January 2021
NCAS Public Lecture Series
The
Doctor Who Fooled the World:
Science, Deception, and the War on
Vaccines
YouTube Live Event with Q and A
Presented
by Brian Deer
Author / Investigative Journalist
Saturday, January 9, 1:30pm US/Eastern (UTC-05:00)
NCASVideo YouTube Channel:
https://youtu.be/LRB75-atfOo
For more information, call the NCAS Skeptic Line at
240-670-NCAS (6227).
ncas@ncas.org
Brian Deer is a British investigative reporter, best known for inquiries
into the drug industry, medicine and social issues for The Sunday
Times. The Doctor Who Fooled the World is his first book, followed this
month by the science thriller Blind Trial. Deer has won multiple awards
and nominations for his investigations for The Sunday Times and the UK's
Channel 4 network, including two British Press Awards as the specialist
reporter of the year, and an honorary D.Litt degree.
There will be an online question-and-answer segment after the presentation.
How to Watch and Participate in this Online Event:
1) Use a supported browser...
https://www.youtube.com/supported_browsers2) Use the link
https://youtu.be/LRB75-atfOo . If typing the link, use capital "O."
3) The live stream begins shortly before 1:30pm US/Eastern (UTC-05:00) on Saturday, January 9, 2021.
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.
January PhACT Lecture Our
skeptical neighbors to the north, the Philadelphia Association for
Critical Thinking (PhACT), will host their next online event on
Saturday, January 16 at 2 PM ET. Speaker Marc Zimmer (Jean C. Tempel
’65 Professor of Chemistry at Connecticut College) will discuss his
book,
The State of Science: What the Future Holds and the Scientists Making It Happen. Details at
http://www.phact.org/meetings.php.
February NCAS Lecture
On Saturday, February 13 at 2:30 PM ET (note the unusual start time),
live on the NCASVideo YouTube channel, our speaker will be
magician/mentalist/skeptic Banachek.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banachek Torn From Today's Headlines By Scott Snell
Summary of "Utah Monolith" News
The
following information is provided as a public service for readers who
want to know something about the so-called "monolith" recently found in
southeastern Utah, before deciding whether or not to dive into the
Wikipedia page: (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_monolith).
On
November 19, the object first came to public notice in an Instagram
post by the Utah Department of Public Safety (DPS) Aero Bureau, showing
what they'd found the day before while working with the Utah Division of
Wildlife Resources. (The post,
https://www.instagram.com/p/CH09VY_hAGk/, is deleted, but still available from a screen grab of the original:
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2020/11/what-the-heck-is-it-wildlife-officers-find-2001-style-monolith-in-the-middle-of-nowhere/_jcr_content/par/image.dynimg.full.q75.jpg.)
On
November 24, journalist Nouska du Saar and analyst H. I. Sutton
independently used satellite imagery to determine that the object was
placed on the site between July 7 and October 21, 2016: (
https://twitter.com/nieuwska/status/1331377367235891200 and
https://twitter.com/CovertShores/status/1331349889515745281,
respectively). Subsequent images also show the object in place,
suggesting that it may have been there continuously from 2016 to
discovery.
Over the next few days, curiosity about the object
drew a concerning number of tourists to visit the remote site,
disturbing the area's environment. At about 8:40 PM MT on November 27,
when photographer Ross Bernards and three friends were alone at the
site, four men arrived, managed to push the object over, dismantle it,
and cart it off. Bernards described and documented the activity on
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CIOOkwMBkAS/(UFO
buffs will be amused to learn that Ross Bernards was born and raised in
McMinnville, Oregon, not far from where a famous UFO photographic
sighting in 1950 occurred:
https://www.rossbernards.com/about By the way, there's no indication that Bernards has any interest in UFOs.)
One
of the photos showed the innards of the object. Clearly not a true
monolith (defined as "a single great stone often in the form of an
obelisk or column"), it was a hollow triangular prism formed by metal
sheets.
The object has been described as reminiscent of the
monoliths in 2001: A Space Odyssey, though those were black, not silver,
and were rectangular solids.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monolith_(Space_Odyssey)The Utah DPS has a helpful press release about the object:
https://dpsnews.utah.gov/dps-aero-bureau-encounters-monolith-in-red-rock-country/NY Times coverage: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/01/arts/design/utah-monolith-removed-instagram.htmlThe
NY Times article described the object as containing "an armature made
from plywood," but if so, the video posted by the alleged "wrecking
crew" doesn't show it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6c2EhNtSj4Wikipedia has a page about similar-looking objects that have been sighted over the ensuing weeks:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_works_similar_to_the_2020_Utah_monolithAmazonSmile: Thanks to our members who are supporting NCAS!
When holiday 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 third quarter of 2020 came to $24.92, meaning that $5000 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 75 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/abouthttps://press.aboutamazon.com/news-releases/news-release-details/amazon-launches-amazonsmile-simple-automatic-way-customers Shadow Light
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