This has nothing to do with skepticism but I wrote it on my personal blog the other day and got a lot of comments and emails so I figured it might stir up some interesting conversation here. I’ve heard people say in the past that skeptic meetings are often filled with a bunch of gray haired old people, but that seems to have been changing over the past few years. I think I’m the oldest Skepchick blogger, although I’m pretty sure we have 2 or 3 readers who are older than I am. Anyway, this is to follow up on Rebecca’s age post.
I hesitate to write this because I don’t want any of my older friends to read it and get mad at me, but the old people around me are dragging me down. I am tired of hearing people complain about sex on TV (I mean the Sopranos is so old news already), about the way popular music sucks, about how all the movies are made for and marketed to young kids, and so forth. Those are all the things I like! I love that taboos are being broken on TV. I like music by young, hip artists — including some hip-hop. I am quite sure that most of the movies I like best are targeted toward 19 year old boys. What’s wrong with me? I don’t think I’m having a mid-life crisis. My tastes have always been this way. I love change. I love the future. I love the way young people reinvent themselves with every generation. No, I don’t want to be young again. There’s too much pain and anxiety involved. But I find people who are younger than me, people in their 30s and 20s, to be much more energizing and fun than people in their 60s. My older friends were around to experience the 1960s and many claim to have been hippies. What the hell happened to them to make them turn into such conservative (not politically) old farts? I need some more younger friends. The closer I get to 50, the less I want to let myself turn old. No, I don’t want to act my age. I guess someday I might look my age, but there’s nothing I can do about that (or rather, probably nothing I will do about that). But I sure as hell can stop myself from turning into grandma. I know some of my older friends feel the same way but for the most part, they’re not pulling it off. I hope that’s not bad news for me. Sigh.
So, to tie it back to the beginning and make it about skepticism, what can we do to keep from turning into old farts and to keep the skeptic movement young, fresh, and fun?
I swear I just ate a pound of sugar and am on my 3rd cup of coffee in an hour. I’m literally buzzing, and I’m not one of those jerks who misuses the word “literally,” like, “I was literally dying with laughter. EMTs were called and at one point my heart stopped functioning.” Anyway, I’m a little on edge and was just asking my coworkers who would win in a fight: a daffodil or a pansy. I go with pansy, since they’re hardier and shorter and have a stupid name so probably fight more tenaciously like little flowery Napoleans. Oh yeah, and it’s time for the Comment o’ the Week!
It was a vicious battle this week, with a lot of posts that were just begging for funny responses like Bug_Girl’s pubic lice adventure. I think my favorite comment there was from Sean: “I eagerly await for the domain name 2girls1crab to be registered.” Ew.
In my ode to old people I particularly loved this quip from scotte: “As far as aged organisms go, it’s only the hegemony of arbitrary soilists that are keeping this shrub down.”
Elyse nominated what ended up being our winner, though: this comment from Little Bald Bastard who responded to writerdd’s Evolution of the Eye video post:
Recently, we received this note from Michael (through our contact form!):
This question I think is mainly for Rebecca, because I am only aware of her being a vegetarian from the SGU. I was recently considering becoming a vegetarian, and was wondering what sites she could recommend to start living this lifestyle. From the basic research I have done, the majority of vegetarian sites also begin to touch base within the “woo” community. I am sure there are some people who take a scientific approach to being a vegetarian and I thought Rebecca would know who they are.
Well, it turns out that a number of us Skepchicks are either veggies, pseudo-veggies, former veggies, or just opinionated. So, we decided to have a Skype chat about it. In fact, we’re having the chat right now! I’ll be live-blogging it as we go. Click to read more and keep refreshing!
You know, being a Texan has always been fun for me. I’m not one of those in-your-face, way-too-proud Texans, but I like living here, precisely because this state is so larger-than-life and over-the-top (I can’t stop hyphenating). It’s entertaining. It’s fun to watch the cut-throats in the oil and cattle business do their old school Texas thing. It’s delightful to watch the new breed of cowboy try to leave his mark in electronics, software, or whatever field with whatever new-fangled six shooter he wears. And it’s a pleasure to keep tabs on the eccentric turns the Texas political system takes all the time. It’s just the way things are here.
But the Texas State Board of Education, which is made up of at least seven members (there are 15 total) claiming creationist beliefs, has been the architect of some very suspect actions over the years, and the last few months have only added to its unsteady history.
Let me bring you up to speed, first on a story you may have read about that really heated up toward the end of 2007, and then on a couple more developments involving the Texas board. [Read more →]
Futurama is always the best when it comes to getting in digs at pseudoscience while making viciously nerdy jokes. In the new movie Bender’s Big Score, not only do you get 90 minutes of awesome, but also extras like a fun math lecture titled “Bite My Shiny Metal X” and a full-length episode of Everybody Loves Hypnotoad, which includes a funny spoof on the homeopathic nonsense “Head-On.”
Of course, the movie version of a beloved TV show rarely lives up to the original. Bender’s Big Score does a fair job of it, but it’s not as full of awesome as, say, my three favorite episodes might be all strung together. (I know you’re wondering, so I’ll tell you: [Read more →]
If I ever hear of any moderate or liberal Muslims, I will let you know. So far, that hasn’t happened. I’d been thinking, “Well, I bet Muslims in the U.S. are much less fundamentalist than the ones we here about in the Middle East and in Europe all the time,” but apparently not, according to an article in the Baltimore Sun. Here’s a synopsis from Ed Brayton:
Maryland’s highest court has rejected a talaq divorce performed by a Muslim man in order to prevent his wife from getting anything in their divorce under state law (see full ruling here). Under Islamic law, a man can divorce his wife merely by saying “I divorce you” three times. In this case, the man, Irfan Aleem, a World Bank economist, went to the Pakistani embassy and signed a piece of paper saying that so they would immediately grant him an official divorce and he would not have to split up his $2 million estate with his wife. The Maryland court said no, they will not recognize that divorce and he still has to go through the laws of the state in order to get one, saying, “the enforceability of a foreign talaq divorce provision, such as that presented here, in the courts of Maryland, where only the male, i.e., husband, has an independent right to utilize talaq and the wife may utilize it only with the husband’s permission, is contrary to Maryland’s constitutional provisions.”
Bully to Maryland for not putting up with this shit or suggesting that Sharia law should be adopted so the Muslims don’t have to feel uncomfortable and join Western society. (Whoops, click on that last link and you will hear of one Muslim who doesn’t think with the pack. I agree with that guy: if you want to live under Sharia law, move to Saudi Arabia. Have fun.)
Pap psychology- A Jezebel post about a Radar article on the weird/funny/disturbing comments that women have heard from their gynecologists. Haven’t we all had one of those moments?
Smells like holy spirit- Review of the book Scenting Salvation: Ancient Christianity and the Olfactory Imagination.Was the alternate title WWJSL?: What Would Jesus Smell Like? Via Improbable Research.
The benefits of a big bottom- I couldn’t not include this. Subcutaneous fat which collects in the butt and hip area improves sensitivity to insulin, which offers some protection from diabetes.
Scapula or pelvis?- I had to include this to satisfy my osteology love. The scapula is a deeply weird bone that can be very confusing when it’s in pieces.
It’s time for another meet up, so mark your calendars! I will be bringing along a non-skeptical friend (not Mr. Elyse this time), so feel free to bring along your non-skeptical friends, too. Maybe we could convince a few of them to come to the “Bright” side. (see what I did there? I promise to stop if you come to my meet-up)
Who:
You, me, your friends, my friends, our friends, and strangers
Park on the street if you can find a spot. There is also a parking garage at Children’s Memorial about 1/2 block north of the bar with a flat rate for weekend parking
When:
Saturday, May 17 at 8:30 p.m.
Why:
Because it’s May. Because Skepchick loves you. Because it’s an excuse to drink beer.
How:
Show up, bring friends, talk, drink, eat, laugh, rock hard
Virgin Mary apparitions recognized: “A Roman Catholic bishop said Sunday that the church has officially recognized that the Virgin Mary appeared to a 17th-century shepherd girl in the French Alps.” So has the investigation been going on all these years?
A few weeks ago on SGU, we talked about the recent discovery of what is possibly the world’s oldest living tree — a 9,550-year old spruce on a Swedish mountainside. We received a few letters from people who claimed their alder was elder, or whatever. (Actually, some New Zealanders were up in arms at the lack of a shout-out for their Lomatia tasmanica, a shrub that might have been cloning itself for 135,000 years. Dear New Zealand: a shrub is not a tree. Call us when you find a really old woody plant with a single central stem as opposed to multiple stems originating near the soil line. Then we’ll talk.)
Anyway, as contentious as the World’s Oldest Tree is, that’s got nothing on the battle to name the World’s Oldest Ape. [Read more →]
Beauty queen targets Parliament: “‘I may not know a lot about politics yet but I do know about people and how everyone would prefer that Britain looks and feels beautiful instead of dwelling on the ugly and negative side of life and politics.’”
Update: So I had to add another link about that pill protest, because a deeper review of the site itself reveals some seriously dangerous medical misinformation, and it’s ridiculous that they can get away with making the claims they’re making. This post at Feminocracy talks about them.
I make the mistake every year of thinking the breakneck party pace is going to slow after New Years Day.
Every year I am wrong!
The new year actually marks the beginning of the party season, and that season lasts . . . well forever, as far as I can tell. I mean, we’ve barely cleaned all the confetti out of our hair and forced the echoes of Auld Lang Syne out of our ears when the next party in a long line of celebrations is upon us.
Now, I’m not really complaining (at least no more than is necessary for comic effect). But I do wonder if this is an indication that our lives are so empty we feel a need to fill them with more and more instances of elation, or if in fact, we are just the rocking, party animal species we think we are. [Read more →]
As much as that sounds like a euphemism, it isn’t.
Remember the crazy guy who claims he has specially bred giant Japanese crab lice that don’t bite? And that they make great pets? (“Like Sea Monkeys in Your Pants!”)
So, when I wrote about that–and how utterly full of shit that website is–I got an email from a reporter. The LoveBugz.net website offers to send you your very own “pets” if you send them your address and a buck. The reporter wanted to buy some lice and have me look at them.
I thought the site was just a creative ad-farm scheme, so said “Sure! Send ‘em to me!”
Because, seriously.
It had to be a a scam. Who is going to go to the Better Business Bureau and complain that they didn’t get the pubic lice they paid for?
Just in case, though, I gave him my home address, rather than my work address, since I have only been in my new job 7 months and wasn’t sure what might show up in the mailroom.
And then: An envelope DID show up. (Sealed with duct tape, too!)
This has nothing to do with skepticism but I wrote it on my personal blog the other day and got a lot of comments and emails so I figured it might stir up some interesting conversation here. I’ve heard people say in the past that skeptic meetings are often filled with a bunch of gray haired old people, but that seems to have been changing over the past few years. I think I’m the oldest Skepchick blogger, although I’m pretty sure we have 2 or 3 readers who are older than I am. Anyway, this is to follow up on Rebecca’s age post.
I swear I just ate a pound of sugar and am on my 3rd cup of coffee in an hour. I’m literally buzzing, and I’m not one of those jerks who misuses the word “literally,” like, “I was literally dying with laughter. EMTs were called and at one point my heart stopped functioning.” Anyway, I’m a little on edge and was just asking my coworkers who would win in a fight: a daffodil or a pansy. I go with pansy, since they’re hardier and shorter and have a stupid name so probably fight more tenaciously like little flowery Napoleans. Oh yeah, and it’s time for the Comment o’ the Week!
You know, being a Texan has always been fun for me. I’m not one of those in-your-face, way-too-proud Texans, but I like living here, precisely because this state is so larger-than-life and over-the-top (I can’t stop hyphenating). It’s entertaining. It’s fun to watch the cut-throats in the oil and cattle business do their old school Texas thing. It’s delightful to watch the new breed of cowboy try to leave his mark in electronics, software, or whatever field with whatever new-fangled six shooter he wears. And it’s a pleasure to keep tabs on the eccentric turns the Texas political system takes all the time. It’s just the way things are here.
Let’s party!
As much as that sounds like a euphemism, it isn’t.
