The questions and comments went on much longer than normal for one of our 3rd Monday events (21st of June). It was a measure of how much everyone enjoyed Dr Ken Harvey’s talk. For those that might want to revisit Ken’s talk, he has kindly made available his presentation slides.
The Victorian Skeptics were asked by the distributor to review this newly released DVD; Steve Roberts writes:
I approached this material with an open mind but also with caution, as the outer packaging implies that Tony – a brilliant comic actor and presenter whom, until now, I have admired – will be presenting various superstitious beliefs in a credulous fashion. “Unlocking information about the past using psychic techniques” skites the cover, alarmingly. “Tony Robinson and science journalist Becky McCall step into the unknown to investigate whether past paranormal events should be taken seriously or dumped into history’s litterbin.” Well, at least there’s a scientist in it; she can hold the lid open.
In each episode Tony starts off by saying “when you look at the past, everything should have a rational explanation”, which is a bit odd; where did Beethoven’s 9th Symphony come from? The three episodes deal respectively (and respectfully) with: the excavation of Glastonbury in the 1910’s, a séance in World War Two where the ghost revealed startling new information, and a whole group of people – actually two whole groups of people – who all believed that they were reincarnations of a whole group View More Unexplained
This article first appeared as a Vic Skeptics discussion pamphlet.
The full range of our discussion pamphlets can be downloaded here: http://www.skeptics.com.au/resources/educational/
or by clicking on the “Useful Info” link at the top of this page.
People are all different, with different personalities, talents and desires. Numerology probably harks back to pre-Christian Hebrew mystic writing. That’s not surprising, as back then, the first letter of their alphabet also stood for the number one, and so on. View More Australian Skeptics Guide to Numerology
As previously reported, The Amazing Meeting Australia will be held at the Sydney Masonic Centre, November 26-28.
The offical website has been launched at tamaustralia.org, and a raft of guests have been confirmed.
The guest list is a who’s-who of internationally-renowned skeptics and freethinkers, including (the Amazing) James Randi, JREF president D.J. Grothe, the entire cast of The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe, Brian Dunning from Skeptoid.com, musician George Hrab, Dr Eugenie Scott, Dr Karl Kruszelnicki, previous Vic Skeptics guest Dr Simon Singh, winner of the inaugural Shorty Award for health Dr Rachael Dunlop, and many many more.
Members of the James Randi Educational Foundation and subscribers to “The Skeptic” will be able to buy early-bird tickets from 9am on Sunday June 20. That’s this weekend!
Tickets for the general public will be available from July 5.
This is going to be a major event in the 2010 skeptical calendar, and tickets will sell fast. Don’t miss out!
Once again the Mind Body Spirit Festival came to the Melbourne Exhibition Centre this long weekend (11 – 14 June 2010).
If you’re a local to Melbourne and that last sentence didn’t make much sense, please let me re-phrase: Mind Body Wallet at Jeff’s Shed. That better?
The sights and sounds are quite extraordinary: crystals, Tantric healing, herbs, cults, self-improvement courses, psychic readings, sometimes many of these mixed together on the one stand. It’s the most extraordinary View More The Mind Body Wallet experience
It was all over our local news yesterday: the reports of a beautiful spiral seen in the predawn light from most of the east coast of Australia. Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane and the Gold Coast were all reportedly excellent viewing locations.
On-line, there are some excellent photos and videos of this event.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XdbkpqtE0Y]
Although the weather was cold and cloudy in Melbourne yesterday, there are reports of some people having seen the same light in the sky from here.
So what was it? View More Spiral “UFO” reports from the east coast of Australia
In response to a recent ABC “science news” report about acupuncture, Dr Steve Basser writes:
When a skeptic reads that acupuncture ‘works’ the most important question to ask is what specifically the author means by acupuncture? What exactly is it they are claiming is working, and how have they reached their conclusion?
There have been innumerable papers on acupuncture published over many many years in journals both reputable and less so, but a weakness of many of these is that they do not clearly define what it is they are testing, and fail to detail how they will establish whether it does indeed ‘work’.
Traditional Chinese acupuncture is based upon theories of View More Acupuncture in the news