My goal for this week was to have an all-monkey M&HH while coming down from my NYC high. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen even though I decided not to bother commenting on Michael Savage’s assholery. Fortunately, nothing can break my spirit right now after such an awesome weekend (even on the Wednesday after). Thanks, New York!
And now, on to this week’s Monkey’s and High Hats after the jump:
Monkeys to Amanda Peet for unapologetically vaccinating her kids, and unapologetically calling out those who don’t. In a recent interview with Cookie Magazine, she talked about vaccinating her kids, on schedule, and the importance of doing so.
Peet angered a bunch of anti-vaxxers by calling them “parasites”, and while she apologized for intentionally using that word in a “mean” way, she stood her ground that they are, in fact, parasitic by counting on other people’s vaccinations to keep their kids healthy.
Sad, isn’t it, that I have to give a monkey to someone for just doing what we all should be doing? Next week: Monkeys to Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt for feeding their kids vegetables and to Britney Spears for putting Sean Preston in a car seat.
Monkeys to Tuan Nguyen of ABC News writing an article about our friend Tim Farley’s What’s the Harm! What’s the Harm is great site that certainly deserves the recognition. If you haven’t checked out the site, do it. It’s a really amazing, if sobering, resource that drives home the importance of the entire skeptical movement: People die from a lack of critical thinking.
Congrats again, Tim, and thank you.
Hats to the companies marketing kids’ foods as “healthy”. Time Magazine did a little analysis of “fun foods” for kids that were labeled as “healthy” and found that they were, in fact, not healthy at all.
[R]esearchers found that 8% of the nutritionally deficient items carried some type of official mark or seal of nutrition on the front of the package… [E]ven if some of the claims on the packaging are true, the foods may still be detrimental to overall well-being.
Foods with labels claiming that the foods are packed with vitamins or are great sources of protein were also jam packed with sodium and sugar. Bottom line: read nutritional labels. Or better yet, avoid “convenience foods” unless you are desperately need convenience.
Totally unrelated to anything skeptical: Major hats to NPR’s All Things Considered for pointing out that little Spencer Elden is 17 and about to graduate from high school. You may not recognize Spencer from the picture here on the right, but rest assured you have seen him. In fact, you’ve seen him naked. We all have. Who is he? He’s the cute little baby swimming after the dollar bill on Nirvana’s Nevermind cover.
Screw you, NPR, for making me feel old.
That’s all for this week everyone! See you August 13th when I will surely still be basking in the afterglow of Bug Girl meet-up bliss.
17?? Am I REALLY that old? I bought that album when it came out… I guess I’ll just go shop for grave plots now….
I must say it’s very strange to look at a picture of a young adult and think that you’ve been casually exposing yourself to pictures of his Junk for the last 17 years. There are far too many things that I’m approaching the “been doin’ in for 20 years” mark on.
Yeah, hurray for Amanda Peet, and the middle finger to those companies marketing sodium- and sugar-packed products for kids as “healthy”.
Of course, you folks in the U.S. are in an election year, so you’re in for truckloads of dishonest marketing …
Oh heck, I liked the NPR piece. It made me think back to the heady grunge years of college. That great feeling of being a 19 year old undergrad and the optimism that comes with all of that. It made me smile. I love that stuff. I say monkey to NPR for the story.
I remember back about 8 or 9 years ago when Hamburger Helper boxes had a “stamp” on them that said, “Made with real ingredients”. Uhh… what are fake ingredients made of?
Uhh, you can’t be old, because that would imply I am old (also 31). And I will not accept that. :-)
Hmmm… I’ll be 31 next month.. Remember when people our age were the enemy??
It seems that now the most important thing to me is keeping those neighborhood punks off my lawn…
I’d just like to tell ALL of you punks (I’m mid 40’s) to turn down that crap you call music, get a real haircut, and a real job while you get the hell off my lawn!
Bah! I’m going for my prune juice now, where’s the bottle of vodka>
Yeah, well, I’m old enough that Nirvana means nothing to me, so I dodged that bullet. Go me! Oh, wait…
christ on a cracker, I feel old and I’m only 19!
also, I thought it was common knowledge that if something is labeled as healthy that it was a surefire indicator of its unhealthiness. soon they’ll be marketing Oreos as healthy. I cannot wait for that day.
Me too! Me too! (I’m 31 I mean). I always wondered how that guy would feel about being the Nirvana baby.
Haha… I can honestly say that I’ve never wondered that.. Until now.
I don’t believe Michael Savage believes a single thing he says. I really think he’s still a far left winger playing a joke on the loonest members of the right. He’s sputters all kinds of nonsense, and laughs too himself when morons swear it must be true. And mostly conspiracy morons, at that.
Two words: Pig monkeys.
Well as we are all sharing our ages I’m 36. And it isn’t a Pig monkey its a Man-pig. Man I miss Nirvana and I miss being 19.
seems 1977 was a good year for skeptical sperms
psst. 1978 was too :)
aahh… 1977…
Good year, 1977. Star Wars…. Jaws…. MEEEEEE!!!!
I remember even as a wee skeptic noticing that you could tell how nutritious (or un-nutritious but I’m not sure that’s a word) each cereal was by how much extra was added to make it “part of a complete breakfast” and that even the best of them needed more supplementation than could possibly hope to fit in my eight-year-old stomach
not much to be said about 1989. The spawning of LOLkate was pretty much the best thing that happened that year
1964. Which means all you young whippersnappers missed the moon landings.
Chew,
I have you beat. I know where I was when Kennedy was shot. On my way home for the first time.
Yeah! I win! That means . . . .
Oh smeg.
Ah, Chew…. Don’t you mean the ‘alleged’ moon landing???
=o)
Detroitus, you beat me to it!
FOURTEEN CHEERS
FOURTEEN CHEERS for Amanda Peet.
Both for researching autism/vaccines, and for appearing naked in The Whole Nine Yards.
@LOLkate: Don’t worry…nothing much happened in 1987 either. I was born. WOOT.
…oh, and it was officially the debut of Guns N’ Roses. Double WOOT. Welcome to the Jungle has been my theme song for YEARS
Yeah, the late 80s were pretty much crap, as I remember them. I feel like even the good bands of the 80s, like GNR lasted into the 90s.
What about great bands like New Kids on the Block? Vanilla Ice? Milli Vanilli? Bobby McFerrin? You can’t say the late 80’s had nothing valuable to contribute…
1970 had a magic carpet ride and me
Frakk, do I feel Reeeely old.
But I’m not afraid to admit that I miss Rotary Phones, Atari and Coleco-vision, Datsun 260Z’s
and Hair Metal.
I’m also kinda glad I dont have to worry as much about nuclear armageddon before bed.
As a ten year old that seriously used to terrify me.