Quickies

Skepchick Quickies 8.26

Amanda

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

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19 Comments

  1. “Family values” are yet another thing the right claims to support, until a particular value, such as the right to have the families’ own religion or non-religion to prevail at their funerals, conflicts with their agenda.

    Kind of like states’ rights, which they fervently support until a state decides to grant the right of marriage to all its citizens.

  2. The first quickie made made me very grumpy.

    The 2nd was a perfect anecdote, except I can easily “waste” the rest of the day on it. BTW, for all the pinkophobes, the 3rd video features a scientist/engineer in a pink coat who loses nothing by it. (I do wish she wouldn’t shout so much, though. Kids will pay attention even if you aren’t shouting, if what you are saying is interesting enough. Don Herbert never shouted. Despite that, this was still a big improvement on most kids science programming, since it featured a real experiment kids could do on their own with just a little adult help.)

    The other videos, on topics as diverse as jazz (Dizzy Gillespie and Max Roach, the former accompanied by the Muppets), and cephalopod camouflage (they’re color-blind? Holy cow!) were equally fascinating. And there are dozens of them.

    1. Yes, very grumpy here too.

      When I was a teenager, my folks came close to buying a farm in Australia. I often wonder how it would have been for me, pretty much never hearing about Texas or the battle for warning labels on textbooks in my county in GA.

  3. Yeah I thought the kids should see this blog was good.

    I might be wrong but I can’t imagine many turtles enjoying the cart pulling experience, looks kind of disrespectful to the species. Thanks for the animals being dicks link though I have to mention the title, like calling male genitals junk, we seem to have as many sayings and memes of self loathing as we have christian traditions that originated them. The loyal dog is sad and cute. That happens a lot, that dog would live at the grave site if it could.

    I like the vintage ballet on the kids should see this blog, beautiful bodies and movement. I like the ballet influence in the collaboration between Lil Buck and Yo-Yo Ma (doesn’t really start until 00:40) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9jghLeYufQ&feature=player_embedded

  4. I listed the Fresh Air interview yesterday. It confirms what I have been saying about living in ground zero for evangelicals in GA. And it was very frightening.

    Texas, bite my shiny metal ass. Some people almost make me want to believe in an afterlife – only so I can return and haunt these seriously demented, evil people into an early grave.

    I seem to be grumpy today…

  5. I’m not even going to have time to sleep when I move to Texas, am I? I’m just going to be walking around 24/7 screaming, “STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP! THIS SHIT IS FUCKING CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAZY!”

    Please save me. I don’t want to live there.

    1. Elyse, if you move to Texas, join the NRA and a local gun club. Seriously, join anyway. I say that having no idea what your feelings are on the subject. You may discover that a lot of “real” Texans are real put off by immigrants who are mostly, affectionately called, “gun grabbing liberals”, who move to Texas and try to “change things”. If you are sporting a NRA bumper sticker you may perplex them in a good way.

      People around here ask me how can it be that I am in the NRA (I am a life member) but I do not give my life to their dear and fluffy Jesus. I usually respond with a little logic that goes right over their tiny little brains, but that is a story for another day. Wait, no. It ties right in with the evangelical warriors … which probably describes seven or eight out of ten people in Cobb County.

      Point is, if I have one, with a NRA bumper sticker I occasionally slip under their pawn of satan radar.

    2. It’s not so bad. We’re not Mississippi or Australia, for pete’s sake! There’s even liberals and hippies! Metropolitan cities! Austin! Houston! Great universities!

      Don’t believe the hype. It’s not any worse here than anywhere else in the USofA.

    3. Oh,it’s not so bad. I have lived here for 60 years.Just keep your mouth shut,and don’t go outside too much.You should be just fine. ;)

  6. Just read the rest of them… Grumpy again from #3, continued grumpiness from #4, until the end. Home birth and wolverines, what could go wrong? Cute animals save the day once again.

  7. Well I’ve been posting here for a little while and I’ve decided not to. Sorry if I’ve offended anyone. I’m more of an idealist than a skeptic. I’m sex positive feminist trans gender and the views I hold have been shaped from 6 years of some really fascinating discovery online. I think I was rather naive to think that I could share that and other people and expect them to get it instantly :) When I didn’t myself and me getting frustrated and angry is no persuader. I found this blog in the same week the elevator thing kicked off and I thought Rebecca’s request was totally reasonable and the negative reactions to it where ridiculous and horrible. Anyway I’m an idealist and everyone here is skeptic, it takes all kinds to make a world and in situations where I’d be gullable your talents would be valuable. And theres lots of cool stuff here too. Good luck with it

    Cheers :)

      1. Thanks Kaloikagathoi :) I’m atheist and humanist but I’m coming into some unproductive and toxic conflict with some people over notions of sex within feminism. It took me a long time to rid myself of the cultural sex negativity that purveys our society. of the gender polarity, men chasing women and disrespect for female desire or consent notion of sex and of the guilt ridden casual demonising of sex with names for genitals like twat or junk . And being mentally free of it in a head space where everyones ownership of their sexuality is respected is sooo nice. I know everyones not like this here but when someone attacks me for saying someone is gorgeous, though I’m human and in the short term it made me angry the outcome is I’m not hating them, but I see their response as a symptom of that negative societies effect on them. and though I love talking about it I’m not emotionally strong enough to be an evangelist and suffer constant attacks here. Which is a shame I wish I wasn’t such an emotional wimp and was stronger like Rebecca. Though I think the blog posts here are really good I like communities where there’s a forum and I can initiate discussions. I would certainly post a thread about ‘sex is not the enemy,’ which is a lovely regular antidote to the images all around us that shape our subconscious relativity in a negative way. http://sexisnottheenemy.tumblr.com/tagged/smiles

        Yeah so though I like sharing and discussing the subject I couldn’t do this everyday amongst a high level of hostility, it would drive me nuts :)

        1. Well, I totally get that you need to avoid the angst that is internet commenter fights – especially on topics that matter to one deeply.
          But don’t go away for good.
          And thanks for the link! It made me happy.

  8. I really don’t understand why a christian group would even want any presence at an atheist funeral.
    If they were really honest with themselves, they would have to tell the grieving family, at the funeral, that their beloved one has gone to Hell and is now suffering eternal damnation.
    And if that is not what they believe, then why are they trying so hard to push christianity on other people?

    *Sigh*

  9. Evangelicals trying to shove Christianity down the throats of the military torques me off to the nth degree. Being a non-religious 1LT in the Army, I get sick of the constant references to God and I don’t feel comfortable speaking up regarding my lack of belief.

    Regarding homebirth, I am a mom of two. I had my first baby in the hospital and ended up with the classic cascade of intervention and a c-section. I chose to have a homebirth for my second birth, which went flawlessly, but for a small tear. Mind you I had a skilled nurse-midwife at a home and birth center practice which had a doctor with admitting privileges to a hospital 5 minutes away. That practice was around for nearly 10 years and the only babies that were lost were due to incompatibilities with life, and only 2 IIRC in that time. No mothers were lost either. Their transfer rate was 10%, right where WHO says it should be. So home birth with the right support system is very safe. I stand by that.

  10. The Wax study has been widely criticized. Here is one summary: http://jenniferblock.com/wordpress/?p=122

    Read Block’s book Pushed to find many reasons why the traditional hospital birth is not appealing to many.

    I had a traditional birth for my first: FP doctor who had his hand on the door whenever I asked a question, induced because of postdates, epidural, purple pushing on my back, 7#14oz very sleepy baby with a bad latch and horrible breastfeeding problems for 6 weeks. Second degree tear that took months to heal. Sex was uncomfortable for over a year.

    For my second birth, I chose a homebirth with two CPMs and their apprentice. Hour long prenatal visits, short labor in which I had to ask if I was in active labor because it was so easy, labored how and where I chose (standing, alone in my bedroom — midwives monitored me intermittently). 9#2oz baby with no tears. She did compress tissues against my pelvis during pushing, but it didn’t feel right so I moved (floated up in a birth tub) and life was better. No breastfeeding issues, had sex 4 weeks after birth and it was just fine. Baby was so alert for days. In-laws commented on what an alert baby – they had never seen an nonmedicated birth before.

    And yes, I did feel empowered for a long time. I delivered my baby, I wasn’t delivered.

  11. If there are any hearings about the Christian prayer at veteran’s funerals they should call Fred Phelps as a witness to get his ideas of what appropriate Christian Prayers he thinks should be at veteran’s funerals.

  12. Well, shoot, if people are gonna go with anecdata about home births, I may as well provide nice anecdata about hospital births. My first child was born in a hospital with a CNM. I had plenty of choices about how to proceed, and ultimately went with a traditional birth. The whole thing lasted about eight hours and went flawlessly with the one exception of the baby grunting a lot. I was glad that docs were right there to watch over him. Kid number two, also in a hospital with a CNM, was even easier. Under two hours and no tearing.

    The nurses and CNM treated me well, and I knew the OBs who were my potential back-up if things went pear-shaped. They were trustworthy, skilled practitioners. Everyone listened to me and I was not pressured into or out of medication. My attendants were pleasant and my CNM was there with me for the long haul. Both kids were very, very alert after birth and nursed fine.

    Anecdotes don’t mean much, and I know that, but I hate when people chime in with their happy home birth experiences and try to make it sound as if the majority of hospital births are predominantly awful.

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