Righteous Indignation

Our pals across the pond

This week on Righteous Indignation, the Indignates discussed their experiences at the 10:23 campaign overdose gatherings.  Hayley Stevens shared some audio clips of interviews she performed while at her gathering.  First, nobody died.  Not that I thought it likely since they were gobbling down sugar, er-r-r homeopathic remedies and there are no active ingredients.  Interestingly, many of the participants reported suffering from a sugar rush, which I found surprising unless they are gulping down horse pills.  It could be that my poor diet based in large part upon chocolate bars has built up my tolerance to large quantities of sugar.  It sounded as if the various gatherings came off with only minor hitches, and the riot police were not called in firing rubber bullets and spraying water canons into the dense crowd of right minded geeks.  

There are plans to sell 10:23 shirts to the general public, which I would like to own.  I can add it to my skeptical swag of SGU attire, my stylish Amateur Scientist shirt, and now an import from fashionable Britain.  Or is Britain fashionable, as the show discussed a growing tendency of Britians to wear their pajamas in public.  Apparently, some in Britain are taking offense to supermarket patrons who shop in pajamas and even bare feet.  While all the Indignates agreed that bare feet in a market is pretty bad, they disagreed about the pajamas in public.  Trystan was opposed, while Hayley thought it was fine.  I suspect there might be a generational aspect in this opinion.  I think pajamas in public is just too scruffy and should be discouraged, but my twenty-something wife disagrees with my thirty-something opinion and thinks it is fine.  How this story is skeptical, I don't know.  I found it enjoyable nevertheless. 

Hayley covered Andrew Wakefield being censored and having his MMR Vaccine report being deleted by the Lancet.  As Hayley was discussing her thoughts that this would not change anyone's minds in the anti-vaccination movement, my wife sent me an article that Jenny McCarthey and her beau Jim Carrey are going to continue to support their man Wakefield.  Trystan shared that he chose not to give his son the MMR vaccination at the time due to the Wakefield study and instead opted for the three shots instead of one.  The mumps vaccination on its own stopped being available after Trystan chose to go the three shot route,and now his son has gone without the mumps vaccination, the one of the three innoculations.  This is quite sad and disturbing to me.  You can win a battle, but not change hearts and even more importantly minds.  

They also covered the opinion of Pope Benedict XVI that Britain's discussed equality bill violates natural law and should not be supported.  The problem with the law according to Marsh is that it would outlaw discrimination in the workplace for sexual orientation, i.e. homosexuals.  To the Pope, this would violate natural law and should be fought with missionary zeal.  What is it with the current Pope?  The late John Paul II was loved by many and respected by those who did not share all of his (the church's) viewpoints.  The current Pope sounds right at home in 1953 or at Mel Gibson's house.  They are both Popes.  They both follow and support the same basic tenants, but B-16 just can't keep his holy foot out of his mouth.  

Gavin Schofield, who it seems is now a full fledged Indignate, shared a story that images on Google Earth show pictures of UFOs (portal to a different dimension) or it was a twig or branch in the way of the camera.  I'm guessing the more likely explanation is the UFO, right?  The second image discussed was water on the camera lens.  It was not even close to being mysterious.  

As is the norm, and the now four Indignates, did an enjoyable show.

Post Script 

This past Sunday while watching the halftime show of the Super Bowl, which featured a performance by the Who (actually half of the Who, sadly half of the original band has died) the host of the party we were attending noted how the Who are great, but not as good as the Rolling Stones, who are better than the Beatles.  Now gentle reader please understand I am a famously loyal Beatles fan.  I have all their CDs, about a dozen 45s, dozens of LPs in their American and even some in their British version, and much to my wife's chagrin a copy of all the Beatles fan club Christmas records that I make her endure while we trim the tree.  While such things as comparing musical groups is subjective, clearly the support in favor of the Beatles outweighs the Rolling Stones but there is no way to prove it.  In this ilk comparing American football to soccer or baseball to cricket or some made up sounding game called rounders is as subjective.  I bring up the above because the Indignates (of Righteous Indignation) noted my defense of football in my last review of their fine podcast while supporting their love of soccer and disdain for baseball.  So instead of ratcheting up rhetoric another notch and breaching the peace between our two great nations that has lasted since the Treaty of Ghent of 1814, I offer in the event any of the Indignates ever get to the Northeastern United States to take them to a football or baseball game.  At the very least it is a great excuse to see the Steelers, Eagles, Yankees, or Nationals play.  Truly, as Dr. Mark Crislip is a Francophile, I am an Anglophile.  Brits have the Beatles, the Royal Navy who names ships "Indefatigable" which most Americans have no clue is a real word, Monty Python, and Top Gear.  What's not to love?  

The Skeptic Zone, a different take

Hi there, blogosphere! Nigel asked me, his wife, to listen to the Skeptic Zone this week and give my thoughts as an outsider, if you will. Here they are...the good, the bad, the irrelevant.

First, let me just note at the outset that I tend to zone out when listening to podcasts. If there is any truth to the whole "visual learner v. auditory learner" thing, then I am definitely a visual learner. I absolutely cannot listen to audiobooks because it would take me more than twice the time reading would take as I would constantly be rewinding to what I missed while my brain started to wander. So, fair warning...

WIth the above in mind, I have to admit that I zoned out during the interview portion. I'm sure it was a very nice interview with a very nice man, but it did not grab my attention at all. Possibly because I am not a big fan of the psychology field to begin with. Full disclosure...in my job in the legal field, it is always harder to fight a claim of psychological injury because you can't really do any simple objective testing as to whether a person is really having psych problems, such as an x-ray or MRI. Therefore, the very nature of psychology strikes me as an impossible to prove or disprove conundrum. But, I'm not a scientist in any way, I only speak as to my experience where medicine runs smack into the legal field. Digression over.

Anyway, Kylie Sturgess interviewed Professor Chris French, investigator of paranormal stuff. They discussed his research and then went into some of the Simon Singh stuff, which really didn't cover anything new in my opinion; they just were talking about it since Professor French is in the UK.

We were then given a recording of the Mystery Investigator show where Richard Saunders and Dr. Rachie and others present a program to schools to educate children on how to be better critical thinkers in essence. It sounds like great outreaach and a terrific program to stimulate critical thinking, but I didn't feel it was a great listening experience. First, I hate when a podcast has you listening to a recording where there is obviously a visual element involved! I feel it is a waste to me and other listeners, especially if you don't take the time to splice in some explanation for the stuff the listeners obviously cannot see. Therefore, I will never know how Richard Saunders debunked the bending spoon thing although I am sure I could google it. The show also had Richard Saunders prove by demonstrative evidence whether he can juggle three or five tennis balls. (It's three, in case you were wondering. Well done!) The show then did the astrology debunking by giving out horoscopes and asking whether they matched the person although it's a trick! Everyone got the same horoscope! I've heard of this before and think it is excellent in a school program, but again, a little boring for the home (and likely non-school age) listener.

There was a report from Kylie Sturgess from the frontlines of the 10:23 campaign. Look, here's my take for whatever it is worth. I don't know Boots, but I am assuming that they are something like we have here in the nature of a CVS or Rite Aid. That is, it is a convenience store, if you will. Although it has a pharmacy, it also has groceries, greeting cards, toileties, etc. To my mind, a store that is selling all this is NOT a place I am going to look to for serious answers about homeopathic products, because they are only looking for profits. However, I agree that it is right to go after Boots for the sheer fact that they sell the homeopathic products under their own label with full knowledge that they do not work. Unfortunately, I still think the message about the "overdose" may not be effective because there is a certain understandable logic in the homepathic argument that of course, it wouldn't hurt you, it's all natural, etc. Not that I agree with such logic but I can see how the average person could be persuaded by it. When Kylie was interwiewing the participants, I would have liked some more cooncrete information. Such as, one person said that they were not one bit sleepy...well, did they take a homeopathic sleep aid??? Just flesh out the scene for the simple home listener, that's all.

Next to Dr. Rachie Reports...(again, full disclosure, I kind of zoned out. Nothing against this show, just my brain's inability to concentrate on listening when doing other things, such as snow shoveling - 18 inches of snow in Hershey if you were curious). The big points below:
- What sounds like an extremely shady organization run by a whackjob "activist", The AVN (Australian Vaccination Network) seems likely to shut down unless the con woman running it give her an "injection" of cash. (Seriously, she used the word injection, much to Dr. Rachie's amusement). Let's hope no one gives this crazy woman running the AVN any money - one Jenny McCarthy is enough although I know there are more like her out there, sigh.
-Wow, Dr. Wakefield is crazy! He took blood samples from children at his son's birthday party and paid them off at 5 pounds each? Wow, if I were the parent of one of those kids, I would kick his a** and sue him. Anyway, this guy has been proven a crazy and the Lancet retracted his article, dealing a blow to the anti-vaccine movement which they will promptly ignore and rationalize in their own special way.

Well, in all, and after re-listening a second time, not a bad show although I was sorry that there was no Think Tank segment. I could go into a whole discussion comparing the SGU and Skeptic Zone from the eyes, or ears really, of a outsider, but I should probably listen to some more Zone podcasts to make it a fair comparison. So far though, I have to say I think the SGU is easier to get acclimated to and enjoy, but we'll revisit another time.

The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe episode 238, AmSci and cars

Where isn't Lady Gaga these days?

What you may ask? Lady Gaga was a guest on the SGU?  Was she a guest Rogue?  No.  However, she was discussed on the show, but more on that later.

As always, the Rogues started the show with interesting science and skeptical news.  They discussed the official rebuke of Dr. Andrew Wakefield and the Lancet pulling his article connecting the MMR vaccine with autism.  The Rogues discussed how this is obviously welcome news, but at the same time has elevated Wakefield to martyrdom within the Jenny McCarthy set -- they are just trying to shut up an obvious voice of the truth, those big pharma and corporate medical shills.

The Rogues then covered that Dr. David Rosa, who is an assistant professor at Brown University, wrote a book about the 'death cat.'  This made the web rounds about two years ago; this cat taken in by a hospice center would seemly foretell the death of a patient when he chose to curl up next to them.  Kitty stakes his claim with you and soon death will visit.  (If this were so, then I do not know what to make of my cat's often sleeping ritual of curling up under my arm as if he were a gray furry football.  Am I doomed when he does not come over?)  Anyway, the Rogues discussed how this is likely explained by confirmation bias, and before an Ivy League physician would write such a book, a little more care into the subject matter should be exercised.

Bob discussed how we just might be on the brink of success of generating large amounts of energy from finally cracking the secret to hydrogen fusion.  This is hot fusion and not cold fusion, and it does look somewhat promising.  Although Bob is just super giddy with excitement over finally achieving this type of nuclear power for decades.  I was a bit disappointed that Bob did not indicate the need to spend billions on this type of continued research, but maybe the tenor of the times has altered Bob's views on the nation's purse strings.  If this does come to pass, and it can be done to be economically viable, this truly is a game changer, but I am not holding my breath.

One thing I was a bit surprised that the show did not cover was the de facto dismantling of the United States independent manned space program, but perhaps that is just too political a hot potato for the show to cover?* 

An email was answered asking the Rogues to "lay the skeptical smackdown" on the theory that Lady Gaga is a member of the illuminati.  The Rogues covered how all the tell tale signs are there for all to see that she is member of the illuninati -her often covering of one eye, her affinity for butterflies, and her wearing of "Hello, Kitty" shirt are all obvious nods to being a member of the world controlling cult.  Obviously, they were discussing this tongue firmly planted in cheek and it was very humorous.  This is where they should have called upon the expert skills of the mighty conspiracy skeptic himself, Karl Mamer, as they have called upon Dr. Pamela Gay or Phil Plait on past shows.  Alas, it is their loss.

The interview was with Professor Simon Conway Morris, who studies Evolutionary Palaeobiology in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Cambridge.  At first, I thought this was a fine little interview, not exactly sure why he was booked but I was enjoying it.  It was sort of in the vein of when Dr. Rachel Dunlop covers a scientist doing real legitimate and often cutting edge medicine.  Good stuff, but not alway what the SGU is known for.  The Professor was discussing his idea that evolution is more convergent and less random than most biologists postulate.  Therefore, if and/or when we find extraterrestrial life somewhere else, it is likely to be very similar to how life looks and works on Earth.  The Professor and Dr. Novella went back and forth on some pros and cons for his ideas.  It was a fine little interview, but nothing that exciting and then Dr. Novella asked on the downward slope of the interview if there was something else going on here, and if there was something driving this convergence.  

The professor became rather coy, at least that is how I took it.  The interview moved to what is consciousness, and while he noted that many prominent scientists thought everything we need to know to understand we have before us, he disagreed.  He explained as a possible and admittedly crude analogy that our brains are the radio receivers for consciousness, but when our heads are chopped off the radio is off, but the radio signal continues.  The professor took pains to indicate upon Dr. Novella's questioning that he was not sure who or what that broadcast was nor was he making a supernatural pleading.  He did indicate that in his opinion while we know a lot more than we have in anytime in the past, there is likely a whole lot more that we do not know.  On the one hand, I want to take the professor at his word that he is not making an argument for a creator, but it sure sounds as if he is making an argument for some creative force in nature, some type of 'rough' designer.  

Clearly, Dr. Novella knew what he was asking when he did.  I also had the feeling the Professor was somewhat reluctant to tackle this line of thought.  Do not get me wrong, if there turns out to be evidence for something else out there driving everything so be it.  However, I also suspect wittingly or unwittingly the Professor's convergence ideas on biology as a whole could be fodder for the Discovery Institute and their ilk.

It was an interesting interview at the end of the day.

Continuing my discussion of other non-skeptical podcasts that I listen to regularly, I listen to two automotive-oriented podcasts.  The first one is CNET's Car Tech Live.  Until recently this was a pure podcast-only show, but recently switched to the increasingly popular live web-video format with rebroadcast in podcast form.  The show is anchored by Brian Cooley, and featuring Auntuan Goodwin, and Wayne Cunningham.  The focus of the show is car technology... these days heavily on electric and hybrid vehicles and cabin technology.  The show goes into great detail on the stereo, navigation, cell phone, and web technology present in every growing complexity in modern cars.  The show ends with a test drive of a new usually tech laden vehicle driven by Goodwin and Cunningham.  I enjoy the show a great deal, and I love to compare the show's West Coast (San Francisco) automotive thought with the other automotive podcast I follow Autoline After Hours which is based out of Detroit.  

Autoline is an hour long show hosted by John McElroy along with Peter De Lorenzo and Andy Moldero.  This show is chock full of all sorts of inside baseball discussion not just on the cars themselves, but also the ins and outs of corporate leadership, advertising, and some just plain gossip.  While I think there might be a cross over skeptic/car interest in Car Tech Live, Autoline is clearly for automotive junkies.  I do not mean how to soup up your car or replace your exhaust, but for people who follow the automotive industry and business.  Sometimes there is a cross over with some skeptical covered topics as when on the SGU they discussed the idea of changing out the battery pack in an electric car to power up rather than wait for a recharge.  Shortly after this discussion this approach was discussed on Autoline, and while they thought the idea was good, it is in many practical ways unworkable.  I enjoy this show a great deal, but I doubt many other skeptics would be as drawn in as I.  I could be wrong.  

*Brian Thompson did tackle this topic on his latest Amateur Scientist Podcast.  He seemed to be mocking those unhappy with the President's decision to axe Constellation, and in favor of the President's decision.   While I disagree with Thompson's sentiments in this regard and am quite troubled by this turn of events at NASA, I am glad he covered it on his show.  He also did his ask Yahoo! answers bit by using it to answer the question on how to become a vampire.  Other bits included Osama Bin Laden giving sage advice on the environment, and being a Noam Chomsky fan.  Also, Thompson is launching a phone line, which he is able to do with a nearly acquired Google voice account. He is asking listeners to phone in the most offensive word definitions they find in the Meiram Webster's Dictionary. He ended the episode with a bit on how to teach a panda ebonics.  It was a good episode, but it was not Thompson's best.  I enjoyed the Yahoo! answers segment a great deal, and Bin Laden being a Chomsky fan.  Although I am not sure how well the Webster's Dictionary is going to turn out, I hope to be pleasantly surprised.  Maybe it was being woozy from all the shoveling, but the panda ebonics was flat for me.  Not every week can have the "my side hurts" hilarity of his opening jilted girlfriend segment from the previous week, but that's okay.  It's okay.  

This Week had 780 Minutes

Dogma Free America

Despite rumors to the contrary Rich's actual brother Rob was back in the role of cohost. There was a possibility Rob was going to hang up the USB headphones but emails and (unconfirmed) one "light" hostage taking incident convinced Rob a Rob-less DFA was not a world many people wanted to live in. Rob did announce the worst kept secret in the Orman household, Rob's podcast called ERCast. Rob, as I've noted, is an actual medical doctor. That's some family. Rich is a lawyer. The Orman patriarch Augustus Tiberius Orman is a lawyer and Rob is an actual medical doctor. Pretty high achievers. Like all other shows, DFA this week covered the typical craziness inspired by dogma. Two stories stood out:

Orthodox Jews in Israel are protesting a proposed law that would let people who sign their organ donor cards to be bumped up on waiting list for organs. Apparently orthodox Jews believe donating their organs is a sin. However, their faith does not preclude them from getting organ donations. Errr.

Another head smacker was a story about a psychic protesting a law that regulates fortune tellers in VA. The psychic claimed she doesn't tell fortunes. She just tries to guess the first letters of person's deceased friends 'n' family. Or some such crap. I found it kind of funny that a broad interpretation of the law could probably be applied to mainline Christians.

ERCast

I downloaded and enjoyed the first installment of Rob Orman's Ercast podcast. As noted above, Rob is the cohost of Dogmra Free America. He's also an actual medical doctor. I guess he practices emergency medicine. Technically no one calls the ER "ER". Real doctors. I gather, call it "ED" as in "the emergency department". Rich Orman suggested if Rob wanted the general public to tune in, no one would ever think to find it using strict hospital terminology.

ERCast is intended by Rob to be a podcast both doctors and lay people can enjoy. A bit like EconTalk I suppose.

The first ep is well in keeping with your typical first podcast ep. Shows its potential but still clearly a work in progress. That's not a bad thing. I don't know any podcaster who ever goes back and listens to the five first episodes of his/her own podcast without a full bottle of Paxil and a fifth of bourbon nearby.

I would have liked Rob do to a Russ Roberts and take a few more seconds to explain some technical terms but Rob's first ep was otherwise brilliant. It was the equivalent of having a teacher called Mr. Butts. First day he's going to be like "okay, let's get all the jokes out now and then we can get down to work." Rob's first ep was about weird stuff he and his fellow ED doctors have had to remove from anuses and the odd lady's vagina. I guess ED doctors get asked about this topic the most from lay people. However, if you thought this was going to be a giggle worthy show, the show goes into so much excruciating graphic detail, well, I'll say this much. Who even knew there was such a thing as an anal speculum, let alone a bi-valved anal speculum? (Don't bother to Google images on that… it just brings up about 10,000 Japanese porn sites). And who knew a doctor could get three fingers and a catheter up and behind the lodged object? Great Xenu, this episode might leave you a bit dizzy.

Geologic Podcast

I knocked off Episode of 150 this weekend of Hrab's wonderful show. It opened with a story about his band the Philadelphia Funk Authority and their experience doing a sound check at a gig. There was then an awfully long intro. I guess when Hrab hits some major numerical milestone like episode 100 or episode 150 he does some extended count down, playing clips from the previous 149 intros. As I noted last time, I love the show but there are times when I'm not embarrassed to say I need to fastword. It's either that or fill out the complicated paperwork for my refund. The PFA story and the super extended intro didn't leave much time in the 45 minute podcast to get to many of Hrab's features in but we were treated to another installment of Religious Moron of the Week. Hrab tends to cover some of the more popular items that crawl across Yahoo news over the week and it's always nice to hear George's POV. In contrast, DFA tends to avoid some of the bigger news items of religious douchery and digs up really obscure horror shows. So to get your bases covered, it's probably best to listen to both podcasts.

Astronomy Cast

Astronomy Cast put out a new one this week. The output has been somewhat irregular as of late. I think it used to be a weekly show. It's hosted by Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela Gay. Gay is a working astronomer type and Cain, I believe, is a software developer but happens to be a big time amateur astronomer. Astronomy, unlike plastic surgery or nuclear chemistry, is one of the few fields that welcomes and relies upon the contributions of amateurs. I think nasty job demands have gotten the better of Cain and Gay so their output has suffered. But who am I to complain? This week's episode was about Enirco Fermi. Fermi always reminds me of an old old BASIC computer game called PICO FERMI BAGELS. This game was a hoot when I was ten and played it on my dad's 8K main frame computer. I'm an old geek. Anyway, Fermi did more than lend his name to a computer game from 1973. He is known for things like the Fermi paradox and helping the USA develop nuclear weapons ahead of the Germans. There's a story that the reason nuclear scientists had to get Einstein to write a letter to the US government warning them a nuclear bomb could and would be built is Fermi's initial warning was coldly rebuffed largely because the US government bureaucrat he explained it to just assumed Fermi was a crazy "dego". Anyway, a great ep about a great scientist.

Monster Talk

If you've not heard of Monster Talk, well, I guess you've not heard of Monster Talk. It's a new podcast and has taken the skeptical podcast market by storm. It's hosted by a trio of veteran skeptics: Blake Smith, Ben Radford, and Dr. Karen Stollznow. They're applying the forms of skepticism to monster claims. The show probably came about because of the utterly lame cable show Monster Quest, which seems to get real scientists to talk at length about weak evidence for bigfoot and then the Monster Quest editors selectively quote the scientist to make it appear the evidence is stronger than it is.

Of the many great things about Monster Talk is the hosts always have on guests who take really complicated and interesting scientific topics and break it down for the average Joe listener. You always come away from a Monster Talk podcast a little bit smarter.

This week they had on a guest who's a finger printing expert. He thinks he's discovered evidence on a few casts of dermal ridges of an unknown primate. You might initially think this guest is a crank but he comes across as being genuine and guy who just tries to interpret evidence before him by the rules of his profession. He appears to have no dog in the Bigfoot fight. He's just been presented by something that seems to fit genuine "finger prints" that are primate but don't belong to any known primate. The hosts treat the guest with the utmost respect and this month's (it comes out about once a month) episode was another sure winner.

NPR Planet Money

The Planet Money episode I caught this week was about how the spice trade shaped the world as we know it today. It's a fairly well known story but the Planet Money crew managed to tease out some interesting new trivia facts. Like Arabic merchants would make up fantastic stories about where pepper and other spices came from. They had to climb high mountains and battle giant birds to get the spice. The Planet Money crew understood this to be a way for merchants to charge more. They likened it to high priced restaurants that try to convince you your beef doesn't come from a standard cow but comes from a cow raised under the most luxuriant conditions.

This American Life

TAL's episode was about guns. The show opened with a story by Sarah Vowell and her father who was actually a gunsmith and her having to come to terms with her dad's politically incorrect profession. The Vowell story wasn't her best but meh. There was a story about a guy who grew up in New York and how his neighborhood changed after gun makers started to market guns to young black males (apparently the while middle classed male market had been saturated). It was an interesting idea but then as a Conspiracy Skeptic I'd probably want to see evidence. Sounds a lot like the gentrification conspiracy: rich whites saturate black neighborhoods with cheep booze and guns. These neighborhoods happen to be in the city and near downtown financial cores. Sure would be nice to live there and walk to work, if it weren't for all those people living there. So, the claim is they suffuse the people with fortified wine and malt liquor. Crime shoots up. Property values go way down, and then the rich white people waltz in, buy up the property for a song, and turn on the sand blasters. The show matched stories of a woman who survived a mass killing at a McDonald's in Texas and then became a gun advocate with a cop who was shot at point blank range several times who became a gun control advocate. The TAL crew didn't really seem to take sides in the debate despite the assumption of NPR's liberal bias.

The Moth Podcast

If you like This American Life (released on Monday), The Moth Podcast is a nice mid-week fill in. Each week, the podcast features an audio clip of people telling real 5 minute stories on stage without notes. I guess The Moth is a spoken word thingy and they host these story telling events in major American cities. This week featured Malcolm Gladwell. Gladwell is probably best known for his fascinating book The Tipping Point (and Blink). Gladwell related a tale about how he was a best man at his totally pussy whipped friend's wedding. At the reception, Galdwell and his other friend sung a humorous song to their friend and the bride, who was a notorious ball breaker. The bride saw no humor in the song and hated it so much she walked out of her own reception, with her husband in tow. Funny stuff.

Reality Check

Monday is always a power day for podcast. It features the release of TAL, EconTalk, and the Ottawa Skeptics's Reality Check podcast. It opens with another one of their funny, funny songs "I want proof" sung to the tune of "I want money" (you know that cool Flying Lizards tune). This week the crew covers counterfeiting, has an interview with Junior Skeptic Daniel Loxton (a fellow Canadian), and they tackle the myth you burn more calories eating celery than you get from it (kinda sorta true).

EconTalk

Russ Roberts this week interviewed fellow George Mason University economist Larry White on an economist called Hayek. If you remember last week I posted a link to a rap video Roberts had a hand in writing. The rap video was about Heyek vs Keynes. Hayek was very big into free market economics while Keynes was reasonably big into the government having a hand in the economy. If you didn't quite get what they were rapping about in the video, this EconTalk is a good primer about what Hayek believed.

SeoulPodcast

The SeoulPocast's main squeeze Joe was away this week and Stafford and Jennifer held down the fort. Each show is introduced by the ghostly voice of Korea's greatest king, King Sejong (he invented the Korean alphabet). Joe plays the voice of King Sejong. In his absence Stafford voiced the customary intro. Stafford claimed he was Prince Munjong (Sejong's son and successor). Ah, I love obscure historical jokes. Their guest this week is a teacher who goes by the Korean name for a female tiger, Hwarangi. Hwarangi, as far as I can tell, is a very tall, beautiful blonde Australian woman. Her actual blog is quite sarcastic and biting and not always endearing to the Korean nation. Tall, attractive blond women are frequently confused for Russian prostitutes in Korea. Most Western women in Korea stop laughing after about the third or fourth time they're cornered by a drunk salary man and asked "how much?"

Hwarangi rarely pulls punches in her blog about the difficulty she experiences sometimes just trying to go from her apartment to the grocery store. Not to pick on Koreans, of course. Try to be a young Asian woman in North America. There's a certain class of North American males who will make all kinds of assumptions about your sexual availability and willingness to "go" too. The take away is men are pigs in equal proportion no matter nationality.

A couple of the more interesting stories on this week's SeoulPodcast were the Korean governments attempt to pump up their falling birth rates, ostensibly the lowest on the planet. They're literally trying to turn hump day (Wednesday) into hump day. Government offices will kick workers out before 7 pm. The concept is they'll go home and make sweet, sweet love to their wives. In Korean culture, it's considered a career limiting move to leave work before your boss. If your boss is working until 10 pm, you have to stay at your desk until 10 pm, even if means screwing the pooch (ie playing Starcraft). And if the boss then says "hey, let's all go out after work, drink,and get a whack of prostitutes to sexually entertain us in a noraebang" well a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. This has created a nation of hung over sleep deprived white collar workers who aren't making enough babies. Or that's the theory. It's more likely couples just want a car and Blu Ray DVD player.

The ParaCast

I listened to a couple old eps of The Paracast. The Conspiracy Skeptic's official Staff Astronomer Stuart Robbins has been taking on some of the odd claims of a UFO believer named Michael Horn. Horn had a couple rather charged interviews with The Paracast crew. Despite the name, the Paracasters are reasonably skeptical delvers into the UFO topic. You can read my extensive take (and my own appearance on their podcast) here. Suffice it to say, when the Paracast crew turns on the rational with a "believer", it's fireworks time. It was great stuff.

-- Karl Mamer

A quick rundown of a few podcasts (or netcast if you are like that)

Irreligiosophy interviewed Mims Carter.  Wait, isn't he that guy who gave them a two star scathing review on iTunes and thus, they have the Mims Carter, Skunk Dick award.  Yes.  Apparently, Carter emailed Chuck and between the exchange, it was agreed to have Carter as a guest.  Was it fireworks and ugliness?  Not at all, in fact it was a rather enjoyable biography of "This American Atheist", a 50-something father and husband living in Mississippi.  Yes, Mississippi in the heart of the American Southern bible belt where Catholics aren't considered christian.  Anyway, the boys took Carter through his life from growing up nominally Catholic in Louisiana, moving to Michigan, then through school, and then Vietnam, and then back to the South and finally Katrina and life in Mississippi.  It was a really interesting conversation.  It was a bit of a different type of show for Irreligiosophy, but a nice change of pace.

This week Brian Dunning on Skeptoid covered whether Jewish Slaves built the pyramids, and the answer is no.  Brian went through with his typical detail point for point explaining why the earliest that Jews were in Egypt were hundreds of years after the final of the great pyramids were constructed.  He also went through the recent evidence of non-slave paid labor that built the pyramids.  Interestingly, shortly after this episode was uploaded, Dunning sent out a tweet that he was getting a lot of traffic from fundamentalist christian websites.  I am not surprised as this episode is a direct assault on a literalist history take on the bible and in particular the exodus.  The episode as normal is short, sweet, and interesting.

The Skeptics Guide 5X5, which is the topic-focused five minute companion podcast to the Skeptics' Guide to the Universe.  The episode covered the Bermuda Triangle.  The Rogues covered that all the missing planes and ships in the triangle between Bermuda, Puerto Rico, and Miami is due to a leftover and mis-firing death ray left on and laying on the bottom of the ocean floor at the gates of Atlantis.  Aliens, being from another dimension, all nonsense.  No, no, no...just seeing if you are paying attention.  Instead they went through the lack of evidence for there being anything involved with the various missing planes and boats without a trace other than it is a high traffic shipping area, and if you have enough traffic, and you lose enough vessels some percentage of them will disappear without a ready explanation.  It is as always an excellent podcast to share with a group of mature public school students.  (That is until one of the kid's parents complains to the school board about free thinking communist atheist programing in the classroom and its either the Rogues or your job.)

Karl Mamer, contributing author to The Skeptical Review, has covered a few podcasts that he enjoys that are not necessarily of the skeptical genre.  I thought I would list out a few of the other podcasts that I try to keep up with that are not skeptical too.

Two technology podcasts that I listen to are the very popular This Week in Tech (TWiT) and Mac Break Weekly both hosted by Leo Leporte in his TWiT network.  (The TWiT network contains a whole family of podcasts: This Week in Google, Security Now, This Week in Fun, Dr. Kiki's Science Hour among others)  First, Leporte does not call his shows podcast, he refers to them as netcasts as podcast infers that they are somehow associated with Apple when they are not.  I understand what he is trying to accomplish, but I think the majority of people understand that podcast does not necessarily mean Apple or iPod just as in the Southern United States asking for a "coke" can mean any softdrink and not just a Coca-Cola carbonated sugar beverage.

TWiT (the podcast) is broadcast live every Sunday night around 6pm EST, and is uploaded in podcast form after midnight, I believe PST.  The show covers all matters tech and geeky from google, to microsoft, smartphones, to Apple, to linux, cameras, televisions, etc.  Leporte has a rotating panel of tech journalists and pundits that both skype and sit live in his studio at the TWiT cottage in San Francisco.  The banter is rather loose but Leporte keeps the show on track enough to be informative and entertaining for around an hour each week.  If you want a one stop shop for the latest in tech toys and goodies, TWiT fits the bill.

Mac Break Weekly is another panel discussion podcast that covers all things Apple-- iMacs, MacBooks, iPhone, iPod, and now iPad (sweet, sweet iPad).  It is an Apple fanboy's dream.  I do not consider myself an Apple fanboy, but a recent Apple convert from PC last summer.  The show definitely leans pro Apple, and the mystical cult of Steve Jobs is quite palpable.  He's the stern abusive step-father Apple fan boys dislike, but still are in awe of and desperately want his respect.  For anyone who uses a Mac, the show is a treasure trove of gossip of future products, Google bashing, and interesting programs to buy and/or download.  I do not find the pure entertainment value of the program as engaging as TWiT, but what it lacks in that realm, it more than makes up for in useful information.  Mac Break comes out after midnight every Wednesday.  

Sometime next week, I'll cover a few other podcast I follow in the history and automotive realm.

Righteous Indignation, Football

This week found one of the indignates, Marsh, on an Irish radio program debating a Homeopath and the radio host.  Sheila Behan was the homeopath and was clearly allowed to go on unfettered for three minutes about what homeopathy apparently does and what it is good to treat (which is everything that is a self limiting medical condition), while Marsh was handed the bone of a few seconds to blurt out as best as anyone could be expected to say in such a limited time that it does not work.

The homeopath and the host, who clearly was in the bag for the homeopathic doctor, went through a laundry list of logical fallacies.  There was the appeal of popularity that thirty million Europeans follow homeopathy and they all can't be wrong.  There was the appeal of personal sacrifice of why would the 'doctor' spend four years educating herself and fifteen years in practice if it did not work.  There was an appeal to special pleading that of course overdosing on a homeopathic remedy won't harm you unless the symptoms fit the remedy.  There was a goofy appeal to science which had the homeopath boasting of 134 peer-reviewed studies of which a whopping 44% showed that it worked.  There was an appeal to antiquity that it has shown efficacy (at least to the talk show host) for 200 hundred years -200 hundred years, I'll have more on this point later.  I expect the homeopath to talk nonsense, but the talk show host made Larry King seem like David Brinkley.  Marsh was a admiral token skeptic, but this brief radio segment would make an excellent teaching tool in any skeptical classroom.

I do understand why Samuel Hahnemann thought he might have been onto something, and why others two hundred years ago thought so too.  Basically, Sammy was giving out water to treat his patients while other doctors were using medicine.  The problem was that even the best medicine in the late 18th century was more likely to harm than heal.  George Washington received the best medical care available in 1799 when he became ill, and the treatment likely expedited his death.  By the 1920's and 1930's when medicine started actually helping people with rise of medications such as digitalis and sulfa drugs, why and how homeopathy survived, especially under the scrutiny of peer review journals, has always baffled me.  I digress.

Marsh indicated that while the overdose on homeopathic remedies resulted in surprise not deaths, the 10:23 organization is not going away.  It may not have any really big events planned for a bit, but they are not disappearing.  Their next project is to sneak some sense into the Irish radio host brain.  Good grief, what a sap.

The Indignates with returning guest commentator Gavin Schofield then covered some news segments.  (Is Schofield going to be the next Marsh and just sneak onto the show as regular?  Only time will tell, but he fits in nicely with the gang.  It must be a Liverpool thing.)  Hayley told a depressing story of a young 16 year old girl who was raped in Bangladesh. The punishment dealt to her, how dare she be raped, was a severe lashing, and the family had to pay a fine.  The actual criminal rapist was let off.  What the hell is that?  It makes no sense to me, but then god acts is just wacky mysterious ways.  Maybe her burqa revealed far too much of the bridge of her nose, and boys will be rapists? Terrible.

The Indignates then discussed the upcoming ad during the Superbowl which Focus on the Family purchased featuring Tim Tebow, late quarterback to the University of Florida Gators and NFL draft prospect as well as home schooled religious guy.  Focus on the Family wants to have an ad showing that if the doctor's advice in the Philippines had been followed and an abortion performed to save the mother's life due to an infection, Tim would not have been born.  Now, he is a great NFL draft prospect, so take that pro-choicers!  (My wife things he's going to flop in the NFL.  We'll see.)  To me, if you pay your millions to CBS, you pretty much get to put on whatever you want.  Apparently CBS has vetoed controversial ads in the past, but I just cannot get that excited over it.  Maybe we can all raise a bunch of money and have Brian Thompson do some outrageous thirty second joke involving evolution, Ray Comfort and genitals.

I must take issue with the Indignates treating football as some inferior form of Rugby.  Please, the only other spectator sport better than NFL football is Major League Baseball.  What's with this soccer stuff (oh yeah, I called it soccer) around the world?  "The score was one nil, what a great game, mate."  How can this possibly be entertaining unless you are a hooligan tearing about the stadium?

The final news item the Indignates had a field day with was Mike Adams' rant on skeptics against alternative medicine and supporters of vaccines, which I covered yesterday.

Other than their notions on football, I thoroughly enjoyed this episode.  Schofield once again was a nice fit with the regular Indignates, and the Marsh interview on Irish radio is a must listen.

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