It's been a while since I've done this new-fangled weblogging technology, but I caught an episode of The Colbert Report last night featuring popular evolution spokesperson Ken Miller. My favorite quote not in the embedded section: "My guest Kenneth Miller is here to debunk Intelligent Design. I think he'll be surprised by my stockpiles of bunk."
Now the interview.
Showing posts with label video. Show all posts
Showing posts with label video. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Ken Miller on The Report
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Why did they have to put all the sad music behind it?
Here is a time-lapsed video of a man stuck in an elevator for 41 hours. I found it interesting to watch. I think I would have acted approximately the same way. Thanks to PZ for sharing.
Continue Reading...Monday, April 7, 2008
Never Gonna Give This Joke Up
Since no one likes posts with too many videos, here's a post with merely one.
You all know who the Westboro Baptist Church is, right? Fred Phelps, "God Hates Fags", the whole bit. You also know, I'm sure, of Rickrolling.
What happens when we put the two together?
Not much, it turns out.
I feel bad for the kid with the "God hates the USA" sign. How can any group, cult or no, consider that moral? Oh, and "Mourn for your sins"? I mourned for mine when they died years ago, after I realized I was creating them myself. I'm glad to be rid of them.
-Thanks to my sweetie.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Adorable Little Sniper Girl
I want to say up front that this isn't a political post. It does, however, contain content regarding one of our Presidential candidates here in America who was apparently caught in a lie, or at least an embellishment. Full disclosure.
Mrs. Clinton gave a speech a few days ago in which she recalled a trip to Bosnia in the '90s. She said,
I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base.Others remember the story slightly differently. You can read about it at Ed Brayton's blog or The Washington Post, or you can just watch this funny video.
Continue Reading...
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Steven Fishman
After the infamous Tom Cruise video of a few months ago, the 'tubes were abuzz with this and other Scientology videos. However, these videos had in common that they were only for humor, making Cruise or other Scientologists look crazy. Not all videos must be this way, however.
Courtesy of Penny Arcade I came across the Steven Fishman Deposition. As part of a lawsuit with the Church, former member Fishman recorded on video his experiences in and about Scientology. To get a peek into the mind of what Scientologists actually think, this video is an invaluable tool. Words can only do so much, so I post the videos here. They're long, and there are a lot of them, but if you've got some spare time this isn't a bad way to spend it.
Comments on video 1
16ish minutes: The jargon is maddening! When the lawyer asks about some words, Fishman laughs and starts throwing extra jargon at him, apparently on purpose.
23:30: Scientologists are like Q. They got bored being infinitely powerful and removed their own powers for fun. Also, Fishman mentions the tone scale here; boredom is 2.5.
26ish - PDCs (Philadelphia Doctorate Courses) teach you how to create your own universe. I'll have to read those.
Whether you've watched none, all, or any number in between, post thoughts in the comments below.
Monday, March 10, 2008
And My Wife
I saw this very funny video today on Swift. How have I not heard of this guy, Tim Minchin, before?
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Natural Male Imprisonment
On this day, I urge everyone to remember the reason anyone knows about Enzyte at all: their commercials. A discussion of the epistemological status of Enzyte and other "natural enhancement" pills commences below, but first let us watch some funny videos.
According to the manufacturer's website, Enzyte "includes Korean red ginseng, ginkgo biloba, zinc, and octacosanol." According to Enzyte's Wikipedia entry, no clinical effect has been proved.
I'm feeling a lot of guilt right now for putting off my homework, so rather than take the time to thoroughly go through the ingredients and claims and so forth, I'll refer you to sage advice given by the Federal Trade Commission in 1998.
Thanks to Ed Brayton.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Kotaku on JT's NIU Claims
School shootings are horrible tragedies. I want to be clear right from the start that no one should be made to endure a loved one's murder or suicide, particularly in such a painful and public manner.
In the aftermath of such an event, we all want to know why it happened. But speculating about motives before we have concrete information is foolish in the least and can be harmfully misleading. Mere speculation, though, can be forgiven. Using a tragedy to advance a wholly unrelated agenda cannot.
It is with this in mind that we watch a video of one infamous Florida attorney, whom we followers of video game culture sometimes call He Who Must Not Be Named. Inexplicably, this man is allowed on Fox News to throw out his claims that major tragedies are caused by video games. The shooting at NIU on the 14th was no exception.
An analysis of the claims in this clip has been made by Brian Crecente of Kotaku, which I will reproduce for you here.
Wonderful skeptical analysis of an opportunist. Kudos to Crecente, and I wish I had wrote it myself.
Verdict: False
Evidence: While the study of adolescents by Harvard and Indiana university researchers found that video games can spur "emotional arousal" and lower self-control it never made that final leap. In fact David S. Bickham, a research scientist at the Center on Media and Child Health at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, told the Washington Post that the study, while interesting, wasn't conclusive.
Verdict: False
Evidence: Va Tech shooter Seung-Hui Cho only had a passing interest in gaming years before the shoot[ing]. A lawyer tried to draw a connection between the game Doom and Columbine shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, but that was tossed out by a federal judge. Paducah shooter Michael Carneal also played Doom, but that was found to not be connected to the shooting. Video game as murder simulator and training tool just doesn't hold any water.
Verdict: Not exactly true
Evidence: While it is true that Steinhauser and Cho both played Counter-Strike at some point in their lives, with more than a million copies sold, that could probably be said of a lot of college students. Saying that Cho "trained on" the game is a bit of a stretch.
Verdict: Likely false
Evidence: The description by those present don't make it sound like he had a flat affect. One person said "It looked like a theatrical thing the way he walked onto the stage." Others described his behavior leading up to the shooting as erratic. Not surprising of a man who had recently been dumped by his girlfriend and had stopped taking his medication, possibly anti-depressants. Simply wearing black doesn't mean he was dressing up like the "hero" from Counter-Strike.
Verdict: True
Evidence: Jack did indeed write a book, and I think he lost his train of thought about two decades ago.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Nutating?
I love to see scientists, particularly physicists, interacting with the broader culture. And vice versa, of course. That's why I was tickled to flip on Conan last Friday and see MIT physics professor Peter Fisher entertaining the crowd with science and wit.
No, I'm not joking; he was actually funny. See for yourself.
[EDIT: See bottom]
From this we can conclude:
Oh, and nutating is a cool word.
UPDATE: Well, NBC has asserted its right to not have its videos hosted on YouTube. That's fine: they do hold the copyright to these recordings and if they decide their property should not be hosted on a popular website then the videos should be removed. I just wish they would do a little better about allowing an approved legal way to embed videos.
If you're so inclined, you can go the the Conan video site, choose Friday, February 8, and watch the second chapter of the episode. I know it's cumbersome, but for now that's the way it has to be. I knew these videos would be removed eventually (and verification that I predicted this is borne in this page's url), but I didn't think it would happen within a few hours of me posting them. Perhaps if someone hadn't put them on his wildly more popular site, they'd still be enjoyable by us all (but probably not).
Thanks to commenter PJ.
UPDATE 2: Thanks, Blake, for pointing the way to new videos. Those didn't exist when I looked, but the shifting sands of the interweb have tricked and confused many men before me so it's no shame I missed them. That's what I'll keep telling myself.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Quacks and Their Nostrums
Via NeuroLogica I found a video from the 1950s about products with bogus health claims. It's a must-watch. The description from the video's poster captures its essence:We're used to laughing at videos from the 1950's which show overly-conservative social values, stereotypes and primitive science. However this video shows how we may have taken a few steps backward.
Although it may contain some 1950's sexism and idealism, it illustrates how medical education and regulations seem to have gone in the wrong direction in recent times.
Questionable medicine and quackery is a bigger problem now then ever.
Listen to this. It may be old. It's more relevant than ever
This video is great in that it's exactly what people need to know about these "cures:" they aren't typically dangerous themselves, but prevent or delay real treatment; testimonials are less than worthless; the process of cracking down on violations is laborious and twisted, but it can be done.
The video is horrible, however, in that America hasn't learned a thing in fifty years! In fact, this situation has gotten worse. From Steve Novella:A couple of things have changed since the making of this film. The most obvious is the shameless and direct fashion that the actors talk about “quacks.” There is no bowing to misguided political correctness or false open-mindedness. That was a time when quacks were quacks, before con artists and health frauds became savvy enough to hide behind conspiracy theories, cries for health care freedom, and appeals to post-modernist anti-scientific jargon.
Not to mention that "medicine" of this nature is funded by the government through NCCAM, and is given a legal double standard through DSHEA.
How can we progress in bringing medical skepticism to the public when we seem to have been losing ground for decades?
Monday, December 17, 2007
YouTubing Randi
If you've ever got some spare time, you can find all kinds of great educational videos on YouTube of some of your favorite people. Dawkins, for instance, or Feynman, but especially Randi. Randi has had some great TV moments and a lot of them are preserved on YouTube. I found a few videos today that I hadn't seen before and I wanted to put some of them up. There are three parts to an interview of Randi with Penn and Teller. In one part they reference Peter Popoff, and I've also put up the video of that affair. Forgive me if you've seen any of these.
The reason that I want to put them up is primarily to combat the notion that skepticism and cynicism are the same ism. There's a good bit in one of the interviews where Penn and Randi discuss that notion, and I enjoyed watching it. Sadly, it is very short, but I think it's powerful nonetheless.
These aren't in the order of their titles, but I don't think it matters. The first discusses skepticism and cynicism (with a little pet psychic thrown in), the second is about the million dollar challenge. The third is a bit longer—about 8 minutes—and mentions Popoff. Then the fourth is about the definitive debunking of Popoff's ministry. I encourage you to watch many more. There's great investigation there on YouTube.
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Pictures
I saw a funny picture on Pharyngula and couldn't help but put it up. The site from which it came, fukung.net, is loaded with hilarity. I'll post the ones I found relating to skepticism, and one video that's just plain funny.
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Mass Thought Mumbo Jumbo
A few months ago, I was introduced to Ian Crossland via YouTube. After watching a few of his 223 video, such as this one,
I decided that this guy was just a nut and possibly high. However, a few days later, fellow poster Flavin directed me to this page. It appears the Mr. Crossland is an actor of the unknown kind. This led me to believe that Mr. Cossland may not be as vacuous as he appears to be in his video. Perhaps is it a way of building an acting resume of sorts. When auditioning, he can now say, "Look. I have a bunch of people believing I'm nuts." This is probably wishful thinking though.
In response to the above video, it is obvious that he does not have any idea what a dimension is. But who knows, maybe the 7th dimension is puppies. I do have some favorite quotes.
"Perception is truth in the 6th dimension."
"That's what people mean when they say 'stay grounded'. Literally, stay in this dimension"
"I feel like it's the 6th dimension."
I also wanted to include this second video because it made me laugh. I think that is why I watch him. When my brain cannot process what he is saying, I have no choice but to laugh.
I hope you enjoyed these videos. I will post the funny ones as I sort through some of his 200+ videos. I will probably stick to the ones on quantum mechanics though. Oh, here is his personal website. There is not much to it though.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
I Get a Feeling in the Head... or Maybe the Chest
Another from Saint Gasoline:
And, since we're on the subject of cold reading, I must remind you that South Park has done the definitive treatment of the subject, and John Edward in particular.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
DI and plagarism
Well, the folks at the intelligent design think tank The Discovery Institute apparently do know how to recognize good design when they see it. At least when it comes to slickly produced videos showing computer-generated cellular processes.
The story is that several members of the Discovery Institute, such as Bill Dembski, have been showing a video produced for Harvard by company XVIVO called "The Inner Life of the Cell" (short version here and long version here). In fact, some of you may remember it as the video Brandeis showed during his research seminar talk.
The problem is that the DI fellows strip off the credits and attribution from the end. Also they edit their own "narration" over it. Oh, also, when I say "story," I mean there's video evidence. SA Smith has the story at ERV.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Hot Electricity and Cold Innumeracy
I'm not sure if you knew this (I sure didn't), but you can operate a Tesla coil at a selected frequency. If this frequency is in the human auditory range, you'd hear it as a not-so-clear pitch. Yes, by tuning a few parameters, you can pick out a note you want the coil to sing. And maybe if you wire up some sort of controller to a computer for quick preprogrammed switching of notes, you could make a whole song.
And if you had two, why, imagine the possibilities! You could play all sorts of music. For instance... Tchaikovsky's Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.
Also on the plate for today is a heartwarming story I found on Good Math, Bad Math about a courageous young woman fighting against the establishment. The Man, it seems, is trying to slap down this poor Brit with negative numbers!
A lottery ticket in the UK called Cool Cash gave you a temperature at the top, and you would win if you could scratch off temperatures below the given temperature. I'll let the "victim" tell the rest.On one of my cards it said I had to find temperatures lower than -8. The numbers I uncovered were -6 and -7 so I thought I had won, and so did the woman in the shop. But when she scanned the card the machine said I hadn’t.
I phoned Camelot and they fobbed me off with some story that -6 is higher - not lower - than -8 but I’m not having it.
And for commentary, I turn to Mark Chu-Carroll:I love that "I'm not having it" line. That's a classic.
What I find particularly surprising is that this isn't just math - it's just a basic, minimal awareness of your surroundings. We're talking about adults here - people who've clearly lived through plenty of winters, where the temperature in Great Britain routinely drops below zero degrees celsius. That means that these people don't know that when it's -10, it's colder than when it's -2! To me, this seems to be on about the same intellectual level as trying to eat wax fruit, because you don't know he difference between it and real fruit.
UPDATE: I thought the Tchaikovsky was cool enough, but then I had to go and find out they play Mario too.
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