Various and Sundry, September 10

I'm on my way to Fort Bragg shortly, so this will be brief.

Let's start with an obituary for the fabulous Miss Betty Skelton, daredevil, stuntwoman, test driver, potential astronaut, and all-around record breaker. I'll give away the ending: "Latterly, with her second husband, Allan Erde, a retired Navy doctor, who survives her, she lived in a retirement community at which most of the residents travel about in golf carts. Betty Skelton, however, drove a red Corvette convertible that almost matched the colour of her hair."

I stumbled across this site that obsessively (or perhaps compulsively) catalogs the religious affiliation of comic book characters. Supervillains have a strong predilection towards atheism. Lex Luthor, I am sorry to say, is a lapsed Episcopalian. I found myself thinking, "What could his youth minister have done?" (Superman is good Midwestern Methodist.) You will also be glad to know that Captain Underpants is Jewish. I told you they were obsessive.

Finally (I did mention this would be brief), I loved this Ted talk on tinkering. True for kids, true for adults too. I think we worry too much about Messing Up. What if Messing Up were a good thing and part of the whole process?