Quickies

Skepchick Quickies 6.20

Happy Summer Solstice, everyone! Go make some sun-themed recipes and enjoy learning about the tilt of the planet. Or get drunk and have a bonfire, whatever.

  • Seven Amazing Teenage Inventors – All of these kids are awesome, but speaking as a Southerner, my favorite invention was the one made to eradicate Kudzu.
  • Tech-Based Dollhouse Inspires Future Girl Scientists – “… only 15% of women college first-years intend to major in a STEM field and less than 11% of engineers are women,” which is why these female engineers teamed up to get girls interested in science and engineering earlier in life.
  • An Update on Sanal Edamaruku – Following up with the skeptic who exposed a “miracle” in India and is now facing jail time due to a blasphemy complaint. There is a petition listed that you can sign at the link.
  • Pentagon Revamps Rules on Reporting Sex Crimes – “The Pentagon has announced new steps to deter assaults and make it easier to prosecute offenders, a move that follows President Obama’s recent remark that sexual assault ‘has no place’ in the U.S. military.” From Dave.
  • The Afterlife of Cheap Clothes – You might be surprised where your clothing ends up. It may make you think twice before you throw something out or buy more stuff.

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Mary

Mary Brock works as an Immunology scientist by day and takes care of a pink-loving princess child by night. She likes cloudy days, crafting, cooking, and Fall weather in New England.

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7 Comments

  1. Today’s the solstice? Damn I was hoping for more long days.. not gradually shrinking days :(

  2. Not to mention, if you do have clothing you need to toss, you’d do better to avoid Salvation Army altogether, given their history of campaigning against LGBT rights.

    1. IF there are other options, then yeah, avoid them. If the Salvation Army is the only decent thrift store in your area, though, I’d say go ahead and donate. Mostly because a lot of people rely on thrift stores to be able to get basics (like underwear), and I think helping them is more important than boycotting Salvation Army (especially since you’re not giving the SA any actual money).

    2. Plus, if the problem is a glut of donated clothes as the article contends, that will extend to other organizations as well.

      1. It’s true. Every yard sale I go to has a few racks of clothing that nobody ever buys. But on the good side, kids outgrow clothing so fast that you can actually find decent items for them at thrift stores.

  3. Ironically, the used clothing situation is somewhat better than I expected. I always figured most of it ended up in a landfill.

  4. re the tech doll-house, I wish writers of such articles knew enough about the doll hobby to recognize that fashion dolls are 1/6 scale and most dollhouses (including the ones in the article) are 1/12 scale – they are not equivalent and no 1/12 dollhouse is going to justify remarks like, “move over Barbie playhouse.” As long as kids are still playing with Barbie, they’ll want a house she can fit in, and these ain’t it. Hopefully they’ll make them in 1/6 scale so girls can see fashion and technology are not mutually exclusive.

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