How
to Watch and Participate in this Online
Discussion Event:
2) Use the link
https://youtu.be/1SKKYgY9P88
3) The live stream
begins shortly before 1:30pm
US/Eastern (UTC-05:00) on Saturday, March 9, 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.
How to Watch and Participate in an Online
Viewing Event:
Of course, you can
watch the movie on your own. Or, if you prefer a
shared experience, there will be an online viewing
event on Wednesday, March 6 at 7:30 PM ET.
1) Check your email
inbox (the same one that's receiving this Shadow of
a Doubt) at 6:45 PM ET on Wednesday, March 6.
2) Click on the "Watch2Gether"
link in the email. Your browser will display our "room"
to watch the movie on YouTube 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. At 7 PM, the main feature will be preceded
by a short "documentary" (one of the 1970s fake
documentaries that we can laugh at).
4) Webcams and microphones won't be active, just the chat
window. Get ready to type!
Eldritch Investigations and a Discount for NCAS
"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.
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!
April NCAS Event
Edward Calabrese,
Professor of Environmental Health Sciences at the
University of Massachusetts Amherst School of Public
Health and Health Science, will discuss the "linear
no-threshold" (LNT) model, an ionizing radiation
dose-response model used in radiation protection. How
accurate is the model for estimating cancer risk at low
doses? Saturday, April 13 at 1:30 PM ET, live on the
NCASVideo YouTube channel.
Note: the 22 episodes
total several hours, but can be expedited by adjusting
the playback speed to 1.25x, 1.5x, 1.75x, or 2x.
March PhACT Lecture
Our skeptical neighbors to the north, the Philadelphia
Association for Critical Thinking (PhACT), will host their
next online event on Saturday, March 16 at 2 PM ET.
Paleontologist
Ted Daeschler, PhD will
present "Explorations into the Age of Fishes and the
Origin of Limbed Vertebrates," describing three decades of
paleontological exploration and research on Late Devonian
(385-365 million years ago) fossils from Pennsylvania, the
high Canadian Arctic and Antarctica. Event details at
http://www.phact.org/meetings.php.
March Bay Area
Skeptics Lecture
The [San Francisco] Bay Area Skeptics will host
their next online event on Thursday, March 14 at 9 PM
ET.
Paul A. Offit, MD, Director of the
Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of
Philadelphia as well as the Maurice R. Hilleman
Professor of Vaccinology and a Professor of Pediatrics
at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University
of Pennsylvania, will present "COVID Myths: And the
Hits Just Keep on Comin'." The continued onslaught of
myths and misinformation surrounding COVID and COVID
vaccines has been unrelenting and contributes to the
low uptake of this vaccine. Dr. Offit will try to
debunk some of these myths and put them in context.
This will be livestreamed on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXDorVfW9Kk
Lessons Learned from the COVID-19 Pandemic Response
Dr. Offit recently discussed his new book
Tell Me
When It's Over (National Geographic, 2024) with
Michael Shermer. In his book, Dr. Offit presents a
"lessons learned" perspective on the response to the
COVID-19 pandemic, based on his experience as a member
of the FDA Vaccine Advisory Committee and a former
member of the Advisory Committee for Immunization
Practices to the CDC. His discussion with Dr. Shermer
is available at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=by67kv1_VnA
Later, Dr. Offit also responded to the following two
questions/comments from NCAS President Scott Snell:
So much of the mask debate was the claim that one
cannot adequately protect oneself by wearing a mask;
others must also wear masks to protect oneself.
Was that true after
N95 masks became generally available to the public? I
assume there was excellent data about COVID history of
health care workers (presumably using the best masks
and trained to use them properly). The workers had to
take care of very sick/contagious unmasked patients
indoors for long periods of time. How sick did the
workers get?
If (as I assume)
they did not often get sick, did that suggest that all
of us "civilians" could essentially imitate the
success of health care workers? Moreover, this
could've been an excellent "panpartisan" meme. Nurses
and many other health care workers were seen (and
still are) as heroes. "Let's imitate the health care
heroes, wear your mask to protect yourself! Here's
how to wear your mask correctly [etc]." This would, I
think, largely avoid the "you've got to wear a mask to
protect me" meme that caused so much (unnecessary?)
controversy. What are your thoughts about this?
In conversation (paraphrased and printed here with his
permission), Dr. Offit responded that this might've been
a worthwhile approach to depolarizing the masking
issue. Unfortunately the N95 masks (generally upper 90s
percent effective at blocking virus-laden droplets),
KN95 (lower 90s percent effective), and surgical masks
(80s percent effective) were not available to the public
in the early months of the pandemic. But once these
better masks were available, anyone with proper training
could adequately protect themselves without insisting
that others wear masks too.
Regarding achieving COVID herd immunity via
vaccination, what was the percentage required? If it
was, say, 80%, was one societal possibility to offer a
"lottery" for anyone who didn't want the vaccine?
That way, perhaps many if not all objectors could be
exempted from vaccination, if they won the lottery.
(The number of lottery victors could be as many as 20%
of the community in my example.)
Dr. Offit's response, described in more detail in his
book, is that the vaccination mandates caused a backlash
that probably reduced COVID vaccination rates and now
have spilled over to a push back against all vaccine
mandates, including school vaccine mandates. Rather
than using mandates (or the suggested exemption
lottery), educating the public is the best way to
maximize vaccination rates.
Videos from CSICon
2023
Writing in the November
2023 Shadow of a Doubt, NCAS Board Member Curtis
Haymore called it "really wonderful, deeply thoughtful,
filled with his well-crafted language."
Also recently added was
a conversation between Dawkins and Bill Nye, who
received the 2023 Richard Dawkins Award for proclaiming
"the values of secularism and rationalism, upholding
scientific truth wherever it may lead."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5I3dbf6N7FE
"Spring Forward"
On Sunday, March 10,
most of the United States and Canada will make the
customary change from Standard Time to Daylight Saving
Time. Three weeks later, most of Europe will follow
suit.
Back and forth we go.
Are you tired (literally tired) of switching your clocks
one hour back every Fall and one hour forward every
Spring? Why do we go to all the trouble? Do we have any
good alternatives? What's been tried before, or tried
elsewhere? See "The Times They Are(n't) a-Changin'" on
the NCASVideo YouTube site:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4J6QEYSxMjs
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
