We try not to plug too many other things around here. Except for all those times where we did just that. And by “we” I basically mean Pylorns and to a lesser extent Finley, who I am completely not throwing under the bus at all in any way, because I will shamelessly name drop and publicize anything I want to any goddamned time.

Brian Dunning is the host of one of my favorite podcasts, Skeptoid. This weekly show is usually about 10-15 minutes long, and it is jam-packed with knowledge and production value. Brian is a man who really does his homework, and backs up nearly everything he says with a footnote as if he was writing a thesis for my 300-level Baroque critical analysis class (Hey Dr. J!) The show is fun and easy to listen to, but it really does focus on applying critical thinking to a lot of pop culture and pseudoscience.

This week’s episode, “Did Jewish Slaves Build the Pyramids?” (answer: No) is a really fun one, and it addresses an issue I’ve run in to a LOT. I went to Catholic school for, like, ever, and had a lot of teachers who said everything in the Bible was true, and a lot who said it was kind of true, and one who told me to go to the principal’s office when I asked if there were aliens on other planets and if God would have to send Jesus to die for their sins too. The question of faith aside, a fair number of people who claim to not take the Bible as an infallible document will look you in the eye and tell you that the Hebrews were enslaved in Egypt under Ramses II and built the pyramids, etc… etc… dead babies and raining fire and so forth. There are even theories claiming to give scientific explanations for the Plagues of Egypt. These are all, in a word, bullshit.

Give the link a once over, at least, and go back through the archives. He’s got over 100 episodes covering everything from Wheatgrass Juice to the Illuminati (that one’s a musical!) If you absolutely hate everything in it, I will personally give you the 12 minutes of your life back.

Skeptoid.com

“On July 20, 1969, at 20:17:40 GMT, human beings landed on an alien world.

That was the moment that the Eagle lander touched down on the surface of the Moon, 40 years ago today. Nearly five hours later, at 02:56:15 GMT on July 21, Neil Armstrong placed his boot in the lunar regolith, planting it firmly into history as well.”

So begins Phil Plait’s essay What Apollo Means to Me, a wonderful piece about our first steps on land outside our home planet. Plait The Bad Astronomer, is well known for answering the same questions over and over again, explaining to lunar deniers that yea, we did that. We landed on the moon.

People rarely describe the event as “they landed…” or “he landed on the moon,” but always “we.” We, as in, all those astronauts, all of NASA, all of the US, all of humanity. It was the ultimate “because it was there” moment. Beyond the sheer implausibility of just going to space, we got somewhere. They landed, safely, somewhere…. else. Other. Away. The moon.

And then we planted a big ass American flag on it, just to make the point. One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind, but, still, that “a man” was an American. Hell yea.

The internet is absolutely bursting with space news, a trend I hope will, but know will not, continue past today. The moon landing was an epic achievement. Science met with bravery met with a feeling of pride and conquest and purpose. Adults suddenly cared, “how did they do that?” Kids wanted to be astronauts, scientists, to learn about physics and computing and engineering. We need another moon landing. We need people, not robots, not teams of university staff and students, we need three or four people to do something fantastic to make us all care about science again. Enough of taking our medical advice from Oprah and Jenny McCarthy. Enough of “The Secret” and homeopathy and astrology. We have made incredible advances in science in the past 40 years, but the moon landing is still this key event in all of our minds because we can learn their names. We can SEE the moon. Rockets are cool. Space is scary. Men on the moon is something straight out of science fiction and comic books.

We can’t see stem cells. Chemotherapy doesn’t make for exciting television. The last time we knew the names of any astronauts was when the shuttle exploded over Texas. We need a new giant leap, we need a new man to take it for us, and with us.

Thanks Apollo 11, mission control, everyone who made that crazy, crazy idea reality. Okay, now, let’s do something with it, okay?

The Weekend Week’s End Wrap Up for May 31 through June 6 is brought to you by SCIENCE!!

Sunday: Scientists (crptoarcheologists, forensic pathologists) discovered a “witch bottle” in Greenwich. It was common practice in the 16th and 17th centuries to fill a clay bottle with urine, finger nail clippings, hair, a heart shaped piece of leather with a nail in it, and brass pins, and to bury the bottle upside down. I think this warded off witches or something, the article wasn’t exactly clear. Many other specimens have been found, but this is the first complete one excavated, with all the contents still inside. The urine contained nicotine, and the fingernails show little wear, so we can surmise that this witch was a high class smoker. By the way, that’s Greenwich, England, not the village in NY, though I would have believed either one.

Monday: Scientists (maritime archeologists, treasure hunters) at Odyssey Marine Exploration, using sonar and robots, found $500 million in silver coins in a shipwreck off the coast of Portugal. The ship was probably the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes y las Animas, a navy galleon that sank in 1804. The finders are from Florida, but a US judge has said that they are not keepers, and have to give all of the booty back to Spain. That sucks. Cool robots, though.

Tuesday: Scientists (geeks) are nerding out hardcore for the Palm Pre, some new smartphone that’s better than the iPhone and could theooretically kick its ass. I have no idea about any of this, but I wanted to throw in something gadget-y for you. Read more about it here.

Wednesday: Scientists (engineers, astronomers, astrophysicists, super heroes) at NASA cleared Space Shuttle Endeavor to launch June 13 to the International Space Station. “Endeavour had been on standby throughout the Hubble repair mission as a potential rescue ship; there was no refuge for the Atlantis astronauts in Hubble’s orbit if their ship had suffered severe launch damage… Endeavour will carry up the last part of Japan’s science lab, an outdoor porch for experiments, and a new space station resident. Five spacewalks are planned during the 16-day mission.” CAUTION: DO NOT use the porch for barbeques.

Thursday: Scientist (Egyptologist) Dr. Zahi Hawass (who I have met and who is more outrageously awesome than any other person on the planet) was showing President Barack Obama around the Great Pyramid at Giza, and this happened: Obama entered the tomb of Kar and saw a hieroglyphic that showed the face of a man with big ears. “That looks like me!” he said. “Look at those ears!”

Friday: Scientists (zoologists, veterinarians) in Germany released photos of a gay penguin couple raising a chick abandoned by its mother. Z and Vielpunkt received the egg last April, incubated it until it hatched, and have continued to raise it together. The gender of the baby is not yet known, but little Bradley or Morgan is already signed up for the Gifted Program at the learning annex. PS, Morgan Freeman: Gay penguins plus baby penguins, why is this not a movie yet?

Saturday: Scientists (theoretical particle physicists, there’s only, like, four of them in the whole world) welcomed representative Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo, Vatican City’s governor, to CERN to tour the Large Hadron Collider. Lajolo applauded the awe-inspiring technology, saying, “Science will help our faith to purify itself. And faith at the same time will be able to broaden the horizons of man, who cannot just enclose himself in the horizons of science.” Beautiful words, padre. Thanks a lot Dan Brown, now that I know, but still don’t care, what the Vatican has to say about quantum mechanics, how about you write a book where an art historian and a scientist run around Germany talking about how there’s no such thing as symbology?

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (Reuters) — Ethiopian scientists said on Tuesday they have discovered hominid fossil fragments dating from between 3.5 million and 3.8 million years ago in what could fill a crucial gap in the understanding of human evolution.

Ethiopian archaeologist Yohannes Haile Selassie said the find included several complete jaws and one partial skeleton and were unearthed in the Afar desert at Woranso-Mille, near where the famous fossil skeleton known as Lucy was found in 1974.

“This is a major finding that could fill a gap in human evolution,” he told a news conference in Addis Ababa.

“The fossil hominids from the Woranso-Mille area sample a time period that is poorly known in human evolutionary study.”

Researchers say the area, about 140 miles northeast of Addis, boasts the most continuous record of human evolution.

Last year, an international team of scientists unveiled the discovery of 4.1 million-year-old fossils in the region.

Lucy, the most famous find, lived between 3.3 million and 3.6 million years ago. But Yohannes said Afar had yielded early hominid fossil remains spanning the last 6 million years.

“This has placed Ethiopia in the forefront of paleoanthropology,” he told reporters.

“Ethiopia is known to the world as the cradle of humankind.”