Shadow of a Doubt - April 2022

 

April 2022

NCAS Public Lecture Series

UFOs: Then, Now, and Next

 YouTube Live Event with Q and A 

Presented by Robert Sheaffer
Author of Bad UFOs and UFO Sightings: The Evidence

Saturday, April 2, 1:30pm US/Eastern (UTC-04:00)

NCASVideo YouTube Channel:

https://youtu.be/EqiF-ApmO7c

For more information, call the NCAS Skeptic Line at 240-670-NCAS (6227).
ncas@ncas.org

Robert Sheaffer, one of the leading skeptical investigators of UFOs, will discuss the history of the phenomenon (including an update about a famous case, now solved), recent news, and possible future directions.  He'll recall his mentor, colleague, and friend, Philip J. Klass (1919-2005), generally considered the top skeptical UFO investigator of his time.  Klass was a founding member of CSICOP (now called CSI, the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry), was one of the original conveners of NCAS in 1987, and was an important long-time mentor to the organization.  Also, what was it like to be a skeptic in the Washington, DC area in the 1970s?  Sheaffer can speak from personal experience.

Robert Sheaffer is a writer with a lifelong interest in astronomy and the question of life on other worlds.  The author of UFO Sightings (1998), his latest book is Bad UFOs (2016), which is also the name of his blog that casts a skeptical eye on claims about UFOs.  He was a founding member (with Philip J. Klass and James Oberg) of the UFO Subcommittee of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, and was a longtime fellow of that organization.  Mr. Sheaffer is also a founding director and past Chairman of the Bay Area Skeptics, a local skeptics' group in the San Francisco Bay area.  He has appeared on many radio and TV programs, and his writings and reviews have appeared in such diverse publications as OMNI, Scientific American, Spaceflight, Astronomy, The Humanist, Free Inquiry, Reason, and others.  His "Psychic Vibrations" column in Skeptical Inquirer kept readers informed of weird developments in the "science" of UFOs, psychic research, cryptozoology, etc from 1977 to 2017.  Mr. Sheaffer lives near San Diego, California, having most recently worked as a data communications engineer in Silicon Valley.

(Photo by Susan Gerbic)

There will be an online question-and-answer segment after the presentation.

https://www.ncas.org/2022/03/april-2-ufos-then-now-and-next.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/EqiF-ApmO7c .  If typing the link, use capital "O".

3) The live stream begins shortly before 1:30pm US/Eastern (UTC-04:00) on Saturday, April 2, 2022.

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.

Save the Date -- Klass Award Dinner on April 27
NCAS is pleased to present its 2022 Philip J. Klass Award for outstanding contributions in critical thinking and scientific understanding to skeptical activist Susan Gerbic on Wednesday, April 27 at Busboys and Poets Takoma in Washington.  Additional details to follow.

April PhACT Lecture

Our skeptical neighbors to the north, the Philadelphia Association for Critical Thinking (PhACT), will host their next online event on Saturday, April 23 at 2 PM ET.  Speaker Michael Marshall (Project Director of the Good Thinking Society, Vice President of the Merseyside Skeptics Society, and host of the Be Reasonable podcast) will discuss his experiences of "The White Rose," a group claiming that COVID-19 is a hoax concocted by the governments of the world to instill fear into their people, as a pretext for introducing new, permanent totalitarian laws.  Event details at http://www.phact.org/meetings.php.

April 30 NCAS Lecture

Susan Gerbic will present "Grief Vampires: Wikipedia and More."  In February 2019, The New York Times Magazine reported on her team (the "Guerilla Skeptics") and their successful work exposing psychic medium Thomas John in a sting.  During the pandemic, the Guerilla Skeptics struck again, researching and exposing multiple mediums operating on Zoom using hot and cold reading to appear to be in communication with the dead.  Saturday, April 30 at 1:30 PM at Arlington Central Library.

NCAS Board Elections: Electronic Voting
The upcoming 2022 NCAS election will use electronic voting.  When voting begins, each member will receive an email from NCAS (via surveymonkey.com) containing a unique web address usable as a single-cast secret ballot.  (NCAS will receive information indicating who voted, but nothing to indicate who cast each ballot.)

Note that voters will not be at risk for spamming as a result of participating...SurveyMonkey has a zero-tolerance spam policy:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/mp/legal/acceptable-uses-policy/

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 fourth quarter of 2021 came to $44.68, meaning that nearly $9000 of purchases were designated in support of NCAS.  (As an example of how NCAS can put that money to good use, it's more than enough to cover two hours 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