http://www.dumbassguide.info New Blogs in The Dumbasses Guide To Knowledge. en-us Sat, 19 May 2012 03:01:41 -0400 The Dumbasses Guide To Knowledge RSS parrot0123@gmail.com http://www.dumbassguide.info/blog.php?bid=132 http://www.dumbassguide.info/blog.php?bid=132 I went out to do some grocery shopping yesterday, and I decided to have a look at the magazine rack.  I was hoping, but not expecting, that they had decided to start carrying one or both of the main skeptical magazines: Skeptic Magazine or The Skeptical Inquirer.  Unfortunately, I was once again disappointed.  They had a few interesting science magazines, but the skepticism magazines were completely absent.This grocery store is about a 20 minute walk away from my apartment, and there are 2 other stores in that area with magazine racks, none of which carry skeptical magazines.  Whenever I'm out and about in other areas of the city, I look at the magazine racks in other stores to see if they carry a skeptical magazine.  I found one Shoppers Drug Mart that carried Skeptic Magazine, but not Skeptical Inquirer.  Most other Shoppers Drug Marts I've been to, however, don't.The only place I know of that carries both magazines is Chapters, a large book store here in Canada with an extensive magazine rack.  I guess skepticism is still pretty much a niche topic, widely misunderstood and not well represented in our society.  It's unfortunate, but there's just not the demand for this kind of content that we'd like to see, even though I'm personally of the opinion that our message can really catch on if more people are exposed to it.It's disheartening to realize how far we have to go, even though the skeptical community has grown by leaps and bounds on the Internet.  But what was even more disheartening was moving my gaze over the magazine rack to the right, where I saw this: Wed, 11 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.dumbassguide.info/blog.php?bid=131 http://www.dumbassguide.info/blog.php?bid=131 For anybody interested in hearing more of me, I'll be making an appearance on the next episode of the Cognitive Dissonance podcast.  I had a great time.  I was planning on sending Cecil and Tom a Google Voice message, a kind of a little bit they could play during their email segment.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to connect.  I tried three times last night, but it just didn't work.  Probably because I'm in Canada or something.  Anyway, if you're interested, here's what I would have said:Hey guys.  It's... uh.. It's the Dumbass!It's, um... right after we've finished our recording on Sunday... I uh... I hope this gets to you before you've done any editing or anything...Listen...  I... I just want to apologize for my behaviour.  I think it mostly went fine, but i think I need to apologise once again for calling Tom an asshole... and for making that pass at Cecil. I was drunk, I wasn't myself... maybe I'm hitting the sauce a little too hard these days... I'll work on that. Anyway, I'm sure you'll edit that out, right?.... and also the part where I broke down blubbering and crying for my mother.  That was highly unprofessional of me, I know.  I'm just... going through some hard times right now, there's no reason to go into it or put that in the episode..... And... um... well, I just realized that at one point in the show you may have heard me breathing... in a kind of heavy and ragged manner.  I... um... I was just jogging on the spot in front of my computer.  I'm trying make sure to get my... uh... exercise you know.  Just.... um.. You can feel free to just ignore that and mute my audio for that part.So... um.. yeah.  I'm sure you'll edit it to sound perfectly fine and your listeners will never notice anything amiss.  And of course it goes without saying that you're not going to actually play this message for your listeners, right?  What am I saying, I don't even need to ask, there's no way you'd do something silly like that!So... we're good, right? Yeah... yeah, I'm sure we're good.  I think that mostly went rather well, in fact... other than, you know, the stuff I just mentioned.  Anyway, thanks for having me on, I had a really great time... um... I'll just get going now.  Bye!I'm kind of glad that I wasn't able to pull it off actually, because the topic we were talking about involved child pornography.  The bit about the heavy breathing might have seemed more in poor taste..... or maybe that would be a good thing :) Sun, 25 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.dumbassguide.info/blog.php?bid=130 http://www.dumbassguide.info/blog.php?bid=130 RSS FEED     DOWNLOADA short episode devoted to answering visitor commentsTimelineEnd Of Segment 1 (Comments & Emails): 021:32Links/Topics Mentioned In The Show Stuart Robbins' Exposing Pseudoastronomy PodcastGold Human Headed Winged CobraYourestupid's First CommentYourestupid's Second And Third CommentsTheme Music By Jonathan CoultonOther Music By Danosongs.comImages ReferencedThe Gold Human Headed Winged Cobra From King Tut's TombCan You See What's Odd About These Random Images?Enjoy the show!  Here's the transcript: Sat, 17 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.dumbassguide.info/blog.php?bid=129 http://www.dumbassguide.info/blog.php?bid=129 RSS FEED     DOWNLOADIn this episode, I talk about some changes to the podcast, go over my fifth installment of my analysis of the Ancient Alien show, and I answer my comments and email.TimelineEnd Of Segment 1 (Introduction): 08:50 End Of Segment 2 (Ancient Aliens): 39:22 End Of Segment 3 (Comments & Emails): 1:07:48Links/Topics Mentioned In The Show The Amateur Skeptics PodcastYanis Dellyanis' Blog: Chronicon MirabiliumModern Scholar Episode With Susan JohnstonThe Aqueduct Of SegoviaAll About GraniteAn Introduction To Igneous RockGranite Turns To Rhyolite When MeltedQuote From "Across South America" by Hiram Bingham:Ancient Aliens Pt. 3 - In Which I Talked About Josef BlumrichTheme Music By Jonathan CoultonOther Music By Danosongs.comImages ReferencedExamples of stone cutting that "defies explanation":My mind-blowing hand towel:Rocks from Saqsaywaman that Tsoukalos thinks were melted into place:Examples of granite construction at Machu Picchu:The Aqueduct Of Segovia:Enjoy the show!  Here's the transcript: Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.dumbassguide.info/blog.php?bid=128 http://www.dumbassguide.info/blog.php?bid=128 I've decided to start up a Twitter account to keep people updated with the minor details about what's going on with the podcasts and blogs.  I'll keep you updated on when I'm recording or planning podcasts and all those engrossing and fascinating details that you absolutely need to know.So check it out, twitter name is @DumbassMediahttp://twitter.com/DumbassMedia Thu, 12 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.dumbassguide.info/blog.php?bid=127 http://www.dumbassguide.info/blog.php?bid=127 The thoroughly discredited Power Balance Bands have inspired yet another knockoff.  That's not very surprising, I've heard of several others.  What did surprise me, though, was turning on my television one night to find this infomercial:They're using the exact same fraudulent demonstrations of their bracelet's "power" to improve strength and balance.  Pretty sleazy stuff.I'm pretty sure that these guys are just opportunists and that they don't believe any of the claims that they're making. Wed, 04 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.dumbassguide.info/blog.php?bid=126 http://www.dumbassguide.info/blog.php?bid=126 RSS FEED     DOWNLOADIn this episode, I announce my new Invisible Sky Monster podcast, examine the case of a so-called Psychic Detective from the 30's, and answer some listener comments.Links/Topics Mentioned In The ShowThe Invisible Sky Monster PodcastThe Skeprechauns PodcastThe Planet Japan YouTube ChannelThe Cognitive Dissonance PodcastThe Everyone's A Critic PodcastContemporary Newspaper Articles Of The BombingsInformation On The Milwaukee NewsInvisible Sky Monster Show Page With Mac Spoof VideosThe Evidence For Ancient Stone CuttingAudible Free Trial DealTheme Music By Jonathan CoultonSexy Music Was Pink Fuzz By The ProtagonistOther Music By Danosongs.comImages ReferencedCover Of Strange People By Frank EdwardsComparing Antarctica To Ancient DepictionsOther Golden Figures Claimed To Be Jets, But Clearly AnimalsMedieval Depiction Of A Sea Monster, Probably Based On Description Of A WhaleEnjoy the show!  Here's the transcript: Sun, 13 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.dumbassguide.info/blog.php?bid=125 http://www.dumbassguide.info/blog.php?bid=125 According to holidayinsights.com, which is the first link that comes up in Google when you do a search for "International Skeptics Day", today indeed was that vaunted day.... either that or January 13... or the first Friday the 13th of the year...Whatever date it falls on, it appears that the international skeptical community is completely unaware of the day supposedly meant to celebrate their skepticism.  The first two pages of Google search results for the day reveal no links to any skeptical website.   Although one website did provide an e-card to celebrate the day, which I guess makes it official.  Even if no skeptical organization recognizes the day, there's an e-card so it must be real!E-Card Image:As I mentioned, the main source for this information seems to come from holidayinsights.com, and they don't give any source on where they got this data from.  They also have a poor understanding of what skepticism is all about: Thu, 13 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.dumbassguide.info/blog.php?bid=124 http://www.dumbassguide.info/blog.php?bid=124 I've got the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire board game, and recently came across this question:Can't people at least be diligent enough to get their nonsense right?  Acupuncture has nothing to do with homeopathy!Just watch though, I'll bet as I'm writing this somebody is coming up with the idea of dripping homeopathic water on acupuncture needles. Mon, 03 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.dumbassguide.info/blog.php?bid=123 http://www.dumbassguide.info/blog.php?bid=123 I've just released the first episode of the Invisible Sky Monster podcast!  Those of you who've been paying attention know that I've been looking for something to do with my invisibleskymonster.com domain.  Something that would highlight the small time players in the Skeptical community.  Well, this is it!Of course, I'm going to keep doing the Dumbasses Guide To Knowledge.  But I wanted to also do something a little more social, where I get to actually interact with other people.  So I sent out feelers, and a number of people said they'd be willing to participate in this kind of chat with me.  So I got a couple of them together and made an episode.Each episode I plan on chatting with 2 friends from the skeptical community about anything that's on our minds.  It's a lot less work than my other podcast so I should be able to get out episodes more often.This episode I talk with religion critic Doug Delong, and gay rights advocate Infinite Monkey.It's was fun.  I hope you guys enjoy it!Episode Page:http://www.invisibleskymonster.com/blog.php?bid=128RSS Feed:http://feeds.feedburner.com/ISM_PodcastMP3 Download:http://feedproxy.google.com/%7Er/ISM_Podcast/%7E5/VMtTl6ekLig/ISM_Podcast_001.mp3 Tue, 27 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0400