February Puzzles
February Puzzles are now in pride of place at the top of our PUZZLES PAGE
They include the usual monthly Picture Puzzles, Mixed Bag Puzzles, Skeptical Crossword Puzzle and Logic & Maths Puzzles.
Month: January 2013
Logic & Maths Puzzles February 2013 – Solutions
1. none
2. a. 6 snakes; b. 14 lizards; c. 7 people
3. 15 attempts
4. Yellow, orange, red, pink, purple, green, brown, blue, grey
5. a, c & d
6. View e is not possible
7. Seat 2
8. Alan is 21, Brian is 8, Chuck is 16.
9. 11 times
10. Cabbage(21), pea(22), Leek(33), carrot(75)
February 2013 “Mixed Bag” Questions – Answers
1. a) 26 Miles in a marathon; b) 6 sides to a cube; c) 5 lines in a limerick
2. They are written using only straight lines
3. Munchkins
4. Robert Downey Junior
5. Warsaw
6. Aerial Bombing
7. Huey, Dewey and Louie / Donald Duck’s nephews
8. Stripe, Sprite, Ripest
9. Rocket Science
10. A. Shorthand for “South-West Township”
Darwin Day 2013
Charles Darwin’s birthday, February 12 is the subject of an annual celebration by freethinkers around the world.
As usual, we invite you to celebrate with us in two ways.
(1) If you’re a teacher, or know a teacher, we have our suite of Darwin Day Classroom Exercises. You can download them from http://www.skeptics.com.au/resources/educational/ These exercises cater to a wide range of student ages.
(2) There’s the usual Darwin Day Barbecue for Melbourne people. HOWEVER, this year the venue has changed.
Go to our EVENTS page for details.
An On-Air mixture of Whiplash, Acupuncture and Anecdote
By Mal Vickers
An interesting discussion took place on radio whilst James Randi was in Australia. It happened on Friday the 30th of November during The Conversation Hour, a kind of group interview session with popular radio host Jon Faine, (ABC Local Melbourne Radio 774). The particular exchange I’d like to highlight took place at the very end of the program.
Being a skeptic, of course I’m an admirer of the work of James Randi however, being a Melburnian I also regularly listen to ABC 774 and think highly of Jon Faine.
Many times I’ve heard Jon Faine ask some excellent, insightful questions of politicians. He’s sharp, knowledgeable and in my humble opinion, Melbourne’s best talkback radio host.
Jon Faine was, I think, the only media commentator willing to strongly criticise self proclaimed US psychic John Edwards when he came to Australia. The stoush between the two made the national media at the time.
Getting back to the 30th November Conversation Hour broadcast, with James Randi, comedian Stella Young and psychiatrist Iain McGilchrist; whilst discussing the topic of psychics, Faine said the following:
They [psychics] take away the fundamental and unavoidable importance of us being responsible for our own destiny. And that’s a fraud on every individual, that’s a fraud on all of us.
I think most skeptics would View More An On-Air mixture of Whiplash, Acupuncture and Anecdote
Psychic Challenge 2012 – The Results
Greetings all.
Well, the year has come to an end. We survived the Mayan Apocalypse and time has marched on into the 14th Mayan B’ak’tun and the 2013th year of our Common Era.
That means it’s time to look back, reflect and review just how well the Psychic Predictions for the year turned out.
12 months ago we put out the call for a psychic to provide predictions for the year ahead. We then pit that psychic’s predictions against those from three skeptics, to see who would prove the most prescient.
And the results are now in!
For a full commentary and all the scores, check out the Psychic Challenge 2012 page.