Quickies
Skepchick Quickies 12.18
- German authorities slam children’s book that questions existence of god – They’re calling it a children’s “The God Delusion” but I think that’s unfair. From Tina.
- Happy anniversary to the Tree Lobsters! – I can’t believe Steve actually listened to my demand for one tree lobster comic, much less that he’s been keeping the funny rolling for a whole year now.Â
- Arizona governor OKs Christmas, Hannukah at work – “In a formal executive order, Brewer said any executive branch agency that reports to her cannot stop employees from “personally celebrating” either holiday. That includes putting items “traditionally associated” with the holidays on their desks.” From Cosmic Thespian.Â
- Hidden sensory apparatus found in human skin – “A transatlantic team of scientists have discovered a secondary sensory system, independent of the well-understood nervous system, hidden in the skin. These may be at the root of inexplicable chronic pain syndromes like fibromyalgia.”
- Cute Animal Friday! First, some helpful science kittehs from Bjornar. This baby mongoose is definitely up to something. Mmm, pupcakes.
I used to work for the State of Arizona. We always decorated for the holidays, including a big Christmas tree.
The German children’s book story is almost a year old and the Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Schriften has already rejected the request to put the book on the index. All the details here:
http://www.ferkelbuch.de
@Shevek:
And let me add: I own a copy of that book – I don’t like it on the basis that it’s propaganda painting religious people with a very broad brush. I don’t like this kind of indoctrination when it comes from the religious and I don’t think an atheist twist makes it much better.
Yep, I fear I may have a wee bit of a man crush on Steve. His posts here are hilarious and/or thought provoking, and his tree lobsters comic is awesomely clever. (I even have a TL pin signed by him from DragonCon.)
Happy anniversary Tree Lobsters!
Congrats @Steve! And hopefully, one day, the Tree lobsters will win out against those intellectually dishonest Crabs.
@Shevek: agreed, though I haven’t read the book myself but I got that feeling from the story.
All three are singled out, equally.
If you’re not subscribed to the Tree Lobster RSS feed, you’re a bad person.
Last time i saw mongooses they were involved in a rather involved courtship involving a large mongoose erection, a lot of mongoose screaming, and even more horrified parents when they were asked what “those two furry things are doing, mommy?” As a direct result, “This baby mongoose is definitely up to something” made me think “That’s a little uncalled for!” before i realised that was the fault of my dirty mind and you guys had no way to make that connection. But really, you haven’t lived till you’ve seen a male mongoose trying to bone a female one.
@Briarking: Oh, that’s right! You’ve got the first, and so far only, signed Tree Lobsters pin. If you hold onto that for a few years, it might eventually be worth absolutely nothing. :-D
@intimeoflilacs: COTW. Oh great, now instead of being cute, that sneaky look on its face now makes me think it’s thinking about hot mongoose loving.
@Amanda: i’m not sure anyone can use the word “involved” in a sentence as many times as i did and win COTW
@Briarking: Damn, I didn’t get my pin signed! I didn’t even know it was physically possible to sign them…
Happy Anniversary, Steve!
On the holiday story… so Solstice, Newtonmas, and Festivus are out with Kwanzaa? I don’t have a problem w/ state employees celebrating their religious holidays at the office (we’re talking lil tree on the desk here, right?), but non-religious ones should be cool, too.
@intimeoflilacs: Pfft. “Large Mongoose Erection” would make an awesome band name.
I feel dead people.
@Nicole: “so Solstice, Newtonmas, and Festivus are out with Kwanzaa?”
Mustn’t forget Perihelion.
I haven’t seen the book but to argue against the existence of anything by showing three crazy adherents isn’t much of a rationale.
Better to have each pitch their religion in a calm manner, have one of the animals ask questions about proof, and leave them be befuddled.
That could be a good book, hmmm.
I’ll add my congrats to Steve even though most of the time a genetic defect makes the comics look like talking blobs. Perhaps one day science will find a cure for the curse of red/green color blindness. Then again someday a monkey may fly out of my ass.
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, STEVE!
Congratulations on being more tenacious than 90% of the webcomics ever started! I’ll be sure to announce your milestone on the Beacon this Sunday. *glee*
As for the “hidden sensory apparatus” story – is there some kind of law that states all hype infused science articles have to mention either Autism or Fibromyalgia? As a woman with both Fibromyalgia and an Autistic son, I’d like to know who I need to shoot to have the freakin’ law revoked.
@weofui: You are so right about the fibro comment. I’m not tuned in to autism, but as someone with CFS I definitely notice that it and fibromyalgia come up incredibly often as “illnesses we know the general public doesn’t understand so we might as well use them as examples.”
Frankly the book sounds like the worst sort of propaganda and very close to what almost comes across as a caricature of what atheists are arguing for.
But censorship is bad regardless of the message in question.