From last June! We’re so timely!! Here are the show notes…
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
From last June! We’re so timely!! Here are the show notes…
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
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.
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!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
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!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
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!
On March 22, 2014, Jon, the two Mikes, and Erno had a chat about their backgrounds with regard to religion, science, and skepticism, and how the podcast itself came to be.
Special guest Adam Reakes, host of the Herd Mentality Podcast, joined Jon, Brandi, and Erno to talk about his show and share some good news about how the Australian Vaccination Network, a group that spreads misinformation and helps spark outbreaks of preventable diseases in Australia, faced some serious legal challenges. We also discussed how insurance covers woo-woo treatments such as chiropractic and homeopathy, and how this gives them an unearned air of legitimacy. Adam also had exciting news about a project he’s working on that every exorcist is sure to love!
The intro music for the interview is “Go” by Guineo (David Ramírez and Avelino Herrera). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 Generic License. Find the original at http://guineo.atlantes.org/guineo%20-%20go.mp3.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS