ORLY-EP0133A - Honorary Electoral College Degrees

ORLY-EP0133A - Honorary Electoral College Degrees

Welcome to ORLYRADIO #133 recorded Friday November 18th, 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, Fred Sims, Daniel Atherton, and Stephen Griffith.

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

  1. Want to keep fake news out of your newsfeed? College professor creates list of sites to avoid - UPDATE: Nov. 17, 5:52 p.m.: The professor who created the list has taken down the Google doc. She said it was a safety measure in response to threats and harassment she and her students and colleagues had received.
    http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/trailguide/la-na-trailguide-updates-want-to-keep-fake-news-out-of-your-1479260297-htmlstory.html

  2. The Electoral College… Let’s take a look. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelfth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution

    1. The 12th Amendment was proposed by the Congress on December 9, 1803, and was ratified by the requisite three-fourths of state legislatures on June 15, 1804.

      1. The Electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and all persons voted for as Vice-President and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate.

        The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted.

        The person having the greatest Number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the Vice-President shall act as President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the President.
        The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.

    2. It replaced the procedure provided in Article II, Section 1, Clause 3, by which the Electoral College originally functioned.

      1. Clause 3: Electors
        The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by Ballot for two Persons, of whom one at least shall not be an Inhabitant of the same State with themselves. And they shall make a List of all the Persons voted for, and of the Number of Votes for each; which List they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the Seat of the Government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the Presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the Certificates, and the Votes shall then be counted. The Person having the greatest Number of Votes shall be the President, if such Number be a Majority of the whole Number of Electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have such Majority, and have an equal Number of Votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately chuse [sic] by Ballot one of them for President; and if no Person have a Majority, then from the five highest on the List the said House shall in like Manner chuse [sic] the President. But in chusing [sic] the President, the Votes shall be taken by States, the Representation from each State having one Vote; A quorum for this Purpose shall consist of a Member or Members from two thirds of the States, and a Majority of all the States shall be necessary to a Choice. In every Case, after the Choice of the President, the Person having the greatest Number of Votes of the Electors shall be the Vice President. But if there should remain two or more who have equal Votes, the Senate shall chuse [sic] from them by Ballot the Vice President.

Acknowledgements:

Music: "Rocket and Pamgaea” by Kevin MacLeod (www.incompetech.com)

 

ORLY-EP0126A - Gypsy Cops, Snowden, & Climate Change Finds Ship

ORLY-EP0126A - Gypsy Cops, Snowden, & Climate Change Finds Ship

Welcome to ORLYRADIO #126A recorded Friday September 16th, 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(s), 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:

Quick Bites:

  1. NASA analysis finds August 2016 another record month http://climate.nasa.gov/news/2490/nasa-analysis-finds-august-2016-another-record-month/

  2. New evidence is forcing scientists to reconsider how the Moon was formed http://www.sciencealert.com/new-evidence-is-forcing-scientists-to-reconsider-how-the-moon-was-formed

  3. Employer of Pulse nightclub killer fined $151,400 for false psychological forms http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/pulse-orlando-nightclub-shooting/fl-orlando-shooting-fine-20160909-story.html

  4. House Intel Panel: Edward Snowden 'Was No Whistleblower' as they published the summary findings of a two-year investigation. http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/09/15/494157921/house-intel-panel-edward-snowden-was-no-whistleblower
    http://intelligence.house.gov/uploadedfiles/hpsci_snowden_review_-_unclass_summary_-_final.pdf

  5. Cast-Out Police Officers Are Often Hired in Other Cities - The ‘Gypsy’ Cop Shuffle http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/11/us/whereabouts-of-cast-out-police-officers-other-cities-often-hire-them.html

-BREAK- Voicemail

This Week in History:

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

  1. Second Vessel From Doomed Franklin Expedition Found In The Arctic http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/09/12/493676137/second-vessel-from-doomed-franklin-expedition-found-in-the-arctic

  2. American Playwright Passes http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/17/arts/edward-albee-playwright-of-a-desperate-generation-dies-at-88.html

  3. Anniversary of Vote to Allow Women Ministers in the Episcopal Church http://www.episcopalchurch.org/library/glossary/ordination-women  http://arc.episcopalchurch.org/women/two/chronology.htm  

-BREAK- Logical Fallacy

http://onegoodmove.org/fallacy/anon.htm

Changing the Subject: Anonymous Authorities

Definition:

The authority in question is not named. This is a type of appeal to authority because when an authority is not named it is impossible to confirm that the authority is an expert. However the fallacy is so common it deserves special mention.
A variation on this fallacy is the appeal to rumour. Because the source of a rumour is typically not known, it is not possible to determine whether to believe the rumour. Very often false and harmful rumours are deliberately started in order to discredit an opponent.

Examples:
A government official said today that the new gun law will be proposed tomorrow.
Experts agree that the best way to prevent nuclear war is to prepare for it.
It is held that there are more than two million needless operations conducted every year.
Rumour has it that the Prime Minister will declare another holiday in October.
Proof:
Argue that because we don't know the source of the information we have no way to evaluate the reliability of the information.

ORLY-EP0122A - Communism was just a Red Herring

ORLY-EP0122A - Communism was just a Red Herring

Welcome to ORLYRADIO #122a recorded Friday August 12, 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, Daniel Atherton, and Stephen Griffith

Audience Feedback From Previous Shows:

From The Atheist Amazon, Stacy Reebrul on our Facebook page:
I was just listening to EP 0117A again. Something I learned brought me back to when you were talking about the black man who was found hanging in the park down south. It was said that most people don't commit suicide in public. Now I'm not an expert, but I've recently learned that 1/3 of suicides are committed in public places. Sometimes, suicidal people go to a place where they have happy memories. It may be a way of the person trying to talk themselves out of the act. The other reasons they do it is to let the world know that it let them down and a way to make people remember them. We have dealt with hangings, self-inflicted gunshot wounds, suicide by train, and suicide by cop.
I learned this a couple of months ago when a fellow officer decided to jump off the cliffs of the Palisades Interstate Parkway. His suicide was very public. And he knew it would be. He knew what kind of response he would get from jumping at that particular site. And everyone in the department had to go through critical incident stress debriefing and talk to counselors.
I'm not stating that the man mentioned on your show wasn't murdered. I'm just pointing out the fact that it happens more often than is thought.
Love the show, guys.

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

This Week in History:

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

  1. August 12, 1990 - On this day in 1990, fossil hunter Susan Hendrickson discovers three huge bones jutting out of a cliff near Faith, South Dakota. They turn out to be part of the largest-ever Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton ever discovered, a 65 million-year-old specimen dubbed Sue, after its discoverer.

    Amazingly, Sue’s skeleton was over 90 percent complete, and the bones were extremely well-preserved. Hendrickson’s employer, the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research, paid $5,000 to the land owner, Maurice Williams, for the right to excavate the dinosaur skeleton, which was cleaned and transported to the company headquarters in Hill City. The institute’s president, Peter Larson, announced plans to build a non-profit museum to display Sue along with other fossils of the Cretaceous period.

    In 1992, a long legal battle began over Sue. The U.S. Attorney’s Office claimed Sue’s bones had been seized from federal land and were therefore government property. It was eventually found that Williams, a part-Native American and member of the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe, had traded his land to the tribe two decades earlier to avoid paying property taxes, and thus his sale of excavation rights to Black Hills had been invalid. In October 1997, Chicago’s Field Museum purchased Sue at public auction at Sotheby’s in New York City for $8.36 million, financed in part by the McDonald’s and Disney corporations.

    Sue’s skeleton went on display at the Field Museum in May 2000. The tremendous T.rex skeleton–13 feet high at the hips and 42 feet long from head to toe–is displayed in one of the museum’s main halls. Another exhibit gives viewers a close-up view of Sue’s five foot-long, 2,000-pound skull with its 58 teeth, some as long as a human forearm.

    Sue’s extraordinarily well-preserved bones have allowed scientists to determine many things about the life of T.rex. They have determined that the carnivorous dinosaur had an incredible sense of smell, as the olfactory bulbs were each bigger than the cerebrum, the thinking part of the brain. In addition, Sue was the first T.rex skeleton to be discovered with a wishbone, a crucial discovery that provided support for scientists’ theory that birds are a type of living dinosaur. One thing that remains unknown is Sue’s actual gender; to determine this, scientists would have to compare many more T.rex skeletons than the 22 that have been found so far.

  2. Separated by 50 years, two Hollywood icons were lost as this day in 1964 Ian Fleming, creator of James Bond, passed away and in 2014 Lauren Bacall passed away.

  3. In the year 30 B.C. Cleopatra took her own life following the defeat of her forces against Octavian, the future first emperor of Rome

  4. In 1953, Less than one year after the United States tested its first hydrogen bomb, the Soviets detonate a 400-kiloton device in Kazakhstan. The explosive power was 30 times that of the U.S. atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, and the mushroom cloud produced by it stretched five miles into the sky. Known as the “Layer Cake,” the bomb was fueled by layers of uranium and lithium deuteride, a hydrogen isotope. The Soviet bomb was smaller and more portable than the American hydrogen bomb, so its development once again upped the ante in the dangerous nuclear arms race between the Cold War superpowers.

-BREAK- Logical Fallacy

http://www.logicalfallacies.info/relevance/red-herring/   

Red Herring

Explanation

The red herring is as much a debate tactic as it is a logical fallacy. It is a fallacy of distraction, and is committed when a listener attempts to divert an arguer from his argument by introducing another topic. This can be one of the most frustrating, and effective, fallacies to observe.

The fallacy gets its name from fox hunting, specifically from the practice of using smoked herrings, which are red, to distract hounds from the scent of their quarry. Just as a hound may be prevented from catching a fox by distracting it with a red herring, so an arguer may be prevented from proving his point by distracting him with a tangential issue.

Example

Many of the fallacies of relevance can take red herring form. An appeal to pity, for example, can be used to distract from the issue at hand:

“You may think that he cheated on the test, but look at the poor little thing! How would he feel if you made him sit it again?”

Science Bitches!  

  1. http://mentalfloss.com/article/84378/scientists-spot-rare-arabian-sand-cat-first-time-2005

  2. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/paralysed-walk-again-project-patient-breakthrough-a7185156.html

  3. http://www.dw.com/en/dangers-lurking-in-the-permafrost/a-19451646

  4. http://mediarelations.cornell.edu/2016/08/04/cornell-scientists-convert-carbon-dioxide-create-electricity/

ORLY-EP0104 - No Starbucks for Rick Scott

ORLY-EP0104 - No Starbucks for Rick Scott

Welcome to ORly Radio Show 104 for Friday April 8th, 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, Fred Sims, Stephen Griffith, and David O’Connor.

Reviews!?Errata:

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

Bernie wasn’t the only late filed registration in Washington D.C.

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Bernie-Sanders-Faces-Ballot-Trouble-in-DC-After-Registration-Snafu-374042381.html

  1. On this Day in History: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

    1. 1935 - FDR SIgns Emergency Relief Appropriation Act: hoping to lift the country out of the midst of the Great Depression, FDR authorized almost $5 million to implement work relief programs. Congress allowed the president to use the funds at his discretion. The act was unprecedented and remains the largest system of public-assistance relief programs in the nation’s history. Its programs were extremely popular, though, and contributed significantly to Roosevelt’s landslide reelection in 1936.

    2. 1974 - Hank Aaron becomes baseball’s new home run king with 715th career home run: Broke the previous mark of 714 held by Babe Ruth. Home run hit in the 4th inning of a game against the LA Dodgers. Bittersweet moment as despite being a beloved player in Atlanta his pursuit of the record was met with racist hate mail and death threats

    3. 1994 - Kurt Cobain is found dead: famed frontman of the band Nirvana found dead with fresh injection marks in his arms and a fatal wound to the head from the 20-gauge shotgun found between his knees

    4. 2005 - Olympic Park Bomber Eric Rudolph agrees to plead guilty: plead guilty to avoid the death penalty. Responsible for 1996 Olympic bombing in Atlanta. Born in Merritt Island, FL, Rudolph was also responsible for 3 other bombings motivated by his anti abortion and anti- homosexual views.

    5. 2013 - Margaret Thatcher, Britain’s first female prime minister dies: Only female prime minister of Britain, served from 1979 to 1990  as the longest serving  British PM of the 20th century

-BREAK- GSoW - PSA

Panama!

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/04/08/panama-papers-leak-law-firm/82787358/

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/panama-papers-could-add-to-outrage-in-presidential-race/ar-BBrpsQs

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/4/5/1510760/-Panama-Papers-Hillary-connection-to-Deutche-Bank

Science Bitches!

  1. http://www.iflscience.com/brain/20-cognitive-biases-which-make-you-form-bad-decisions

  2. http://www.iflscience.com/chemistry/kitchen-science-everything-you-eat-made-chemicals

  3. http://www.iflscience.com/physics/physicists-observe-new-state-matter

  4. http://www.iflscience.com/technology/triton-artificial-gills-company-refunds-all-supporters-relaunching-funding-campaign

  5. http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/ancient-viral-remnant-could-determine-whether-babies-are-male-or-female

  6. SpaceX landed on the barge!!! http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/innovation/spacex-launches-first-space-station-re-supply-accident-n553241

-BREAK- Voicemail

The Good:

  1. http://news.discovery.com/tech/gear-and-gadgets/metal-foam-armor-disintegrates-bullets-160408.htm “That’s some armor…”

  2. http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/facebooks-f8-conference-chat-bots-expected-center-stage/story?id=38253302

-BREAK- Fallacy http://www.logicalfallacies.info/relevance/appeals/appeal-to-pity/

What Evil Lurks...:

  1. http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/want-cut-government-waste-8-5-trillion-pentagon-142321339.html

  2. http://appleinsider.com/articles/16/04/08/leaked-senate-encryption-bill-called-ludicrous-dangerous-by-security-experts Security or Freedom.

  3. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-florida-abortion-idUSKCN0WR1HB Rick Scott signs anti-Planned Parenthood Bill

    1. http://gawker.com/florida-governor-rick-scott-cant-even-get-a-cup-of-coff-1769294087

    2. http://www.orlandoweekly.com/Blogs/archives/2016/04/08/new-political-ad-for-rick-scott-attacks-latte-liberal-who-yelled-at-him

  4. http://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/indiana-has-now-charged-two-asian-american-women-feticide-n332761

  5. http://www.mediaite.com/online/women-protest-indiana-abortion-law-by-calling-the-governor-about-their-periods/

Entertainment/Reviews/(Nit)Picks

Andy’s:  http://futurism.com/nasa-releases-3-million-images-earth-top-20/
Stephen’s:  http://www.celestialseasonings.com/products/black/fast-lane-caffeinated-black-tea Celestial Seasonings Fast Lane Tea
David’s:  http://www.razerzone.com/comms Voice comms for gaming.

Acknowledgements:

Music: "Rocket and Pamgaea” by Kevin MacLeod (www.incompetech.com)
PSA: Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia - GSoW https://www.facebook.com/GSoWproject