Scientific Perspectives of the Supernatural: Challenging the Superstitious Status Quo in the Philippines
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- Written by Red Tani
- Category: Swift
- Hits: 62828
Before I became a skeptic, I used to be afraid of ghosts. This fear would peak around Halloween every year, when stories of ghosts and monsters would abound -- from home, school, and the media. None of these stories were scarier than those featured in the Halloween special of a local news magazine program titled, Magandang Gabi, Bayan (Good Evening, People).
Like many Filipinos, I'd look forward to watching the special every year even if it meant I'd have nightmares and find it hard to fall asleep. The following day, I'd have conversations with classmates and friends about the show. We'd share our own stories of the supernatural -- stories told routinely at reunions by parents and aunts and uncles -- and there'd be no room for doubt: the stories told during the Halloween special were true.
New JREF eBooks Available!
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- Written by Michael Blanford
- Category: Latest JREF News
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The JREF sees digital publishing as an important tool for advancing its educational mission and introducing scientific skepticism to new audiences.
Publishing books on scientific skepticism for the Kindle, iPad and Nook is just one of many new projects we've launched this year (what Randi has called our "most productive and effective year on record"), all thanks to supporters of the JREF just like you.
We are proud to announce the availability of the following two new ebooks:
Skepticism And Authority
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- Written by Kyle Hill
- Category: Swift
- Hits: 58372
I think that most skeptics have wrestled with the dilemma of authority at some point. We at the same time urge people to be skeptical of authority and readily extol the views of Carl Sagan or Richard Dawkins or the scientific consensus. While this is not an immediate problem for skepticism, as we will get to below, it surely can rattle even the most skeptical of cages.
The Randi Show: NCCAM
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- Written by Brian Thompson
- Category: Latest JREF News
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It's the latest edition of The Randi Show, our biweekly video podcast from James Randi himself. In this episode, Randi discusses the latest report on the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. How many millions have been spent figuring out whether smells can heal wounds or whether coffee enemas can cure prostate cancer? And what can we do about it?
Stay tuned to the JREF's YouTube page for more episodes, or find The Randi Show on iTunes .
The Skeptical Blog Anthology: From Open Call To Awesome Book by the Young Australian Skeptics
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- Written by Kylie Sturgess
- Category: Swift
- Hits: 12617
Do you want to read the very first Skeptical Blog Anthology in existence? Here’s the blag behind the blog-pos. 
Back in 2007 I was dancing around my office because of an email, one that informed me that a humble little blog-post on my PodBlack Cat site was deemed worthy of being included in a book.
My post was going to feature in the Open Laboratory: The Best of Science Writing On the Web, the brain-child of the awe-inspiring scientist and master of the science blogosphere, Bora Zivkovic. It’s a yearly anthology that gathers together fifty blog posts (including a cartoon and even poems), all crowd-sourced and drawing on the RSS-feed favourites of blog readers around the world.
Then it suddenly hit me: why can’t a skeptical blog anthology do exactly the same? The community-spirit is just as strong amongst skeptical bloggers, surely?
Thus with one dance, I began a journey over a number of years, drawing upon the rare and precious free time of the Young Australian Skeptics – a dream-team of Australian scientists, students, designers and computer-geniuses – in order to make the dream become reality.
Yes, it’s taken some time and it certainly wouldn’t have been possible without the patience and guidance of the Young Australian Skeptics team, especially the design expertise and classy tenacity of Catherine Donaldson and her studio at Faster Pussycat Productions. Without Joel Birch, Richard Hughes, Elliot Birch, Jack Scanlan, Jason Ball, Alastair Tait and Belinda Nicholson – and the much-appreciated keen eye and firm editing hand of Barbara Drescher – this book would never have reached its goal by 2011.
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