Skepticism

Anmerkung der Woche (Comment o’ the Week!)

Okay, we’re not changing the name of Comment o’ the Week, but the German thread made chuckle so much that I had to give our schnitzel-eating friends one more shout-out. Remember, if you see a comment you like, please quote it and write “COTW” so we know you think it’s Comment o’ the Week-worthy. Don’t write “AdW” because I will not remember to search for that next Friday.

Okay, now is the time that we dance!

I’m in a good mood today, because this was such a fun week full of the world not being destroyed by eeeevil scientists. Speaking of that, again, huge thanks to Skepchick commenter notreallyalice and her friends at CERN for providing those hilarious photos from inside the facility. I’m in such a good mood, in fact, I’m going to make an addition to this week’s Comment o’ the Week — an addition that may become a recurring bit. Before I get to the COTW, I would like to announce THE BEST NEW USERNAME!

This week we had a flurry of new people signing up for Skepchick accounts. The Best New Username (BNU, pronounced “buh-NEW”) goes to Spacepope, who just commented on the German thread. “Spacepope” makes me picture an elderly Catholic gentleman in a funny hat flying around Saturn, collecting data to support his theory that the Earth is the center of the Universe.

Okay, on to the CotW!

Lots of nominations and lots of hilarious posts (Andrés gets second place), but this week’s winner had the clear support of both commenting peers as well as the Skepchicks, who weighed in a bit behind the scenes:

AmateurScientistNo Gravatar // Sep 9, 2008 at 3:26 pm

I used to think my gender was the best, but then my girlfriend built me a bookshelf with her vagina. That put her ahead until I cooked her Eggs Benedict with my penis. So I guess we’re even.

For those who are hoping to win a future COTW, please note that Amateurscientist utilized the Dali Equation: G*S/L=COTW, where “G” is “genitalia,” “S” is “surrealism,” and “L” is “length of post.” Congrats Amateurscientist! You win a monkey. Touch him. Love him. Liebe meine abst-monkey.

Rebecca Watson

Rebecca is a writer, speaker, YouTube personality, and unrepentant science nerd. In addition to founding and continuing to run Skepchick, she hosts Quiz-o-Tron, a monthly science-themed quiz show and podcast that pits comedians against nerds. There is an asteroid named in her honor. Twitter @rebeccawatson Mastodon mstdn.social/@rebeccawatson Instagram @actuallyrebeccawatson TikTok @actuallyrebeccawatson YouTube @rebeccawatson BlueSky @rebeccawatson.bsky.social

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6 Comments

  1. This from PZ Myers on how to answer the question from a friend “Do you believe evolution is true:

    Yes, I believe evolution is true.
    I consider it the best explanation of the origin and diversity of life on earth,
    and it is backed by an immense body of evidence. Strictly speaking,
    it is not a matter of belief, but a recognition of the knowledge
    of qualified experts and a familiarity with the research
    that has been done in the field; I would also
    add that science does not deal in absolute
    truth, but strives for approximations,
    and is always willing to discard old
    ideas if better explanations
    with better evidence
    come along.
    Do you have evidence for an alternative theory?

    PZ frames the answer the way he does in order to first answer the question straight away, and only then introduce the notion that scientists don’t “believe”. We do, as he notes, have a tendency to start off pedantically with an introduction to “belief” versus “think” and wander into the shrubbery.

    Notice that the question gets answered, even if the listener loses interest in the remaining explanation as it goes on.

  2. Thanks for the mention Rebecca, and Darren thanks for reminding me where I got that part of my title, I was kind of wondering about that. Now I will give you my full title

    Psychedelic Spacepope of the Known Universe

    also I am a member of the Second Order of Magnitude

    Yes, those are self given titles, so what, who cares.
    To explain things, if that’s what you would like, (if not stop reading here). The title of Spacepope is both a bit mocking and a jealous homage. It mocks the titles that a couple of people I worked with had or wanted, people who made twice what I did and did half the work. More importantly, I listen to the Thom Hartmann Show and one of his regular guests is Christy Harvey who title is Director of Strategic Communications at American Progress, I heard that and thought, what a cool job title I have to get me one of those.
    The second bit is a friendly dig at Steve Novella of “The Skeptics Guide to the Universe” who is constantly saying ‘orders of magnitude’ , so much so that it is stuck to my brain.
    Okay, that’s all for now.

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