WE’RE ALIVE! And we’ve got a good one! From August 31, 2014… yes, we’re that far behind…
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WE’RE ALIVE! And we’ve got a good one! From August 31, 2014… yes, we’re that far behind…
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From August 10, 2014. This was a doozy. Full show notes after the cut. Continue reading
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From July 19, 2014. We talk about lake monsters, octopodes, plesiosaurs, and all manner of nonsense. As a bonus, we talk about stupid politicians who think that AIDS is caused by sperm chemicals and who think women are magical rape detectors.
Full show notes below the fold. Continue reading
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From last June! We’re so timely!! Here are the show notes…
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Originally broadcast June 14, 2014, here’s our conversation about colony collapse disorder – what’s up with that?
Continue reading
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This is fascinating. Steven Novella and David Gorski wrote an opinion article questioning whether it’s worthwhile to do clinical trials on medical modalities that don’t have any prior scientific plausibility, such as homeopathy and reiki. Basically, it’s an extension of their promotion of science-based medicine (which uses a Bayesian analysis of what we actually know throughout the sciences) versus evidence-based medicine (which just relies on the examination of the evidence in a specific experiment). And they’re getting flack about it – from people who thoroughly misunderstand their position.
Here are the notes from this show, originally broadcast May 17, 2014. They’re lengthy, so I’m just going to dump them all, raw and uncut. Enjoy!
(Also, note that the Dark Dungeons movie is out now! You can get it for $5, and the bonus features for another $2.50.)
Hello and welcome to the Irreverent Skeptics podcast! I’m your host, Jon Ownbey, and joining me today in the unending fight against the forces of darkness are Erno Marttila, Michael McElroy, Mike Bohler, and Dumbass!
And special guest – The Astronomer Royal of Karl Mamer’s “The Conspiracy Skeptic” Podcast and the brains and brawn of the “Exposing PseudoAstronomy” podcast, Stuart Robbins!
Today, we’re going to talk about the Satanic Panic – that period during the ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s when the devil was always lurking just around the corner. If the Religious Right is to be believed (and if not them, who can you trust?), diabolical influences were everywhere in pop culture – from music and movies to games and toys. Where did it all start? What were some of their wildest claims? Is it still going on today? Let’s dip our toes into the lake of fire, pinch our noses to keep out the smell of burning brimstone, and take a journey through hell to find out the truth.
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As mentioned in the last post, this show actually came before episode 18. But that doesn’t matter. Time is all wibbly-wobbly anyway.
In this episode:
No show notes this time – we were just winging it!
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We’re switching the order of things up a bit. On April 19 and April 26, 2014, we did two ‘potpourri’ episodes, where we all came up with our own topics to talk about centered around a vague general subject. In the first episode… which was actually the second episode… after a quick discussion of how the internet might be able to give you PTSD, we talked about science stories we found fascinating. McElroy talked about the Higgs boson, and how it gives things mass. Bohler talked about South American civilizations and why the Ancient Aliens people are assholes. Jon talked about the concept of emergence, and how it has broad applications in many fields. And then… McElroy pretended to be a presuppositionalist apologist, and pissed Jon off immensely. Check out the full show notes!
Two notes: Yes, sadly, the Colton Burpo twitter feed turned out to be a parody. And no, the next won’t be about scary ways to die… the next show will actually be the April 19 show. You have one more episode in the meantime before we scare you to death!
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According to the WHO, 5% of the world’s population – about 360 million people – are deaf or hearing-impaired. That’s a huge audience that isn’t being served if your videos aren’t captioned. There are also, obviously, lots of skeptics who don’t speak English but who would love the material as well.
To better serve these segments of the skeptical community, a few groups have started projects to subtitle skeptical and scientific videos, through services like Amara.org. Tim Farley, over at the Skeptools blog, has written up a post summarizing a few of the efforts that are ongoing. If you think you might be able to help out, even with just a video or two, surf on over and check it out. Find something you’re interested in and get captioning!