There is an evo psych bingo: [link]

I don't think all of it is crappy, because I've found some fascinating studies, like pareidolia. You know when people see the image of Jesus in a rust stain or Jimi Hendrix in a burnt potato chip? You can do modern day experiments on humans to explain it. We're amazingly great at seeing patterns, really great at recognizing faces. Two dots inside a circle look like a face to us. Also: [link]

You can see why this is useful in a modern day setting.

There's also a press problem, made worse by the fact that newspapers have culled their science reporters, so you get one person covering science, who may not have any background in science, or perhaps a background in cosmology, but not biology. Before, reporters had specific beats, and therefore a broader knowledge. This is why (I think) it took a decade and the deaths of hundreds of children to stop vax = autism correlation/causation issue. Don't get me started on climate change.

Anywho, just-so stories make fantastic fiction, and help imagine so we can get to a hypothesis.

Why do girls like pink?

Um. Because Ayla picked berries to mash in her hair to smell sexy while Jondalar hunted! So Jondalar would give her some mammoth in order to smell her sexy sexy hair. The red berries made him go extra wild and give her more mammoth meat! WIN!

Why do girls like pink?

Wait, do all girls like pink? Which girls like pink? Do boys like pink?

Um. The Toys R Us catalogue says that girls like pink and boys like blue.

Do girls in china like pink? What about Africa? Is it just in first world nations?

Let's look at this in modern history. Did girls have a preference for pink at any other time?

In China, pink is a lucky color. This study shows that both males and females prefer pink. In 1919, there is this article calling pink a boy color because it is "stronger" (WTF).

If you look at paintings of female children and women, what colors are they shown wearing?

Can we travel back in time and ask Ayla about that pretty hair = mammoth meat thing? No? Fuck.

Well, I think the key to the fleshlight is that you're supposed to stick your penis into it, not that it's supposed to shine something out of it. It also doesn't just come in "vagina." You can get "anus" and "mouth" and "general hole."

I'm waiting for the "bullet wound" fleshlight.

Also, why did I assume that everyone knows what a fleshlight is? WTF is wrong with me?

A 100 years ago, pink was for boys and blue was for girls.

Also, now I'm picturing Genera Hole in uniform....

This is why (I think) it took a decade and the deaths of hundreds of children to stop vax = autism correlation/causation issue.

Unfortunately, the antivax movement brushed this off and moved straight from autism to "toxins" without missing a beat. That fight isn't over by a long shot.

(And honestly, the autism/vaccine link in people's minds is going to take generations to eradicate. All most people know is that there's some kind of vague connection that they remember hearing about somewhere - the majority of parents don't spit when they hear the name Andrew Wakefield.)

So what is going to have to happen is a huge influx of classic childhood diseases to kill off the children of the anti-vacs and leave a population of pro-vafc people to continue the human population?

All most people know is that there's some kind of vague connection that they remember hearing about somewhere - the majority of parents don't spit when they hear the name Andrew Wakefield.

This is where cultural osmosis kills me. Take a minute and actually read something, people.

It actually works with Allyson's story about the color pink, too. The example I'm giving isn't really an important societal phenomenon, but it's assumed white was always the color for wedding dresses, for instance. Not really, folks. Just because as far back as you can remember they have been doesn't mean much.

Hopefully it won't come to that.

Timelies all!

It is rainy and windy, we have gotten our errands done, and my mom is making chicken soup with matzo balls. Such is the state of things here.