I can tell that Rebecca Watson is running scared. She is so ashamed and intimidated by the fact that Dr Eliza Sutton has accused unnamed Skepchicks and named FtBer of transmitting STDs (she might do it again!) that she’s forced to recant and admit that there are many good reasons not to attend her Quiz-O-Tron in San Francisco on 25 October.
None of those reasons seem to involve being a dangerous vector for disease, though. What they are is a recitation of rationalizations posted by weird anti-feminists on a petition to shut down her Quiz-O-Tron in San Francisco on 25 October.
None of them are about the risk of Rebecca Watson standing up at Quiz-O-Tron in San Francisco on 25 October dressed in a nurses outfit and diagnosing random members of the audience with gonorrhea. Although she could!
I suppose she might also turn Quiz-O-Tron in San Francisco on 25 October into a gathering of mindless haters who will spend the time photoshopping pictures of people Rebecca Watson doesn’t like, while calling them sexist slurs. Not very likely, though; I’ve been to a couple of Quiz-O-Trons, and we’re usually too busy laughing. Quiz-O-Tron in San Francisco on 25 October will not be a hate site. Probably.
I don’t think Rebecca Watson will be hosting Quiz-O-Tron in San Francisco on 25 October under a pseudonym, either, to hide the fact that she is routinely associated with such activities. I’m pretty sure she’s not embarrassed by what she does, as some people are. But just in case she does decide to go with a pseudonym, I hope she makes sure to include the words “Skeptic” or “Atheist” in it, because those titles have become so routinely tied to such good human beings.
So um, libel/slander is when you point out that someone other than you said untrue things about someone with the intent to damage their reputation?
Also, skepticism involves believing everything your in-group tells you.
TIL
Some kids grow and learn, and the day they learn all the obnoxious things about humanity, they seem to imbibe it and stop growing all together. They just end up living an obnoxious life and they are proud of it too till they die. This mostly happens to kids who have one singular talent that they capitalize on. But alas…
I’m going to boycott the Quiz-O-Tron until Rebecca Watson admits it’s her fault that San Francisco is so far away from Ames, Iowa.
And I will boycott it until she moves it even further away. Would the Andromeda Galaxy be safe?
Rebecca Watson gave me fatty liver disease!
Who?
Errr ….
Don’t red blood cells contain DNA? In fact, are there *any* cells that don’t?
I have a horrible cold which might also be ebola and it’s all Rebecca Watson’s fault!
Sili @ 7
A far as I know, red blood cells don’t have DNA because they don’t have cell nuclei. But I could be wrong…
@4 blf said:
Why would you want to move Ames, Iowa to an extragalactic location?
I’m going to boycott it because Rebecca Watson has never supplied us with ANY PROOF AT ALL she did not kidnap the Lindbergh baby.
No, no, no, PZ…not a nurse’s outfit
Rebecca’s planning to stand up in Doctor’s Scrubs and White Coat to do the randomly diagnosing members of the audience! Any fule kno, nurses don’t diagnose…they follow orders and maybe triage patients…
(sorry, not to disparage nurses, truly, only to point out the heirarchy. It’s Dr Slyme’s *MD* that makes her post so extra-…special. That and her appointment as faculty at a major medical school)
Sili @7: mature red blood cells lose their nuclei/DNA during maturation–by the time they hit the bloodstream they’re literally just bags of hemoglobin…no DNA.
Damn, now I want to try this Friendzoni of which RW speaks…
Learn something new every day. I assumed all cells had nuclei.
Thanks!
Ken Keenan @ 12
Friendzoni? sounds delish…does it come with pepperoni? and somebody nice/interesting to split it with?
I find myself, and all of my friends, are aging. I blame Rebecca Watson and her nefarious campaign of misinformation that is meant to keep the Fountain of Youth’s location secret. Obviously, she has access. It’s not fair.
Funny Diva #11:
I had that exact same dream, just the other night…
TMI?
They don’t have nuclei. Ours and other mammals’ don’t contain DNA, but those of birds do, because (unlike ours), they contain mitochondria, which have their own DNA. So, I’m sure Rebecca Watson used a picture of avian red blood cells ;-)
I think we should create an entire menu. We could add the Cappi Pasta, which is made of fettuccine and capicola and is often used to throw people’s original comments back at them when they start claiming they never said that horrible thing. :)
Nick Gotta @ 17: cheers, I didn’t know that about birds’red blood cells.
That whole “Rebecca Watson once showed a picture of red blood cells and said there was DNA in them lol what a thicko” talking-point always annoyed me. It’s the kind of factoid that one picks up along the way (I’m pretty certain it was not covered in my school biology course) and presenting her not knowing about it as some sort of incontrovertible proof that RW is unsuitable to act as a science commentator is so ridiculously petty it’s hard to believe any self-respecting adult would do so.
Sorry, Nick Gotts. Damn autocorrect.
Ken Keenan@18,
Nor did I until just now – when I saw your comment I thought: “What about mitochondria?”, and Prof. Google helped me out!
Mmm…I want a couple of JAQuetti on the side with my friendzoni, I think. After a hearty helping of word salad, of course.
The JAQetti sound great – but what whine to choose? There are so many.
Mammalian erythrocytes lack both nuclei and mitochondria; those of birds (as well as other reptiles, amphibians, and most fishes) have both.
What are “Things that aren’t actually a thing”?
Alex T: Correct, for $500.
wagnaye@25,
You’re a dishonest little shit, aren’t you? You can’t dox someone who has openly associated their real name with their nym, by using that real name. As for that spineless gobshite Michael Nugent, perhaps he should turn his “concern” to the harassers, misogynists and rape-apologists who cluster around him.
If Dr. Eliza Sutton wants to be out from under the bus, maybe she shouldn’t lay down in front of the bus. And maybe bystanders should quit blaming the driver afterward. Just saying.
Re: Doxing
If person A reveals information about themselves in public and then person B repeats that information, that is not doxing. Doxing is all about revealing private information. Once you reveal something in public, it’s no longer private.
If you’re the one who revealed a certain bit of information, you don’t get to blame other people for revealing it. They didn’t reveal it. You did.
I thought it was “fuckbrained arseholes” got him all in a tiff. I guess I shoulda paid better attention when he tried to lecture PZed in Dublin.
Sili@30,
I do beg your and Michael Nugent’s pardon! I meant, of course, that fuckbrained arsehole Michael Nugent.
She had me at cheese-stuffed FriendZonis! Wish I could make the drive down for that. It’s only about 6 hours from here.
Mature mammalian rbcs have neither nuclei or mitochondria and therefore no DNA, but immature rbcs, aka reticulocytes, DO have nuclei and mitochondria and do have DNA. Normal reticulocytes counts are between 0.5-2.0%, so if you consider reticulocytes to be a type of red blood cell, then some rbc’s do indeed have DNA.
(And as a practical consideration, 0.5-2.0% should be enough that, if you had a standard sample of human rbc’s, with the wbc’s removed, there’s enough reticulocytes in it to extract DNA from the sample, if you have halfway decent equipment and technique)
Actually, if the image in question was of a standard peripheral blood smear there probably were DNA-containing cells there also–mostly leukocytes, though possibly a reticulocyte (much more likely to see a wbc of some kind than a reticulocyte in a random field while doing a differential count…).
So, even as a source of “hurr durr, she’s such a thickie” it’s pretty weak sauce.
/slams fist on table
I knew it! Darn you, Rebecca!
Michael Nugent, I implore you to make her apologize for my liver.
Rebecca Watson gave me fatty liver disease and acid reflux and it’s her fault my left leg’s short!
Rebecca Watson gave my kitten scoliosis and diarrhea!
Rebecca Watson gave me testicular cancer. She said it was what I deserved for being a man. I tried to have it operated on, but she fired the surgeon for not having ovaries. When a female doctor tried to operate, Rebecca Watson forced her into slave labor, chaining her to a desk and requiring her to post rage blogs 24/7. Weighing my options, I traveled abroad to try get an operation done outside the U.S., but Rebecca Watson had already let the terrorists win, so my plane was hijacked. I somehow survived the crash, though was still severely injured and in the middle of nowhere. I crawled across Utah, searching for help, but because of Rebecca Watson, no one would help me because I was a privileged white male and they assumed that I was tricking them because straight white men never need help. Dying, I finally saw before me the bane of my existence, my reaper, the angel of death: Rebecca Watson herself. She stood there haughtily, feminist hair waving in the wind. I asked her why. Why had she done all of these things to me. She laughed. Her laugh was like a harpy’s shriek. It tore through the heavens, a cry, a scream. It turned the sky red, like flesh had been torn from it by the ferocity of her diabolical cackle. She stared at me with piercing, accusing eyes. I could tell that her powers were making genitalia shrivel and die, my average life expectancy reduced so cruelly due to her unwavering desire for female supremacy. I gasped, I sputtered, I coughed up blood. Tears flowing, I pleaded with her, begged her to tell me why. She stooped down, and whispered, in the voice of a snake’s hissing tongue:
“I did it for the lulz”.
She let me live that day. I don’t know why. Perhaps to send a message to others. That message has been received and it spreads, in hushed voices, and stifled screams. They know now to live more quietly, more cautiously. For the Matriarch of Blood roams this land, and sees all, hears all. None will escape her feminist wrath.
Oh shit, forgot that Sutton was Skeptickle. Remember her better by the latter nym. Trolls never fucking quit do they? They just keep getting more and more odious.
Rebecca Watson turned me into a newt!
Fools.
Rebecca Watson is a MYTH.
All a hoax made up by the Quadrilateral Commission to keep you afraid.
(What, you thought there were only three laterals? Man, they have you SO conned.)
Can I blame Rebecca Watson for my teeth?
chigau, it is impossible to not blame Rebecca Watson for your teeth. But that has nothing to do with your teeth. I’m fairly certain that “not blame Rebecca Watson” is logically impossible. In addition, it isn’t even considered proper English. It’s a nonsense phrase, something straight out of Dr. Seuss but with even less meaning. Like “honest MRA” or “rational anti-feminism”. Unresolvable contradiction of terms.
@40
You got better, though, right? Despite REBECCA WATSON!
I bet she weighs as much as a duck!
anteprepro, @38 was epically brilliant, thanks for the lulz (j/k LOL)
I bet Ms Watson would love it too.
From the Skepchick post:
^^Love this! How oblivious can ‘gaters be?
*cough* I mean, somethingsomething Rebecca Watson’s fault. *shakesfist at maladies caused by RW*
Well, …. if Rebecca Watson is responsible for everything…..ummmmm …..
wouldn’t that make her ….ahhhh…..godlike or something ????
Checker-Mate, Atheist !!1!1!!!!11111!!1!11!!!!
ICWATUDIDTHERE
And then, just to spite you, she made your right leg all the longer!
anteprepro @38:
Seconding CaitieCat! That was a thing of beauty!
Rebecca Watson has NEVER been seen – by ANYONE, EVER – in the same room as Stalin.
Why, you ask??? Because… Rebecca Watson IS Stalin.
I has lojik.
I too was turned into a newt by Rebecca Watson. Although, in my case, I got better.
Rebecca Watson terrified Valerie Solanas.
Rebecca Watson has made me a better human being.
Hey, if she’s responsible for everything, she must do the good as well as the bad. =P
Thirding the applause for anteprepro @38.
Excellent work.
vaiyt @54:
Rebecca Watson= God?
Rebecca Watson lacks NUANCE ™ !!!!!!
Rebecca Watson taught me what endemic misogyny really is. WEll, not directly, but she was definitely at the center of it.
She still won’t divulge her secret for getting the square root of a negative number, though.
Rebecca Watson is a false flag operation designed to distract us from BENGHAZI!!
Dr. Elizabeth Sutton is merely a troll and an unethical person.
Rebecca Watson is the one who rigs dryers to teleport away one of each pair of socks. Now you know.
Adding to the chorus admiring anteprepro’s far superior contribution.
Rebecca Watson convinced Poison to record “Unskinny Bop.”
Unknown Eric@61: All the other stuff I can see, but blaming her for that is just mean!
(And I like a lot of cheesy 80s hair metal.)
anteprepo at #38 wins the thread and a shiny new Internetz.
Thank you, thank you all. The performance costs $5, but you can feel free to tip generously.
Brava, anteprepro! I think someone needs to sing that as a ballad.
–
Rebecca Watson sneaks into people’s homes at night and switches out their light bulbs with dead ones, She has also been known to go through laundry to steal single socks.
I thought that was the Pullet Patrol™ who like to parade in mismatched socks; or maybe they are just in cahoots with RW….
Rebecca Watson stood atop of the Castle of Skepticism and yelled down, “no. You cannot see it!” (In a french accent) when I asked to see the Holy Grail. Then she taunted me again without the consideration of asking if I wanted to be taunted a second time.
Also, I am a typing newt!
Wait, there are more Rebecca Watson stories?
I thought there was only the one story that I heard last month at Atheist Scout Camp.
That one was about the guy who was at an Atheist convention, and he pushed himself a bit too hard, and around 3PM on the afternoon of the last day he was completely worn out and decided he needed to rest for a while. So he got a cup of coffee from the hotel bar and was on the elevator alone, going back to his room. Now, there had been a sign in front of the elevator saying, “No Food or Drink” but someone had posted a flyer over the sign and he didn’t see it. Anyway, he had literally one sip of coffee, and Rebecca Watson appeared behind him in a cloud of fire and brimstone, whispered, “Don’t do that.”, and then dragged him off screaming to the cookpot in her underground lair and he was never seen again.
I’ve got to confess that I was a nervous wreck for a couple of days after I heard that. Then one of the other counselors told me that Rebecca Watson wasn’t real, she was just a story somebody made up to scare people.
Oh my god this comments thread. I love it.
Far be it from me to try and post a story after anteprepo, but I heard Rebecca Watson, once a year, goes to the houses of little girls the world over to turn them against all men…
Or maybe I’m confusing her with someone else…
To: Naked Bunny with a Whip
Please: Who’d want to live close to Ames, Iowa?
Someone should tweet this thread to RW, or drop the link in a comment at Skepchick, particularly to @38. I suspect she’d get a great kick out of it.
Already done that, CaitieCat. You’re welcome… :D