| |
The Skeptics' Guide To The Universe - Podcast 253 - 5/19/2010
|
|
|
|
|
<<< Back to Podcast Archive
|
|
The Skeptics' Guide To The Universe
The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe is produced by SGU Productions, LLC - dedicated to promoting critical thinking, reason, and the public understanding of science through online and other media. The first episode of the SGU podcast went online on May 4th, 2005. It soon became a popular science/skeptical podcast, and remains one of the most popular science podcasts on iTunes.
SGU Podcasting Awards: SGU on XM: You can listen to the SGU on America's Talk XM 166 every Saturday night from 8-9pm Eastern.
|
Podcast
253
-
May 19, 2010
|
News Items: Cell Phone Cancer Update, Why Does Matter Exist, Applied Kinesiology, BMA Trashes Homeopathy, Early Bird Feathers, Ball Lightening, Pesticides and ADHD
Who's That Noisy
Science or Fiction
|
|
|
|
Segment: News Items
|
|
|
Segment: Who's That Noisy
|
|
Who's That Noisy
|
Answer to last week - the sound of Dark Matter
|
|
Segment: Questions and E-mails
|
|
Question #1 - Liquid Mountaineering
|
http://skepchick.org/blog/2010/05/how-to-google-aka-liquid-mountaineering-is-a-viral-ad/
|
|
Question #2 - Cults
|
Big fan etc etc but I often (in the podcast, in the Why Are Nerds Unpopular article) hear/see you use the term "cult". Could you give a definition of what a cult is?
Specifically, could you provide one that distinguishes a "cult" from, say, a Baptist church, or a Buddhist society, while also being encompassing enough to include all of the different groups that people have applied the label "cult" to?
I ask because I do not have such a definition, and from everything that I know about the sociology of religions it is not possible to have such a definition. "Cult" seems to be a derogatory term applied by members of a dominant/popular religious group towards a smaller religious group that they don't like, and I'm disappointed that you use it so readily and without any qualification.
I know you're very busy, but I hope you find time to respond.
Regards,
Jakub
|
|
Segment: Science or Fiction [ Click Here to Show the Answers ]
|
|
|
Segment: Quote of the Week
|
|
Quote of the Week
|
"Imagination is as vital to any advance in science as learning and precision are essential for starting points."
- Percival Lowell 1855-1916
Astronomer, founded Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, began effort to find Pluto, famous for claiming to have found canals on Mars.
|
|
|
|
|
|