This week we start the new year with an update on the Swedish pandemic laws and recommend you check out the speech that András gave at Monterrey Skepticamp 2021. In skeptical history we celebrate the birth of Alfred Russel Wallace and Pontus pokes the Pope for ‘firing’ a Cardinal and an Archbishop. We get a Covid vaccine update and then we look at the news:
- Swedish Skeptical Awards for 2020 – Enlightener and Confounderer of the year
- Latest book by Edzard Ernst – in German
- Edzard Ernst’s challenge unanswered by homeopaths
- German pilot draws syringe on the map to remind everyone of the COVID-vaccine
- Dramatic change in opinion – 71% of Swedes say they will vaccinate against covid
We finish with a Really Wrong Award going to the New York Times for thinking the UK are going to “mix-and-match” the different covid vaccines.
Enjoy!
Segments:
Intro; Greetings; This Week; Covid Update; News; Really Wrong; Quote and Farewell; Outro; Out-takes
Events Calendar: https://theesp.eu/events_in_europe
0:00:26 INTRO
0:00:50 GREETINGS
- New pandemic laws proposed in Sweden
- András talked at Monterey Skepticamp 2021 on 2 Jan
0:10:04 THIS WEEK IN SKEPTICISM
- Alfred Russel Wallace, co-discoverer of natural selection, was born on 8 January 1823
0:17:28 PONTUS POKES THE POPE
- BYE-BYE BISHOPS
0:24:37 COVID UPDATE
- Update on vaccine rollout
- Bloomberg: https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/covid-vaccine-tracker-global-distribution/
- Snopes: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/asymptomatic-covid-patients/
- Science Based Medicine: https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/germ-theory-denial-in-the-age-of-the-covid-19-pandemic/
- Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-france/lagging-its-neighbours-france-tries-to-speed-up-covid-19-vaccinations-idUSKBN2990P3
- Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-eu-pfizer/eu-in-discussions-with-pfizer-biontech-for-additional-vaccine-doses-idUSKBN29916N
- Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-britain-int/uk-rolls-out-astrazeneca-shots-but-pm-johnson-warns-of-tough-tough-weeks-ahead-idUSKBN2990SH
- Bloomberg: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-29/spain-to-create-a-register-of-people-who-refuse-covid-19-vaccine
- Euro Weekly: https://www.euroweeklynews.com/2021/01/04/woman-in-portugal-dies-after-receiving-pfizer-vaccine/”
0:34:04 NEWS
- SWEDEN: Skeptical Awards for 2020 – Enlightener and Confounderer of the year
- GERMANY: Latest book by Edzard Ernst – in German
- INTERNATIONAL: Edzard Ernst’s challenge unanswered by homeopaths
- GERMANY: German pilot draws syringe on the map to remind everyone of the COVID-vaccine
- SWEDEN: Dramatic change in opinion – 71% of Swedes say they will vaccinate against covid
0:50:09 REALLY WRONG
- NEW YORK TIMES ARTICLE ABOUT UK VACCINE ‘MIX-AND MATCH’
0:55:57 QUOTE AND FAREWELL
“For millions of years, mankind lived just like the animals. Then something happened which unleashed the power of our imagination. We learned to talk and we learned to listen. Speech has allowed the communication of ideas, enabling human beings to work together to build the impossible. Mankind’s greatest achievements have come about by talking, and its greatest failures by not talking. It doesn’t have to be like this. Our greatest hopes could become reality in the future. With the technology at our disposal, the possibilities are unbounded. All we need to do is make sure we keep talking.”
/ Stephen Hawking (8 January 1942 – 14 March 2018), English theoretical physicist, cosmologist and author /
0:58:57 OUTRO
1:00:26 OUT-TAKES