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transmogrification
January 29, 2006
Today I read a Supreme Court opinion in which Justice Rehnquist used the word transmogrifying:
Having distorted the suspension clause, the plurality finishes up by transmogrifying the Great Wrti--disposing of the present habeas petition be remanding for the District Court to "engage in a factfinding provess that is both prudent and incremental."
~Hamdi v. Rumsfeld
Like anyone who's anyone, I immediately thought of Calvin and Hobbes, only the best comic strip since forever. In my google search for "transmogrify calvin hobbes" I found an article that gives a great explanation of the transmogrifier technology:
Unlike Dennis the Menace, Calvin and Hobbes went beyond the hijinks of a holy terror. It explored childhood imagination and the possibilities of that imagination. For instance, one of Calvin's chief toys besides Hobbes was a large cardboard box. When it was right side up, the box was a time machine that transported Calvin and Hobbes back to the Jurassic. When Calvin turned it over, the box became the transmogrifier, which could transmogrify, or transform, Calvin into anything he wished. The transmogrifier was later converted into a duplicator, producing lots of Calvins.
Also:
Like Gary Larson of The Far Side, Watterson [creater of Calvin and Hobbes] had a unique honor bestowed on him by the scientific community. On one adventure, Calvin and Hobbes explored Mars. When the Mars Explorer sent back pictures of Mars, NASA scientists named two of the Mars rocks Calvin and Hobbes.
How cool is that? Here you can find a list of rocks found by the Mars Pathfinder. In addition to Calvin and Hobbes, the list includes Snoopy, Tigger, Darth Vader, Moe, Hippo, Jiminy Cricket, Dilbert's Boss, Boo Boo, and Lozenge. Check out this photo of the Martian landscape. Calvin and Hobbes are in the southeast corner.
A final precious excerpt:
The "real" Hobbes was more intellectual than Calvin and also liked to get "smooches" from girls, unlike the girl-hating Calvin (though both were founding members of G.R.O.S.S.—Get Rid of Slimy girls).
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