Quickies
Skepchick Quickies 3.16
- Could an angry vagina be a source of womb diseases? – You don’t need expensive medical procedures, you just need anger management for your vag.
- Most alien-looking place on earth? – Cool photo set of Socotra, an island off of the horn of Africa. From Steve.
- Illustrative graph of UFO sightings – This theory could be applied to many types of bullshit, actually. From Sydney.
- How men’s overconfidence hurts them as investors – “Researchers have found that activating the nucleus accumbens — a brain region that is stimulated when you eat delicious food or look at an attractive person — can affect financial risk-taking.” From James.
That men vs. women article only confirms one thing for me: I really don’t know dick about dick when it comes to anything involved with stocks, or really economics in general and should only continue investing in my credit cards and in cooler cars that will help me land a hot chick with a portfolio.
re: UFO Sighting!
Rofl!!! Too funny!
Re: Angry vagina
I couldn’t read it all. Just the first few lines were making my eyes roll too painfully!
The vagina article makes my vagina angry.
That men versus women investment styles is BS in same way that almost all social science is BS. How about women don’t actively trade as much as men do therefore are less likely to sell at any time? I’m not saying it’s a more correct hypothesis, but it is equally plausible.
This does lead to a more interesting topic, however. I’ve been thinking skeptically about investing for a while now. The mantra of the market is that “past results are no prediction of future returns”, but this will usually be followed by, “over long time scales the stock market outperforms other investments.” Oh, really? Who says the next 30 years are going to be anything like the last 30 years? This is woo masquerading as wisdom. With increasingly volatile energy prices, aging populations in the developed world, and rapidly changing global economic balance I would think the smart bet would be the next 30 years will be unlike anything we have seen before. I don’t trust anyone who claims to know what it is going to be like let alone wants to invest my money based on their guesswork.
The other thing that drives me nuts is most free advice on mortgages comes from mortgage companies and most advice on investing comes from investment companies. I have a world of respect for companies like Vanguard, but should I really listen only to them when their business model is based on getting as much of my money as possible? I think not.
I met an angry vagina once. I tried to calm it down but it beat the stuffing out of me.
I think problems many people have with stocks is they view them similar to purchasing old baseball cards instead of taking the view that they are becoming partial owners of a business. They think they will buy at a price and then over time the price will rise and they can sell for profit. They don’t examine the fundamentals of the business to determine if it is a viable profit making company which is priced reasonably.
The funniest thing I’ve ever heard a patient say had to do with fibroids. When I saw the fibroids while ultrasounding her, I pointed them out and started answering her questions. I mentioned that fibroids were more common in African American women and she said (this is a direct quote), “I’m not trying to be funny, but do you think that’s because our men’s penises are so big?” I consider my crowning achievement in life the fact that I did not laugh out loud. When I said I would be skeptical of that, she asked if anyone had every done a study to test that and suggested that I should do the research- she was willing to be a subject.
I’m not sure if I’m more inclined to believe the large penis theory or the angry vagina theory. I’ll defer to my tried and true experience: when in doubt, blame the penis.
Just from a glance over the article, it kinda reinforces the notion that men show their affection by spending money on the one they love.
@Displaced Northerner: COTW, that’s a great story.
Just glancing at that article about men’s spending, I’m guessing this is actually a better summary of how people react in those situations, among others;
http://www.cracked.com/article_18388_6-logical-fallacies-that-cost-you-money-every-day.html
The press release for the Angry Vagina is ridiculous. Everyone knows that John Mayer’s Hitler Penis is the root cause of angry vaginas.
@Elyse: I see a business plan:
Angry Vagina Investments Ltd.
Angry Vagina Money Management Systems
The Angry Vagina Group
@James Fox: If you start that business, please hire me as your PR person. I already have the company’s first slogan;
“Home of the Screaming Vulva.”
“… All those douche sprays, floral, berry, rain. I don’t want my pussy to smell like berries or rain. All cleaned up like washing a fish after you cook it. I want to taste the fish. That’s why I ordered it.”
My favorite part of the “Angry Vagina” monologue. Which has nothing to do with frakking tumors, but it still makes me laugh.