SGU Episode 464
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| SGU Episode 464 |
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| May 31st 2014 |
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| (brief caption for the episode icon) |
| Skeptical Rogues |
| S: Steven Novella |
B: Bob Novella |
R: Rebecca Watson |
J: Jay Novella |
E: Evan Bernstein |
| Quote of the Week |
It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so. |
Attributed to Mark Twain |
| Links |
| Download Podcast |
| Show Notes |
| Forum Discussion |
Introduction
You're listening to the Skeptics' Guide to the Universe, your escape to reality.
S: Hello, and welcome to The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe. Today is Wednesday, May 28th, 2014, and this is your host, Steven Novella! Joining me this week are Bob Novella...
B: Hey everybody!
S: Rebecca Watson ...
R: Hello everyone!
S: Jay Novella ...
J: Hey guys!
S: And Evan Bernstein.
E: Hello, you left out a bunch of stuff.
S: (Laughs)
E: How ya doin'?
S: Good.
E: I channeled Rodney Dangerfield there for about a second.
R: Is that who that was?
S: Yeah...
E: Yeah!
S: So, the meteor shower was a double bust last week.
B: Yeah, terrible.So frustrating!
R: The infamous double-bust.
E: And why was it a double-bust?
R: Like Total Recall.
S: (Laughs)
R: Wait, that was a triple-bust.
E: That was something else.
S: The meteor shower itself was just terrible; it just did not live up to the hype, and we didn't get to see a lick of it because we were totally overcast the whole time.
B: That's right.
R: Yeah, it was here too.
B: As we always are.
J: Actually, I actually shook my fist at the sky, I was so pissed.
S: Did you say, "KHA-A-A-N!" when you did?
E: (Laughs) Of course.
J: Next time, I absolutely will. So, guys, I found out a very cool, interesting thing very recently.
E: Mm-hmm.
J: Grand Master Pycelle from Game of Thrones, that actor, was in frickin' Star Wars! He played Colonel Veers. He played one of the pilots of one of the AT-AT pilots.
S: So that's Empire Strikes Back?
J: Right! I mean, the Star Wars trilogy, and his name is Julian Glover!
S: Wow.
R: Yeah!
E: Huh!
S: Yeah.
J: Come on!
E: Yeah! Yeah.
J: If you're a Star Wars fan, blows your mind!
R: How do you not know that?
S: You're a Star Wars fan, and you're pushing 50, yeah, that really blows your mind.
This Day in Skepticism (1:46) ()
R: On this date, May 31st, 1981 was the burning of the Jaffna Public Library in Sri Lanka; and I wanted to talk about this briefly because I think we often talk about the burning of the Library of Alexandria and how devastating that was for the ancient world, but this happened so recently, relatively speaking, and I had actually never even heard about it until recently.
So, as part of the Sri Lankan civil war, and prior to its burning, the Jaffna Library was one of the largest libraries in all of Asia. It had more than 97,000 books and manuscripts, which included a lot of unique palm-leaf manuscripts and original historic documents, and things that were important to the political history of Sri Lanka; newspapers from hundreds of years prior in the local area.
So it was an incredibly important library, and it was destroyed, most likely by government-sponsored para-militias that set fire to it in 1981; and the fires raged from – it was overnight from May 31st to June 1st; and when the fires were done, the entire library was completely destroyed. Over 97,000 volumes of books, and it was, you know, of all of the tragic events that happened in the Sri Lankan civil war, this was one of those events that really captured the grief of the local people because it was a symbolic destruction of their future, and their education, and their interest in learning.
B: Their culture!
R: Yeah, exactly. So, I thought it was an important thing to mention, and for people who might want to find out a little bit more about it, and more about efforts to sort of recapture the culture and the history of that area because we don't often hear about that event, so...
S: Yeah, it's always tragic. I hate to hear about that, and there's the larger phenomenon of just historically important sites being destroyed in times of war because some General decided they were gonna put their artillery depot or whatever in some historical relic.
R: Yeah.
S: So it gets destroyed because it becomes a strategic point. You know, just last year in Syria there was a number of historical buildings and mosques and medieval castles all destroyed because they were being used as military strategic locations.
R: Yeah, and this in particular, is considered a Biblioclasm, which is a new vocabulary word for me, which just refers to the sort of ceremonious destruction of books, or other written material. And I think we all can kind of identify with the kind of power that that symbolism holds.
S: Yeah.
E: Oh yes.
S: Absolutely.
B: Isn't that in the Geneva Convention or something?
R: It should be!
S: It should be! (Chuckles). Look that up, Bob.
R: Someone, make a note!
S: We'll make an addendum to the Geneva Convention.
News Items
Solar Highways ()
Suspended Animation ()
Comb Jellies ()
PETA Autism Pseudoscience ()
Planetary Diameters ()
Who's That Noisy ()
- Answer to last week:
Questions and Emails
Question #1: Corrections ()
Robyn WilliamsTriple CrownOrganic FoodDear Dr Novella,Before I make my correction I must first let you know how much I enjoy both the SGU in general and your scientific activism outside of the podcast. As someone who is involved in Science and the Public, you are an inspiration to me and one of the reasons I have chosen to pursue the Public Understanding of Science as both a career and a hobby. You have my thanks.Unfortunately I must also inform you of a mistake in last week’s Science or Fiction. It is a mistake you could hardly be blamed for as more than half of the reports I saw regarding this issue also got it wrong in one form or another and if I were not a practicing Archaeologist with a keen interest in Physical Anthropology, I probably would have missed it as well. It regards the story of the H. antecessor footprints found in England. You stated, as many articles did, that this pushed the date of human occupation of Northern Europe back 350k and was the earliest evidence we had of human occupation in the region. Unfortunately this is not the case. In fact, while these certainly are the oldest footprints in Northern Europe and are very interesting indeed, we found the tools of this specific hominid, in this specific place in 2010.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_antecessorWe have known for at least three years that H antecessor was in this exact part of England at around 1mya, so this discovery, while amazing, did not push back the known human occupation of Northern Europe (or even this specific location) at all.Again, thanks for all of the work you do. You have inspired me to engage more openly and often with the public in Science communication, to start my own science/entertainment based podcast and even to get together with my local science museum (Ruben H Fleet Science Center) to volunteer my time for Science Café and other public outreach programs. You are more than a public educator, you are a domino setting off other such educators around the world.Archaeological Field Director/Co-Principal InvestigatorTierra EnvironmentalRobert Timothy
Science or Fiction ()
Item #1: Neptune’s moon, Triton, is the only body known to have cryovolcanoes. Item #2: Up until the 1850s, astronomers recognized 11 planets in our solar system. Item #3: The body in our solar system with an atmosphere most similar to Earth’s is Saturn’s moon, Titan.
Skeptical Quote of the Week ()
“It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so.” Attributed to Mark Twain
S: The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe is produced by SGU Productions, dedicated to promoting science and critical thinking. For more information on this and other episodes, please visit our website at theskepticsguide.org, where you will find the show notes as well as links to our blogs, videos, online forum, and other content. You can send us feedback or questions to info@theskepticsguide.org. Also, please consider supporting the SGU by visiting the store page on our website, where you will find merchandise, premium content, and subscription information. Our listeners are what make SGU possible.
References
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