Show Notes – Christmas without Hitchens Edition #146
Posted by Don McLenaghen on December 20, 2011
The week, Don and Jenna tackle issues Holiday themed show with some virtual help from Ethan who was experiencing an out-of-studio phenomena.
Show banter on the loss of Christopher Hitchens, Kim Jong Il and the dangers of raw cookie dough.
Jenna illumined us on studies flawed and funny focused on the holiday season. One story about how our sensitivity of smells change with the seasons; that some scents are more closely associate with Christmas than others (to find out which listen to the show now). This seems to be a lesson on how not to do research.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195666309005479
We also discussed a ‘article’ that purports to explain how Xmas is result of hormonal variations over the year…a nice laugh for the holiday season.
Ethan reported from out temporally asynchronous studios about the dangers of celebrity Montreal Canadians Goalie Carry Price endorsement of homeopathy.
Lastly, returning to the current timeline, Don does a “reality check” on aspects of Christmas, such as the ‘reason for the season’, christmas trees, St. Nick and the nativity scene.
 Evolution of Santa |
 First Xmas Card |
 Nativity Scene |
Skeptic Highlights:
Canadian Cochrane Centre
Institution that compiles systematic reviews produced using a specific protocols to evaluate and integrate knowledge about health care practices in Canada. Kind of a follow up to last week’s discussion on too much data, the same thing is found in the thousands of case studies published every year. This initiative, funded by the Canadian Institute for Health Research aims to pull meaning from the madness.
Skeptics in the Pub
This week the bar hopping skeptics will be gathering twice. First, tonight @ 7:30 at the Rail Way club downtown at Dunsmuir and Seymour.
They will also be out for some skeptic cheer in Richmond on Thursday @ 7:30 at Legends Pub a block east of #3 road and Cook road.
Check them out, good food, good drink and better company than at a Catholic Mass.
