2 Things
2007 September 11
1) Sandy Szwarc has a must-read today, which is a verrrrry interesting follow-up to the convo here and elsewhere over the last few days.
2) Also, more importantly:
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This work by Kate Harding is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Buy the book!
Puppy butts!!! wooooohoooo…
Sorry :::ahem::: that is all.
thanks for the puppy love, kate. i needed that!
Col, you have NO IDEA how much I needed that! I love Fillyjonk for trying, but one post was simply not enough.
(Oh, and if anyone’s wondering, all of these came from clipart.com, where I have an account, so it’s legal ‘n’ stuff.)
My puppies did not have such prominent ‘tocks, either.
I read the myth-busting article a day or so before Sandy posted it and it was interesting reading, for sure. I’m sure this is one of the many reasons fat acceptance has problems gaining ground. Not many people want to face the fact that what they think they know (and has been thought to be factual) is not really the truth once all is said and done. How many people actually apply a healthy dose of skepticism to what they hear and then want to see proof? How many people know how to dig into studies to see what they really proved, not what the diet industry/big pharma skewed them to say? I know I don’t know how to read them very well, and if you don’t get the journals they’re published in, you have no way of finding out what was left out, what were the original criteria, etc, etc. That’s one of the main reasons I read Junkfood Science. Sandy explains things and goes into details I wouldn’t even think of considering.
Maybe we should have the guys from Mythbusters on Discovery Channel take on the dieting industry? But then again, do people really believe it when Jamie and Adam bust those myths?
Puppies are made of AWESOME and WIN.
*nod*
There’s also a great Gina Kolata article in the NYT today. Well, great except for the headless fatty, but I’m betting she didn’t pick that.
Thanks, Kate. This has been a wet, frustrating day so far. I sooo needed fuzzy therapy. :)
KITTEN POWER!
no tocks, but still.
(if that doesn’t work, check out: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalmn/291683468/in/set-660744/. i am so mean to my dogs. must go check out h’ween costumes at target again soon.)
Puppy therapy – the best! Love the pile o’ pups
to be honest I had a hard time understanding the mythbuster story. i’ll try it again.
i love puppies AND kittens.
Sarah, the short version is that telling people that popular myths aren’t true is potentially counterproductive; people remember “oh I heard something about that” but not WHAT they heard, so new facts can reinforce their prejudices even if they contradict them.
Thanks, fillyjonk.
I’m really glad I found y’all.
We’re glad you did, too, Sarah!
TEH CUTENESS!!
You are aware of Daily Puppy, I hope?
I had a funny moment today when I said “you know, I read something about how violent crime increases during heat waves,” and I had to stop and think “wait, did I hear that it does, or did I hear that people think it does but actually it’s common cause?” I’m still not sure. But it was a great illustration of the Mythbuster Principle.
Fillyjonk, I know where I heard that, and it was from Melissa McEwan, who heard it in her Sociology 101 class, as an illustration of how correlation does not equal causation.
It went like this: the murder rate consistently rises at the same time as ice cream consumption. Does that mean eating ice cream causes murderous impulses? No. In fact, the two independent results are both caused by hotter temperatures.
That doesn’t mean it’s true, of course. It just means you can blame Liss for the misinformation.
Oh, and Paul, yes, I’m aware, but if you’ve turned one person on to Daily Puppy who didn’t know it existed, it was worth the effort to link it.
I also highly recommend Stuff on my Mutt (for the dog lovers) and Stuff on my Cat (for the cat lovers).
I have a special place in my heart for Stuff on My Mutt, because they made Solly famous.
OMG SNUGGLEDOG CAMO FTW
ICE CREAM! That was the missing link. I was pretty sure that heat -> violence was the real causation, but couldn’t remember what the red herring was. Thanks Kate!
Oh yeah!?
http://tinyurl.com/2o6jcv
http://tinyurl.com/3cc7cw
Take that! (My cats rule.)
Your cats do rule!!