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Link of the Week

Patrick: The Religion of Peace – Attacks

Owen: 10 Reasons Why Oxytocin is the Most Amazing Molecule in the World

 

Want to tell us about an event we should announce on the show? Post it in the comments or on either of these social media sies:

• Google Group
• Facebook Group

Link of the Week

Patrick: Sceptical Science – the climate change resource.Deon: Global Rich List

Owen: Rbutr

Teaching Angela to Appreciate History

1. 1851 – Discovery of Ariel and Umbriel, two moons of Uranus by William Lassel.
   1. Lassel made his fortune with beer-brewing, giving him the freedom to build his own observatories (plural) at Liverpool and Malta, and construct his own telescopes (plural, large and heavily mechanised for their day).
   2. Possibly also of interest: Latest telescope study of Uranus has revealed interesting and as-yet unexplained new features in its atmosphere.

Updates

1.  Rational blog post about the Satanism murders nonsense.

News

1. Nobel prizes
   1. Physics: Serge Haroche and David J. Wineland “for ground-breaking experimental methods that enable measuring and manipulation of individual quantum systems”
   2. Chemistry: Robert J. Lefkowitz and Brian K. Kobilka “for studies of G-protein-coupled receptors”
   3. Physiology or medicine: Sir John B. Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka “for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent”
2. American politicians are dumb.
3. NASA really is working on a warp drive this time, and this one works on Dilithium Crystals.
4. (Andre Engelbrecht) Braais cause cancer
5. Proof that our bodies can predict the future with data input that doesn’t exist yet!
   1. (Spoiler: It’s a meta-analysis)
   2. Opening ad hominem: The lead author, Mossbridge, is an unapologetic spiritualist.
   3. statistical means, but that’s no substitute for real data derived from properly varied sources.
   4. The “researcher degrees of freedom” that Steve Novella has talked about a lot over the last year or so.
6. Paul Kurtz died.

Sci-fi/Fantasy Quote

“Damnit, Bones, you’re a doctor. You know that pain and guilt can’t be taken away with the wave of a magic wand.” – Capt. James T. Kirk, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

Announcements

1. Johannesburg
   1. Rumble in the Pub – Thursday 25th October, 18:30. Primi Piatti, Rosebank
   2. Sceptics in the Pub – Wednesday 7th November, 19:00. Brazen Head Pub, Sandton
   3. Sceptics in the Park – Sunday 18th November, 13:00. Johannesburg Botanical Garden, Emmerentia
2. East Rand
   1. Sceptics in the Pub – Tuesday 13th November, 19:00. Grandslam Sports Diner, Edenvale.
3. West Rand
   1. Sceptics in the Pub – Wednesday 21st November, 19:00. Green & Gold Pub, Roodepoort

http://archive.org/details/Consilience60_927

http://archive.org/download/Consilience60_927/Consilience61.mp3

Teaching Angela to Appreciate History

1. 1961: First contact with an alien race.
   
   • Betty and Barney Hill, an American couple, claimed that they were abducted by aliens and experimented upon. Over the years, the Hills’ own stories have grown increasingly fabulous, as well as inspiring a cultural revolution in reports of alien abductions and similar encounters.
   • None of their claims have ever been substantiated, and sceptics, including Brian Dunning of the Skeptioid podcast, have managed to poke so many holes in the story there isn’t even anything left to hold the holes together.

News

1. Ghanaian witches are exiled to concentration camps.
2. Nigerian man used witchcraft to recruit children for his sex slavery trade.
3. New African monkey.
4. NASA Building Real-life Warp Drive.
   1. Vulcan Suurok Class Cruiser.
5. Jesus was married.

Sci-fi/Fantasy Quote

“The only moral way to change someone’s mind – make them see the truth, as you put it – is to present evidence.” – Unnamed Alteran Dude, Stargate: The Ark of Truth

Announcements

1. Durban
   1. Sceptics in the Pub: Thursday, 20th September, 18:00. Pizetta
2. Pretoria
   1. Sceptics in the Pub: Saturday 22nd September, 12:30. Venue TBA
3. Cape Town
   1. Sceptics in the Pub: Friday 28th September, 19:00. Beleza
4. Johannesburg
   1. Sceptics in the Pub: Wednesday, 3 October, 19:00. Grandslam, Edenvale

http://archive.org/details/Consilience60

http://archive.org/download/Consilience60/Consilience60.mp3

Teaching Angela to Appreciate History

1. 1965 – Gemini V splashed down. It went into space and came back. It was awesome.

Updates

1. Marikana massacre was caused by a rabbit

News

1. Neil Armstrong is gone.
2. Has UCT found a cure for malaria? UCT presser. Blag. Better article. Here? Here?
3. Rhinos being poached for Vietnamese hangovers.

Sci-fi/Fantasy Quote

“Just because you cannot fathom the nature of a thing does not make that thing magic!”
– Doctor Terrence 13, All-Star Western #11,  written by Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray

Announcements

1. Johannesburg
   1. Open evening – astronomical history and sky viewing – SAASTA/Royal Society of SA. Saturday 25th August, 18:00 at the Johannesburg Observatory. Entrance is free. There’s a talk by Professor Francis Thackeray and some other cool stuff, including sky viewing, if weather permits. You’re invited to bring a picnic basket and enjoy the view at sunset before the proceedings start, as well as binoculars for the sky viewing.
   2. Public talk: Origin of Mass – Discovery of a Higgs-like boson – by the Wits SA-CERN team. Wits University. Monday 27 August, 18:00.
   3. Sceptics in the Pub. Wednesday 2th September 19:00. Green & Gold Pub.
   4. Royal Society SA Spring Science Showcase. SUNDAY 9th SEPTEMBER 2012 14:00-18:30. Delta Environmental Centre, Blairgowrie, Johannesburg. Entry fee – R120 per person (R70 students, postdocs, scholars).
   5. Talk Does Evolution really threaten Religion? – John Ostrowick. 11 Sept 2012 at 18:00. Origins Centre, Wits University.
2. Cape Town
   1. Sceptics in the Pub – Friday 24th August. Beleza Pub.
   2. Open Night at SAAO – Black holes and other revelations. Dr. Vanessa McBride. Saturday 25th August 08:00 pm. Auditorium (SAAO, Cape Town)
   3. Sceptics in the Pub – Friday 31st August, 19:00. Touch of Madness
   4. Open Night at SAAO – Radio Astronomy Revolution – Dr. Nadeem Oozeer (SKA). Saturday 8th September, 08:00 pm. Auditorium (SAAO, Cape Town)

http://archive.org/details/Consilience59

http://archive.org/download/Consilience59/Consilience59.mp3

Teaching Angela to Appreciate History

1. 565 – First recorded sighting of a monster in Loch Ness. A Christian saint named Columba was doing missionary work in the land of the Picts. Not only did he see the Loch Ness monster, but he used his powerful Jesus-sorcery to battle the thing!

Updates

1. Curiosity has finished its stationary systems check. Stretched out its arm. Has set its laser to vapourise. Has investigated its immediate surroundings. Is ready to start moving tomorrow.

News

1. Lonmin miners used muti to give themselves superpowers. Maybe.
2. Parents hoping for miracles torturing?
3. Atheism on the rise in SA? Unlikely.
4. New fossil finds in Kenya suggest two separate early Homo species in the pleistocene, apart from Homo erectus.

Sci-fi/Fantasy Quote

“Just because you cannot fathom the nature of a thing does not make that thing magic!”
– Doctor Terrence 13, All-Star Western #11,  written by Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray

Announcements

1. Johannesburg
   1. Open evening – astronomical history and sky viewing – SAASTA/Royal Society of SA. Saturday 25th August, 18:00 at the Johannesburg Observatory. Entrance is free. There’s a talk by Professor Francis Thackeray and some other cool stuff, including sky viewing, if weather permits. You’re invited to bring a picnic basket and enjoy the view at sunset before the proceedings start, as well as binoculars for the sky viewing.
   2. Public talk: Origin of Mass – Discovery of a Higgs-like boson – by the Wits SA-CERN team. Wits University. Monday 27 August, 18:00.
   3. Sceptics in the Pub. Wednesday 2th September 19:00. Green & Gold Pub.
   4. Royal Society SA Spring Science Showcase. SUNDAY 9th SEPTEMBER 2012 14:00-18:30. Delta Environmental Centre, Blairgowrie, Johannesburg. Entry fee – R120 per person (R70 students, postdocs, scholars).
   5. Talk Does Evolution really threaten Religion? – John Ostrowick. 11 Sept 2012 at 18:00. Origins Centre, Wits University.
2. Cape Town
   1. Sceptics in the Pub – Friday 24th August. Beleza Pub.
   2. Open Night at SAAO – Black holes and other revelations. Dr. Vanessa McBride. Saturday 25th August 08:00 pm. Auditorium (SAAO, Cape Town)
   3. Sceptics in the Pub – Friday 31st August, 19:00. Touch of Madness
   4. Open Night at SAAO – Radio Astronomy Revolution – Dr. Nadeem Oozeer (SKA). Saturday 8th September, 08:00 pm. Auditorium (SAAO, Cape Town)

http://archive.org/details/ConsilienceEpisode58

http://archive.org/download/ConsilienceEpisode58/Consilience58.mp3

Teaching Angela to Appreciate History

1. 1576 – The cornerstone for Tycho Brahe‘s Uraniborg observatory is laid on Hven. Johannes Kepler and all that stuff. Hven, an island in the Øresund between Zealand and Scania. King Frederick II of Denmark gave it to him.

Updates

1. Parliament has rejected the DoBE’s catch-up plan, which isn’t even as good as it was described in ep.52; study guides are out.
2. 5,000 more brand new textbooks found dumped in Limpopo, while Motshekga is trying to use “lack of resources” as part of her constitutional argument.

News

1. Curiosity!!!!!11111111111111111111elebenty!!
   1. Doing checks and boring stuff ATM
   2. What’s new.
   3. Specs.
2. How single-celled life specialised into multi-celled life via division of labour
3. Government idiots want to put warning labels on cellphones
4. More evidence building up that the Chicxulub impact wasn’t the sole cause of the KT Extinction

 

Sci-fi/Fantasy Quote

“Nothing beats the power of nature for putting our self-importance in check.”
— Dr. Hood
Eleventh Hour (US), season 1, episode 15, “Electro”

Announcements

1. Johannesburg
   1. SFSA Star Trek Minicon – Saturday 18th August, 10:00 till 19:00. Wits Medical School
   2. Sceptics in the Park – Sunday 19th August, 13:00. Rose Garden, Johannesburg Botanical Gardens, Emmarentia
2. Pretoria
   1. Sceptics in the Pub – Saturday 18th August, 12:30. Venue to be advised.

http://archive.org/details/ConsilienceEpisode57

http://archive.org/download/ConsilienceEpisode57/Consilience57.mp3