Notes with pics will be available on Skepchick.org.
The second Skepchick podcast is now online! Listen on iTunes or on our Libsyn page.

From Skepchick Podcast
http://skepchick.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=408897#
1/1/2001 12:00:00 AM
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Notes with pics will be available on Skepchick.org.
The second Skepchick podcast is now online! Listen on iTunes or on our Libsyn page.

From Skepchick Podcast
http://traffic.libsyn.com/skepchick/SkepchickGiftsPodcast.mp3
12/2/2008 11:36:00 AM
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Yet another study on why women shop, from an evolutionary perspective:

In an unconscious attempt to outdo female rivals, ovulating women buy sexier clothing, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research.

"Not unlike the chimps featured on the Discovery Channel, women become more competitive with other females during the handful of days each month when they are ovulating. The desire for women at peak fertility to unconsciously choose products that enhance appearance is driven by a desire to outdo attractive rival women," write authors Kristina M. Durante, Vladas Griskevicius (both University of Minnesota), Sarah E. Hill (Texas Christian University), Carin Perilloux (University of Texas at Austin) and Norman Li (Singapore Management University).

From Greg Laden's Blog
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GregLadensBlog/~3/EXK4nKD8CV0/why_do_women_shop.php
8/25/2010 10:36:47 AM
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As I'm sitting here ordering things on line and last minute for people's Christmas presents (there, I said Christmas. Take THAT Bill O'Really!) I thought I'd make a few suggestions for my readers.

From Greg Laden's Blog
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GregLadensBlog/~3/5TAO6s5Kf7k/last_minute_holiday_shopping.php
12/18/2010 5:10:46 AM
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If you haven't heard about Sarah Palin's latest inanity (it's hard to keep current...), she offered an ungrateful nation this utterance:

But after this, for several minutes that we as a nation will never get back, you rambled about a bakery called the "Spudnut Shop," that doesn't want the government telling it how to operate, or something:

Well, the spudnut shop in Richland, Washington -- it's a bakery, it's a little coffee shop that's so successful, 60-some years, generation to generation, a family-owned business not looking for government to bail them out and to make their decisions for them. It's just hard-working, patriotic Americans in this shop.

We need more spudnut moments in America. And I wish that President Obama would understand, in that heartland of America, what it is that [...]

From Mike the Mad Biologist
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/scienceblogs/KsPC/~3/UdVUmKHs9UI/palins_spudnut_moment_tells_yo.php
2/3/2011 3:58:12 AM
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The coffee shop was already loud. The walls, floor, and ceiling of the Caribou are all made of sound-bouncy materials. The equipment behind the counter is loud to begin with and is not muffled by any structure. The barista has developed the typical barista habit of banging shit on other shit as loud as he can and as often as he can.

From Greg Laden's Blog
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GregLadensBlog/~3/X4vj1XVe5LI/the_loudness_of_coffee_shops_1.php
7/4/2010 1:15:03 AM
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(If you're mailing your presents and don't want to spend an arm and a leg.)

As part of my annual service to my readers who can't think of what to give to those friends and relatives who insist on exchanging gifts this time every year, I present two categories of goodies, cheap and not so cheap. For additional ideas see these posts.

From Greg Laden's Blog
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GregLadensBlog/~3/rSm5oYTmMek/this_is_your_last_chance_for_h.php
12/21/2010 5:24:04 AM
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The podcast of Desiree Schell's interviews with me (recorded) and Cordelia Fine (author of Delusions of Gender: How Our Minds, Society, and Neurosexism Create Difference) ... is now available here.

Check it out!

From Greg Laden's Blog
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GregLadensBlog/~3/EjK4V3E5J6I/the_evolution_of_football_and.php
10/18/2010 1:48:47 PM
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I need to buy a few dozen of these shirts to prop up my self-esteem.

Probably a better question, but one that does my self-esteem no good at all, is to ask what they heck they're for? I know they're not actually for me — is there a place called PZ?

From Pharyngula
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/scienceblogs/pharyngula/~3/_J0OvAW23JE/hey_who_knows_where_this_gift.php
6/25/2011 6:44:16 AM
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Consider this the post wherein I channel my Inner ERV. During the last week, I've come across a couple sensationalist article about E. coli and Staphylococcus aureus being found on common surfaces. Here's one article about shopping carts and E. coli:

Researchers from the University of Arizona swabbed shopping cart handles in four states looking for bacterial contamination. Of the 85 carts examined, 72 percent turned out to have a marker for fecal bacteria.

The researchers took a closer look at the samples from 36 carts and discovered Escherichia coli, more commonly known as E. coli, on 50 percent of them -- along with a host of other types of bacteria.

"That's more than you find in a supermarket's restroom," said Charles Gerba, the lead researcher on the study [...]

From Mike the Mad Biologist
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/scienceblogs/KsPC/~3/Ulk7hbK_n-g/zomg_e_koli_r_everywherz_or_so.php
3/10/2011 2:03:10 AM
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I have to call shenanigans on this cartoon:

It left out Mormonism. And since Mormonism is halfway between $cientology and Christianity, given the principle that the right answer is always the one in the middle, she would have found the Mormons just right.

I think that's right, anyway. People keep telling me that we have to flee from the extremes, i.e. Fundamentalism and that horrible rational evidence-based thinking, to find contentment in the median, i.e. soppy sloppy casual Jesusology. So how can the protagonist of this story actually find happiness in the flaming extremism of science-worshipping godlessness?

From Pharyngula
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/scienceblogs/pharyngula/~3/mMLNTTFIDEc/shopping_for_gods.php
8/7/2010 12:03:20 AM
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... Well, it could happen ...

Intelligent Life Detected by SETI: A radio signal which is too narrow to be natural, changes frequency in an interesting way, and changes amplitude in an interesting way was detected by SETI while gazing at Kepler-discovered planets a great distance away. When SETI pointed the same radiotelesope in a different direction, however, the signal was still there, indicating that it came not from a distant galaxy but rather, from earth or an earth-launched satellite. ET is home. Phil Plait has an excellent discussion of what happened.

In a related story, a secret US spy rocketship is supposedly tracking the Chinese spacelab.

The US Air Force's second mysterious mini-space shuttle, the X-37B, could be spying on China's space laboratory [...]

From Greg Laden's Blog
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GregLadensBlog/~3/wt-VmfL3ruk/large-headed_supersoldier_monk.php
1/8/2012 2:41:10 AM
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I have a small laptop that I carry to the coffee shop for writing. It is a bit shaky in the hardware department, very small, and has no functioning wireless. The hard drive is encrypted. These attributes together make it the perfect laptop to carry around between, say, the gym, the coffee shop, the grocery store, Huxley's daycare, etc. I have a small number of files synced on it via a hard wired network connection at home so there is quasi-real time work to do with it, but only a subset of the larger number of files and folders I regularly use. The lack of an Internet connection means that I am not distracted while writing, the low value of the hardware means it won't matter if it gets dropped, crushed or even stolen, and having the hard drive encrypted with a killer password and such means that the very valuable data (as if) that is on it can't fall into the wrong hands.

From Greg Laden's Blog
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GregLadensBlog/~3/iWPF66WVt_4/emulating_the_terminal_emulato.php
9/24/2011 1:40:00 PM
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A friend of mine who is an excellent writer and critic, fellow blogger and social scientist, is trying to make ends meet by enhancing sales at the family business. Distracted by other things, I didn't know about this until this morning.

Welcome to Howling Pig, the uncommon soap company for uncommon people.

Our soaps (and stuff) are for those who know that life is not just about getting by, soap is not just about getting clean, and smelling good is the best revenge.

Each of our scents is unique, evocative, and memorable, created with passion to engage your senses and inspire your soul.

We promise you simplicity, quality, and a celebration of the senses.

Because Howling Pig is more than just a funny name - and you are the adventure you've been waiting to have.

Go here and buy soap. NAO!!!

From Greg Laden's Blog
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GregLadensBlog/~3/Qj18EPxRDpA/holiday_shopping_suggestion.php
11/15/2011 1:29:11 AM
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Effect Measure, clearly one of the best blogs on Scienceblogs.com or anywhere, is closing shop. Go say goodbye.

From Greg Laden's Blog
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GregLadensBlog/~3/tWCOxJjg7Ac/em_is_now_passing_into_blog_hi.php
5/18/2010 5:08:14 AM
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Melbourne Atheists Meetup Group

Post-Xtian-Rapture - Melbourne Atheists 5th Birthday Party including Atheist Choir

The Christian Rapture is prophesised by Mr Camping to occur at 11am Melbourne time Sunday, 22nd May.

For Atheists left behind, we have the 5th Birthday Party for the Melbourne Atheists Meetup Group in the afternoon and evening.

Recording, mixing and other musical equipment is available for choir practice.
New voices are welcome.

Some accommodation is available for 'distance challenged' Atheists.

Time:
Afternoon (from [...]

From Skeptics upcoming events
http://www.meetup.com/Melbourne-Atheists/events/18825221/
5/19/2011 3:04:20 PM
Search rank: 427

Lamont Ekker experienced what some people might consider a Thanksgiving miracle when he cut through a 15-pound chunk of sandstone at his Torrey rock shop last week.

Ekker cuts and polishes rocks at his shop, Jurassic Rocks, to expose interesting internal patterns and striations. Three days before Thanksgiving, he was "baking" [...]

From Greg Laden's Blog
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GregLadensBlog/~3/fNPTaYbLUoQ/holy_mother_of_mary_its_jesus.php
12/7/2010 2:22:47 AM
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Or, when the hunting season is closed, watch teh game (the guys), or when there are no sales, admire each other's shoes (the gals)?

This is, of course, a parody of the sociobiological, or in modern parlance, the "evolutionary psychology" argument linking behaviors that evolved in our species during the long slog known as The Pleistocene with today's behavior in the modern predator-free food-rich world. And, it is a very sound argument. If, by "sound" you mean "sounds good unless you listen really hard."

I list this argument among the falsehoods, but really, this is a category of argument with numerous little sub-arguments, and one about which I could write as many blog posts as I have fingers and toes, which means, at least twenty. (Apparently there was some pentaldactylsim in my ancestry, and I must admit that I'll never really know what they cut off when I was born, if anything.)

Before going into this discussion I think it is wise, if [...]

From Greg Laden's Blog
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GregLadensBlog/~3/yzJUA_YcRNs/why_do_women_shop_and_men_hunt.php
10/13/2010 7:45:26 AM
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...in not pointing out that one of my favorite blogs from the "old days" (as in four years ago) is back. The Second Sight, which closed up shop in 2007, reappeared a couple of months ago. It's as great as ever. Check it out.

From Respectful Insolence
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/scienceblogs/insolence/~3/5dWxHAxOuxA/ive_been_remiss.php
8/12/2010 7:00:00 AM
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For a full year, A.J. Jacobs followed every piece of health advice he could -- from applying sunscreen by the shot glass to wearing a bicycle helmet while shopping. Onstage at TEDMED, he shares the surprising things he learned.

From Greg Laden's Blog
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GregLadensBlog/~3/oM-5ETYW9_Y/testing_out_the_woo_and_more.php
1/8/2012 3:29:07 AM
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Remember how I told you that Eric Hovind was giving away free DVDs for Valentine's Day? And you all rushed over to place your order, and you got the sad notification?

We're sorry, the Valentine's DVD is now out of stock. Thanks to supporters like you, over 2,000 people will get to hear the gospel message!

We pray that the Holy Spirit will use these DVDs to bring people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Awww, out of stock. Oh, well, that's fair enough, you thought, and you turned away to go back to the kitchen and turn the roast-baby-on-a-spit some more. But wait! There's something mysterious going on here!

Try this. Click on this link

From Pharyngula
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/scienceblogs/pharyngula/~3/3woUIVSVnFY/eric_hovind_just_cant_help_lyi.php
2/3/2011 10:12:11 AM
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Oh, goody. Just what we need.

Some of my readers sent this to me yesterday, and I, like them, was appalled. Apparently that wretched hive of scum and quackery, The Huffington Post, has decided that it's starting a "real" health section (to be, apparently, distinguished from its old "Lifestyle" section, where previously most of its health quackery reporting and commentary resided (and presumably will still reside). Also, yes, I know I use the term "wretched hive of scum and quackery" whenever I mention HuffPo these days, but that's just because that's just what HuffPo is when it comes to medicine. Perhaps I'll start abbreviating it WHSQ.

In any case, the Chief Quack Herder (i.e., the Chief Medical Editor) over at HuffPo, Dr. Dean Ornish, has announced:

Beginning today, The Huffington Post is launching a new section, HuffPost Health. [...]

From Respectful Insolence
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/scienceblogs/insolence/~3/OvGeDngLpM8/huffpost_health_a_soon-to-be_one-stop_sh.php
10/27/2010 1:30:00 AM
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By the slimy tentacles of Cthulhu, Cephalopodmas is here today, and I'm not prepared! I only got my grades submitted at 11:00 last night, and I slept in, and now I've got to get the tree up and drape it with squid and octopuses and do my cephalopodmas shopping, all at once. Why can't we have finals in like October, where they aren't tromping all over our holy sacred days?

From Pharyngula
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/scienceblogs/pharyngula/~3/VuAkZQXHsSs/cephalopodmas.php
12/23/2010 12:58:39 AM
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Boo hoo, Fox News is reporting a new wave of disastrous economic news: the churches are going bankrupt and closing up shop. Future headlines I'm also looking forward to: "Meth lab economy collapses!" "Pedophile rings go out of business!" "Homeopathy peddlers file chapter 11, citing high cost of raw materials!"

From Pharyngula
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/scienceblogs/pharyngula/~3/oO9bcCBm_fc/finally_an_economic_crisis_i_c.php
1/26/2011 4:40:42 AM
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...imaginary jobs that might or might not materialize. As a long-time customer of New Balance shoes (not only do I like the shoes, but they're U.S. made), it looks like a 'free'* trade agreement will kill off 1,000 existing jobs in Maine (italics mine):

At the factory here owned by New Balance, the last major athletic shoe brand to manufacture footwear in the United States, even workers on the shop floor recognize that in purely economic terms, the operation doesn't make sense.

The company could make far more money if, like Nike and Adidas, it shifted virtually all of these jobs to low-wage countries.

So employees try each shift to make it up. Conversations on the shop floor are sparse at best, and the tasks at each work station have been stripped of waste and precisely timed. Workers cut leather for a pair of [...]

From Mike the Mad Biologist
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/scienceblogs/KsPC/~3/gr6QBgORhYU/a_thousand_jobs_in_the_hand_ar.php
8/26/2011 12:55:16 AM
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