A Skeptic’s Guide to Bible Codes

This article first appeared as a Vic Skeptics discussion pamphlet and was first posted here in March 2011.

 by Peter Barrett, Canberra Skeptics, updated by Ken Greatorex

In the late 1990s, a book called “The Bible Code” was published. Its author, Michael Drosnin, claimed that a high-powered computer program had uncovered a large number of secret messages in the Jewish Bible (the Christian Old Testament). The most amazing claim was that a few years before the book’s publication, this program had discovered that the then Prime Minister of Israel, Yitzakh Rabin, faced assassination. Several months after Drosnin and his partners warned him, Mr Rabin was assassinated.

New Puzzles For September

You’ll find a new lot of Picture Puzzles and “Mixed Bag” Questions  in the PUZZLES PAGE ;

September 2016 Skeptical Crossword Puzzle is about general skeptical issues;

while the September 2016 Logic & Maths Problems feature dice, cats, cigarette butts, photo albums and a ring around the Earth.

Enjoy!

Congratulations, Dr Ken Harvey

(reposted from AUSTRALIAN SKEPTICS INC website)

The Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science has awarded Dr Ken Harvey the 2016 ANZAAS Medal.

The medal is awarded annually for services for the advancement of science or administration and organisation of scientific activities, or the teaching of science throughout Australia and New Zealand and in contributions to science which lie beyond normal professional activities. Previous winners of the medal include Sir Gus Nossal, Sir Mark Oliphant and Harry Messel.

2016 Census

http://censusnoreligion.org.au/

August 2016 Puzzles

August’s Picture Puzzles and “Mixed Bag” Questions  are at the top of the PUZZLES PAGE ;

August 2016 Skeptical Crossword Puzzle revisits Chiropractic ;

and there’s a set of August 2016 Logic & Maths Problems .

Enjoy!

A Skeptic’s Guide to Life In the Universe

This article first appeared as a Vic Skeptics discussion pamphlet and again here in December 2010.
The full range of our discussion pamphlets can be downloaded from our  USEFUL INFO  page.

 by Peter Barrett, (Canberra Skeptics), updated 2016 by Ken Greatorex

It’s one of the great questions: is there life elsewhere in the universe, apart from the Earth? Skeptics would say, “Almost certainly, but at the moment we don’t know how likely it might be.”

Life thrives on Earth, particularly in the tropical and temperate latitudes. Life exists even in the harsh desert and polar regions. But most importantly, life has been found to exist in places previously thought inhospitable, such as inside rocks in the dry valleys of Antarctica or around geothermal vents, where the water is boiling hot. The fact that life can survive in such unlikely places dramatically increases the range of potential habitats for life elsewhere. So are there places where life could exist elsewhere in our own Solar System?

July 2016 Puzzles

July’s Picture Puzzles, “Mixed Bag” Questions and a new word puzzle called AddScrabble are at the top of the PUZZLES PAGE 

July 2016 Skeptical Crossword features Famous Skeptics.

July 2016 Logic & Maths Problems is the 48th set in the series. If you’d like to try the other 47, they start in August 2012 – see PUZZLES ARCHIVE 3;

Enjoy!