December 2011 Puzzles
December’s Skeptical Crossword, Picture Puzzles & “Mixed Bag” Questions are at the top of our PUZZLES section. We’ve given you extra puzzles to help occupy your holiday time.
“Mixed Bag” December 2011 Answers
1. He makes a mound of earth and stands on it to reach the skylight
2. Newspaper
3. Pierces, precise
4. Jerusalem
5. Paul VI
6. Timbertop, Geelong Grammar
7. Kidney(s)
8. Hair
9. Tasmania
10. Sydney
11. (a) Melbourne (b) On the Beach (c) Neville Shute
12. Ten
13. C.S. (Lewis and Forester)
14. Ice Figure skating
15. Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen
16. Fatima
17. Massachussetts
18. sword
19. Polio
20. Sao Paulo (about 20 million)
December 2011 Picture Puzzles – Answers
1. Turned inside out
2. Honour among thieves
3. The sounds of silence
4. Andes
5. Take from the rich and give to the poor
6. Lost in Space
7. Son of a Gun
8. It’s Lonely at the Top
9. The Shadow of Your Smile
10. H2O
11. Frankinstein
12. Kiss and Make Up
13. Foreign Language Lessons
Skeptics presenting at STAVCON 2011
By Don Hyatt
The Victorian Skeptics were out in force again this year at the Science Teachers’ Association annual conference STAVCON.
The display attracted a steady stream of interested teachers including, in one case, a former student. Teachers weren’t just attracted by the free Stuff for Teachers DVD or the Skeptics pens, although the new 2012 Skeptics Calendar was a highly prized item. Clearly debunking Kinesiology and the effect of the placebo power wrist band was popular as were fielding the range of “What do you think about ….” questions expertly and wisely addressed by the Vic Skeptics assistants.
The Skeptics also presented a workshop on Real Science for the Real World. Ken Greatorex designed and conducted a unique double blind dowsing experiment, the statists of which matched that of guesswork rather than an ability to dowse. Participants had to ‘dowse’ 5 hidden jars containing water or gravel after ‘calibrating’ their dowsing rod. None of the teachers got all correct, so the $110,000 challenge is still safe! Don Hyatt also covered topics such as homeopathy, power wrist bands, the AVN and SensaSlim. It is fair to say that there was a fair bit of interest in the topics raised.
A Skeptic’s Guide to The Pyramids
This article first appeared as a Vic Skeptics discussion pamphlet. We’ve added two “Pyramids” classroom activities: a motivational and interactive practical exercise and a crossword. You’ll find the links to these at the end of the article. The full range of our discussion pamphlets can be downloaded here: http://www.skeptics.com.au/resources/educational/or by clicking on the “Useful Info” link at the top of this page.
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
The Sixtieth Science Talent Search
by Ken Greatorex
Victoria’s mainstream media have pulled off a remarkable feat! It was the Diamond Anniversary of an annual Good News event involving thousands of intelligent, motivated Victorian children, staged in a city which thrives on Major Events; and yet, the Media still pretty much managed to keep it quiet!
The Science Talent Search celebrated its 60th birthday this year with the theme “React to Chemistry“. Students entered original projects in categories of creative writing, experimental research, inventions, working models, photography, posters, games, computer programs and video productions. The adjudged cream of Victoria’s budding young scientists made the annual pilgrimage to Latrobe University to receive cash bursaries and other rewards from prominent local scientists. 
Terry Kelly and I attended Exhibition Day on behalf of Australian Skeptics Science and Education Foundation. ASSEF funded more than seventy bursaries this year along with other major sponsors including The Department of Early Childhood Development, Swinburne and Latrobe Universities, the Catholic Education Office, The Royal Society of Victoria, Rio Tinto, CSIRO and BHP Billiton. It was impossible for us to meet all of the hundreds of bursary winners; however we were able to interview a small cross-section whose contributions intrigued and impressed us. View More The Sixtieth Science Talent Search
Skepticism in the Bush
by Russell Kelly
There is plenty to keep a skeptic busy in the bush; alternative medicine abounds and belief systems involving the weather and animals are plentiful. The recent drought spawned a plethora of water diviners but lacking confidence in the Bureau of Meteorology, many believe that the best indicator of impeding precipitation is the squawking of Black Cockatoos. The myth has been around for at least 100 years but for some reason the squawking during the drought seemed to have less effect than the nude dance in the paddock.
Emu oil is currently very fashionable to cure a wide variety of maladies and snake-oil salesmen find easy pickings especially with weight loss scams. A long-running study has confirmed that rural women are more obese than their city cousins and they are more likely to use alternative medicines, so there are plenty of candidates for the wacky products.
Medical conditions triggered by pollens and sprays are endemic in the bush and so are the charlatans who peddle ‘natural’ allergy therapies including the instruments to test allergy susceptibility. The TGA has recently closed down the web site of one of our local operators who with her gadgetry could diagnose the offending allergen and then provide a rapid cure using the latest in homeopathy potions.
November Puzzles
November’s Skeptical Crossword, Picture Puzzles & “Mixed Bag” Questions are at the top of our PUZZLES section.
November 2011 Picture Puzzles – Answers
1. Free For All (or, All for Nothing)
2. This Above All
3. Go Up In Smoke
4. Play Misty For Me
5. Way over the line
6. Once Upon a Time
7. South of the Border