TheESP – Ep. #216 – Look WHO’s talking

This week an old friend of ours Brian Eggo from Glasgow Skeptics joins us to bring you a show packed with news, thoughts and curiousities.
We talk about how Skeptics in the Pub events are going online, that one time Rupert Sheldrake got stabbed and how Pope Francis has nothing to offer to help with the pandemic.
After the usual COVID-19 update we talk about how Sweden takes a different approach to the disease than most, why the Royal Astrologer should not be trusted, and how a German consumer reported homeopaths for offering sugar pills to avoid infection.
We also talk about Massimo Polidoro’s new video series, “OK Scienza”, Britt Marie Hermes’ law suit and the Skeptics Legal Defence initiative by the Australian Skeptics Inc. We mention how French skeptics at AFiS respond to a fake treatment Trump and Bolsonaro both promote, Fullfact brings you a list of guidelines to fact-checking and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences translates the mythbusting site of WHO.
Unfortunately, the WHO also gets the prize for being Really Wrong for removing the advice not to use Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) against Covid-19.

Enjoy!

Segments:
Intro; Greetings; This Week in Skepticism; Pontus Pokes the Pope; News; Really Wrong; Quote and Farewell; Outro; Out-takes

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

0:00:27 INTRO

0:00:50 GREETINGS

Skeptics Legal Defense Fund

• • https://skepticslegaldefense.org

0:10:13 THIS WEEK IN SKEPTICISM
Rupert Sheldrake was stabbed in the thigh after a lecture on April 2, 2008.

• • Wikipedia: Rupert Sheldrake
  • BoingBoing: https://boingboing.net/2008/04/09/biologist-rupert-she.html
  • Scientific American: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/scientific-heretic-rupert-sheldrake-on-morphic-fields-psychic-dogs-and-other-mysteries/

0:21:21 PONTUS POKES THE POPE
Don’t Worry. If you die from COVID19, you are forgiven…

• • https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8125507/The-Pope-says-asked-God-stop-coronavirus-epidemic.html
  • https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2020-03/church-grants-special-indulgence-coronavirus-patients.html
  • https://afp.omni.se/church-forgives-sins-of-those-stricken-by-virus/a/jdA68L

0:27:06 NEWS

1. INTERNATIONAL: COVID-19 update
   • COVID-19 tracker: https://vac-lshtm.shinyapps.io/ncov_tracker/
   • Wordometers COVID-19 page: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
   • SBM explanation of news: https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/more-covid-19-news/
   • The Conversation UK on best measures: https://theconversation.com/stopping-coronavirus-what-does-the-evidence-say-are-the-best-measures-133825
   • The EPHA’s take on risks: https://epha.org/coronavirus-threat-greater-for-polluted-cities/
   • FactCheck on CR7 allegedly turning his hotels into hospitals: https://factcheck.afp.com/hoax-report-circulates-cristiano-ronaldo-will-convert-his-hotels-coronavirus-hospitals
   • Snopes.com on COVID-19 and Nostradamus: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/nostradamus-covid-19/
   • Vaccine Impact (a popular site spreading antivax nonsense) on ozone-treatment: https://vaccineimpact.com/2020/ozone-treatment-a-real-remedy-for-the-coronavirus-panic/
   • Snope.com on hot air vs SARS-Cov-2: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/hair-dryer-coronavirus/
2. UK: PSA imposes strict conditions on Society of Homeopaths after judicial review requested by the Good Thinking Society:
   • https://goodthinkingsociety.org/good-thinkings-judicial-review-concluded-with-strict-conditions-placed-on-the-society-of-homeopaths/
3. INTERNATIONAL: Homeopathy for everyone – against COVID-19?
   • https://hpathy.com/editorials/editorial-march-2020/
4. UK: The Good Magic Awards
   • https://goodthinkingsociety.org/projects/the-good-magic-awards
   • Hocus Pocus: https://hocuspocuscomic.squarespace.com
5. UK/SPAIN: Science-me a story
   • https://sruk.org.uk/es/iniciativas/comunicacion-y-divulgacion-cientifica/science-me-a-story/
6. INTERNATIONAL: The global fight against disinformation
   • https://theconversation.com/the-battle-against-disinformation-is-global-129212
   • https://theconversation.com/busting-russias-fake-news-the-european-union-way-93712
   • https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/STATEMENT_19_2570
7. INTERNATIONAL: Snopes and the need for fact-checking in the times of crisis
   • https://www.snopes.com/2020/03/20/snopes-on-covid-19-fact-checking/
8. HUNGARY: Online course for students aged 13-15 to learn how to be a critical news reader
   • https://www.urbanlegends.hu/2020/03/online-tanfolyam-13-15-eveseknek-a-koronavirussal-kapcsolatos-alhirek-felismeresehez/
9. GERMANY: GWUP pledging to follow science regarding COVID-19 news reporting
   • https://www.gwup.org/141-wurzel/neuigkeiten/2161-covid-19-zeit-fuer-wissenschaft-und-fakten
   • https://blog.gwup.net/2020/03/18/covid-19-zeit-fuer-wissenschaft-und-fakten/
10. SWEDEN: Corona means big business for the quacks
    • https://www.expressen.se/nyheter/coronaviruset/blufflakare-och-halsogurus-tjanar-pengar-pa-corona/
11. INTERNATIONAL: Connection between blood type and COVID-19?
    • https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/blood-type-covid-19/
12. SPAIN: Reading for quarantine – Escepticos is the largest collection of skepticism-related material in Spanish
    • http://www.escepticos.es/node/6679

1:18:47 REALLY WRONG
WHO Removes Advice to Not Use TCM Against covid-19

• • https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/14/asia/coronavirus-traditional-chinese-medicine-intl-hnk/index.html
  • https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/-ycT3C1mQwVv15ovkHd4qQ
  • https://web.archive.org/web/20200305015146/https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/q-a-coronaviruses
  • https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/q-a-coronaviruses

1:25:52 QUOTE AND FAREWELL

“Let us keep our minds open, by all means, as long as that means keeping our sense of perspective and seeking an understanding of the forces which mould the world. But don’t keep your minds so open that your brains fall out! There are still things in this world which are true and things which are false; acts which are right and acts which are wrong, even if there are statesmen who hide their designs under the cloak of high-sounding phrases.”
/ Walter Kotschnig, Austrian born educator and diplomat /

1:27:27 OUTRO

1:28:42 OUT-TAKES