Cheeky Little Skeptic

Youtube may have just started a war!!!! While they're at it; they should suspend accounts of anyone who's ever had a personal opinion! send a complaint to youtube about this!

Apparently the Ration Response Squad's account has been canceled as well! Together we stand!!

I woke up this morning to find a text-message in my inbox warning me about gang initiations that are to occur at walmart. It said to forward it to all the women you know. In my still-half-asleep state, I send it to some of my girlfriends (the ones I'd prefer not get killed) and fall back asleep.

After waking up about 2 hours later, I decide to actually look into it a bit more. Seeing as I had done a term paper in sociology about Urban Legends, I really should have seen it for what it was. This only proves that I am really stupid when I'm tired.

Apparently this rumor has been running rampant for the last 2-3 days. There are walmart employees that are scared to go to work because of it! It almost infuriates me what many people take at face-value. Talk about willfull ignorance! The text-message that I recieved said (and I quote)

"Do not go to any walmart tonight. Gang initiation to shoot 3 women tonight. Not sure which walmart. and confirmed on tv. Send to all girls in ya phone."

What made me believe it, was the fact that it sounded like (language-wise) something that the girl who sent it to me would say. She knows alot of people from different places. I consider her to be a reputable source, and doubt that she really thought much of the text. (how many texts have YOU forwarded without much thought to the content?). The only problem with this is that people are actually believing it.

This piece of folklore has been circulating on and off since around 2005, and has many variations (such as gang rapings, kidnapping etc.) Sometimes it's targeted to the black community; however, this round seems to be targetting white people (even though the text I recieved just said WOMEN). To stay in the loop, as far as urban folklore, such as this, goes check out snopes.com For tracking of this particular legend's path, look at the message board at about.com.

*smoochies*

Tara 

How are you a better person today than you were ten years ago?
Sponsored by Nature Made.

 Ten years ago, I was 15 years old. I was still a highschool student and quite naive. I was going to a small school in a small town in Mississippi. I was a complete creationist, and honestly didn't really know or understand anything about the scientific world around me.

I really knew nothing about myself, my abilities or what was truely important in life. I wanted to go to a community college, become a nurse and settle down with my highschool sweetheart an get married.

Fortunately, most of that didn't happen.

I started Community College strait out of highschool in pursuit of nursing, Eventually I realized that I could probably do better for myself than an associates degree. I couldn't deal with seeing people excrete bodily fluids (vomit, feces etc.) and I decided to take a break from schooling.

I did marry when I was around 22; however, not to my highschool love. *thank god; his name was bubba and he drove a pickup truck*

My current hubby is probably the polar opposite of him. He's smart, funny, witty and generally sensitive... and a bit metrosexual at times. I moved to PA to be with him.

Shortly after getting married I decided that I wanted a science-based degree in the medical field that did not include caring for people. I decided on Clinical Laboratory Science (a Bachelors Degree) and my life pretty much changed from then on. My focus on science has led me away from creationism. In a vague way, science also led me away from full fledged meat-eating. I've also become a bit of a feminist, which is a change I do not attribute to science, but the general University experience.

I feel these are changes for the better; however, most of my hubby and I's family would probably disagree. 

*holla!*

Tara

Considering that I've recently become (attempting) veg for animal cruelty reasons, I've been doing a lot of clicking around different animal rights sites.

When I thought of dancing bears, it was of those that are conditioned via positive reinforcement... the same way that we train our own "companion animals" (quote peta ROFL).

Then I came across a section of the WSPA's website dedicated to a family tradition in India in which bears are captured as cubs, mutilated and tortured by being forced to dance in order to illeviate the pain being inflicted on them. For a more detailed description of the types of mutilation the bears endure click here.

So, around the same time, I discover Tim Minchin's work (via skepticism not animal rights), and realize he has taken up for the cause as well. Awesome! Check out Tim Minchin with a breakdancing "bear".

*Luv*

Tara :)

I first saw this picture in one of those trashy supermarket tabloids that one of my coworkers was reading.

Albino dolphin

 She points it out to me because she knows I love the colour pink, not because I'm a BIOLOGY major, and would actually find it interesting.

So I see this, and my automatic response is that it's a photoshopped pic; considering how rare albinism is in most all animals..much less a dolphin! I still seem to think they may have saturated the picture to make the him appear more pink than it actually is, but other pictures do show an obviously pink dolphin!

If you didn't already know: Albinism is a recessive genetic disease that interupts the biochemical pathway which convert phenylalanine into melanin, causing a lack of pigmentation.  

Poor guy! I sure hope he wears alot of sunscreen! (lol)

So here are some related links that I found interesting!

Article about Albino Dolphin

 Albinism In Humans and Animals

*much love*

Tara :)