Quickies

Skepchick Quickies 4.21

  • What is it about mid-April and violence in America? – Robert Blaskiewicz, a Georgia skeptic, was interviewed by CNN about conspiracy theories.
  • Katie Makkai on “pretty” – “When I was just a little girl, I asked my mother, “What will I be? Will I be pretty? Will I be pretty? Will I be pretty? What comes next? Oh right, will I be rich?” Which is almost pretty depending on where you shop.”
  • Doctor Who actress Elisabeth Sladen dies – She was the first Doctor’s companion I ever watched and Sarah Jane will always be the most iconic companion to me.
  • GM mosquitoes offer malaria hope – “Scientists believe they are closer to being able to change the DNA of wild mosquitoes in order to combat malaria. In the laboratory, they made a gene spread from a handful of mosquitoes to most of the population in just a few generations, according to a report in Nature.”

Amanda

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

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8 Comments

  1. I agree with the assessment of why April isn’t a “bad seed” month, but there is one thing that happens around this time off year that anti-federalist militia types are very upset about. Tax day.
    They have been told forever that they are being taxed more than they are represented (althought the stats show that most red states recieve more in tax dollars than they pay in) and if they are the violent kind, they may fixate on the “the day the government steals from me” as the day to act. Just a theory, anyway.

      1. Hi all, first post after a long time reading.

        Seems to me that they answer their own question in the article. “The Oklahoma City bombing was timed to coincide with the Waco anniversary. And it’s unclear whether the Columbine shooters timed that attack to mark Adolf Hitler’s birthday or possibly Waco.”

        So, you’ve got four referenced events, two of which are known to be linked on purpose, and another that may have been timed to coincide with the first two. Even if the remaining event is just random noise, I don’t think there is sufficient evidence to support that April has more “random bad things” that happen.

        Unless Saturn was rising in April. Then it’s totally cursed.

  2. “She was the first Doctor’s companion I ever watched and Sarah Jane will always be the most iconic companion to me.”

    Same here. And I was thrilled when I visited England a couple years back and saw ‘The Sarah Jane Chronocles.’

  3. My favorite (circa 1980) Dr. Who companion was Romana, Lalla Ward. She later had the good taste to marry none other than Richard Dawkins.

  4. Don’t forget that Elisabeth Sladen had her own spin-off series from Doctor Who, which just finished its fourth season. Such a shame… she looked so healthy and young in her series, I never expected that she had cancer. Truly, she’ll be missed.

  5. Re: “Pretty”
    Words fail me. That poor kid and what she had to endure.
    Fuck “pretty”. I am outraged on behalf of women everywhere.

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