Skeptical Thinker: Recent Episodes
James Hotchkiss
Welcome to Skeptical Thinker. A podcast where we dispel misconceptions and respect your ability to think critically about science!
Being a skeptical thinker is so much more important today with all of the misinformation in social media. If you can't use your mind to dig deeper into scientific issues, you run the risk of being misled. Science is all about asking questions and questioning ourselves. I always try to ask myself, "could I be wrong?" Then I start digging to see if I can learn more.
Show Notes
This month, I look at a couple of areas of sociology. Enjoy! Check out my show notes, and be sure to subscribe!
Here's the two books I mentioned in the podcast today:
hÓgáin, O. D. (2001). The sacred isle: Belief and religion in pre-Christian Ireland. Boydell.
On Amazon
Sapa, H., & Brown, J. E. (1989). The Sacred Pipe Black Elk’s account of the Seven Rites of the Oglala Sioux. University of Oklahoma Press.
On Amazon
The Sum of All Our Experiences
Trigger Warning: This episode does have references to physical and emotional abuse.
This Skeptical Thinker Episode looks at my life as the sum of all my experiences.
Some readings come from a journal I wrote in the summer of 2021 when I took a short trip on my bike to New Glarus Woods State Park in Wisconsin.
It leads to some insights as to how even Skeptical Thinkers have to come from somewhere, and that the person we are today, might just be the sum of all our experiences.
In this episode, I have the honor of welcoming my oldest daughter, Leah! While growing up in the late 1990s and 2000s, she was exposed to some unique experiences that shaped the way she thinks. Leah fills me in on the origination of the term, “woke” while giving me some insight on how it is being co-opted to become the conservative talking point and “boogeyman” for the party. If you are interested in learning more about the history of the woke movement, feel free to click on any of the links below.
https://www.naacpldf.org/woke-black-bad/
https://www.vox.com/culture/21437879/stay-woke-wokeness-history-origin-evolution-controversy
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/woke-meaning-word-history-b1790787.html
Join me in this episode as we look at why we have seasons on Earth!
I found some interesting information about the seasons at NASA's website.
Some background on the podcast and a little bit of promo for what to expect on season one.
Since I am new at this, I am still learning the audio settings. So, you will be in the front seat of my evolution as a podcaster. Thanks for joining me!
A new podcast is published the first Saturday of each month.
In this episode, we look at the idea of Faith. There's not much to put in the show notes, this is mostly just some thoughts and musings that I have as a free thinker. Of course, these things are always bouncing around my mind - looking for an outlet. Let me know what you think!
We are looking at the science and story behind the movement of the planet Earth through the Apsides, or the nearest and farthest point the Earth is away from the sun.
Show Notes:
Here's the link for creating your own Ellipse I spoke about during the show.
https://youtu.be/WBWYNgfDkqI
My sources for information for today's podcast are:
https://www.astronomynotes.com/history/s7.htm
https://www.space.com/what-is-perihelion
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apsis
https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/1-4020-4520-4_14
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Kepler#Mysterium_Cosmographicum
https://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/circles/Lesson-4/Kepler-s-Three-Laws
http://astronomy.nmsu.edu/nicole/teaching/ASTR505/lectures/lecture08/slide11.html