Quickies

Skepchick Quickies 10.27

  • “Haunted people” potentially explained – From Sydney and Isaah.
  • Younger wife for marital bliss – “The secret to a happy marriage for men is choosing a wife who is smarter and at least five years younger than you, say UK experts.”  From Mandy.
  • Scientologists convicted of fraud – “A French court has convicted the Church of Scientology of fraud, but stopped short of banning the group from operating in France.” 
  • Anti-vax reactions to pro-vax Wired article – Amy Wallace’s article on the anti-vax movement was bound to get some negative reactions. But there’s a negative reaction and then there’s implying that Paul Offit slipped Wallace a roofie, as Generation Rescue founder JB Handley did in an essay titled, “Paul Offit Rapes (intellectually) Amy Wallace and Wired Magazine” which he sent in to Wired.

Amanda

Amanda works in healthcare, is a loudmouthed feminist, and proud supporter of the Oxford comma.

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19 Comments

  1. So, happiness for me would be a smart 26 year old girl? I didn’t need an UK expert to tell me that. Pffft.

    Edit: Unless “UK” means that he’s an expert in stuff that “U Know”.

  2. So where can I get a refund or replacement for my 5-years-older-than-me wife with whom I’m married for 13 years?

  3. Unlike the US, France has always refused to recognise Scientology as a religion, arguing that it is a purely commercial operation designed to make as much money as it can at the expense of often vulnerable victims…

    And this makes Scientology different from religion… how?

  4. Well, I don’t know if we can make the assumption that a longer-lasting marriage is necessarily a happier one. Personally, if I had to marry an older guy to have a lasting marriage, I’d rather go with a young guy and a short marriage.

  5. I dunno, but 5 years doesn’t seem much “older”? That seems to be an average age gap in relationships.

    @catgirl: This reminds me of when I got hit on heavily by a very attractive 19 year old army boy on my 28th birthday, this past August. I was in a good mood for weeeeks after.

  6. Apparently, I should have little hope for marital bliss, since I tend to crush on women a couple of years older than me. (Oddly enough, the same five year difference seems to be the sweet spot.)

    Anyway, re the “Haunted People” link… Does the term “psychoneuroimmunology” strike anyone else as being profoundly bullshitty? It’s apparently a legitimate field, but it totally sounds like something somebody would just make up.

  7. @Amanda:
    “The secret to a happy marriage for men is choosing a wife who is smarter and at least five years younger than you, say UK experts.”

    Hmm, that would make you the prefect girl for me …

    (As would most of the other skepchicks, probably)

  8. In the comment section of Amy’s article, one loon was talking about how we just don’t have enough data to rule out causality (between vacs and autism).

    Someone named Grashnak replied with this gem: “There are plenty of definitive studies. They just say the opposite of what you want them to.”

    Brilliant. This makes me smile. And it makes me hopeful.

  9. Hmm… I’m 2.5 years older than my husband, and at various points during our now five-year relationship a few people have independently told us that we, as a couple, give them “hope for humanity.” I’d say we’re faring pretty well.

    The BBC article doesn’t mention the age-range of the couples in general anywhere in their review of the study. Are we looking at 20-somethings? 30-somethings? 40-somethings? All of the above? Were there age effects? I’d imagine that makes a difference too. And as someone already mentioned, a long marriage does not necessarily = happy marriage. It’s a silly article.

  10. @exarch It’s pretty much a given that any woman posting here falls into the the ‘smarter than me catagory’. (at least for me)

    Oh the curse of prefering smart women. Well to be fair.. it’s more the curse of wanting to bash my head against the wall after talking to stupid ones.

  11. High school diploma vs. no high school diploma has nothing to do with intelligence. I know many intelligent people who have issues with academic settings.

    Besides, what about the women? The article specifically states that this pairing is better for men – how do the women feel?

  12. Well, I guess I’ll have to give up my pretty pretty princess dreams of The Ideal Marriage, then…IME (with emphasis! Put down those torches and pitchforks!), there’s generally a Very Good Reason why single 38-year-old men have never been divorced. And regardless of what that reason might be, it generally leads to incompatibility with me.

    I’ll just keep having flings with grad students until I earn enough Cougar Points to qualify for legitimate Sassy Old Broad status. (I hear there are excellent membership benefits.)

  13. @DataJack:

    In the comment section of Amy’s article, one loon was talking about how we just don’t have enough data to rule out causality (between vacs and autism).

    The catch is that know amount of data will ever be “enough” for certain people.

  14. @“Other” Amanda:

    High school diploma vs. no high school diploma has nothing to do with intelligence.

    That’s not true, it will work as a proxy. The average person who graduated high school will be smarter than the average person who didn’t. Sure you won’t pick up the odd brilliant autodidact or idiot who tests well or is extremely motivated, but social research can only work with averages anyway.

  15. @Amanda: “I keep telling you, I’m not 12.

    Euhm, I may be from Belgium, but not everyone in Belgium is a paedophile!

    Hmm, maybe you’re not smarter than me after all … :P

  16. That article is going to be hell on those guys who don’t believe any woman could ever be smarter than them… But of course since apparently only the guys do the choosing, they can choose to ignore the curious data.

    And yeah, a lasting union does not necessarily mean a blissful one.

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