Skepticism
AI: The “These are a few of my favorite things” edition
Have I mentioned I’m a big fan of human error? People falling down, cake wrecks, the FailBlog, every second of that show Wipeout. Also, I love sushi. And grapes. And watching movies at the theater. And the Dropkick Murphys. And when TheRealBoy does crazy stuff with his facial hair. And Keanu Reeves (don’t judge). And the smell of lemongrass. And other people’s birthdays (ok, maybe any birthday.) Oh, and thou.
What are some of your favorite things?
The Afternoon Inquisition (or AI) is a question posed to you, the Skepchick community. Look for it to appear daily at 3pm ET.
Sewing odd things: juggling props, custom bike panniers, backpack attachments, and anything else you can’t buy in a store.
The awesome, rythmic sounds of Big Pig. Seven percussionists and a singer. What’s not to love?
_Disclosure_: I’ve watched that movie a few hundred times, but usually skip the long, boring CGI sequence.
Birdwatching. All my life. Intellectually it makes no sense yet I still do.
Writing poetry, but I need a massive deadline.
Making a big meal all come together at the right time without resorting to a bunch of room-temperature dishes.
Sitting down to home cooked (by someone else) meal when very hungry
Letter openers
Stacks of books
Milk
Puzzle Games
Getting a random email or phone call that says “thinking of you”
My sisters
Sleeping in with a nice warm boyfriend
Sending people emails telling them that unless they return the paperwork we sent them, there will be dire consequences
Popcorn
Dancing
Having my hair pulled
Folk music
Iced tea (unsweetened), especially really good sun tea.
QT (Quik Trip) is like, the best convenience store EVER.
Books!
John Steinbeck
Pineapple Express, because it makes me looool.
The Back to the Future Trilogy, because, hello, Marty McFly and Doc!
A good action flick, especially if it has Bruce Willis (don’t judge!).
Ben Folds.
Eddie Izzard.
My kitties (especially when I wake up in the middle of the night, and a kitty is curled up on either side of my head, awwww).
The Southwest Chicken Salad at Jack in the Box; I don’t know why, but I fucking LOVE IT.
My amazing friends <3
My independence.
Oh oh and NPR!
I love potatoes.
And reading.
And looking at the moon.
And potatoes.
And lilacs.
And when people fall down. Just in movies, though. I don’t like it so much when it’s real. Except this one time at a local band show when this complete idiot face-planted on the stage. That was awesome.
Old books.
George Hrab.
learning something new
good cheese
gardening magazines
a really good book
my sewing machine
my 3 year old niece
my husband and his motorcycle
Oh and ranunculus.
having a cold beer while writing,
snus ( I know it is disgusting, but I cannot help ),
kittens,
reading,
singing along with a song I like,
wasabi and its making me feel as if my brain is melting,
looking at old pictures of people I know,
red velvet cupcake,
dragons,
and purple…
The first ten (or so) things that came to mind:
The Privilege of Being Alive and Aware
Going to the Beach in the Winter with My Wife
Spending Time with My Daughter the Teen Skepchick
Books (Science & SF)
Building Computers & Robots
Weight Training & Running
Star Trek
SF Movies in the Theatre
Sex
House M.D. and Lie To Me
Coffee
wine
dark chocolate
good books
hiking
dogs
sleeping
art
graphic novels
Oh! Oh! Oh! I love “Psych.” I can’t help myself.
And really good food.
cherry coke!
celebrity nipple slips
muumuus
To crush my enemies. To see them driven before me, and to hear the lamentation of their women.
And kitties.
People who’s first name that can be spelt with only one letter ;)
Mr. Bean (greatest show of all time), sexy boots, apple cider, italian food, sexy skepchicks drinking apple cider while wearing sexy boots, and the ocean.
Cuddling with my husband
Being covered in cats
Coffee*
Wine*
Good beer*
Naps
Cooking
Reading
Boulder hopping*
Traveling
Swimming
Sushi*
* pre-pregnancy.
When you lay down on the couch, and your dog follows you up there, curls up in the little spot behind your legs, and just sleeps.
That feeling you get when you are so stuck on a problem, you are just about ready to give it up, but then you give it one last look, and totally figure it out.
Coming home on Friday after a long week or work, and opening that first ice cold beer.
Sassy women
Motown
Steak
Podcasting
Hot men wearing snug fitting jeans
Laughter
Water
Strongbow
Twitter
The sound and feel of walking on snow after it has developed a thin layer of ice over it. Ccccccrrrrunch!
sushi, dim sum, pizza, chocolate, cannoli, red wine
Mythbusters, The Daily Show, Doctor Who, House
Kurt Vonnegut, Greg Bear, Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams
GPS, wifi, Netflix, Google, Amazon
Escher, Dali, Van Gogh
spaceflight, robots, stars, nanotech
smart beautiful women
Disneyland
Sunglasses
Makeup
Pumpkin seeds
My iPhone
When my daughter says snarky things
Pedicures
Coke Zero
Roy’s Hawaiian Fusion
Provalone cheese
A.
The cinnamon-y smell of Skepchick HQ on Sundays
Tree Lobsters
The blues at sunrise
Margaritas at sunset
Loose shoes
A nicely rounded booty
I can’t believe I’m the first person to say “boobs.”
Also:
A well-told story, in any form (book, movie, television, song, etc.)
A well-told joke.
Cuddling.
Kitties.
Laughing, more than nearly anything else.
Having a drive-in theatre just outside of my city.
Finally living with the love of my life (see also: cuddling.)
Ice cream.
Sweets of nearly any kind.
Travel, though I don’t get to do nearly enough.
Acting.
Books. Skeptical or atheist or science blogs. Hacker News.
Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Mitch Hedburg, Conan O’Brien, and Michael Cera.
Learning new words, especially insults (thank you PZ Myers!). Etymology.
Reading or writing well-factored program code. User interface design. Database development.
DIY. Making anything from scratch. Working with my hands.
Beer, wine, whiskey, and gin.
Oh, and crosswords.
Hey there,
The smell of an unknown woman as she passes me on the street, and I get that lingering mixture of perfume, hair products and natural scents. In one second, my brain is flooded with the thoughts of a tumultuous romantic fling that will never happen. The scent of her on my pillow in the morning, the warmth of her body next to mine on a cold beach somewhere, her laugh as we run through the rain. All of this imagery is contained in that first passing scent. Everything that will never be. It’s fantastic. :)
Also, orgasms, as previously mentioned.
I like a hot bath after an intense workout, bubbles, flying through clouds when I can see out the window, alone time, work time, resting my head on someone’s shoulder (right at the top of the chest and just inside the end of the clavicle, so they can hug my head with their chin and neck), tarsiers, coffee, pasties, fractals and people watching.
Harry Potter (don’t judge)
Dykes to Watch Out For comics
PG Wodehouse
Stephen Fry
House
Cupcakes
Movie nights with friends
Drawing
Karl Urban (again, don’t judge me, okay? Especially since I bought a copy of DOOM b/c he was in it. I’m so ashamed.)
Star Trek TOS
Questionable Content
Flight anthologies
Skeptically Speaking radio show
Boot camp fitness
Running
Kevin Smith movies (and by extension,
SModcast)
The Skepchicks
Picking blackberries
Maps
Euler’s Identity
Hobbit holes
Patrick Moore
The Natural History Museum
Honey
Elgar’s Cello Concerto
Stabbing the foil on a new jar of instant coffee
Tim Minchin
Panama hats
Nearly everything.
Also, winning the TAM London ticket lottery!
(In no particular order)
~Roller derby (hopefully I’ll pass tryouts in July)
~Kittens
~Cat feet (jelly bean toes!!!)
~My dog
~Being married to my husband
~Going on trips (but not getting ready for them)
~Erasing the board (chalk or dry erase) – so satisfying
~Playing music in an ensemble
~Mashed potatoes
~BLTs, fried chicken, and pot roast (I’ve been vegetarian 3 years, these are the only meats I miss)
~Being in a new place (but not moving my stuff)
~Teaching (some days…)
Zenobia pistachio nuts
(hard for me to get except online and so expensive I perhaps get them once a year… boohooo)
(please note, American pistachio nuts look pretty but taste blah…)
I like turtles.
ooo and the squeaky sound the sand on the beach at Lake Michigan makes.
my dog
craft beer
seeing former students doing well and happy
Pythagorean Theorem
well written and played music
live hockey games
sunny and 60 (F), 16 (C)
Robin Williams “letting go”
smart women
Have I mentioned I’m a big fan of human error?
I enjoy it when people measure nonsense with great precision.
A few things:
– shows where the music is good and people are dancing and having fun
– chocolate cake
– Dr. Pepper
– webcomics
– when my cat crawls into my lap and rolls on his back so I can scritch his belly
– random unexpected emails from people I haven’t heard from in a while
– theatre. Even bad theatre has its charm.
– Jean Pierre Jeunet movies
– trying new recipes
– a fresh pot of really good tea
– when I have a good idea, no, a GREAT idea for a play or a story or an essay, and I can see the whole thing in my head from start to finish and it’s just a matter of filling in the details and getting it down on paper and I’m actually excited about doing so. That may be the best feeling in the world.
I like the song “I Like” by Heathen Dan.
When an experiment in the lab behaves as I have predicted. (pretty effing rare!)
4-part men’s acapella music
hard cider on a hot day.
echidnae (cause they shouldn’t exist!)
Microwbrewed/craft beer.
Progressive rock.
First-person shooter PC games.
Good books. Especially sci-fi.
Good humor. Especially parody.
Any cool geeky stuff, especially space related. (I work at JSC.)
*in no order:
-the smell outside right after it starts raining
-gears
-women’s shampoo (the smell, not the taste)
-chocolate chip cookies and Heineken
-Honda
-NPR
-people in the mental heath field (they’re comfortable to be around)
-Mrs. me
-a map of somthing
-old friends
-Tool
-my cute kids
-seeing someone get pulled over that just recently zinged by me at way over the speed limit
-pesto crust pizza
These are just a few…
Making people laugh.
My Mid-Wife.
Making kids laugh.
A damn good story.
Making myself laugh.
Puppies.
My nephews that make me laugh.
Puppies that make me laugh.
Chocolate.
My Grandma, still going at 95!
Tickling my wife so she does that cute laugh.
Robots.
Listening to my parents bicker.
Red heads.
Big brown eyes.
Music.
Working with my hands.
Figuring out a puzzle.
My wife’s cooking.
Getting a good intelligent conversation going.
Elvis Costello.
Prairie Home Companion. (Working on my Garrison Keillor impression.)
Tori Amos. (Am I weird for this?)
Comic books. (Yes, I am weird for this, but I don’t care.)
Biotech.
Studying about medical diseases.
Myths and religions.
-etc, etc
hmm, well a few of my favorite things are:
Good Whisky (single malt, some blended, Got me a bottle of Glen Morangie that I need to crack into here eventually),
Running and weight training, especially running (I better as I am in the beginning stages of training to do my first marathon. I have until August of next year)
Tom Waits
Corvus Corax (4 pipers, and several hand made instruments playing old medieval songs, also scientific name for raven)
Good Books (Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, Stephen King, the various classics such as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, also non-fiction books like Big Boys Rules, The Trouble with Physics, The Year of Living Biblically)
Good Movies (The Wrestler, anything Pixar, nearly anything Tarantino, Sin City, The El Mariachi Trilogy, Planet Terror, Doubt, Hero, etc)
Comics/Graphic Novels (The Boys, Devil’s Panties, The Preacher, Serenity Rose, JTHM, Lenore, The Sandman, Hellboy, The Walking Dead, etc)
Zombies and Zombie related entertainment (Left4Dead, Re: Your Brains, World War Z, Land of the Dead)
Scam School
etc.
@MiddleMan:
No.
An experiment going wrong in an interesting way.
@killyosaur42: Are you sure?
My kids
Thunderstorms with lots of lightning and houseshaking thunder and the feeling of power they share with me
How the internet lets me interact with people like me
Old things
Fountain pens
Suits
Fedoras
Panama hats
Leather gloves
Sun glasses
Flirting
Isaac Asimov, Douglas Adams, TRR Tolkien, Robert Heinlien, Neil Gaimen, Superman, Batman, Swamp Thing, Dark Horse, Top Cow, Kitchen Sink
The movie Pop!
Godfather, Lawrence of Arabia, Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Clerks II, Zack and Miri make a Porno
Moby Dick
Moby
Tegan and Sara, Liz Phair, They might be giants, barenaked ladies, crash test dummies, All american rejects, ritalin kids, miles davis, woody guthrie, Bob wills, Tennesse ernie ford, chopin, credence clearwater revivle, greenday, nirvana, sound garden, pearl jam, clash,
dancing naked in the rain
walking barefoot in the snow
pulling weeds in the flower bed
roses
mint
mojitos
watching bugs fly into the bug zapper
fire
sneaking up on people and goosing them
climbing trees
books
sunrises
sunsets
starry nights
cloudy days
gray hair and wrinkles
the ocean
rain
In no particular order.
Hanging out with my wife.
Live music: classical, symphonic, choral, rock, folk, Celtic pub, alternative…
Morning sex with the sun coming through the blinds. (any sex really but lazy sunny mornings with no place to be except in bed makes me feel all is right with the world)
Craft beer, single malt scotch and good wine.
Cooking and eating good food with family and friends. (especially any fresh seafood)
Reading a Neil Stephenson book on the floor in front of a fire in the fireplace.
Golfing with my buddies early in the morning on a sunny day and having no one in front of us.
Talking to smart engaging people and learning new things.
Starting house and landscaping projects. (I hope to get the finishing part sorted out someday)
Thunder and lightening.
The ocean and the mountains.
Continuing with yesterday’s AI, orgasms.
Snuggling.
Talking with my wife, my daughter, and other smart people.
Cats and dogs.
Calculus.
Probability.
Playing games.
Folk dancing.
Jazz.
Dorothy Sayers.
Pornographic parodies of movies and TV shows.
Coffee.
Beer.
Pot (in the right setting).
Skepchick.
Stunning natural phenomena, like seeing a glistening waterfall or mountain valley.
Rain, rainclouds, and the smell of rain.
Video games and puzzles — intellectual stimulation even in the most boring places!
Cuddling with my girlfriend, and going places with her.
Science in general.
Suddenly seeing science I’ve learned in school be ingeniously put to use in the lab, like genetically modifying Salmonella bacteria to make vaccines that have never been made before, and to do it almost free. And the great feeling it brings to finally understand how something works.
How intricate and amazing our bodies and other lifeforms are.
Starry nights, and galaxies through a telescope.
Big trees and lush vegetation.
Non-human animals, particularly furry ones, like my cats.
Good conversation, good food, and good friends.
@killyosaur42: Good Whisky
Have you tried any of these: Ardbeg, Ledaig, Laphroaig? If you like your whisky smokey these are killers!
@MiddleMan: Yes.
@MathMike: I’d love to, but I have limited access to the good stuff (as well as limited funds), I can easily get McCallen and the Glen Morangie, eventually I do intend to try as many as I can when I can find them.
@killyosaur42: If you say so.
Video games where I kill something-nonhuman
fluffy puppies that like to lick
kittens
household pets that like to play
pondering the insolvable
seeing my stock portfolio going up
action movies with melee/hand to hand fighting
snuggling
listening to female singers who hold notes
dark and/or self-depreciating humor
puns-the lamer the better
running my hands through hair
feeling facial hair on the back of my neck (heaven!!!)
Friendly people
Puppies
Kittens
Dogs
Cats…actually most animals…
Good books that make me forget because I’m so enthralled…
Things that make me laugh, like Douglas Adams
My wife, kids and grandkids
Star Trek TOS, NG
Well done science fiction
MST3K
Aviation, whether watching or participating
Nature
A good, cold drink on a hot day
Caribbean beaches
Good music, from progressive rock to classical
Duh Intertoobz
I’ll let you know about sex…not sure I remember that anymore…
Oh my, I forgot boobies. How could I forget boobies.
@Gabrielbrawley: Don’t boobies go without saying?
@Vengeful Harridan (Elexina): One should never forget the boobies.
Hey all,
I’m new here but I had to get in on this. So much stuff, but here’s a taste.
Movies-Miyazaki film IN JAPANESE, The Frighteners, anything by PIXAR, The Iron Giant, The Triplets of Belville (seeing a trend? ;), Ang Lee films, (even Hulk), The BTTF Trilogy, Steel Magnolias (“Oh, I’d rather eat dirt!”), Dark City, Joe vs. the Volcano (I’m alone on this one, I know)
TV-The Dick VanDyke Show, Deep Space Nine, Fringe (don’t shoot), Bones, Planet Earth in HD, Mythbusters, The Big Bang Theory, Ugly Betty
Writing-Amy Tan, Ambrose Bierce, Mark Twain, Robert Frost, Poe, Scott Sigler, Shakespeare
Actors-Neil Patrick Harris, Johnny Depp, Alan Arkin, Albert Brooks, Meryl Streep
Music-Sade, Billie Holiday, Sarah McLaughlin, Tori Amos, Dixie Chicks, Indigo Girls (I may actually be a lesbian), 80’s power ballads (I know0, Grand classical/operatic pieces, filk music (Jonathan Coultan rules)
General-Walking the neighborhood after 2-3 inches of snow (so quiet with the squeeky crunch under your feet), dancing with utter abandon, tickle fights with my daughter, a hot shower after a hard day of dirty work
That’s just off the top of my head.
Oh, and of course The Skepchicks (and all good skeptics)
In no particular order:
Knowing that I’m pretentious about beer, coffee, ciggarettes and grammar
Shiner Bock
Cloves
A really dry red wine
Laughing
Being sarcastic and snarky…. snarkastic if you will
Cuddling
Walking in the rain
Tremendous thunderstorms
The way my significant other smells
Hanging out with my brothers
My mother’s infinite wisdom
Having conversations about things that no one else would ever consider…
my absolute favorite thing to do is driving.
also hiking and backpacking
eating out especially with a large group of friends
movies ( I will go anywere if they are showing Audrey Hepburn movies in a theater )
and single malt scotch perticularly Balvenie
And 80’s music of any kind
*Food! Making it, eating it, thinking about making and eating it, reading about it, watching it being made competitively on television
*Running and yoga (to combat aforementioned love of food)
*Drinking and chatting with friends
*Dancing to 80s music
*Museums (primarily to look at art, but I love visiting any public repository of knowledge and artifacts)
*Hiking
*Chicago in the summertime (subcategories: street festivals, beer gardens, the Lake)
*Gummy candy
*My triumvirate of best friends, all of whom I’ve known since grade school, and all of the other wonderful friends I made after the age of 6
*My family
This list should be ranked in reverse order…
Steam trains (showing my age here)
Astronomy
Military history of WWII and modern European history in general.
Science and rational thinking but:-
I believe a good dog is truly magical and can teach you lessons about love and loyalty – lessons some people sadly never learn.
Helping a friend.
Right now:-
Skepchick
XKCD
Questionable Content
Maybe I don’t totally fit the skeptical mold, but mostly..
@Jack99:
“I believe a good dog is truly magical and can teach you lessons about love and loyalty – lessons some people sadly never learn.” Exactly my thought. (Like the old saying, “I hope to become the person my dog(s) think I am.”)
“Helping a friend.” Definitely. Nothing like it.