Details
Category: Newsflash
Hits: 8448

Here is a recap of the stories that appeared last week at Science-Based Medicine, a multi-author skeptical blog that separates the science from the woo in medicine.

Details
Category: Swift
Hits: 5972

[Editor’s Note: As a precursor to The Amazing Meeting! 9, we have collected a series of stories from readers like you; people who have, through one means or another, discovered skepticism and critical thinking. These stories remind us that we all started somewhere and some of us are still finding our way as skeptics If you are interested in contributing your own story, please submit your piece of around 1000 words to maria (at) randi.org along with a short 2-3 line bio.  

Today’s stories come from Ky and Toni]

 

Details
Category: Latest JREF News
Hits: 7162

We’re pleased to share the news that Dr. Ray Hall has been appointed as a JREF research fellow, joining Tim Farley, Karen Stollznow, and Senior Fellow Dr. Steven Novella.

JREF research fellows are skeptical scholars, writers, and leaders who have been recognized by the JREF for their contribution to the skeptical movement. As a fellow, Dr. Hall will continue to chair the JREF’s academic scholarships committee, contribute to the Randi.org blog, curate the presentation of Sunday Papers at each of our Amaz!ng Meetings, and edit books on skepticism featuring TAM Sunday Papers as part of the JREF’s digital publishing efforts.

Hall is a professor of physics at California State University, Fresno and holds a Ph.D. in experimental high energy particle physics from the University of California, Riverside. During his 16 years working on the D-Zero detector at Fermilab, he was part of the research team that discovered the fundamental particle known as the top quark.

He has taught college level courses on critical thinking for more than 10 years, and given presentations promoting critical thinking and science to groups and institutions including the California Science Teachers Association, the Air Force Academy, Stanford University, CSU Sonoma, CSU Pomona, K2B International, and the Center for Inquiry in Los Angeles.

Dr. Hall’s involvement with the JREF began at our first TAM in 2003 in Ft. Lauderdale, where he presented TAM’s very first Sunday Paper.

Details
Category: Swift
Hits: 12210

James Oberg has just sent me a news item that would probably escape your attention, but has me personally enraged. It involves an American hero, someone with whom I strongly disagree because of – in my view – his outrageous statements concerning alien landings – we’re talking Mars and/or intergalactic here – and paranormal claims. I refer to 80-year-old Edgar Mitchell, one of the brave astronauts who chose to venture into outer space to add to our knowledge of that part of our surroundings. He was the sixth man to have walked on our Moon, in 1971. He retired from NASA a year later.

I have unlimited respect for all of these pioneers, some of whom gave their lives while volunteering to educate us. The recent news item says that our federal government has decided to sue Dr. Mitchell. Why? Because he offered to sell – by auction – a souvenir that he chose to salvage from his lunar adventure, a camera that would otherwise have been simply left behind on the Moon! Bonhams auction house, a UK-based agency, has now pulled the camera from a planned May 5 sale, where they estimated that it could fetch as much as $80,000.

Details
Category: Latest JREF News
Hits: 4722

TAM 2011 registration is sold out. Please email tam [at] randi.org to be placed on a waiting list.

For those who have already registered for TAM, tickets to the optional workshops, evening events, SGU dinner and Special Luncheon with Randi and Friends may still be purchased at www.amazingmeeting.com

  1. Two Days Left to Apply for JREF Educator Grants
  2. No Meeting Tonight...
  3. Need Advice? Ask An Expert
  4. Calling All Students With a Passion For Skepticism