Podcasts

I am completely addicted to podcasts. Podcasts are audio programs, normally talk/news style programs, that are published in mp3 format online. Here's the current list of podcasts I subscribe to, categorized. All of these podcasts are available through the iTunes podcast directory, and the majority are available for direct download from the show's website.

Pure Science
The Naked Scientist - Science in simple language. Publishes weekly on Mondays. Runtime,approx 1 hour.

Astronomy Cast - Covers a wide variety of astronomy topics. Publishes weekly on Mondays. Runtime 20-30 minutes.

The Nature Podcast - Discusses a few papers published in this week's edition of the Nature Journal, including interviews with researchers involved. Covers topics in a reasonable detail and depth. Publishes weekly on Wednesday. Runtime approx 30 minutes.

Evolution 101 - This podcast has mostly run it's course, but it is still available and is an outstanding primer on basic evolutionary theory. Runtime variable.

SETI: Science and Skepticism - Astronomy and exobiology, from the SETI Institute. Publishes weekly on Thursday. Runtime 51 minutes.


Scientific Skepticism
Audiomartini with Rick Wood - Discusses claims of the paranormal with in-studio guests. Publishes weekly on Wednesday. Runtime variable.

LogicallyCritical - Critically looking at common claims with a eye toward logic. Publishes whenever a new episode is ready (average one or two a month). Runtime variable.

Skepticality - Skeptical discussions and interviews. Official podcast of Skeptics Magazine. Publishes every other Tuesday. Runtime approx 45 minutes.

The Skeptics Guide to the Universe - Discussions of recent news in skepticism, interviews, and weekly features, including a five minute monologue with James Randi. Associated with the James Randi Educational Foundation. Currently my favorite skeptical podcast. Publishes weekly on Saturday. Run time approx 1 hour, 15 minutes.

Point of Inquiry - Podcast of the Center for Inquiry. Discusses the paranormal, religion, and scientific skepticism. Publishes weekly on Thursday. Runtime 30-45 minutes.


Atheism
The Atheist Experience - Sponsored by the Atheist Community of Austin. The audio portion of a weekly call-in television show, with a focus in information, education, and outreach. Publishes weekly on Sunday. Runtime 1 hour, 30 minutes.

The Non-Prophets - Sponsored by the Atheist Community of Austin. Weekly radio show aimed at an atheist audience. Covers news and events from an atheist perspective. Maintains an open line with listeners. Currently my favorite atheist podcast. Publishes every other Saturday. Runtime 1 hour, 30 minutes.

Infidel Guy - Debate Hour - Infidel Radio - Discussions of religion and the paranormal. New episodes of each of the two active shows published on a weekly basis. Archive shows are being rapidly posted in response to a donation drive. Runtime is normally 1 hour, but is variable.

Humanist Network News - Discussions of secular ethics. Publishes monthly. Runtime 1 hour.


General Interest
NPR: Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me - Weekly news quiz show with a huge dose of whimsy. Publishes weekly on Sunday. Runtime 47 minutes.

Penn Radio Podcast - Penn Jillette, of Penn and Teller fame, discusses current event with guests and callers, with his own brand of humor. Publishes daily, Monday through Friday. Runtime 43 minutes.

this WEEK in TECH - A panel of hosts, including Leo Laporte and John C. Dvorak discuss the tech news of the week. Publishes weekly on Sunday. Runtime 1+ hour.

Friday Fallacy - False Dichotomy

This week's logical fallacy is the false dichotomy. A false dichotomy occurs when a set of possibilities is arbitrarily limited to two. This is very commonly seen in the creationist opposition to evolution. Creationists (including Intelligent Design) know that they can't come up with any scientific methods to test their hypothesis, so they instead will try to disprove evolution. This is a false dichotomy. Even if evolution were proven completely untrue tomorrow, that would not validate creation, since there would still be no more scientific evidence favor of it than there was before, and simply proving evolution false would add nothing to the scientific body of evidence for creation.

18 Unconvincing Arguments for God

I'm taking the lazy way out and linking to another blog today, but the post is great and there is a lot of stuff in there that I may go into more detail on later.

http://friendlyatheist.com/2007/01/25/18-unconvincing-arguments-for-god/

Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

Yes.

I got a Wii.

Friday Fallacy - Ad Hominem

A big part of skepticism is being able to recognize when a claim is being structured around a logical fallacy. A logical fallacy is exactly what it sounds like: faulty logic. Any argument that uses a logical fallacy as its basis should be considered invalid, because any valid argument should not have to use a logical fallacy to achieve its intended result. Every Friday, I'm going to try to highlight a different logical fallacy.

For the first Friday Fallacy, I've chosen one of the most common logical fallacies, the ad hominem argument. An ad hominem argument is when someone attempts to counter the claims of a person by attacking that person, rather than the argument.

Examples:

1. True believers will often say that skeptics are simply not able to accept the possibilities of new ideas.
2. Skeptics will often say that true believers are stupid or insane.

Each of these examples represents a personal attack against the individual making the claim, not an argument against the claim. They do not serve to advance the discussion, and can prove detrimental to the discussion in the long run, as it sets up a more hostile environment and can seed distrust among the participants.

Introduction

I finally got my blog back up after a long hiatus and decided to just do a complete reboot. I intend to do two things here. I will post things out of my life and funny or odd situations, but I also intend to post on skepticism, religion, theology and philosophy. No topic is going to be off limits. If I feel like exploring a topic, I will use this blog as a forum, and I encourage anyone who happens to read it to join in the discussion, I only ask that you be respectful.

With that out of the way, I'll now soon turn to the first post with content.