Skepticblog

If you follow my Skeptoid podcast at all, you probably know that my all-time leading episode, by number of comments posted to the web site, is the one about MonaVie. It was actually about “superfruit” juices in general, but MonaVie distributors are the ones who have been pounding the site like a horde of Mongols and posting their comments. I graciously call it “posting comments”, it’s really more like harling. Harling, for those perhaps unfamiliar with the term, is the process of refinishing the walls of a Scottish castle by harling, or throwing, a handful of plastery weatherproofing (called harl) at the wall. Manure was a prominent ingredient in some harl. So I like to describe what the MonaVie distributors do as “harling” their comments at my site.

And, for some reason, I’m still constantly amazed at how many people in my neighborhood buy into MonaVie, both literally and figuratively. Without exception they parrot what they’ve been told; that it gives them more energy, it prevents illness, and generally promotes better health. How does it do this? If pressed for an explanation, they best they can come up with is that the açai from which it’s made (in part) is high in antioxidants and/or vitamins. Thus MonaVie’s comically high price is justified (a variety of similar juices are available in supermarkets at about a tenth the price, just without the fancy wine bottle and high school dropout pyramid business model). (continue reading…)

It’s the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, I have to pack, write a dozen blog posts to hold over the
crowd that’s just one missed entry away from pitchforks and torches, do laundry (before packing, damn that arrow of time!), and go to my in-laws for dinner.

So please forgive me for this post which is essentially a link to another one I’ve written. But IMNSHO that you’ll like it. I was asked by Dave Mosher over at the Discovery Channel blog collective to write up my opinion on UFOs as part of their effort to support a program they’re airing about said objects. I agreed, partly because this is something I’ve wanted to write up a for a long time, it’s an important topic, and it’s a fun one. But I mostly agreed because I knew I could link to it from Skepticblog, my own blog, and maybe even Swift. Three alien birds with one logical stone! Spendthrift that I am, I couldn’t resist the opportunity.

So here’s the link to the full post about aliens, flying saucers, and which of these things is more likely to be real (hint: aliens). And here’s an excerpt so you don’t feel totally ripped off:

As far as aliens go, I suspect pretty strongly that there’s life in space. We know of over 300 planets orbiting other stars, and we’ve only just started looking. In our Milky Way Galaxy alone there are probably literally billions of planets. Life on Earth got started pretty rapidly, relatively speaking, after the crust cooled and liquid water formed, so we know it’s not tough for life to get its start… and it’s entirely possible there is microbial life inside icy moons orbiting Jupiter and Saturn.

So thinking aliens exist has a pretty decent scientific basis. But them coming here is an entirely different beast.

Read the rest to see my devastating blow to believers in UFOs being spaceships carrying aliens coming here to eat our bovine anusi and squish our cereal harvest.

And have a happy Thanksgiving.

In this week’s SkepticBlog, I propose a challenge to my readers: find a passage from any ancient text, not just the Bible (although you can use that as well), that appears to match a scientific principle, law, fact, or discovery and then submit your entry as a comment at the end of this post.

Best would be to comb through any ancient myth or tale or story that predates the scientific concept. This will “prove” that the selected text is supernaturally inspired (how else would ancient authors know about the scientific discovery?). (continue reading…)

Did you see the awesome video of the Canadian meteor from this weekend? Incredible. The meteor streaked across the night sky, growing brighter as it descended. When it reached the denser parts of the atmosphere it grew bright enough to light up the entire sky. It then may have broken apart – as of this writing the meteorite or pieces of it have not been found.

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If you have been around Chinese for any length for time, you cannot help but notice that many of us are very particular about anything that has to do with numbers.  I don’t even know if it’s really “numerology” as is understood in the West but it really has to do with how a particular digit is phonetically sounded out.
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As a blogger has mentioned, one of those pesky superstitions many people believe in is the old “jinxing” rigamarole. Jinxes are especially widespread in sports, politics or any field where there is intense competition. They are akin to curses, only apparently not just in the purview of witch doctors as they can affect the most innocent person or situation if not carefully avoided. Only specially crafted “counter-jinxes” can turn things around –  if you are a believer. Such nasty little nostrums are available at your local occult shop or corner botanica hoodoo vendor, but only if you literally buy into them.

I must confess that in the past even I have been prone to one of those more recent and certainly regional superstitious beliefs that has grown out of the Hollywood mythos. I’m not sure where I picked it up (it’s like an unwanted virus) but it probably came about from hanging around magicians, filmakers and other hopefuls who spend years waiting for that “break” and subsist in that narrow hinterland where one foot is in the door of a major studio while the other rests on a banana peel. It’s the odd belief that says that if you are in production of a film or television project or even in the earliest writing stages of an idea, talking about it will “jinx” it and it will never happen.

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Sometimes it’s a good and sometimes it’s bad.

I just started watching Fringe (well, to be honest I watched the entire season to date on Hulu over the last two nights). I’m a little obsessed with the story. It’s fun. It thrills the science fiction horror loving side of me.

But, I am also bugged by a few things. Things that could have been different if the writers had taken the time to check the facts. Or, had a scientist on call to help them get things straight. (continue reading…)

Here Be Dragons

Since the beginning of the Skeptoid podcast, people had been asking me for a video version. Tempting indeed, but having been a college filmmaker and done my share of dabbling, I knew that a weekly video podcast would require far more than the limited time I have available for Skeptoid. So this idea stayed on the back burner for a while.

But I finally got fed up with the amount of uncritical praise and attention given to the garbage conspiracy films Loose Change and Zeitgeist on the Internet, and decided that it was time for a counterattack of reason. So I spent a few months of odd hours putting together my thoughts and writing my own garbage film for the Internet, which I called Here Be Dragons. (I wish I’d picked a different title, because that one’s so common, but heck, I was fresh out of creativity by that point.) (continue reading…)

Rational Moms is a group blog of, well, rational moms. They discuss how skepticism relates to parenting, and, as you might imagine, there’s plenty of fodder for that.

In a recent post, one of the blogging moms took her sons on a solar system walk near Zürich, and she wrote about it.

The result of her encouraging a love of science in her kids? This little slice of awesomeness. Nicely done, Mommy Chanson!

I just finished reading Dr. Novella’s inspiring entry, and as a departure to my reporting on the progress on The Skeptologists, and the process that it took to create the TV pilot for the show, I decided to ramble a bit on Skepticism.

Admittedly, this is a forum in which most, if not all, of the readers here are proud to call themselves “Skeptics”. I’m sure there’s even a few “Sceptics” as well.

I don’t carry the weight and vast knowledge that my esteemed blog colleagues do, I’m just a humble video production guy who’s trying to make his mark on the world in a positive way. As a matter of fact, it’s all I can do to write an entry every week that deserves to be on the same page as these folks. Working with them, reading their work and listening to the various podcasts is inspiring, and I’m lucky to be a part of this. I have a profound respect for each and every one of these Skeptologists! One of the common threads, that is very apparent, but worthy of note, is that they all share a similar intense desire to better the world through educating people about how to think critically, and skeptically.

It seems so easy on the face of it all doesn’t it? Educate people. I’ve written in the past about how I believe that TV is one avenue in which we can start to affect change in the world for the better. That’s my particular talent, and one that I wish to use to get the word out. But there are so many ways to go about it, and that’s what I’d love to start a discussion about: What different, entertaining and clever ways can we come up with to help gently educate people about the power of skepticism?

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