ORLY-EP0116a - Lamenting Istanbul and the Brexit

ORLY-EP0116a - Lamenting Istanbul and the Brexit

Welcome to ORLYRADIO #116A recorded Friday July 1st, 2016 - where we dismantle the current events for your edutainment through mostly rational conversations that make you go ‘Oh Really’! I’m your host Andy Cowen, with my usual suspect, Daniel Atherton.

Audience Feedback From Previous Shows:

We make mistakes. Please, if you find one, pause the podcast, and send us a note. orlyradiopodcast@gmail.com or phone it in 470-222-6759

Potpourri: Guests/Rants/Etc:

  1. Turkey:

    1. Ataturk international airport in Istanbul was attacked on the 28th and at least 42 were killed with 239 injured by a trio of suicide bombers. The bastards that blew themselves up were identified thursday as a Russian national, an Uzbek citizen, and another from Kyrgyzstan. Turkey's Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said initial indications suggested Daesh was responsible for the attack. Turkey has been struck by a series of deadly attacks this year — including attacks in Istanbul in January and February, attacks in both Istanbul and Ankara in March, and an attack targeting police in Istanbul earlier this month. Some of those attacks have been claimed by Kurdish militants; others have been attributed to the Islamic State.” http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/06/29/483983313/death-toll-in-istanbul-airport-attack-rises-to-41

    2. http://aa.com.tr/en/todays-headlines/istanbul-airport-terror-attack-death-toll-rises-to-44/599383

  2. Brexit - Follow the money.

    1. UK Independence Party Leader Admits His Bold Brexit Claim Was a "Mistake" http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/06/nigel-farage-admits-his-bold-brexit-claim-was-mistake

    2. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/global-markets-world-stocks-tumble-204403520.html

    3. June 24 (Reuters) - Global stock markets lost about $2 trillion in value on Friday after Britain voted to leave the European Union, while sterling suffered a record one-day plunge to a 31-year low and money poured into safe-haven gold and government bonds

    4. The shockwaves affected all asset classes and regions.

      1. The safe-haven yen jumped 3.8 percent to 102.36 per dollar , having been as low as 106.81. The dollar's peak decline of 4 percent was the largest since 1998.

      2. Emerging market currencies across Asia and eastern Europe and South Africa's rand all buckled on fears that investors could pull out. Poland's zloty slumped 4.7 percent.

      3. Europe's safety play, the 10-year German government bond, surged, with yields tumbling back into negative territory and a new record low.

      4. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slid almost 3.4 percent. Tokyo's Nikkei had its worst fall since 2011, down 7.9 percent.

      5. Investors stampeded into low-risk sovereign bonds, with U.S. 10-year notes up around 1.5 points in price to yield 1.5718 percent. Earlier, the yield dipped to 1.406 percent.

      6. The rally even extended to UK bonds, despite a warning from ratings agency Standard & Poor's that it was likely to downgrade Britain's triple-A credit rating if it left the EU. Yields on benchmark 10-year gilts fell 27 basis points to 1.096 pct.

      7. Across the Atlantic, investors were pricing in less chance of another hike in U.S. interest rates given the Federal Reserve had cited a British exit from the EU as one reason to be cautious on tightening.

      8. The cost for Wall Street to fund dollar-based trades rose on Friday to the highest in nearly three months.

      9. Oil prices slumped around 5 percent amid fears of a broader economic slowdown that could reduce demand. U.S. crude shed $2.51 to $47.60 a barrel while Brent fell 4.9 percent to $48.42.

      10. Industrial metal copper sank 1.7 percent but gold leaped nearly 5 percent higher thanks to its perceived safe-haven status.

This Week in History:

Sources: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

  1. 1867 - Canadian Independence day. The autonomous Dominion of Canada, a confederation of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the future provinces of Ontario and Quebec, is officially recognized by Great Britain with the passage of the British North America Act

  2. 1947 - “Mr. X” article appears in Foreign Affairs. State Department official George Kennan, using the pseudonym “Mr. X,” publishes an article entitled “The Sources of Soviet Conduct” in the July edition of Foreign Affairs. The article focused on Kennan’s call for a policy of containment toward the Soviet Union and established the foundation for much of America’s early Cold War foreign policy

  3. 1984 - PG-13 rating debuts. On this day in 1984, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), which oversees the voluntary rating system for movies, introduces a new rating, PG-13. Red Dawn, released August 10, 1984, becomes the first movie released with a PG-13 rating.

  4. 1997 - Hong Kong returns to China. At midnight on July 1, 1997, Hong Kong reverts back to Chinese rule in a ceremony attended by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Prince Charles of Wales, Chinese President Jiang Zemin, and U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. A few thousand Hong Kongers protested the turnover, which was otherwise celebratory and peaceful.

  5. 2002 - Two planes collide over Germany. A Russian Tupolev 154 collides in midair with a Boeing 757 cargo plane over southern Germany on this day in 2002. The 69 passengers and crew on the Russian plane and the two-person cargo crew were all killed. The collision occurred even though each plane had TCAS (Traffic Collision Avoidance System) collision-avoidance equipment onboard and everything functioned correctly

-BREAK- Logical Fallacy

http://www.logicalfallacies.info/relevance/moralistic/  

Moralistic Fallacy
Explanation
The moralistic fallacy is the opposite of the naturalistic fallacy. The naturalistic fallacy moves from descriptions of how things are to statements of how things ought to be, the moralistic fallacy does the reverse. The moralistic fallacy moves from statements about how things ought to be to statements about how things are; it assumes that the world is as it should be. This, sadly, is a fallacy; sometimes things aren’t as they ought to be.
Examples
Have you ever crossed a one-way street without looking in both directions? If you have, reasoning that people shouldn’t be driving the wrong way up a one way street so there’s no risk of being run over from that direction, then you’ve committed the moralistic fallacy. Sometimes things aren’t as they ought to be. Sometimes people drive in directions that they shouldn’t. The rules of the road don’t necessarily describe actual driving practices..

-BREAK- Voicemail

Science Bitches!  

  1. Earth has 2 moons now. http://gizmodo.com/earths-new-quasi-moon-will-stick-around-for-centuries-1782082812

  2. Areas of Central Park are now more radioactive than 5 of the 6 Marshal Islands where the US tested nuclear weapons in the 1940’s. The most famous, the Bikini Island, is still at 184 millirems. Central Park clocked in at 100 millirems.  http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/06/some-us-nuke-testing-sites-are-now-less-radioactive-central-park

  3. "We can take someone’s memory - which is typically something internal and private - and we can pull it out from their brains," one of the team, neuroscientist Brice Kuhl, http://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-have-invented-a-mind-reading-machine-that-can-visualise-your-thoughts-kind-of

    1. http://www.jneurosci.org/content/36/22/6069.short?sid=39264297-467f-403a-9806-429798f2237c  

  4. Artificially Intelligent Lawyer “Ross” Has Been Hired By Its First Official Law Firm http://futurism.com/artificially-intelligent-lawyer-ross-hired-first-official-law-firm/

    1. Ross, “the world’s first artificially intelligent attorney” built on IBM’s cognitive computer Watson, was designed to read and understand language, postulate hypotheses when asked questions, research, and then generate responses (along with references and citations) to back up its conclusions. Ross also learns from experience, gaining speed and knowledge the more you interact with it.
      “You ask your questions in plain English, as you would a colleague, and ROSS then reads through the entire body of law and returns a cited answer and topical readings from legislation, case law and secondary sources to get you up-to-speed quickly,” the website says. “In addition, ROSS monitors the law around the clock to notify you of new court decisions that can affect your case.”

ORLY-EP0114B - New Normal

ORLY-EP0114B - New Normal

Welcome back to ORLYRADIO #114b recorded Friday JUNE 17th, 2016 - where we dismantle the current events for your edutainment through mostly rational conversations that make you go ‘Oh Really’! I’m your host Andy Cowen, with my usual suspects:  Stephen Griffith and Daniel Atherton.

Science Bitches!  

  1. Four new element names are on the table http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/06/four-new-element-names-are-table

Law & Order:

  1. http://www.scotusblog.com/2016/06/friday-round-up-324/

  2. http://www.scotusblog.com/2016/06/opinion-analysis-puerto-ricos-debt-woes-left-to-congress/

-BREAK- Voicemail

Good Ideas:

  1. DA https://www.positive.news/2016/society/politics/21462/brexit-debate-yields-unexpected-potential-positive-political-change/  

  2. Social media 'outstrips TV' as news source for young people http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-36528256

  3. DA http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/17/us/utah-republican-is-unlikely-star-at-lgbt-vigil-for-orlando.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur

-BREAK- GSoW - PSA

Bad Ideas:

  1. DA http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-36565901

  2. DA http://www.sciencealert.com/this-is-the-first-mammal-to-go-extinct-because-of-human-caused-climate-change

Personal Picks:

Daniel’s: http://www.orlandocitysc.com/  

ORLY-EP0114A - Orlando Tragedy

ORLY-EP0114A - Orlando Tragedy

Welcome to ORLYRADIO #114A recorded Friday JUNE 17th, 2016 - where we dismantle the current events for your edutainment through mostly rational conversations that make you go ‘Oh Really’! I’m your host Andy Cowen, with my usual suspects, David O’Connor, Fred Sims, Stephen Griffith, and Daniel Atherton.

Audience Feedback From Previous Shows:

We make mistakes. Please, if you find one, pause the podcast, and send us a note. orlyradiopodcast@gmail.com or phone it in 470-222-6759

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/jun/10/google-denies-burying-bad-hillary-clinton-stories/

Potpourri: Guests/Rants/Etc:

Andy’s take

http://www.snopes.com/orlando-mass-shooting-math-doesnt-add-up/

https://www.facebook.com/humanrightscampaign/photos/?tab=album&album_id=10154314679198281

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/orlando-nightclub-massacre/orlando-shooter-omar-mateen-talked-about-bringing-gun-training-class-n594786

Fred’s:

When I awoke on the morning on Sunday June 12th it was to the news of shooting in our country, no longer shocking news unfortunately. Especially as this was following the news from the day previous in which another shooting had taken place. Both shootings occurred in the city of Orlando, FL, a mere stone throw from the city I call home. Before the sleep had even been rubbed from my eyes, I read about the second shooting being yet another mass shooting in our country. This one had claimed the lives of 20 individuals and wounded more than 40 others. Oh, wait, allow me to correct those numbers as they were corrected for me before even lunchtime on the 12th of June. 49 dead people and over 50 more wounded in what is described as the deadliest mass shooting in the modern history of the United states. The shooting occurred at Pulse Nightclub, a popular club and admitted safe place within the LGBT community. I would like to be able to tell you which number mass shooting this was in our country this month, this year, or even this decade but determining that information is next to impossible. Sure the shootings can all be reported on, they can certainly be speculated on, and they can damn sure be debated as to the motives behind how and why they occurred. However they can’t be studied by any organization that receives federal funding. There isn’t even a universally recognized definition of what a mass shooting actually entails. A cursory search of the internets will lead you to several studies with multiple definitions regarding how a mass shooting should be defined. This is a huge problem in our country. How are we ever to find a way to start reducing the number of mass shootings if we can’t even study the statistics behind them. Statistics that may lead to better understanding the causes or help profile against future shootings. Research that can actually eliminate all the debate about who or what is responsible, why they are responsible, and through what medium they are responsible. This isn’t about our country’s woeful response to shootings however so please also allow me to address certain groups of people at this time to better highlight where my head's at. To all the people blaming the “radical religion of Islam” or the fact that the shooter was a self reported follower of ISIS for this shooting: You’re wrong! To all the people claiming that the reason behind this shooting is a man’s homophobia: You’re wrong! To all the people claiming that the existence of assault rifles is the problem in regards to this shooting: You’re wrong!

“How could you possibly know that?” The reason I know they are wrong is because they are all, each and every group of people with a concrete reason for this tragedy, is absolutely right. Everyone arguing this is a homophobia issue but not religious or a gun rights issue is discounting the facts that without an indoctrination in a religion or culture with radical ideas regarding not just homophobia, but anyone who doesn’t believe as they do, the homophobia has a lessened likelihood of having existed. It becomes a circle in which everyone is wrong because everyone is right. The fact that this shooter was a Muslim, self reported ISIS supporting, possibly self-hating, possibly gay, homophobe, with easy access to a weapon that does not need to exist outside of the military or select law enforcement organizations due to a job that does not in any situations require that weapon and also despite the fact that the shooter had been the target of two previous investigations by the FBI all needs to be added up together when discussing how, why, when where, and with what this shooting occurred. It all has meaning, it all has merit, and none of that can or should be debated because to do so just provides a smoke screen over the path to real change. This man is the sum of all his parts and that full recipe of disaster is the cause for the giant piece of shit pie he recently served our nation. In order to move forward from this in a truly progressive way we need to stop bickering amongst ourselves about the causes and start uniting together regarding solutions. 49 people died early Sunday morning due to a myriad of reasons, almost all of which should have already been addressed. No more….please, no fucking more.

Stephen’s Segment.
If you wish to respond to this, please send all compliments, or hate, or disagreements or agreements to the following e-mail address:  stephen@orlyradio.com

I have heard a lot of people call Omar Mateen a terrorist and call what he did an act of terrorism.  I’m going to do my best to start off this with putting that notion to rest right away.  First, I will say that there is no true agreed upon definition of what is and isn’t terrorism, however I will be using a definition that I was taught and which is very accurate.  The definition is thus; Terrorism: The threat of violence or use of violence to affect political change.

By this definition it is quite easy to say that he isn’t a terrorist nor was this a terrorist act due to the lack of any political desire in its actions.  If we break it down more, there is no rational reason for a terrorist to target a gay club.  Why?  The targets are too specialized, and the location is not conducive to producing a shock of the desire that an organization would want to do.  Yes, a terrorist will hit a target of opportunity, but the target always serves a purpose.  If he had gone and shot up a theme park, like Universal or Disney, that is a valid target on a terrorist list.  If he’d gone after any number of police or federal buildings or financial buildings in the state, also a valid target.  A single gay nightclub has no larger narrative purpose to further the agenda of these groups.

More importantly, this isn’t Islamic terrorism because of the lack of religious motivation of Omar Mateen.  I know some of you are ranting and yelling now about the 911 phone call.  However if you actually look at it, the phone call is a false flag.  It was a means of psyching himself up or keeping himself going because in his mind it made him stand out more, be scarier, and somehow possibly feel more connected to a larger group which he could use as some kind of psychological support mechanism while committing his horrific act.  His father, his friends, his wife and ex-wife have all said that he was not a religious man.  Yes he attended Mosque, but if you are say a Christian, how many church goers do you see there every week, but aren’t really religious?  That maybe there just there because of the community, or their friends, or because they have nothing else to do, or because it’s expected of them?  From the Imam at the Mosque he attended, Omar Mateen was known for being aggressive, but also very quiet.  That he used to run around a lot and make trouble and was a bodybuilder, but when he became an adult he just came there to pray 4 days a week, stayed very quiet and left [1].

This brings up a more important point as to why this guy, who wasn’t very religious, decided to go in guns blazing into a gay nightclub.  We have seen information from people who were regulars at Pulse and also from others who have used gay dating apps that he was a somewhat regular at gay clubs.  More importantly we have from his ex-wife that he had confessed to having a gay lifestyle and in her own words he had “gay tendencies”[2].  We have Omar Mateen’s father who has made the statement of “God will punish those involved with homosexuality”, and then retracted it somewhat by saying that “nobody has the right to harm anybody” [3].  Sound familiar?  Sound like a boy who grew up a little different than his father wanted, in fact may have been something his dad said was very wrong, perhaps evil even, and that God would punish?  I’ve seen the results of that kind of issue before, and now we have all seen another.  I’ve known of people who have committed suicide because their parents told them these kinds of things, and indoctrinated and drilled it into the skulls of their children that being gay is wrong, and evil, and sinful, and only something that the unholy do.  It’s a wonderful way to screw up a kid, even worse if that kid is gay.

So here we have a potentially seriously self hating gay man, who is living out a forced life because it’s what is expected of him.  Some people in this situation commit suicide, others run away, still others say fuck off and utterly embrace themselves, and still others just bury it deep inside them, not knowing what’s wrong with them, why they hate themselves, why they always feel like they’re living a lie their entire lives until they die.  A very, very few, turn that immense self hatred out, or one day something snaps in them.  The story of Omar Mateen says that he was a hateful person, but that one day recently he saw two men kissing and being affectionate with each other in public and he broke.  I think we can at least understand that.  Here you are, living an utter lie, and there you see two people living the life, having the love you wish you had.  Being true to themselves.  Some people take this as a revelation and embrace who they are.  He took the other path.  If he couldn’t have it, then he’d destroy it for everyone else he could.

We also have signs that he was massively and physically abusive to his ex-wife as she has stated that he beat her black and blue on several occasions, and she had to be rescued by her family.  Also with his behavior we see a potential of mental illness in him being possibly bi-polar, which would help with the suddenly snapping thing [4].  So what we have here is not an attack by a terrorist indoctrinated religious extremist.   What we have here is a gay man, who had been told all his life his feelings are wrong, who was possibly suffering from being bi-polar, who had a mountain of self hatred and self loathing, and decided to take it out on the group he wanted to desperately to be a part of.  No I am not forgiving of his actions.  I merely seek to understand them and the reason behind them to prevent this from ever happening again.

Sources:

  1. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/13/orlando-imam-says-he-had-not-feared-omar-mateen-could-be-radical/

  2. http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/ex-wife-pulse-patrons-omar-mateen-was-gay-regularly-attended-lgbt-nightclubs

  3. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/seddique-mir-mateen-omar-mateen-gays-united-states-orlando/

  4. http://www.newsweek.com/orlando-gunman-omar-mateen-hateful-bipolar-gay-469759

 

 

ORLY-EP0113A - Conspiracy Bias Epistemology & Breakfast of Champions

ORLY-EP0113A - Conspiracy Bias Epistemology & The Breakfast of Champions

Welcome to ORLYRADIO #113A recorded Friday JUNE 10th, 2016 - where we dismantle the current events for your edutainment through mostly rational conversations that make you go ‘Oh Really’! I’m your host Andy Cowen, with my usual suspect, Daniel Atherton.

Audience Feedback From Previous Shows:

We make mistakes. Please, if you find one, pause the podcast, and send us a note. orlyradiopodcast@gmail.com or phone it in 470-222-6759

Errata: From the mailbag:

Andy, I loved the coverage of the gunshot wound caulk gun. I had an insight that I think it's accurate. The conversation seemed to overlook a key element: clotting factor. See, my nephew has a mild bleeding disorder. He's not of royal lineage or anything, but it takes him about 20% longer than normal for a cut to seal up.

See, his specific condition is a lowered amount of a clotting factor that forms a web or lattice type structure around a wound, which catches the platelets. Once it catches enough to clog the lattice, it is sealed. I imagine this technology would work the same way. So it's not just the sponges swelling to fit the wound. It's also them catching the platelets to make a hemostatic seal.

Typically, this clotting factor will start forming around the edges of a wound, and build upon itself. That's why you want to pinch a wound closed until the bleeding stops, and you have to be so careful about it not reopening. This technology is perfect for large, deep wounds that aren't likely to seal up. It makes me ridiculously happy orlyish.

All the love,

Daniel Bible Pants Duncan

From one of our Patreon Supporters. Did Google manipulate search for Hillary? https://www.facebook.com/SourceFedNews/videos/1199514293432055/

Potpourri: Guests/Rants/Etc:

  1. Confirmation Bias (http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases)
       the tendency to interpret new evidence as confirmation of one's existing beliefs or theories.

  2. Herd mentality, or mob mentality, describes how people are influenced by their peers to adopt certain behaviors, follow trends, and/or purchase items. Examples of the herd mentality include stock market trends, superstition and home décor.

  3. Bandwagon effect — the tendency to do (or believe) things because many other people do (or believe) the same. Related to groupthink, crowd psychology, herd behaviour, and manias.

  4. Illusion of control — the tendency for human beings to believe they can control or at least influence outcomes that they clearly cannot.

  5. Reactance — the urge to do the opposite of what someone wants you to do out of a need to resist a perceived attempt to constrain your freedom of choice.

  6. A conspiracy is a secret plan to achieve some goal. Its members are known as conspirators. A conspiracy theory originally meant the theory pre-formed conclusion that an event or phenomenon was the result of conspiracy; however, from the mid-1960s onward, it is often used to denote ridiculous, misconceived, paranoid, unfounded, outlandish or irrational theories. One of the worst things about conspiracy theories is the fact they are almost airtight. Every debunking or piece of evidence against it will be viewed as an attempt to "misinform the public", and the lack of evidence for it is viewed as a government cover-up. Not everyone involved in a conspiracy necessarily knows all the details; in fact, sometimes none do.

This Week in History: 

  1. Canned from Fred

Logical Fallacy

http://www.logicalfallacies.info/presumption/complex-question/

Complex Question Fallacy
Explanation
The complex question fallacy is committed when a question is asked (a) that rests on a questionable assumption, and (b) to which all answers appear to endorse that assumption.
Examples
“Have you stopped beating your wife?”
This is a complex question because it presupposes that you used to beat your wife, a presupposition that either answer to the question appears to endorse.
“Are you going to admit that you’re wrong?”
Answering yes to this question is an admission of guilt. Answering no to the question implies that the accused accepts that he is in the wrong, but will not admit it. No room is left to protest one’s innocence. This is therefore a complex question, and a subtle false dilemma.

Science Bitches!  

  1. http://www.salon.com/2016/06/07/virtually_everything_america_calls_a_breakfast_staple_is_a_corporate_myth_partner/

  2. http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/animals/a21268/scientists-turn-bacteria-into-living-hard-drives/

  3. http://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-confirm-a-second-layer-of-information-hiding-in-dna

  4. http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/zika-virus-outbreak/zika-virus-might-also-spread-oral-sex-french-researchers-n585221

  5. http://www.nbcnews.com/health/cancer/new-immune-therapy-drug-gives-bladder-cancer-patients-fresh-hope-n585606