"Yes, Kim Kardashian, we’ve been to the moon before … Six times!"

Said Sean Duffy, the Secretary of Transportation and acting secretary and acting head of NASA, quoted in "Nasa tells Kim Kardashian: Yes, we’ve been to the moon before/The reality TV star had claimed that the 1969 moon landing was faked, repeating a popular conspiracy theory" (London Times).

Kardashian responded to Duffy’s critique on X, commenting under his post: “Wait … What’s the tea on 3I Atlas?!?!!!!!!!?????”

I've got a few questions:

1. Why is a government official calling out a private citizen who expresses interest in a conspiracy theory? We're Americans. We have our conspiracy theories. Keep your government nose out of our business. You're only giving more ammunition to the conspiracy theorists. Why stick your neck out to deny what isn't true? You're making it more fun to believe the theory!

2. Why did we go to the moon 6 times — 6 times, in rapid succession, and then no more? What was the sense of all those repeated trips and then to stop for half a century?!

3. What is the tea on 3I/Atlas? I just heard Joe Rogan and Elon Musk talking about it — "The thing about the 3-eye-Atlas"/"That's it's a hell of a name... sounds like third eye or something":

"Sixty-four years ago, Connie Francis recorded 'Pretty Little Baby' as one of dozens of songs in a marathon recording session..."

"... that yielded three albums within two weeks. It did not, at the time, feel like a song that had the makings of a hit, so it landed on the B-side of the 1962 single... that was released in Britain. Since then, it was more or less overlooked. Then came TikTok... Over the last few weeks, 'Pretty Little Baby' has been trending on the social media app — it has been featured as the sound in more than 600,000 TikTok posts and soared to top spots in Spotify’s Viral 50 global and U.S. lists — bolstered by celebrities and influencers, like Nara Smith, Kylie Jenner, and Kim Kardashian and her daughter North, who have posted videos of themselves lip-syncing to it. The ABBA singer Agnetha Fältskog used the song for a clip on TikTok in which she said Ms. Francis had long been her favorite singer...."

From "As ‘Pretty Little Baby’ Goes Viral, Connie Francis Is Joining TikTok/With a forgotten song becoming an unlikely hit, the 87-year-old singer is happy to be back in the spotlight" (NYT).

Interviewed, Francis said she didn't even remember recording the song, but, listening to it now, she pronounced it "cute." I remember when that kind of thing was the current music...

"You might think such a scene — lines of strangers ogling an exposed female body lying in the middle of the street — would feel unsettling or prurient...."

"Instead, the atmosphere felt mildly jovial, as people exchanged amused glances, shrugged, and snapped photos. Nothing untoward was happening here, because Balloon Kim seemed protected from any personal transgression. Naturally, being 60 feet long helped.... But Balloon Kim seemed impervious to transgression [because] Balloon Kim did not so much depict a person as it did a commodity, an abandoned outer shell.... By covering her famous face, Balloon Kim refused to return the onlookers’ gaze. She depicted no personal expression, and blocked even the depiction of any access to her interiority. This structure was not a portrait or a sculpture of Ms. Kardashian, but rather a very faithful recreation of the workings of Ms. Kardashian’s empire, which is built on the meticulously crafted project she has made of her body — a collection of highly public, highly exposed curves and spheres, sculpted and polished to perfection, displayed according to Ms. Kardashian’s diktats, and offered up as a series of ideals to be aspired to and emulated via the purchase of products."

Writes Rhonda Garelick, in "About That Giant Kim Kardashian in Times Square/The seamless, poreless, sanitized effigy of a capitalist titan was a startling piece of marketing for Skims" (NYT).

1. That last sentence — "This structure was not... " — is a doozy. Have I ever written "doozy" on this blog? Yes! And I've written it in the context of a long sentence that needed diagramming. So now, here's another item for the annals of Things I Asked Grok: "Diagram this sentence...."

2. "Interiority" — You might remember just last month I was asking "What kind of people use the word 'interiority'?" Encountering the word in a NYT article (about Dylan Mulvaney), I searched my blog archive and extracted the history of the word "interiority" on this blog. There were 5 earlier appearances, all of them in quotes, never used by me. One day I'll use it!

3. This post gets my "big and small" tag — which is, regular readers may know, my favorite tag. I  am amused by absurd and radical size variations. 

4. The NYT writer is doing something I've seen a lot of over the years — crediting a woman for doing something other than what you might think she's doing: selling her sexuality. 

"As recently as 2015 Nigel Short, then vice-president of the world chess federation Fide, claimed that 'men are hardwired to be better chess players than women'..."

"... adding: 'You have to gracefully accept that.' The English grandmaster went on to explain it was clear men and women’s brains are different because he helps his wife get the car out of the garage and she has more emotional intelligence than him.... Debbie Hayton, a trans woman who writes frequently for conservative outlets, wrote in UnHerd: 'It’s possible that evolution has left men with an innate advantage in chess.' Hayton backed that up with a quote from a (female) Harvard biologist about males having a large advantage over females in spatial ability. But... [a] 2020 study in Nature Scientific Reports... found no difference between male and female spatial abilities. Any differences previously found, a lot of research suggests, may be down to testing methodologies...."

Writes Arwa Mahdawi in "Excluding trans women in women’s chess makes you a pawn of the patriarchy/The world’s top chess federation is banning trans women from competing until a review is made – and the defenses are sexist assumptions and shaky science" (The Guardian).

ADDED: In the comments, after posting about sexual dimorphism, I wrote "I'd hypothesize that chess, a game invented and developed by men, reflects male strengths and predilections. Why wouldn't it?" I took that question to ChatGPT and didn't get a straight answer, but when I demanded a straight answer,  I got one. 

I've got 9 TikToks for you tonight — all things I liked. I invite you to appreciate them too.

1. The crochet genius.

2. A Kardashian Christmas.

3. The joy of Neptune.

4. The importance of routine during the long polar night.

5. The importance of layers when dressing for winter.

6. Let a girl show you how to approach a girl.

7. Celine Dion explains her rare disease — stiff person syndrome.

8. He gets AI to write a folk song about his dog dying.

9. AI envisions the cast of "The Office" as babies.

I've curated 5 TikToks for you this evening. Some people love them.

1. "Alexa! Play Rosemary Clooney!"

2. "Don't cry if you don't want me to laugh."

3. A tribute to the "Apparently" kid.

4. Random kid drama becomes a song.

5. The amazing human capacity to run — explained, while running.

Chris Christie says "sure" he's considering running for President in 2024.

That's at the very beginning of this clip: 

 

They go on to talk about whether the U.S. would be better off with "a royal family of America," a concept that causes Chris Wallace to gasp "Oh, my God." Who would be the royal family? Maher says the Kardashians.

Here are 7 TikToks to amuse me — I mean you — on this Wednesday afternoon. Let me know what you like best.

1. Broadway Barbara has a new perfume.

2. The Martha and Mary story in the manner of the Kardashians.

3. Drunk-calling the police.

4. The secret life hack for thrifting at Goodwill.

5. Your friend who refuses to talk shit. 

6. Is this suggestion that he has a long face correct?  

7. The dulcet tones of the goat.

"It’s all really interlinked, choosing a pair of leggings which causes discomfort and which in turn draws attention to the labia and the need for surgery."

Said plastic surgeon Dr. Richard Swift, quoted in "'Designer vagina' surgery doubles in 2022 thanks to tight leggings" (NY Post).

The article repeatedly uses the word "vagina" for "vulva," with ludicrous lines like: "Called a labiaplasty, the procedure shrinks the labia minora — otherwise known as the flaps on the inside of the vagina — with a price tag of more than $4,000."

Why is it funny to ask pro golfers what they think of the breakup of Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson?

Last night, I linked to this TikTok video (as one of 9 TikTok videos that amused me).

The commenter Wilbur politely requested an explanation:

AA, if I may directly pose you a question: What was it about the pro golfer TikTok that you found amusing? Not criticizing your choice, just curious as to what I missed. 

I'm not a KK hater, although I've never heard of Pete Davidson. It came across as wholly mundane to Wilbur, not even sarcastic. I suspect the question would elicit the same reactions from people across most segments of the population.

Because the request was so respectful, I decided to try to spell it out what had been, for me, an instinctive reaction:

Here are 9 TikToks to amuse you this evening. Let me know what you like best.

1. A vertiginous walk.

2. Groundhogs.

3. A bird talks.

4. A bird sings.

5. Failing to account for the full length of the wind turbine rotor.

6. What do pro golfers think of the breakup of Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson?

7. Does your boyfriend really fit into your family?

8. What would you do with a $6,000 slo-mo camera?

9. "What exactly can a female provide in a plutonic relationship?"

The dress was dangerous then and it's dangerous — in a newly fussy way — now.

Kim Kardashian's decision to wear Marilyn Monroe's iconic "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" gown to the #MetGala has conservators, curators and fashion historians baffled and worried that the incident sets a dangerous precedent.

Here's why. https://t.co/kVIjfJZqI0

— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) May 4, 2022

From the L.A. Times article:

"In fact, Wallace [Idaho] is the self-declared 'Probable Center of the Universe,' and according to its citizens, for good reason."

"A proclamation given by then-mayor Ron Garitone on September 25, 2004, avowed, 'Our government-contracted scientists...have, after years of diligence, been unable to unearth one scintilla of [proof] that Wallace is NOT the center of the universe.' This year Wallace is celebrating the centennial births of two native Hollywood elite: Doris Houck, known for her roles in several Three Stooges films, and The Postman Always Rings Twice star Lana Turner, whose childhood home at 217 Bank Street still stands, and is in the midst of a renovation."

 From "THE 15 BEST SMALL TOWNS TO VISIT IN 2021/From Alabama’s music capital to the self-proclaimed ‘center of the universe,’ these American towns are calling your name" (Smithsonian).

Why not proclaim yourself the center of the universe? Everybody is a star. That's a song title. 

By the way, do you know that "Keeping Up With The Kardashians" has been on TV for 20 seasons? Here's a promo for the finale episode of their 20th season:

 

Despite years of diligence, scientists have been unable to unearth one scintilla of proof that the Kardashians are not the center of the universe.

FROM THE EMAIL: Wince writes:

Doris Houck may be best known as the girl who tried to mash Shemp Howard's head in a vice in BRIDELESS GROOM in an attempt to persuade him to marry her. 

Famous Stooges line: "Hold hands you lovebirds..."

Wow, these are some tough dames:

"Is there anybody in America not high — sorry, 'blissed out' — on CBD?..."

"I am perhaps overreacting to the news that domesticity diva Martha Stewart pops about 20 CBD-laced treats a day. CBD stands for cannabidiol, a cannabis byproduct. America’s most fabulous felon reports that 'it’s not a high like a marijuana high. It’s a CBD high, like, relaxed.'... Tom Hanks, Jennifer Aniston, Megan Rapinoe, Morgan Freeman, and Whoopi Goldberg have all boarded the CBD train. Kim Kardashian is said to be 'addicted' to CBD salves. 'Anyone that knows me knows I am obsessed with CBD everything,' quoth the lifestyle goddess. 'Let’s zen out for a Saturday.' Let’s! Good grief, why wouldn’t you want to take the edge off? How can you face 'reality'... without a crutch?... If you are willing to face this world straight up and sober, you have more psychic fortitude than most of us...."

From "Blissed out on CBD/Good grief, why wouldn’t you want to take the edge off?" (Boston Globe).

Are people actually getting "high" on CBD? Quite aside from the stupidity of fawning over yourself for getting high, I don't believe these people are getting high at all. They're just selling products, including the product that is their celebrity persona. That is, I think they're lying about getting high, though it's possible they're getting a placebo effect.

And I don't think Zen is about using drugs to relax on weekends. If you're going to water down a religion, you ought to go for  your own religion.

"Is the joke that... the young woman doesn’t realise the interviewer does not have the same interests as she does and is asking sarcastic questions?"

I honestly don’t understand how this is funny. Is the joke that the interviewer doesn’t like the same things the young woman does? Or that the young woman doesn’t realise the interviewer does not have the same interests as she does and is asking sarcastic questions?

— Andy Young (@andyryoung) September 9, 2020

"Kanye West claimed in a since-deleted Twitter rant that his wife, Kim Kardashian, tried to have him hospitalized after his remarks about their eldest daughter, North."

Us Magazine reports.

“Kim was trying to fly to Wyoming with a doctor to lock me up like on the movie Get Out because I cried about saving my daughters life yesterday,” the rapper, 43, tweeted on Monday, July 20, referencing a statement he made during his first presidential campaign rally about initially wanting to abort the now-7-year-old.

During his tweet spree, West twice referred to his wife of six years as “North’s mother,” claiming he put his “life on the line” for their children that Kardashian, 39, “would never sell her sex rape [sic].” He also tweeted that the Keeping Up With the Kardashians star “would never photograph [North] doing playboy and that’s on God.”

The Yeezy designer used Twitter to try to get in touch with Kardashian and her mother, Kris Jenner, too.

“Kriss [sic] don’t play with me you and that calmye are not allowed around my children Y’all tried to lock me up,” he tweeted, seemingly using a nickname for the momager’s longtime boyfriend, Corey Gamble. “Kriss [sic] and Kim call me now.”

West has mental health problems, and I presume Kim Kardashian is only or mostly trying to help and protect him (and to protect and help herself and her children), but it occurred to me that larger political forces are working against him to extract him from national politics. Yesterday, I had 2 posts about his strange, ranting rally speech in South Carolina — 1, 2 — and I can see how those who want to clear Biden's path don't appreciate his chaotic emotional contributions to the debate.

It's conceivable that Kim Kardashian might be working to rein him in to keep him from interfering with Biden's success. Just a theory based on what is possible. West sounds paranoid, but that doesn't mean he has no antagonists. The black vote is crucial to Biden, and it's impossible to predict or understand how West could distort the election.

Why wouldn't Kim Kardashian help the Biden forces? Though she's Republican-friendly some of the time, she supported Hillary in the last election.

Officially becoming a billionaire... with tomatoes and a wilted rose.

I am so proud of my beautiful wife Kim Kardashian West for officially becoming a billionaire

You’ve weathered the craziest storms and now God is shining on you and our family

So blessed this is still life
So I made you this still life

We love you so much pic.twitter.com/Vvtgzodnah

— ye (@kanyewest) June 30, 2020

"I was OK with this article until they got to talking about overweight women. The body shaming needs to stop! I'm shocked that WaPo allows this type of research to be discussed."

"I agree with you. Some folks would consider me to be obese because I carry a lot of 'junk in the trunk' like Kim Kardashian, but I also get a lot of compliments and I have no intention of changing my eating habits."

2 comments on the WaPo article "‘There’s something terribly wrong’: Americans are dying young at alarming rates," which looks at various factors, including obesity:

The average woman in the United States today weighs as much as the average man half a century ago, and men now weigh about 30 pounds more. Most people in the United States are overweight — an estimated 71.6 percent of the population age 20 and older, according to the CDC. That figure includes the 39.8 percent who are obese, defined as having a body mass index of 30 or higher in adults (18.5 to 25 is the normal range). Obesity is also rising in children; nearly 19 percent of the population age 2 to 19 is obese....

That's hardly leaning on the women. Those commenters seem to have a hair trigger on the topic of female fat.

"I don’t know if it’s the fact that my husband has voiced that sometimes too sexy is just overkill and he’s not comfortable with that."

"I listen to him and understand him. Still, at the end of the day, he always gives me the freedom to be and do what I want. But I have kind of had this awakening myself. I realized I could not even scroll through Instagram in front of my kids without full nudity coming up on my feed pretty much all the time. And I definitely contributed to that. I mean, one of my most iconic covers was the Paper magazine one, when I was all oiled up and ripping my dress off. I also did think, like, Okay, I’m here in the White House and then the next day I was posting, like, a crazy bikini selfie. And I was thinking, I hope they don’t see this. I have to go back there next week. I think I’m evolving to where I don’t feel the need to want to keep up. Not that I did it to feel like I had to keep up, but I guess I just don’t care as much anymore to want to take tons of photos in a thong bikini. I actually just want to lay out. I don’t care to take the time out of my day on vacation like I used to, where I’d pull up to the house and I’d see, This is a setup, this is an Instagram pic. Now this is a different setup. Oh, this place has so many different setups. This is going to be amazing. And now I’m just like, 'Let’s actually live in real time and enjoy it. If we happen to get a photo, great.'"

Said Kim Kardashian, asked about "dressing a little less sexy" and quoted in "In the 2010s, Fame Went Multi-Platform/Kim Kardashian West on life as a brand and her political awakening" (New York Magazine).

ADDED: It's funny that she speaking of "keeping up": "I don’t feel the need to want to keep up. Not that I did it to feel like I had to keep up..." This whole thing got started with the message to everybody else that we needed to be "Keeping Up with the Kardashians." It's a fascinating tell: She felt that she needed to keep up. Keep up with what? We were supposed to be keeping up with her. That says something about the emptiness and futility of the imagined race.

"Kim Kardashian has revealed she plans on taking the bar exam in 2022."

"In an interview with Vogue magazine, the reality star, 38, said she was inspired to pursue law after working to grant Alice Marie Johnson clemency last year. Kim began a four year long apprenticeship at a San Francisco law firm last summer in order to prepare for the exam, and now studies 18 hours a week with two practicing attorneys. Though Kim did not attend college or law school, she is able to pursue her dream through an alternative path. 'Reading the law' allows people to take the bar by apprenticing through a practicing lawyer or judge.... 'First year of law school, you have to cover three subjects: criminal law, torts, and contracts. To me, torts is the most confusing, contracts the most boring, and crim law I can do in my sleep. Took my first test, I got a 100. Super easy for me. The reading is what really gets me. It’s so time-consuming. The concepts I grasp in two seconds,' she said."

The Daily Mail reports this very nice news.