Podcast Episode 91: The Binary Star Hypothesis

‘Tis fact or fiction
To think our Sun part of a
Binary system?

I think my haikus are getting worse. Anywho, this episode is about the thoughts some people hold with respect to the sun being a member of a binary star system. It’s a listener-requested episode. And, it turned out to be a lot like my Planet X episodes towards the end, so much so that I classified it there in my Episode Tree List. However, I do start off by talking about the more science-based ideas behind a binary star, the “Nemesis” star, so-called because terrestrial mass extinctions were attributed to it. And then we digress.

Since I still have 5 proposals to review in the next … 9 hours? … this was a somewhat shorter episode in that it’s the same length as others but lacks most of the normal extra parts. You still get about a half hour of my lovely voice, a voice made for print.

The next episode will be about the Pioneer Anomaly, so if you have ideas for a puzzler topic on it, send them in!

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Podcast #71 – The Fake Story of Planet X, Part 6 – Andy Lloyd’s “Dark Star”

A dark star could save
Sitchen’s Anunnaki claim
But problems it has.

When I upload the RSS feed for the podcast, I have to provide both a “subtitle” (short description) and “description.” I use the “description” from my 3-4 sentence summary I post for every episode. I never know what to put for the other. I’ve decided to start posting haikus related to the episode.

Anywho, this episode is yet another in the Planet X saga. It covers Andy Lloyd’s idea, which is an offshoot of Zecharia Sitchin’s Anunnaki-hosting planet Nibiru from his interpretation of Sumerian tablets. Andy’s major change is to stick the planet around a brown dwarf star. In the episode, I do actual math and show why what he proposes is impossible.

There’s also a puzzler (yay!), new news item, and two announcements. The episode is also a bit longer than normal, coming in at a bit over 37 minutes.

Regarding the second of two announcements — Brian Dunning, the guy who does the Skeptoid podcast, has pled guilty to wire fraud. Based on this material, he is likely facing jail time. I greatly admire his skeptical work and think that clearly still stands on its own, and this does not diminish what he has done for our community.