Desert Air Podcast

The Desert Air Podcast, or Atheist Inquiry into Reality, is an atheist and skeptics movement, weekly, Podcast, out of Tucson Arizona. The shows stated purpose is "to discuss science and take on the superstitious, the frauds and the willfully ignorant"... or at least talk about them. The show tends to focus on science, religion and critical thinking, but features occasional political commentary and talk of events within the skeptics movement. Unsurprisingly, the cast is very critical of religion and pseudo-science, but tends to have a generally positive outlook.

The five people behind The Desert Air Podcast are:

• Brandon: The Host, A Nuero-science PHD student, as well as a former extreme Heavy Metal guitarist, singer/song writer, and recording studio engineer. He's responsible for the production and editing of the show as well.
• Don: A former US. Air Force: radio technician, shop chief, flight test engineer, aircraft maintenance officer, program integrator, who has since dedicated his life to "the advancement of reason." He is an extremely chill guy and is a major player in worlds of Atheism, Secularism and Humanism, especially in the southwest.
• David: Somewhat the wild card, in that his segments will can be either very serious and intense to lighter or more humorous. Additionally he has a good deal of knowledge of biology, politics and The Bible. He tends to be very opinionated and adds an element humor to the show.
• Kiera: The show's resident scholar on religion, especially Christianity and The Bible. Also contributes to the shows political commentary on more recent episodes, and gives the show a much needed female perspective.
• Philip: Former NASA Engineer, usually responsible for science heavy discussions, many concerning biology. Has strong knowledge insects and arachnids which occasionally surfaces on the show.

Regular segments include:

• News: Brandon & David present recent news stories, usually relevant to science and religion, and the rest of the cast provides commentary.
• The Good News: David discusses a development that cast views as positive to talk about at the end of episodes. This ends the show on a positive note.
• Awesome Science: Brandon discusses a particularly awesome scientific discovery and often presents it in contrast to the claims made by religions.
• Sunday School: Kiera discusses a verse or story from the bible. Often highlights the apparent immorality of the verses, discusses more subtle meanings or gives an Alternative Character Interpretation.
• Isn't The World Enough: Philip Discusses, why reasons why he believes this world is amazing without even without giving it supernatural properties. Often a science oriented segment.
• Champs & Chumps: Don praises public figures who advance the values of the show, such as Richard Dawkins, and Christopher Hitchens, and denigrates public figures who advance opposing values, especially when the look foolish or morally repugnant doing so (Rick Perry and Bill O'reilly are likely offenders).
• Critical thinking: Don leads a critical thinking exercise and discusses Logical Fallacies

The show's official website is

Compare to The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe, The Atheist Experience

Tropes used in Desert Air Podcast include:

• Adorkable: Everyone has their moments.
• Alternative Character Interpretation: In episode 5 Kiera provides one of these in which the biblical Eve's desire for knowledge leads her to eat the apple and makes her the heroine of the Genesis story.
• Atheism: Obviously.
• Big Brother Mentor: Don
• Cool Old Guy: Don
• Cool Teacher: Don
• Corrupt Church: Stories involving these come up rather often.
• Deadpan Snarker: Everyone at some point, but Philip and David are the most likely offenders.
• Do-It-Yourself Theme Tune: All music on the show is provided by cast members, including the Brandon's guitar piece at the beginning and end.
• Drugs Are Bad: Subverted, In episode five. The cast expresses support for legalization of some drugs and Don criticizes Bill O'Reilly for his dishonesty in dealing with a drug related story.
• The Engineer: Brandon on the show, Don in real life...
• Five-Man Band
  • The Hero -- (lead singer) Brandon
  • The Lancer -- (lead guitar) Don
  • The Smart Guy -- (keyboardist) Philip
  • The Big Guy -- (drummer) David
  • The Chick -- (vocal effects, tambourine) Kiera
• God and Satan Are Both Jerks: An underlying theme in some of Kiera's segments.
• Nerds Are Sexy: It is very much a nerd-friendly program.
• Is This Thing On?: In episode 11, Kiera exclaims, "Bitch you don't know that!" When Brandon state that Don is calling in.
• Pedophile Priest: The cast frequently criticize the Catholic Church for covering-up this phenomenon.
• Raised Catholic: Don.
• Real Men Love Jesus: Subverted, regularly.
  • In one episode Don covers a disturbing story in which a Christian man burns his child for touching his bible.
• Religion Is Wrong: Usually an underlying theme.
• Saintly Church: Subverted, these don't get brought up often.
• Scary Amoral Religion: These guys seem to see this in all religions.
• Some Anvils Need to Be Dropped: Discussed in episode 10; Kiera explains why some political criticism is necessary even if it is not the main purpose of the show.
• Special Guest: Britta Lively, of the Lively News Blog, does a segment in episode 8
• Team Dad: Don
• The Fundamentalist: News stories, unsurprisingly often feature the ugly side of this.
• The Heart: Kiera
• The Smurfette Principle: Kiera falls victim to this, unfortunately.
• Throw It In: Quite a bit of this, including the beat-boxing and Auto-tune in episode 10. Another episode ends with someone telling Brandon "Don't call it a sode asshole!"
• What Do You Mean It Wasn't Made on Drugs?: Subverted, in episode 5 the cast acknowledges recording over a few bottles of beer.