SGU Episode 908

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SGU Episode 908
December 3rd 2022
_brief_caption_for_the_episode_icon_
SGU 907                      SGU 909
Skeptical Rogues
S: Steven Novella
Quote of the Week
Quote
AUTHOR, _short_description_
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Download Podcast
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.

12.76 17.56 S: Today is Thursday, December 1st, 2022, and this is your host, Stephen Novella.

17.56 19.56 S: Joining me this week are Bob Novella.

19.56 20.56 B: Hey everybody.

20.56 21.56 S: Cara Santa Maria.

21.56 22.56 C: Howdy.

22.56 23.56 S: Jay Novella.

23.56 24.56 J: Hey guys.

24.56 25.56 S: And Evan Bernstein.

25.56 27.82 E: Happy first day of Advent?

27.82 28.82 E: Is that right?

28.82 29.82 C: Yeah.

29.82 32.48 C: Although, I mean, I don't know if that's like a religious thing.

32.48 33.92 C: I just like it because of the calendars.

33.92 34.92 C: It's a religious thing.

34.92 35.92 C: I'm trying to understand here.

35.92 36.92 C: Oh, well.

36.92 37.92 C: Because I have a few Advent calendars.

37.92 39.36 E: Yeah, that's why I brought it up.

39.36 42.32 C: So some of them are 24 days and I'm like, so that sucks.

42.32 43.68 C: They end on Christmas Eve?

43.68 52.20 C: The whole point of me buying myself Advent calendars is so that because I might be spending Christmas alone, I don't know what I'm getting every day.

52.20 53.86 C: I want it to end on Christmas.

53.86 58.00 C: So I'm going to wait until tomorrow for my first day of Advent.

58.00 59.00 S: That's right.

59.00 65.68 S: So an Advent calendar is basically the first season of the Christian church year and it ends on Christmas Day.

65.68 66.68 S: That's why.

66.68 67.68 C: Yeah.

67.68 68.68 C: Okay.

68.68 71.52 C: But it's like if it's a 24-day countdown calendar, I don't get anything on Christmas.

71.52 72.52 J: That's dumb.

72.52 73.52 J: Yeah.

73.52 76.76 C: But my dog got his first dog treat today because that's a 25-day calendar.

76.76 77.76 C: They're all different.

77.76 78.76 E: Oh, sweet.

78.76 79.76 E: Yeah.

79.76 80.76 C: Killer.

80.76 84.36 C: At first he just sniffed it and walked away and I was like, oh no.

84.36 86.48 C: But then he came back for it.

86.48 88.56 S: So Artemis is zipping around the moon.

88.56 89.56 S: It's doing well.

89.56 90.56 S: It's doing well.

90.56 91.56 S: Everything's going great.

91.56 94.32 S: So, so far the mission is a success.

94.32 99.08 S: As we record this, it's getting ready to leave lunar orbit and head back to Earth.

99.08 106.44 S: Apparently it was the farthest object from Earth that is designed to hold people, even though people were actually in it.

106.44 107.44 B: That's a milestone.

107.44 108.44 B: Kind of a weird one.

108.44 109.44 B: I see.

109.44 113.84 S: But I guess that means for the next mission that will actually have people on it, those people will be the farthest people from Earth.

113.84 114.84 S: Yeah.

114.84 116.80 J: Well, they will have traveled the farthest from Earth.

116.80 117.80 E: Yeah.

117.80 122.84 E: So how soon before the next mission, that particular mission?

122.84 125.24 E: Artemis 2 is 2024.

125.24 126.24 E: It is.

126.24 127.24 E: Okay.

127.24 128.24 E: So we have to wait a whole other year and change.

128.24 129.24 E: Yeah.

129.24 130.24 S: Yeah.

130.24 131.24 S: A year and a half.

131.24 132.24 S: All right.

132.24 133.24 S: Yeah.

133.24 134.24 E: It's a big one.

134.24 135.24 E: Then 2025, that's when they land on the moon.

135.24 136.24 E: Oh my gosh.

136.24 137.24 E: That's going to be amazing.

137.24 138.24 E: Wow.

138.24 139.24 E: That's going to be amazing.

139.24 141.24 E: I really hope the world kind of tunes in in a similar way that they did back in 1969.

141.24 142.24 E: I think they will.

142.24 143.24 E: I hope it has that breadth.

143.24 144.24 B: I think they will.

144.24 148.44 B: I think we got to build a party around that event.

148.44 149.44 E: Absolutely.

149.44 150.44 E: We should have a viewing party.

150.44 154.60 J: I mean, arguably, it's one of the biggest deals in human history.

154.60 160.44 J: And I think since there hasn't been much moon activity, it'll be very popular.

160.44 164.68 J: But to your point, it's going to become commonplace.

164.68 174.48 J: Going to the moon, landing on the moon, bringing things to the moon, bringing things back from the moon is going to be like any other news item at some point, not in the distant future.

174.48 177.48 B: I wonder what the moon hoaxers are going to say.

177.48 180.00 B: I just thought about that for the first time.

180.00 181.00 E: Yeah.

181.00 182.00 E: Yeah.

182.00 185.12 E: I see what you're saying, Jay, about it being common at a certain point.

185.12 200.60 E: But at the same time, I'm still personally fascinated every time a space mission occurs in recognizing the scientific advancement and ability and stretches that we've had to make in order to get to these points in human history.

200.60 202.36 E: It's all part of human history.

202.36 206.36 E: And every single step along that that path has been fascinating to me.

206.36 207.56 E: I'm never bored by it.

207.56 211.04 E: I never consider it common or kind of get used to it or ho-hum.

211.04 212.28 J: Yeah, I agree.

212.28 219.36 J: I got accustomed to space shuttles taking off and it wasn't as exciting to watch the launches in there.

219.36 222.44 J: I like to watch the landings better because I thought they were more interesting.

222.44 228.52 J: But bottom line is, I mean, any of this stuff, if done frequently enough, will become common place.

228.52 230.12 J: I'm kind of looking forward to that.

230.12 236.76 J: I want space travel and the moon to be a part of the monthly events that take place.

236.76 238.24 J: I think that'll be a cool time.

238.24 245.04 E: Well, definitely the space shuttle launches, they would seem repetitive and kind of the same old.

245.04 251.50 E: It was the missions themselves that were each unique and had specific goals.

251.50 253.50 E: And those were fascinating to follow.

253.50 260.28 E: And especially things like the spacewalks and the repairing of the Hubble telescope and those sorts of things.

260.28 266.12 E: That kept me really glued to the news and in finding out what was going on up there.

266.12 274.62 S: So yeah, I think it's gonna be a long time before people being on the moon is going to be routine.

274.62 275.62 S: Rocket launches.

275.62 276.62 S: Yeah, I could see that.

276.62 277.62 S: They're so cool.

277.62 280.98 S: But yeah, they happen frequent enough that it's not glue yourself to the TV kind of event.

280.98 285.44 S: But if there are people walking on the moon, I think that we're going to be paying attention.

285.44 286.72 C: Why did we wait so long?

286.72 289.12 S: I mean, that's a $64,000 question, right?

289.12 293.80 C: I mean, it's like it could be commonplace by now if we had just like kept going.

293.80 295.80 B: Don't even get me started.

295.80 299.20 J: Yeah, I mean, politics had a lot to do with it, of course.

299.20 301.92 J: I mean, wasn't that like NASA didn't want to do it?

301.92 302.92 J: You know what I mean?

302.92 313.12 J: In Apollo, the movie Apollo 13, you could see how people were not even watching the launches or caring about people going to the moon and currently conducting a moon mission,

313.12 315.12 B: right? That's until Apollo 13, of course.

315.12 316.12 B: Yeah, things got nasty.

316.12 325.56 J: I mean, I remember in the movie, they didn't even like I remember that one part where they didn't even tell the astronauts like nobody cares, you know, nobody's watching.

325.56 328.20 J: But the you know, there was the political will wasn't there.

328.20 329.88 J: I mean, that's what it comes down to.

329.88 334.12 J: NASA is in a continuous cycle of asking for more money.

334.12 338.28 S: They want it also requires sustained administration, financial support.

338.28 339.28 S: So yeah, that's right.

339.28 342.20 S: It has to be sustained through multiple administrations.

342.20 343.66 S: And that's often the challenge.

343.66 347.56 S: They get funding and then it then evaporates, you know, redirect.

347.56 348.56 S: Yeah.

348.56 356.00 S: And there's been legitimate controversy over whether or not the funding they have should go to robotic science or human spaceflight.

356.00 360.24 S: And that the answer wasn't always we're going to prioritize human spaceflight.

360.24 361.24 S: You know?

361.24 362.24 E: Yeah.

362.24 377.20 E: And it was also the bringing into the picture of the space shuttle program in the 70s because that's when it was being conceived, developed and sort of the next the next phase, the next thing for NASA to do.

377.20 384.80 E: So that's why that's why they moved away from Apollo and went with the the reusable space transport system, the STS.

384.80 385.80 S: Yeah.

385.80 392.14 S: And there's always this multistage plan and we never seem to get to the later stages, you know, like but we are finally now.

392.14 393.14 S: So we'll.

393.14 395.08 S: But yeah, it did take a damn long time.

395.08 401.32 E: But well, here we are, though, finally still in our lifetimes, which, you know, I'm all for that.

401.32 402.32 J: Yeah.

402.32 403.32 J: Well, it goes well.

403.32 404.32 S: Yeah, that's true.

404.32 405.88 S: So, Evan, how are you feeling?

405.88 407.12 E: Steve, thank you for asking.

407.12 410.60 E: I feel like total crap.

410.60 412.60 E: I came down with the flu.

412.60 413.60 E: Oh, man.

413.60 415.16 E: Saturday after Thanksgiving.

415.16 416.76 E: You sure it's the flu?

416.76 418.72 E: Oh, I'm sure it's the flu.

418.72 419.72 E: 103 degree temperature.

419.72 420.72 E: Oh, my God.

420.72 422.44 E: Oh, wait, wait.

422.44 423.44 B: 103.

423.44 424.44 B: 103.

424.44 426.32 B: That's like, you know, go to the.

426.32 427.32 B: It was close.

427.32 429.72 C: But right now or like.

429.72 430.72 C: No, no, no.

430.72 432.60 C: Like, how are you like podcasting?

432.60 435.08 E: No, this was this was on I peaked.

435.08 437.24 E: I seem to have peaked on Tuesday of this week.

437.24 446.12 E: That was the day where I was like, you know, begging, begging some God somewhere to please I'll never I'll never sin again in some way.

446.12 447.88 E: If you please get me get me through this.

447.88 449.26 E: You know, you have one of those moments.

449.26 452.92 E: You can totally see why people have these moments in their life.

452.92 459.84 E: But what happened was on Saturday after Thanksgiving, Rachel and I went to a concert in Baltimore.

459.84 460.84 E: That'll do it.

460.84 466.72 E: You know, well, and we got we got we were treated very well by by the bands there.

466.72 470.24 E: We got all access passes because we're friendly with these bands and stuff.

470.24 471.64 E: And this was the closest they were coming.

471.64 473.48 E: Long story short, they have us an all access pass.

473.48 480.00 E: So we were allowed to go backstage and hang with them and, you know, be in their green room and, you know, just kind of be part of the crew.

480.00 485.36 E: They really, you know, treated us like total VIPs, which was absolutely wonderful.

485.36 486.36 E: And that was great.

486.36 494.04 E: And then, you know, head home and started feeling not, you know, I started coughing on Tuesday and I'm sorry, on Monday.

494.04 495.68 E: And by Tuesday, I was full on.

495.68 502.12 E: Yeah, this is the flu, body aches, headaches, the high fever, the chills, everything that screwed up.

502.12 503.80 C: That was you take over tests, right?

503.80 505.08 E: I did take a COVID test.

505.08 507.24 E: It was not definitely was not COVID.

507.24 509.20 E: Rachel did get her flu shot already.

509.20 510.52 E: She did not come down with flu.

510.52 511.52 E: I had not gotten mine.

511.52 514.16 E: I was going to get mine this week.

514.16 515.48 E: So bad on me.

515.48 518.32 E: My fault entirely, because for delaying it.

518.32 531.48 E: But I delay my flu shot normally because I try to make it coincide more with tax season because I want to be protected for more of the tax season, you know, January through April rather than, you know, November, December and not have it wane off at the tail end of tax season.

531.48 536.02 E: So that's kind of my but flu is hitting with a vengeance early this year.

536.02 537.02 E: And it's terrible.

537.02 538.24 C: I have to have tomorrow.

538.24 542.68 C: I have my appointment to get my bivalent COVID and my flu shot tomorrow at the same time.

542.68 550.76 E: And everyone on all the bands that were there that were in that green room and backstage, like 90 percent of them came down sick.

550.76 557.44 E: So had we not so if we not gotten that all access pass and everything, I may I may, you know, so it happens.

557.44 559.20 E: What you know, what are you what are you going to do?

559.20 563.04 E: Yeah, certainly that that's exactly what did it because we were all commenting about it.

563.04 564.32 E: That's your flu shot.

564.32 565.48 E: You should have gotten it already.

565.48 567.88 S: Actually, October was like the time to get it.

567.88 568.88 S: Is Rachel gloating?

568.88 569.88 S: No, no.

569.88 570.88 C: She feels she feels terrible.

570.88 571.88 E: She should.

571.88 572.88 E: She's not.

572.88 573.88 E: I'm happy for her.

573.88 576.72 E: I mean, my gosh, I shot her man.

576.72 577.72 B: That thing.

577.72 581.60 B: The next day my shoulder was hurting between the bivalence of the flu vaccine.

581.60 583.48 J: The flu flu is not that bad.

583.48 586.48 B: I got my confusing it with the bivalent.

586.48 588.48 B: Yeah, you probably got a shot.

588.48 589.48 E: For sure.

589.48 595.16 E: I want I did want to get mine in time to get it covered for for Arizona.

595.16 601.30 E: We have the Arizona our slew of Arizona shows that are coming up in just a couple in just about two weeks from the time of this recording.

601.30 603.64 C: But now you can't get it until you're recovered.

603.64 604.64 E: Exactly.

604.64 605.64 E: Right.

605.64 609.64 E: So, Steve, tell me when it at this point, do I need the flu shot?

609.64 611.30 S: And if so, when do I get it?

611.30 612.30 S: You should still get it.

612.30 613.30 S: But it's I don't know.

613.30 619.72 C: I think it's like, it's either like one or two weeks from the last time you had symptoms.

619.72 622.92 E: Okay, so I'll have to probably get it right after I get back from Arizona.

622.92 627.60 S: So I've now failed two attempts at getting my bivalent booster.

627.60 631.84 S: What I had to wait because I got I had covered in August.

631.84 634.20 S: So I finally came around to the time to get it.

634.20 637.94 S: I scheduled it during a lunch hour at work.

637.94 641.72 S: And my my morning clinic went late and I missed my window.

641.72 644.24 S: So I rescheduled it for today.

644.24 649.96 S: I show up at the clinic, which is like a 15 minute drive away from my from my offices.

649.96 655.00 S: I show up at the clinic to get my shot and they're closed.

655.00 658.00 S: Because they had to suddenly close for two days.

658.00 660.20 S: I didn't officially get the story.

660.20 665.84 S: They just zombies when like when I got back to my afternoon clinic, I got I had just a little bit of a window.

665.84 669.38 S: I looked it up and they said for unforeseen circumstances.

669.38 671.60 S: That was their entire explanation.

671.60 672.60 S: Unforeseen circumstances.

672.60 675.24 S: But while I was there, there was a security guard there.

675.24 676.36 S: And I asked him what happened.

676.36 677.48 S: He didn't quite know for sure.

677.48 680.20 S: But he thinks there was a gas leak in the restaurant next door.

680.20 682.28 S: Oh, we're yeah, which makes sense.

682.28 684.24 B: Why would they suddenly close the clinic for two days?

684.24 686.12 B: Yeah, yeah, you should have seen that coming.

686.12 687.12 S: Yeah.

687.12 688.76 S: So now I have to schedule for next week.

688.76 689.76 S: So it's my third attempt.

689.76 693.56 S: But it'll hopefully it will still be a full week before we leave for Arizona.

693.56 694.60 S: So that'll be good.

694.60 702.68 S: So for those of you who have had the dive, Valen, I've heard it's not quite as bad as the other boosters in terms of how sick you get.

702.68 708.56 C: I think it just depends because the by Valen is Moderna Pfizer, I think.

708.56 709.76 S: Oh, it's Pfizer.

709.76 715.48 C: So and like different people's reactions to the shots had to do with the formulation.

715.48 718.84 C: And it also had to do with how many boosters you've already had.

718.84 723.40 C: Like the more shots you get, the weaker the reaction you get.

723.40 724.40 C: Okay.

724.40 726.84 C: So like your first booster was brutal.

726.84 732.64 C: If you had that it was and then it gets slightly less bad every time you get boosted.

732.64 738.88 C: But sometimes like people who were Moderna all the way and then switched to Pfizer, they got like knocked on their butt or vice versa.

738.88 739.88 C: I didn't.

739.88 742.84 C: Some people, some people never even had a reaction to any of them.

742.84 743.84 C: I didn't have a reaction.

743.84 744.84 C: I got it.

744.84 745.84 C: I'm so jealous.

745.84 746.84 J: I was so sick.

746.84 747.84 C: I barely had any reaction.

747.84 751.64 C: I felt like I had the flu for a whole three days when I got my first boost.

751.64 752.64 J: Yeah, Steve too.

752.64 753.64 S: Yeah.

753.64 757.92 S: So remember, there is a triple demic happening this winter in the northern hemisphere.

757.92 763.12 S: Three respiratory viruses going around and we have vaccines for two of them.

763.12 764.60 S: So RSV, right?

764.60 765.60 S: No RSV.

765.60 769.76 S: No, but it's usually only a problem if you're a baby or really old.

769.76 776.52 C: So if you're not in those two categories, you're a geriatric over 55 over 65, 65 probably

776.52 778.84 S: your age or older, Bob.

778.84 782.88 B: That's yeah, but not yours a year.

782.88 784.88 J: 13 months previous. That's correct.

784.88 785.88 B: Later.

785.88 786.88 C: Yeah, sure.

786.88 788.36 C: So you're like almost Irish twins.

788.36 789.36 B: Yes.

789.36 790.36 B: Wow.

790.36 791.96 B: Basically we are Irish twins by definition.

791.96 794.08 C: I think it has to be under a year.

794.08 795.88 S: Is there an operational definition or is it just?

795.88 799.76 S: I don't think so, but I'm controlling it now.

799.76 800.76 S: Yeah.

800.76 801.76 S: It says less than 12 months apart is what.

801.76 802.76 C: Yeah.

802.76 803.76 C: So you're almost Irish twins.

803.76 804.76 J: They call those Irish twins?

804.76 805.76 J: Yeah.

805.76 806.76 J: I've never heard of that one.

806.76 807.76 J: That's awesome.

807.76 816.64 S: Is that vaguely racist or is that okay?

816.64 819.28 J: If you have to ask the question, Steve, it's probably racist.

819.28 820.28 C: I disagree with that.

820.28 823.60 S: All right, Bob, get us out of this conversation with a quickie.

823.60 824.60 B: Yeah.

824.60 825.60 B: All right.

825.60 826.60 B: Thank you, Steve.

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Quickie with Bob ()

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826.60 827.60 B: This is your quickie with Bob.

827.60 828.60 B: Girdler loins people.

828.60 833.72 B: New research sheds light, so to speak, on the stellar halo of our Milky Way galaxy.

833.72 841.48 B: Yes, we have long known that we have a stellar halo, but we thought that it was spherical and isotropic, the same in every direction.

841.48 849.16 B: But new impressive studies show that it's actually something closer to a Zeppelin shape, which is called, which is called what, people?

849.16 851.64 B: A triaxial ellipsoid, which is really cool.

851.64 852.64 B: I love that.

852.64 853.64 B: Oh, neat.

853.64 857.76 B: This shape appears to have been caused by a collision with a dwarf galaxy billions of years ago.

857.76 863.64 B: That galaxy was called GSE, which stands for Gaia Sausage Enceladus.

863.64 864.64 B: Don't even ask.

864.64 865.64 B: Look it up online.

865.64 866.64 B: What?

866.64 867.64 B: I thought you were joking.

867.64 870.60 B: No, that's GSE, Gaia Sausage Enceladus.

870.60 873.16 B: Why is out of scope for this quickie?

873.16 883.50 B: The specific shape is actually important because the stellar halo of stars around our galaxy is actually embedded within an invisible galactic halo of dark matter.

883.50 894.50 B: So the more we know about the shape of the stellar halo that's visible, that is composed of stars, the more we can learn about not only the evolution of the Milky Way, but the nature of dark matter as well.

894.50 896.02 B: So check out the details online.

896.02 897.10 B: It's very interesting.

897.10 898.40 B: So un-gird your loins.

898.40 899.64 B: This has been your quickie with Bob.

899.64 901.30 B: I hope it was good for you too.

901.30 902.30 S: That was very quick.

902.30 903.30 S: Thank you, Bob.

903.30 904.30 J: Zeppelin shaped.

904.30 905.30 J: No, triaxial ellipsoid.

905.30 906.30 J: Ellipsoidal.

906.30 907.30 J: Triaxial is a good word.

907.30 908.30 J: Yeah.

News Items

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Plan to Occupy the Moon ()

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Cannabis for Pain ()

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Acupuncture for Backpain ()

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New SI Units ()

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911 Call Analysis ()

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Who's That Noisy? ()

New Noisy ()

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Science or Fiction ()

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