Quickies

Skepchick Quickies, 5.9

Jen

Jen is a writer and web designer/developer in Columbus, Ohio. She spends too much time on Twitter at @antiheroine.

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11 Comments

      1. Interestingly, it is not possible to get drunk on the vodka that people have already soaked their feet in. This is because no bugger will drink it. (2nd Red Dwarf quote today. I miss that show.)

        1. I don’t know about that. Wasn’t there some British noble who died in the Caribbean and whose body was supposed to have been returned to Olde England preserved in a barrel of rum? It didn’t work because the sailors drank all the rum on the return trip.
          Sorry if I spoiled anyone’s dinner.

          1. During the Civil War tbe Confederates soaked raw meat in their home brew. It was supposed to give it an old and mellow flavor.

          2. Lord Nelson died in battle and was preserved in a barrel of brandy so he could be buried back in the UK.

  1. I’d like to see an actual study on the happiness and success of geeks after high school. It would be great if it was true, but it sure hasn’t panned out in my life. The boys that beat me up because they thought I was a lesbian are now doctors and lawyers. I’m still perceived as weird by my peers. My personal life is non-existent and I will never recover from the financial disaster I got myself into foolishly following my dreams. My only friends from school are an alcoholic on her third marriage, who has a son with fetal alcohol syndrome and a woman with a very Donna Reed perfect existence, if only she weren’t deeply in the closet (confiding to me that she just wants to be normal.)
    Of course these are just anecdotes, too. I can haz evidence?

    1. I was thinking that same thing. Nerds who want it to be true that nerds are the end-all using anecdotes to “prove” it.
      Until I see a real study I will consider this to be wish fulfilment theater.
      The ultimate Betty Sue if you will.

  2. Wasn’t this “soak your feet in alcohol” study already debunked in the December 15th podcast of SGU from last year?
    And I’ve given up on hoping that another review of those ‘Climategate’ emails will convince anyone. The usual people will decry it as a ‘whitewashing’ and insist that another ‘independent’ review must start. :-(

  3. The article on pseudo-science hits very close to home for me. I am a science professor who is fighting a proposed class (for credit!) on Reiki at my college. If the college starts teaching woo how can we expect the general populace to learn the difference between science and woo!

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