Sat 26 May 2007
In this show:
* stoned voicemails
* a not very good definition of bloody mindedness
* why having a barbaric public health system is a good thing
* and a new Amateur Cognitive Science featuring animals, autism, artifical intelligence, eyes, hypnosis, and psychological experiments
* P.S. it turns out that the yabby is a kind of crayfish, just a very small one.
May 26th, 2007 at 7:25 pm
first comment!
May 27th, 2007 at 4:53 pm
first comment after tvindy!
’spose I should listen to the show now!
May 28th, 2007 at 12:36 am
First MuffinTot picture Comment!! Yay!
She’s beautiful! I half expected to find a black bar across her eyes to protect her identity.
May 28th, 2007 at 5:44 pm
Lovely Muffintot! Great to see her.
May 29th, 2007 at 10:57 am
beautiful, beautiful baby!
May 30th, 2007 at 6:53 am
“We have content coming out of our ears.” What a stunning visual that sentence creates.
On global warming not bring real: I’ve thought that all the scientists might be wrong, and that we could just be going through one of earth’s “cycles.” So I’ve never been a total subscriber to that theory, but I am still big on sustainable energy. Like Jana said, if it turned out to not be true, that doesn’t make weaning ourselves off oil a bad idea. My biggest worry is about the day we hit bottom on the oil reserves, making way for an apocalyptic future where only the outlaws have oil. Yes, my vision of the future is essentially The Road Warrior starring Australian superstar Mel Gibson.
America has some weird ideas about alternative fuel, as shown by this big NYT article today: Coal is repackaged as oil alternative. Really? Coal? What year is this, 1900? The Onion wrote a joke article about this in their book Our Dumb Century. McKinley Ushers In Coal Age can be found on the third page preview on Amazon.com.
I think we’re having a lot of confusion over the yabbie/crawfish/lobster thing, or at least I am. The first thing I thought of when I heard the yabbey description was crawfish. And the first sentence Google spits out on a “yabbie” search is ” Perhaps the best known freshwater crayfish in South Australia is the yabbie.” So are they the same? Where is the marine biologist in the audience?
May 30th, 2007 at 5:32 pm
Yes, it’s quite possible that global warming has nothing to do with human activity. Actually, for most of Earth’s history the poles haven’t been covered in ice like they are now. This is actually an unusual condition that probably can’t be sustained forever. Things will get warmer one way or another. Still, that doesn’t mean we’re not hastening the process
May 30th, 2007 at 11:29 pm
Ice isn’t unusual at the moment, though. For at least the last 2 million years the Earth has oscilated between glacial (ice-age) and interglacial (warmer) every 70,000 years or so, probably caused by the orbital excentricities of the Earth and/or changes in the Sun’s output. We’ve been in an interglacial for the last 11,000 years.
Not that I am advocating that it is sensible each year to burn the amount of fossil fuels that took a million years to lay down, as we currently do, but we are almost certain to have another ice-age soon - well, soon in geological terms, that is.
It is my sincere wish to die before the next glacial period - I have nothing but admiration for the plants and animals that managed to live through the last one.
Keys: keep a little bowl inside your front door. Whenever you come in, drop your keys in the bowl; then you always know where they are when you go out. After a bit you’ll develop an almost superstitious dread of not putting your keys in the bowl when you come in! This also fits in with this week’s cognitive science segment, because seeing the bowl on the way out also reminds you to take your keys with you.
May 31st, 2007 at 8:28 am
Yes, a little bowl. We do have one. But sometimes I come in the other door, or I’m carrying lots of stuff, or I really need to go to the toilet, or the door isn’t locked, so I don’t need to unlock it…oh look, I don’t want to talk about it.
June 1st, 2007 at 11:06 am
Great show title, by the way. Zan you’re a master grammarian.
It is interesting to me that there are so many who deny global warming. It is true that the only constant about the world is change. The issue is not the inevitably that the earth’s climate will indeed change, it is the pace and destructiveness of the change that WE are causing.
It is also puzzling to me that the largest group of deniers are Conservatives. It SHOULD be a primary cause for Conservatives. Is Conservatism not a philosophy defined as “holding to traditional values and cautious about change or innovation”. Well we know how our world functions now, wouldn’t we want to maintain that? Shouldn’t a Conservative be concerned about the changes in weather patterns that will come?
From what I’m reading, it’s not going to be horrible up here in Canada, but you guys in the U.S. are going to have problems. As it is, the CDC alone is concerned with the increased transmission of what were tropical diseases into the lower states.
Today I caught Bush starting to talk about decreasing energy demands and decreasing CO2 output. He evoked the Kyoto Accord, of which, the US is not a signatory. He called for a series of world talks that would last a period of 18 months. Guess what asshole will not be in office in 18 months!
I’m either stupid or confused.
(No mumbling!)
June 3rd, 2007 at 6:36 am
Here is an absolutely great podcast / book called 7th Son
2 books of the Triology have already been posted, check it out
http://www.jchutchins.net/7Son/Home/Home.html
June 4th, 2007 at 9:49 pm
Larrikin, I’m so glad you brought that up. I had the pleasure of interviewing J. C. Hutchins, and that will come out in an upcoming episode of Tvindy Time this month. (I assume you’re also listening to Zan’s book.)
June 19th, 2007 at 8:31 am
Hi Z&J!
I’m writing here because I haven’t listened to the next podcast, so I’m avoiding spoilers…
I hope you are all OK! I’ve read about the craziness and crime going on in Melbourne right now, and I worry. Blessings on all of you.
-V
June 20th, 2007 at 2:28 pm
Hi Vibeeen,
We’re fine. Luckily, never leaving the house means we never have to worry about being shot by drug crazed bikies. I’m sure we’ll have something else to say about it on our next show.