Episode #338

Started by Steven Novella, January 07, 2012, 12:57:04 PM

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Steven Novella

Interview with Martin Rundkvist
This Day in Skepticism
News Items: Psychic Predictions 2011, Hacker Satellite, Testing Violins
Quickie with Bob - Lost World of Antarctica
Who's That Noisy
Science or Fiction
Steven Novella
Host, The Skeptics Guide
[email protected]

seaotter

Thanks for the podcast! That's a record for sure!

smithkhome

WTN Theme: anti-vaxxers talking about empowering parents to be able to skip vaccinating their children...using 'Health freedom' laws.

Old Hoplite

Quote from: smithkhome on January 07, 2012, 02:50:56 PM
WTN Theme: anti-vaxxers talking about empowering parents to be able to skip vaccinating their children...using 'Health freedom' laws.

Damn beat me. The middle one was Michelle Bachman.
Beer is proof God loves us. Ben Franklin

Trinoc

Thanks guys and Happy New Year. WTN starts at 38:00 and the new Noisy is at 41:13 .. but I think smithkhome has probably nailed it.
I'm a skeptic. Not a "skepdude". Not a "man skeptic". Just a skeptic.

EvanHarper

The cast discussed studies showing that people's judgments about food were heavily influenced by their expectations, and by non-gustatory cues. It reminded me of the classic paper 'Can People Distinguish Pâté from Dog Food?', published in the American Association of Wine Economists' journal.

Rebecca discussed the notion that the particular words and structure of a person's language has a profound importance for their thoughts and perceptions. This is commonly called the 'Sapir–Whorf hypothesis' but it's not very sensible or well-supported by evidence. (Tthat Wikipedia page I linked seems to exaggerate its credibility.)

Citizen Skeptic

There is already a system in place that in theory could allow hackers to communicate with satellites. Amateur radio has all the capabilities - satelites, repeaters, internet (IRLP), and hardware gallore. The problem though is that the FCC regulates ALL of the airwaves. So if you're using spectrum, you have to have the appropriate license.

Here's a link to the satellite stuff and IRLP.

http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/satellites/status.php

http://www.irlp.net/

I'm working on my extra license. It's a good retirement hobby. I plan to do some "expeditioning" once I move up to the northwest and want an alternative to cell phones. Amateur radios have a lot of range and emergency features now.
Stay thirsty for knowledge my friends.
--The most interesting man in the world

Chew

Quote from: EvanHarper on January 07, 2012, 05:56:21 PM
The cast discussed studies showing that people's judgments about food were heavily influenced by their expectations, and by non-gustatory cues. It reminded me of the classic paper 'Can People Distinguish Pâté from Dog Food?', published in the American Association of Wine Economists' journal.

Ha! The dog food was rated worst tasting of the 5, but even more shocking was the 2nd place winner:
[spoiler]Spam! [/spoiler]
"3 out of 2 Americans do not understand statistics." -Mark Crislip

pchemist

I had a thought on the wine story. The panel talked about  two experiments:
1- Saying something bad about wine before or after tasting would give different outcomes.
2- Adding color to white wine.

What if you were to combine the two experiments by coloring the wine, and either telling the testers before or after having them taste the wine that it was colored wine (in both cases tell them before you asked for their reaction to the wine). What would you expect?

I've heard about the study where they colored the wine before, and wondered if the wine experts truly tasted "red" wine or were they just embarrassed to say it tasted like white wine.

EvanHarper

Quote from: Chew on January 07, 2012, 06:58:23 PM
Ha! The dog food was rated worst tasting of the 5, but even more shocking was the 2nd place winner:
[spoiler]Spam! [/spoiler]

Well, spam contains no organ meat, and the experimental subjects were apparently Brooklyn college students. So that might be why they preferred it as "paté". It would be interesting to see the experiment run with French foodies.

Hanes

Maybe if Rebecca hadn't pointed it out it wouldn't bug me, but I agree with her nonetheless.

For the love of all that is skeptical, please, it's twenty-twelve.

Also, yay podcast! :dance:

Chew

Quote from: pchemist on January 07, 2012, 07:40:06 PMI've heard about the study where they colored the wine before, and wondered if the wine experts truly tasted "red" wine or were they just embarrassed to say it tasted like white wine.

Either way they don't deserve the title of "expert".
"3 out of 2 Americans do not understand statistics." -Mark Crislip

Old Hoplite

Great podcast guys.  Really like the new idea on "WTN". 

Also, anyone else catch "brain and brain, what is brain" from Evan?

Last, being Rebecca's lover would be . . .uh. . .daunting.
Beer is proof God loves us. Ben Franklin

seaotter

What was it that made rebecca lose it? Bl ---- wh------ I forgot. I'm old.

stellaluna

#14
(I apologize in advance, but I HAVE to say it!)

In keeping with Evan's Blizzard / Wizard theme... During the discussion of the hacker satellite network, Steve clarified that the term "hacker" could be misleading, and that there are so-called white hackers who help with security issues.

I was waiting for Evan to say, "Yes - those are called Whackers..."
It's a dry heat...