In this episode we note that skeptics in Germany has raised a lot of money to support victims of the floods. Formidable Dutch skeptic Frits van Dam passed away on 26 July and we want to honor his memory. Listener Marcel-Jan has written a great blog post about his experience with growing up in a woo-family and eventually finding skepticism, and then we get a Polish lesson from listener Max. In This Week we hear about Carl Jung, and then we dig into the news:

• Emerging fake news regarding catastrophic floods:
  • Querdenker fake ”official” car in flood area
  • Greta Thunberg sticker on flooded car
• Climate change scientists call for better computers to work on forecasts
• Galileo project to look for UFOs
• Vaccine passport rules approved in France despite protests
• Chiropractor found professionally liable for harming patient with bogus therapy
• Follow-up: Doctor who sold fake covid test results gets prison sentence
• New info on the Spanish skeptical congress

We have a double whammy and a bonus for the Really Wrong segment: First for rasist health care in Sweden and then Eric Clapton and Nena demonstrate why artists should never voice their view on covid restrictions.

Enjoy!

The Events Calendar: https://theesp.eu/events_in_europe

0:00:26 INTRO

0:00:54 GREETINGS

• Over €50 000 collected for flood victims
  • Better Place: https://www.betterplace.org/de/fundraising-events/38437-wir-pumpen-ab-die-wildmics-hochwasserhilfe
• Dutch skeptic Frits van Dam passed away: June 20, 1940 – July 26, 2021
  • VTDK: https://www.kwakzalverij.nl/nieuws/bestuurslid-frits-van-dam-overleden-20-juni-1940-26-juli-2021
• Mail from Marcel-Jan: “Growing up, the story of how I became a skeptic”
  • Marcel-jan.eu: https://marcel-jan.eu/datablog/2021/07/21/growing-up-the-story-of-how-i-became-a-skeptic/
• File from listener Max on how to pronuounce the university of Poznan
  • theESP: https://theesp.eu/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/University-Poznan.wav

0:13:15 THIS WEEK IN SKEPTICISM

• Carl Jung was born on 26 July 1875
  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Jung

0:19:17 NEWS

• GERMANY: Emerging fake news regarding catastrophic floods:
• – Querdenker fake ”official” car in flood area
  • Stimme: https://www.stimme.de/deutschland-welt/politik/dw/polizei-hat-querdenker-im-katastrophengebiet-im-blick;art295,4511791
• – Greta Thunberg sticker on flooded car
  • Snopes: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/greta-sticker-on-flooded-car/
• CLIMATE CHANGE: Climate change scientists call for better computers to work on forecasts
  • BBC: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-57863205
  • the Conversation: https://theconversation.com/report-from-europes-flood-zone-researcher-calls-out-early-warning-system-gridlock-amid-shocking-loss-of-life-164648
  • the Conversation: https://theconversation.com/europes-catastrophic-flooding-was-forecast-well-in-advance-what-went-so-wrong-164818
• INTERNATIONAL: Galileo project to look for UFOs
  • AFP / Omni: https://afp.omni.se/astronomers-seek-evidence-of-tech-built-by-aliens/a/zrjvdK
• FRANCE: Vaccine passport rules approved in France despite protests
  • AFP / Omni: https://afp.omni.se/french-parliament-adopts-vaccine-passports-law-despite-protests/a/ppjgPW
• ITALY: Chiropractor found professionally liable for harming patient with bogus therapy
  • PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34247203/
• SWEDEN: Follow-up: Doctor who sold fake covid test results gets prison sentence
  • DN.se: https://www.dn.se/sverige/lakare-doms-till-fangelse-for-att-ha-utfardat-falska-covidtest/
• SPAIN: New info on the Spanish skeptical congress
  • ARP-SAPC: https://www.escepticos.es/congreso2021

0:41:37 REALLY WRONG

• REALLY WRONG 1: Clinics allow patients to choose physicians based on ethnicity
  • DN.se: https://www.dn.se/sverige/regioner-gar-emot-egna-riktlinjer-later-patienter-valja-etniskt-svenska-lakare/
• REALLY WRONG 2: Eric Clapton refuses to “discriminate” antivaxxers
  • the Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/jul/22/eric-clapton-refuses-to-play-venues-require-proof-of-vaccination-covid
• Dishonorable mention: Nena asks audience to break covid restrictions
  • FAZ: https://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/pop/nena-verletzt-corona-regeln-konzert-abgebrochen-17454856.html

0:50:04 QUOTE AND FAREWELL

“If we are uncritical we shall always find what we want: we shall look for, and find, confirmations, and we shall look away from, and not see, whatever might be dangerous to our pet theories. In this way it is only too easy to obtain what appears to be overwhelming evidence in favor of a theory which, if approached critically, would have been refuted.”
/ Karl Raimund Popper (28 July 1902 – 17 September 1994), Austrian-British philosopher, academic and social commentator. /

0:52:44 OUTRO

0:53:58 OUT-TAKES