Bee Buzz

i thoroughly enjoyed watching the spelling bee. NBC carried the bee in primetime, hoping to ride a wave of popularity created by a best-selling book and upcoming movie about the subject. apparently, the ratings were low but i thought it was really fun to watch.

you can't imagine the words these kids must spell! these are not words in our everyday venacular. it is a lot of fun to learn new words, like the word that knocked out runner up Finola Hackett:

weltschmerz - (from the German meaning world-pain or world-weariness) is a term coined by the German author Jean Paul and denotes the kind of feeling experienced by someone who understands that the physical reality can never satisfy the demands of the mind.

i don't know about you, but i'm occasionally a victim of weltschmerz and am pleased to have a word for it!

i was also struck by the demographics of the winner, runner-up and 2nd runner-up: 3 "whitish"chicks! i've posted a pic below. there are more and more stats showing that girls are outperforming boys at all levels of primary educations these days, as well as attending college in larger numbers. interesting!

looks like the hopes of the US remaining competetive in the world market will increasingly rely on women. Now if we could just get more women elected and bring some sense to our government!