After being gone for a bit of time, I return to discuss where I have been, what to expect for the future (when more episodes will air), and if you need your fix of Dr. Stu, there is a new podcast that I have released with two of the co-hosts of The Reality Check podcast, entitled: 5 Minutes with an Astronomer. In this episode, I play four of the twenty-eight shows we have released so far.

Episode 170 - Interlude, and Another Podcast Endeavor

Richard Hoagland

In the final regular episode in the three-part Solar Eclipse of August 2017 series, several of the claims made by Richard Hoagland are addressed. Three types of claims are examined: Whether shadow bands indicate there are glass structures on the Moon, whether the Accutron watch readings indicate there is a hyperdimensional physics, and alleged disinformation.

Episode 169 - Modern Eclipse Lunacy, Part 3: Richard Hoagland's Claims

An exploration into four groups of fine-tuning arguments used by some to say that we are special: Solar outbursts, habitable zone, lunar origin and effects, and giant planets and impacts on Earth.

Episode 168 - Common (and False) Fine-Tuned Universe Beliefs, Discussed

The August 2017 total solar eclipse was seen by hundreds of millions of people, and yet some of them have tried to use it to promulgate pseudoscience. In this Part 2 episode, I discuss ideas about the eclipse promoted by proponents of the idea that Earth is flat.

Episode 167 - Modern Eclipse Lunacy, Part 2: Flat Earth

The half-truth and misconception addressed in this episode is whether the age of a star with error bars that overlap with the age of the universe means all of science is wrong and the universe was created 6000 years ago.

Episode 166 - Stellar Evolution, Age of the Universe, and Young-Earth Creationism

Three separate topics all tied together by a commonality: A little bit of something that you tend to only experience in space. First up is microgravity, then near-vacuum, and then what it means to have a temperature in space.

Episode 165 - Little Things in Space

The world did not end, again, on September 23, 2017. However, the story behind this latest doomsday prognostication may surprise you -- it did me as I investigated it.

Episode 164 - The World Didn't End on September 23, 2017

This past eclipse on August 21, 2017, was perhaps one of the most-hyped and most-viewed solar eclipses in human history. As with any such mass-sighted event, pseudoscience is bound to rear its ugly head. In this episode, I address doom and gloom, earthquake predictions, astrologic predictions, Planet X predictions, and other topics related to the eclipse.

Episode 163 - Modern Eclipse Lunacy, Part 1

Young-Earth creationists who are not geocentrists - those who accept the Copernican Revolution so far as Earth's place in the universe - have a vested interest in combatting some forms of pseudoscience, including geocentrism. In this episode, I lay out some of their more convincing arguments against geocentrism and point out that their methods of argument are very similar to scientists, which leads one to wonder about hoe much cognitive dissonance one mind can hold.

Episode 162 - Geocentrism, Take 2

Inspired by one of the longest-running primetime television shows in history, and frustration with late-night radio hosts pretending they can Science, this episode addresses two common misconceptions about the forces from and on water on our planet and their effects on human scales. I first discuss whether Coriols makes toilet bowls swirl in opposite directions in opposite hemispheres, and then whether the moon's tides are strong enough to affect the water in your body.

Episode 161 - Water on Earth— Coriolis and Tides

Listen to learn the real state of science behind astronomy-, physics-, and geology-related creationist claims, hoaxes, conspiracy theories, misconceptions, and bad or incomplete media reporting.

Awesome show debunking conspiracies as a good means of teaching science

One of my favorite podcasts. Wish he posted more episodes

Wow. I love this guy! Gotta a lot of catching up to do.

Yes! Yes!

Exposing PseudoAstronomy

In the first of many episodes on the Fake Story of Planet X, we delve into the feasibility of a planet on a 3600-year orbit that was made famous in part by the late Zecharia Sitchin.

Episode 23: The Fake Story of Planet X, Zecharia Sitchin, Part 1

"Parrot," AKA "Dumbass," has spent many hours on his own podcast and blog dissecting Ancient Aliens claims and evidence. In this episode, he shares some of what he's learned about the ideas, claims, and people involved.

Episode 18: Interview on Ancient Aliens with "Dumbass"

From forming the moon by budding it off Earth in the last episode, we go to forming the planets by them budding off the Sun. This is mainly an idea by the late Tom van Flandern, and I go through his model, his evidence for it, and the evidence against it, and there is a discussion of some of his surviving advocates.

Episode 106: A Fission Origin for the Planets, Part 2

A Q&amp;A and discussion happened after I gave my presentation at the Launceston Skeptics in the Pub (Episode 99). Listen in as we talk about the goals of skepticism, what other kinds of astronomy topics there are, and about real astronomy observations.

Episode 102: Q&A and D at the Launceston Skeptics in the Pub

Xenon-129 was discovered in abundance by the Viking landers on Mars. Xenon-129 can only be produced in nuclear reactions, so claims John E. Brandenburg. Ergo, Mars was murdered in a vast nuclear exchange. Or was it?

Episode 86: Was Mars Murdered?

While I talked briefly about the fission model of lunar origins in Episode 53, it deserves a more in-depth discussion, especially as a setup for the next episode about a fission formation for the planets, from the sun. This episode takes you through a historic context and justifications for the "Big Split," but it ultimately why it has been rejected by the scientific community today.

Episode 105: A Fission Origin for the Moon, Part 1

We've discussed the geographic pole shift on this podcast, now we address the other kind - could Earth's magnetic pole shift, flip, or have something bad happen to it in 2012?

Episode 25: The Magnetic Pole Shift

Around 2008, the claim that Jewish holidays occurring during a Blood Moon in 2014 and 2015 was going to signal the Apocalypse. The claim persists in some circles today. Exploring the nature of eclipses and the Jewish calendar itself sheds some light onto the basic claim.

Episode 85: Blood Moons, Jewish Holidays, and the End of All Things

David Sereda

David Sereda started as a UFOlogist who became interested in "alternative" energy, propulsion, and anti-gravity. Over the years, he branched out into what most would term a general 'new age' movement with quantum vibration jewelry and harmonic resonances. In this second of two parts, I discuss numerous varied claims that he has made related to basic science, physics, and astronomy, that illustrate various misunderstandings of each field.

Episode 84: David Sereda's Claims Clip Show, Part 2

Explores claims made by "Mars anomalists" that the Cydonia region of Mars (the region with the "Face on Mars") was constructed, designed, or arranged by intelligent aliens. This episode takes you through the context of the claim, some of the math behind it, an exploration of the "null hypothesis" (what the results would be if it were purely random), and draws conclusions based on the latest orbital imagery of Mars. (Note: This episode is inended as a companion to the video, also in the podcast feed and on YouTube, by the same name. It is stand-alone, however.)

Episode 111 - The Cydonia Region of Mars

John Lear

An accomplished arline pilot and son of the inventor of the Lear Jet, John Lear has some rather interesting ideas about the universe. Discussed in this episode are just a few: The atmosphere of Venus, atmosphere of the moon, and lunar formation. Pareidolia is also talked about in detail.

Episode 19: John Lear

Some people claim that Eath's geographic poles did, are, or will be moving around dramatically. Here's a look at some of their mechanisms and evidence.

Episode 21: The Geographic Pole Shift, Part 1

This is the story of a time in the present, a time of myth and legend. When the ancient tales are petty and cruel, and they will return to plague mankind with suffering. Only one group dared to challenge the disinformation machine, led by a man named Marshall Masters. Masters possesses an intellect the truth movement rarely sees, being a member of Mensa, an intellect surpassed only by the power of his heart to get the word out. He journeyed the internet and late-night radio programs, battling the minions of the evil disinformationers, and the all-powerful NASA.

Episode 109 - The Fake Story of Planet X, Part 9 - Marshall Masters

Imagine, if you will, that NASA sent two spacecraft out into the solar system, launched in 1972 and 1973. Their sexy encounters with Jupiter and Saturn over a mere two and six years later, respectively, they were alone and pretty much forgotten by most of the world that had watched their launch, though they continued to return data to interested scientists. It was only when something weird was observed, first as early as the 1980s, but not seriously investigated until 1994, that the world began to again take notice, and as is often the case of something unexplained, everyones' pet idea came out of the wood work.

Episode 110 - Solar System Mysteries "Solved" by PseudoScience, Part 2 - The Pioneer Anomaly

Also released to YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_C4bFfATGY  Explores claims made by "Mars anomalists" that the Cydonia region of Mars (the region with the "Face on Mars") was constructed, designed, or arranged by intelligent aliens. This episode takes you through the context of the claim, some of the math behind it, an exploration of the "null hypothesis" (what the results would be if it were purely random), and draws conclusions based on the latest orbital imagery of Mars.

Also released to YouTube: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_C4bFfATGY" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_C4bFfATGY</a>  Explores claims made by "Mars anomalists" that the Cydonia region of Mars (the region with the "Face on Mars") was constructed, designed, or arranged by intelligent aliens. This episode takes you through the context of the claim, some of the math behind it, an exploration of the "null hypothesis" (what the results would be if it were purely random), and draws conclusions based on the latest orbital imagery of Mars.

Movie Episode 1 - The Cydonia Region of Mars

Any legitimate field of science or scientific object is fair game for young-Earth creationists in their attempts to sew doubt about an old universe. Somehow, Jupiter is dependent on evolution and since Jupiter can't be old, evolution can't have happened, therefore Goddidit many (where many = 6) thousands of years ago. Or not.

Episode 103: Does Jupiter Support Young-Earth Creationism?

Find out why there is no physical mechanism proposed by 2012ers that could cause a geographic pole shift, and also how to tell whether or not we have gone through one recently or are going through one now.

Episode 22: Proof We Are Not Experiencing a Pole Shift, Part 2

In 2008, and ever since, young-Earth creationists have claimed that MESSENGER spacecraft results from the planet Mercury indicate that Mercury's magnetic field has been decreasing, in-line with creationist Russell Humphreys' prediction back in 1984. Find out if the data support this, and if there are other explanations. Or, if we need to throw out an old Mercury for a recently created one.

Episode 112 - Is Mercury's Magnetic Field Decaying? Does that Prove Recent Creation?

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