- The caveman fallacy – The notion that “whatever humans do in our “natural” state is what is best for us physically, intellectually, and emotionally.” From Matthew.
- Vaccine waivers for creationists – Print your own and pass them out.
- Long-term effects of day care – Hint: It will not hopelessly warp your offspring.
- Oxytocin and the big O – Happy Friday, perverts.
- Cute Animal Friday! To commemorate Veteran’s Day, Mental Floss gathered a bunch of videos of dogs welcoming their soldiers home. This puppy is demonstrating the Doppler effect. And if you’re not yet keeled over from the cute, check out these otter pups.
And a Happy Friday to you, too!
That orgasm article is all sorts of fun. I also appreciate that it introduces, even if it’s a humorous aside, the phrase “penis deflection.” I can only assume this is the scientific term for cockblocking.
@Jen: maybe ‘penis fracture?’
on point 2… already printed and forwarded to skepbudz.
deflection of the pen on the EEG? dunno
The vaccine waivers are simply brilliant. The very first comment on that article is from a guy that is full of stupid, though.
These evolution-deniers are crazy, and, when they infiltrate governments, dangerous.
I wish we could deny them vaccines and other benefits of evolutionary science. Okay, not really. Okay, maybe a little. Or a lot.
Vaccine waivers… great idea! I was just saying to my friends the other day that WAY too many people are getting vaccinated and we need to get those numbers down. Any excuse is a good one.
*grumble grumble grouch grumble*
On the other hand, I’m torn on the daycare issue. Moose bites me when he’s mad. If he went to daycare, he’d probably bite more… but he’d probably bite someone else, and you know, I’d be okay with that.
@Elyse: Dateline Chicago: Day care workers suffer from rash of Moose bites.
@DataJack: Moose bites. I think those have chocolate and peanuts, right? Sweet!
@Elyse: You may have to muzzle the Moose!
I think the day care study is interesting. It’s always been my hypothesis that it’s really hard to “ruin” a kid, and most of them fare pretty well whether they have day care or a stay at home parent. I think our society worries too much about produce perfect children (Baby Einstein, helicopter parents). As long as they have at least one loving adult in their life and have all their needs met, then we should stop worrying.
There’ll be an oxytocin fountain on Skepchick Island !!
Yeah, the premise behind the vaccine waivers is cute and all, but I still want creationists vaccinated for MY sake. It’s bad enough that they’re undermining science, I don’t want them coughing on me on top of it.
*sigh* Public health… whatcha gonna do, right?
That oxy-orgasm article had me laughing omg. *giggles* Hilarious write-up.
Yes everything was interesting but am i really the only one who found the otter pups dangerously adorable?
@busterggi: No
I’ve noticed loads of people going awry with the caveman fallacy (myself included) especially as it relates to evolution. If a study shows that humans might have evolved a tendency to lie or cheat or steal or pillage or rape, then people jump to the conclusion, because they think that everything that’s natural is “the way it should be” that a) evolution must be wrong or b) it’s okay to cheat, steal, pillage, and rape. Unfortunately they forget that evolution also gave us brains.
@sporefrog: More to the point, evolution only provides what is good enough to succesfully reproduce, not necessarilly what is absolutely optimal in a given environment. This fact often seems ot be lost on people.
I was quite fond of the daycare article largely because I am very tired of people informing me that daycare is a horrible thing based on nothing but supposition and facile arguments.
@Elyse: Mööse bites can be quite dangerous, you knöw… (Sorry)
The cavemen fallacy is one of my least favorite fallacies, largely because how many (otherwise highly intelligent) people I know who buy into it and how transparently fallacious it is.
Statement: “If we were cavemen, our bodies wouldn’t be polluted by all these synthetic substances!”
– Reply: “You’re 37 years old and I’m 39. If we were cavemen, we’d most likely be dead by now.”