Australian Skeptics Convention 2017 – Images
AUSTRALIAN SKEPTICS CONVENTION 2017 IMAGES
Photography by Mal Vickers
The 2017 Science Talent Search
Followers of this site will be well aware that Australian Skeptics are proud long-term sponsors of the Science Teachers Association of Victoria’s annual Science Talent Search.
Here are the statistics for 2017:
2017 was the 66th year of the STS.
3,369 Victorian students entered; the largest level of participation for several years.
704 Cash bursaries were awarded.
There were 42 sponsors, ranging from multinational companies to private individuals.
The Australian Skeptics were a major sponsor: 90 students received bursaries funded by the Australian Skeptics.
We congratulate Janice Teng and her team of volunteers for a great event. If you are interested in STS and would like to know more, go to http://www.sciencevictoria.com.au/sts/
Australian Skeptics Awards 2017
The Bent Spoon, the Thornett Award and the Skeptic of the Year
http://www.skeptics.com.au/2017/11/19/2017-bent-spoon-to-nicm-skeptic-of-the-year-christine-bayne/
The Whack – a – Mole Project and the TGA.
by Ken Greatorex
Whack-a-Mole?
Whack-a-Mole was a popular 1970s arcade game which consisted of repeatedly hitting cartoon moles on the head with a cartoon hammer. Moles nevertheless kept cropping up with undiminished energy more or less at random; so the term Whack-a-mole came to signify “a repetitious and futile task.”
Problems with Regulation of Therapeutic Goods
The situation regarding the regulation of therapeutic goods in Australia is unsatisfactory. The complaints process is frustrating, exhausting and often ineffectual. Complaints to the Therapeutics Goods Administration (TGA) must be made against one product or service at a time. Because such complaints are almost invariably made by volunteers, and there is no financial incentive to complain, only a relatively tiny number of questionable products ever get put under the microscope.
An astonishing 87 % of such complaints have historically been upheld. Yet the offending companies rarely receive more than “a slap on the wrists”.
Puzzles for November 2017
November’s puzzles include:
– seven new Picture Puzzles
– twenty “Mixed Bag“ trivia / general knowledge questions
– a Skeptical Crossword about General Skeptical Issues
– set 64 of our Logic & Maths Puzzles.
For the first time, the Mixed Bag Questions, the Crossword and the Logic & Maths Puzzles are all supplied as .pdf files for easy access
All monthly puzzles are accessible from the Puzzles Page.
A Skeptic’s Guide to the Pyramids
This is a repost of an article which first appeared here in November 2011.
There are links to two “Pyramids” classroom activities at the end; a motivational and interactive practical exercise and a crossword.
There’s a PDF version (text only). https://vicskeptics.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/pyramids.pdf
By Peter Barrett (Canberra Skeptics)
Think of Egypt and you think of pyramids. These impressive objects have fascinated people for centuries; they were even tourist destinations for the ancient Greeks and Romans. What amazes people today is their massive size combined with the precision of their construction. There are people today who believe that this size and precision is evidence that the ancient Egyptians couldn’t have built the pyramids unaided, and that they instead were assisted by aliens or people from Atlantis. View More A Skeptic’s Guide to the Pyramids
Puzzles for October 2017
This months puzzles include
- seven new Picture Puzzles
- twenty “Mixed Bag” trivia / general knowledge questions
- a Skeptical Crossword about Cults and Sects
- set 63 of our Logic & Maths Puzzles.
The Crossword and the Logic & Maths Puzzles are available in both HTML and .pdf form.
All monthly puzzles are accessible from the Puzzles Page.
PUZZLES ARCHIVE 1 (August 2010 to April 2011)
PUZZLES ARCHIVE 2 (May 2011 to September 2011)
PUZZLES ARCHIVE 3 (October 2011 to November 2012)
PUZZLES ARCHIVE 4 (December 2012 to June 2013)
PUZZLES ARCHIVE 5 (July 2013 to September 2014)
PUZZLES ARCHIVE 6 (October 2014 to December 2015)
October 2017 Logic & Maths Problems – Solutions
1. 24
For 5 teams to play each other twice requires 20 games to be played. 
If either of the two top teams then has 4 straight wins, no further games are required.
2. 720 – 24 = 696
3. The SOLIDUS. You may see the answer as VINCULUM in some places but the word vinculum is a more general term referring to any horizontal line used in mathematical representation, including (for example) the line above a recurring decimal.
4. 30%
5. 13
6. 24 hours
The energetic gardener can mow the lawn in 12 hours. He can therefore mow 1/12 of the lawn in one hour, so his contribution to mowing the whole lawn in 8 hours is 8/12 or 2/3 of the lawn mowed.
In 8 hours the lazy gardener has therefore mowed the remaining 1/3 of the lawn. He is therefore mowing at the rate of 1/24 of the lawn per hour. It would take him 24 hours to mow the entire lawn by himself.
7. Mr Blue – red shirt Mr White – blue shirt Mr Red – white shirt
8. (a) Guy Sebastian (b) Neil Young (c) Ringo Starr
9. 126 (and that’s the unvarnished truth.)
All the surface cubes will have varnish on them. There will be
(9 – 2) × (8 – 2) × (5 – 2) = 7 × 6 × 3 cubes = 126 which are not on the surface.
10. Left to right: jack of clubs, jack of diamonds, queen of diamonds.
Puzzles for September 2017
This months batch of puzzles includes:
- The September 2017 Skeptical Crossword which has Greek & Roman Mythology as its theme.
85 Sep 2017 Crossword [pdf version].
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- The September 2017 Logic & Maths Problems [HTML version]
Logic and Maths Puzzles 62 September 2017 [.pdf version]
- The September 2017 Logic & Maths Problems [HTML version]
- Seven new Picture Puzzles and twenty “Mixed Bag” questions at the top of the Puzzles Page