SGU Episode 905

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SGU Episode 905
November 12th 2022
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SGU 904                      SGU 906
Skeptical Rogues
S: Steven Novella
Quote of the Week
QUOTE
AUTHOR, _short_description_
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Show Notes
[ https://sguforums.org/index.php?BOARD=1.0 Forum Discussion]

Introduction

Voice-over: You're listening to the Skeptics' Guide to the Universe, your escape to reality.

00:09.000 --> 00:13.000 Hello and welcome to the Skeptic's Guide to the Universe.

00:13.000 --> 00:18.000 Today is Thursday, November 10th, 2022, and this is your host, Stephen Novella.

00:18.000 --> 00:20.000 Joining me this week are Bob Novella.

00:20.000 --> 00:21.000 Hey everybody.

00:21.000 --> 00:22.000 Kara Santamaria.

00:22.000 --> 00:23.000 Howdy.

00:23.000 --> 00:24.000 Jay Novella.

00:24.000 --> 00:25.000 Hey guys.

00:25.000 --> 00:26.000 And Evan Bernstein.

00:26.000 --> 00:27.000 Good evening, everyone.

00:27.000 --> 00:33.000 So Evan, you were recently at PsyCon, the CSI's annual conference.

00:33.000 --> 00:34.000 Isn't that right?

00:34.000 --> 00:35.000 Yes, I was.

00:35.000 --> 00:37.000 I wasn't there long.

00:37.000 --> 00:43.000 I happened to be in Las Vegas on the same weekend that my sister got married in Las

00:43.000 --> 00:44.000 Vegas.

00:44.000 --> 00:48.000 So you skipped the wedding and went to the conference?

00:48.000 --> 00:49.000 Almost.

00:49.000 --> 00:55.640 It was just across the street at the Hotel Flamingo where the CSI conference was happening,

00:55.640 --> 01:00.480 so I went over there for a few hours and saw some people, saw some faces I hadn't seen

01:00.480 --> 01:05.680 and oh my gosh, at least since the last time we were at CSI back in 2018 and even before

01:05.680 --> 01:06.680 that with some other people.

01:06.680 --> 01:07.680 Yeah, and the before time.

01:07.680 --> 01:08.680 Yeah, before the pandemic.

01:08.680 --> 01:09.680 And the before times.

01:09.680 --> 01:10.680 The pre.

01:10.680 --> 01:17.280 So in case anyone listening doesn't know, the CSI, the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry,

01:17.280 --> 01:18.280 used to be Psycop.

01:18.280 --> 01:21.760 They're the biggest national skeptical organization.

01:21.760 --> 01:28.840 They've been around since, I think, the mid-70s, 75, 76.

01:28.840 --> 01:33.880 They publish the Skeptical Inquirer, which is an excellent skeptical magazine.

01:33.880 --> 01:39.960 I get it every month, so one of the few things I enjoy reading cover to cover.

01:39.960 --> 01:47.320 Unfortunately, the editor of the Skeptical Inquirer, Kendrick Frazier, who we all know,

01:47.320 --> 01:49.640 somebody we would see at the conferences.

01:49.640 --> 01:51.360 He died two days ago.

01:51.360 --> 01:53.600 He was 80 years old.

01:53.600 --> 01:54.600 So good run.

01:54.600 --> 01:55.680 Apparently, he was sick.

01:55.680 --> 01:56.680 People knew.

01:56.680 --> 01:57.680 It wasn't like a surprise.

01:57.680 --> 02:02.600 It was known that he was, you know, that he was sick and was going to die soon.

02:02.600 --> 02:06.120 I got out, I think, two days before he passed away.

02:06.120 --> 02:09.820 I got an email from CSI letting us know, you know, what was going on.

02:09.820 --> 02:13.640 So yeah, it's always sad for, you know, a fellow skeptic to pass and he was, you know,

02:13.640 --> 02:18.560 basically dedicated majority of his adult life to promoting science and skepticism,

02:18.560 --> 02:21.140 you know, through his work through CSI.

02:21.140 --> 02:27.240 When we first went to, well, at least my experience, my first time going up to their facility in

02:27.240 --> 02:35.440 Buffalo was back in 1997 with you guys, and that was when I first met Kendrick then.

02:35.440 --> 02:40.780 And he then, as you said, Steve, sort of was a fixture of all the conferences that had

02:40.780 --> 02:41.780 taken place.

02:41.780 --> 02:44.740 He was one of the familiar faces there.

02:44.740 --> 02:47.360 You always saw him at these skeptic conferences.

02:47.360 --> 02:51.120 Yeah, there's a lot of characters in the skeptical movement, you know what I mean?

02:51.120 --> 02:55.440 Like there's a lot of people you meet that have strong personalities.

02:55.440 --> 03:00.960 And Kendrick was just like, as you say, just a fixture, just a real professional, just

03:00.960 --> 03:03.640 always there, just doing his job, you know, getting it done.

03:03.640 --> 03:04.640 You know what I mean?

03:04.640 --> 03:06.440 He's also always a super nice guy.

03:06.440 --> 03:07.440 Absolutely.

03:07.440 --> 03:10.600 A very no drama kind of executive kind of person.

03:10.600 --> 03:12.160 Yeah, even keel.

03:12.160 --> 03:14.960 And a big Los Angeles Dodgers fan, if I recall.

03:14.960 --> 03:20.400 He was, I remember at the last conference I saw him, this was back in 2018 when we were

03:20.400 --> 03:25.800 in Las Vegas, at the conference he was there and he was wearing a Dodgers jersey.

03:25.800 --> 03:30.320 And he was very happy and proud talking about his Dodgers who were, I believe, in the World

03:30.320 --> 03:32.600 Series, had just gotten to the World Series that year.

03:32.600 --> 03:38.200 And he was making plans, OK, I have to be here for this talk and I have to give a talk

03:38.200 --> 03:41.320 here, but then I'm going to sneak away and go see the baseball game for a while and then

03:41.320 --> 03:43.220 I'll be back.

03:43.220 --> 03:47.400 So he was apparently a very big baseball fan and loved his Dodgers.

03:47.400 --> 03:51.000 He was the author or editor on 10 different books.

03:51.000 --> 03:53.400 And I didn't know this, he was a fellow of the AAAS.

03:53.400 --> 03:57.960 Is he a scientist or just a science writer?

03:57.960 --> 04:01.520 More of a science writer than a practicing scientist, but he has a science education,

04:01.520 --> 04:02.520 yeah.

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Skeptical Puzzle ()

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Science or Fiction (h:mm:ss)

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Answer	Item
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Host	Result
Steve

Rogue	Guess

Voice-over: It's time for Science or Fiction.

Skeptical Quote of the Week ()

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– AUTHOR (YYYY-YYYY), _short_description_

Signoff/Announcements ()

S: —and until next week, this is your Skeptics' Guide to the Universe.

S: Skeptics' Guide to the Universe is produced by SGU Productions, dedicated to promoting science and critical thinking. For more information, visit us at theskepticsguide.org. Send your questions to info@theskepticsguide.org. And, if you would like to support the show and all the work that we do, go to patreon.com/SkepticsGuide and consider becoming a patron and becoming part of the SGU community. Our listeners and supporters are what make SGU possible.

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Today I Learned

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References

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