490 – Guest: Dave Plumb – Climate change crisis: What are the odds?

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Feb 022017
 

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oil well

When it comes to climate, one theory holds that there’s a fifty-fifty chance that we’ll be unable to adapt to climate change 90% of the time. For the other 10% of the time there’s still a fifty-fifty chance that our odds will remain even. Of course, it depends on which side of the C02 / carbon tax issue you’re on, and on which political party you support.

Sound confusing? Confusing us is the whole point of playing the percentages warns Dave Plumb, who joins us today for a continuing discussion about both the science and politics of climate change.

Here’s a 100% certainty: CO2 production is a natural and healthy occurrence. You could even say that efforts to rid our planet of CO2 are unnatural and unhealthy.

Playing the percentages is just one of the ways politicians justify “fighting climate change” by taxing CO2 production.

Citing man-made CO2 production as a reason for “fighting climate change” – and in turn using the “fight against climate change” as a premise for taxing man-made CO2 – is a circular and fraudulent way to impose a new tax that will neither reduce world CO2 levels nor prevent climate change. Continue reading »

440 – Legal ease / Feminist protection racket / The gravity of gravity / Rand crater

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Feb 182016
 

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Binary black hole

Topics:
00:03 Legal ease: Christie Blatchford on feminism and the Ghomeshi trial, challenging the ‘women never lie’ myth, the Bill Cosby connection, feminist politics in the police department
16:50 Feminist protection racket: Woman first person second, Jian Ghomeshi’s lawyer Marie Henein, feminist Megan Walker, protecting women from being held accountable for their actions, lawyer Phil Millar, the polarization of public opinion on Ghomeshi,
34:55 The gravity of gravity: gravity wave breakthrough, LIGO, disturbance in fabric of space-time, practicality of gravity waves, Einstein’s theory confirmed, global positioning technology
50:05 Rand’s crater: The naming of Uranus, naming the craters on Venus, public input to naming planet features, Robert’s 25-year-old submission to name a crater on Venus after Ayn Rand, Rand Crater 59:42 END

410 – Plutonian reactions / Mars attracts!

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Jul 232015
 

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Pluto

 
 
 
 

Topics:
00:07 Simply astronomical! astronomical events and anniversaries, moon landings, the moon as a planet, supermoon, Einsteinian oddity, same supernova observed repeatedly, lost generation of monster stars, Asteroid day warning, threats to civilization
23:10 Plutonian reactions: New Horizons spacecraft arrives at Pluto, fastest speeds, a light comparison, significant and unexpected discoveries on Pluto, dwarf planet, universal patterns
34:22 Mars attracts! Mars One Mission to Mars, one-way mission, psychological challenges of living on Mars, space isolation and depression, mission unto death, ‘lie to fly’ culture, entertaining a two-way mission to Mars, looking ahead on human space travel
46:45 Dwarfed by significance: planetary debate about Pluto, discovery of Aires, International Astronomical Union, defining ‘planet’, dwarf planet, the sun as a planet, planetary properties, astronomically defined by the company you keep, making the definitions relevant, re-thinking ‘planet’, Pluto still a planet
1:02:20 END

387 – Bode’s flaw / Vacuous notions on vaccinations / Capitalism: the moral system

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Feb 122015
 

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Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal

 
 
 
 

Topics:
00:07 Astro-logic about life on other worlds: imagining a galaxy teeming with life, Bode’s law, exo-planet systems, habitable planets in the millions, not necessarily earth-like, Bode’s flaws, stable planetary systems, habitable zones around red and yellow dwarf stars, lack of metalicity, the Goldilock’s principle
12:50 Vacuous notions on vaccinations: the anti-vaccine controversy, role of the internet, fears of vaccines as a cause of autism are unfounded, finding conspiracies in the face of contrary evidence, fallibility of science, science is self-skeptical, Kant and Plato, government and medical business
29:15 Capital schisms on capitalism: science and capitalism, conference – Capitalism in today’s society, only one form of capitalism, socialism, the mixed-economy myth, why capitalism is losing the political war against it, Adam Smith and the invisible hand
44:40 Discovery, not invention: Conrad Black’s pragmatic defense of capitalism, concealing capitalism’s definition, socialists in capitalist clothing, discovering capitalism, capitalism is a moral system – not an economic system 56:52 END

309 – Rolling Stone / Light bulb ban / Cell phone grab / Stellar dialogue zone

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Jul 182013
 

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309_Cell_Phone_168X100

 
 
 
 

Topics:
03:25 Un The Cover Of Rolling Stone: Rolling Stone Cover, Boston Bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, musician’s lament, David Michael Draiman, glorifying violence, polarization, low voter turnout, civility in politics, what we decide matters, voting reform, voting on line, disagreement is part of politics, party politicians, killing the debate through unity, democracy vs majority rule
18:28 No IncandeSense: 2014 federal incandescent bulb ban, stockpiling light bulbs, Green Energy Act, rationing electricity, London Free Press a disservice to readers, the public record, London West byelection, Al Gretzky, London Free Press poll, a brief history of Toronto’s Casa Loma, Sir Henry Pellatt, federal NDP, Thomas Mulcair, Quebec train disaster, Lac Megantic, regulating in the public interest, no tragedy should go to waste
32:10 A Phone-y Issue: emergency phone system – 999, phones are a distraction, distracted drivers, cell phone bans, Stephen Orser, Ali Chahbar, object of distraction: electronic communication or entertainment device, subject of behaviour: drivers, no due process of law, statutory misbehaviour, more police powers no answer
47:10 Exoplanets: Any Life Signs? earth-like planets, Gliese 667 Cc, exoplanets, knowledge is existence, a discovery happens only once, Pluto is still a planet, planet types: rocky gas dwarf, only 22 light years from earth, interstellar communication, ESI Earth similarity index, alien life signs, Robert’s Dialogue Zone, stellar communication zone is 30 light years 58:32 END

247 – In the beginning was the word / Quantum philosophy / The Sky at Night

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Apr 262012
 

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247 - Patrick Moore 168x100

 
 
 
 

“In The Beginning Was The Word…” – On The Origins Of Reason
If It Wasn’t Written, Did It Happen?
God Plays With Loaded Dice – Taking A Quantum Leap In Thinking About The Universe
Things Are Looking Up – In The Sky At Night

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