Topic: Episode #85

[Dave The Drummer]

Oh man this is a really superb episode and I'm only half way through.
Skirmishing with the true believers !
Fantastic.
 

[a3maniac]

Sounds like there was some edited out content after Steve described toothbrushing as "something that you do every day that involves a sort of rhythmic stimulation.... that didn't sound right."

Damn, that was so hot, Steve!

I think soon the SGU will need an explicit tag on iTunes.

[Mike]

Sounds like there was some edited out content after Steve described toothbrushing as "something that you do every day that involves a sort of rhythmic stimulation.... that didn't sound right."

Damn, that was so hot, Steve!

I think soon the SGU will need an explicit tag on iTunes.

I'm guessing if they WOULD have left the stuff we didn't hear in.  It would have had an explicit tag.  Skeptics gone wild!!

[a3maniac]

Skeptics gone wild!!

Now there's a theme for the next skepchick/skepdude calendars!

[Roy P]

*Wonderful* episode!

Paul suggested:
> then click "Scientific Evidence"

And thanks for the link, Paul. Very funny

[champagnej]

Doctor Atkins ...

Well ... where do I start?

I HATE this guy.  No, I mean I really - quite literally - white-hot despise this guy.  In fact I'm glad he's dead, and I don't give a damn what anyone thinks about me saying that.  I say this in the interests of full disclosure, (and more importantly to vent my spleen).


I hated that man, I abhorred this man, but even worse is the support he gets from some otherwise reasonable people who want to retrospectively grant him a free pass for quackery after the fact.  


Atkins was a quack.  He lived as a quack, and he died a quack.  I don't give a good goddamn what the studies, (that he should have done before opening his slimy trap in the first place), say now - it doesn't change that fact.  If the diet has merit, we'll find out and that's all well and good, but Atkins himself can still kiss my shiny metal butt.

For several years I have also been shitting on Dr Atkins whenever he or his diet rears it's head.  A couple of years ago, during it's initial resurgence, I worked with at least 10 people on the diet.  A year later: still fatties, fewer and fewer mentions of the great Dr Atkins.  I like to think that my constant Atkins bashing got them all to quit.  Although more than likely, they just hate talking to me.  Or seeing me.  Or thinking of me.

[Mike]

To add my own anecdotal evidence (gasp! )to the Dr Atkins thing.  I lost 50lbs and a friend of mine lost 100lbs on that diet about a year and a half ago and we've manager to keep it off.  I did quit the diet after I lost my 50lbs, but I didn't go to my old crappy habits and now make much more sensible choices about what I consume.

I'm not endorsing the diet in any way, nor am I implying that it works or that it will work for anyone.  But it worked for me.  And I've managed to keep it off.  Though I guess that's on a case-by-case basis.

[TonyInBatavia]

Hear! Hear! The episode was supreme. After listening to it the first time, I started at the beginning and listened again. I don't do that very often. Nor do I find myself literally laughing out loud when listening to a podcast, but I did just that several times with this episode. The banter, the stories, the fun ... it was just a blast to be on the listening end of this one. I always love it when the rogues crawl all over each other to get in the next line in response to some believer's nonsense. Rebecca's line (at 30:07) after they told the story of the old lady at the museum asking what happened to the boys -- "Perry, show me on the doll where science touched you" -- has me rolling every time I think about it. If there were an SGU Classic Channel, this episode would be in heavy rotation.

And IRON MAN, props to you on the re-recreation of the photographic evidence. As has been noted many time by others throughout this forum, you've got mad, mad skills!

Minutes past Kook,

[cyth]

My flu diet appears to beat the crap out of most of them... lost 8 pounds in 3 days, and I didn't have to go to work.  So there.

[wallet55]

Doctor Atkins ...

Well ... where do I start?

I HATE this guy.  No, I mean I really - quite literally - white-hot despise this guy.  In fact I'm glad he's dead, and I don't give a damn what anyone thinks about me saying that.  I say this in the interests of full disclosure, (and more importantly to vent my spleen).

I tremble at the idea of running opposite iron man, before whom I kneel and say, he rules this forum. However, Atkins, while a huckster, is not IMO, simply a quack.
I will say from the start that i am speaking from personal experience, always a risk, but so did Iron man. I lost 40 pounds with ultra low carb (did not ever really finish the atkins book, as it was more salesmanship than diet book). I have kept this weight off for 3.5 years and am in fact a participant in the Brown long term weight loss study. (they hate me, because i am the outlier in almost all their studies). Full disclosure: i lost the weight on atkins    (not exactly atkins, but no other diet describes what i did better than atkins) but i also exercised quite a bit, and still do, which is a lot easier to do when you are 40 pounds lighter. Very very clearly, ultra low carb is an effective way to lose weight, and very very clearly, it is not a long term strategy (I have added back a limited amount of whole grains, but abhor sugar and potatoes.)

Skeptics need to apply a lot of skepticism to diets in general and the whole low fat dogma that has ruled the dietary chain for a long time, despite very limited evidence. Indeed, the history of the low fat mantra is more political than scientific, and this most recent diet points out what was true for me: low fat is the most difficult way to lose weight.

low carb is at least a valid diet strategy, and in my opinion, unjustly maligned.

Forgive me Iron Man....

[heliocentricra]

Was it just me, or did someone whipser the answer to science or fiction after it was read out?

Yeah, that was some "Stairway to Heaven" backwards shit right there. What the hell was that?

[skidoo]

Now as you may have guessed, my wife is  a believer of woo-woo notions generally and not exactly playing with a full deck.  She was raised a Jehovah's Witness and thus trained from birth to accept nonsense as fact and dismiss anything evidence-based out of hand, (which she does with an astounding lack of mental effort).  Don't get me wrong, I love this woman, and that's all a separate issue for me, (and I 100% tolerate people believing whatever they wish), but it doesn't change the fact - she's a total head-case when it comes to Atkins.

Job reincarnated (---^). What further proof do we need of God's righteous awesomeness?

[skidoo]

Imagine if we really were 20 years behind... we'd be wearing late 80s fashions, with late 80s hair. I cannot actually conceive of anything more terrifying. An era best forgotten.

No way man. I'd totally jump in that time machine.  

[geoffI]

When I saw the first page I thought it said "Battle of the DEISTS"

I thought that would have been much more fun.

 

[skidoo]

And one more thing about those Skeptiko jokers: Far from being "dismissive," in my experience skeptics tend to be more likely to be both steeped in the relevant trivia and more generally knowledgable about the various paranormal claims.

I don't know about the rest of y'all, but I eat that crap up. One of my favorite old books (that's lived on my nightstand for a couple decades now) is one of those big coffee table size Reader's Digest compendiums called Mysteries of the Unexplained. I think I speak for a lot of us when I say that I would be absolutely *thrilled* if some of these claims were demonstrated to be true. Dissmissive? Puh-lease!

But anyway: Battle of the podcasts? Ha! I wonder if they'll respond...?