Winter Wonderland

The moment one dumb superhero misuses her powers, pundits like Angela Slater start clamoring about how dangerous we are, and how we shouldn't be sharing air with honest-to-goodness Real Americans because we are walking doomsday devices who could lose control at any moment, endangering kittens, apple pie and blue-eyed babies. Geez, no wonder the woman has to live in a virtual fortress. Does she not understand that she is insulting SUPERVILLAINS while simultaneously alienating the people who can protect her from supervillains? Wait, nevermind, I retract the question. She clearly thinks we're ALL supervillains.
The problem isn't one that can be solved by declaring superhumans too dangerous to live, and imprisoning us all for the Greater Good. That would just result in ALL superhumans either going stealth, or going supervillain, and amplifying the problem. The way to fix this sort of crap is to offer better training for superheroes. Granted, a villain or two will attend the seminars and pick up some tricks, but for the most part, better information about superpowers will make life safer for both the people with the powers, and the people within range of said powers. Less kids discovering the hard way what triggers their heat ray vision, and less massive screwups on the part of the heroes. Windigo's not bad at using her powers. In fact, she can control impressive amounts of wind. She is, however, stupid at using her powers. Her ineptness really undermines her natural strength and her skill. Someone really should sit her down for Aerodynamics 101.
It's not enough to be able to control my powers. I have to understand what makes them tick. It will be very useful for me to know about stuff like freezing points of common materials, and Celsius-Fahrenheit conversions, no matter what I choose to do with my powers. And also I need to know what's out there in the world of ice-themed stuff before I pick my name. So about once a week I intend to post some trivia about ice. And perhaps to maintain appropriate alliteration, I should post this on Wednesdays.
On that note... Behold! Pentagonal ice chains!
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-04/uol-sdp040709.php
Mmm, sciency! I have no idea what this means. But it might result in five-sided stars coming into fashion for cryogenetics, which would be a refreshing break. It looks like scientists are trying to control the weather again. Less hail in the winter, more rain in the summer, it all sounds good. Until they accidentally spawn another Elemental and it results in billions of dollars of property damage. Or someone like Weather Witch gets hold of it and starts a drought. Again.
The part about studying water-condensation on the nano-scale sounded intriguing, so I iced up a windowpane (after moving my laptop far, far away) and looked at it through my little jeweler's loupe. That's not as irresponsible as it sounds - my door was locked, and that particular window faces into an empty field, and is mostly screened off by several palm trees. Frost patterns are absolutely gorgeous and fractal-ish, but I couldn't get them to go pentagonal. And though I was generating ice on the inside of the window, the outside started sweating too, so that got annoying. I think I'm running a fever, because I couldn't stop shivering. How long has it been since I shivered? I still went to class, though. Might as well share the misery.

No SUPER for you!

I'm sure you've all read the hullabaloo about Angela Slater's latest stroke of genius, but in case you're not tired of hearing about it, here's my $0.02.
I have to agree that the term 'superhuman' has some funny connotations. But using it doesn't mean we think we're innately better than baseline humans. It's not an endorsement of eugenics, world-conquering, George Bernard Shaw or Nietzsche. It just means we are something different, but still human. How do I say this without sounding cliche? Many (dare I say most?) of us have lived as baseline humans at some point. We were raised by baseline humans. We will marry baseline humans and raise baseline human kids. You can't just throw us off the 'human' boat. We're not a different species. We're a minority, a normal variation of humanity, no matter how we got our powers or what we do with them. We don't somehow forfeit our humanity (along with some very important civil rights) just because we can do a few things that you can't. You need to recognize and respect that.
We've been 'superhumans' since the 1940s. It's what we call ourselves, and how we think of ourselves, and how we include ALL of us- the planet-movers, the telepaths, the cryogenetics, the people with the little weird powers that nobody has a name for yet. It's part of our identity, our subculture. And if you're not part of that culture, you don't get to name it. Seriously, human privilege much?
If Ms. Slater would like to call herself an 'original human', she can go right ahead. She can start her own little 'original human' parade, for all I care. I will support a person's right to call herself whatever she wants. If the rest of you supers out there want to be called metahumans, parahumans, post-humans, uberhumans, pinksnorglyhuffalump humans, then go fly your freak flag. But don't tell anyone else they can't fly theirs.