CARTOON SATURDAY!

I miss Saturday morning cartoons. We were still little then. We woke up and rolled disheveled from beds to the den couch. Generally before Mom was even awake. Later, thrilled that the three wild animals she brought into the world were under the taming trance of the tube, Mom often gave us cereal and toast on a tv tray in hopes of prolonging her peace and quiet. There we stayed all morning, watching show after show, until cartoons finally melted into some boring adult program like "Gone Fishin." We'd snap out of it, climb down from the couch, and get on with being animals. Then we got old enough to be bussed to the synagogue for "Saturday school," and an era came to an end.

Which characters were your favorites? This is going to date me, but what the heck.

Mine included the political (Rocky & Bullwinkle), the occultish (Casper, Beetlejuice), the musical (The Monkeys), and period pieces (The Flinstones, The Jetsons). I'm not sure which genre can contain Popeye, although I liked some Popeye cartoons and was bored and aggrevated by others. My favorite - Bluto (or was it Brutus?) as a bedouin, living in what appeared from the outside to be a tiny desert tent, but upon entering was seen to be an enormous arabian palace full of rooms, people and camels.

For old time's sake, and also for the sake of our planet, I thought I'd offer up some cartoons for your Saturday morning viewing pleasure.

What follows is a series of five short but extremely entertaining cartoon videos written by Robert Krulwich. Entitled "Global warming: It's All About Carbon," they explain the science behind global warming. They are fun! They are informative. I learned a thing or three about the chemistry of carbon without even trying.

I found them on "Climate Connection," apparently a joint project of NPR and National Geographic, http://tinyurl.com/4abbko There's a lot more stuff on that website besides cartoons.

So, without further adieu, get back into your pajamas if you're already out of them, put your breakfast on a tv tray, and settle in for Cartoon Saturday!

By the way, if you're interested in why Popeye's nemesis was sometimes Brutus, sometimes Bluto, click here, http://blogs.chron.com/fantasyfootball/2008/12/post_70.html, and scroll down a little.