FLICKING through today’s headlines I saw a birthday photo of a 61-year-old “woman” without any blemishes and very smooth skin – Barbie – the Mattel doll.
It is surprising to see that she is still in every shop when the retirement age for many is 60. It’s time to put her to bed and let her rest.
Her work as a role model has been rather chaotic, with Wikipedia listing over 200 different occupations, including US President (might be an improvement), TV chef (well, everyone else has tried that), McDonald’s cashier (a job many young people start with), and even a bee keeper (there might be a sting in that job, though).
With the changing world and the need for good role models, there should be a wider range of possibilities beyond one piece of plastic. We need to look for role models in the real world but therein lies a problem as so many “stars” and “influencers” have complicated histories and a few stories to hide.
It’s time to move beyond the influence of social media and find a better inspiration than a plastic one which has a body shape that is physically impossible. I don’t know who it should be, but I can give a long list of who it shouldn’t be.
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Just a letter out of place
US President Trump’s visit to India had run into a problem with names, specifically that of the two great cricket players Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli whose names he completely mispronounced.
There are many names in the world that are difficult to pronounce but not these two and surely, he would have heard the names before and how to pronounce them.
If a name is difficult then a pre-apology, “I’m not sure if I am going to pronounce this correctly” would be a good option. Since it was obvious that he was reading the names syllable by syllable, then he should have apologized later.
If an Indian politician had introduced him as President Tramp instead, there would have been a diplomatic incident! I wait to hear his apology.
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Time to get rid of the old cat websites
The New South Wales Government, Australia has decided to slash and burn its websites or at least delete a few of them. At present these sites cost about $20,000 a year to maintain. The idea of a government saving money because something is not being used seems a revolutionary change to the normal approach.
This raises the thought of how many old, lost, forgotten sites are there out there. Fortunately, it appears that most of my wisdom is still out there.
If anyone still remembers GeoCities, then the sites are still available on archive sites including my one from 2001 on science education, although well out of date. The question of what should go is not so simple as history needs to reflect what has happened and the old websites may be useful.
The government approach may be worth considering, if a website hasn’t been clicked on in two years then it;s time to either update it or more sensibly, close it down.
So long to photos of my cat, Jezebel as a kitten, that died of old age about five years ago. (dfitzger@melbpc.org.au/PN)
