Unfortunately, I'm going to be ensconced in my Sanctum Sanctorum most of the day, pounding out text far less fun than the text I like to pound out for Respectful Insolence. However, I have to admit that this video sums up the attitude behind a whole lot of woo that I like to apply a skeptical deconstruction to--with music!
More like this
From Steven Shapin's recent New Yorker article on the history of vegetarianism:
I've been getting a ton of questions about an article from the Independent about a guy named Bertie Smalls. Bertie was a british thief who died quite recently, who was famous
They say exercise can help you lose weight. What they didn't tell you is how much exercise.
In a recent head-to-head test of four fad diets, apparently the Atkins diet resulted in the participants losing the most weight. The Atkins diet relies on the elimination of carbs in your diet, and encourages intake of protein and fats instead.
Lavin is great. Sadly my one opportunity to see her live was cancelled...looks like it would have been fun!
Orac ... it that shirtless guy REALLY PZ Myers?
I don't think so, Tsu Dho Nimh. Not enough tentacles.
The shirtless guy was none other than Doctor Demento himself.
No, the guy in the suit and top hat is Dr. Demento!
The shirtless guy is "R Stevie" something.
Christine Lavin is so cool.
I was at one of her concerts a few years ago, during intermission she set up a table and did fingernail painting for audience members. Never saw tha before.
That seems to be a ... sanitized ... version of the song. It's missing a few lines on from the CD version.
Lavin is a stitch. Funny story:
Years ago, when I was in grad school, I heard her do the song "Doris and Edwin" in concert. The song has to do with a young man working in the basement of an office building, where he loved from afar a woman working on the 34th floor. His love was requited, in a way, when a fire forced the object of his adoration to leap from her office window, fall 34 stories, and land on top of him.
At this point in the performance, Lavin pauses, looks out at the audience and asks "Now, what are the odds of that?"
To an crowd of MIT students, this was like waving a porterhouse in front of a pack of Rottweilers. My officemate's fiance, Brian Leibowitz, went back to the office, calculated Doris' time of flight, terminal velocity, and probable circle of impact. Repeating the process for Edwin's probability density as a function of position on the sidewalk, Brian was able to give a reasonable figure for the likelihood of the star-crossed lovers' collision. He went back to Christine Lavin's concert the next night, with his calculations and conclusion neatly printed out. Lavin was immensely tickled, and was still passing out copies of the Doris and Edwin study when I saw her years later.