| |
The Skeptics' Guide To The Universe - Podcast 79 - 1/24/2007
|
|
|
|
|
<<< 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
79
-
January 24, 2007
|
|
The TAM5 interviews with James Randi, Todd Robbins, Hal Bidlack and Eugenie Scott; News Items: Report from TAM5, Sylvia Browne, Uri Geller, Tom Cruise the Christ; Your E-mails and Questions: Meat-eating Rebecca, Terminal Velocity; Science or Fiction; Skeptical Puzzle
|
|
|
|
Segment: News Items
|
|
|
Segment: Questions and E-mails
|
|
If Rebecca Ate Meat
|
Hi Guys!
I really enjoyed meeting you all (except Perry) at TAM 5. Steve, I thoroughly enjoyed your talk on Sunday and I can't wait to hear those interviews you all recorded.
You may remember me as the fangirl who sat with the guys on the shuttle to the airport and that chance to chat with you was the perfect way to end the best weekend of my life. As for Rebecca, I'm so glad I got to meet you and my suspicions were confirmed: We do look eerily similar. I kept saying that I am the version of Rebecca that eats meat. When someone sends me the photo of us together, I will pass it on.
I imagine Perry will find it amusing that a carnivorous Rebecca doppelganger lives in California.
Thanks again, and I love you all.
-Elizabeth Rawls
Oakland, CA
|
|
Terminal Velocity
|
Hello, I love the show.
In show #77 someone mentioned that the feeling of weightlessness disappeared after a few seconds, implying that one gets accustomed to weightlessness very quickly.
As a skydiver, I've noticed the same thing, but I have attributed this to the fact that it only takes a few seconds to achieve terminal velocity, at which point you're not in true free-fall and thus not weightless. You're only weightless when you're accelerating at 7 ft per second/second. At terminal velocity you're no longer accelerating, but rather speeding along at a uniform rate (unless you do a barrel role or some tracking)
I would say that after a few seconds your situation is closer to resting on a cushion of air. Does this sound correct?
Also, I'd take issue with an elitist comment that was made in a previous episode to the effect that virtually everyone in the USA that isn't a scientist is probably scientifically illiterate, the literacy rates being so low. I think one of the pitfalls of being a sceptic, which I often fall into myself, is being too negative. I believe this is a gross exaggeration and not conducive to your educational goals. I think that as a sceptic you may be spending so long concentrating on the pseudo-science, psychics and so forth, that you ignore the success of many books and periodicals devoted to science.
I'm an artist, yet understand terminal velocity. I've dated no less than 3 biochemists. Two of these ladies believed in astrology, and a 3rd admitted to have wasted a large sum of money on a palm reader, so I believe there are plenty of SCIENTISTS that check their scientific method at the door when they go home from work.
Anyway, thanks again for a great pod-cast; you're doing a great service.
-Carl Lyndon
USA
|
|
Segment: TAM5 Interviews Part I
|
|
TAM5 Interviews Part I
|
Interviews with:
James Randi and fellow magician Todd Robbins
Hal Bidlack - Master of Ceremonies at TAM5
And Eugenie Scott of the National Center for Science Education
|
|
Segment: Science or Fiction [ Click Here to Show the Answers ]
|
Question #1  Fiction
|
Eugenie Scott (of the National Center for Science Education) wears a wig.
|
Question #2  Science
|
Phil Plait (The Bad Astronomer) has 11 finger nails.
|
|
Question #3 Science
|
John Rennie (Editor and Chief of Scientific American) once appeared in a commercial as a Leprechaun.
|
|
Question #4 Science
|
Richard Wiseman once worked as a trapeze artist.
|
|
Segment: Skeptical Puzzle
|
|
Puzzle
|
This Week's Puzzle
If an insane person loses power, and decides that the only way to restore the power is to make a list, send it to God, then informs other people of this and apologizes to them for the power failure, what has this person actually experienced?
Last Week's Puzzle
The French and the Germans both agree
And so do Chinese, from twelve hundred BC
It only takes 10, placed upon 3
Peer through one eye and you will soon see
Designed to impress children as young as three
It dazzles adults, especially those that believe
All it takes is a skeptic to add fabric you see
The magic disappears, and this trick is history
What is it?
Answer: Ouiji Board
Winner: Mike from the Message Board.
|
|
Segment: Quote of the Week
|
|
Quote
|
"I would rather have a mind opened by wonder than one closed by belief."
- Gerry Spence, lawyer
How to Argue and Win Every Time, 1995
|
|
|
|
|
|