December 1, 2013

“Mixed Bag” Questions December 2013 – Answers

1. 4 ducks

2. Eddie Murphy – Shrek; Daniel Radcliffe – Harry Potter; Elijah Wood – Lord of the Rings; Leonardo DiCaprio – Titanic; Ewan MacGregor – Attack of the Clones; Mel Gibson – Chicken Run

3. True

4. Mother and Son

5. False. It doesn’t really stand for anything.

6. Dingo

7. herring

8. Uncle Tom’s Cabin

9. Pinnochio

10. Plum

“Next Level”:

11. Lara

12. James Dougherty

13. Butter, sugar, salt, egg, mashed pumpkin (cold), Self raising flour

14. Cooktown Orchid (Dendrobium bigibbum var. Phalaenopsis)

15. Normie Rowe

16. Roller Skates / Inline Skates

17. Philology / Study of languages

18. 7 (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David)

19. A Roman Goddess

20. Converted to Catholicism

21. Arkansas (one of the first black students integrated into college)

22. The Australian Red Ensign

23. Shirley McLaine

24. Telling fortunes / the future by looking at cheese.

25. Old letters of the English alphabet (“runes” is close enough)

26. An explosive charge used to bring down walls

27. A month of a new Calendar brought in during the French Revolution

28. Large Asteroid and its satellite

29. Flute playing, boxing and chess. He’s also an actor and broadcaster

30. Dhani Harrison (George’s Son)

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November 30, 2013

Science Technology Future

This weekend in Melbourne the Science Technology Future conference is on. It features a great range of speakers, some of whom have previously spoken at our Skeptics in the Cafe third Monday events – such as Professor Peter Doherty and Tim van Gelder. Quite a few regulars from the skeptics community will also be in attendance. Please go to the conference website for full details.

Tickets are still available.

Science Technology n Future conf

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November 20, 2013

Science Talent Search 2013 – many talented students found

by Terry Kelly

For the 11th consecutive year the Australian Skeptics have sponsored the Science Talent Search (STS) run by the Science Teachers Association of Victoria (STAV).  The awards have been going for 62 years and many prominent Scientists have benefited from the encouragement these awards gave them when they were at school –  Tim Flannery, for example.

More Photos of STS Below
More Photos of STS Below

This year there were almost 2000 entries and 584 Bursaries were awarded. Australian Skeptics sponsored 65 of these Bursaries (one in nine) making us one of the major sponsors, alongside such large and respected organisations as the CSIRO, BHP Billiton, The Royal Society of Victoria, Swinburne University of Technology, Victoria University and the University of Melbourne. It’s one of the best things the Australian Skeptics do. It’s a great boost for the students and priceless publicity for us.

The awards ceremonies, and displays of the entries, were held at La Trobe University on November 6th. Categories were : Creative Writing; Experimental Research; Inventions; Working Models; Science Photography; Video Productions; Games; Computer Programs; and Posters and Scientific Wallcharts.

We had 5 of our Victorian Committee attend the ceremonies which gave us a wonderful opportunity to meet many of the students we sponsored, and their families. They seemed to View More Science Talent Search 2013 – many talented students found

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November 11, 2013

Professor Chris French in Melbourne, Mordialloc & Wodonga

Before his appearance as keynote speaker at the Australian Skeptics National Convention in Canberra,  Professor Chris French will speak:

– at Vic Skeptics Café, 140 Lygon Street Carlton on Monday 18th November from 6 pm;

– at  Mordi Skeptics, Mordialloc Sporting Club 528 Main St, Mordialloc,  Tuesday 19th November 7.30 pm (after a meal from about 6.30).  Please RSVP on-line at http://www.meetup.com/Mordi-Skeptics-in-the-Pub/

– and at Borderline Skeptics  at Wodonga in The Carrier Arms Hotel, Corner of South and Church street,  in “The Courtyard” dining/stone grill section from 6:30 pm, Wednesday 20th November.

Title: Weird Science: An Introduction to Anomalistic Psychology

Summary: Ever since records began, in every known society, a substantial proportion of the population has reported unusual experiences many of which we would today label as “paranormal”.

Opinion polls show that the majority of the general public accepts that paranormal phenomena do occur. Such widespread experience of and belief in the paranormal can only mean one of two things. Either the paranormal is real, in which case this should be accepted by the wider scientific community which currently rejects such claims; or else belief in and experience of ostensibly paranormal phenomena can be fully explained in terms of psychological factors.

View More Professor Chris French in Melbourne, Mordialloc & Wodonga

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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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October 31, 2013

November 2013 Puzzles

crosswordclipartThere are seven brand new Picture Puzzles

and

thirty “Mixed Bag” Questions

at the top of the PUZZLES PAGE.

and also NOVEMBER 2013 SKEPTICAL CROSSWORD, which has Conspiracy Theories as its theme;

not to mention NOVEMBER 2013 LOGIC & MATHS PROBLEMS

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October 24, 2013

November 2013 Logic & Maths Problems – Solutions

1. There are five occurrences
tile trial a
2. 11 people
3. Seven of these and six of those
4. 86
5. 13 Red 3 yellow 3 brown 3 blue 4 pink
6. a (see below)
7. 44 Years
8. 47 cards
9. 490 m
10. a. thirty-three cubes b. eighteen cubes

Question 6: There are three types of linkages between the wheels / gears in the diagram:

For toothed wheels or gears meshing, the driver wheel and the driven wheel rotate counter to each other

2toothedwheels

When linked by a belt, both wheels rotate in the same direction.

beltpulley

When linked by an inverted belt, the rotation of the driven wheel is counter to that of the driver

inverted belt pulley

Applying all that to the diagram in question 6, and indicating clockwise rotation with a “C“,  anti clockwise rotation with a “CC“, we get

nov13_6soln

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