Category: Skeptical Article – vic skeptics

June 23, 2014

National Curriculum, Gonski and Education for All

by Don Hyatt

The National Curriculum 2008

Don Hyatt
Don Hyatt

The current National Curriculum was initiated by the Rudd government in 2008. The task of development and implementation was given to the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), an independent, non-political body, and agreed by the Ministers of Education in all states and territories in 2009. It was framed around the Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians (MCEETYA, December 2008) and the implementation was to be consultative and phased in over a several  years in 3 phases.  The National Curriculum frames the school curriculum from Foundation (= Prep) to Year 12 (F-12).

The construction of the curriculum was in four steps: View More National Curriculum, Gonski and Education for All

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December 15, 2013

Energy Medicine at RMIT

by: Mal Vickers

‘Energy Medicine’: What is it? And should Australian Universities teach it?

energy medicine

There is a fascinating array of courses available at universities. Like me, do you look for interesting courses that might give you the edge in the jobs market or lead to an exciting new career?

Recently, I learnt that RMIT University offered a course in a relatively new branch of medicine, Energy Medicine.

The ways humanity have explored and improved human health seem endless. There’s pathology, psychology, dentistry, physiotherapy and nuclear medicine to name just a few. Should energy medicine be amongst those?

This new branch of medicine offers hope for naturally improving human health at little or no cost; but is it really effective?

RMIT and Energy Medicine

RMIT University are still advertising Energy Medicine both as a stand-alone subject in which anyone can enrol, and as an elective of the larger ‘Master of Wellness’ program.

The Master of Wellness program is administered by the Health Science faculty at RMIT.

Masters of Wellness

RMIT’s website indicates that Master of Wellness is View More Energy Medicine at RMIT

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December 2, 2013

Liza With a Zee?

OR

By Ken Greatorex

This  article was first posted a couple of years ago. As we keep getting inquiries about the spelling of our name, we’ve dusted it off and brought it to the top of the blog.

– – – – – – – –

Vic Skeptics received this via email a few months ago.

Hello, I’m interested in your organisation but wonder why you choose to use the U.S spelling of sceptic? Surely, this is not the norm in Australia and for pedants such as myself is quite off-putting.
John

The following is based on the considered replies that the question prompted.

View More Liza With a Zee?

4 Comments
November 1, 2013

Nigerian Pastor to Visit Australia

By Mal Vickers

I’m not necessarily anti-religious. However, when a religious issue crosses into something so thoroughly against reason and potentially dangerous to human life, I think it’s time to speak out.

Melbourne is scheduled to play host to a Nigerian pastor named Pastor Enoch A. Adeboye who will speak at two evangelical events on 12 & 13 November 2013. The visit to Melbourne is part of a tour of other Australian cities and the Pacific Islands.

Pastor Adeboye (via Wikipedia)
Pastor Adeboye (via Wikipedia)

A pastor visits Australia; no big deal, you might think. Pastor Adeboye has 98 thousand followers on Twitter, 1.2 million ‘likes’ on Facebook, is head of a church that claims to own 14 thousand branches in 160 countries and owns a private jet.

Now, add some interesting comments about homosexuality and the existence of witches and you have some understanding of why I’m concerned.

This is a skeptic blog; however, I’ll try to work through the evidence and apply some critical thinking.

Here’s a comment attributed to Pastor Adeboye:

“Same-sex marriage is an anathema to the will of God for human beings to be fruitful, replenish and multiply on earth. Anything contrary to that is evil….If this evil is allowed to stay, there will not be newborns again in the world. As the older generation dies, will there be a new generations to succeed it? Even plants and animals have new generations to succeed them.”

How does this claim stack up against the evidence?

One of the premises behind this statement is that View More Nigerian Pastor to Visit Australia

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July 26, 2013

Another Big Psychic Show Rolls into Town

By Mal Vickers,

with assistance from Martin Hadley

Never has any psychic ever passed a rigorous scientific test of their claimed ability. While most skeptics are well aware of this, you’d think the media and society in general knew nothing of it.bingo cancelledwhite

Imagine what kind of world it would be if, from tomorrow, psychics really did have the abilities they claim to possess. The prizes from the next lottery would go to a series of psychics, presumably in order of merit. Fairly soon, non-psychics would stop buying tickets and the lotteries would fold. There wouldn’t be much point in casinos, bingo or horse races either.

The world we inhabit isn’t like that.  We have lotteries and casinos that make a fortune, despite the presence of many psychics who travel the world flaunting their talents.

This month, (July 2013) Australia will be hosting a visit from prominent, UK based, self-proclaimed psychic Sally Morgan. Sally is scheduled to do View More Another Big Psychic Show Rolls into Town

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July 19, 2013

Vitamins: A Panacea for all Ills?

louis roller close-up-smallAssociate Professor Louis Roller PhD

Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences,
Monash University

“We are so constituted that we believe the most incredible things:
and once they are engraved upon the memory, woe betide him who would endeavour to erase them” — Goethe, 1774

Vitamins have caught the popular imagination. A recent study established that some 52 per cent of the Australian population takes some form of complementary medicine. It found that 37 per cent of these people were taking vitamins. Overall, 19.2 percent of the total Australian population – about 4.4 million people – are taking vitamins. Many people take over-the-counter vitamins without professional advice and a few practitioners prescribe megavitamin therapy. View More Vitamins: A Panacea for all Ills?

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January 14, 2013

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.

James Randi
James Randi

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
Jon Faine

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

1 Comment
September 15, 2012

Two Skeptical Videos

Two Australian Skeptics were recently in the media. Loretta Marron (AKA Anne) appears in the first video and Victoria’s own Dr Mick Vagg features in the second. Here they are for your viewing pleasure…

[youtube=http://youtu.be/x6KeCJLcmEk]

Despite tough talk from politicians, it appears that Rev Trevor Robinson’s web site is back on-line, he’s still in business. I won’t link to him here, I’m sure readers know how to use Google. It’s a shameful example of the lack of effective health practitioner regulation.

Below the fold, a screen capture from Rev Trevor Robinson’s web site. View More Two Skeptical Videos

2 Comments
June 15, 2012

Happenings – June 2012

by Ken Greatorex


Nuns Fight Back! In last month’s Happenings, we reported on an attempt by The Vatican to rein in America’s fifty thousand nuns. Here’s the latest. Meanwhile, Australia’s last openly pro­gressive Catholic bishop, Can­berra’s Pat Power resigned, citing the Vatican’s inability to listen, clergy sex abuse and the short­age of priests as the biggest issues facing the church.

In Australia, a supreme court judge has forced Jehova’s Witness parents to allow their four-year-old daughter to receive a blood transfusion, without which she had a life expectancy of a few weeks. View More Happenings – June 2012

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