May, 2000
A best-selling health guru insists that his brand of spiritual healing is
firmly grounded in quantum theory; half the population believes Earth is
being visited by space aliens who have mastered faster-than-light travel;
and educated people are wearing magnets in their shoes to draw energy from
the Earth. Did we set the public up for this? In our eagerness to share
speculative new ideas at the frontier of science, have we conveyed the
message that the universe is so strange that anything is possible? What can
we tell people that will help them judge which claims are science and which
are voodoo?
Everyone welcome - members and non-members
The May NCAS talk is by Bob Park. For more on the topic, see the May 15 Forbes
magazine, which contains an article adapted from Dr. Robert L. Park's new
book Voodoo Science. It is also on the web:
Old-time NCAS members have heard our own Chip Denman speak on the use and
misuse of statistics in critical thinking. If such topics interest you, there
are two web sites you should visit:
-- John Paulos, who wrote the excellent book Innumeracy, has a monthly web
column:
-- The Statistical Assessment Service publishes a monthly newsletter that
objectively looks at the use and misuse of numbers in newspapers and TV. The
newsletter is available online at http://www.stats.org.
If you attended the NCAS Weekend two years ago, NCAS member Stephanie Hall
conducted a survey on the beliefs of those present. This started her on a
quest to study this further. A preliminary version of her research is in
IMPROMPTU JOURNAL ISSUE 4: MARCH, 2000, and can be found at the web site:
http://www.temple.edu/isllc/newfolk/skeptics.html.
Professional skeptic and friend of NCAS, James Randi, now has his own weekly
radio show at 7pm on Saturdays. In South Florida it is on WINZ/Supertalk 940
(AM), and it can be heard on the Internet as well at
http://www.supertalk940.com. (Except for the following dates: May 20th,
July 1st, and September 9th).
VOODOO SCIENCE
Bob Park
Professor of Physics
University of Maryland, College Park
Saturday, May 20, 2000, 2pm-3:30pm
Bethesda Public Library
7400 Arlington Road
Bethesda, Maryland
Call the NCAS Skeptic Line at 301-587-3827 for further info.
MORE ON VOODOO SCIENCE
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/00/0515/6511128a.htm
MATH AND THE NEWS
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/science/WhosCounting/whoscounting.html
The May column discusses why "top 10" lists change so often, even if the
population surveyed doesn't (e.g., why are the top 50 beautiful celebrities
this year not even on the list last year)
HOW TO RAISE A SKEPTIC
RANDI BACK ON THE RADIO