Quickies
Skepchick Quickies 4.26

- Little girls are better at designing superheroes than you – This’ll brighten your day.
- For the first time ever, hear what Alexander Graham Bell sounded like – Or if you’re a Doctor Who fan, get a little confused thinking we’ve done this already.
- US female sailor beats Dubai rapist bus driver into submission – Yay for good outcomes to terrifying situations.
- Shakuntala Devi, “human computer”, dies at 83 – “In 1980, she correctly multiplied two 13-digit numbers in only 28 seconds at the Imperial College in London. The feat, which earned her a place in the 1982 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records, was even more remarkable because it included the time to recite the 26-digit solution.”
- A softer world on men’s rights – Nailed it, as always. Check the rollover text. From Callie.
- Cute Animal Friday! From Elyse, name a baby beluga (and check out the beluga cam). These baby sloth and mom pics are incredibly cute. And your weird cute animal for the day, the quokka.
Heh, that story about the sailor subduing the bus driver reminds me of a friend of mine. She was in the New Zealand army, and otherwise a farm girl, so when she visited a big city in the US, she wasn’t prepared for the crime there. Of course, being who she was, “not prepared” equated to “stealing a mugger’s knife before realizing she was being mugged.” I know this won’t work for every woman out there, but it’s still cathartic to hear about these stories where a few manage to turn things around on their assailants.
I hate to be a party pooper, but it doesn’t look like those little girls “designed” superheros at all, just dressed up as existing ones. (Well, except for the gender ambiguous Hulkerina.) As for the lack of a cleavage window on powergirl, I’ll bet that was the doing of whomever made the costume, likely the girl’s mother. I am saddened to see the continued absence of Wonder Woman from the superhero scene. Who else remembers Linda Carter clobbering Nazis on TV?