Category: Third Monday – vic skeptics

June 30, 2017

Staying Rational in a World of Tweets, Fake News, Alternative Facts and Sound Bites

by William P. Hall
william-hall@bigpond.com
http://www.orgs-evolution-knowledge.net 

( based on a presentation at Vic Skeptics Café, 19 June 2017 at the Clyde Hotel, Carlton, Vic)

Today we are living in a world of Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and blogs where anyone (even President Trump) can instantly post their ideas to the world for essentially no cost. We are also living in dangerous times where exploding human populations and technologies are affecting the planet’s climate and natural resources where extreme concentrations of wealth and power, warfare, epidemics, climate extremes, ecological collapses and famine threaten humanity’s survival. Unsurprisingly there are often conflicts between vested interests seeking wealth, power and control versus those concerned with the futures of our descendents and of humanity in general. Both are heavy users of the new media. View More Staying Rational in a World of Tweets, Fake News, Alternative Facts and Sound Bites

2 Comments
December 20, 2016

Skeptics Café – Change of Venue

Twelve years of Vic Skeptics’ tradition came to an end this week when La Notté Restaurant closed indefinitely.

Next January’s Skeptics Café (Monday January 16) will go ahead at The Clyde Hotel, corner of Cardigan and Elgin Streets in Carlton. Some of our readers will already be familiar with The Clyde as the site of our recent Convention Trivia Night.clydelocation

We’ll be in The Lounge. You enter through the beer garden in Cardigan Street. After an optional meal from 6pm with food and drinks at quite reasonable pub prices, Tim Harding will speak on Scientific Skepticism vs Philosophical Skepticism at 8 pm. Those staying on for the talk will be asked to contribute $4.

Street parking can be tight in that area, but tends to open up after six pm. The Eastern Precinct Car Park is very convenient, being next door to the venue in Cardigan Street with a standard $5 fee after 5 pm.

It’s very accessible by public transport: Tram 1 or 8 every 6 minutes stops in Elgin Street at Stop 112.

2 Comments
October 8, 2011

Skeptics In the Pubs – How are We Travelling?

You’d have to say “very well”.

Victoria has adopted the “Skeptics In The Pub” idea with enthusiasm. If you turn to the back page of your latest Skeptic magazine , you’ll see that of the eight new Australian regional groups listed, six are in Victoria.

We’ve discussed Skeptics in the Pubs before;

Your Very Own Skeptics In the Pub

Great Ocean Road Skeptics

New Skeptics in the Pubs

Here’s a brief look at each group in alphabetical order.

View More Skeptics In the Pubs – How are We Travelling?

4 Comments
July 22, 2011

Jason Brown on Online Activism

Back in June Jason Brown (who will be well known to listeners of the Skeptic Zone podcast) visited the Vic Skeptics Cafe to talk about online activism.

Online communication and social networking has led to a huge spike in our ability to reach out to the community, both in terms of education and in response to social and political issues

Twitter, Facebook and now Google Plus are offering more and more opportunities for us to spread the word that critical thinking and rationality are the way to go.

Here Jason talks about the Australian Christian Lobby’s attempt to remove a safe sex advertising campaign, and social media’s devastating (to them) response.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pUq8nRroGk]
View More Jason Brown on Online Activism

No Comments
November 23, 2010

Ian Enting talk


Ian Enting drew quite a crowd on the 15th of November at La Notte.
Here is the abstract of Ian’s talk:

The science of climate change has come under public attack through what has been described as asymmetric warfare. Public communication has been flooded with a deluge of misinformation. In parallel there have been attempts to distract, intimidate and gag climate scientists. In 2009 Ian Plimer’s book, Heaven + Earth – Global Warming: The Missing Science, claimed to demolish the theory of human-induced global warming due to the release of CO2 and other greenhouse gases. A careful reading of Heaven + Earth reveals extensive examples of fabricating numbers, distorted and misattributed graphics, misrepresentation of the content of cited references and a sprinkling of plagiarism. In spite of its blatant flaws Heaven + Earth has gained considerable political traction in Australia.

The talk was quite an eye-opener.   Ian has done a huge amount of work tracking down the mathematical distortions of those arguing climate change is not man-made.   Ian has kindly made his presentation slides available in PDF form for those that wish to look back through them.
[File size: 1.04MB]
Ian’s home page can be found here.
Mal.

No Comments
August 19, 2010

Don Hyatt, Audio


Don Hyatt gave us a great talk last Monday titled “The Problem with Education”.  Luckily for those that couldn’t come along, the talk was recorded.
Listen:

[Direct link to the MP3]
Did you like that? Give us some feedback, do you want us to record future talks?
I’d also like to thank Ben, the wiz audio guy, for making the technology work.

Update:

Don has also made available the presentation slides from his talk in PDF form.
Slides 1-7

Slides 8 -23

Slides 24 – 33

Slides 34 – 83

Mal

No Comments
May 26, 2010

Dr Ken Harvey, 3rd Monday Talk

Monday June 21st, La Notte Restaurant 140 Lygon Street Carlton 8pm
Balancing Commerce, Choice and Consumer Protection: Reforming Complementary Medicine Regulation.
Dr. Harvey is a medical graduate with a special interest in the regulation of therapeutic goods.
He was a member of the expert group that drafted the World Health Organization “Ethical Criteria for Medicinal Drug Promotion” and was also a member of the Commonwealth Pharmaceutical Health and Rational use of Medicines (PHARM) Committee that formulated the quality use of medicines pillar of Australian medicines policy.
He currently holds the position of Adjunct Senior Lecturer in the School of Public Health, La Trobe University. He had been awarded life membership of Choice (the Australia Consumer’s Association), is a member of the National Prescribing Service Research and Development Working Group, and the Governing Council of Health Action International, Asia Pacific.
Pre-reading
http://www.crikey.com.au/2010/01/11/why-is-the-tga-supporting-pseudoscientific-nonsense/
http://cpd.org.au/article/policy-change-needed-complementary-medicines
http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2010/05/25/2909031.htm