Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Changes are afoot for this podcast

I recently expressed my frustration to the Unseen Podcast team about the internal processes of the podcast, and how it is too stressful for me to continue with it as is. Our audience continues to grow, but our engagement within the team has not grown with it. So, either we need to fix the process, find new team members who can really help out, or end the podcast. I would rather not do the latter, if we can find a way.

Over the next 2-3 weeks, we will be looking for that way. As always, listener thoughts and impressions are important to us. You can comment here on this blog, or go to our G+ Listener's Community, or our Listener's Subreddit. Everything posted there will be read by the team. If you want to keep your thoughts private, you can just e-mail to our Gmail account, unseenpodcast. here's the trade space as I see it:
  1. Keep things as they are essentially, but recruit several new people, who, once every two months or so, make a serious commitment to be on the panel and do what they can to make it a great episode. Some of these people would occasionally also host an episode (maybe 1-2 times a year)
  2. Change the tempo to bi weekly or monthly, but everyone puts the same effort in, concentrated on fewer shows.
  3. Other, as yet unidentified process changes that result in better preparation for episodes.
  4. Some combination of 1, 2, and 3 above.
  5. Find someone else to produce the podcast who has more time and is better at influencing people. I would reduce my participation to occasional panelist and financial supporter.
  6. End the podcast, plowing some of the saved time and effort into the Wow! Signal.
What do you think? 

Friday, March 18, 2016

Episode 47 - Science Based Everything




Recorded: 18 March 2016
Released: 19 March 2016
Duration: 103 minutes, 24 seconds

download the .mp3 audio file

Host Paul Carr is joined by panelists James Garrison, Mike Bohler and Nick Nielsen, for a wide ranging discussion about science, society, and the messy process by which science gets the money it needs to move forward. First, congratulations are in order for Pamela Gay and her Cosmoquest grant.


  • A completely unnecessary throwaway comment about Fantastic Voyage.
  • A brief update on the repeating Fast Radio Bursts and the (possible) negative detection of any FRB at LOFAR
  • A digression into shortwave radio and the number stations and the changes in maker culture
  • Alternative medicine can kill
  • Steven Novella's recent essay on the hijacking of Evidence Based Medicine and the difference maker by Science Based Medicine.
  • Clever Hans and Facilitated Communication
  • Recovered memories - Satanic Ritual Abuse and Alien Abductions
  • Smart, honest people can be taken in by con artists
  • Civility in Asia
  • The NECSS disinvitation to Richard Dawkins.
  • How Dawkins and Lalla Ward met.
  • The Tully Monster
  • Science Funding
  • Reaching people who don't care about science
  • Recommendations (see below)
  • Nagging, begging

Links:
Raquel Welch in
Fantastic Voyage

Fantastic Voyage

Pamela Gay's Cosmoquest.org
Our 2015 Episode (Ep. 20) with special guest Pamela Gay

The Wow! Signal: Jason Hessels on Fast Radio Bursts

The Number Stations


Boy's Fatal Meningitis Treated with Home Remedies
Clever Hans
Clever Hans
Facilitated Communication
John Ioaniddis: Why Most Published Research Findings are False
Steven Novella: Evidence Based Medicine Has Been Hijacked
Our Episode with Bob Novella
Persiflagers' Infectious Disease Puscast

Jim Bakker is Indicted on Federal Charges

Witch Hunting
Roper: The European Witch Craze of the 16th and 17th Century

NECSS and Richard Dawkins
Peter Gabriel - Not One of Us lyrics
An Update on Richard Dawkins' Condition
Richard Dawkins and Lalla Ward - How We Met
Lalla Ward in Dr. Who

The Ancient Tully Monster

G. Catalano, et. al., Willingness to Pay for Basic Research
Nick Nielsen: The Social Context of SETI
Mike Mongo, The Astronaut Instruction Manual for Preteens
Google Balance Sheet
Apple Balance Sheet
Laurie Anderson, Lyrics to Big Science

 

Recommendations

James Garrison: George Hrab's Music
Lalla Ward and her husband
Mike Bohler: Nick Nielsen's Blog
Paul Carr: Galaxy Zoo

Credits:

Producer and Host: Paul Carr
Panelists: James Garrison, Mike Bohler, Nick Nielsen
Music: DJ Spooky


Friday, March 11, 2016

Episode 46 - My Anomaly


Recorded: 11 March 2016
Released: 12 March 2016
Duration: 93 minutes, 56 minutes

download the .mp3 audio file

Host Paul Carr welcomes panelists Adam Smith, Ciro Villa, Marsha Barnhart, and Patrick Festa. The
Exoplanets Map
team discuss a number of interesting anomalies an how valid and strange they really are. We talk about Quasar clusters, the Kuiper Cliff, Questions about human evolution, flowing water on Mars, and Long Delay Echoes.

Links

The Huge Large Quasar Group
Clowes, et. al., A Structure in the Early Universe
The Kuiper Belt
The Kuiper Cliff
Forbidden Archaeology
Vedic Creationism
The Long Delay Echoes
Volker Grassman's Overview of the LDEs (.pdf)

Recommendations

Adam Smith: Pamela Gay's Cosmoquest
Ciro Villa: Exoplanets Map (density vs. temperature)
Marsha Barnhart: Michael Cremo
Patrick Festa: Brains On
Paul Carr: The Man Who Found Time, a book about Michael Hutton

Credits

Host and Producer: Paul Carr
Panelists: Adam Smith, Ciro Villa, Marsha Barnhart, and Patrick Festa
Music: DJ Spooky


The Unseen Podcast is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike license.


Friday, March 4, 2016

Episode 45 - Fast Radio Bursts - O to have breath to say what is like thee!


Recorded: 4 March 2016
Released: 5 March 2016
Duration: 94 minutes, 14 seconds

download the .mp3 audio file

Parkes Observatory
Host Paul Carr welcomes panelists Adam Smith, James Garrison, Marsha Barnhart, and Nick
Nielsen, to talk about the flurry of news over Fast Radio Bursts. What are the facts, and how has the Mainstream Media got it wrong?

Links

Lorimer, et. al. A Bright millisecond radio burst of extragalactic origin

locations for the repeating burst
E. Petroff, et. al., A real-time Fast Radio Burst: polarization detection and multi-wavelength follow-up.
Hippke, et. al., Discrete Steps in Dispersions Measures of Fast Radio Bursts
E. Petroff, et. al., Identifying the source of preteens at the Parkes radio observatory
Keane, e.t. al., A Fast Radio Burst Host Galaxy
P. Williams, et. al., Cosmological Origin for FRB 150418? Not so fast.
Radio Brightening of FRB 1501418 Host Galaxy Candidate

Hessels, et. al., A Repeating Fast Radio Burst

FRBs.txt
Ravi, et. al., A Fast Radio Burst in the Direction of the Carina Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy.
S. Burke-Spolaor and K. Bannister, The galactic position dependence of Fast Radio Bursts and the discovery of FRB 011025.
Luan and Goldreich, Physical Constraints on Fast Radio Burst
Petroff, et. al., A survey of FRB Fields: Limits on Repeatability

Recommendations:

Adam Smith: Einstein @Home
Simon Russell Beale as Falstaff
James Garrison: Brains On
Marsha Barnhart: Ex Machina
Nick Nielsen: Unsubscribe
Paul Carr: The Hollow Crown

Credits:

Host and producer: Paul Carr
Panelists: Adam Smith, James Garrison, Marsha Barnhart, Nick Nielsen
Music DJ Spooky

The Unseen Podcast is distributed under the Creative Commons Attributions/Share-Alike License.