ORLY-EP0115 - Assault (on) Weapons

ORLY-EP0115 - Assault (on) Weapons

The Buzzfeed Video Below was played at hour 1:13:30 of the show, it had to be clipped out due to copyright. I damn well want you to see it so here it is. Thank you, Eugene Lee Yang.

Welcome to ORLYRADIO #115 recorded Friday JUNE 24th, 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

https://www.buzzfeed.com/eugeneyang/stop-mass-shootings
http://orlyradio.com/orly-radio-podcast/2014/6/14/orly-radio-show-10-gun-special

And some BREXIT:
http://www.economist.com/blogs/bagehot/2016/06/prime-minister-resigns 
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/06/24/world/europe/how-britain-voted-brexit-referendum.html

Acknowledgements:

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

 

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-EP0112A - The End of the World, Again

ORLY-EP0112A - The End of the World, Again

Welcome to ORLYRADIO #112A for Friday JUNE 3rd, 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.

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. It is once again, the end of days. http://www.indiatimes.com/news/weird/scholars-release-the-latest-date-for-apocalypse-june-3-4-2016_-255927.html

This Week in History:

Sources: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/u-s-president-woodrow-wilson-signs-national-defense-act

  1. http://www.ydr.com/story/opinion/readers/2016/06/03/time-reinterpret-2nd-amendment-column/85345044/

  2. I ran across an op ed piece for a small online paper, the York Daily Review, today during my internetting. The opinion presented in this piece was that of Lawrence Goldman of the York Township. He is of the opinion that it is time to reinterpret the 2nd Amendment. I’m not going to get into a 2nd Amendment conversation here because that can lend itself to an entire show. I just found it interesting that today, June 3rd 2016, I happened to read this article. Interesting because it ties into an argument conservatives and the NRA love to spout regarding “they’ll take your guns”, more so interesting because today’s history shows exactly how something like taking “your” guns would look. Without getting into a giant conversation regarding the 2nd Amendment, I think it is important to at least gloss over the main point of the always controversial amendment: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." Still not trying to engage any real 2nd Amendment conversation I believe this logically lends itself to individuals with training and for the purposes of militia or military use should have guns. Dodging the bullet that is dissecting that conversation any further I will bring about today’s bit of history. June 3rd, 1916 and the signing of the National Defense Act by then president Woodrow Wilson. The National Defense Act’s main purpose was to expand the size and the scope of the National Guard, which was the network of states’ militias that had been developing steadily since colonial times—and guaranteed its status as the nation’s permanent reserve force. For anyone who missed the significance of that statement, the President of the United States essentially conscripted state run and regulated militias and turned them into a federally regulated feeder unit for the armed forces. The National Defense Act also set qualifications for National Guard officers, allowing them to attend Army schools; all National Guard units would now be organized according to the standards of regular Army units. For the first time, National Guardsmen would receive payment from the federal government not only for their annual training—which was increased from 5 to 15 days—but also for their drills, which were also increased, from 24 per year to 48. Finally, the National Defense Act formally established the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) to train and prepare high school and college students for Army service. And while I will concede that this act is not an example of taking the guns out of the hands of the people, this is the type of step a government intent on “taking your guns” would implement. And while I’ve got you thinking about the novelty of an idea like our government disarming the people I think it is time for a Logical Fallacy...

-BREAK- Logical Fallacy

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

Appeal to Novelty

Explanation
An appeal to novelty is the opposite of an appeal to antiquity. Appeals to novelty assume that the newness of an idea is evidence of its truth. They are thus related to the bandwagon fallacy.
That an idea is new certainly doesn’t entail that it is true. Many recent ideas have no merit whatsoever, as history has shown; every idea, including those that we now reject as absurd beyond belief, were new at one time. Some ideas that are new now will surely go the same way.
Examples
(1) String theory is the most recent development in physics.
Therefore:
(2) String theory is true.
(1) Religion is old-fashioned; atheism is a much more recent development.
Therefore:
(2) Atheism is true.
Each of these arguments commits the appeal to novelty fallacy. The former takes the newness of string theory to be evidence that string theory is true; the latter takes the newness of atheism to be evidence that atheism is true. Merely being a new idea, of course, is no guarantee of truth. The newness of string theory and atheism alone, then, should not be taken to be evidence of the truth of these two positions.

-BREAK- Voicemail

Science Bitches!  

  1. http://gizmodo.com/this-bizarre-gunshot-plugging-device-just-saved-its-fir-1779606992

  2. http://futurism.com/brain-dead-brought-back-life-thanks-new-biotech-experiments/

  3. http://physicsbuzz.physicscentral.com/2016/06/new-terahertz-imaging-technique-reveals.html

ORLY-EP0110A - Interview with the creators of The First Adventures on Earth with Adam And Steve

ORLY-EP0110A - The First Adventures on Earth With Adam and Steve

Welcome to ORLYRADIO #110A for Friday MAY 20th, 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, Michael Robinson, Fred Sims, Daniel Atherton and Special guests, Todd A. Davis and Caitlyn Guettler!

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

Guests:  

  1. http://highburn.com/adamsteve1.asp
    Todd’s Twitter @MrToddADavis

It Happened in History:

Sources: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/lincoln-signs-homestead-act

  1. May 20, 1862 - President Lincoln signs Homestead Act. Just a scant 150 years ago the Republican party would be as unrecognizable to conservatives today as the current party would be to those in Reagan’s time. Republican President Abraham Lincoln used the succession of the Southern states to push the Homestead Act through to law. The act itself was designed to help get lands west of the Mississippi into the hands of productive farmers. This act allowed an adult over the age of 21 - male or female - to claim up to 160 acres of land from the public domain. In order to make this claim the homesteader would have to cultivate the land, build a house or barn on the land, and live on the claim for 5 years at which time they could purchase the land for $10 (additional reports also state that the purchase price was $18). As an alternative to the 5 year plan homesteaders were offered the ability to purchase the land after 6 months at only $1.25 an acre. How did the civil war play into making the Homestead Act a reality? That’s a good question I just asked myself. Similar bills were attempted by the Republican party in 1852, 1854, 1859 but struck down each time due to interests of slave states too invested in the business of slavery to allow the west to settled by small farming families who would eventually be admitted to the union as free states. Democratic president James Buchanan vetoed the 1859 bill attempt succumbing to pressures from the southern slave-holding interests. When the southern states left the union, President Lincoln used that opportunity to get the act passed. The first Homestead Act claim was filed by a civil war veteran and doctor named Daniel Freeman on January 1, 1863. Although the act was officially repealed by Congress in 1976, one last title for 80 acres in Alaska was given to Kenneth Deardorff in 1979.

-BREAK- Logical Fallacy

http://www.logicalfallacies.info/presumption/arguing-from-ignorance/

Arguing from Ignorance

Explanation
Arguments from ignorance infer that a proposition is true from the fact that it is not known to be false. Not all arguments of this form are fallacious; if it is known that if the proposition were not true then it would have been disproven, then a valid argument from ignorance may be constructed. In other cases, though, arguments from ignorance are fallacious.
Example
(1) No one has been able to disprove the existence of God.
Therefore:
(2) God exists.
This argument is fallacious because the non-existence of God is perfectly consistent with no one having been able to prove God’s non-existence..

Science Bitches! Approx 30 minutes

  1. Google is already aiming at the Next Big Thing in computing - Artificial Intelligence:
    http://thenextweb.com/dd/2016/05/12/google-just-open-sourced-something-called-parsey-mcparseface-change-ai-forever/
    http://www.theverge.com/2016/5/19/11706274/walt-mossberg-google-home-artificial-intelligence-chatbot-io-2016

  2. And now for some successes in Medicine:
    http://theintellectualist.co/gene-therapy-has-officially-cured-its-first-disease-colloquially-known-as-bubble-boy-disease/
    http://www.popsci.com/macromolecule-developed-by-ibm-could-fight-multiple-viruses-at-once

  3. Good news, everyone! Science still works and scientists know what they’re talking about:
    http://www.iflscience.com/environment/april-smashed-temperature-records-putting-2016-track-hottest-year
    http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2016/05/17/gmos-safe-academies-of-science-report-genetically-modified-food/84458872/
    http://www.iflscience.com/portugal-powered-four-days-straight-entirely-renewable-energy

And finally, the reason I bring this all up - educate yourselves; not just on science, but history, as well. So much absolute garbage is out there about whether or not we can trust science, we as a culture have forgotten that the people that are telling you that global warming is fake or vaccines are evil have a vested interest in their argument, and a very simple one at that; It makes them money. How is it that we can decry the evils of Wal-Mart, McDonalds and their ilk in one moment and preach as gospel the message of corporate paid shills in the next?
I want to introduce you all to someone - those of you who watched Cosmos may be familiar with the man - Clair Cameron Patterson:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clair_Cameron_Patterson
We all know today that lead is bad. It’s toxic, in ANY amount, and we as a culture freak out whenever we find it in anything. We take it for granted that we won’t find this particular poison in our paint or children’s toys or our gasoline; but this was not the case a mere forty years ago. Starting in 1965, Patterson fought the lobbying power of huge corporations with a vested interest in selling lead to the public, and thanks to public ignorance he didn’t win that fight for twenty years. Then, as now, people whose profit margins are threatened by science paid massive amounts of money to confuse the issues. Then, just as now, they are still wrong, scientifically, ethically, and morally. They are LYING TO YOU to line your pockets. Stop believing them - EDUCATE YOURSELVES - and we won’t have to wait twenty years for a science victory this time; we can put a brake on climate change NOW, stop poisoning our environment with fossil fuels NOW, and feed millions more than before with genetically modified foods NOW.
The rich old men in charge of fighting progress don’t care about the harm they’re doing to our planet’s future; they’ll be dead. You and your children and your children’s children DO have to live in that future. Make it a good one; side with science.

Stay tuned for the second half.