Quickies

Skepchick Quickies 1.9

On January 9th, 2007, the first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs. I can’t believe it’s only been six years! (Although I have yet to own one.)

Mary

Mary Brock works as an Immunology scientist by day and takes care of a pink-loving princess child by night. She likes cloudy days, crafting, cooking, and Fall weather in New England.

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15 Comments

  1. It’s great news from an advancement-of-women standpoint that Boulder has an all-female county commission. Sadly, as you might suspect if you know anything about Boulder Country (where I used to live), two of the three have taken the (vey popular in Boulder) position that GMOs should be banned outright from public space. I highly doubt it would be any different if men were elected to the commission, mind you – this is just the sort of craziness that Boulderites take for granted.

  2. Darn, I had hoped the victim of the cat call was the one who took action. I think these tools should always be confronted, preferably by a large group of bystanders.

    I’ve had cat calls from asshole construction guys. The solution is easy: call their boss. One company at Smith College was notorious for cat calling the students; I heard months later they had been banned from the campus.

  3. All this antivax shit was started in Australia by expat American Meryl Dorey.

    Usually on Skepchick I try not to come across as anti USA but on this topic perhaps it is understandable. (Hm gun control. Hm war in Iraq. Hm hm hm)

    I am sorry that Luna copped some of the splatter of my antiantivax snark yesterday. But in general on this site I think we are mostly on the same side.

    1. Antivax splatter. That creates quite an image! :D

      No worries. I’m pro vaccine but worth saying I’m not happy with it being black and white either. As a vet tech I saw awful consequences from cat vaccines.

      They give the shot on the leg now instead of behind the neck so if the cat gets lymphosarcoma they can amputate.

      It wasn’t from the vaccine; it was from the adjuvant. That’s what makes the vaccine last longer. So they removed it but there can be unforeseen consequences from vaccinations.

      In all likelihood we’re probably a thousand times more likely to die from the flu than from the flu vaccine; but new drugs should never be immune (har har) from scrutiny.

  4. Mary

    As dumb as that Anti Vaccine comic book maybe, I’m not surprised that it exists. There’s a lot of things out there that target Children, that promote bad science. Creationists target children all the time, why shouldn’t we have suspected Anti Vaccers to do the same?

  5. Definately some scary shit with the stabbing story and that anti-vax book aimed at kids.

    Despite all the stories, I’m still shocked on just much guys can be assholes towards women.
    I wouldn’t be surprised if somewhere, someone will use a gun next time.

    I can’t help but think of my catholic relatives when it comes to the article on reproductive rights.
    To them, abortions equate to murder. And I’m always at a loss of what a rational response would be.

    Anyone ever encounter such mentality?
    What usually works, if anything?

    1. I would ask them whose life is more important: the baby’s or the mother’s? Because that’s exactly what happened in Ireland. The fetus still had a heartbeat, even though it wasn’t viable and the mother was likely to get an infection. The hospital decided that the dying fetus’s life was more important, so the mother died.

      Also, I would tell them that if they don’t like abortion, they don’t have to get an abortion. Being pro-choice doesn’t mean you would get an abortion yourself if faced with that decision.

    2. You could also try asking them how comfortable they are about a secular government making decisions about ensoulment. There are many beliefs about when that happens, and if it happens. Should the government be deciding whether people have souls, and when those souls enter the body? And which group’s belief should they go with? Conception, quickening, first breath? Different people of different faiths (and no faith) have widely divergent ideas on when life begins. Why would you want the government to decide between beliefs? Why would you want them involved at all?
      Abortion should be between a woman, her doctor, and her god. If she believes in god. The state has no place in it.

    3. Good points. You could also point to the horrors that existed pre legalisation, when poor women were butchered by unlicensed black market amateurs and corrupt high level police ran protection rackets.

  6. Hunting thru Youtube the other day and seeing all the parodies that have been done makes me think somebody ought to do a parody of that book.

  7. Thank link from the former teenage word bully really captures the aimless sociopathy of adolescence. The part that really struck me was that both of the women the kids had harassed later befriended one of them and never brought up the paper. Also the part where the author wrote horribly racist things while at the same time having black friends and genuinely liking them.

    I can kind of remember similar contradictions from my own teen years. I wonder if that’s how psychopaths see the world all the time.

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