Calling all skeptical mums, moms and mamas!

November 21, 2008 at 12:32 am (Uncategorized)

Ok.

I’m NOT pregnant. I took a test yesterday and there was only one little pink line, so I know FOR SURE that I am NOT pregnant. The oven is empty; there is no bun.

It is important to establish that so people don’t feel left out of the loop.

However, I am married.

First comes love, then comes marriage, then….well, you know, the hubby’s all ready for that proverbial baby carriage.

I, however, am not ready. Nope. Not really ready at all.

But I’ve started thinking about it.

I still look at babies, especially toddlers as really short, stupid people, or hairless but maladroit monkeys. I can’t hold a conversation with one, therefore, I’m not entirely sure what I’m supposed to be getting out of the exchange. But there are days when I look at those cute little critters with their big eyes and their total fascination with the world and I think, “Man, I want one that looks like me!” or “It’s so small, I NEED ONE!” or “BABY! WANT! NOW!”

However, I don’t think I’m ready. For starters, I haven’t done any research.

So, I go to Amazon and I start looking at pregnancy books. What To Expect When Your Expecting. The Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy. Ok, cool, but a little dry. Further down the list: Spiritual Midwifery, HypnoBirthing, The Baby Name Wizard: A Magical Method for Finding the Perfect Name for Your Baby and worst of all Belly Laughs: The Naked Truth about Pregnancy and Childbirth by Jenny McCarthy. Not to mention all kinds of “methods” and “truth about the…” pseudoscience and for some reason, about a million prenatal diet and fitness books.

So, when I see a title like The Thinking Woman’s Guide to a Better Birth I get excited. It looks great, it sounds great. But I’ve been tricked before. What pseudoscience is lurking behind that beautiful cover and flattering title?  It’s telling me that I’m a “Thinking Woman”, something I’m sure all mothers want to be. And who doesn’t want to bring a child into the world under better conditions? But “Better” by whose definition? I can’t help wondering if it’s full of fear-mongering misinformation and twisted figures.  It proposes to help you make informed decisions about birthing methods and practices, but is there an agenda? The author is herself a promoter of Lamaze, which, according to my relatively skeptical mother is complete bunk. But who am I to believe, my mother or this supposed expert?

I know I have the skills to properly weigh the evidence and do my own research, but it’s hard to know where to start. Where to find any actual studies on whether or not natural birth is any better for a baby or mother? How do I wade through the agendas and ideologies and find the right books for me?

So, this is what’s going on in my head lately. This whole thing has opened up a skeptical can of worms and I am having a hard time finding a good list of EVIDENCE BASED pregnancy, chilbirth and parenting books that don’t cherry pick or depend on meta-analysis.

If you know a good place to start, let me know. I need at least an Associates Degree in in Pregnancy before I’ll feel even remotely ready.

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TAM6: A belated retrospective

November 20, 2008 at 11:51 pm (Uncategorized)

The time came and went for a comprehensive guide to my TAM6 experience, so now, I will talk about what I learned and what I gained, five months on.

I think I summarised my feelings about the convention in my previous post but five months on, I no longer feel as…well…ranty.

TAM6 kind of turned me off from the whole “skeptical movement” for a while.  Offering another set of answers is not the best way to steer people away from nonsense. Instead, trying to promote the skills that lead people to skepticism in the first place is possibly more effective.

But that’s my husband’s rant.

TAM6 made me realise that what TAM gives to me is a sense of belonging. I have a strong emotional attachment to the skeptical community and the sense of family it brings. It’s like church camp used to be.  At TAM5 I was excited about the idea of rubbing elbows with famous people. At TAM6 I just wanted to have a good time. I met some famous people but I felt less like a fan, and more like a colleague. I realised that the celebrities aren’t as interesting as some of the less famous people who do interesting work. And more interesting than them? The people who are, like me, fans of skepticism who make skepticism part of their daily lives. I enjoyed TAM, but in the following months I’ve moved away from skepticism as a major part of my life. (However, recently I’ve found a reason to resurrect it.)

So yeah. Not a detailed thought provoking post, but a post. At long last.

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Not the official post about TAM6

July 3, 2008 at 1:12 pm (just for fun, skepticism)
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O.k. I know I said I’d do a post about The Amazing Meeting 6, which was fun, but not in the same, life-changing-meet-new-friends-and-the person-I’ll-run-away-to-Australia-for-and-marry, kind of way.

This isn’t that post.

However, it is the post in which I mention that I met Soccer Girl. She’s probably the cutest chick in the world. She has a very funny vodcast and she filmed me (very drunk) on Friday night doing my double jointed arm trick. See it here.

She and George Hrab were pretty much in each other’s hip pockets for the entire conference. Whether they’re a couple or not, I can’t say, but if they are a couple, they may be the sexiest pair of people I’ve ever met. Though Daniel Loxton (of Junior Skeptic) and his lovely wife are a close second. What is it about intelligence that makes people so darn hot?

Oh yeah, and did I mention that I’m a cover girl (hint : 2009 back cover)? It was a little weird having Phil Plait chase me down to get me to sign his copy of my picture. And by weird, I mean awesome. I have no shame at being a cover girl, since I share the honor of cover-personhood with Robert S. Lancaster.

I promise I will write a thorough, thought provoking post about The Amazing Meeting 6 in which I will cover all of the things about it that I feel totally suck in spite of it being a really great time, and in which I discuss my hangups about being a female in the skeptical movement and how I feel that the some girls in the movement get attention only if they act as cheerleaders for the men instead of actually doing meaningful work on their own (it’s like how in basketball, people go to the men’s games and leer at the cheerleaders, but the women’s league can’t get any respect, at least in America) and how I worry that I might be just another one of those cheerleaders… You get the idea.

I’ll do a full Good Things/Bad Things post. I promise.

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Brain Droppings: 4th of July

July 3, 2008 at 4:37 am (just for fun)
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Independence Day, or The Fourth of July is a celebration of America’s independence from Britain.

It’s not the day we defeated them, but the day a bunch of sweaty, wigged lawyers got together and declared the Colonies to be an independent nation.

It’s the day with the most flag waving, red, white and blue, patriotic Americana.

And yet…

America, the only country to format its dates thusly: mm/dd/yyyy, commonly calls its most patriotic holiday, dd/mm.

Fourth of July, the only day of the year that Americans format the date like the rest of the world.

Also, yesterday I almost bought a little resin statue at my local Dollar Plus type store that was a Bald Eagle sitting atop the Liberty Bell. I have no idea what it was doing in Australia, but I thought perhaps it was there for my fellow American ex-pats, feeling the Spirit of ‘76.

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What good is winter without the holidays?

July 2, 2008 at 12:56 am (rant)
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So, I made this amazing, life changing decision to move from California to Australia to be with the man I love.

I moved in July, sacrificing half of my summer and all of my fall to jump straight into winter. It didn’t really matter that much to me, I like winter.
But now I’m experiencing my second winter down under and a something is really starting to get to me, namely, no holidays.
Winter is the time of year that more people die. It’s depressing and cold and you have to stay inside.
Thanksgiving and Christmas and all those other stupid holidays that I used to bitch about at least broke the cold, dull, aching monotony that is winter. Thanksgiving comes just as you have to start wearing more layers when you go outside. At Christmas, you hang lights all around, eat lots of cookies and candy and drink eggnog. You spend a day with your family eating and drinking and sitting around the fire. New Year’s, you dress up, play music loud and stay up late drinking Champagne and sneaking late night Christmas leftovers. And then there’s Valentine’s Day. Actually, my Valentine’s Days almost always suck, but at least there’s usually chocolate to make me feel better.

What holidays are there in June and July and August here in Australia? Zip. Nada. Nuthin.

It’s cold and blustery and all the leaves are brown and the sky is grey (but if I were in California, I’d be on fire).

I think I understand Christmas a little better now that I’m experiencing a winter without it.

This calls for a big fake Christmas. I’ll call it Wintermas (or just the traditional “Christmas in July”) and I’ll invite friends over for hot buttered rum and roasted chestnuts and maybe a large roast bird of some kind.

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Fads Destroy Meaning

May 30, 2008 at 4:48 am (rant, skepticism)
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Take Uggs. They are ugly boots made in Australia. Australians only really wear them around the house or to shuffle out to the bottle shop, or to warm one’s feet after doing a little winter surfing. Anyone who wears them all the time is considered, well, a bit “daggy.” Somehow, in America a few years ago, they gained  popularity among surfers, became high fashion chic which then became a fad among celebrities and suburban moms. Aussies are still puzzled, and a bit embarrassed.

Take trucker hats. A few years ago Hollywood hipsters started wearing them as an ironic rebellion. As in, “I’m so hip, I can wear this terrible piece of clothing that people associate with the lowest common denominator and still be hip. Look at me, I’m soooo ironic.” Then, people who didn’t get the irony started wearing them, and finally, they came full circle and only frat boys and people with no fashion sense were wearing them again. They lost their irony, and gained a new negative connotation.

Going back further, look at “grunge” fashion. It started in the independent alternative music scene in Washington and Seattle. Flannel shirts, knitted caps and thermal underwear were popular because they were  cheap, warm and the musicians were poor and really mostly cared about their music, not what they were wearing. Then, suddenly, grunge music took off and everyone started wearing flannel, thermals, knitted caps and ripped clothing. The original fashion of apathy became a symbol of caring too much, once you could buy pre-ripped jeans and overpriced distressed flannels at the mall.

Now, there’s a silly (arrgh, must resist using the word “kerfuffle”) spat over Rachel Ray’s Dunkin’ Donut ad where she wears a keffiyeh. Sure, it may have started as a way for celebs to show support for Palestinians, or to protest the war or whatever, but as far as I can tell, nobody is wearing them because of that anymore. They fly off the shelves, but they seem to just be another trendy scarf. The original symbolism is lost. I won’t wear one because I don’t like to buy things that everyone else is wearing. Other people have the opposite fashion criteria.  Rachel Ray is just a fashion victim, not a jihadi supporter. Indicting people because of the supposed symbolism of an item of clothing that has become simply a fad is absurd. You might as well tell Americans that they shouldn’t wear Uggs because in their homeland of Australia, only bogans wear them.

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An open letter to Sharon Stone

May 29, 2008 at 12:57 am (rant)
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This is in response to this article from SFGate.com

Dear Ms. Stone,

First of all I admire your stance against the Chinese government’s actions in Tibet. I generally like to see celebrities use their undeserved status in society to raise awareness about important issues. However, you have made a grievous error in your recent statements about the tragic earthquakes in China.

Do not fall into the trap of blaming the Chinese people for the brutal policies of the Chinese government. Was hurricane Katrina “karma” for the U.S.’s involvement in Iraq? Was the cyclone in Burma “karma” for the military junta’s treatment of political dissidents in 2007? The citizens of these countries are not necessarily responsible for the actions of their governments. In fact, many of them are victims themselves of their government’s unethical practices.

You’ve stated that the Dalai Lama is your “good friend.” Well let me tell you about my friend, Lama D. He was a monk in Tibet. There are strict rules for the practice of religion in Tibet, including a ban on images of the Dalai Lama, who is seen as a terrorist and a threat to the government. My good friend Lama was arrested and tortured by the Chinese government for having a single picture of his spiritual leader under his bed. He managed to escape to Nepal and move to California, where I worked with him in a warehouse. He was no longer a monk, but still very spiritual and an admirer of the Dalai Lama. When he told me his story he was very careful to say that the Chinese people were good, the people were not to blame, but the Chinese government was “very, very bad.”

You have done a disservice to yourself by saying that these innocent people deserved their tragic circumstances. It’s as bad as saying a woman deserved to be raped because she was “asking for it”. Your callous remarks reveal your ignorance not only about politics but about the very concept of Karma itself. 20,000 children for 16 protesters. Is it a fair trade? The Chinese people did not deserve this misery any more than anyone else. Nobody deserves to have their lives destroyed, their homes turned to rubble or their children killed, whether by a government, a fringe military group, a war or an act of nature.

To show real compassion, you must transcend your hatred for nations, and love the people within them. I respect your opinions about the rights of the Tibetan people, but your hate filled comments sadden and anger me. If you truly cared about relieving suffering, you would open your heart to all who suffer, not just your favourite pet group. We are all human, after all.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth McRae

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Superstitions Among Roleplaying Gamers

May 26, 2008 at 4:40 am (natural 20, skepticism)
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Buy this nifty ring at etsy.com

(Buy this ring here!)

I just finished the fourth official episode of Natural 20 (a podcast about roleplaying gamer culture), which is our exploration of superstitions in roleplaying games.

I, of course, played the skeptic, while Emma played the believer.

Most of the superstitions surrounding gaming have to do with dice. Actually, pretty much all of them do. What I deduce from this is that since the dice are the randomising agent in gaming, they are the subject of superstitions. They are the aspect over which the player has no control, so superstitions, rituals and rules about them give the player a sense of control.

Through an informal survey on the RPGmeetup.com forum, I found that of the people that took the survey (n=13), most (58%) had habits or rituals that they performed, knowing full well that they had no way of influencing the dice. This was not really surprising, as roleplaying gamers tend to be rather analytical and educated, but seem to enjoy the idea of the supernatural even if they do not believe in it. What surprised me was how elaborate these rituals were and how anal people were about them. Also, if a person rolled well, they were less likely to care about their dice rules than if they rolled poorly. The rules only seemed to come into play as a remedy for a bad streak than a way of ensuring a good streak.

I performed a “road test” of some of the dice superstitions: I named my dice, I carried them in a container I imbued with specialness, I only rolled on my notebook, not the table, and I set my die at 20 when at rest. I did roll well during that game. I didn’t call this exercise an experiment because, obviously, it wasn’t. I was just giving the behaviours a try.

In the follow-up discussion and analysis of our findings, Emma had a very interesting point: Part of the reason to play a roleplaying game and not a videogame is that it is random. The randomising agent (dice) is the only thing that keeps it from just being a story. So, is there any point to trying to influence your dice? If the GM is making important plot points dependent on rolls in order to move the story forward, then perhaps the GM isn’t doing her job properly. So maybe, even if we do (secretly) want to believe we can influence dice, we shouldn’t even try to do so.

Anyway, it will all be available for listening soon at Natural20podcast.blogspot.com

Oh yeah, and I wanted to use Superstition by Stevie Wonder during the break between the two parts, but we couldn’t use copyrighted music. There will be a sound-alike song instead called “It’s All Humbug.” I won’t tell you who performed it, but I will say she wrote it especially for the episode and it only took 20 minutes, so please be kind.

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I promise I’ll do a real post soon..

May 21, 2008 at 6:29 am (just for fun)

This just seemed to follow that giraffe clip rather nicely:

Thanks to icanhascheezburger.com

I will do one more post before heading back to the U.S.

Then, upon returning, I plan to write about my experiences at TAM6.

In the meantime, allow me to plug my podcast:

Natural 20 – It’s mostly about roleplaying games, the gaming community and the rewards and challenges of the gaming experience. There are two episodes (though technically, three, but only two official ones) up currently, with a third (official) one coming shortly, and there will be a fourth episode coming up next week where we explore gaming superstitions.

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The truth about Nessie

May 7, 2008 at 4:43 am (just for fun, skepticism)

I just bought this new t-shirt.

Heehee. It’s got a puppet.

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