Episode #97

News Items

    China follow up

    • First E-mail

      Dear Skeptics

      What a great pleasure it was to hear your guest Gareth’s analysis of China. So often your show is bogged down with science, experts and facts. It’s great to hear someone who ignores all that.

      My wife, who is Chinese, said she thought Gareth was just repeating uninteresting stereotypes and generalizations. I told her that’s because she hasn’t learnt how to think analytically or creatively.

      It’s great that none of you questioned anything that Gareth said and you took it all at face value. It really ruins the show when you ask your guests for evidence or for their sources. Good thing you didn’t bother to do that with Gareth. Having lived in China for 3 years, he is clearly an authority.

      I now see that I’ve been wasting my time reading articles and books about Chinese culture. I didn’t realise that all of the academics inside China are just making up their research and all the others are ‘bought’. About time you guys had the courage to agree with someone who denies the relevance of all other research but their own (or better still, just ignores it).

      Could you ask Gareth for his views on whether all Chinese people are bad drivers. And whether they are all good at maths.

      And could you also ask him why he thinks Chinese people have such an incorrect view of the US. Could it be that they just take at face value anything that they hear that fits their stereotypes? At least you guys don’t do that.

      Alan Alanson
      China

      Second E-mail

      Please do not use my last name, I am a Foreign Service Officer and critical comments about China might come back to haunt me.

      First things first, I love the show. I came across it back in January and have listened to all the previous podcasts. Listening to your podcast has actually made my commute something I look forward to.

      The interview of Gareth Hayes brought back lots of memories of my five plus years in China. I speak Ch

    • Recently, I discovered Kevin Trudeau’s newest text on weight loss on my local book store shelves. After asking around a bit in the store I learned that sales of Trudeau’s book are robust. After leafing through this ridiculous pile of nonsense I had a hard time containing my anger and disbelief…for two reasons. First, how could anyone be so stupid as to pay good money for such drivel? Secondly, it angered me because I know that Trudeau is now a mega millionaire, solely due to his duping of the pubic with his previous books.

      Steve, is anything being done to somehow show Trudeau’s true colors? Can anything be done?

      The straw that broke the camel’s back for me was when I saw Trudeau’s earlier natural cures book on my sister’s bookshelf. Mind you, my sister is an emergency room nurse.
      Is this a lost cause? Is the public free game to such predators?

      Chet Scerra

      References:
      Kevin Trudeau Banned from Infomercials
      www.ftc.gov/opa/2004/09/trudeaucoral.shtm

      Consumer Affairs calls book a ‘fraud’
      consumeraffairs.com/health/trudeau.html
      www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9006287/

      Salon article detailing Trudeau’s fraud
      dir.salon.com/story/books/feature/2005/07/29/trudeau/index_np.html?pn=1

    • I believe these photographs are genuine, do you have any knowledge of what this ‘drone’ could be and its propulsion system?
      (The following URL has 6 photographs – just scroll down)
      www.earthfiles.com/news.php?ID=1252&category=Environment

      There are also other sources of these pictures, but the photographer wishes to remain anonymous due to fear:
      www.ufocasebook.com/strangecraftlaketahoe.html

      Personally, I believe it to be a secret, but terrestrial, project.

      Regards,

      Matthew Rutherford

    Science or Fiction

    • Item #1 Science

      NASA scientists report that the chromosphere of the sun is powered and shaped by sound waves.

    • Item #2 Fiction

      New research shows that accents have a partial genetic basis.

    • Item #3 Science

      New study finds that moths use sound mimicry to avoid being eaten by bats.

    Skeptical Quote of the Week.