Photos from Auskeptcon14

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Recommended – see these photos full screen mode on Flickr.

The photos in the above slide show are from the recent Australian Skeptics National Convention 2014, held in Sydney. A huge thanks to the Sydney based organisers with ASI, they did a fantastic job. The convention featured the likes of, Dr Karl Kruszelnicki, Dick Smith, George Hrab, Peter Fitzsimons, Michael Marshall, Dr Rachael Dunlop, Peter Hadfield, Dr Amanda Bauer, the entire Skeptics Guide to the Universe crew and most of the team from ABC’s consumer protection program, The Checkout. A full list of speakers can be found here. Heck – even James Randi dropped in for a cameo!

The convention was held at an excellent venue in The Concourse, Chatswood where everything ran perfectly.  Well done to all involved for an entertaining and inspiring convention.  We look forward to Brisbane next year.

 

Randi Returns to Australia

The Amazing James Randi is returning to Australia. The Think Inc organisation are bringing him out for a whirlwind 5 city tour.

Randi will be in Melbourne on Friday 5th December at the Melbourne Convention and Entertainment Centre.

His other tour dates are:

Adelaide on Monday December 1st at the Science Exchange;

Perth on Wednesday 3rd in Perth at the Octagon Theatre;

Brisbane on Thursday 4th at the BCEC

Sydney on Sunday 7th in at the Enmore Theatre.
Hosted by Richard Saunders and Lawrence Leung, the evenings will have a fireside chat format as well as a screening of the fascinating new documentary of his life and work called “An Honest Liar” plus a Q & A session at the end.

Tickets start from $49 for students, $69 for general admission, $89 for VIP tickets and $169 for Meet and Greet tickets. Further details and tickets sales are available from the Think Inc website.

http://thinkinc.org.au/jamesrandi/

This is a unique opportunity for the general public to see and hear the 86 year old Amazing Randi, the world’s most prominent skeptic, in person.

Think Inc plan to regularly bring to Australia prominent Scientists and Skeptics. The next will be Bill Nye, “the Science Guy“, in February 2015.

An On-Air mixture of Whiplash, Acupuncture and Anecdote

By Mal Vickers

An interesting discussion took place on radio whilst James Randi was in Australia. It happened on Friday the 30^th of November during The Conversation Hour, a kind of group interview session with popular radio host Jon Faine, (ABC Local Melbourne Radio 774). The particular exchange I’d like to highlight took place at the very end of the program.

James Randi

Being a skeptic, of course I’m an admirer of the work of James Randi however, being a Melburnian I also regularly listen to ABC 774 and think highly of Jon Faine.

Many times I’ve heard Jon Faine ask some excellent, insightful questions of politicians. He’s sharp, knowledgeable and in my humble opinion, Melbourne’s best talkback radio host.

Jon Faine

Jon Faine was, I think, the only media commentator willing to strongly criticise self proclaimed US psychic John Edwards when he came to Australia. The stoush between the two made the national media at the time.

Getting back to the 30^th  November Conversation Hour broadcast, with James Randi, comedian Stella Young and psychiatrist Iain McGilchrist; whilst discussing the topic of psychics, Faine said the following:

They [psychics] take away the fundamental and unavoidable importance of us being responsible for our own destiny. And that’s a fraud on every individual, that’s a fraud on all of us.

I think most skeptics would

Post Convention Media

Click – Full Size

A stunning image taken by Guy Wolfe Page Taylor at the Gala Dinner of the 2012 National Convention. Guy posted this on FaceBook, he’s kindly allowed us to reproduce it here. Go on, click on the image for the full-screen version.

It’s great to see/hear all the positive media attention after a convention. The podcasts, coverage in the mainstream print media and on mainstream radio are encouraging. Then there’s the photos on this blog, Flickr and on FaceBook – it’s still a buzz.

For those readers who may not have seen/heard everything, here are some links to the

Auskepcon 2012, Photos, Sunday

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Sunday’s Convention Photos

Sunday was another line up of excellent speakers, DJ Grothe, Dr Ken Harvey, Dr Rachael Dunlop, Stephen Mayne, Lawrence Leung, James “The Amazing” Randi and many more. Look carefully in this set of images for a certain life member and secretary of a state branch jamming with Paul Conroy on guitar.

Auskepcon 2012, Photos, Friday and Saturday

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Slideshow of the convention from Friday through to Saturday’s Gala Dinner.

To see these and more images of the convention, in higher resolution, please follow these links.

Mark’s images are collected here.

Mal’s photos:

Prior to the convention slideshow.

The fund raising dinner slideshow.

Friday and Saturday slideshow.

Sunday slideshow.

Photo credits: Mal Vickers and Mark Hassed

 

Auskepcon 2012, Photos from the Fund Raising Dinner

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The Fund Raising Dinner was a great success. It was held at a place of great significance in Melbourne’s history, the Royal Society of Victoria building. The evening included a tour of the building, the library and lecture theatre being highlights. Guests also got the chance to chat with DJ Grothe, Brian Thompson and Rebecca Watson.

Huge thanks to those willing to come along, be part of this special event and offset the cost of brining James Randi to Australia. James Randi was very generous with his time, in addition to the close-up magic tricks, he agreed to sit for some iconic photographs taken in the library.

Thanks also to the organisers, in particular Matt Kippen.