16 October 2017

Episode 125: Revenge of the Quiz Show Show!

On this episode of Life, the Universe & Everything Else, recorded live at SkeptiCamp, Ashlyn, Lauren, Laura, and Gem test their knowledge (and that of the audience) in a variety of scientific and pseudoscientific domains.

Life, the Universe & Everything Else is a podcast that delves into issues of science, critical thinking, and secular humanism.

Colour Quiz (Ashlyn): Impossible color (Wikipedia) | Rayleigh scattering (Wikipedia) | Indigo dye (Wikipedia) | Verdigris (Wikipedia) | Orpiment (Wikipedia) | Red hair (Wikipedia)

Discarded Scientific Theories (Gem): Superseded scientific theories (Wikipedia)

The Magic of Crystals (Lauren): Crystal Healing: Stone-Cold Facts About Gemstone Treatments | Crystal Guide (Crystal Vaults) | A to Z Crystal Meanings (CrystalsandJewelry.com) | The 8 Essential Crystals (Goop)

Historical Food Guides (Laura): Government Health Posters: A History of Nutrition Guidelines (PlenteousVeg) | Food and Nutrition through the 20th Century (LibGuides) | Canada’s Food Guides from 1942 to 1992 (Canada.ca) | How WWI Food Propaganda Forever Changed the Way America Eats (The A.V. Club) | Food for Young Children (Digital Library) | Dietary Recommendations and How They Have Changed Over Time (USDA) | The History of USDA Nutrition Guides (FoodManufacturing.com) | How to Select Foods, by Caroline L. Hunt and Helen W. Atwater (Archive.org)

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Posted by on 16 October 2017 in Geekery, History, Medicine, Science, Skepticism and tagged , , , , , .

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11 September 2017

Episode 124: Ancient Discoveries

On this episode of Life, the Universe & Everything Else, Gem, Ashlyn, Laura, and Lauren discuss several important scientific, technological, and mathematical discoveries made in the ancient world.

Life, the Universe & Everything Else is a podcast that delves into issues of science, critical thinking, and secular humanism.

Note: We experienced some technical difficulties near the top of Ashlyn’s segment, so listeners may notice a brief drop in audio quality. Sorry!

Links: History of the compass (Wikipedia) | The Shorter Science and Civilisation in China (Joseph Needham and Colin A. Ronan) | Geomagnetic reversal (Wikipedia) | Formation of the Chinese Civilization (china.org.cn) | Contribution of Al-Khwarizmi to Mathematics and Geography (Muslim Heritage) | Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi (Wikipedia) | Al-Khwarizmi biography (History
of Mathematics Archive) | Al-Khwarizmi (The Story of Mathematics) | Who Invented Zero? (Live Science) | 0 (Wikipedia) | The Origin of Zero (Scientific American) | What is the origin of zero? How did we indicate nothingness before zero? (Scientific American) | Who invented the zero? (History.com) | Zero (History of Mathematics Archive) | The Origin of the Number Zero (Smithsonian) | Who invented zero and how? (Quora) | Babylonian numerals (Wikipedia) | Jabir ibn Hayyan (Wikipedia) | History of Science and Technology in Islam | Chemistry (Islamic Spain) | From Alchemy to Chemistry (Muslim Heritage) | Aqua regia (Wikipedia) | History of glass (Wikipedia)

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Posted by on 11 September 2017 in Geekery, History, Science and tagged , , , , , .

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14 August 2017

Episode 123: Heretics

On this episode of Life, the Universe & Everything Else, Ashlyn talks heresy with Laura, Gem, and Lauren. Heretics discussed include Hypatia of Alexandria, Roger Bacon, Baruch Spinoza, Charles Darwin, and Giordano Bruno. Also on this episode, Gem drones on about ancient writing materials and the sizes of various libraries for some reason.

Life, the Universe & Everything Else is a podcast that delves into issues of science, critical thinking, and secular humanism.

Note: In preparation for the discussion of the Library of Alexandria, Gem reached out to Winnipeg’s Millennium Library to ask about the size of their collection. After we recorded the episode, he received a response informing us that the collection contains roughly 338,000 items, which is on the same order of magnitude as the Great Library of Alexandria—but at least some of the items in circulation are going to be non-canon Star Wars novels, so they don’t really count.

SkeptiCamp: If you’d like to present at SkeptiCamp, send an email to skepticamp@winnipegskeptics.com or skepticamp2017@gmail.com. Visit winnipegskeptics.com/skepticamp for more information!

Links: Heresy (Wikipedia) | Library of Alexandria (Wikipedia) | Hypatia (Wikipedia) | General Fact Sheet (New York Public Library) | The Encyclopaedia Britannica hits rock bottom (Quodlibeta) | Neoplatonism (Wikipedia) | Roger Bacon (Wikipedia) | Roger Bacon (Encyclopaedia Britannica) | Roger Bacon (Catholic Encyclopedia) | Bacon biography (History of Mathematics Archive) | Roger Bacon (British Heritage) | The Persecution of Philosophers (Bad News About Christianity) | Darwin’s Heretic | Charles Darwin: A heretic and a hero (The Globe and Mail) | Religious views of Charles Darwin (Wikipedia) | Are great scientists always heretics? (BBC Science) | Darwin on a Godless Creation: “It’s like confessing to a murder” (Scientific American) | Evolution and the Catholic Church (Wikipedia) | Reactions to On the Origin of Species (Wikipedia) | Giordano Bruno (Wikipedia) | Archimedes (Wikipedia) | Our Unknown Martyrs (The Scientist Magazine) | 7 Scientists Who Died Violently (FamousScientists.org) | Baruch Spinoza (Wikipedia) | Science and Religion (MarkHumphrys.com) | Michael Servetus (Wikipedia)

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Posted by on 14 August 2017 in Atheism, History, Philosophy, Religion, Science and tagged , , , , , , , , , , .

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17 July 2017

Episode 122: UFOs

On this episode of Life, the Universe & Everything Else, Gem discusses UFO sightings and claims of otherworldly visitation with Ashlyn, Lauren, and Laura.

Life, the Universe & Everything Else is a podcast that delves into issues of science, critical thinking, and secular humanism.

SkeptiCamp: If you’d like to present at SkeptiCamp, send an email to skepticamp@winnipegskeptics.com or skepticamp2017@gmail.com. Visit winnipegskeptics.com/skepticamp for more information!

Links: Episode 112: Did Aliens Build the Pyramids? (LUEE) | The First Canadian National Inquiry into UFOs (Newswire) | Unidentified flying object (Wikipedia) | Kenneth Arnold UFO sighting (Wikipedia) | Close encounter (Wikipedia) | What is the Roswell Incident? (RoswellIncident.com) | Roswell: Facts & Summary (History.com) | Roswell UFO incident (Wikipedia) | Joe Nickell (Wikipedia) | Majestic 12 (Wikipedia) | Roswell Daily Record, July 9, 1947 (Ufologie.net, via Internet Archive) | Roswell, New Mexico (Wikipedia) | Corona, New Mexico (Wikipedia) | Stanton T. Friedman (Wikipedia) | Project Mogul (Wikipedia) | The Roswell UFO crash really happened, ‘witness’ claims (Newshub) | Maurice Ewing (Wikipedia) | How an Alien Autopsy Hoax Captured the World’s Imagination for a Decade (Time) | Operation High Dive (Wikipedia) | Stefan Michalak’s Ridiculous Story (The Iron Skeptic) | Falcon Lake incident is Canada’s ‘best-documented UFO case,’ even 50 years later (CBC News) | Falcon Lake Police Reports (Library and Archives Canada) | The Falcon Lake Incident (HowStuffWorks) | Felix Moncla (Wikipedia) | Briefing Points (Disclosure Project) | Special Briefing for President Obama (Disclosure Project) | cseti.org | Steven M. Greer (Wikipedia) | If We Call Them, Will They Come? (Yoga Journal)

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Posted by on 17 July 2017 in Conspiracy, Geekery, Science, Skepticism and tagged , , , , , , , , , , .

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12 June 2017

Episode 121: “Dreams from My Real Father”

On this episode of Life, the Universe & Everything Else, Ashlyn, Lauren, Gem, and Laura talk about yet another conspiracy film, and Gem closes out the episode with an Alex Jones–themed quiz.

Life, the Universe & Everything Else is a podcast that delves into issues of science, critical thinking, and secular humanism.

Links: No more religious exemptions: Montreal is taxing churches (CTV Montreal News ) | Montreal churches fear stricter taxation after visits from inspectors (Montreal Gazette) | Dreams from My Real Father (Wikipedia) | Barack Obama (Wikipedia) | Frank Marshall Davis (Wikipedia) | Alex Jones (radio host) (Wikipedia)

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Posted by on 12 June 2017 in Conspiracy, News, Politics, Skepticism and tagged , , , , , .

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