Quickies

Skepchick Quickies 8.28

Amanda

Amanda works in healthcare, is a loudmouthed feminist, and proud supporter of the Oxford comma.

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18 Comments

  1. That Akin link is from a satirical site. If you look to the upper right hand corner it says The Global Satirical Newspaper of Record.

    1. I’m SO GLAD it’s satire. And well done, too, since it had just enough commonalities with other batshittery that I didn’t even notice the note in the corner!

      And that article about Santorum is pretty hilarious, too.

    2. I think, from now on, the word “SATIRE” has to be in big, block letters at the beginning of the article. Given what I’ve actually heard conservatives say, this example of satire is too subtle for me. I had to google to reassure myself there was no truth in it at all.

  2. Hurrah, there’s international support for Akin now. http://www.salon.com/2012/08/28/dutch_candidate_echoes_akin_rape_pregnancy_comment/singleton/

    The fundamentalist SGP is very, very conservative. They represent the most conservative members of the myriad of Dutch Reformed churches.
    Recently the SGP was forced by the highest Dutch judicial court to allow women on their candidate lists for general and other elections.
    They believe women do not have the right to vote or to be elected. Most women of these fire and brimstone/eternal damnation churches simply don’t vote or give their husband a mandate to vote for them.
    Until quite recently the SGP didn’t allow women to be party members.
    It is therefore no surprise that the chairman of this party echoes Akin.

    BTW Susan Jacoby’s article is a very interesting read. Everyone should read it.

  3. I’m on the Akin cleanse I’m cutting out stupid misogynisitc politicians out of my life and let me tell you my stress levels have dropped and I believe I have cut my chances of heart attack in half! Of course my results could be anecdotal.

  4. In the Candida cleanse piece, she mentions suffering with migraines so severe she has to inject herself with sodium chloride. As in, normal saline. As in, someone has given this woman a placebo injector and it’s the thing that fixes her migraines. Huh.

  5. I keep reading the “Candida” cleanse as “Canada” cleanse and wondering what the heck my country is doing now.

  6. Honestly I almost blamed Canada too but took a second look, then went back to blaming Canada for everything else.

  7. Re nanoparticles leaching into your skin and killing you, some particulate substances can be quite harmful based on size and shape alone, irregardless of their otherwise benign chemistry. Asbestos is a naturally occuring example. I had to waste half a day sitting in a lecture about the dangers of nanoparticles on the off chance I should happen to encounter any, and that was the jist of it.

    I like the idea of wearing particulate titanium dioxide as an uber-UV proof sunscreen, but it hope some tests have been done on the effects of long-term regular use. The idea of molecular-scale clusters of metal atoms or metal and oxygen atoms messing you up is not imaginary, I just hope it doesn’t apply to TiO2.

  8. Response to the sunscreen article from the anti sunscreen people. “They were bought out!!!!” I do remember reading a comment regarding sunscreen that went something like this. “I’d rather get cancer than put chemicals on my body!” So… they would rather get cancer as opposed to getting cancer? :O

  9. I’m sorry, I’ve got some issues with that sunscreen article. For one thing, the Results says there’s no evidence it causes squamous cell carcinoma. But as I recall, the FDA’s concern was that it could cause melanoma.

    Forgive me if I just scanned this information – it’s been a while. But I seem to remember that vitamin A was being added to 30% of sunscreens which was a concern.

    MOST IMPORTANT THOUGH, there’s almost no question that sunscreen is killing coral reefs with ingredients like octylmethoxycinnamate, benzophenone-3 and octocrylene. These chemicals cause photosynthesizing algae to contract viruses and cast themselves off reefs, depriving them of vital nutrients which causes bleaching. The suntan lotion acts like a giant oil slick.

    Some parts of Mexico now prohibit all except for zinc-based reef-safe sunscreen. I used this in the Carribean and it worked quite well.

    I don’t know everything about the new types of reef safe product, but I do know that we cannot allow our reefs to die off. They represent hugely important ecosystems and provide like a billion dollars to island nations that depend on them reducing tropical storm wave damage (also saves lives) and providing nurseries for fish.

    http://ehp03.niehs.nih.gov/article/fetchArticle.action?articleURI=info:doi/10.1289/ehp.10966

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1637787/pdf/envhper00310-0137.pdf

    1. Thanks for that info, Luna. We learn something new here every day. I share your concern for reefs and fish nurseries, hugely topical, devastation of the Great Barrier Reef is particularly close to home and overfishing is something we MUST address.

      I was watching a docco in Bali showing illegal fishing using CYANIDE FFS and the Indonesian patrols were catching the illegal boats and burning them as a lesson not to do this.

      Don’t even speak to me about shark fins, cut off whilst alive and the sharks thrown back into the sea bleeding to death slowly.

      So in all the discussions about diet here, seafood is the one thing I would gladly give up for the sake of the planet.

  10. Wow, burning them. Good to know someone is taking it seriously anyway. Cyanide fishing is definetly another threat to reefs.

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