Quickies
Skepchick Quickies 10.30
- Data weeps: Does Brent Spiner have anti-vax proclivities? – Thanks, Brent, for destroying the happy memories of my childhood crush on Data. From Emory.
- How about a homeopathic remedy made of…Saturn? -Â From Paul, whose assessment I agree with, that this is “Poe’s law as applied to homeopathy.”
- When women are sinners in the eyes of extremists – “Somalia is in the grip of famine and chaos but officials there are inspecting bras.” From Fiona.
- The Fourth Kind: Fact or Fiction? – The movie is claiming to be based on “actual case studies.” From Sydney.
- Cute Animal Friday! Do capybaras always look so disapproving? And in keeping with the season- why dogs don’t like Halloween.
I’ve been following Brent Spiner on Twitter for almost as long as he’s been on Twitter. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that he’ a bit of a clown. He goofs around. A lot.
In the past year, he’s been on the lamb after being framed for murdering his neighbours, held hostage by Scandinavian terrorists, and abducted by aliens. And now people are upset because of a few tweets with an anti-vax bent?
Come on, people! He goofs around for entertainment purposes. He’s an entertainer. You can’t take anything he says seriously unless it takes him more than 140 characters to say it!
I was a twitter, now I’m a quitter-too high a volume to acutally keep up with people. I hope that Brent is just playing around, that would totally smash the fandom I’ve had for him since I was 10.
@Amanda: Its not why dogs don’t like halloween-that’s why dogs bite people!
@ the Somali paper. It ends, IMO, on a pretty stupid note.
“Democracy is the solution.”
The problem with this idea is the one you frequently see… democracy comes in, and people elect the same psychos who have been doing these same things. Democracy works when there is a culture that accepts it, not arbitrarily.
Originally presented as a true found film.
Starring Milia Jovovich.
One of these things is not like the other.
Wow, capybaras DO always look disapproving!!
@Peregrine: I get that much of what Brent posts on Twitter is just entertainment. The part I don’t get is what is supposed to be entertaining about telling people they should seriously consider what an anti-vaxxer has to say.
It doesn’t really seem to follow along with Scandinavian terrorists and alien abductions.
Yes, capybaras always look so disapproving.
A colleague of mine was prone to saying that when I crawled out of my tent in the morning during fieldwork, with my short curls all screwed up from bed head (well, okay, sleeping-bag-head) and with a grumpy look on my face (he didn’t know I was in excruciating pain from then undiagnosed-joint disease), I exactly resembled a capybara. He even drew a cartoon of it that made me laugh until I couldn’t breathe.
Had a fondness for them ever since :D
After reading about the Sudanese journalist with the “tight” pants, I found it ironic that two of the sponsored links at the bottom said:
1 Tip of a flat belly :
Cut down 3 lbs of your belly everyweek by using this 1 weird old tip.
“How To Lose Belly Fat”
Lose 1 Jean Size Every 7 Days!As Seen on CNN & FOX News.
Oh, and maybe Lubna al-Husseini should consider a thong…
As I said over on Orac’s, Brent Spiner’s tweets make him seem more like Bob Wheeler than Data.
When I first saw the preview for The Fourth Kind, I looked up the lady, and found out she was such a quack that if Steve Novella were in the same room, he’d start breathing fire and lasers would shoot from his eyes.
@Catch22: My point is, you’ve got to take him (on Twitter at least) with a grain of salt. For all we know, tomorrow he could be shrunk to the size of an atom, running around inside Slim Goodbody’s immune system while the disembodied voice of Bill Nye explains it all to him.
Frankly, that would be nice. It would at least clarify a few things.
@Peregrine: Yeah. I’m wondering if he’s even mocking the anti-vaxxers. Could be possible. I can’t check his recent tweets at work, though.
@Peregrine: That sounds like the making of a really weird educational video.
This is pretty much all he’s said about it recently, for those of you without access.
And I get the impression that’s just about all he’s going to say. I think he’s just going to drop it, and probably drift off in some other direction or something.
They announced clearly that wearing these bras was unIslamic because it is a form of fraud and deception.
I could argue that wearing any clothes at all is a form of fraud and deception.
Does anyone else see parallels in the Islamic obsession with women’s bodies and Evangelical Christian obsession with homosexuality? Seems like the same “righteous” indignation, hatred, fascination (want to know about uncommon sex acts practiced by some homosexuals? Ask an Evangelical!) and, worst of all, the same kind of violence and even murder against the object of the obsession.
I don’t think Brent is an Anti-Vaxer, I think he’s someone who feels that vaxing works for some diseases and not others (which is true) and he’s just about 100% sure that all the vaccines we’re being sold are effective. Maybe Brent feels that some people will sell you a placebo, maybe. It’s hard for someone to explain a complex point of view on a complex subject using only the number of characters allowed. ( I don’t tweet so I have no idea which number that is)
I thought the first and foremost purpose of a bra was to support breasts? Not to seduce men?
I know I’m not wearing my underwear to seduce women …