TheESP – Ep. #441 – Choose Your Parents Wisely

QED is getting a little bit closer and a really good idea is to sign up as a volunteer! Not only will you help creating the skeptical event of the year, it is also a great way to make new friends and become a little “VIP” at the same time.
This week saw a “full true blue supermoon” – check out which part of this is nonsense and which parts that are real astronomy. In TWISH we go all the way back to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and why it may not have happened when everyone says it happened. Then, it’s time for the news:

• GERMANY / US: Link between right-wing politics and vaccine hesitancy
• UK: Druidic Stonehenge altar stone came from Scotland
• INTERNATIONAL: Pointless vitamin infusions are on the rise while there is a worldwide shortage av IV fluids
• UK: Humour is allowed to be factual or wrong, but shouldn’t hurt people

If you’re thinking about donating to the QED fund, or have already done so, you get to share this week’s Really Right Award. You will also have the satisfaction of knowing that you have helped getting some people to join, who otherwise would not have had the possibility to do so.

Enjoy!

Segments: Intro; Greetings; TWISH; News; Really Right; Quote; Outro; Outtakes
 
0:00:26 INTRO

0:00:51 GREETINGS

• QED: Volunteers wanted
  • QEDCon: https://qedcon.org/updates/2024/calling-all-volunteers
• Full True Blue Supermoon!
  • Sky at Night: https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/super-blue-moon-19-august-2024
  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermoon
  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon

0:08:22 TWISH – THIS WEEK IN SKEPTICAL HISTORY

• 24 August 79 (?): Eruption of Mount Vesuvius
  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eruption_of_Mount_Vesuvius_in_79_AD
  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pliny_the_Younger

0:19:04 NEWS

• GERMANY / US: Link between right-wing politics and vaccine hesitancy
  • Edzard Ernst: https://edzardernst.com/2024/08/does-the-typical-vaccination-hesitant-german-vote-extreme-right-and-love-scams/
  • Good Authority: https://goodauthority.org/news/vaccines-gop-republicans-vaccine-hesitancy/
• UK: Druidic Stonehenge altar stone came from Scotland
  • BBC: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c207lqdn755o
• INTERNATIONAL: Pointless vitamin infusions are on the rise while there is a worldwide shortage av IV fluids
  • the Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/aug/15/intravenous-iv-fluids-worldwide-shortage-vitamin-infusions-cocktails-ntwnfb
• UK: Humour is allowed to be factual or wrong, but shouldn’t hurt people
  • Skeptic UK: https://www.skeptic.org.uk/2024/08/but-its-just-a-joke-why-comedys-right-to-offend-doesnt-include-the-right-to-harm/

0:35:39 REALLY RIGHT

• Really Right: People donating to the QED fund
  • Go fund me: https://gofund.me/93b322a2

0:37:16 QUOTE AND FAREWELL

“If only it were as easy to find the truth as it is to detect the lie.”
/ Marcus Tullius Cicero (3 January 106 BCE – 7 December 43 BCE), Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the establishment of the Roman Empire. /

0:39:35 OUTRO

0:40:50 OUT-TAKES