103.9 FM, WZO Radio, Knoxville. Ladies and gentlemen, Digital Freethought Radio Hour. Hello and welcome to the Digital Freethought Radio Hour and WZO Radio, 103.9 LP FM right here in Knoxville, Tennessee. We're recording this on Sunday morning, September 5th, 2021. I'm Larry Rhodes, or Doubter 5. And as usual, we have our co-host on the line with us. It's me, the Wombat. How are you? It's me, the Wombat and the four ducks. Quack, quack, quack. That was only three. Hello. And our guest today are John Richards. Hello. Hello. I'm the dread pirate Higgs. Howdy. How are you? I'm George Brown, the two and a half. Digital Freethought Radio Hour is a talk radio show about atheism, free thought, rational thought, humanism and the sciences. And conversely, we'll also talk about religion, religious faith, gods, holy books and superstition. Wombat, what are we on about today? Today we're going to be talking about good ideas from bad people. And I think maybe we've even gotten to vice versa. Is it possible to get good ideas from people who may not necessarily have the best lifestyle or best role models? And are they always tied together? And what can you extract from the two? But before we get into it, we're going to fill it up to our own dread pirate Higgs for our weekly invocation. Corby McApton, I shall not want. He maketh me to float in salt water. He stireth me through glassy seas. He filleth my bowl. He stireth me through the straits of noodle-iness for goodness' sake. I, though I sail through the heaving of tempestuous waters, I will fear not sinking, for thou art with me. Thy mast and thy rudder, they comfort me. Thou preparest a feast before me in the presence of me mates. Thou quenches my thirst with grog, my goblet runneth over. Truly past and grog shall follow me all the days of me life, and I will dwell in the galley of the quab forever. Rawr! Guys, I want to catch up with everyone before we dive into it. We're going to start with Dredd. You got a shirt on. I know it's radio, but may I walk me through what this shirt says? Sure, it says, think while it's still legal, but the words in think are thorium, indium, and potassium. Nice, nice. Classic elements, classic elements. Also, Dredd, with the correction from last week, offline, I, or while I think, I don't know if it was on the air, but we had a conversation about Schrodinger's Cat, which always irked me as a kid, because I always thought Schrodinger's Cat had this, I think I saw a TV show with like, Penn and Teller where I was like, the sexy version of history always overtakes the real version of history. And they talked about Schrodinger's Cat, and they're like, he didn't even come up with that idea. That's just an argument some other scientists came to make fun of him. And then he just got labeled with that for the rest of his life, and it was sad, but no one ever knows the name of the guy who made that joke, but we remember the name Schrodinger. So like at the end of the day, Schrodinger won. And I'm like, that's baffling. I had no idea it was like that. Totally not true. I think and I appreciate you helping me out with that. So I wish Schrodinger that came up with that kind of thought experiment to explain his position. And it was actually Niels Bohr who came up with the Copenhagen interpretation, which was out of his physics lab up where Copenhagen is. Very cool. Good thinking. You inspired a good thought. You helped me get rid of some false ideas and got closer to truth ideas. So I really appreciate that Dread Pirate. John Richards, you're not looking any pinker today than you did a few days ago. What's going on with that? Actually, I think that the cat won because it was in two positions simultaneously. That's got to be a win. That's got to be a win. If not a win-win. Oh geez. And we're starting early today. John, how you been and how has your interview been going on free thought? Well, like Dread, I also have a shirt on. But it's got no atomic symbols on it at all. Is that a pocket pen protector you got in your front pocket there? That's your phone. I bet you if we did an EDS analysis on your shirt we'd find some potassium. Probably. So this isn't actually just my phone. It's also my memory. Yeah, yeah. Roger that. So what have I been up to? Well, I've been in the pink because I held this free thought hour. Lots of you have been on my free thought hour. So you know what it's about. And I had Bethany Carter, who was lovely. Yeah, a good friend of the show and a personal friend of mine met her up in Nashville at the, well, geez, secular, Larry, help me out. Secure Alliance. What's the atheist church called? Help me out. Boy. Sunday Assembly of National. I was thinking of the Secular Student Alliance. There you go. Thanks. But Sunday Assembly for sure. Yeah. I know the guy who set up the Sunday Assembly. Oh, okay. Okay. Fancy, fancy. We're cool. That's where it started in England. Many years ago, I spent the day with him and he had, what was his name? What was her name? Pippa. Pippa, I can't remember her surname, but she's turned into quite a well-known comedian. She appears on our radio. Wonderful. Great voice. Fabulous singer. She led all the singing. Sorry for interrupting. I just want to say good friend of the show that you interviewed. How'd it go? How did what go? The interview with Bethany. Interview with Bethany. Interview with Bethany. Yeah, sorry, you broke up a bit. No. Yeah, Bethany's a charm, isn't she? She's lovely, dear. And we had a lot of fun. And it's now available to be watched as a podcast. Right. And so I can put the link to you in the details underneath. Fantastic. We appreciate it. So I did that. And of course, every week I do my global Atheist news show. So there's that. It can also be viewed. And I've also, this week, I've made a podcast, a video podcast with the, some of the other council members of Atheism UK. And what did we discuss this week? It wasn't morality. We have a different topic each week. And sometimes, unless it's in my memory, I can't remember what it was. It's just like this, but there's four of us. And we need some more diversity. We want some women. We want some ethnically different people. Yeah. Yeah. I appreciate that. I appreciate the call for it. It's better when it comes from. And I don't mean this in a bad way. It's better when it comes from old white men who are asking for that. Then the other way around. So good on you. They complain that we're old white men. But I go back at them. I don't want to be an old white man. I want to be a young brown man. It's not my fault. So hey, you do better than just clicking that link that I've provided in the comments descriptions. You can actually subscribe to Free Thought Productions, right? Free Thought Productions, name of the YouTube channel. Check it out. Cool. George Brown, second and one half and only one half. George Brown, how you been? Well, I've been getting older. And I don't think that you all want to hear about old people's stuff like my heart surgery or the fact that I have a bunion now. Which reminded me more about the heart surgery. The stakes went down in that conversation. Tell me about the heart surgery. What's going on? Well, the heart surgery was like two years ago. But I'm giving you an example. When you get old, you get stuff happens all the time that is going to be boring to younger people and boring to the older people too. Like I go to the senior center every week here in my little town. And they pick up some lunches. And so I was invited to come back. Hey, we're open again. The pandemic's over. I'm right. Come back. We got bingo. Bingo. Good luck with that. Yeah. So I've been looking up some interesting stuff online that I want to share with you all. First of all, in the Guardian, I think it was yesterday or the day before, there was a piece on Edward Snowden about surveillance. Yeah. And where it started big time back around 9-11 here in this country. And, you know, I have a feeling that Edward Snowden is going to go down in the history books as a great American patriot. Interesting. What's going to happen to him in the meantime? I'm afraid, to be honest. Hey, why don't we hold on that thought? Because I think it would be good if we had that when we were talking about people and ideas. And I think that might. OK. But let me get on to the second topic. And then I'll drop this. I've been reading up on Typhoid Mary. OK. Whose real name I'm forgetting. But this was a person of good intent, I guess, or desperation who was exercised her freedom, you know? Like a lot of people want today, you know? George Brown, you got so much stuff on your mind. I just want to see how you were doing. And I got. Oh, I'm here. I'm alive. It's better than the alternative. What else can I say? Let me introduce one last person for the show and before we delve into this, because I know you got a lot. You want to say Larry, I'm going to do a segment called What's on your shirt? What's on your shirt? Larry, tell me what's on your shirt. I don't know what's on your shirt. Larry, tell me what's on your shirt. Well, it's just another Hawaiian shirt, but it's kind of pale. It's got plants and structures and tropical stuff. OK. OK. It's long the same vein as usual. It's summer. I wear Hawaiian shirts all summer. And then I'll switch to flannel in the winter long-sleeved flannel. So we'll get bored with that. I dig it. I dig it. The more we know, the more we know. Larry, I just went to a wedding this weekend. I had a really fun time. And I just want to say it's like one of the first weddings I've been to since, you know, the whole COVID things happened. Everyone there vaccinated because it was all my team. It was one of our members from our laboratory group. So it was just good to see everybody outside of the lab setting happy again. Just want to say. John Richards looked like he wanted to say something. Well, before we leave the subject of shirts, it's against my religion to wear a shirt with somebody else's name on it. Because, you know, that's free advertisement. If they pay me, I'll wear their label. OK. But I'd rather they wore mine. You know? Sure. Sure. Sure. So the icon, do you have a topographic icon in mind? A free thought production logo. Nice. Nice. So guys, we are talking today about, what is it? Good ideas from bad people or from, you know, allegedly bad people even. I'd be willing to entertain. And so is it possible to get good information, good details, good ideas, good philosophies from people who may be morally corrupt or under prosecution or may be known for one very, very bad thing that they've done, et cetera. I think it's an interesting topic. And I think it's something that we were touching on yesterday or last week that we didn't have so much time to talk about. Dred, you want to start that? Sure. Yeah. Yeah, sure. I thought about this a lot because and not just about good ideas coming from bad people or morally bankrupt people. But sort of the cancel culture that's prevalent now where, for instance, Benjamin Franklin is taking a beating, you know, in spite of the good things that he did for some of the beliefs that he held at the time, which were, you know, common in society, the idea that, you know, many of the founding fathers of America actually had slaves and that in this day and age, they're taking their, they want to take their faces off the money because of the ideas that they held at the time in spite of the fact that they founded an amazing country like America. And so that's, I mean, that's where I was kind of coming from when you were talking about this. The idea that, and this is an ad hominem thing, right? Where people conflate ideas with the character of the person who holds it, right? All ideas must be kept secret or kept separate. And that's what you criticize, not the person from whom the thing comes from. Sure. That's kind of my belief anyway. Cool. We'll open up. John, you want to come on up? Yeah, yeah, we've had the same thing. We had the statue of Edward Colston toppled over in Bristol because he was, a statue was erected to him because he made the city of Bristol rich by trading in slaves. So this is the problem, isn't it? Right. So what classifies as bad changes? So we didn't see that as bad then, but we do now. It's interesting. What do you mean by we? Who's we? When you say we didn't see it as bad? I can almost guarantee you the slave saw it as bad. Well, I don't know why you say that. No. So I'll throw out an interesting, maybe this is an interesting topic, but I actually think it's important to recognize people for who they are in not the historical sense that we romanticize them to be, but as the actual people they were. And I think what we're getting now is a reckoning of who these people actually were that we've so lauded over a period of time because the people who identified with them were also the ones who wrote the history books. And so when you have a figure like Ben Franklin who has some great ideas, but liberty is a good thing. Anyone can spouse the virtues of liberty, even if they're doing horrendous things in the background. And now that that's finally coming to light and people are actually talking about that. I don't see that as a bad thing. I see that as an evolution of our culture finally being willing to look at bad things from bad people. Oh, I totally agree. Fantastic. We finally have the standards that we've been espousing since the beginning of time or. But by the same token, it doesn't erase the good things now. It doesn't. Liberty's still a good thing. We're now doing another good thing, which is looking at people honestly. Absolutely. And I think that is the value. And so when we have two options of like, well, should we rectify the fact that we used to like this slave master and now that we know he's a slave master, we shouldn't have him our money. It's like, maybe that's a good thing. Maybe we just can take the good stuff like the liberty and the foundations of having an honest government and get rid of the mascots that were, you know, enslaving people in the background at the same time to like, we can do both. And one doesn't just diminish the virtues of the good qualities that are being presented. I also, I also, you know, I really do think Richard you meant it genuinely, but I have heard a lot of times I've had conversations with people being like, you know, well, that slavery was okay then, but now we know it's a bad thing. I'm like, even back then the slaves knew it was bad. Like there was no misunderstanding from the perspective of slaves that this was a bad thing.  They were seen as property. And that in its own right is a bad thing. The fact that we're all recognizing that's a bad thing only means that other people are finally understanding that it's a problem too. Which is a good thing, but it was a bad thing then too. And we should be, we should, it's almost alarmist not considered as such, right? You won't catch me defending slavery.  But, you know, I do get canceled culture and I understand that could be problematic in certain senses, especially if it starts to over swell and take good things that were being perpetrated by bad people. I think it's important. I see you, I see you George. We'll separate the two, but I think the fact that we are recognizing that bad people can say good things is a good thing. And we should just recognize bad, but the good is still good, but bad people. And I think that's overall a net good. Hopefully I'm making clear with that. Yeah. George Brown, what do you think? Well, I have a question on my mind. I was wondering if other people have the same question. Exactly. What is canceled culture? What does that mean? Larry, why don't you step in? It's been a problem. What do you, what do you mean? What do you think cancel culture is? I'm not the big authority on it. I have a marginal understanding of it best. But my, my idea of it is that if, if somebody does something that the society thinks is bad, they might, let's say he has business. I might boycott his business. That type of thing. Dred. Yeah. Yeah. Um, it's like, for instance, if you start taking someone's books off the shelf because they held an unpopular idea. Um, when the books are not about that unpopular ideas, you know, you could be a biologist and you came up with some really great ideas, but you held a belief about you were a misogynist or something or, you know, had a bad marriage or whatever. But sorry, that's a fly. I didn't know if you're just advocating with certain points. Weird points that he's enunciating. Talking like an Italian, right? Um, but recently there was, uh, there's a spacecraft, um, that the James Webb telescope and there is a faction of people who are trying to, you know, um, say that he's not worthy of having a spacecraft named after him for some behavior, uh, he displayed, possibly displayed during his, his life and that, uh, and NASA, of course, is taking this claim seriously. So at what point does, uh, you know, is it to what extent is a person's life, uh, scrutinized by the public, uh, just because you want to name something after them? You know what I mean? Like pretty soon you can't name anything like Huygens, for instance, or, um, any of the spacecraft that have, that bear somebody's name. Hmm. You know, if we start looking into their lives and scrutinizing them and then renaming the spacecraft because, uh, we didn't like a particular idea they held. Um, that's a form of cancer culture right there. John, would you mind espousing on cancer culture? What do you think it is? And what's your... Well, it's, it's what Dred says, is what Larry said. And, and in addition, it's, um, no platforming. When people want to express their maybe contentious views, not giving them a microphone. No, I think that's, that's part of cancer culture. And it's a bad idea because we should let all the bad views come out so that we can argue against them. Yes. Oh, that's interesting. Absolutely. That is interesting. Uh, it's fundamental to free speech. Exactly. Exactly. So I will throw out, um, so I may not have the best definition of cancer culture, but I do think it is about deep platforming, right? And I think it goes under the concept of, um, not everyone's entitled to have a platform, right? Or you can say whatever you want, but that doesn't mean that you're not beyond the consequences of your speech. And so if we determine that your speech causes what I would call needless harm, or if we put you in a position where you represent us and you're criminally going against what we've, you know, asked you to do as part of your body, but for some, you know, corrupt reason we can't get rid of you and you're actually causing needless harm, maybe censorship in that capacity is something that we can, or terms of service is something that we can all agree. These are the conditions in which we would take away your platform and do so rightfully as part of the community, like cancer culture is like in the capacity that we can do it now and the power and the speed that we can do it now is like this new thing and a new power and unpowered new powers that are often unchecked can quickly exacerbate into the cells into this is no longer a good thing. It's immediately a bad thing or it's a bad tool. So how do we manage this new functionality that we have?  It's not allowed here. Yeah, and I think we have so in my head, like a lot of the platforms that people use to espouse ideas, YouTube, Twitter, etc. have strict terms of service right and in those are codified rules of what they will accept and what they won't accept and the means of repercussions will happen if any of those terms are violated and it's only when they are enacted or enforced that sometimes people have like, well, that's against free speech. It's like, well, this is a private company that is espousing specifically what they would want that someone clicked and said, yes, I accept these terms of service and if they don't like it, they can make their own service platform, but you're not entitled to do that on my contract as a private company, right? A lot of people are raising their hands. I would like to see George because he had something we want to say back and then we can talk about this. George Brown, what do you got? I forgot topic number two. Mary, number one is we have we have a concept. I don't know if it's enshrined in American law or certainly illegal arguments.  I wonder why. You have some sort of basis in public discourse for not allowing unlimited free speech and it's kind of like what you said, Wombat. If there are consequences, if there are negative consequences to somebody else that person who violates that your wholeness, let's say, is responsible for those consequences. Larry? I think they call it inciting to violence. You're not allowed to do that. I'm not familiar with the law structure around that. You can't incite people to go out and hang people or burn buildings or whatever. It's against the law here too. Dredd? I was just going to say that this is moving away from what cancel culture is. Sure. I've had this happen to me on Facebook and in my community where I've said something that I've chatted something that was not liked by a certain group and then I've been personally attacked and canceled out and shut down essentially just by the mob who suddenly now decides that I am a bad person at root and that anything I say is worthy of attack and abuse and all the rest of it. Just to throw this out, I'm thinking of it as like a spectrum that's very ambiguous right now because this is like a new muscle that the internet's using for the most part. And on one side you have hey, I just made a bad joke 10 years ago please don't fire me for this. This wasn't even something I genuinely met. I'm not even that person anymore. I don't even remember posting that. And then also now where it's like the president's actively causing people to rush into the capital with Confederate flags completely destroy our democracy and possibly threaten the lives of our senators when he gets blocked on Twitter it's like that's cancel culture. You shouldn't have this ability you should have been a piece like four years ago like crazy. There's a wide spectrum unfortunately it seems to be hitting everybody in this proportionate amounts where some places I feel like it's needed in some cases I feel like ooh that was what taken way too far. And I feel like if it was just more explicit rules of engagement that was just like something you can like well what's accepted what's not accepted where's the line and I think we're still in the process figuring that out. John I'm sorry for taking up your time. What's up? No no no fine. We've jailed several people in this country Muslims for calling for non-Muslims to be victimized and anti-Muslims for calling Muslims to be victimized but the problem here is who decides because it's always up to who happens to be in control at the time. Imagine this if Darwin had not been born and lived in Hampshire, UK if he'd been born in which we say Alabama. Ah we'd have a hard time. Do you think that he would have been able to get his ideas launched? Right even in England it took him 20 years to do that after he formed them. It's very hard for him to do even so and it's not like he wasn't the subject of ridicule immediately afterwards right? Well he wasn't actually the ridicule came later he was for the first 20 years That's literally the sentence I just said John. And it's time to break we're at the middle of the half hour. This is the digital free thought radio alright we're going to be back in just about as long as it takes you're seeing a little bit. Hello and welcome back to the digital free thought radio hour second half we're on W. O. Z. O radio 103.9 L. P. F. M. here in Knoxville, Tennessee I'm doubter 5 and this is Sunday morning September 5th 2021 let's talk about the atheist society of Knoxville for a minute. ASK was founded in 2002 we're in our 19th year we have over a thousand members and we have weekly zoom meetings during covid but we're also meeting in person out on the deck at the Barley's Taproom in Pizzeria in Knoxville's old city that's every Tuesday evening right after work around 5.30 to 8 or whenever you can find ASK on facebook meetup.com or just go to KnoxvilleAtheist.org or even just google it it's just that simple by the way if you don't live in Knoxville you should still go to meet up and search for an atheist group in your town and one star one a moment where do we want to pick up we're talking about can we get good ideas from bad people I think the general consensus is it is possible to abstract too because just because you came up with an idea doesn't mean you own it or it came from you it's freely available to everyone it's just a bad guy probably found it first and it doesn't mean that if we recognize that that person was bad takes away anything from the good things that they found let's focus on the good things and be aware that we can see people more honestly as human beings maybe that makes us all more John what do you think we're facing the same John Richards what do you think we're facing the same problem in reverse here because we're up against what is bad and what is we were up against what is bad in the previous half but now we're up against what is good because I can tell you a story English general who invented this new kind of bomb which when you could throw it and when it exploded little pieces of metal went hurtling through the air and injured and maimed a large number of people in the vicinity now at the time that was thought to be a good thing depending on whether you were on the receiving end or the throwing end and this general his name was Shrapnel General Shrapnel literally Shrapnel Shrapnel had no idea where that name came from that's great that's where you're born and your name is like peanut butter sauce you're going to be making something really good one day usually or your last name is Crapper Thomas Crapper let me take the story a little further because quite recently a pub in a town near me was being redeveloped and it was looking for a new name because it was going out as something completely different from its previous image and it discovered that General Shrapnel was born and lived in this town they didn't want to call the pub Shrapnel in that wouldn't have attracted very many customers so they looked him up he's got a his first name was Henry so that pub became called the General Henry and very few people know the actual history to it John, I love all the UK pieces of advice that you give me I have more trivia about the UK now than I've ever had in my life and I feel like I can surprise so many people if they got like a a Scouse accent you know about Henry, that little pub over there it's like yeah, guess who that guy is yeah, perfect I guess I'll have to work on the Canadian version oh, tell me, Dredd do you have examples of I'm sure it could come up with them would you like to share one? I don't have one yet okay, fair enough Larry, do you have an example of perhaps a bunch of good ideas that were discovered or put into words by a particularly person that we're realizing may not as be as good as we thought well, I didn't when I started the show but so I went online and I looked up a few the inventor of the transistor who also oh, that guy helped invent the computer William Shockley was apparently a big fan of eugenics and a very big racist so he had some good ideas as far as technology goes but as society goes not too good yeah I will say this too, here's one of my favorite ones Han or Faber, the Faber process are you guys familiar with him? so there was the pencil guy there's a guy named Fritz Haber and he is the reason why we exist right now because before there was not enough nitrogen to make agriculture fertilizer to feed more than 2 billion people on the planet and if you add and check recently there's way more than 2 billion people on the planet and the reason for that is because we found a way to take air that nitrogen and air and precipitate it into a form that can actually make plants grow and plants need DNA DNA needs nitrogen so you need to figure out how to get the nitrogen and air into the plants he figured that out the thing is and it saved so many lives from hunger and our population has exploded ever since but the thing is guy was outright probably one of the most notorious Nazis of all time made chemical weapons one of my first jobs was getting rid of the chemical weapons using the same formulas that he devised like we were breaking down chemical weapons as part of like America's treaty with other countries Larry one last thing also stabbed his wife to death tried to run away from it total huckster tried to soul making gold from seawater which was like not the best just the worst guy good idea though and I'm willing to abstract that away because for as many millions of people he's responsible for directly killing in the most violent and harmful ways possible he's also potentially responsible through his discovery for the livelihoods and the existence of billions of people after the fact and I'm not saying one counts without the other I'm just saying just because a bad guy discovered something doesn't make that thing he discovered a bad thing right and I'm willing to abstract the two Larry what's up well you mentioning him made me think of runner Ron Braun who helped engineer the first rockets that we had and if hadn't been for him and his his thoughts on that we may have not have made it to the moon in 169 and then have our space program as far along as we have yeah he was the one that created the v2 right he was the rocket engineer so we're gonna come to Nobel now aren't we oh let's do Nobel that's an interesting one yeah that's a very interesting one yeah exactly so he was embarrassed about the way his invention was being used wasn't he so this is why he set up the foundation to award people for peace amongst other things what foundation is that John Richards that would be the Nobel Peace Prize huh you got to get that piece in there you got to get that piece in there because they were thinking let's just call it the Nobel Prize gotta get peace in there I'm doing this for a reason what was his original intention for explosives oh it was what he did was he tamed nitroglycerin nitroglycerin was a very unstable substance and he worked out that if you mix it up with very finely ground clay called Kieselger German word then maybe Norwegian but then it would be safe to carry around in these sticks you know like we've all seen sticks we should totally use for making towns renovating like unusable land and then military is like hey we could use this for our thing too and he's like I like money and he made a lot of money and then at the end of the day he's like I don't like what my legacy might be what can I do as a marketing campaign and they said Nobel Peace Prize interesting thing oh go for it like John what prompted him to do that was an article appeared in the death column of the news announcing that he passed away now this was actually a mistake he passed away but it misnamed him so anyway he took fright about this because he could see that what his legacy was going to be like because the description the description he wrote wasn't very flattering right his discovery responsible for like the deaths of XYZ number bad thing am I a good person how can I turn this round you know Nobel is actually kind of a good story because it's almost as if you can see the mechanics of a guy being like how do I force correct this how do I try to inspire it and again it's ideas and I'm not trying to say that he's a good or bad person in my head it's more of like the invention is absolutely has great utility but it could be used by the various means it could be used for war it could be used for you know litigation, punishment, etc but also useful things too and so it's a great quagmire it's of nuance and I love it this is a nature of science and technology isn't it what they do what those two aspects do is facilitate they make things easier so for example a tin over or can over makes it easier to open a can and I need one of those and a gun makes it easier to kill people and I don't need one of those true and like it's the same way as like the guy who invented a blade like a knife blade like that could be used for so many different things right and so is he responsible for every single use of it that's it I wouldn't I wouldn't say so but I think it's an interesting thing that you know Nobel saw that and saw it what can I do to course correct made the Nobel Peace Prize and here's an interesting thing a good number of people who get Nobel Peace Prize tend to also be war criminals if we want to talk about nuance here too and I think is a particularly interesting thing to be like I'm thinking of a U.S. President won the Nobel Peace Prize also categorical war criminal like at the same time to Theodore Roosevelt one of them for example probably one of the most popular examples because when they got the Nobel Peace Prize it was sort of like the committee didn't know what the magnitude of the award was they thought by giving it to him that it was sort of a promise that he wouldn't go to war and be and treat the Native Americans here more nicely totally didn't but it totally accepted the award and was like and I'm going to put my face on a mountain next to Abraham Lincoln and George Washington is like oh this guy is really really bad yeah that's a narcissist right there that is like probably the one of the worst people they could even award like that too I'm not sure he actually did the sculpting guess what he did he used dynamite he heard that work out so George Brown we were talking today about Edward Snowden do you think you said he thought you think eventually would see him as a patriot do you think the things that he did were good and what do you think about him personally well I think he may be a pretty complex person and I really don't know I know that he made quite a transition in his own mind right it's all I can say and I mean he was part of the surveillance machine to begin with yes and then I think he realized that how would I put it the conceptual devastation that it would cause if left unchecked right and so that's what is motivating him now and he's had to get out of the country you know to save himself and look where he's had to go to do it I know right if this is paradox on top of paradox you know what I wanted to highlight was people are complex and the more you delve into these situations the more complexity is there but that in my head is where the true thinking and weighing begins for like a person to adjust or assess good bad maybe we don't need those terms maybe those are just smaller things that we can put on small aspects but much more complex issue and so like when we you know this probably goes back to Benjamin Franklin sort of situation where it's like we have forefathers that we only think of in good terms right but we know that there are people and we know people are complex and I feel like we deserve to at least have that resolution of complexity because in that light we get to understand the person better and be able to understand other people empathetic and knowledgeable beings when it comes to assessing humanity and that make give us terms to appreciate flaws in people at a higher you know fidelity when we know we don't have these altruistically perfect standards that we're comparing everybody to like when we say hey Jesus had problems like there's you know Jesus in the book of the Bible has you know he's prone to anger he's judgmental he literally thinks he's the son of God right like these are not we want to invite to a party but yet he's the standard that we judge most people to in terms of philosophy and being a person I think if we just were willing to look at the complexity humanity we'd be able to appreciate humanity more and that'd be helpful everybody George well in the first half the term cancel culture came up and we battled around a little bit and I just want to bring up something another side to what we've been talking about pushback you know we've been talking about the desire to understand the backstory behind the legends and in fact we've been getting a lot of pushback lately from the right about this you know and the attempt to to suppress what you want suppress the truth coming out we want the truth specifics on that well right here in our state of Tennessee I think there's been an argument within the state government the legislators and the governor about textbooks in schools but maybe I'm thinking about Texas right this moment I'm sure Tennessee is the guiltyest but you know that there certainly are some black folks here who want to open the door to the truths of history what is really what really has happened we've been talking about CRT then what's that book? it's critical race theory so I actually would say that's way beyond that like the Civil War the reconstruction after the Civil War played a big part in what was being taught in schools to rectify you know a lot of the humanities that were occurring during that time and making sure that they glossed over a lot of aspects of really terrible things America have done overall to paint this picture that's very picturesque what America actually is and that's still in the history books and it's weird how if you open up a history book in America for high school it goes to like jump straight to World War II and you're like what was there a World War I it's like no no no it's basically that and then you know you have Columbus visiting World War II and then basically now dred I saw you raising your hand what's up yeah it was actually when you brought up Jesus there just recently I've been watching a lot of the genetically modified skeptic and apology is another YouTuber really good stuff but recent ones I was watching were the non canonical Gospels such as the book of Judas and the Gospel of Thomas and you know when it comes to sculpting history to the benefit of whatever image you're trying to portray those are great cases where if it was common knowledge what were in those books and how they characterized Jesus people would not think of him as all love and happiness you know he's like a bratty little kid with superpowers killing people and then raising them from the dead just because one pushed past them or something like that and just pretty crazy stuff yeah so it was enlightening to see that so we had to talk about Schrodinger's today because we had a correction of a misinterpretation of history that I had because I was given one with an agenda the agenda being selling dog food commercials right and then you had sent me the true sources and the citations and I was able to look that up and you know I was reading through the history of Schrodinger I was like man this guy is boring he has friends like Einstein but gosh this like the other version that I had was so much more memorable and exciting and fun but this one's just plain applesauce man who just comes up with math formulas it's like boring but it helped me understand the truth better and I feel like a lot of the history that we have regardless of where we were born or raised was given to us with an agenda and that tends to be the case for everybody but we all have different agendas and that's a lot of reasons it drives a lot of conflict and so what I say is it is beneficial for us to have the desire for truth and through that truth if we make adjustments after the fact after we have a better clear picture of what humanity was that is in the interest of the truth and good and I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing obviously cancer culture could take it too far and I think if we don't expel good guidelines for conduct for people I think we fall just as susceptible for over correcting if we don't make the grounds for why we correct in the first place explicitly clear but I do value the idea I have this idea it's a good idea but it was made by a bad person I just don't want to associate this bad person with this good idea anymore I think that's totally fine because there's so many standards of good people who can say the exact same thing that we could look up to if we need role models in that capacity and why not adjust as needed Larry what's up George did you raise your hand okay I did yes you know I the older I get the more interested in psychology I get the need to understand why people do what they do including my own self this is a major goal of my own is just to understand me that's a major undertaking and why do I do what I do and one thing that is occurring to me while we discuss our topic for today good ideas from bad people is the push back the resistance and people I think have a tendency to want to cling to what is familiar to them it's comforting what's familiar and when we go beyond that point to many people it feels threatening and that's why they want to come back restore what was push those those people away because they are different yep you know that's what I want to offer right now guys we talked about Mount Rushmore I know this isn't very good radio but maybe it will drive people to our other sites our YouTube site or something but I've got a picture of the new Mount Rushmore that I'd like to share with you can you let me put this off go for it the one with Homer Simpson it's still white men oh well they're awesome better luck next time guys now who are they that is Mount Rushmore so who are the people on it Carl Sagan Daniel Dennett James Randi this one is Bertrand Russell so I will have a hot take it would be good all these things that these guys are espousing believe it or not they are not the first people to espouse the things that they have espouse if you were to go into other cultures or history from other countries and find well Egyptians were saying this exact same thing we don't care about black people in Mesopotamia the white people are saying it now okay that's fine but Chinese were saying all of these things in literature for like thousands of years ago but these guys have really nice pictures that we can put on mountains I feel like we don't need to have to necessarily associate four white faces of men to have the face of rationality and we should be careful in my head of that immediate association as even as fun as it could be Dredd what's up you were talking about you know the Schrodinger thing how the story you initially heard was much more interesting and that you eventually came around to the boring story and that sort of justifies in a way of having an incorrect appreciation of what he was I have an appreciation for it but I like the truth more yes and I think that's absolutely valid if you're a critical thinker and I think it's important to continually help and assist people to become more critical in their own thinking not only about their own ideas and the ideas of others but their selves as well that's something that because like George says we've become very enamored by our beliefs and often without any inspiration to believe or think otherwise you could go your entire life thinking that Schrodinger was being made fun of yeah yeah yeah and even if that made me feel better it wasn't true which could let me to be wrong about other things in the future so I'll take the boring truth over a sexy lie any day but I still like the sexy lie to know that it's a lie cause that was very funny I still like my Spider-Man comic books George Brown and then we close up the show George Brown what's that for our audience and me please tell us what Schrodinger is all about we'll tell you next week cause that's a I need to know the definition of what you're talking about we're at the end of the show hey we'll go into it everybody else Jon Richards where can we find you at not at non-locality you wouldn't find me there you can find me at what's it called oh yeah Freethought Productions Dread Pirate where can we find you at I'm on YouTube at MinePirate M-I-N-D-P-Y-R-A-T-E click and subscribe I livestream this at 8 a.m. P-S-T Larry Rhodes where's your channel at if anyone's seeing this on me let's chat on YouTube you can find me by going to search for doubter 5 or Larry Rhodes that's R-H-O-D-E-S my own content is on digitalfreethought.com be sure to click on the blog button for radio show archives, atheist songs and many articles on the subject questions for the show send them to askanatheistatnoxialatheist.org by the way if you're a member clergy, a preacher, pastor or priest who has no longer beliefs in the claims of religion you can find help at the clergy project that's clergyproject.org if you're watching this on YouTube be sure to like and subscribe this has been the digital Freethought Radio Hour remember everybody's going to somebody else's hell the time to worry about it is when they prove that heavens and hells and souls are real until then don't sweat it enjoy your life and we'll see you next week say bye everybody bye so I heard a voice in my head that told me 80 is almost true


The study found that abstract erythropoietin, E.P.O., promotes neurorepair by inducing remyelination in oligodendrocytes, and this effect requires the presence of E.P.O.R. This article was authored by Eloria Civellini, Aleksandr Anenkov, Thomas Brenton, and others.


Hi stampers! Welcome to Watch It Weekly Wednesday. I'm Jill and I'm excited for you to see the St. Patrick's Day card that I'm going to be stamping today. This card really is done at first, you know, with the rain, it's the rainbow set, so it's like all these wonderful rainbow colors. I'm going to use this stamp set, the Rainbow of Happiness, but I'm going to do it in our greens, the shaded spruce, the garden green and old olive, and of course gold. So this is going to be an awesome card because we did a bunch of these same cards. The Stamparatus worked so amazingly to do them quickly. If you like doing multiple cards, the Stamparatus is for you, so I'm going to show you step-by-step how to do this card with the Stamparatus. So you can just do it because this is a photopolymer stamp set. You can do it with the regular blocks and it will work out just fine, but if you want to get it in the same area each time, the Stamparatus. So let's go ahead and start. I love how this stamp set has all these different stains and I put these awesome clear acrylic things in here and this because we have the pad to use because we're using the photopolymer stamps. I'm going to get the stamps out that I'm going to use and it's basically all the stamps for the rainbow arches and then the the saying itself from there. I'm using a five inch by three and three quarters basic white cardstock and I'm going to go ahead and put my magnets on these two edges because I'm going to go ahead and use my rainbow here and my saying right here.  So because I'm starting with the shaded spruce and then I kind of press this down so that's where it's going to be for that one. Okay so I'm going to go ahead and start with shaded spruce and just ink that up because I'm only doing one thing in the shaded spruce color it won't matter to you know where I have to reposition it or something but the cool thing about this is let's say I stamped it and it wasn't dark enough.  Okay the next color I'm using is garden green and that's the next arch of the rainbow so I'm going to go ahead and eyeball it in there to make sure that that's where that goes and that's also the same that I'm using to is in garden green. So I'm going to take my saying and do it at the same time because it's like why make it harder? So I'm going to have it and put the next arch of color which is garden green. Press that down to get those stamps on there and I'll push that back down. These magnets are pretty strong. Okay now I'm going to go ahead and ink that with the garden green. Just need to tap it on there so you get that garden green color on there. Press down with your hands and just right over the stamp. Okay then you've got the garden green. Now the next color is going to be gold and then old olive. So what I'm actually going to do is I'm going to go ahead and do the old olive first before I emboss. So I'm going to take the small one kind of eyeball it. Remember rainbows don't have to be perfect when you stamp them. They're all different. Okay what I'm going to do is I'm going to flip this over right here. So I'm using the back side of this and I'm going to pick up this little piece right here on oops on the back side and once you've got these placed it's just a matter of continually putting another piece of the basic white right here and just going over and over again and it's really quick to go ahead and ink those things up and everything will be in the right place. So there's the old olive is the last color and then gold on top of that. Press down to get it even. Okay we've got the old olive there. I'm going to close those up so I don't get ink all my fingers. Well I always have ink on my fingers. Okay the next one we're going to do is the gold. So flip this side over because we're not using those stamps. Now of course you would just leave these stamps exactly where they're at because you're doing multiples. Okay before I do anything else I kind of want to go over this with the with our embossing buddy. I use the embossing buddy just to be able to make it so that things don't stick that you don't want to stick to your card while you're embossing but you can get that at a big box craft store. Okay now this will be the VersaMark color that I'm going to be going which is no color so that the embossing powder will stick. Make sure you have enough of that on there so your embossing will stick. Press down. I'm just going to pull that up. Slide this over and pour that gold powder over and it will stick right on that rainbow. That's going to be gold.  Just set that over here. Take this and use an embossing gun. This one has two different speeds on it and this just reminds me of St. Patrick's Day especially with the gold on there.  Beautiful. Okay now of course have to use a ribbon and we've got this gold ribbon here so I'm just going to wrap this around and just do a knot and look how it got green all over my fingers and my card. I should have washed my hands after I did the did the stamparatus so you'll get that if you wash your hands before you use. Go ahead and do the embossing. Alright let me trim these. Now I won't be pinched because I did my St. Patrick's Day card. You make me happy. Okay there are no mistakes so even though we've got a couple little boo-boos on this it's okay. Remember these are hand done and I'm going to put two inch piece on our regular cardstock and this is garden green cardstock and go ahead and put on some dimensionals to pop this up because we got to have it popped up. I just love things popped up. What can I say? I'm gonna pop this up like so and you got your St. Patrick's Day card. You make me happy. So who wouldn't want to get a card like this for St. Patrick's Day and they will feel lucky. Hope you've enjoyed our St. Patrick's Day card and all the information below if any of the products that I've used is in the link and we'll see you next time on Watch a Weekly Wednesday.


Ghana is now exporting its nurses to work in other countries, this is the reason behind. Can you believe that Ghana is now exporting nurses to other countries? Nurse migration, particularly from low and middle income countries to high income countries, has emerged as a global concern. Another group of Ghanaian nurses will work in Barbados health care system for the next two years. The nurses who arrived at Grantlee Adams International Airport, GAIA, on Monday October 10 are expected to help alleviate the island's current nurse shortage. Expecting 56 nurses from Ghana to join the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and 66 to join the agencies of the Ministry of Health, that is the geriatric hospital, psychiatric hospital and polyclinic system. These are nurses of all areas of specialization. Ghana is the first country to make it a policy to send nurses abroad. It appears that Ghana is becoming the Cuba of Africa, with its government earning approximately eight billion dollars in revenue per year from its nurses and professional services provided by its doctors and nurses in over 70 countries worldwide. In this video, we will explain why the Ghanaian government is now exporting nurses to other countries and the benefits to Ghana. Please like, share and subscribe to Africa Reloaded. Also, please share your thoughts in the comments section. Nursing is a healthcare profession that focuses on the care of individuals, families and communities in order for them to achieve, maintain or recover optimal health and quality of life. A nurse's responsibilities range from emergency care decisions to vaccine administration in schools, homes and communities. Registered nurses can work in a variety of settings but becoming one requires extensive training. South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana and other African countries have some of the best nurses on the continent. However, we are focusing on Ghanaian nurses in this video. Ghana has 79 training healthcare institutions spread across the country and this institution provides education to Ghanayans who want to practice nursing. The Ghana Education Service is in charge of overseeing and operating these nursing training colleges. The nurses produced by these colleges in the country meet international standards by adhering to the protocols of the International Council of Nurses ICM and the International Confederation of Midwives ICM. According to Ghana's Director of Human Resources for Health, Dr. Quisi Asabre, the country produces over 20,000 nurses each year. The figure appears impressive but a significant number of students who complete nursing training in the country end up unemployed because the country produces more nurses than they require. As of January 2019, the country had approximately 40,000 unemployed nurses and midwives. As a result, nurses, doctors, midwives and other professionals trained in the country have privately made their way to work in countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, the Middle East and others with the government getting nothing from them. As a result, the Ghanaian government has decided to follow in Cuba's footsteps by exporting excess health expertise to other countries in order to support countries in need of nurses and provide opportunities for unemployed nurses. Barbados is the first country to have received nurses for Ghana. Despite producing nurses, Barbados like many other hospitals around the world faces nursing shortages. It is for this reason that they have signed a deal with Ghana to receive the excess excellent and quality nurses produced in Ghana for the global market to meet up their health needs. Juliet Bino Sutherland, Executive Chairman of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital explained to the media at the GDIA that these qualified nurses will be assigned to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and various Ministry of Health agencies. We anticipate 66 nurses from Ghana joining the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and 56 joining the Ministry of Health's agencies, which include the Geriatric Hospital, Psychiatric Hospital and Polyclinic System. These are nurses from various specialties who were specifically recruited to join us here in Barbados. They are all experts in their fields. Like many hospitals around the world, we are experiencing nursing shortages and there are some countries such as Ghana that are producing excellent nurses for the global market. The export of nurses, midwives and other health professionals from Ghana to other countries will help these nurses find work and earn enough money to support their families. According to the Ghanian government, this policy will not only generate revenue for the country, but will also protect and secure all Ghanian nurses and health care providers from exploitation in foreign countries. This will be a huge benefit for her because she is expected to profit more than $5 billion per year from this deal. Thank you for watching all the way through. Please help us by liking and subscribing to Africa Reloaded. Do not forget to share your thoughts with us in through the comments section and click the notification icon to receive alerts of our new videos.


Mainstream politics offer pretend revolutions to a discontented public. In 2008, the American public was fed up with the disastrous status quo politics of George W. Bush, so they came together and elected a progressive candidate who campaigned on hope and change to replace him. But no progress happened. The hope and change never came. Barack Obama continued and expanded all of his predecessor's most depraved policies at home and abroad, and it wasn't long before the initial elation wore off, and the illusion that things were looking up evaporated. It was as if Bush had never left office. Worn out and disgusted by crushing neoliberal policies at home and murderous, neo-conservative policies abroad, Americans elected a political neo-fight who ran on a populist platform which criticized both Bush and Obama. Trump promised to drain the swamp and the wars and fight the establishment in the interests of the ordinary people. This time for sure there would be change. But the wars kept going, and the swamp got even fuller, and the U.S. Empire kept chugging along at the same trajectory it had been on throughout the Bush administration and the Obama administration. Despite all this, the Democratic Party and its allied media institutions acted as though some drastic deviation from the norm had taken place, insisting that the United States had been plunged from a free democracy respected around the world into an isolationist fascist dystopia. In order to stop fascism, the American people had yet another people's uprising against the corrupt status quo and elected Obama's vice president. Lifelong corporate crony and empire-lacky Joe Biden now sits in the White House, advancing all the same murderous, oppressive, exploitative, authoritarian policies of his predecessors as a result of the latest fake decoy revolution against tyranny. And that's all mainstream electoral politics ever is in the U.S. Empire. A fake decoy revolution staged for the public every few years so that they don't have a real one. A symbolic ceremony where the public pretends to cast the abusive status quo into the sea so they feel like the battle against their oppressors has been won. And then their oppressors just keep right on oppressing them. Every few years the public gets to choose between two reliable lackeys of the oligarchic empire, and then all of the evils of that empire get pinned upon the winner. The public then directs their rage at the lackey rather than the actual power structure which has been oppressing them, after which they have another election to rid themselves of the scoundrel once and for all. They hug, they cry, they celebrate, and the oppression machine continues completely uninterrupted. As Gore Vidal once said, it doesn't actually make any difference whether the president is Republican or Democrat. The genius of the American ruling class is that it has been able to make the public think that they have had something to do with the electing of presidents for 200 years when they've had absolutely nothing to say about the candidates or the policies or the way the country has run. A very small group controls just about everything. That small group is the plutocratic class whose legalized bribery and propaganda machine has immense influence over US politics and the imperial war machine and special interest groups with whom that class is allied. It is necessary to form coalitions of support within that power cluster if one wants to become president in the managed democracy that is the United States. And no part of that power structure is going to support a president who won't reliably advance the interests of the oligarchic empire. From this point of view, the oligarchic power cluster is essentially running its own employees against each other and having them promise to end the injustices which are inextricably baked into the oligarchic empire. Americans live in a totalitarian state whose most important elections are rigged from top to bottom and their fed news stories about evil dictators in other countries rigging their elections to remain in power. Politicians cannot change the status quo to one which benefits ordinary people instead of their oligarchic owners because the oligarchic empire is built upon the need for endless war, poverty, and oppression. You cannot have a unipolar global empire without using violent force and the threat of it to uphold that world order. And you cannot have a plutocracy without ensuring that a few rulers have more wealth control than the rank-and-file citizenry.  The politicians who present themselves as progressives in America today offer only light opposition to some aspect of empire and oligarchy in effect merely supporting an oligarchic empire that gives Americans healthcare. Since keeping Americans poor, busy, and propagandized is an essential dynamic in the hub of a globe-spanning oligarchic empire, this is a nonsensical position. The oligarchs don't want ordinary Americans to have money to burn on campaign donations and free time to research what's really going on in their world because then they might meddle in the gears of the empire. The door to meaningful change in America via electoral politics has been closed, locked, bolted, welded shut, and barricaded with a metric ton of solid steel. The only thing that can cause an end to the oppression and exploitation is an end to the oligarchic empire. And the only thing that can cause the end of the oligarchic empire is direct action by the American people. Mass-scale activism, general strikes, and civil disobedience, the likes of which the nation has never before seen, insufficient numbers to crumble the plutocratic institutions which maintain the status quo. The problem is that this will never happen as long as Americans are being successfully propagandized into being content with their fake decoy revolutions. There is a zero percent chance of electoral politics leading to an end of the empire, but a concerted effort to spread awareness by those who understand what's going on just might. All positive changes in human behavior are always preceded by an expansion of awareness, whether you're talking about awareness of the consequences of one's addiction leading to their getting sober, or an expansion of awareness of the injustices of racism leading to racial justice laws. Making people aware that the mass media are lying to us about what's real, aware of the horrors of war, aware of the underlying dynamics of the economic injustice which is grinding Americans into the dirt, that can lead to a chain reaction which sees the collective using the power of its numbers to shrug off the chains of oppression as easily as you remove a heavy coat on a warm day. What's needed is for the people to awaken to the truth. An entire empire is built upon a closed pair of eyelids.


Have you heard the strange tales of the Whistler? The Whistler. I no longer see fear for things in the night. All that has changed. Night and the shadows are friendly. Now it is the daylight that frightens me. Another Sunday night and again CBS presents the Whistler. I, the Whistler, know many things for I walk by night. I know many strange tales. Many secrets hidden in the hearts of men and women who've stepped into the shadows. And so I tell you tonight the unusual story of the Legacy of Death. It was ten years ago that Henry Mitchell, formerly a biologist, married Martha Holliston, the widow of a wealthy cotton grower. Martha continued to direct the business of the plantation with the aid of Henry as overseer. She had one child, a daughter, by her deceased husband, a girl named Doreen.  She's been ill for almost a year and groans steadily weaker. It won't be long now, Henry. There's something I must tell you. Something you must promise to do for me. Yes, Martha, I'll do anything. It's about my daughter. Doreen is twenty-one now. She's a woman and she'll be thinking of marriage soon. I know, Martha. I've watched her every move, raised her carefully. I've been stern in my opinions regarding her. And perhaps at times I've seemed too strict. Yes, Martha, but a mother knows best. Doreen has always been an odd child. You've mentioned that yourself many times. And as she grew older, she became more strange each day. A peculiar, exotic mind. She must still be guarded and handled carefully until she reaches thirty. What are you trying to say, Martha? Doreen is the last of her father's line. And from that line, she's inherited something horrible. What? You mean insanity? No. It's not insanity. Not insanity? Well... But a horrible tendency. It skipped her father. If it appears at all, it always occurs in the early twenties. If it doesn't appear by the time they reach thirty, then they're safe. But what is it, Martha? What has she inherited? The tendency to murder. Murder? Good Lord. She must be handled delicately, gently, like a flower. Treated as a minor until she's thirty. And if she suffers no emotional upset by then, she's safe. Love, deep love, paves the way for possible emotional upsets. Jealousy, hatred and fear. But it may skip her. You must promise me that you'll care for her. As you would your own daughter. Yes, dear, I promise. According to her father's request, I've left the estate to Doreen with you as trustee and manager at a yearly salary. Yes, yes, Martha, that's very good of you. Until she's thirty, she must have your consent in every matter. Particularly marriage. Yes. If she defies you regarding marriage, then you must tell her the truth, but only then. I understand, Martha. Oh please, please don't say any more. Now that I've told you, I can rest so much easier. I'll send Doreen in now, dear. I'll be just outside. Henry. Doreen stepped into the room, knelt at her mother's bedside, and a few minutes later, Martha was gone. Now six months have passed and Henry has hired another overseer, young Irving Wallace, a graduate of agricultural university. Irving has fallen madly in love with a strange, unpredictable Doreen. Do you realize, Doreen, I almost turned down the offer to take this job, and something kept saying to me, take it, take it. And I did, darling. I don't know why at the time, but now I know. The night. I love the night. The river and the moon. Daytime and the sun on Earth. Never at ease. Never able to think clearly. Till the sun goes down and I see the moon on the river. It is pretty. Now as a little girl, I was always frightened of the dark. I sensed all sorts of horrors waiting for me in every shadow. Yes. Now in the last year or two, I've somehow lost my fear of the darkness. I no longer see things in the night. Night and shadows of friendliness. It's the daylight that frightens me. Doreen, what are you trying to say? What? What sort of talk is this? What's happened to you, Doreen? You've changed. You've grown distant and detached. We come down here to the river now, and you just stare at the moon and talking riddles. I don't understand it. No. I don't either. Well, I don't like it, darling. Well, it's not natural. What do you mean by that? Well, I mean I don't approve of such ideas coming from the woman I love. You don't? I don't want my wife to be normal. I don't want her to be afraid of the daylight and come to her senses only at night. What right of me to say what I shall like? What do you mean by your wife? What? Doreen, I thought... Did I ever say I'd marry you? No, but what else would I think? Did I ever say I loved you? You surely gave no indication that you didn't. What's wrong with you, Doreen? Doreen. What? Oh, please, darling, tell me what's wrong. What have I done? Nothing. Do you mean you... You don't want to marry me? I don't know. I'm afraid. Darling, if you only knew how I worship you... I'm just afraid. Afraid of old men. What an awful thought. Please go. Please, leave me alone. I can't understand you, Doreen. Please go, Irving. All right. I'll go if you insist. But please don't stay here long. It's almost midnight. What? Nothing, darling. Nothing. I saw the light in the library, Mr. Mitchell, and I wanted to talk to you. Have you noticed anything strange about your stepdaughter lately? Strange. I mean about her behavior, her actions. Not particularly. Well, I just left her down on the riverbank. And she's talking a lot of nonsense. Nonsense? What were you doing down at the riverbank at this time of night? I may as well tell you. I'm in love with Doreen. I want to marry her. Marry her? Yes. I knew nothing of this? All right. I suppose it's only natural. It's just the way it happens. But really, Mr. Mitchell, I love her so much that I... Never mind. You didn't say any more. Good heavens. Is it such a shock?  What's wrong, Mr. Mitchell? Are you ill? No. No, I'm just... What did you say about Doreen acting strangely? Well, in the last few days, she's changed. She's acting in a weird sort of manner. Weird? Yes. She says that daylight frightens her and she loves the dark and the moon. Tell me, is Doreen in love with you? I certainly thought she was. She led me to believe so. Until tonight. And had you talked of marriage? Not until this evening. I thought the idea was mutual. Then, all of a sudden, she turned cold. Well, that's why I came to you. Maybe she's ill or something. Yes. Yes, Irving, she is ill. What? Sit down, my boy. You really love her? I can tell. You have only her best interest at heart? I do. Thank heaven you told me this in time. I'm going to ask a sacrifice, are you, Irving? You must stay away from Doreen. You must say no more to her about love or marriage. Why not? I love her. Then you'll do as I say. Keep out of her way as much as possible. I know that seems hard, but for her own good, you must. What do you mean? What's wrong? I see I have to tell you the truth. Since this has happened, I must tell you, Doreen has inherited something that may lie dormant, but which under emotional stress may appear without warning. Are you trying to frighten me? Oh, no. Doreen has inherited a tendency to... To what? To murder. Murder? Oh, I can't believe it. Yes. It's a strain in her father's family. It appears only in the 20s, but if it doesn't appear before 30, the person is safe in the malady. What? It just doesn't seem possible. I promised her, dear mother, I'd do my best to protect her from emotional disturbance of any kind until she reached 30. Now do you understand? Yes, I... I understand you, but... Well, I... I'm not cold.  That may be an indication. And you must do your part to help by staying away from her. Very well. I will. If it's for her own good. It is Irving, believe me. Irving keeps his word and difficult as it is, he avoids Doreen's. Then a few weeks later, Henry Mitchell's handsome young brother, his only living relative, Clyde Mitchell, a wealthy Hollywood writer whom Henry hasn't seen in years, drops in unexpectedly. Well, Clyde, you've been doing very well in Hollywood, haven't you? Yes, indeed. Hollywood's been good to me. I've made a fortune. And I've handled my money in a better fashion than most of them. Hmm. Every dollar I get is turned over to a manager and he invests it for me. I couldn't write my name to a check for 500 if I wanted to. I'm glad to hear you finally got some sense. Why did you give up your biological research? Oh, I haven't entirely given it up. I still dabble in agricultural biology. You seem to be doing all right, Henry. This is a nice plantation, nice home. Sorry I didn't get to meet your wife. She had a daughter, didn't she? Yes, she's here. Doreen. Strange girl, most unusual. No children of your own, Henry? None. You and I are the last of our line. We're the only living ones of the family. It's up to you to carry on the name, Clyde. Yes. Well, I suppose I'll get around to that sooner or later. I'm engaged. I expect to be married this summer. Maybe before. Hollywood girl, she lives in Hollywood, but she came from Boston. One of the Harrington girls. I didn't know anyone was here. Oh, come in, Doreen. Come in. This is my brother, Clyde. Glad to know you, Clyde. Doreen, what a charming name. Clyde is a movie writer, been quite successful in Hollywood. Oh, now don't tie me down to pictures, Henry. I've written a few novels still. Yes, I know. You wrote Moong in the river. Yieldy? I was terribly impressed by it. It was... Well, it was out of this world. I have a fan. Are you staying for a while? Oh, a few days. I like it here. Do you? I... Well, I leave you alone now. I know you want to talk. Good night. Nice girl. I said she's a nice girl. Hmm? Oh, yeah, she's gorgeous. I've never seen such red hair, such strange eyes. Well, they're almost... they're hypnotic. Red hair and green eyes. What did you say? I didn't say anything, Clyde. Why have you brought me down here tonight, Doreen? The river, Clyde. The moon and the river. Look at it. The stream of silver and gold flowing on and on. Down to the sea. To the melting pot. To eternity. It's very beautiful. That's your river. The moon and the river. He made you conscious of that cry. He breathes and lives. That's why I've come to love the night. I hold no fear of the dark. You mean you're at ease in the dark? The night I'm through, the moon thrills me. The moon and the river. And they mean the same to you. The same? They must. Or you could never have written this, you did. You and I are the same, Clyde. We see alike. Look at me, Clyde. Yes? Why don't you say it? I know what you're thinking. Say it. Doreen, I... You love me. No, no, don't run away. Look at my eyes and say it. I love you. I love you, Doreen. I love you, darling. Oh, Clyde, dear. If you only knew what it meant to me, you're coming here two weeks ago. You saved me, Clyde. But you don't understand, Doreen. It's all wrong. Everything is wrong. Look at me, Clyde. Look. Everything is right. Just as it was intended. Isn't it? But you must listen. Hold me close, Clyde. Doreen, darling, I... What are you trying to tell me? I can't remember. Oh, Clyde. I can't think. Nothing else matters. Nothing is real but I love. And the moon and the river. And you won't leave me forever. I won't let you. Doreen, please. This can't go on. It isn't right. I've got to get away. You won't leave me. You can't leave me because you'll love me. Yes. Yes, help me. Help me. I must be mad. But I do. I do love you. But I just can't seem to... Don't say a word, dear. Just... Yes, Henry. I'm into the library. I've just been talking with Irving. Said you were walking down by the river bank a while ago. Yes, I was. That is, I... What's wrong with you, Clyde? What's happened? I don't know, Henry. I'm leaving in the morning. Leaving? I must. I've got to get back to Hollywood. I'm getting married, you know. Next summer, you said? What did I? Well, I've decided to get married as soon as possible. Clyde, I know where you've been. You've been with Doreen. Irving told me? Yes. I wasn't Doreen. I don't know what's happened to me since I've been here. But I do know I mustn't stay another day. I'm leaving in the morning. Have you fallen in love with Doreen? I don't know, Henry. I don't know what's wrong. Is she in love with you? Yes, she is. I tried to fight it off, but... Well, it's just I lost all sense of logic. Doreen is a strange creature, Clyde. I'm certainly aware of that. It seems to... I'm powerless to keep away from her. I mustn't stay longer. I'm leaving the first thing in the morning. I'm sorry to see you go, Clyde. I hoped you'd stay longer, but perhaps under the circumstances it's best. I only wish I were free to go with you. You can come along if you want. No, I... I can't leave, Clyde. Because of Doreen. Is that what you're trying to say? Yes, Clyde. I can't leave her alone for a single moment. What's wrong with her? There's something odd about her, and you know what it is. Does she know you're leaving? No. No, I tried to tell her. I see. And I'd better tell her. Yes. Good night, Henry. Clyde climbs the stairs and goes to his room. Henry stands in the door of the library, lost in thought. A few moments pass, and Doreen comes into the hallway from outside and starts for the stairs. Doreen! Yes? Come in. What is it? I've just learned that you've become infatuated with my brother. Infatuated? And before it becomes more serious, I want to warn you that it'll be a mistake for... well, for you to fall in love. What do you mean? Why shouldn't I fall in love?  I don't understand you. Why should I wait? It'll be better if you do. Please believe me. What's the reason back of all this? Well, I... Doreen, I hate to tell you this... Why don't you say it? What is it? You have...   That isn't what you were going to say. Yes, that's exactly what I was going to say. I know my brother better than you. He isn't serious about you. Well, he's never been serious about any woman. He never will be. He isn't the type. Believe me, he doesn't love you. I don't believe you. I know he loves me. I know. And I'm going to marry him. Marry him? Yes. You poor girl. I'm terribly sorry for you. Clyde was here a few minutes ago. I asked him about you, and he told me that he wasn't in love with you. You see, my dear, he's engaged to another woman. He's going back in the morning to be married. Married? If he had been serious, he'd have told you the truth. I'm sorry this had to happen to you. I've tried my best to keep you from falling and... What did you say? Go on, finish. I said that... Oh, please, Doreen, don't become upset. You've tried to keep me from falling in love. That's what you were going to say. Doreen, you might... Why didn't you want me to fall in love? Why? No, no, no. Doreen, control yourself. Do you know what I'm thinking? Doreen. I despise you.  Oh, no, you don't understand me. You don't want me to marry Clyde. You don't want me to marry anybody. And I know why. You're lying to me. You told him something to drive him away. I told him nothing, and I'm not lying to you. I'll find out in just a moment. Wait, Doreen. Wait. I... I didn't want to tell you, but I see now that I must. You see, my dear, you've... You've inherited a complex, something that lies dormant, and may be brought into action under emotional stress. Inherited a complex? Yes. A tendency to murder. Murder. And that's why I've tried to keep you from falling in love, from subjecting yourself to emotional stress. So that's what you told him. Another lie. Oh, no. So I've inherited a desire to kill. Does anyone else know that? I... Yes, I had to tell Irving. I see. Good night. Oh, I beg your pardon, Mr. Mitchell. No, no, no. Come in, Irving. Come in. I wanted to talk to you about... Hello, Doreen. I said, what's the matter with you, Doreen? Nothing. Nothing is the matter. You look as though you... Doreen, what is it? Are you ill? Yes. Yes, I am ill. Haven't you heard? Doreen! Good night. Both of you. What's wrong with her? I've never seen her like this. Do you suppose... I had to tell Irving. I had to... What happened? She snapped. I can tell. I don't know what to do now. I just talked to Clyde. I told him he had to leave at once. The sooner the better. And I... I told him why. I told him about Doreen. I begged him to go for her sake. He only laughed at me. He told me to tend to my own business. Clyde tells her the truth, which he will. She's liable to snap completely. But what can we do? I know what to do. When Clyde tells her, she'll turn violently against him. He's got to leave on the first train in the morning, but tonight she may do something. She'll change rooms with Clyde after she talks to him. What can I do? Nothing, Irving. Just try to forget it. Oh, uh, you can get me some coffee. I've got to stay awake tonight. What is it? I want to ask you something, Clyde. What? Are you leaving in the morning? Well, uh... Yes, Doreen. I am. Why? I have some business to attend to. Why are you leaving me, Clyde? Why don't you take me with you? Take you? I can't do that. Why didn't you tell me we're leaving? Well, it came up all of a sudden. Oh, did it? What did your brother tell you about me? He didn't tell me anything. No. I love you, Clyde. But I... You can't leave without me. I can't take you with me, Doreen. It's impossible. Why is it? Because... Well, because I'm going to be married. Married? Yes. I wanted to tell you, but... Married? I thought you loved me, Clyde. Oh, Doreen, I can't stay here any longer. I can't go on like this. Why didn't you tell me you loved someone else? Why? I don't know. I really don't know. Are you afraid of me? I'm sleeping in the morning, Doreen. That's definite. Good night, Clyde. Doreen, I... Goodbye, darling. Now the next morning. Breakfast is set early since the first train leaves at 8.30. At 7, Doreen, a face pale, deep shadows under her green eyes come slowly down the stairs to the sun room. Good morning, Doreen. Good morning. Sit down, Doreen. Did you rest well? No. I didn't sleep so well, either. Guess the storm disturbed me. Were there a storm? Yes, an electrical storm. Didn't you hear it? I don't remember. What time did the train leave? 8.30. Clyde will be down in a few minutes. Mr. Mitchell. Yes? Mr. Bowden, I can see you. Oh. Tell him to come in. Morning, Mr. Mitchell. Morning, Bowden. This is Mr. Davis, my assistant. This is Dr. Upton. How do you do? How do you do? A gentleman. This is my daughter, Doreen. And this is my superintendent, Irving Wallace. Yes, I know. How are you, Irving? What... What are you doing here? May we see the body, Mr. Mitchell? Yes, Sheriff. Sheriff. Body. Well, what's happened? Clyde has been murdered. Clyde. Murdered. Well... Murdered. Yes. During the night. Clyde. Come along, gentlemen. Upstairs. The Sheriff and his deputy make the routine inspection of the room and the body. And after the coroner completes his examination, they return to the breakfast room. I'm afraid I am to blame for the unfortunate circumstance. My wife begged me to keep her from emotional upset. I did my best, but I'm afraid it wasn't enough. I never dreamed she was falling in love with Clyde. When I learned about it, it was too late. I made a mistake by telling her. Only upset her the more. Say, she inherited this tendency to kill from her father? Yes. Her mother made me promise to guard her carefully until she was 30. You see, it only appears in the early 20s, if at all. It lies dormant and may be brought to the fore by emotional stress. Yes. I see. It's a bad... Did you leave your room last night, Miss? No. That is... I don't remember. You were in love with him. And you didn't know about the other woman? I loved him. I didn't know about the other woman till last night.  You have no recollection of leaving your room? No, I... Will you come to town with us, Miss? Why? Always just want to talk to you. Wait. Wait, I can't stand this any longer. Doreen... Why...  I know. But... Here we go again, Doc. You're trying to protect her, I think because you love her. I do love her. Sure you do. Where's the gun? Gun? There's no gun. Clyde wasn't shot. No? No.  A sickle from my tool shed. How do you believe me? Has he seen the body, Mr. Mitchell? No. I didn't say how he was killed, but... Irving, you... I killed him. I knew about Doreen, and I wanted to save her because I... I was jealous of Clyde. Well, he was killed with a sickle, all right? Yes, my sickle from the tool shed. How do you believe me? Do you know what you're saying, Irving? I think he's shooting in the dark. No, and I can prove it. If Doreen had entered that room and stabbed anyone, she would have killed Henry. Not Clyde, but Henry. Why? Because Henry was afraid of what might happen during the night. So he changed rooms with Clyde. And I was the only one who knew that. Doreen would have killed Henry. Is that true, Mr. Mitchell? Why? Yes, we did change rooms, but she didn't know that. Well, I don't know how she could have known it, but she must have discovered the switch. You know, I think Irving knows too many details to be lying. I think he's telling the truth. I am. I killed him. He didn't. Irving didn't kill him. He is trying to protect me. I remember something now. Remember what? If you killed him, Irving, what time was it? It was... 4 a.m. Have you established the hour of death, doctor? I have. Wait, I'll tell you. It was... It was at midnight. 12 o'clock. What time was he killed, doc? About 12 o'clock last night. That couldn't possibly have been four. How did you know that? At midnight, I went to Clyde's room to talk to him.  It frightened me, so I went to his room. Clyde wasn't there, no one was there. So if Henry was occupying that room, then he was not there at midnight. Henry must have been in Clyde's room. What? Henry must have killed Clyde. What?   Oh, nonsense. I've been suspicious of you ever since mother died. What? That's why you didn't want me to marry. And you were your brother's only heir. He was wealthy and his money could save you. You knew I was suspicious of you.  So you killed Clyde for his money and tried to blame it on me because you knew I'd be suspected. That's why you told Irving about my hereditary tendency. Why, she's crazy, gentlemen. Completely insane. Examine my mother's body. Check the account. She's mad, Mr. Mitchell. Do you believe she inherited this tendency to murder? Why? Well, certainly her mother warned me of all this.  Oh, yes. Yes, I was. Still are, Dr. Henry Mitchell. Well, I still dabble in biology, only as it concerns agriculture. I recently read an article you wrote a few years ago in which you proved the one thing that was not hereditary was a criminal instinct. That such tendencies were the results of environment. You proved that. Well... And you knew from the beginning that the mother was merely a victim of a false belief. But you used that belief to suit your own purpose. It all adds up against you, Mitchell. We'll just follow through with the girl's advice about your wife's body. I wouldn't be at all surprised by the results of the autopsy. Let's go, Doc. And they did follow through on Doreen's advice. And they did find her a state rifle, and they found traces of poison in the mother's body, so Henry confessed. If it hadn't been for Doreen's psychic powers, he'd have gotten away with everything. Oh yes, Doreen was definitely psychic. Because she said she went to the room at midnight and no one was there, but she did not go to the room. But she did wake up at the start at midnight. She knew something terrible was happening, but didn't know what it was till this morning. She put things together and knew the truth. And Irving knew about the sickle because he missed it from its rack, and he was merely guessing. But it all worked out to a successful conclusion. And Doreen need have no further worry about her so-called inherited criminal tendency. Because there is no such thing. I know. CBS has presented The Whistler. Original music for this production was composed and conducted by Wilbur Hatch. The Whistler is written and directed by J. Donald Wilson and originates from Columbia Square in Hollywood. Next week, same time... I, The Whistler, will return to tell you another unusual story. Good night. This is the Columbia Broadcasting System.