This week:
- Sandy Hook Truthers,
- De-extinction,
- Earth Bursts a Gama-ray,
- The Doh! Of Doha, and
- Lance Armstrong and professional doping
Download the episode here!
Sandy Hook Truthers
No, they add up…if you’re not a nutter!
Don discusses the emergence of the Sandy Hook Truther ‘movement’; those people who think that the Sandy Hook massacre was either faked or carried out as part of some Obama master plan to steal everyone guns so as to set himself up as some kinda communist-fascist dictator.
We briefly examine the claims and discuss the root cause of this outlandish idea.
Find out more:
- Sandy Hook Truthers
- Sandy Hook Conspiracy Theories Edge Toward The Mainstream
- Why We Can’t Ignore the Sandy Hook Truthers
- Behind the ‘Sandy Hook Truther’ Conspiracy Video That Eight Million People Have Watched in OneWeek
- Newtown truthers: Where conspiracy theories come from
- Your comprehensive answer to every Sandy Hook conspiracy theory
De-extinction
There have been an umber of ‘science’ article reporting about one scientist hunt to find a woman willing to be a surrogate to a Neanderthal clone. We check out the science and the reality of what scientist George Church really said.
Find out more:
- Harvard scientist seeks ‘adventurous female’ to give birth to cloned Neanderthal
- Interview with George Church: Can Neanderthals Be Brought Back from the Dead?
Earth Bursts a Gama-ray
Ethan explains how we know the earth was hit by a gamma ray burst 1700 years ago and why it was not the end of all life on earth, unlike what some scientists have claimed.
Find out more:
The Doh! Of Doha
One of the under reported stories of 2012 was the Doha Climate Change Conference. Don reviews the outcome of the Kyoto Protocols which officially ended last year. We also discuss the future of climate change diplomacy.
Find out more:
- Outcome of the work of the Ad Hoc Working Group
- Emissions Gap Report
- U.S. cut its carbon emissions in 2011 — but China erased the gains
- EU-15 on target for Kyoto, despite mixed performances
- Framework Convention on Climate Change
- Carbon Web
- World carbon dioxide emissions data by country: China speeds ahead of the rest
- DATA: download the full spreadsheet, 1980 to 2009, (with ISO codes)
- United Nations Climate Change Conference
- Doha Climate Summit Ends, Did They Manage to Save the World? Here’s What You Need to Know
Lance Armstrong and professional doping
Ethan give a summary of the “Lance Armstrong Scandal” and the state of doping in sports. Then we have a spirited debate about the ethics of doping and the implications it has to both amateur sport and to “sport-u-tainment”
Find out more:
- Lance Armstrong’s confession leaves those he attacked with mixed feelings
- Lance Armstrong – History of allegations of doping
- Lance Armstrong faces multi-million dollar legal challenges after confession
- Lance Armstrong’s unmoving confession
- Drug cheating at the Olympics
- Run, Swim, Throw, Cheat
Skeptical Highlights:
Arab Awakening, but are we hearing the truth?
Veteran Middle East journalist Robert Fisk has “seen it all” in his 30+ years of international journalism. Yet perhaps nothing could compare to the upheavals in the Middle East which began in 2011 – what some have termed the “Arab Spring.” Join Fisk as he talks about his reporting from the epicentre of the tensions with his honest and insightful perspective.
When: Saturday, Feb 02, 7:00 PM PST
Where: Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, Vancouver
Cost: Tix $15 or $10 for students
Demography of the Seven Billion
Where is the world population heading – what happens when we get there? The world’s population is expected to peak at 9 to 10 billion and then slowly decline. There are multiple questions associated with this march toward population stability: how do we know it will happen, what is its timing and regional variation, how much older will the world’s population get, and what are the implications of this stability for world environmental change?
When: Thursday, JAN 24, 7pm
Where: Fletcher Challenge Canada, SFU Harbour Center, Vancouver
Cost: Free
Presented by Dr. Warren C. Sanderson, Professor of Economics, Stony Brook University, New York
