The Skeptics Guide #851 - Oct 30 2021 (Ad Free)
Added 2021-10-30 15:44:35 +0000 UTCWhat's the Word: Chirality; News Items: Creepy Parasite, Lab Grown Coffee, Organoid Research, Conspiracies and COVID, Death by Exorcism; Who's That Noisy; Your Questions and E-mails: Peak Uranium; SGU Recommends; Science or Fiction
Comments
Dirtysexyhistory.com has an interesting view point on Gilles de Rais.
Christopher Bird
2021-11-06 12:45:45 +0000 UTCAt the end of the podcast there is discussion about Elizabeth Bathory, with claims that she was a prolific serial killer although Cara expressed some doubts about this. Coincidentally, I listened to an episode of MonsterTalk in September ( https://www.monstertalk.org/235-hungarian-ghoulish-the-elizabeth-bathory-mystery/ ) that provided evidence that most of these crimes were fabricated by others in order to gain political power. I'm not an expert but it seemed to me that the evidence against Bathory was pretty weak.
Christopher Pohl
2021-11-02 03:38:11 +0000 UTCChirality figures into the Becky Chambers book, _To Be Taught, If Fortunate_. I recommend her stuff; some of the few examples of sci-fi that's not about a war or other large-scale violence.
The Illuminaughty
2021-10-31 19:44:06 +0000 UTChttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baHsoEAAMZU
The Illuminaughty
2021-10-31 19:40:11 +0000 UTCand please don't invade us we are mostly friendly
Ville Kuitunen
2021-10-31 13:43:51 +0000 UTCWhy do we drink so much coffee in Finland? It's not about the cold or anything like that. According to experts there are several reasons: 1. Coffee is very cheap in Finland because retailers sell it as "loss leader" to attract customers 2. The size of the cup is bigger than in most countries - many Finns prefer to drink from a mug 3. Social and cultural aspect: Finns keep "coffee breaks" all the time and these really are coffee breaks, at work for example. As a luxury product coffee was rationed for a long time and became kind of "mystical" and difficult to get. Then when it finally became available Finns went crazy for coffee. Every occasion, everywhere, coffee is served. So it just happened. Some years ago a panel selected the most typical Finnish phrase in history and it was "Ei minua varten tarvii keittää", literally "You don't have to cook coffee just for my sake" combining the modesty of Finns with their thirst for this black gold! I suppose most Nordic countires, at least Sweden, have a similar thing going on.
Ville Kuitunen
2021-10-31 13:42:09 +0000 UTC
