And that’s coming from someone who’s considering posing for the Skepticon 4 pinup calendar (though much more covered than my April Fool’s Day post suggested – don’t get too excited, people).
Blag Hag
Atheism, feminism, geekery
And that’s coming from someone who’s considering posing for the Skepticon 4 pinup calendar (though much more covered than my April Fool’s Day post suggested – don’t get too excited, people).
This is serious guys. I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’m so torn!
The release date for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 is July 15… RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF TAM9!!!
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!
Friend: Oh boo hoo, you’ll have to wait a couple days to see Harry Potter because you’ll be in Vegas hobnobbing with famous skeptics. #firstworldproblems
I must gather some fellow skeptics to go to a midnight showing with me! Harry Potter in Vegas! Who’s with me?!
I was initially hesitant when JT Eberhard asked me to be a part of the Skepticon 4 pin-up calendar, but now I’m really happy that I did it. Not only is it a great fundraiser for an awesome conference, but I’m alongside amazing women like Rebecca Watson and Greta Christina. Plus, it’s sexy and artsy – like this photo from last year.I definitely had my reservations. I mean, I’m already known for my boobs, and I don’t want to get pigeonholed into some sexy stereotype when I have many intellectual accomplishments. But at the same time, it’s my body, and I don’t want others telling me what I can do with it. If I want to pose nude, then damn it, I should be able to!
These are just the proofs – for the high quality version, you’ll have to buy the calendar.
I’m not embedding them here since full nudity is NSFW, but you can check out my favorite shot here.
Be gentle!
My friend Julie, who’s been very active in the atheist and skeptical movements, just started vet school this fall. She’s documenting her journey in the best way possible – blogging. I highly suggest you guys go check it out, as she talks about skepticism applied to animal health behavior a lot. I particular like her post on diets, and how vets benefit from skepticism:
I admit, raw was something that sucked me in hard and fast and I was teetering on the edge of true believer status for awhile. I had to reel it in, evaluate the evidence objectively and admit that if I held alternative medicine, faith- and prayer-based medicine, etc. to one standard but not raw diets, I was guilty of biased reasoning and cherry-picking. It’s not something that I tolerate in my colleagues and it’s not something I’ll allow myself to get away with, either.
Check the rest of the post out here.
And if my recommendation isn’t enough for you, Julie is fostering a cat that’s about to give birth. Dozens of kitten photos are imminent. Go, go follow her now!
Super Potions: Heals 50 HP, costs 700 PokeDollars
Fresh Water: Heals 50 HP, costs 200 PokeDollars
Why…Super Potions are just fresh water that have been marked up because of the fancy label! I’m sure if you read the fine print there’s something about “parts per million” or “Not approved by the PokeFood and Drug Administration.”
Where are all the skeptics in the Pokemon universe to out this scam? Maybe they’re too busy fighting off swarms of Woobats.
…Don’t worry, I’m about the beat the Elite Four, so Pokemon talk will die down soon.
(Via reddit)
…because I’ll be speaking at The Amaz!ng Meeting 9!
I’ve been dying to announce this since I found out, since it’s an honor to be invited to speak at such a large and truly amazing skeptical event. And it’s even more of an honor now that the speaker’s list has been announced, and I see what awesome people I’m listed with (and I made it in before the “And many more” cut!):
Elyse Anders
Greta Christina
Rachel Dunlop
Pamela Gay
DJ Grothe
Harriet Hall
Jennifer Michael Hecht
PZ Myers
Steve Novella
Bill Nye
Jennifer Ouellette
Penn & Teller
Phil Plait
James Randi
Adam Savage
Eugenie Scott
Michael Shermer
Karen Stollznow
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Rebecca Watson
…Just to name a few. Go check out the whole list here. The weird thing about my life is that I’ve actually met or even befriended most of that list already – I’m mostly excited because I know it means it’ll be an excellent conference. …Well, and I’m still flailing about meeting Neil deGrasse Tyson and Bill Nye. BILL NYE! *swoon*
Oh, and I should add that 24 out of 49 speakers are women. Way to go, TAM! See, who says these amazing skeptical women don’t exist? And no, I’m not just going to be speaking on the panel on diversity (though it’s great they’re having that discussion). Isn’t that awesome?! EDIT: Sadie Crabtree, Communications Director of the JREF, just informed me that the women actually outnumber the men as solo presenters this year. I think that’s a first for a skeptical conference! Go TAM9!
TAM9 Goal: Get Phil in the hot tub again, along with as many other speakers as possible.
I hope I’ll see you there this summer!
…because I’ll be speaking at The Amaz!ng Meeting 9!
I’ve been dying to announce this since I found out, since it’s an honor to be invited to speak at such a large and truly amazing skeptical event. And it’s even more of an honor now that the speaker’s list has been announced, and I see what awesome people I’m listed with (and I made it in before the “And many more” cut!):
Elyse Anders
Greta Christina
Rachel Dunlop
Pamela Gay
DJ Grothe
Harriet Hall
Jennifer Michael Hecht
PZ Myers
Steve Novella
Bill Nye
Jennifer Ouellette
Penn & Teller
Phil Plait
James Randi
Adam Savage
Eugenie Scott
Michael Shermer
Karen Stollznow
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Rebecca Watson
…Just to name a few. Go check out the whole list here. The weird thing about my life is that I’ve actually met or even befriended most of that list already – I’m mostly excited because I know it means it’ll be an excellent conference. …Well, and I’m still flailing about meeting Neil deGrasse Tyson and Bill Nye. BILL NYE! *swoon*
Oh, and I should add that 24 out of 49 speakers are women. Way to go, TAM! See, who says these amazing skeptical women don’t exist? And no, I’m not just going to be speaking on the panel on diversity (though it’s great they’re having that discussion). Isn’t that awesome?! EDIT: Sadie Crabtree, Communications Director of the JREF, just informed me that the women actually outnumber the men as solo presenters this year. I think that’s a first for a skeptical conference! Go TAM9!
TAM9 Goal: Get Phil in the hot tub again, along with as many other speakers as possible.
I hope I’ll see you there this summer!
Because facts are very useful things to have in your tool belt when arguing your point:
Women do not suffer mental health problems such as depression or post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of having an abortion, researchers reported Wednesday.
The study, published by Danish scientists in the New England Journal of Medicine, adds to a growing body of scientific literature that has failed to find that abortion causes psychological problems, as some abortion opponents have asserted.
Too bad there are too many people who don’t care about science or facts. Oh well, they’re a lost cause anyway.
Astrologers are in a tizzy after Brian Cox and Dara O’Briain called astrology “rubbish” and “nonsense” on BBC2’s “Stargazing Live.” The Astrological Association of Great Britain (yes, they have an organization) released the following announcement, along with a petition to BBC:
The Association will be requesting that the BBC make a public apology and a statement that they do not support the personal views of Professor Brian Cox or Dara O’Briains on the subject of astrology. We also request that the BBC will commit to making a fair and balanced representation of astrology when aired in the future.
The BBC is certainly biased…toward reality. Martin Robbins has the spot on response:
On the second sentence at least I think we can all agree. I’d love to see the BBC give a fair and balanced representation of astrology. In fact sod it, let’s extend that to all newspapers as well.
Such a representation would depict astrology as a pseudoscience with no real basis in evidence that was already being ridiculed in the Dark Ages, and note that after thousands of years astrologers still can’t produce statistically meaningful results.
It would observe that any apparent successes of astrology probably owe more to the use of cold-reading techniques, convenient vagueness, and the exploitation of psychological quirks like confirmation bias or the Forer effect, and express amazement at the continued ability of the astrological industry to lift hundreds of millions of euros, pounds and dollars out of the pockets of customers each year.
Finally, it would make the point that intellectually-speaking, the pursuit of meaningful predictions in astrology isn’t so much flogging a dead horse as punching a piece of rock and wondering why it won’t say anything. Fair and balanced reporting is not the best thing to ask for when your views have about as much credibility as Andy Coulson’s future in journalism.
Ah, beautiful. If only the media would give such a fair representation of hokum like astrology. Maybe we could extend that to religious claims as well, so reporters don’t have to report miracles and end of the world prophecies like they actually have a grain of truth to them.
Ha:
Scorpio Saturn rising in your sign will subject you to the powerful force of Fate, which everybody knows is stronger by far than electromagnetism, gravity, or the nuclear strong and weak forces.
Indeed! My other favorites include:
Capricorn Faith is the evidence of things not seen, which any well-rounded human being must admit is better than only trusting good hard provable evidence.
And
Aquarius This is a good week to spend with family, which is the kind of advice stupid old Ophiuchus would never have given you.
You can check out the rest here.
