Kirk, JFK, and two in a bed....

[jenk]

Watching the newly remastered Star Trek ep "Balance of Terror" on Saturday I reflected that...

1. Yes, the show really was good - 60s cliches and day-glo colors notwithstanding
   
   and
   
   
2. Kirk seemed to be, well, kind of Kennedy-esque.

So today I notice an Op-Ed in the NY Times by former Star Trek writer, now BSG creator, Ronald Moore:

“Star Trek” is often reduced to kitsch: Kirk’s paunch, Spock’s pointy ears, green-skinned alien girls. But it was more than escapism and rubber-suited aliens. It was a morality play, with Capt. James T. Kirk as a futuristic John F. Kennedy piloting a warp-driven PT-109 through the far reaches of the galaxy.

Kirk, for me, embodied an American idea: His mission was to explore the final frontier, not to conquer it. He was moral without moralizing. Week after week, he confronted the specters of intolerance and injustice, and week after week found a way to defeat them without ever becoming them. Jim Kirk may have beat up his share of bad guys, but you could never imagine him torturing them.

(Yes, I added the bolding.)

Meanwhile in the Health section, we find researcher Paul Rosenblatt wrote a book about sleeping together - yes, sleep - that looks at the common and often humorous issues couples face when sharing a bed. The quote that made me chuckle:

In researching his book, Dr. Rosenblatt said even though many couples said they slept better alone, they still shared a bed. “When I asked why, they looked at me as if I’d asked them why they keep breathing,” he said.

Also interesting: "There are thousands of studies on sleep and even more on marriage and relationships, but only a handful on couples sleeping together."