Today’s theme seems to be WTF stories.
- PETA wants to make Clooney-flavored tofu – “Bosses at animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals are sweating over a new idea to turn George Clooney’s perspiration into a tofu flavor.” From Steve.
- The tree lobsters are celebrating today
- Oxygen therapy benefit in autism – Anyone heard anything else about this? It seems like one of those too good to be true things. From Dave.
- Send in the (abstinence) clowns – If every time I felt like gettin’ it on the image of an abstinence clown popped into my head, I’d definitely be abstinent. From Emory.
- Face the truth – The NY Daily News hasn’t gotten over the phrenology/facial feature craze of the turn of the last century, apparently. (And oh, hey, look a poll!) From Kaylia.
Steve Novella has written a bit about the new autism/hyperbaric oxygen study at Neurologica.
@Plittle: Thanks! I knew I’d seen it mentioned elsewhere but couldn’t remember where.
Here’s the Neurologica link for anyone else who’s interested.
I will never ever understand the whole Clowning for Christ thing. At least the Mormons are up on what is trendy, with their sparkly vampires schtick. Lame sure, but you know, it speaks to their target audience.
Maybe if a bear wearing an ill-fitting hat was explaining to me that he just could not ride his too-small bicycle because there was a risk of traffic accidents, I would consider his metaphor. But I’m going to need to see that he can, in fact, ride a bike and he’s not just making excuses. Clowns are not allowed to talk to me about anything.
For the record, my husband was on pure oxygen last week in the hospital. Before leaving he got a flu shot and a pneumonia shot. Thanks to the oxygen, he’s managed to stay autism-free since he was released on Wednesday night.
If that’s not proof, I don’t know what is!
When they paint original characters graphic artists will generally use facial features to give the viewer an idea of the personality of that character (a strong jaw line makes the character look stronger, and bolder, for example). It’s a useful tool for conveying personality when the viewer doesn’t have the ability to hear the character speak and they are missing out on the subtle visual cues they would notice if they saw the character in real life. In the real world though, a person can see and hear Barack Obama speak and can list the facial features that fit his personality, while ignoring those features that don’t. Then she can be consulted for a stupid NY Daily News article about modern-day phrenology and I can react by groaning at my monitor.
Also, I can’t bring myself to press play on that abstinence clown video… I just can’t do it.
I remember in 6th grade, we had a troupe come to our school and do this play thingy on abstinence. The story was something like six friends take an abstinence pledge and then one by one they break it or something, but the only one who doesn’t break it DIES IN A CAR CRASH!!! I was confused by the message then and I still think about it and scratch my head. I don’t really remember (come on it was 6th grade, I was more concerned about soda, poprocks, and Magic “NERD!!!”) the consequences the other kids face other than like one pregnancy and general depression over “Oh, now I won’t be special for my spouse.” Mind you this was a public school. I don’t think it was that effective though considering at least 8 girls in my class of 60 had a kid by the time we graduated.
It goes on but I found this part interesting… having never suffered through abstinece only sex education, I had not realized that this was the logic (avoid risk) but hd always assumed it was based on “sex is badâ€.
I actually think the idea of “avoid risk†is a good idea and should be part of the sex education process.
BUT I don’t think that by saying “avoid risk†we are teaching “don’t take responsibility for yourselfâ€â€¦ and the things the article points to on the slippery slope of “if we teach children to never take risks then they will never go swimming or tell people they care about themâ€â€¦ well that is just silly.
Risk IS a part of life… but that is no reason to be foolhardy.
I would hope the idea would be “sex is physically risky, use protection… sex is emotionally risky, try to wait…â€
@Mordicant: I think the same troupe came to my high school! Were they called “Chastity Challenge”?
As you may know, Obama has released restrictions on stem cell research. That’s fine and dandy, and I’m not downplaying it. that should help us in 10 yrs or so. My biggest question is When is he going to reverse the “Abstenince only education” policy. This has been proven time and time again that AOE doesn’t work, and, in fact, is detrimental to the health of our children NOW. We need safe sex education in our classrooms, and we need it yesterday. If I remember the statistics correctly, in AL, a very conservative state, 1 in 84 have some kind of STD. Until we find a cure for herpes and HIV, our best defense is prevention.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
I agree with that comparison. For starters, both are spectacles that some people pay to see.
Here’s another WTF story: Canada’s science minister won’t say whether or not he believes in evolution, since as a Christian, he doesn’t think that discussing his religion is appropriate.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20090317.GOODYEAR17/TPStory/National
Why do I think if I asked him to tell me the good news about Jesus, I wouldn’t be able to get him to shut up?
The abstinence clown should have a wardrobe of religious headgear, like a pope hat for example.
Bah! Sweat-flavored tofu? Have we fallen so far from the golden days of Hufu?
“If every time I felt like gettin’ it on the image of an abstinence clown popped into my head, I’d definitely be abstinent.”
More likely a whole new wave in clown fetishism would emerge. For crying out loud people just fuck already.
Isn’t all tofu Clooney sweat flavored already?
@KristinMH: Ack…I can’t remember that was back in ’96….
@SkepGeek:
As a carnivore, I thought it was Hulk Hogan sweat flavored, but I never wanted to risk finding out.
Elyse: It’s common knowledge that being deprived of oxygen after a vaccination will lead to severe cognitive decline. What more proof do you need!
But Clooney’s initial response isn’t all that encouraging. In a statement through his representative, the movie star says, “As a mammal, I’m offended.”
Best celebrity quote I’ve seen in a long time.
I just got a funny mental image of exactly what sort of rubber nose would be appropriate for an abstinence clown.
– Emory (now embarrassed to be seen juggling in my avatar.)
Truly disturbed by the abstinence clown. . . not just bad policy but a really crappy, unentertaining, show. Is this the best the believers in magic books can come up with? No wonder AOE isn’t working.
@ekimbrough: Juggling is awesome. Juggling while wearing over-sized shoes and a rainbow wig? Not awesome. Juggling while wearing over-size shoes and a rainbow wig and talking about sex? Horrifying.
You’re in the clear.
@Steve: Lol! I really do love George Clooney.
Responsibility Clown would make animals doing it doggy style out of blown up condoms. That would have an impact on middle school kids.
@marilove: How about George Clooney as responsibility clown?
@James Fox:
George Clooney is the antithesis of promoting abstinence.
@Kaylia_Marie: Are you saying that swiming and telling someone you care about them are foolhardy actions?
Pressure therapy, wrapping the child in blankets or using weighted vests, is very commonly used with Autistic children and results in temporary improvements that are very similar to those reported in the oxygen therapy study. The adults may not have been able to detect the subtle changes in pressure, but I’m almost certain the children did considering the neurological and sensory integration aspects of the disorder.
I wouldn’t doubt the observed improvements had virtually nothing to do with increased oxygen and everything to do with time spent in a dull sensory environment with slightly increased pressure.
I’m so sick of PETA, I swear they exist only to make people who believe in animal rights look like idiots. Sweaty tofu reminds me of a Chinese delicacy called “stinky tofu” though.
From the PETA article (emphasis mine): “Of course, your fans would swoon at the idea of eating CloFu, but what interests us most is that we would attract many people who don’t try tofu because they worry that it would be bland or that they wouldn’t know how to cook it.”
How, exactly, does flavoring tofu like celebrity sweat solve the problem of people not knowing how to cook it?
“Oh, it’s CLOONEY flavored tofu – clearly I should cook it the same way I cook other Clooney flavored things!”
@Amanda:
COTW
bonus points for posting this after calming the other thread the fuck down.
@Elyse: I do what I can.