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Slideshow of the convention from Friday through to Saturday’s Gala Dinner.
To see these and more images of the convention, in higher resolution, please follow these links.
Mark’s images are collected here.
Mal’s photos:
Prior to the convention slideshow.
The fund raising dinner slideshow.
Friday and Saturday slideshow.
Sunday slideshow.
Photo credits: Mal Vickers and Mark Hassed
[slideshow]
The Fund Raising Dinner was a great success. It was held at a place of great significance in Melbourne’s history, the Royal Society of Victoria building. The evening included a tour of the building, the library and lecture theatre being highlights. Guests also got the chance to chat with DJ Grothe, Brian Thompson and Rebecca Watson.
Huge thanks to those willing to come along, be part of this special event and offset the cost of brining James Randi to Australia. James Randi was very generous with his time, in addition to the close-up magic tricks, he agreed to sit for some iconic photographs taken in the library.
Thanks also to the organisers, in particular Matt Kippen.
[slideshow]
Some images of events before the convention.
James Randi joined the convention organising committee and made fools of us with his card tricks – Tuesday, 27 November.
DJ Grothe, Brian Thompson and Randi took a trip to Healesville Sanctuary to see just a little of Australian nature whilst they were here – Wednesday, 28 November.
Richard Saunders, Maynard, our international guests, and others chill out at ‘The Penny Black’ pub in Brunswick – Thursday, 29 November.
The Australian Skeptics Convention 2012 kicks off at 5.30 tonight with a Meet and Greet event at the Immigration Museum, 400 Flinders Street, Melbourne.
We’re looking forward to a great weekend!
And to keep track of all the events and speakers, you can now download the official calendar.
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There are less than two weeks to go for the convention. The organising committee are burning the midnight oil (no not 
the CDs!), frantically making arrangements and going over the details with a fine-tooth comb. You probably won’t see this calibre of well known skeptics in Melbourne for a very long time.
If you’re interested in coming along, there are still some tickets remaining for the convention and dinners. We’ve previously given preference to those who want to attend both days; however, due to requests we’ve released some One Day tickets for either Saturday or Sunday at $140. So if there’s something else that you just can’t miss out on during one of the convention days and you’d still like to attend, please consider a One Day ticket.
November’s Picture Puzzles and Mixed Bag Questions are at the top of the PUZZLES Page.
November’s Crossword Puzzle concentrates on Predicting the Future, can be solved by recourse to either Ken’s prosaic clues or Roy’s fiendish cryptic clues and can be found HERE.
A new batch of Maths and Logic Problems for November is ensconced HERE .
Enjoy!
James (Gerry) Gerrand, co-founder of the Australian Skeptics, died on October 12, aged 93.
Gerrand played a fundamental role in the setting-up and on-going activities of Australia Skeptics. The initial meetings to establish the Skeptics were held in 1980 at his home in Hawthorn, Melbourne, with lawyer Mark Plummer, who became the group’s founding president. (Plummer died last year.)
Gerrand had previously spent six years working for the United Nations agency ICAO in Montreal. Gerrand and Plummer had known each other as colleagues in the early 1970s when Plummer was the industrial officer for the Professional Officers Association (the union representing scientists, engineers and other professionals in the Commonwealth Public Service) and Gerrand was honorary editor-in-chief of the same group’s monthly journal. In his day job, Gerrand was the superintending airways engineer for the Victorian & Tasmanian Region in the Department of Civil Aviation.
Read the rest of this article here
The detailed program for the upcoming National Convention has been released.
Updated, 12 Nov View More Detailed Program – Australian Skeptics National Convention 2012
We go again with Picture Puzzles and Mixed Bag Questions (at the top of the PUZZLES page).
The Crossword , this month on the theme of Alt Med Woo can be attempted using either “Straight” or Cryptic clues, (or both, if you’re desperate) It can be found HERE.
A new set of Maths and Logic Problems can be found HERE.