Quickies
Skepchick Quickies 3.15
- Things that went bump in the Middle Ages – Skeptical Humanities gives an interesting look at how the definition and behavior of “ghosts” has changed since the Middle Ages.
- GOP tries to overturn climate change, Democrat mocks them – “Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to a bill that overturns the scientific finding that pollution is harming our people and our planet. However, I won’t physically rise, because I’m worried that Republicans will overturn the law of gravity, sending us floating about the room.” From Justin.
- Agrohomeopathy, healing plants with…water? – From Kel.
- Oregon House votes unanimously to end faith healing exception – From Jacob.
So what is the homeopathic cure for over watering?
Has the GOP tried to mandate that pi be 3.0 yet?
@QuestionAuthority: Give it a week or two. The preponderance of stupidity that defines conservatism in our time knows no bounds. Because they’re stupid.
I figured it was a natural as yesterday was “Pi Day.”
How do we determine a taxonomy of the undead?
Amateurs.
“So what is the homeopathic cure for over watering?”
Oh, that’s easy! Approaching it scientifically, you need a substance to dilute the water down by 30x. I would suggest using air. Just fill your watering can with air and empty it three times a day over the poor plant until it is cured of the overabundance of toxic water. Resume watering after that with appropriately clean and pure water for optimal health.
Yeah, my family’s stories about ghosts in Korea always seemed a LOT different from the kinds of ‘hauntings’ that take place here in the good ol’ US of A.
I would hope they don’t screw with Pi, hexagonal wheels are hard to maneuver. To paraphrase from an article by Isaac Asimov, the wheels would have to obey the law and would turn hexagonal. His article was in reference to a bill in, Arkansas, I think, a number of years ago in which a state representative introduced a bill to make the legal definition of pi as 3.
@MarkHall: Call the undead up and ask them.
Don’t know their number? Ask to borrow Terry Pratchett’s Telenecromicon.
You’re welcome. ;-)
@bluescat48:
This is apparently a 1998 April Fool’s Day post from talk.origins that will not die: http://www.snopes.com/religion/pi.asp
Asimov did mention the book of Kings value of Pi in one of his essays, and he may even have given an apocryphal mention of some state legislature trying to set Pi equal to 3–I definately remember the hexagonal wheels thing–but in any case the Good Doctor died in 1992, so he could not have been writing about the ficticious Alabama kerfuffle.
The only known case of a state legislature debating a bill legislating the value of Pi involved an Indiana crank “circle squarer” with friends in high places, and the bill never passed: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_Pi_Bill
So now that theyve banned faith healing in humans they moved on to plants?
@Siveambrai: Literally LOL! Is it okay to give two COTW noms in one week?
I posted that Ed Markey thing to FB earlier this week, noting that I found it rather amazing that no one in the room was laughing as he read this statement.
My father – a retired physician who occasionally mystifies me in his adherence to right-wing lunacy – commented something along the lines of that he couldn’t believe I was a “progressive” and did I know that me, my sibs and their kids would have to pay for not making tough budget cuts now?
I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. I do know if he pulls it again, I’m going to have to remind him for the umpteenth time that Nixon helped create the EPA…
Thanks for linking to my medieval ghost post (yikes, horrible rhyme). What a pleasant surprise!
@pciszek
The essay was written back in the 50s
I liked the “ghost post.” Another difference between the way ghosts are viewed now versus then, is that nowadays ghosts are the personification of someone’s spirit. Back in the Middle Ages, there was the notion that ghosts were a “shade” – i.e. an echo or impression of someone dead, but not the actual literal person themselves come back from the dead.