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

ORLY-EP0109A - Workers Rights, Friday the 13th, OTC Empathy Blockers, Negative Power Bills, and more!

ORLY-EP0109A - Workers Rights, Friday the 13th, OTC Empathy Blockers, Negative Power Bills, and more!

Welcome to ORLYRADIO #109A for Friday MAY 13th, 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 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

RANT Segments & Headlines:

  1. http://www.snopes.com/2016/05/12/poultry-workers-diapers-oxfam/

  2. OSHA: Occupational Safety and Health Administration https://www.osha.gov/ Part of the Department of Labor and was founded by the Nixion Administration April 28th, 1971

    1. https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/poultryprocessing/ “Employers must also comply with OSHA’s sanitation standard 29 CFR 1910.141, that requires that toilet facilities must be made readily available and that employees are able to use toilet facilities when needed.”

  3. NIOSH: The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health www.cdc.gov/niosh Part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under the Department of Health and Human Services, formed Dec 29th, 1970.

  4. How do I find out about employer responsibilities and workers' rights?

    1. Workers have a right to a safe workplace. The law requires employers to provide their employees with safe and healthful workplaces. The OSHA law also prohibits employers from retaliating against employees for exercising their rights under the law (including the right to raise a health and safety concern or report an injury). For more information see www.whistleblowers.gov or Workers' rights under the OSH Act.

    2. OSHA can help answer questions or concerns from employers and workers. To reach your regional or area OSHA office, go to the OSHA Offices by State webpage or call 1-800-321-OSHA (6742).

    3. Small businesses may contact OSHA's free On-site Consultation services funded by OSHA to help determine whether there are hazards at their worksites. To contact free consultation services, go to OSHA's On-site Consultation webpage or call 1-800-321-OSHA (6742) and press number 4.

    4. Workers may file a complaint to have OSHA inspect their workplace if they believe that their employer is not following OSHA standards or that there are serious hazards. Workers can file a complaint with OSHA by calling 1-800-321-OSHA (6742), online via eComplaint Form, or by printing the complaint form and mailing or faxing it to the local OSHA area office. Complaints that are signed by a worker are more likely to result in an inspection.

    5. If you think your job is unsafe or if you have questions, contact OSHA at 1-800-321-OSHA (6742). Your contact will be kept confidential. We can help. For other valuable worker protection information, such as Workers' Rights, Employer Responsibilities, and other services OSHA offers, visit OSHA's Workers' page.

This Friday the 13th in History:

Sources: http://www.historynet.com/today-in-history http://news.discovery.com/human/psychology/friday-13-events-120713.htm

  1. Nov. 13, 1789 - Benjamin Franklin wrote "Everything appears to promise that it will last; but in this world nothing is certain but death and taxes," according to U.S. government documents.

  2. Sept. 13, 1940 – Five German bombs hit Buckingham Palace and destroyed the Palace Chapel, as part of Hitler's strategic "Blitz" bombing campaign, according to reports from U.K. newspaper The Guardian.

  3. June 13, 1952 – A Swedish military DC-3 plane carrying a crew of eight disappeared over international water in the Baltic Sea. This became known as the "Catalina affair" because one of two Catalina rescue planes sent to search for the plane was attacked by Soviet forces. In 1991, the Soviet air force admitted that it had shot down the DC-3 as well, according to the BBC.

  4. July 13, 1956 – The United States and Britain turned down Indian and Yugoslavian pleas to stop atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons, according to The New York Times.

  5. Nov. 13, 1970 – A huge South Asian storm killed an estimated 300,000 people in Chittagong, Bangladesh, and created floods that killed as many as 1 million in the Ganges delta.

  6. Jan. 13, 1989 – The "Friday the 13th virus" infected hundreds of IBM computers across Great Britain, wiping out program files and causing considerable anxiety at a time when large-scale computer viruses were a relatively new threat.

  7. Oct. 13, 1989 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average underwent the second largest drop it had ever experienced at that time. Nicknamed the Friday-the-13th mini-crash, the Dow dropped 190.58 points that day. Today, that drop doesn't even make the top 10 list of largest drops.

  8. Aug. 13, 1999 – The day would have been Alfred Hitchcock's 100th birthday.

-BREAK- Logical Fallacy

http://www.logicalfallacies.info/relevance/appeals/appeal-to-consequences/  

Appeal to Consequences

Explanation
An appeal to consequences is an attempt to motivate belief with an appeal either to the good consequences of believing or the bad consequences of disbelieving. This may or may not involve an appeal to force. Such arguments are clearly fallacious. There is no guarantee, or even likelihood, that the world is the way that it is best for us for it to be. Belief that the world is the way that it is best for us for it to be, absent other evidence, is therefore just as likely to be false as true.
Pascal’s Wager Foundation Example
Appeal to Good Consequences:
(1) If believe in God then you’ll find a kind of fulfilment in life that you’ve never felt before.
Therefore:
(2) God exists.
Appeal to Bad Consequences:
(1’) If you don’t believe in God then you’ll be miserable, thinking that life doesn’t have any meaning.
Therefore:
(2) God exists.
Both of these arguments are fallacious because they provide no evidence for their conclusions; all they do is appeal to the consequences of belief in God. In the case of the first argument, the positive consequences of belief in God are cited as evidence that God exists. In the case of the second argument, the negative consequences of disbelief in God are cited as evidence that God exists. Neither argument, though, provides any evidence for Santa’s existence. The consequences of a belief are rarely a good guide to its truth. Both arguments are therefore fallacious.
Real-World Examples
Each of the arguments above features in real-world discussions of God’s existence. In fact, they have been developed into an argument called Pascal’s Wager, which openly advocates belief in God based on its good consequences, rather than on evidence that it is true.
Another example occurs in the film The Matrix. There Neo is asked whether he believes in fate; he says that he doesn’t. He is then asked why, and replies, “I don’t like the thought that I’m not in control.” This is not an appeal to evidence, but to the unpleasantness of believing in fate: Fate would imply that the world is a way that I don’t want it to be, therefore there is no such thing..

-BREAK- Voicemail

Science Bitches!

  1. I don’t know if it’s time to stop taking Tylenol, but it’s definitely worth thinking about; strange new side effects discovered about this popular painkiller - https://news.osu.edu/news/2016/05/10/empathy-reliever/

  2. Increasingly deadly wildfires definitely affected by… all together now… global warming!: who could have possibly guessed that longer, hotter summer seasons lead to drier forests and worse fires? - http://www.rdmag.com/news/2016/05/its-not-just-alberta-warming-fueled-fires-are-increasing-1

  3. But it’s not ALL bad news. Germany has jumped on the green train so hard that power cost the country NOTHING for a few hours on Sunday: anyone who tries to tell you that renewable energy just isn’t reliable enough for large scale power grids is LYING to you - http://qz.com/680661/germany-had-so-much-renewable-energy-on-sunday-that-it-had-to-pay-people-to-use-electricity/
    http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jul/10/denmark-wind-windfarm-power-exceed-electricity-demand  

  4. Who says you can’t predict the outcome of a horse race? “Not us!” says swarm intelligence: Tech company Unanimous used a new AI to win a 540 to 1 odds Superfecta bet for the Kentucky Derby - http://www.hngn.com/articles/199167/20160511/ai-uses-swarm-intelligence-correctly-predict-winners-kentucky-derby.htm

  5. NASA Patent Vault open to the public!: We should ALL be excited about the wave of invention and innovation this windfall could bring - http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/Science-Notebook/2016/0509/Technology-transfer-NASA-opens-vault-of-space-age-patents

ORLY-EP0103 - April Fools 1924 Flashback

ORLYRadio Show 103 - April Fools 1924 Flashback

Welcome to ORLYRadio Show 103 for April 1st, 1924  - 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, Michael Robinson, David O'Connor, and Stephen Griffith.

Reviews!?Errata: 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

RANT Segments & Headlines:

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

The Good:

  1. http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/fire/history/ Cincinnati starts nations first time paid fire department.

-BREAK- Fallacy
Appeal to Antiquity / Tradition
http://www.logicalfallacies.info/relevance/appeals/appeal-to-tradition/

 

The FUTURE:

  1. NC, GA, Kansas and Mississippi all are in a race to outlaw women's sovereignty first and return to the more puritanical ways of the old world before the enlightenment.

  2. Trump Abortion comment and general horribleness

Entertainment/Reviews/(Nit)Picks

Andy’s: Amazon Echo Dot
David’s: http://www.amazon.com/Dapper-Dan-Deluxe-Pomade-Medium/dp/B00O5IQWRS/ref=sr_1_1_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1459560345&sr=8-1&keywords=dapper+dan

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

 

ORly Radio Show 77 - Christian Privilege

ORly Radio Show 77 - Christian Privilege

Welcome to ORly Radio Show 77 for Friday September 11th, 2015 - 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 Michael and an unusual suspect Ophelia Falls.

You can find Ophelia here: http://opheliainthedark.tumblr.com/
Michael is over here: http://fathergrigorivonklaussen.tumblr.com/

Errata From Last Week: 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  

RANT Segments & Headlines:

-BREAK- GSoW - PSA

The Good:

  1. Rick Perry drops out, but with a warning for the GOP RNC. "First, the answer to a president nominated for soaring rhetoric and no record is not to nominate a candidate whose rhetoric speaks louder than his record," Perry's prepared remarks said, warning conservatives against "falling for the cult of personality."Perry continued, "My second warning is this: we cannot indulge nativist appeals that divide the nation further. The answer to our current divider-in-chief is not to elect a Republican divider-in-chief." http://www.cbsnews.com/news/rick-perry-drops-out-of-2016-presidential-race/

Carolina Secular Conference Promo
http://www.carolinassecularassociation.org/product/2015-carolinas-secular-conference-tickets/

The Bad:

  1. KENTUCKY: Heavily Armed “Christian Patriot” Militia Vows To Stop Future Arrests Of Kim Davis [AUDIO] Oath Keepers http://www.joemygod.com/2015/09/10/kentucky-heavily-armed-christian-patriot-militia-vows-to-stop-future-arrests-of-kim-davis-audio/

  2. http://www.rawstory.com/2015/09/kim-davis-supporters-gather-outside-judges-home-to-hold-him-in-contempt-of-gods-court/

-BREAK- Fallacy https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/special-pleading

-BREAK- Voicemail

The Ugly:

  1. Refugee Ceiling. The Refugee crisis and why america only takes in 1,500 (for this crisis) while Germany has taken in over 800,000. The US claims that is helps enough with military relief efforts and aid dollars of around $4Billion.

  2. https://www.facebook.com/HuffingtonPost/videos/10153347280451130/

  3. http://www.rcusa.org/refugee-admission-levels

Entertainment/Reviews/(Nit)Picks

Andy’s:  Crown Royal Regal Apple - SO GOOD and Beer Pick - Due South Cafe Ole Espresso Porter
Mike’s:  Surge Cola is back.
Ophelia’s:  Also Surge.

Acknowledgements:

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

PSA: Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia - GSoW https://www.facebook.com/GSoWproject