Greg from Daddy Types did a great article on the anti-vaccine tomfoolery going on in California. It’s really interesting to me how liberals spent the 8 years under the Bush administration carping about the attack on science and evolution while doing exactly the same things themselves. I often read about liberals not wanting to give their kids vaccines, not because they’re afraid of autism (a few have been informed), but because they don’t want to give their kids drugs. They prefer natural remedies over drugs. I’ve grown weary of explaining what a vaccine is.

I’m afraid we’re probably going to have to have a lot of deaths to stop that particular bit of nonsense.

I don’t have a problem with midwives. I have lots of problems with the fact that hospital medicine isn’t really based on science either (due to ethical concerns). We have people railing against Demerol and Epidurals to ease labor pain, but then taking “natural” tinctures from their midwives. Tinctures generally being alchohol based. Alchohol being a drug that we definitely know crosses into the babies blood stream, thanks to pretty extensive research in the 1950s and 60s (and thus having the same exact downsides as demerol).But let’s not pretend that everyone isn’t just guessing.

Lately I’ve been seeing a lot of people talking about how organically grown vegetables are the cure for obesitvy. You know, because if you eat lots of organically grown vegetables you’re more likely to be skinny. Of course if you eat lots of commercially farmed vegetables you’re going to be skinny too. ‘Cause you’re filling up your stomach with undigestable roughage.

And can we stop using the term organic? Because I’m pretty sure all the vegetables I eat are organic, regardless of how they are grown.

I’m done venting. I’ve had no sleep. How ’bout you? Any pet peeves about the way that science is mistreated in our society?

Oh, and on a somewhat related note, can we stop all of our calvinist wailing about how commercialism is immoral, and the root of all our problems today? Scavenging from dumpsters is not a scalable way to get food.

It looks like the second largest cause of death for children in Austin might be because of the uptick in co-sleeping:

Travis County officials warn parents — don’t use alcohol, drugs or sedating medicines if you chose to sleep with your infant. The safest place for you baby to sleep is a crib or bassinet. Always place an infant on their back to sleep.

This is especially scary since:

In 2007, seven children died of suffocation or asphyxiation. And so far in 2008, Travis County has already reached that same number.

I definitely sleep to heavily to sleep with a child in bed.

So, I’m all like IMing the J-dog and stuff, and she’s like – Ashley said that the Ikea catalog came free in the paper, and she didn’t tell us. And I’m all like, “oh no she didn’t!”, and j-dog’s like, “Yeah. Yeah she did.” And, I’m all like, “If that stinky uncreative bitch thinks she’s somehow going to out decorate us, just ’cause she got the ikea catalog early then she doesn’t know her HGTV from her DIY network. We are the conquerors of compressed particle board! The lords of Lack! The bards of Billy! We are the modern furniture masters!” And j-dog’s like, “Yeah.” Bring your best designs Ashley. We can take totally take your ass!