Our Review Section kicks off with
Trick or Treatment? Alternative Medicine on Trial by Edzard Ernst & Simon Singh
When You Were a Tadpole and I Was a Fish – and Other Speculations About This and That by Martin Gardner
The History of Britain Revealed: The Shocking Truth About the English Language by M.J. Harper
http://skeptics.cafe/about/reviews/
Excellent news: shortly after TAM Oz, two of the world’s most prominent Skeptics will be in Melbourne and have agreed to speak to us: Brian Dunning and Rebecca Watson.
For those who missed out on TAM Oz tickets, or simply couldn’t afford the time or money to travel to Sydney, this is an evening you shouldn’t miss.
Hopefully you already know of Brian and Rebecca; if that’s the case, why are you reading this? Just skip to the end of this post, read the details and book in for the event.
For those who want to know something of Brian and Rebecca, read on.
Cast your mind back to our video night in 2009. You may recall that Peter Bromley showed us a video called Here be Dragons. It was an excellent 40 minute presentation of skeptical/critical thinking. The writer and producer of that video was Brian Dunning.
I know there are many current and retired science teachers among the Vic Skeptics. As you could probably gather from this video, Brian is one of the world’s best communicators when it comes to Critical Thinking.
Brian is a tireless producer of View More Special Event, Brian Dunning and Rebecca Watson
Consumer advocacy magazine Choice are running their fifth annual, 2010 Shonky Awards. It’s a kind of name and shame exercise. It’s with great pleasure I announce that one of the Australian Skeptics’ and Victorian Skeptics’ favorite products has gained a Shonky – the Power Balance band.
Congratulations to Power Balance on wining this prestigious award (with tongue firmly in cheek).
As any Skeptic will tell you, the $2 Placebo Band works just as well as the $60 Power Balance band. They look very similar and are made from identical materials.
The Australian Skeptics and Placebo Band got a nice mention at the award ceremony, many thanks to Choice for their efforts.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ds8OSY__uig]
Previous Vic Skeptics posts about magical rubber bands:
Power Balance … or Placebo?
Video fest: the Power Balance wrist band and the arm press
Mal
One of the interesting developments in Victoria and World Wide in recent years has been the growth of local “Skeptics In the Pub” groups.
In the past, we’ve often had the odd lone enquiry along the lines of “I live too far away from the City to attend your events. Is there a Skeptics group near me?”
The short answer was mostly “No”. However, we often chased up the enquiry, in an attempt to get some interest going. On most occasions, this lead nowhere. Then we were shown how to do it, by enterprising people in Country Victoria, the beachside suburbs and the Mornington Peninsula.
View More Your Very Own Skeptics in the Pub?
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.
Dowsing, (also known as Divining) is widely practised in Australia. Dowsers claim the ability to detect useful substances in the ground using processes which are not able to be explained by current scientific principles.
The most frequently dowsed substance in drought-prone Australia is water. Many Australians can claim a friend or relative who is a water-diviner.
Australian Skeptics have long been interested in dowsing. It clearly lies within the range of paranormal activities which come under scrutiny. We offer a sum of money, (currently $100,000) to anyone who can demonstrate paranormal ability of any kind. Our only stipulation is that candidates must pass a proper scientific test, the protocols of which have been agreed upon by all parties before the test commences. Most acceptors of this challenge have been water-diviners; probably because they are genuine people who believe in their abilities, and are as interested in being tested as we are to test them.
View More A Skeptic's Guide to Dowsing
by Lucas Randall
Wide-scale access to the Internet has resulted in unprecedented access to information for the average citizen of any developed nation, and the more recent proliferation of mobile data devices and networks have exponentially increased our ability to reference the collective body of knowledge on a whim.
This access comes at a price however, as tech-savvy marketers have outstripped science and education practitioners’ resources, funding and drive to make information easily accessible, effectively saturating the search-engine and news-reporting info-spheres with commerce-driven interpretations of research, opinion, tradition and in many cases, out-right pseudo-science or fraudulent claims.
Whilst most developed economies provide some levels of consumer protection, in Australia including bodies such as the Therapeutic Goods Administration, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) various industry ombudsmen and voluntary ‘societies’ with industry codes-of-practice, most consumers have very limited understanding of the significant differences in evidentiary support pharmaceuticals require, for example, as compared with “complimentary” or “alternative” medicines.
View More Some pointers on critically assessing the validity of claims
Ah, the Power Balance band.
You’ve probably heard of it. It was ubiquitous in this year’s AFL season and made headlines around the world when the likes of Shaquille O’Neal started wearing them.
So what does it do? Interestingly, its makers are careful to avoid claiming that it does anything at all.
The “What Is Power Balance?” section of their website still says “Coming Soon”. And has done so for months.
But never mind that. Elsewhere the site is positively jam-packed with testimonials about the band’s ability to improve your balance, increase your flexibility, enhance your endurance levels and, of course, help you win basketball games. Thanks Shaq.
Now, the skeptical among us suspect there’s nothing more to it than a simple placebo effect.
After all, there’s a complete lack of scientific evidence supporting the band’s effects, not to mention the implausible idea that having a hologram strapped to your arm makes you run faster.
View More Power Balance … or Placebo?
Apparently skeptics are just a bunch of old-age naysayers with no religion, culture or art. As such, don’t tell anyone about George Hrab and his upcoming gig in Melbourne, I wouldn’t want to burst anyone’s bubble. I’d really hate for his gig to be spoilt by – you know – loads and loads of people turning up.
George is an active Pennsylvania based musician, composer, podcaster and skeptic.
George’s podcast; the Geologic Podcast, has a huge following and easily has the best sound quality of any skeptical podcast available. The Geologic Podcast features segments such as “George talks to his mum” and “religious moron of the week”.
In a very bold move, George’s last album “Trebuchet” was released free, in its entirety, in one of his regular podcasts. I first really began to appreciate George’s music when he produced the song “Far”, which became View More George Hrab in Melbourne
Suddenly the Vic Skeptics blog has got bigger, though you probably haven’t noticed. We’ve gone from 80 posts to 220. Our old “keypoint” site will eventually be shut down. Ahead of that, rather than dump the old stuff, a big effort has gone into moving it from the old site to this one.
If you have a little spare time and feel like reading some re-born old posts try these:
How to make your own bed of nails
Homeopathy for Pets???
How to put together a class exercise on astrology, if you’re a teacher
Saddened by Channel Ten’s screening of Sensing Murder (from 2006)
Also on the same subject “Sensing Nothing” by Christopher Short.
Dr John Long spoke to the Victorian Skeptics in 2005
An embarrassing question on a psychology exam
View More Bigger blog
1. Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri and Montana
2. (a) 54 Cards in a Deck (with the jokers)
(b) 8 planets in the solar system
(c) 88 Keys on a Piano
(d) 90 Degrees in a Right Angle
(e) 200 dollars for passing GO in Monoploy
(f) 8 sides on a Stop Sign
3. We know of three possibilities:
– Prince, princes, princess.
– Bra, bras, brass.
– Care, cares, caress.
4. (a) Bangladesh
(b) Egypt
(c) Fiji
(d) Nicaragua
(e) Switzerland
(f) Tunisia
(g) Zambia
5. Nine
6. Alas, alias
7. Time
8. Brogues
9. (a) Tom Hanks
(b) Dan Ackroyd
(c) William Shatner
10. (a) USA
(b) Canada
(c) England
(d) Lebanon
(e) India