– Date – March 13, 2012
– Send your cool ‘SCIENCE!’ shout-outs to
.
– Theme song by Steve Seamans of the Daisy Dillman Band. Get the song HERE.

Skeptic History Notes

– Duncan MacDougall measured the weight of a human soul as 21 grams. Reported March 11, 1907.
– Giovanni Schiaparelli described “canali” on Mars, he was born March 14, 1835.
– Percival Lowell, primed by Schiaparelli’s illusory discovery, saw them too. He was born March 13, 1855.
– Rods were named by Jose Escamilla who first photographed them March 19, 1994.
– The “Phoenix Lights” UFO incident occurred March 13, 1997, 15 years ago this week.
– The 15th anniversary of the Heaven’s Gate cult tragedy is also this month, it occurred March 26, 1997.  We previously mentioned it on Skepticality episode #124.
– The 30th anniversary of the failed “Jupiter Effect” predictions is this month, it was supposed to happen March 10, 1982.  We previously talked about the Jupiter Effect on Skepticality episode #130 and episode #150.
– Skeptic History facts are posted daily on social media find out where on this page at the Skeptools blog.

Interview Notes

– Thank you to everyone who has been helping support Skepticality by purchasing from our book store or logo store!
– David McRaney is a journalist and science geek.
– His latest book is ‘You Are Not So Smart‘.
– Started out wanting to be a psychologist.
– His blog has been running for over three years which focuses on self-delusion and psychology research.
– First writing was on the famous ‘Invisible Gorilla’ effect.
– Attempts to slip under the radar and get a skeptical message out to a general audience.
– An argument between himself and his friends about brand loyalty and the Apple iPhone theft.
– Logical Fallacies are a big focus of Davids work.
– Popular science advocates, like Carl Sagan, pulled him out of a gullible family situation.
– The goal of the book is to chisel away at some of the deeply conservative views and ideas held by many these days.
– Things like the Dunning-Kruger Effect keep shows like American Idol on the air.
– Dunbar’s Number can tell us a lot about why we have too many friends on Facebook.
– Skeptics tend to unwittingly fall into the ‘Third Person Effect‘ now and then.
– We all tend to be conformists, even if we believe we are not.
– Online we all believe we are in our own Reality TV show centered around ourselves.
– David’s favorite fallacy or fuzzy thinking is Confirmation Bias.
– His newest item of interest is the ‘Backfire Effect‘ where people dig in more when shown evidence.
– Humor seems to be the best way to combat people who fall prey to some of the worst lines of thinking.
– You must chisel away at people who have deep seeded beliefs or ideas, to make a positive effect.
– We are not deeply rational and are all prone to biased thinking.
– Politicians should be required to read many of the newest books dealing with how our brains work.
– You can find David on his blog, his twitter handle, Google+, or the Not So Smart Facebook page.
– Thank you to everyone who has been purchasing books or Skepticality stuff from our stores.