Episode#328

[Steven Novella]

Interview with Banachek
News items: Seeing through walls, Malaria vaccine, Luckiest cities, New name for VLA! Another failed prediction
Who's that noisy
Science or fiction

[Trinoc]

So I was wondering, what possible skeptical interest would cause Evan to choose an Indian-sounding soppy love poem for WTN?

"Indian" should have been a clue, but I still didn't get it.

A Google search on some of the words turns up variations of the poem on various blogs, with various attributions.

Then I spotted a familiar name ..

Then I cleaned the spluttered coffee off the monitor ..

Then I searched YouTube and found this .. Enjoy, but put down any drink you might be holding first ..

BUDDHA BAR DEEPAK CHOPRA FEAT. DEMI MOORE - DESIRE

(Check out around 2:25)

[smithkhome]

About 30 minutes too late...

WTN: Deepak Chopra

[Skeptic]

Watching that I was singing in time with the beat:

"Quan-tum quan-tum quan-tum quan-tum;
Quan-tum quan-tum quan-tum quan-tum;
Quan-tum quan-tum quan-tum quan-tum;
Quan-tum Spe-cial  pleeeeeee-eading"

[Trinoc]

Watching that I was singing in time with the beat:

"Quan-tum quan-tum quan-tum quan-tum;
Quan-tum quan-tum quan-tum quan-tum;
Quan-tum quan-tum quan-tum quan-tum;
Quan-tum Spe-cial  pleeeeeee-eading"

But he has no choice ..

[Skeptic]

To be sung in a sultry voice:

He desires to measure the speed and the position of the particle in the same instant.

But he has no choice ..

He believes that all belief is a cover-up for insecurity and longs to be taken seriously.

But he has no choice ..

He attempts not to not get owned by men wearing red tops.

But he has no choice ..

[zalty]

So I was wondering, what possible skeptical interest would cause Evan to choose an Indian-sounding soppy love poem for WTN?

I can use Google too. I'm not sure what time Steve put up the podcast, but there was 60 seconds from the time this thread went up until you posted the answer. Considering the length of your answer, I'm guessing that either you wrote a script to automatically submit the answer as soon as the thread went up  or you had your clipboard ready and were constantly refreshing.

Any help solving this 'mystery'?   

[Belgarath]

Trinoc runs a script which downloads the episode the second it's posted to libsyn, even before Steve puts this up, he's downloading it.

[Trinoc]

Belgarath is almost right. The downloader is set to check every 5 minutes .. every few seconds would thrash the server. The 1 minute from the main post arriving this time was a coincidence, I just happened to check the board at the right time. Contrary to popular belief I don't spend the whole of Saturday refreshing the SGU screen waiting to jump in.

I honestly thought I didn't have a hope in hell of getting this one, since I assume Evan checks for Googleability, but there it was in one of the blogs reproducing the poem. The video was too hilarious not to post.

I swore off using Google to solve WTN once, but then I discovered most other people were still using it so I started again. If it bothers people than maybe I'll wait an hour or two before posting anything if I know the answer. I'll take the fact I have to play with a handicap as a compliment.

[zalty]

Belgarath is almost right. The downloader is set to check every 5 minutes .. every few seconds would thrash the server. The 1 minute from the main post arriving this time was a coincidence, I just happened to check the board at the right time. Contrary to popular belief I don't spend the whole of Saturday refreshing the SGU screen waiting to jump in.

I honestly thought I didn't have a hope in hell of getting this one, since I assume Evan checks for Googleability, but there it was in one of the blogs reproducing the poem. The video was too hilarious not to post.

I swore off using Google to solve WTN once, but then I discovered most other people were still using it so I started again. If it bothers people than maybe I'll wait an hour or two before posting anything if I know the answer. I'll take the fact I have to play with a handicap as a compliment.

My question wasn't about downloading the podcast as soon as it goes into the feed. It's fairly simply to automatically download it within seconds and notify you.

I'm trying to understand how you could a) notice that Steve started the thread and b) type all that up and format it correctly within 60 seconds. I'm skeptical that there was some coincidence and you are a world-record touch-typer. I could be wrong. I just think there is a more plausible explanation.

I have no problem with whatever you do, I am just trying to figure out how someone would go about beating you.

[Trinoc]

My question wasn't about downloading the podcast as soon as it goes into the feed. It's fairly simply to automatically download it within seconds and notify you.

I'm trying to understand how you could a) notice that Steve started the thread and b) type all that up and format it correctly within 60 seconds. I'm skeptical that there was some coincidence and you are a world world-record touch-typer. I could be wrong. I just think there is a more plausible explanation.

I don't normally type anything up in advance since normally the answer is only a single sentence. This time I typed it up ahead of time since I wanted to include the blog and video links.

The 60 seconds from Steve posting the first message was pure chance. It's usually half or 1 hour or so before I notice the thread, by which time I know there are several other people ready to leap in with answers.

I have no problem with whatever you do, I am just trying to figure out how someone would go about beating you.

Someone beats me most weeks. It's normally when it's a voice from this side of the Atlantic that I get it, but even then someone else can jump in in the first few minutes, like the Roger Penrose one a few weeks ago.

I don't think I'm particularly good at this, so I'm a bit surprised I've won it as often as I have .. but now I have a reputation to maintain and it's a good intro whenever I meet another SGU listener.

>:D

[zalty]

I don't normally type anything up in advance since normally the answer is only a single sentence. This time I typed it up ahead of time since I wanted to include the blog and video links.

The 60 seconds from Steve posting the first message was pure chance. It's usually half or 1 hour or so before I notice the thread, by which time I know there are several other people ready to leap in with answers.

Someone beats me most weeks. It's normally when it's a voice from this side of the Atlantic that I get it, but even then someone else can jump in in the first few minutes, like the Roger Penrose one a few weeks ago.

I don't think I'm particularly good at this, so I'm a bit surprised I've won it as often as I have .. but now I have a reputation to maintain and it's a good intro whenever I meet another SGU listener.

>:D

Fair enough. I was just thinking about a writing a script to help people level with you if that was the method you were using.

[Trinoc]

Fair enough. I was just thinking about a writing a script to help people level with you if that was the method you were using.

No scripts for me, just a downloader (NetXfer) that allows downloads to be set up on a retry cycle that isn't antisocial to other users of the server. Then it's just a case of finding WTN, which is usually between the news items and the interview.

I agree preparing a post in advance was a bit much, and I don't plan to do that regularly, but this time the blog and video links were just too good not to post.

Someone else should definitely get it next week, as I'll be on my way to celebrate the only man ever to enter Parliament with honest intentions: Guy Fawkes.

[BlackGriffen]

Bob! "Radar instead of photons?" Tsk tsk tsk! Radar is made of photons. :p

[seaotter]

Thanks for the podcast!

http://www.nrao.edu/namethearray/

"The new name should clearly reflect the VLA's leading role in the future of astronomy, while honoring its multitude of past achievements."