QuickiesScience

Skepchick Quickies 10.24

  • First off, it’s Eugenie Scott’s birthday!  And hey, she just won an award, too.
  • Out of thin air: How money is really made –  Entirely Different Steve says, “The economy runs on faith? That explains a lot.”
  • Scientists try to stop hunger with retooled foods – “At the Institute of Food Research in Norwich, England, food expert Peter Wilde and colleagues are developing foods that slow down the digestive system, which then triggers a signal to the brain that suppresses appetite.”  Thanks Kaylia!
  • Another reason theocrats will never be satisfied – Amanda Marcotte writes about Sarah Palin’s pro-pro-pro-life stance and the pharmacy that recently opened which is refusing to stock birth control and condoms.
  • And to continue giving you something feel-good on a Friday (that isn’t a dead baby deer) look at the cute little baby bushbaby!

This past week the Teen Skepchicks have written about not believing “illogical” things, a Denver event about alien life, and they’ve celebrated mole day.

Amanda

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

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12 Comments

  1. Hi there!

    Hrmmm … Eugenie Scott, economics, Sarah Palin, …

    OMG BUSHBABY!! SO CUTE!! I can totally see him growing up to be the Weasel from the Foghorn Leghorn cartoons when he grows up, though. (http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1cyji_foghorn-leghorn-1956-weasel-stop_fun) Can’t you just? I can even hear him making the little lip-smackety sounds right through my computer monitor! Somehow it even looks like being squashed by a stethoscope is just another one in a long line of ignominies visited upon him by a smart-aleck Southern rooster. ;)

  2. My favorite line from the Marcotte article:

    The faithless faithful have to make it the responsibility of others to keep them in line, because they have no faith and no will.

  3. I am not seeing avatars, or the little “link to this comment” arrows, or the “preview” button for comments. I thought maybe it was just me, so I tried clearing cookies and stuff, and even restarted my browser.

    I am a Hedge

  4. The ‘faith’ that fiat-money economics relies on is not the same ‘Faith’ the religious groups rely on, an Economics lecturer friend of mine recomended Rothbard’s ‘The Mystery of Banking’ to me after Northern Rock went under last year and I found it really useful

    http://mises.org/Books/mysteryofbanking.pdf

    otherwise Terry Pratchett’s “Making Money” which pretty much condenses the history of finance into one year in one city through the brilliant Moist Von Lepwig.

    I wish I had a Golden Suit…

  5. Careful. With this talk of fiat money and Rothbard you risk incurring the wrath of the anti-libertarian squad.

    I am a Hedge

  6. @Steve: Hello EDS, nice to meet you!

    If that bush baby dies at some point today I am going to blame you Amanda, rally against all things cute, cry, and then go join a commune or something.

  7. @Im a Hedge: I wouldn’t mind so much but I’m not a Libertarian! I’ve been a “Card Carrying” Communist since the age of 18. I was calling for the Banks to be Nationalised longer before Comrade Bush made it fashionable. (thanks to the bail out, Bush is now the most anti-privatisation leader in history, frankly not what I’d have expected)

    I said Rothbard’s book explains the basics and then his theories in greater detail. It’s a good guide to the mindset of the people running the Square Mile. Lenin recomended socialists to read Adam Smith (who by the way was a lefty radical in his day) to understand the essential features of the capitalist system.

    If I said “If you want to understand present day facists in Britain you should read ‘Blood & Honour’ ” it doesn’t make me an extreme racist. I’m just saying to defeat them you have to understand them and to understand them you have to get into their heads and to do that you have to read what they are writing.

  8. I’m sitting in IFR norwich right now. I hope they’re not monitoring my internet use too closely.

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