November 2020
NCAS Public Lecture Series
In
a World...
A Hollywood View of Planets
YouTube Live Event with Q and A
Presented
by Caitlin Ahrens, PhD
Planetary Scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Saturday, November 14, 1:30pm US/Eastern (UTC-05:00)
NCASVideo YouTube Channel:
https://youtu.be/9LC0OR_hhqI
For more information, call the NCAS Skeptic Line at
240-670-NCAS (6227).
ncas@ncas.org
In this presentation, Caitlin
Ahrens will explore the changing views of planetary sciences through
cinematic history, venturing across fascinating planetary landscapes, first on
the silver screen, and then again in real planetary photographs. She will also
discuss "dangerous" planets and their prospects for astrobiology.
Caitlin Ahrens is a planetary scientist at NASA's Goddard
Space Flight Center, studying lunar ices and impact craters. She also produces
the "Scratching the Surface" weekly segment (and forthcoming podcast)
about planetary science news for KUAF-FM, the NPR station in Fayetteville,
Arkansas. Named one of the 2018 Ten Outstanding Young Americans by JCI USA, Dr.
Ahrens volunteers as a "NASA Solar System Ambassador," communicating
the science and excitement of NASA's space exploration missions and discoveries
with the people in their communities.
There will be an online question-and-answer segment after
the presentation.
https://www.ncas.org/2020/10/november-14-in-worlda-hollywood-view-of.html
How to Watch and Participate in this Online Event:
1) Use a supported browser... https://www.youtube.com/supported_browsers
2) Use the link https://youtu.be/9LC0OR_hhqI
. If typing the link, use "0" (zero), capital "O",
"_" (underscore) and capital "I".
3) The live stream begins shortly before 1:30pm
US/Eastern (UTC-05:00) on Saturday, November 14, 2020.
4) To post questions, you must be signed in to a Google
account.
5) Post your questions in the chat window to the right of
the video player when the live stream is active.
6) Click into where it says "Say something..." and
begin typing (up to 200 characters). Then click the send icon 
.
Along with your question, please post what city or town
you're in.
Message to Current and Prospective NCAS Members
In response to the economic hardship and other uncertainties
that our members may be facing, NCAS has automatically extended by one year all
memberships that expire in 2020 or later. Payment will be accepted for
new memberships as well as renewals for 2019 and before: new and renewed will
have a bonus year added. Each life member may sponsor a new one-year
membership at no charge. (Double life memberships may sponsor two.)
Send your sponsored member's name and contact information to ncas@ncas.org.
This offer will continue until further notice.
December NCAS Lecture
Our speaker will be Bob Nygaard, a private detective who specializes in
the investigation of confidence crimes, most notably psychic fraud.
Saturday, December 12 at 1:30 PM ET, live on the NCASVideo YouTube channel.
James Randi (1928-2020)
NCAS mourns the death of James Randi, the great skeptical conjurer of the late
20th and early 21st century. If not for him, the skeptical movement's
reach beyond academia and niche publishing, into the entertainment world and
thus into public consciousness, is probably unthinkable. Randi, who died
on October 20, was as much at home on the lecture stage as on the theatre
stage. His personal charisma, wit, and sharp intellect attracted,
developed and inspired skeptics of all ages, more than any other prominent
skeptic could, with the possible exception of astronomer Carl Sagan, his
longtime friend. By the early 2000s, the skeptical movement began to
transform into a diverse social culture through a shared love of freethinker
knowledge, values, and of Randi himself. It was at Randi's "The Amaz!ng
Meeting" (TAM), held 17 times from 2003 to 2015, that this transformation
and growth was dramatically visible.
In 1976, Randi helped found the Committee for Scientific
Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP, now CSI, the Committee for
Skeptical Inquiry, a program within the Center for Inquiry) and served for many
years on its executive council, then founded the James Randi Educational
Foundation in 1996. In the late 1980s, Randi met NCAS co-founders Jamy
Ian Swiss and Chip and Grace Denman, became fast friends, and often gave NCAS
presentations when visiting DC. (His July 8, 1989 talk at NIH, introduced
by Penn Jillette, is still the largest draw in NCAS history, with over 550
attendees.)
NCAS stood with James Randi in his time of need. During 1991
and 1992, Randi, CSICOP, and others were sued by Uri Geller in many U.S.
jurisdictions and in other countries as well. Although all the suits were
eventually resolved favorably for skeptics, this was a tense time for the
skeptical movement, generating fears that critical evaluations of paranormal
claims might be silenced by potentially staggering legal defense costs and
having to pay settlements or court awards. But through this, NCAS provided
financial and moral support to Randi thanks to its member donations to his
legal fund, and with some board members accompanying him to his DC court dates.
Chip Denman posted the following reminiscences on social
media, shared here with his permission:
1993, Randi was being sued for libel by Eldon Byrd, an
amateur psychic spoonbender who Randi had taken issue with. The case was
brought in Baltimore, and on weekends he stayed with us in Silver Spring.
One of those weekends, we had left him alone in the house -- what were we
thinking?! We came home to find him putting the guest room door back on its
hinges. The door, you see, stuck a little bit, and Randi -- ever the problem
solver -- couldn’t have that. He took off the door, found my tools, and planed
it down.
As for the trial, Randi had publicly accused Byrd of being a convicted child
molester. As it turned out, that was not true -- he had pleaded guilty in
Virginia to child pornography but had never been charged with molestation. The
jury found that Randi had indeed libeled Byrd, but that Byrd’s reputation was
so tarnished to begin with that they awarded no damages.
Also
Every fall semester for almost 20 years, I taught a course
on “Science and Pseudoscience” for the University of Maryland Honors Program.
Randi’s Flim-Flam! was always on my
reading list. Whenever I could, I liked to end the semester with a little bit
of surprise fun. Several times, Randi was very generous with his time and
phoned in to the class -- this was way before Zoom, so just an audio call. It
being December at that point, he liked to tell a little story about the
difficulty of proving a negative such as the non-existence of supernatural
powers. It involved reindeer and a white-bearded gentleman and went like this:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/lLelB9oqSwY?start=1258&end=1579
(Excerpted from the Skeptics Society channel, March 22, 1992
at Caltech, "A Report from the Paranormal Trenches.")
In March 2007, NCAS, as part of its 20th anniversary
celebration, presented its Philip J. Klass Award to Randi for outstanding
contributions in promoting critical thinking and scientific understanding.
The citation for Randi's Philip J. Klass Award is available
here:
https://files.ncas.org/flyers/KlassAward_program20070309.pdf
The Center for Inquiry's statement on the death of James
Randi:
https://centerforinquiry.org/press_releases/statement-on-the-death-of-james-randi/
A newly posted YouTube video from December 6, 1991 at NIST,
"Self Deception in Science":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDEKJrhPwUA
From April 2002, speakers at an NCAS workshop held at Hilltop
Hotel, Harpers Ferry, WV. Left to right: Bob Park, James Randi, Chip
Denman, Paul Jaffe, and Jim Giglio.
Randi and Park (Klass Award 2007 and 2008, respectively)
died several months apart in 2020. (Photo by Helen Hester-Ossa)
Belgian Skeptics Seek Crowdfunding after Multimillionaire
Takes Lawsuit to Appeals Court
Recently the president of the Belgium skeptics group SKEPP (https://skepp.be/)
emailed ncas.org,
seeking crowdfunded financial support for two SKEPP authors who
"criticized the content of the pseudo-scientific master classes as well as
the marketing tricks [Carl] Van de Velde [similar to Tony Robbins] uses to
attract participants." The authors won the lawsuit brought by Van de
Velde...
https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=nl&u=https://www.tijd.be/ondernemen/management-ondernemerschap/Succescoach-Carl-Van-de-Velde-verliest-rechtszaak-tegen-critici/10188850&prev=search&pto=aue
https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=nl&u=https://www.nieuwsblad.be/cnt/dmf20191208_04757355&prev=search&pto=aue
...but Van de Velde is taking the case to the Court of
Appeals. See the SKEPP site for more info about the case, and how to
contribute to the authors' legal defense:
https://skepp.be/en/psychologie-hrm-coaching/multimillionaire-sues-our-authors-why-bart-and-patrick-need-your-financial
AmazonSmile: Thanks to our members who are supporting NCAS!
When shopping at smile.amazon.com, you'll find the same low
prices, vast selection, and convenient shopping experience as Amazon.com, with
the added bonus that a portion of the purchase price (0.5%) goes to NCAS! It's
simple and automatic, and it doesn't cost you anything!
AmazonSmile's disbursements to NCAS in the second quarter of 2020 came to
$32.84, meaning that over $6500 of purchases were designated in support of
NCAS. (As an example of how NCAS can put that money to good use, it's
enough to cover 90 minutes of a Montgomery County lecture room rental.)
Thanks again to our members who have chosen to support NCAS!
For more information:
https://smile.amazon.com/about
https://press.aboutamazon.com/news-releases/news-release-details/amazon-launches-amazonsmile-simple-automatic-way-customers
Shadow Light
Some members and contacts of NCAS receive a postal notification of this and
every new monthly Shadow of a Doubt. The Shadow Light
postcard announces the monthly lecture and highlights of the electronic Shadow
of a Doubt, which is available online at ncas.org/p/shadow.html. NCAS thereby
reduces Shadow production and postage costs. To further reduce
costs, members and contacts can opt out of postal notification altogether,
while continuing to receive Shadow of a Doubt via e-mail. To opt
out, send us an e-mail at ncas@ncas.org.
Time to Renew?
Be sure to check your renewal date above your postal address on the Shadow
Light postcard. Send any queries to ncas@ncas.org. Use
the online membership form to renew.
https://www.ncas.org/p/shadow.html
Bob Nygaard is a retired NYC cop (NYC Transit Police District-3 ) (Nassau
County NY Police ), turned-private investigator, turned actor, who specializes
in the identification, apprehension, and prosecution of non-traditional
organized crime suspects. Nygaard specializes in debunking and causing
con-artists, most notably self-proclaimed psychics, to be arrested and he has
recovered millions of dollars for fraud victims around the world. Nygaard has
appeared on ABC News' 20/20, Crime Watch Daily, The Dr. Oz Show, The Security
Brief with Paul Viollis podcast, Nancy Grace, German TV show Achtung Abzocke,
and numerous other news and radio broadcasts, as an expert in confidence
crimes. A short documentary entitled NYGAARD has been filmed about his work.
The documentary is a self-reflective account of Nygaard's work helping the
victims of psychic fraud. Nygaard's first role as an actor in a SAG-AFTRA
production came in the CBS true-crime TV series Pink Collar Crimes, in which he
portrays himself. 
