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Will Femia is a Weblog enthusiast who, through good fortune and dumb luck, was introduced to the form as his position as chat producer for MSNBC.com careered into obsolescence. On any given day, Will can be found having already spent an unhealthy amount of time squinting at a computer screen.

Send a message to Will at spotter@msnbc.com



Live and let diaper

Posted: Thursday, February 08, 2007 7:01 AM by Will Femia

Last night Jon Stewart made fun of some of the easy pun headlines that are being used on the angry astronaut in diapers story.  The ones I've seen so far are:

Astro-nut
Lust in space - The NY Post also uses Space Case, Spaced Invader, and Robochick  
The wrong stuff
Hussy from Houston - this isn't a pun, but it's such bold namecalling it really stood out

Other than the one used on this entry the only other good one I've come up with is "I ain't got time to pee" but I don't know how many people know that quote from Jesse Ventura.  I've been working on the diaper angle because it feels like most of the others have been looking for space puns.  Anyway, let me know in comments or mail if you've seen any good ones or can think of good ones you haven't seen.  Last night a colleague expressed surprise that there are no Star Trek references out there.  Would "To boldly go" work?  Actually, "Star Wars" might  not be a bad one for a description of the love triangle.

UPDATE:  Tsk! I can't believe I missed the obvious "Houston, we have a problem."

- How about "Atmos-fear"

- Love and Rockets -This may be my new favorite.  Does anyone remember this band?

-No-nap nappy - I think that's a Britishism, but it's making me crazy that the word nappy and not sleeping are so closely associated but I can't find a way to put them together.  Maybe Unhappy nappy?

-Assault and pepper - pepper spray reference

-Lucy in the sky with diapers - Actually, her name is Lisa but changing too many words might lose the pun.

-E-mail submission from David: Huggies gone bad - I hadn't considered diaper name brand puns, though I did ponder using "depends" in a double meaning but came up with nothing good.  (Love you can depend on?  nah.)

-Satellite diss

-Diaper rash judgment

-E-mail from Gian: Astronaut a Lunatic? Depends. - Lunatic is a good one.  I completely missed that.

P.S. I do not mean to make light of what is clearly a grave situation for those involved.  No disrespect intended.

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Comments

Love your blog, but I take exception to this. I don't know how you can say that you "don't mean to make light" when that is exactly what you intend - you're making fun of this woman, who in my opinion is very obviously mentally ill or at least mentally unstable. I'm not saying that her behavior is acceptable, but give her a break - Respectfully - Paul

Paul Sansom, Helena, Alabama (Sent Thursday, February 08, 2007 11:04 AM)

Oh come on, if you can't laugh at deranged astronaut in diapers, then just what can you laugh at? Lighten up. And I wonder just how many millions of taxpayer dollars have been wasted on this person who will obviously never go to space again.

Palmetto Cunningham Columbia, SC (Sent Thursday, February 08, 2007 11:39 AM)

Paul, the previous commenter, needs to lighten up. She drove to Florida wearing a DIAPER, for Pete's sake. She was just ASKING to be the butt of a joke! (No pun intended, but since it's there...) She's a dumb criminal, like any of the other dumb criminals people laugh at. She committed a serious crime, and if she is ridiculed or scorned, she deserves it. I don't feel one bit sorry for her.

JE (Sent Thursday, February 08, 2007 11:47 AM)

My 3 year old Granddaughter asked me, Grandpa when I wore diapers, why didn't I get to go to outer space.

scott (Sent Thursday, February 08, 2007 12:25 PM)

How about "Pampered Affair Springs Leak". And a badmitten reference - "Shuttle-Cock Envy"

Joe, Cincinnati, OH (Sent Thursday, February 08, 2007 12:30 PM)

The diaper thing; does anyone realize that astronauts wear them when they can't use the facilities in space, like, say, when their butts HAVE to be in the seat, for instance, on re-entry? Nowak's use of them is consistent with her experience, and with her instability-fueled need to drive to Orlando as quickly as damned possible. As to her actions: I am the last to plead mercy for bad guys. I am an Old Testamentarian in that way. However, it is plainly obvious that she suffered a severe personality meltdown. That has to be scary. She reacted as best she could. She has to answer to justice. That's "justice", not "blind vengeance". As to her being an astronaut and doing this: well, duh. She's human, not a paragon of checklist perfection. Astronuats go up with a lot more baggage than just a flight suit and EVA equipment. Grow up, people.

John Hartnett, Tampa, FL (Sent Thursday, February 08, 2007 12:44 PM)

Wigged out 'naut chads in pants, elects no potty breaks to FLA, peppers rival in unexpected turnout...

Mark, Long Beach, CA (Sent Thursday, February 08, 2007 12:54 PM)

Courtesy of Stephanie Miller this morning, it's hard to beat C-PeePee-O /haz..

Christopher H. Lee (Sent Thursday, February 08, 2007 1:55 PM)

Why has no one talked about the husband of the astronaut(ess)? He works at NASA, what's his background? Who stayed home to mind the kids whilst she was floating in space?

Meg Curran Encinitas California (Sent Thursday, February 08, 2007 2:18 PM)

Absolutely that's what you intend. We now have a modern witch who just wears an updated costume and who's been pilloried more thoroughly than any stocks and rotten fruit could achieve. We are a nation of thugs and mean-spirited bullies. We have effectively marginalized and criminalized those with mental illnesses. If there was parity in healthcare, the sufferers would be receiving effective treatment which would prevent most of them from experiencing uncontrolled symptoms and would keep them in therapeutic settings instead of in the criminal system. More than 50% of ALL inpatient mental health care is provided in prisons. Shame on every last one of us for not only allowing this, but at laughing at the expense of those most vulnerable and suffering.

Annie, MA (Sent Thursday, February 08, 2007 7:50 PM)

...being a Minnesotan; I have to express myself with the Ventura joke...really good and appropriate for anyone big enough to take it...

george (Sent Thursday, February 08, 2007 8:52 PM)

Check out John Darkow's editorial cartoon on the Columbia, MO Daily Tribune website for your "Star Trek" reference... Darkow - boldly GOING right to it!

LoriAnn, New Franklin, MO (Sent Thursday, February 08, 2007 11:56 PM)

Hear, Hear Annie - at last a voice of reason - ( not to mention one that agrees with mine ). I'm surprised Will - no comment?

Paul Sansom, Helena, AL (Sent Friday, February 09, 2007 10:12 AM)

Paul, I don't really have much to add to Annie's remarks. I respect her opinion and she expressed it well so I approved her comment, but obviously I don't agree. Leaving aside the huge leap it takes to turn this astronaut into a martyr for the cause of mental illness, the bottom line for me is that I like puns and headlines and this story has enough features to make that an entertaining exercise. When I wrote my note about not meaning to make light of the situation I wasn't even really thinking of the perpetrator, I was thinking of the victim. I'm sure she doesn't think any diaper jokes are funny. But the exercise in this post isn't about the victim(s) and it definitely isn't about making fun of the mentally ill. It's about the abstract circumstances of an angry person from space driving across the country in diapers to attack a love rival and whether those circumstances can be summarized in a few clever words.

Will Femia (Sent Friday, February 09, 2007 11:11 AM)

Thanks Will, I appreciate the response - perhaps I do need to lighten up-

Paul Sansom, Helena AL (Sent Friday, February 09, 2007 1:47 PM)

Will, I respect your fondness for puns, but surely you have better topics to write about. I have come to enjoy and respect Clicked for the quality of its offerings. These puns are disrespectful and not in keeping with what I visit this site to read about. Please don't cover Anna Nichole Smith. I don't read this site for tabloid style gossip. Thank You!

Rob Cook, Harrietstown, NY (Sent Saturday, February 10, 2007 4:24 AM)

I think it's the perfect story - no one actually got hurt (okay, her kids might need some consuling) and we get all these great jokes and puns ...

jbelkin, danville, ca (Sent Monday, February 12, 2007 4:06 AM)

jbelkin, that was actually an important consideration for me. If she'd actually killed that woman it would have been a completely different story. In that vein, I won't be making Anna Nicole Smith jokes.

Will Femia (Sent Monday, February 12, 2007 11:04 AM)

I'm thinking: "Moon Tang" or "Moon for the Miss Besodden."

Peppers Dad (Sent Wednesday, February 14, 2007 12:14 AM)

ACTUAL NEWSPAPER HEADLINES • Lust in space (NY Post) • Dark side of the loon (NY Daily News) • Astronaut or astro-nut? (Several ... a bit overused by now) • What made astro-nut crack? (Chicago Sun-Times) • Houston, we have a problem (Cincinnati Post and several others) • Houston, she has a problem (Chicago Sun-Times) • Houston, she's got some problems (Time magazine) • When the "right stuff" goes wrong (International Herald Tribune) • Arrest mars stellar career of astronaut (Scientific American) • Astro-nut's fixation out of this world (Edmonton Sun) • From high-flying career to astro-nut (Sydney Morning Herald) • Moonstruck astronaut's mission improbable (Times Online, UK) • On a strange mission (Newsday) • Spacewalk on the wild side, a scandal with tang (Centre Daily Times) • Hussy from Houston (NY Daily News) • Space traveler's odyssey mystifies (KC Star) • Love mission out of control (Sydney Morning Herald) • The sudden descent of a shuttle astronaut (LA Times) • When love goes wrong -- a bizarre mission (San Francisco Chronicle) • 2007: A space oddity (Newsday) • Astro-naughty (Tampa Bay Tribune) • Astronaut comes in for a hard landing (Times-Picayune) • Good heavens! (Oregonian) • From the rocket to the docket (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)

ESmith, St. Louis, Mo. (Sent Wednesday, February 14, 2007 11:02 PM)



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