February 2024
NCAS
Public Lecture Series
Uses
and Potential Harms of Psychedelics in Medicine
YouTube Live Event with Q and A
Peter Grinspoon,
M.D.
Instructor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School
What is
the exciting new research about psychedelics as
treatment for depression, addiction, pain, and
obsessive-compulsive disorder? What are the barriers
(cost, legality, access) and harms?
Dr. Grinspoon is a widely recognized expert on cannabis science and drug policy. He regularly appears as an expert on national television and radio programs, including NPR's All Things Considered, NBC Nightly News, C-SPAN's Washington Journal, Fox and Friends, and Fox News. He is quoted frequently in the national media, in such venues as People, the New York Times, New York Magazine, the Washington Post, USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, the Chicago Tribune, and the Boston Globe. He is a TEDX speaker.
Grinspoon's Harvard Health articles have reached tens of millions of readers, have been widely referenced in the national media, and have been cited in Congressional testimony. His writing has been published in The Nation, the Los Angeles Times and Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics.
He is the author of the groundbreaking memoir Free Refills: A Doctor Confronts His Addiction, and his most recent book, Seeing through the Smoke: A Cannabis Specialist Untangles the Truth about Marijuana (Prometheus Books, 2023).
How
to Watch and Participate in this Online Discussion
Event:
1) Use a supported
browser... https://www.youtube.com/supported_browsers
2) Use the link https://youtu.be/u_kjRWJWdzM
3) The live stream
begins shortly before 1:30pm US/Eastern (UTC-05:00)
on Saturday, February 10, 2024.
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.
"Cults and cryptids collide
when a curious Washingtonian investigates local unexplained
phenomena. Explore the lure of the unknown and its
entanglement with DC history in this multi-chapter adventure
across the city."
At the start of the pandemic, the local Rorschach Theatre company created a unique theatrical experience that extended over the course of 9-10 months. It was originally a way for the show to go on when the pandemic shut down stage performances, but it has been so successful that they've continued into their 4th year with an all-new story in December 2023.
Rorschach often incorporates elements of fantasy, horror, and/or supernatural. This coming season the Eldritch Investigations project involves themes particularly close to NCAS. The company has extended a 20% discount to NCAS members.
Subscribers receive a monthly box or envelope with maps, directions to locales around DC, and other artifacts such as postcards, telegrams, and various trinkets that help unfold a story over the course of 9-10 months. You investigate these locations at your own pace, on your own time. They also provide online videos for those who can't visit in person.
At the start of the pandemic, the local Rorschach Theatre company created a unique theatrical experience that extended over the course of 9-10 months. It was originally a way for the show to go on when the pandemic shut down stage performances, but it has been so successful that they've continued into their 4th year with an all-new story in December 2023.
Rorschach often incorporates elements of fantasy, horror, and/or supernatural. This coming season the Eldritch Investigations project involves themes particularly close to NCAS. The company has extended a 20% discount to NCAS members.
Subscribers receive a monthly box or envelope with maps, directions to locales around DC, and other artifacts such as postcards, telegrams, and various trinkets that help unfold a story over the course of 9-10 months. You investigate these locations at your own pace, on your own time. They also provide online videos for those who can't visit in person.
The adventure has already
begun, so new subscribers will receive all previous chapters
in the first shipment.
For the discount, use code NCAS when subscribing here:
https://rorschachtheatre.com/23-24-psychogeographies-project/
Sounds a bit like an expanded version of our NCAS Skeptours!
March NCAS Event
We invite you to watch the
documentary The UFO Movie THEY Don't Want You to See BEFORE
March 2, 2024. Then join us on Saturday, March 2 at 1:30 PM ET
for an online Q & A with Producer Brian Dunning.
In an age when
misinformation, alternative facts, and conspiracy theories
have become mainstream, UFOs have risen to become one of the
most-talked about pop culture phenomena. With all of this
noise, how can we expect anyone to know how much of this is
true? What is in our skies? What do we know, and how do we
know it? And most importantly: Are we being visited?
Science does have most of these answers, and we're working on
answering the rest of them. Featuring experts in cosmology,
physics, and image analysis, The UFO Movie THEY Don't Want
You to See will lay out for you exactly what we know and
how we know it. https://theufo.movie
The movie is available for free
(with ads) on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t72uvS7EJT4
Of course, you can watch on
your own. Or, if you prefer a shared experience, there will be
an online viewing event on Wednesday, February 28 at 7:30 PM ET.
How to
Watch and Participate in the Online Viewing Event:
1) Check your email inbox
(the same one that's receiving this Shadow of a Doubt)
at 7 PM ET on Wednesday, February 28.
2) Click on the "Watch2Gether" link
in the email. Your browser will display our "room" to watch a
YouTube movie together.3) Start typing in the chat
window at the right of the screen. The documentary will start
at 7:30 PM sharp, but anyone who wants to hang out there
before showtime is welcome.
4) Webcams and microphones won't be active, just the chat
window. Get ready to type!February PhACT Lecture
Our skeptical neighbors to the north, the Philadelphia Association for Critical Thinking (PhACT), will host their next online event on Saturday, February 17 at 2 PM ET. Historian Robert Hicks, PhD will present "19th-Century Astronomy." Visitors to Philadelphia’s Ebenezer Maxwell Mansion might discover a curious object in the children’s room, a large 1871 cardboard planisphere that speaks to the widespread interest in astronomy during the mid to late 1800s. This presentation surveys what discoveries were made in astronomy during the era and how it was promoted and taught. What did people then think about intelligent life elsewhere? The size and nature of the universe? The presentation concludes with a virtual 1870s public observing night with a telescope! Event details at http://www.phact.org/meetings.php.
Our skeptical neighbors to the north, the Philadelphia Association for Critical Thinking (PhACT), will host their next online event on Saturday, February 17 at 2 PM ET. Historian Robert Hicks, PhD will present "19th-Century Astronomy." Visitors to Philadelphia’s Ebenezer Maxwell Mansion might discover a curious object in the children’s room, a large 1871 cardboard planisphere that speaks to the widespread interest in astronomy during the mid to late 1800s. This presentation surveys what discoveries were made in astronomy during the era and how it was promoted and taught. What did people then think about intelligent life elsewhere? The size and nature of the universe? The presentation concludes with a virtual 1870s public observing night with a telescope! Event details at http://www.phact.org/meetings.php.
February Bay Area Skeptics
Lecture
The [San Francisco] Bay Area Skeptics will host their
next online event on Thursday, February 8 at 10:30 PM ET. Glenn
Branch, deputy director of the National Center for
Science Education, will present "A Child's Garden of Climate
Change Denial." Climate change denial propaganda campaigns
aimed at American teachers and students are not new, but in
2023, no fewer than four — from the Heartland Institute, the
CO2 Coalition, EverBright Media, and PragerU Kids — were in
the headlines. In his talk, he will assess these campaigns
and their likely effects in the context of the advances of
climate change education in the United States over the last
decade. This will be livestreamed on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tx8w5jM8_1U
Torn From Today's Headlines
By Scott Snell
West Virginia Governor Proclaims February 15 as "Critical Thinking Awareness Day"
On November 3, 2023, Governor Jim
Justice of West Virginia proclaimed that February 15, 2024
would be "Critical Thinking Awareness Day." The full text is
available at https://governor.wv.gov/Documents/2023%20Proclamations/2024%20Critical%20Thinking%20Awareness%20Day.pdf
. A list of this and other proclamations over the past year
is located at https://governor.wv.gov/proclamations/Pages/default.aspx
.By Scott Snell
West Virginia Governor Proclaims February 15 as "Critical Thinking Awareness Day"
Daniel Reed of the West
Virginia Skeptics Society (WVSS) was the impetus behind this.
His description of how it was done is presented at https://skepticalinquirer.org/exclusive/from-idea-to-proclamation-making-critical-thinking-awareness-day-a-reality/
.
Several noted skeptics
saluted WVSS's good work! https://video.wixstatic.com/video/0333cc_c45ab520b45940caa2c4f3130958d21f/720p/mp4/file.mp4
WVSS has assembled relevant
links to sites for critical-thinking activities for children
and young adults: https://www.westvirginiaskepticssociety.com/activities
If NCAS were to pursue this
for DC, Maryland, and/or Virginia, what sort of examples,
activities, and/or resources might we offer to the public and
news media outlets?
NCAS Membership
At its September 20, 2023 meeting, the NCAS Board of
Directors approved a change in membership classifications,
effective October 1. Formerly in two classifications,
Single and Double, membership now comprises one or two
individuals at the same home address. In addition to
simplifying transactions for the NCAS treasurer, this
represents a per-person reduction in membership costs.
The former Single membership cost now covers up to two
people. Consider adding a 2nd person in your household to
your NCAS membership at no extra cost! Both will be able
to vote separately in the annual NCAS board of directors
election. Send an email to ncas@ncas.org
to add a 2nd person to your membership. We hope to add
members, and of course a student or other young person is
always welcome for the future of skepticism. Also see https://www.ncas.org/p/join-ncas.html.
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
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
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