Sydney Skeptics Dinner Meeting
Saturday November 1, 2008
The Chatswood Club
11 Help St
Chatswood
7.00 for 7.30Dr Krissy Wilson
On the Nature of BeliefDr Krissy Wilson recently emigrated from the UK to take up a position as lecturer in psychology at University of Tasmania. She completed her PhD at Goldsmiths, University of London. Her main areas of interest are the psychology of belief, the unreliable nature of eyewitness testimony, false memories and the impact of belief. She has published articles on these topics in psychology and parapsychology journals. In the UK, Krissy regularly appears on TV and on radio discussing a variety of paranormal subjects and hopes to do much of the same here. At the Hobart Skeptics Convention, Krissy's talk was regarded by many who attended as the Star Turn of the event. Opinion polls repeatedly remind us that belief in the paranormal is extremely common among the general public and indeed appears to be on the increase. Anomalistic Psychology is the scientific exploration of the psychology of belief and attempts to explain why, despite very little scientific support, so many of us continue to believe in ghosts, mediumship, clairvoyance, and other related psychic phenomena. It would seem that very little evidence is required to convince us that these types of phenomena are real. This talk will present some examples of how we are all susceptible to self – deception and explore psychological and physiological factors in why people believe in the weird and often not so wonderful. Is there for example, a ‘belief’ personality? Are some of us more prone to believe than others? What can these findings tell us about the human condition? Is it possible that belief might have some adaptive purpose? Dr Wilson will expand on the nature of belief and present some recent findings that suggest that belief itself might have some beneficial properties. Download a booking form here, or book through our online shop. |
The Bent Spoon
Nominations have closed for the 2008 Bent Spoon Award. You can see the list of nominations here. The winner will be announced at the National Convention on October 11.
What we're up to
Here are some web sites and activities carried on by people closely related to Australian Skeptics. If you think you qualify to be included in the list the email link is at the bottom of this page.
Mystery Investigators - Richard Saunders and Rachael Dunlop take lessons about how to think critically and scientifically into the schools.
RatbagsDotCom - Peter Bowditch's collection of the mad, the bad, and the 
sad on the Internet. This site is a magnet for fruitcakes, loons, optimistic lawyers and people who don't like having the truth exposed.
The Australian Council 
Against Health Fraud - Fighting medical quackery since 2003
No Answers in Genesis - John Stear's facts to fight creationism
Bad Language. Karen Stollznow's site for "busting myths about language and a resource for skepticism and critical thinking".
The Skeptic Zone - The weekly podcast from Australia for science and reason
2008 National Convention
The 2008 National Convention will be held in Adelaide over the weekend of October 11 and 12. You can see some details about the venue, speakers and accommodation here, and you can register online here.
October Quiz
The questions for the October quiz are here. Again, this has happened on the first day of the month. To compensate for this alarming record of efficiency the full answers for September will be delayed due to Dr Bob's peripateticity and the disruption to the Web Wrangler's life caused by preparations for the coming National Convention in Adelaide.
September Quiz
Quick answers for the September quiz are here. Your correct answers will be as music to your ears whereas your errors will just mean discordance and noise.
the Skeptic
The latest version of that fine journal of fact and opinion, the Skeptic, should have appeared in your mailbox. If you aren't familiar with this fine publication it could be because you haven't subscribed. You can fix this dreadful oversight here.
Still on about The One
Richard Saunders has appeared on The Skeptics Guide to the Universe. SGU is the number 4 podcast for Science and Medicine on iTunes Australia and now has over 40,000 listeners world wide. Podcast 162 (www.skepticsguide.org) features an interview with Richard Saunders about his experiences on The One. This is a 2 part interview, the first from TAM6 and the second conducted during Richard's recent stay at the Bad Astronomer (and the recently crowned President of the JREF), Dr. Phil Plait's in Boulder, Colorado. Our favourite sceptical judge provides insight into what really went on behind the scenes of Australia's top rating psychic search.
To add to his fame, Richard has now received three nominations for the 2008 Bent Spoon Award.
Aussies at Dragon*Con, August 29 - September 1st, Atlanta Georgia, USA.
Dragon*Con is one of the world's biggest science fiction conferences spanning 4 hotels, hundreds of lectures/panels and this year over 35,000 weird and wonderful participants passed through the doors across the weekend. A big part of Dragon*Con involves dressing up as your favourite sci-fi character or if you are a skeptic, the uniform consists of a corset and knee-high boots, with optional fishnet stockings (for the boys too, if you like!).
For the first time in 2008, a new arm to Dragon*Con was introduced, known as SkepTrack and we were a big part of it. Along with the likes of James Randi, Dr Michael Shermer, Derek and Swoopy from Skepticality, Dr Pamela Gay from Astronomy Cast, DJ Grothe from Point of Inquiry, Dr Ginger Campbell, Dr Phil Plait the bad astronomer, Skepchick AB Kovacs, the team from SGU (minus Rebecca Watson), Paranormal Investigators Benjamin Radford and Alison Smith was our very own Richard Saunders, Karen Stollznow and Kylie Sturgess representing Australia. It was a very busy weekend for our Aussies who packed in over 10 panels including Skeptics 101, Video Podcasting 101, Supernatural How-To, Pigs Might Fly - An Origami Discussion and Global skepticism, with surprise guest, James Randi. The big news is the guys also re-launched the Tank Podcast, now know as The Skeptic Zone. We can't say too much yet, but we have new people, new segments planned and a more audio themed format. Watch this space....
Next year looks to be even bigger for us Aussies at the 'Con' and you can keep up to date by going here. http://www.new.facebook.com/group.php?gid=18382283750#/group.php?gid=24678008049. Based on the exhaustive panel schedule and equally mad social calendar, it's seems SkepTrack is destined to become the next big sceptical event. And in the words of Richard Saunders; 'You won't believe it, it's completely mind blowing..' so my advice is to start saving now!
Check out these links for the great photos of some of the weird and wonderful costumes seen across the weekend plus shots of our aussie skeptics - made of WIN! http://www.flickr.com/photos/badastronomy/sets/72157607041453990/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/saunderstv/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/arealgirl/sets/72157607021215336/
Check out Kylie's blog (www.podblack.com) for news and videos.
Skeptics get naked
The latest edition of Australasian Science magazine is now on the newsstands. The magazine contains a regular column from Australian Skeptics called The Naked Skeptic. You can see the latest column here.
Skeptics Circle
Members and friends of Australian Skeptics have been active lately. One outlet for this activity has been the Skeptics' Circle. Recent hosts of meetings there have been:
Write stuff. Get published.
The Web Wrangler can't do all this by himself. He has a life, a job and his own projects, so contributions to this site are always welcome. The only restrictions are that the material must have something to do with the aims and objectives of Australian Skeptics and must not expose us to legal action. Get writing.
Those amusing creationists!
Creationists keep asking about gaps in the fossil record. Dr John Long had the answer at the Australian Skeptics 2006 National Convention. You can buy a DVD of his presentation from the DVD section of our online shop.
Convention DVD
The DVD with the presentations from the 2007 National Convention is now on sale. Get it at the Skeptics shop.
The Challenge
We want to give away $100,000. Nothing would please us more than giving away $100,000 to someone who can prove that they can do the things we suspect cannot be done. Click here to read about our challenge to psychics, clairvoyants, dowsers and other practitioners of the paranormal arts. You can also click here to get some cards you can print out to invite your friends to apply.
Don't forget the bookshop
There are many books on several subjects dear to the hearts of skeptics available from our bookshop. Want to find the latest reading about pseudoscience, religion or critical think (plus other topics)? If so, you have come to the right place. Commission from the sale of books through Amazon goes towards the costs of running this site.
Enjoy!The Australian Blog
See Barry Williams' latest blog in The Australian.
How smart are you? 
by Michael Shermer. I am continually amazed by the sorts of things that people can believe without any evidence to support the belief, and often in spite of comprehensive evidence against the belief. Faith is a wonderful thing, but it can't make facts disappear. 
by Athena Dean 
by Ruth Carter 
by Daniel Pipes 
by Athena Dean 
by Robert L. FitzPatrick and Joyce K. Reynolds 
by Theodore Schick and Lewis Vaughn 
by Lynne Kelly 
by Robert M. Styler 
