I was doing. I wish I had a good mechanism for passing along that bit of hard-won wisdom to a few of my younger relations, so as to save them a lot of trouble down the road. But I suspect that you have to come to that realization after making a lot of your own bad and good decisions.

Your Patriotic American Duty

I have once again fulfilled my patriotic duties as an American and voted ... for the Major League Baseball All-Star Team. The good news is that it's really easy these days, since you can vote online at MLB.com's online All-Star Ballot.

The bad news is that it's really easy these days, since you can vote up to 25 times per day online at MLB.com's online All-Star Ballot. Worse yet, they make it really easy to stuff the ballot box this way. So over the past few years the All-Star fan voting has become a bit of ballot-box stuffing exercise for the big-market teams in New York and Boston.

But I like to fight back for El Tigres in my little way, and fortunately this year Detroit has several very deserving hitters. Here's who I voted for (25 times! Ugh!) this year:

American League:
1B - Cabrera, Miguel - Should've been last year's AL MVP.
2B - Cano, Robinson - Okay, the Yankee ballot-box stuffers have this one right.
SS - Peralta, Jhonny - A hometown vote for the Tiger, but he's also having a great season.
3B - Rodriguez, Alex - On the decline, but still an All-Star.
C - Avila, Alex - Monique's Tiger. Need I say more? Plus, he's actually the best catcher in the AL so far this year.
DH - Martinez, Victor - Having a great season protecting Miggy.
OF - Bautista, Jose - Out of nowhere, Babe Freaking Ruth materialized in Toronto.
OF - Granderson, Curtis - We miss you, Curtis!
OF - Suzuki, Ichiro - A down year, but a great player.
Write-in - N/A

National League:
1B - Votto, Joey - Last year's NL MVP. I might've voted for Pujols despite the down year, but his broken arm made it a bit academic.
2B - Weeks, Rickie - Having a surprisingly good season at a thin position.
SS - Reyes, Jose - Back to All-Star form in his contract year. Coincidence? I think not.
3B - Polanco, Placido - Monique's former Tiger.
C - McCann, Brian - He's no Alex Avila, but he's a pretty good catcher.
OF - Braun, Ryan - Living up the the hype.
OF - Holliday, Matt - A steady and perennially underrated batter.
OF - Kemp, Matt - If he's going to hit like this, he should break up with Rihanna every year!
Write-in - N/A

Back to our core competency...

... beagle haiku written by other people and provided to this site for the revolutionary new price of "free". In this case, we have an outstanding contribution from Arsen Darnay, who shared the beagle-watching duties while Monique was off in Wyoming preparing for the arrival of our new niece:


While Amelia
Was late, Katie chased rabbits
In rainy Grosse Pointe.

--Arsen Darnay

This n'That

Yeah, yeah, yeah ... I'm a slothful blogger. However, this is not my fault. I blame my large staff of beagle-haiku freelancers, who have failed to crank out a beagle haiku in weeks. As a result, we have now fallen to #2 in the world Google beagle haiku rankings.

Do I have to do all the writing around here?

Eh, apparently so. Let's catch you all up on the last couple weeks.

The Wyoming Update: Yes, since I didn't deliver my promised update, Amelia Arden Magee was indeed finally born on Saturday, June 4, at 11:08 am Mountain Daylight Time. In defense of my non-updating from Wyoming, she didn't arrive until just moments after I departed for the airport to return to Michigan. Tardy baby. That slacker kid better start catching up, or she'll never get into a good college.

Fortunately, her very kind Aunt Monique was able to delay her return to Michigan for a few more days to help smooth the transition and watch Zoe while Mike and Cathy were busy with the new arrival.

Welcome, Amelia! And special thanks to Monique for being such an incredibly helpful wife!


Village Budget: We passed our village budget in June with the least hubbub we've had since in years, and the result is a village that is in the best financial shape it's been in since I moved here, despite the horrible municipal economics of Michigan.

Last year's budget cuts were the most painful period I've ever had in politics, and I say that as a man who endured George W. Bush's re-election in 2004. I really hated some of the things that we needed to do to put our finances in order for the next few years. But I felt that the results evident in this year's budget was a real vindication of the effort we put in last year into long-term planning for the Michigan fiscal apocalypse.

It gives me hope that it is possible to solve the seemingly unsolvable in politics, as long as everybody works together in good faith.

Random Political Thought: I was thinking about the Democratic Party's electoral flop in 2010. It occurred to me the real lesson of that election may be that activists get tired, while deep pockets never rest. An awful lot of Democratic activists were pretty burned out after 2008, while the Citizens' United decision pumped GOP coffers full of untraceable money. It'll be interesting to see how that dynamic plays out in 2012.

And no, I haven't really decided exactly what I'm doing with my activist self in 2012, but I'm sure that at the very least I'll be lending a hand with Andy Meisner's Oakland County Treasurer reelection campaign. (http://www.andymeisner.com/)

Hmmn ... methinks the effort might need to start with a refreshing of the campaign website, which doesn't seem to have been touched since 2008.


Work: Busy, busy, busy and spending much of my time getting a new workflow up and running, which has turned out to take considerably more time and effort than I had anticipated. I could go on and on, but then I'd have to give this whole post the "Mr. Crankypants" tag. Mostly I'm just irritated at myself for not getting things done more quickly, and for not properly anticipating the work that would need to go into some of this stuff. Oh, how I wish I had a handy scapegoat!


Insomnia: For a variety of reasons (mostly adding up to "I've been even more blob-like than usual lately) I decided to lop sugar out of my diet a couple of months ago. This is worthy of its own post, and I've meant to write on it. But one of the interesting side effects is that for the last two months my general mild insomnia and late-night-nik-ness has really jumped up a notch.

I've spent a lot more time than usual staring at the ceiling at 3 am or 4 am lately, and I absolutely have to say one thing about the whole experience: I truly wish the spackle on our bedroom ceiling had been better sanded when our house was built.

Finally, and most importantly, the Patio Boat (The real patioboat, that is): The Ol' Stealth Pontoon finally launched upon Wolverine Lake yesterday, the latest launch ever. The sad delay was mostly due to some chewed-up wiring, rainy weekends, our time in Wyoming, and scheduling problems with our pontoon trailer guy. We're now back on the lake.

Woo-hoo!

And good luck to you all in getting another post out of me now that the pontoonin' season has arrived.