With Leo at The Dan

By Ken Greatorex

Vic Skeptics recently moved Skeptics Café to the new venue of The Dan O’Connell Hotel (a.k.a. “The Dan”) in Carlton. We’ve been fortunate in the past with long tenures at good venues.

I arrived chez Dan with a few misgivings:

Could I park within a comfortable distance of the venue?

Would the venue suit us?

Would enough people turn up?

Would the topic be sufficiently relevant and interesting for such a “landmark” Skeptics event?

SGU at Skepticon

The entire SGU team are coming to Skepticon in Melbourne in December!

For more details, go to our EVENTS page or the Skepticon website https://skepticon.org.au/

April 2019 Puzzles

This month we lead off the PUZZLES PAGE with a special bonus set of Word puzzles called “Crossword Clues”, followed by the usual monthly Picture Puzzles, Mixed Bag Questions, Skeptical Crossword, and Logic & Maths Puzzles.

The Skeptical Crossword is our largest ever, is themed to General Skeptical Issues and comes with a set of standard and cryptic clues.

The current PUZZLES PAGE contains all the monthly puzzles since January 2018. Hundreds of earlier puzzles, going back to 2010 can be found at:

https://vicskeptics.wordpress.com/puzzles/puzzles-archives/

Enjoy!

Skepticon – Call for Papers

The Australian Skeptics annual convention is being hosted in Melbourne from December 6 – 8.

We are seeking a wide range of speakers including first time convention speakers and hope to highlight the efforts of energetic people from within our community as well as other outstanding people from further afield. Therefore, we are pleased to announce our “Call for Papers”.

Please see  the website page for all details, including the submission form.

The deadline for Call for Papers submissions is Monday June 3.

SKEPTICON 2019 has its own dedicated website, https://skepticon.org.au. Information about venues, ticket sales, speakers etc will be announced there first.

March 2019 Puzzles

New rebus-type Picture Puzzles are on the  PUZZLES PAGE.

So is a link to March’s Skeptical Crossword, which is all about Predicting the Future.

You’ll also find links to 20 new Mixed Bag Questions (Trivia / General Knowledge), divided somewhat arbitrarily into “easy”and “hard”;

and 10 Logic & Maths Puzzles (complete with step-by-step solutions for the perplexed)

Scroll down the Puzzles Page for monthly puzzles going back to January 2018

Hundreds of earlier puzzles, going back to 2010 can be found at:

https://vicskeptics.wordpress.com/puzzles/puzzles-archives/

Enjoy!

News – Professor Ken Harvey

Professor Ken Harvey speaking at the Australian Skeptics National Convention 2012

Professor Ken Harvey, adjunct Associate Professor at the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine at Monash University, and described by The Age as an “anti-quackery crusader” has been appointed President of Friends of Science in Medicine.

FSM is an Australian lobby group which “supports evidence-based medicine and strongly opposes the promotion and practice of unsubstantiated therapies that lack a scientifically plausible rationale.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Harvey_(professor)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friends_of_Science_in_Medicine

Surfcoast Summer Skepticamp VII postponed

PLEASE NOTE: Due to unforeseen circumstances, this event, previously advertised for Saturday February 21 will be postponed until a date in April. More to follow.