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Episode 38 of The Pseudo Scientists: Homophobia, alternative medicine in universities, and PZ Myers

The Pseudo Scientists – Episode 38

In this episode of The Pseudo Scientists, the official podcast of the Young Australian Skeptics, Jason and I talk about former No. 1 tennis player Margaret Court’s homophobic op-ed in the Herald Sun, and a group of doctors trying to ban the teaching of alternative medicine in Australian universities. Plus, I interview freakin’ PZ Myers! Yes, that PZ Myers. We chat about alien biology, getting more biologists involved in the skeptical movement and its conferences, and the [...]

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Tabletop Transitional – Shit Skeptics Say

This video has been making the rounds in the skeptical blogosphere, and for good reason: it’s a goodnatured jab at the skeptical community from the inside. Everyone loves making fun of themselves. Well, almost everyone. There’s nothing wrong with analysing your own movement every now and again!

I’m sure we all have our favourite lines, but mine is “We should totally start our own podcast!” Ahh, so true, so true…

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Tabletop Transitional – Lawrence Leung’s “Unbelievable”

Hat-tip to Kylie Sturgess for this.

Skeptical television shows: there aren’t many of them. All the more reason to cherish the ones that do, somehow, make it to air. Yes, I said “somehow” – it’s a hard proposition to sell a show about telling people that some of their precious beliefs are most likely wrong, or at least unsupported, let alone create a show to sell that does that and makes it both entertaining, educational and non-threatening.

Lawrence Leung’s new show on ABC1[...]

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Tabletop Transitional – Tim Minchin’s “Storm”, the Animated Movie

I don’t need to tell you about Tim Minchin, do I? Arguably the finest musical comedian Australia has ever produced, Tim loves his skepticism, so when he started performing “Storm”, his 9-minute beat poem about a dinner party conversation with a New Age woo-believer, we in the skeptical movement all leap to our feet for a long standing ovation.

Now “Storm” has been made into a gorgeous animated film! When I say gorgeous, I really mean it: it’s an amazing piece of work. Congratulations to everyone involved.

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Tabletop Transitional – An action movie for skeptics

I would watch this so hard. Make it happen, Zach Weiner.

Tabletop Transitional – What if Harry Potter was a skeptic?

Update: It has come to my attention that Richard Dawkins may have made some comments at TAM8 about fantasy novels, such as Harry Potter, damaging children’s critical thinking skills and giving them false beliefs. Whether or not that is true, I’d just like to point out that this fanfiction piece, Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, will leave you with a heightened appreciation of the scientific method and critical thinking. Even if the original Harry Potter doesn’t damage your thinking ability, this fanfiction story will [...]

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Tabletop Transitional – xkcd on the Flake Equation

You probably all read xkcd, the intelligently hilarious webcomic about maths, science and random stuff, but I thought this recent update was particularly clever:

Is Randall Munroe straying into skeptical territory? That’d be nice, because he has a huge audience. We skeptics can dream, we can dream…

(The comic is referring to the Drake Equation, for all of you who didn’t get it at all.)

Tabletop Transitional – Captain Disillusion at TAM 7

Captain Disillusion, the popular YouTube skeptic who debunks viral videos that contain paranormal themes or clever trickery, is finally back with a new series recounting his adventures at TAM (The Amazing Meeting) 7. He’s known for his humour, and these new videos really bring it home, I think.

Here’s the first in the series of five (including a debunking of the infamous “lotto number prediction” by Derren Brown) – you can find the rest on his YouTube channel:

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New YouTube video: Things That Annoy Me – A Short List

Hark, is that a new YouTube video I see? Why yes, it is! And about time too, I should think.

While I don’t usually complain about things, I thought the time was right. Plus, I needed a topic. So… if you have any requests for videos that I should make, feel free to email me or post a comment somewhere on this site with your topic. Overcoming that idea-hurdle is always appreciated.

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On the Tendency of Skeptics to form Circles; and on the Perpetuation of Circles and Skeptics by Natural Means of Selection

MY DEAR SIR,

The accompanying papers, which we have the honour of communicating to the Internet, and which all related to the same subject, viz. the Laws which affect the Production of Skepticism, Science, and Critical Thinking, contain the results of the investigations of an indefatigable blogging skeptic, Mr. Jack Scanlan. The gentleman having, independently and unknown to himself, conceived the same very ingenious theory as himself to account for the appearance and perpetuation of science and of specific forms of skepticism on our planet, and does fairly claim the [...]

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