Mattison

Sex, Science, and Silliness

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 21:35:01 GMT

It isn't just fundamentalists that have some pretty bizarre ideas about sex and sexuality. Great sex releases all kinds of fun chemicals into our brains, bonds couples together and can be well amazing. However, following in the path of creationist, some folks like to go from "I don't understand" to it was god or something. Rebecca over at skepchick give proper smack down to "transcendental sex" without forgetting that good sex is well, lots of fun.

Hi, that’s called an intense orgasm combined with made-up words that mean nothing, like “life-force energy.” One time I came so hard I saw the Eta Carinae Nebula. Yeah, that’s right. My astrophysical sex story trumps your transcendent sex story. Win.

Something to distrub you

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 19:08:51 GMT

http://deputy-dog.com/2008/07/17/ever-seen-a-creepier-tower/
(work safe, but don't say I didn't warn you of nightmare dangers)

Hat tip to The Bad Astronomer

Should I take a multi-vitamin?

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:37:48 GMT

Well if you are worried about the economy there is good evidence that buying vitamins will increase profits for vitamin manufacturers and otherwise stimulate the economy. If your motivation is health related you may want try something else. Surveying the research on the benefits and risks of vitamins a report in The Medical Letter(Vol 47 No 1213, p.57-8, July 18, 2005) concluded:

Supplements are necessary to assure adequate intake of folic acid in young women and possibly of vitamins D and B12 in the elderly. There is no convincing evidence that taking supplements of vitamin C prevents any disease except scurvy. Women should not take vitamin A supplements during pregnancy or after menopause. No one should take high dose beta carotene supplements. A balanced diet rich in fruits and vegetables may be safer than taking vitamin supplements. No biologically active substance taken for a long term can be assumed to be free of risk.

That last bit is bolded by me. It is the kind of statement that ought to be obvious. The body is a complex biochemical machine. It has some high fault tolerances, but it is rare that any substance has only one effect.

Just because your body needs something in a small quantity should not imply that it is safe to take in a large quantity. Take the obvious example of food. Without food you die. It is REALLY important that you eat enough food. But were you to "mega-dose" on food you'd become obese and increase your risk for heart disease and numerous other problems.

End PSA

Now that is what I call goth!

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:28:00 GMT

This woman is way gother than thou!

Abbie Hawkins, a hotel receptionist, thought her mobile phone was ringing when she felt vibrations coming from her clothes.

But she later discovered the tiny creature tucked away in the padded pocket of her underwear.

As staff and colleagues crowded around, Miss Hawkins, 19, produced the frightened bat, which was the size of her hand.

Hat tip to skepchick among others.

Conservative Sex

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:20:24 GMT

Conservatives have some very strange ideas about sex. Take Janice Turner, who teaches Power of Purity classes in Alabama:

"Girls give in to sex not because they want sex - it's like a hug. If they can get that from their fathers, they won't need it from a boyfriend."

It is hard to know where to begin addressing such non-sense. The idea that women don't want sex is absurd. The idea that ones relationship with ones father is a substitute for sexuality is just creepy. But it is all about religious faith so logic and biology need not apply.

Hat tip to Feministing

On the bright side

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 20:37:48 GMT

As many of you I was frustrated to see shredding of the 4th amendment that was the FISA bill passing. Obama support of the "compromise" did not win him any favors from me. This kind of "movement to the center" poorly thought out.

How many people even know what the FISA bill was? Of those that do know, how many of them do you think are are "undecided voters?" I'd say close to none. Failing to stand up on FISA made Obama no friends and undercut the enthusiasm of some of his supporters.

Still on the bright side Obama has enthusiastic supporters and the support of a unified Democratic party. McCain on the other hand is still trying to sell himself to movement conservatives. For instance in an effort to convince fundamentalist that he hates gays as much as they do McCain recently explained that he doesn't want gay couples to adopt children. In McCain's mind being raised in a orphanage is better than being raised by a loving gay couple.

American Measles Has Been Saved!

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 14:44:54 GMT

Measles kills a quarter of a million children world wide ever year. Very few of these deaths come from the US. Eight years ago measles had been practically extinct in the United States due to extensive vaccinations. But thanks to the hard work and dedication of the anti-vaxors faction of the alternative medicine movement, measles has been once again spotted on children in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, New York, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Wisconsin Washington state, and Washington, D.C!

Great job! We are well on our way to bringing back the plagues! Just remember if your child comes down symptoms such as a rash (which usually starts on the face and spreads to the rest of the body), coughing, runny nose, and high fever, don't take them to an allopathic doctor! They need to see an experienced alternative medical professional. Otherwise they might miss out on their 1/5 chance of experiencing like diarrhea, ear infections, pneumonia, encephalitis, chronic neurological deficits and even death.

Hat tip to Orac.

Atheists at K-State

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 13:38:39 GMT

As some of you know I got my Bachelors degree at K-State. I was involved in student activism mostly centered on Central America and Feminist issues. I'm not one to "follow my alma mater" but when I bump into something cool happening at my old school I do enjoy it.

Today's K-State news isn't as exciting as the folks at the engineering department aptly handled the problem of a tornado hitting their nuclear reactor.[1] But over at Friendly Atheist they are publicizing The Secular Student Alliance's flyer exchange. The idea being that various secular groups from universities can share and borrow ideas from each other.

Anyhow, this one jumped out of his blog at me, and I felt a bit of pride when I saw it is from my old school.

[1] If you wonder why you didn't read about a nuclear disaster in North Central Kansas it is because the nuclear engineers at K-State designed and operated the power plant correctly, something to be proud of indeed. This is how you are suppose to do nuclear power!

I'm Eating Lunch at McDonald's Today

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 15:50:15 GMT

If the conservatives at the American Family Association aren't about hating homosexual can someone explain why they want to boycott McDonald's for sponsoring San Francisco Gay Pride parade?

He is not dead yet!

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 23:09:16 GMT

Ted Kennedy had brain surgery a little over a month ago and had not planned to return to the Senate until September. However, in his absence the Republicans were trying to cut Medicare payments by 10.6%. This would likely cause many hospitals to stop taking Medicare and thus make it more difficult for senior citizens to get medical care they need.

Today Ted Kennedy walked into the US Senate to help ensure a bill that would restore funding for health care for senior citizens passed by a veto proof majority.

I return to the Senate today to keep a promise to our senior citizens and that’s to protect Medicare.

Win, lose or draw, I wanted to be here. I wasn’t going to take the chance that my vote could make the difference.

Closing the insanity gap

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 15:22:02 GMT

In recent years the Catholic Church has been falling behind in the insanity race. Sure they have some crazy beliefs about condoms, but Islam really moved ahead with its reaction to cartoons of Mohammad. Well in an effort to close this insanity gap the Catholic Church is focusing its insanity on communion wafers. Not merely the idea that reciting Latin over these crackers turns them into Jesus, but what to do if someone takes one home without eating it.

Webster Cook says he smuggled a Eucharist, a small bread wafer that to Catholics symbolic of the Body of Christ after a priest blesses it, out of mass, didn't eat it as he was supposed to do, but instead walked with it.

. . .

Catholics worldwide became furious.

. . .

"It is hurtful," said Father Migeul Gonzalez with the Diocese. "Imagine if they kidnapped somebody and you make a plea for that individual to please return that loved one to the family."

. . .

For a student to disrupt Mass by taking the Body of Christ hostage--regardless of the alleged nature of his grievance--is beyond hate speech. That is why the UCF administration needs to act swiftly and decisively in seeing that justice is done. All options should be on the table, including expulsion.

Yes the Catholic Church want to expel him from college not eating a cracker. And of course many good Catholics want him killed as he has received numerous death threats. You'd think the University would take death threats against one of their students very seriously. It is hard to say, but they are stationing armed guards to protect crackers from not being eaten in during mass.

Fundamentalist Thinking

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 20:39:09 GMT

This is why the cultural war matters.

One reason that men abuse their wives is because women rebel against their husband's God-given authority, a Southern Baptist scholar said Sunday in a Texas church.

Bruce Ware, professor of Christian theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., said women desire to have their own way instead of submitting to their husbands because of sin.

"And husbands on their parts, because they're sinners, now respond to that threat to their authority either by being abusive, which is of course one of the ways men can respond when their authority is challenged--or, more commonly, to become passive, acquiescent, and simply not asserting the leadership they ought to as men in their homes and in churches," Ware said from the pulpit of Denton Bible Church in Denton, Texas.

The problem isn't merely that the man is horribly wrong and morally misguided. The problem is that because his values and belief come from a religious source they are nearly immune to evidence and empathy. For another example of this crippled thinking see conservative support for abstinence only sex education.

Shoot them all in the head

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 21:45:41 GMT

One thing the conservatives have done very well is move the boundries of debate. It use to be if you advocated mass executions without trial you'd be labeled as a fascist, stalinist, or other undesirable authoritarian. Now however, conservative commentators can go on TV and say:

Beck: This court has done some frightening. frightening things….If I’m president of the US, I would go on National television and say—’ladies and gentlemen, the Supreme Court said that we don’t have Gitmo so that is over. We’re going to release all of them, but I want you to know from here on out our policy is to not have prisoners. We’re going to shoot them all in the head.’

If we think they are against us, we’re going to shoot them and kill them—period because that’s the only thing we’ve got going for us—cause we can put them away and get information. If we can’t put them away and they’re going to use our court system—kill them.

This is considered a reasonable position on how the justice system in America should operate. Don't expect Glenn Beck to be fired or shunned from polite society. Bringing despotism to America is just the kind of issues reasonable people can disagree on now.

Teach the Controversy

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 19:01:55 GMT

If conservatives want to make sure every "theory" of human origins gets time in biology classrooms, we need to add another to the list. This one from Rainbow Eagle:

So, we saw a video of some guy speaking in Spanish (with English voice-overs) about how apparently their belief (which has allegedly been verified by science) is that humans were planted here some 12,000 years ago by aliens. That’s 6,000 more years than the young earth creationists think we’ve been here. Not too bad.

. . .

He said that there were four races originally planted here. Not only that, but these original races were different colours. Native Americans used to be red. Blacks used to be blue. Asians used to be green. And whites used to be . . . transparent. That’s right. Transparent.

No. I have no idea how he knows this.

I think this "theory" might edge out intelligent design creationism. It combines native American new age spiritualism, UFOs, and uses the word "quantum".

The Segregations are Dying

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 15:34:15 GMT

A dirty little secret about the modern conservative movement is it began as the pro-segregation movement. Jesse Helms has just died, following Jerry Falwell and William Buckley. All these men began their political rise supporting segregation and all are honored by conservatives as founders of their movement.

On this Fourth of July weekend it is tempting to make an analogy to our founding fathers such as Washington or Jefferson who owned slaves. But that would be a profound disservice to our founding fathers. Americans honor Washington and Jefferson for winning American independence and creating nation based upon liberty. Washington and Jefferson owned slaves and we should not forget that they fell short of the ideal of liberty, but we don't honor them for their work in support of slavery.

What made Washington and Jefferson stand out in American history wasn't the their position on slavery, it was the position and work for liberty. What made Jesse Helms, Jerry Falwell and William Buckley rise to the top of the conservative movement however was their support of segregation. When they'd lost the battle against black civil rights Helms, Falwell, and Buckley maintained their leadership by opposing right for women. While they won a tactical victory by stopping the Equal Rights Amendment, they ultimately lost cultural war. We now live in a country where women are astronauts, doctors, physicist, and presidential candidates. In their waning years Helms, Falwell and Buckley maintained their relevance to the conservative movement by moving on to hating gays.

When you hear conservatives honoring Jesse Helms this week, remember what it is that made Jesse Helms a conservative leader. They are mourning segregation, they are nostalgic for the days when women weren't allowed in top universities, and they are honoring the ongoing quest to sabotage the marital dreams of gay and lesbian couple in America.

The Forth

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:52:40 GMT

So it looks like Adria will be working late on the 4th. Anyone know of anyone know of any festivities I can join in on?

Durbin Was Close

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 04:42:01 GMT

Back in 2005 Democratic senator Dick Durban talking about the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo said:

If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime - Pol Pot or others - that had no concern for human beings."

There was of course an outpouring of "outrage" from conservative circles. Well it turns out he was on to something.

WASHINGTON — The military trainers who came to Guantánamo Bay in December 2002 based an entire interrogation class on a chart showing the effects of “coercive management techniques” for possible use on prisoners, including “sleep deprivation,” “prolonged constraint,” and “exposure.”

What the trainers did not say, and may not have known, was that their chart had been copied verbatim from a 1957 Air Force study of Chinese Communist techniques used during the Korean War to obtain confessions, many of them false, from American prisoners.

Republicans really are trying to turn us into our enemies.

I'd like to suggest a new Republican/McCain slogan, "North Korean Leadership for America."

Republican Victimology

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 21:59:37 GMT

The republicans are having hissy fits again. During a discussion about executive experience with Wesley Clark, an interviewer stated that Barack Obama had not "ridden in a fighter plane and gotten shot down.” Wesley Clark replied "well, I don’t think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president."

This has the whining about McCain being "swift-boated." It is utterly ridiculous. If any conservatives start whining to you about it ask them, "do you believe that riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president?" If they say no, you know their are faking their hissy fit. If they say yes, you know they are a moron.

ISO hand cranked Ice Cream maker

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 20:10:33 GMT

Anyone have a hand cranked Ice Cream maker they'd be willing to lend to me for next weekend (Sunday the 6th).

Optical Intercourse

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 12:10:02 GMT

Those rules extend beyond the campus. A man and a woman cannot go to an off-campus restaurant
together without a chaperon (usually a faculty member). Even running into members of the opposite sex off campus can lead to punishment. One student told of how a group of men and a group of women from the college happened to meet at a McDonald's last spring. Both groups were returning from the beach (they had gone to separate beaches; men and women are not allowed to be at the beach together). The administration found out, and all 15 students were expelled.

Were it not for the mention of McDonald's, you'd think this was describing a Saudi Arabia or Iran. But no, this is this is an American college, Pensacola Christian College. The title of the post comes from this bit of insanity.

Even couples who are not talking or touching can be reprimanded. Sabrina Poirier, a student at Pensacola who withdrew in 1997, was disciplined for what is known on the campus as "optical intercourse" — staring too intently into the eyes of a member of the opposite sex. This is also referred to as "making eye babies." While the rule does not appear in written form, most students interviewed for this article were familiar with the concept.

Mid-Day Snark

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 18:25:29 GMT

Every time I read about a new-age themed business closing its doors I wonder if only they had Feng Shui'd their business to attract money. Cause you know the "Southeastern sector of your home [or business] governs both your cash flow as well as your faith in the idea that you will always be able to create money."

Schism and Hate

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 14:34:09 GMT

Many Christians continue to mistake bronze age prejudices for values. This is leading the Anglican church to split as those that hate gays try to break away from those that don't.

They warned that the church is gripped by its most serious crisis since the Reformation, and could only be saved by the repentance of the Americans who triggered the row by ordaining an openly homosexual bishop, the Rt Rev Gene Robinson, five years ago.

If you ever wondered what on earth might be more powerful than "christian love" the traditionalist Anglicans are showing us.

Psychic Abuser

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 16:54:15 GMT

Lets imagine the following situation.

"The teacher looked and me and said: 'We have to tell you something. The educational assistant who works with Victoria went to see a psychic last night, and the psychic asked the educational assistant at that particular time if she works with a little girl by the name of "V." And she said 'yes, I do.' And she said, 'well, you need to know that that child is being sexually abused by a man between the ages of 23 and 26.'"

This is something that really happened! Now if psychic powers are real, then such a report would constitute "reasonable grounds to suspect a youngster is being harmed" and need to be treated seriously. However, if psychic powers aren't real, taking such a report seriously meant an innocent family is needlessly harassed. Not only that, real victims of child sexual abuse are put in greater danger as Child Protective Services which almost certainly doesn't have an unlimited budget or time had both wasted.

Psychics are only harmless when you don't take their advice on serious matters. If a doctor, nurse, or teacher made up an allegation of child sexual abuse they could lose their license. However, when a psychic makes something like this up . . . well psychics are making everything up, so what do you expect. Still there ought to be some legal and career consequences to both to the lying psychic and in incredulity school administration.

Hat tip to Skepchick

You can't have him!

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 02:17:36 GMT

Hat tip to Mike the Mad Biologist.

This is an odd thing to find in your house

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 01:20:37 GMT