Episode #002, feat. Catherine de Jong

Interview with the Chair of the Dutch Association Against Quackery and board member of the European Council of Skeptical Organisations (ECSO)
 
Segments:
Intro; Listener feedback; On this day; What’s new in Europe?; Interview with Catherine de Jong; FAQ to Skeptics; Logical Fallacies; Really Wrong; True or False; Quote
 
Show notes and segment details:
00:00:00
INTRO music

00:00:30
Introduction and greetings

00:00:56
Listener feedback

00:05:28
Overview of the podcast

00:06:54
On This Day – Born on 2nd Dec: German-American molecular biologist and HIV/AIDS denialist, Peter H. Duesberg

• Peter Duesberg on Wikipedia
• Stefan Lanka and his way of denialism regarding Measles on Wikipedia

00:12:21
What’s new in Europe?

1. The status of Scientology in the Netherlands and elsewhere
   • NL Times: Hague Court deals blow to Scientology tax-free status
   • Scientology status by country on Wikipedia
2. John Maddox Prize awarded to Prof. Susan Jebb and Prof. Edzard Ernst
   • >About the John Maddox Prize on Sense About Science’s website
3. Hungarian Academy of Sciences endorses the idea of homeopathic remedies to be tested as rigorously before getting onto the market as real drugs are (follow-up on a similar statement from the Royal Sweedish Academy of Sciences earlier this year).
   • Press release by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (in Hungarian)
   • >Statement by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences: New Academy statement on homeopathic products
   • NHMRC Statement (Australia): Statement on Homeopathy (pdf)
4. British government to re-consider putting homeopathic remedies on a “blacklist” remedies by the NHS
   • The Guardian: The Guardian view on homeopathy: the NHS shouldn’t pay
   • The Guardian: Homeopathy on prescription could be banned from NHS
   • BBC: ‘Homeopathy could be blacklisted’
   • Steve Novella on Neurologica blog: Homeopathy on the Ropes 

00:29:02
Interview with Catherine de Jong, chair of VtdK and board member of ECSO

• European Council of Skeptical Organisations (ECSO) official website
• ECSO on Wikipedia
• Catherine de Jong on Wikipedia
• Vereniging tegen de Kwakzalverij (Dutch Association Against Quackery) on Wikipedia 

00:48:32
FAQ to Skeptics: “Skepticism is nothing else but a belief system”

00:50:42
Logical Fallacies: Hasty Generalization

• About hasty generalization on Wikipedia
• About hasty generalization on “Logically Fallacious by Bo Bennett 

00:52:38
Really Wrong: Dr Batra’s Positive Health Clinic opens its first homeopathic store in the UK with no evidence for their claims.

• Edzard Ernst: Homeopathic chain opens 1^st clinic in London … by publishing bogus claims
• UK Advertising Standards Authority: ASA Ruling on Dr Batras? Positive Health Clinic (UK) Ltd

00:57:20
True or False

1. New scientist reports: you can Store data in your body without cyborg modification
   • New Scientist: Store data in your body without cyborg modification
2. Singapore megachurch leaders sentenced to jail for pop music fraud
   • Reuters: Singapore megachurch leaders sentenced to jail for pop music fraud
3. Scientists may have accidentally found a potential cure for cancer … using malaria
   • Medical Daily: Is The Malaria Parasite The Cancer Cure We’ve Been Looking For? Accidental Discovery Displays Remarkable Results

01:04:58
Quote
“The problem, often not discovered until late in life, is that when you look for things in life like love, meaning, motivation, it implies they are sitting behind a tree or under a rock. The most successful people in life recognize, that in life they create their own love, they manufacture their own meaning, they generate their own motivation. For me, I am driven by two main philosophies, know more today about the world than I knew yesterday. And lessen the suffering of others. You’d be surprised how far that gets you.”
/Neil deGrasse Tyson/
01:06:30
Outro
01:08:20
Out-takes