Quickies
Skepchick Quickies 12.14
- Study disputes link between abortion and mental health problems – “Antiabortion activists have relied on questionable science in their efforts to push inclusion of the concept of ‘post-abortion syndrome’ in both clinical practice and law,” Finer said. “Our inability to replicate the findings of the Coleman study makes it clear that research claiming to find relationships between abortion and poor mental health indicators should be subjected to close scrutiny.”
- Needles trump patches in treating kids’ eye problems – Of course, the sentence that drags the whole theory down into flames is at the very end. From Lauren.
- Climate change comic strip – From Daryl Cunningham, the artist behind the MMR hoax and homeopathy strips.
- 10 best Christmas songs for atheists – As a lover of Christ-free Christmases, I enjoyed this list. Though Carol of the Bells should clearly be number one.
I’m afraid I have to violate the “no paradies” rule right off the bat.
Thanks for the link, but you spelt my name wrong. Tsk!
Soooo… what’s the incidence of lazy eye going away on its own or being “grown out of” or what have you?
*edit: is incidence the right word? my mind is fuzzy this morning*
RE: Christmas Songs: In the honorable mentions category, I might have to exclude 12 Days of Christmas on a technicality. I understand it was written as a mnemonic for catholic kids trying to learn their catechism (in secret during the periods in England when being a catholic was illegal).
RE: Eye. So acupuncture works better than a treatment that usually gets applied improperly?
I have a slight lazy eye. My left eye. You really can only notice if I point it out and “force” it to be lazy, or I’m very drunk lol.
The patch treatment caveat is somewhat ambiguous. Do they mean that it was not followed properly during this study, or do they mean that it is often not followed properly in general.
It’s curious that they would compare acupuncture efficacy with that of a treatment which is often not properly applied. Were they expecting to bias their results in favor of acupuncture?
There are lots of great Wassail songs about begging for food and drink that need more seasonal recognition. Seems like a perfect Holiday theme for many skeptics I know.
A jolly Wassel-Bowl
A Wassel of good ale,
Well fare the butler’s sole
That setteth this to sale – Our jolly Wassel
Good Chick, here at your door
Our Wassel we begin
We are all Skepchicks pure
We pray now let us in – With our good Wassel
Our Wassel we do fill
With apples and with spice
They kindly will agree
To take a good carouse – Of our Wassel
But here they let us stand
All freezing in the cold
Good Master give command
To enter and be bold – With our Wassel
Here’s an idea, start with the patch treatment, and if the kid keeps prying it up, tell them you’ll stab them with little needles.
Cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my…never mind
@hkdharmon:
“Christmas Songs: In the honorable mentions category, I might have to exclude 12 Days of Christmas on a technicality. I understand it was written as a mnemonic for catholic kids trying to learn their catechism (in secret during the periods in England when being a catholic was illegal).”
So, doesn’t that mean it actually does fit all the requirements? It doesn’t mention deities, supernatural beings, miracles, Jesus, saints, etc…
Even if it was on purpose to elude prosecution by another religion.
I had an abortion and my mental health is fine. Mostly. Okay, my mental health issues are due to other factors that were not my choice.
My favorite Christmas song is Mary, Did You Know. Makes me think of every mother and the hopes we have for our children when they are babies. Second is I Want A Hippopotamus for Christmas.
I love Carol of the Bells. I especially like instrumental versions, and actual bells in particular. Not a fan of the lyrical version.
Good list overall, though there’s a few there that I don’t like personally. A few honourable mentions that would have made my top 10.
Though I must confess, while secular Christmas songs are great, my church choir days have left me with a certain fondness for some of the religious ones too. “Good King Wenceslas” is one of my favorites, “Oh Holy Night” and “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” can be fun to sing, even if I’m not a fan of the lyrics themselves. They’re just words, after all.
Our nerdy atheist family likes The Biscuit Brothers’ holiday album:
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bicuitbros4
They do say “Christmas”, but other than one reference to a “little babe, so afraid, in a manger filled with hay” there are no other actual Christian words on the whole thing, I don’t think. I clearly haven’t noticed any and I hear this album over and over daily this time of year.
Also, their version of the one you mentioned is “Carol of the Cowbells”. It’s sung by barnyard puppets. You can hear a sample on the page. That’s my all-time favourite holiday song now.
And where else will you get a song teaching the perils of leaving fresh seafood out for Santa?
The Biscuit Brothers’ whole approach is to teach kids about music by making them THINK. Even in their song “Dream Big” they tell kids that dreaming isn’t enough, you’ve got to work hard too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cu_x6RYS3nI
@James Fox: Wassel?
And all of this year I’ve wondered why people were singing about weasels on christmas.
“And to you and your weasel too”
Never did make a lot of sense to me.
It wouldn’t fit the contest rules, but White Wine in the Sun by Tim Minchin is just awesome. All the things secular Christmas (my Christmas) means to me. Also very cool, in that it’s the only summery Christmas song I know (being a Northern hemisphere bigot).
I’ve always liked “Happy Chistmas (War is over)” by John Lennon. Up until a couple of years ago I thought those were children singing backup not the caterwalling of a Tonedeaf Harpy (vainglorious bandwreckeii).
And, even though I know most hate it, I still like “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” by Band Aid.
And “Last Christmas” by WHAM!.
And “This Christmas” by Stevie Wonder.
Anyone care to guess which decade I grew up in? ;)
@mrmisconception: Heh, that reminds me of Bob Geldof’s recent words to the Daily Mail:
He said: ‘I am responsible for two of the worst songs in history. One is Do They Know It’s Christmas? and the other one is We Are The World.
‘Any day soon, I will go to the supermarket, head to the meat counter and it will be playing. Every ****ing Christmas.’
@hkdharmon:
Sorry to have to snopes you, but:
http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/music/12days.asp
If someone had told me that if I didn’t keep the patch over my left eye then they would poke me with a needle then I might have followed that therapy better and I would have two decent eyes now.
My problem was that by the time I had to wear a patch the vision in my right eye was so bad that wearing a patch over the left made me functionally blind. So I cheated. A lot.
I’m partial to Greg Lake’s ‘I Believe in Father Christmas’. Greg wrote the lyrics for the song as a criticism of the the commercialization of christmas, but I think it’s pretty decent non-theistic song also :
Have to make a bad joke about “don we now our gay apparel” Sorry.
I especially like Walt Kelly’s version. As someone who has frozen on the trolley with Nora.
“You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” has to be included.
Along the same lines, “We Are Despicable” from Mr. Magoo’s “Christmas Carol”.
And despite everything, I do like the old, religious carols, like “Silent Night”, “Oh Come all Ye Faithful”, “Joy to the World”, even though I despise the very notion of kings, especially supernatural ones. You can enjoy the Odyssey without believing in Poseidon.
@Buzz Parsec: Good King Sauerkraut?
Anyone got a take on stem cells magically curing a man of HIV in Germany? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/14/hiv-cure-berlin-patient_n_796521.html
I’m a wee bit skeptical… and looking for people who understand these things better than me (and whoever writes the credulous crap you find at Huffpo).
I never got into christmas carols. But I’ve heard a couple lately I do like: ‘The Saint Stephen’s Day Murders’, and ‘The Boars Head Carol’, by The Chieftans.
White Wine in the Sun by Tim Minchin is amazing. That’s gotta be the best and most explicitly atheist Christmas carol.
“White Wine in the Sun” is by far the only song that does a good job of saying (at least for me) what Christmas means to an atheist. There are 2 great versions; Tim Minchin’s original
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCNvZqpa-7Q
and especially beautiful version by Kate Miller-Heidke
As much as I like most of John Lennon’s work, I can’t stand “Happy Christmas (War is over)â€. I don’t know if you guys have this problem in the States, but in Canada, the Christian Children’s Fund plays their “Happy Christmas” commercials incessantly, every year, until like… March. I’ve grown so tired of hearing it. It’s notoriously bad on Space. I’m so glad I don’t have cable anymore.
Maybe now that atheists have started claiming it as our own, Christians will pick something else for their commercials.
I’m partial to “Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer”.
@Rebel 16:
I’m partial to “Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeerâ€.
And you should be shot. ;) j/k
But that song should be, srsly.
I can’t believe I forgot this one:
“Snoopy and the Red Baron” by The Royal Guardsmen. A favorite of my family for years.
I’m kind of partial to Sister Winter by Sufjan Stevens. It does mention Christmas but the song doesn’t really tread any of the traditional stuff. I like its haunting vibe.
@Cola Johnson: I saw that HuffPo article earlier today, and read the abstract for the paper (which I don’t understand at all, as I am not an expert). I did find a better explanation from the AP: http://tinyurl.com/3yw6jxu
It looks like the patient had a stem cell transplant (to treat Leukemia) from a person with a genetic mutation that confers resistance to HIV. It’s an interesting case, but it doesn’t look like it’s really a viable treatment option.
@Gabrielbrawley, the definitions of the noun wassail could cause some confusion compared to the verb. I think Terry Pratchett made that joke in “Hogfather”.
Christmas songs: ‘The Christmas Song’ especially by Nat King Cole,and ‘River’ by Joni Mitchell (also well done by James Taylor and Sarah McLachlan.)
@weatherwax: Damn you took mine! I was just going to say St. Stevens Day Murders:
Actually the album I usually listen to is titled The Bells of Dublin. There are a lot of religious based songs but besides the one mentioned above the album also has 2 pretty instrumental songs and the song “The Rebel Jesus” which fails the qualifications but I think is awesome because its meant to point out the conflicts within the holiday.
@Cola Johnson: The NEJM article on the transplant:
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa0802905#t=article
It’s not a cure for HIV+. It is risky, and the gene only occurs in about 1% of the population, so finding a suitable donor would be highly unlikely. It doesn’t exist in the African population at all. All the therapy really is is a happy side effect of a leukemia treatment.
It does, however, hold some promise that a gene therapy may be possible at some future time.
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Steven Novella on the eye-patch v. acupuncture study:
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=9030#more-9030
The comments are informative too.
–It seems that the acupunture treatment was only leading after about 15 weeks. By the end of the 25 week study, they eye-patch had caught up.
–The patients received other treatments not included in the media report.
–The study was sponsored by someone who applied for a patent on the treatment before the study was done.
My favo “non religious” christmas song has always been Steve Wonder’s – Someday at christmas”
was sorta surprised nobody had mentioned the maestro yet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZ1-duv_zNk
link for those that want to enjoy the song
that should of course be Stevie not Steve. damn typo.