This is a bit late, but those of you who haven't already found it might want to pop over to Saint Nate's and read the first Skeptic's Circle. "What's that?", I hear you asking. The basic idea is that several blogs each post an article about some skeptic-related topic. One of the participating blogs (in this case, Saint Nate's) then posts an article that links to all of the other articles. In short, it's sort of a distributed ezine.
Topics in this first issue include urban legends, biorythms, False Memory Syndrome, Holocaust denial, alternative medicine, and Intelligent Design, among others.
The archives will be located at Circular Reasoning, as well as the schedule for future issues.
Link: The First Skeptics' Circle.
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They say that great minds think alike. I'm not sure whether I qualify, but I know that Massimo Pigliucci does. You might be familiar with his web site, Rationally Speaking. The same day that I thought, "hmm... maybe I should start a skeptic blog", Massimo notified me that he has already done so. Visit the (mostly) Rationally Speaking blog for some great stories. (I'm sure I'll be stealing some of his ideas from time to time.)
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- Skeptic
Classification Scheme List Archive
- A couple of weeks ago, I ran an item about the Skeptic Classification Scheme List,
a new e-mail list operated by Kjetil Kjernsmo, webmaster of the Norwegian skeptics. The list was formed to
discuss the creation of a method for classifying, organizing, and locating skeptic
resources on the web. The intent is to create something like the equivalent of a
"Dewey Decimal System" for skeptical topics. One possible application of this
would be to create a Yahoo-like automated search engine, which would allow the user
interested in a particular topic to locate relevant documents scattered on numerous sites.
Now that a couple of weeks have passed, the discussion has begun in earnest. If you
haven't joined the e-mail list, you might want to check the archives -- and then join the
list!
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- New from Prometheus Books - Spring/Summer 1998 and Fall 1998/Winter 1999
- The Prometheus Books site now
lists their newest releases. Yes, it's true -- in some places, people read about skeptic
topics using paper and ink technologies rather than the Internet! Actually, I just bought
two books from Prometheus the other day -- The Encyclopedia of the Paranormal and
The Encyclopedia of Unbelief. I think those 1,650 pages ought to keep me occupied
for awhile.
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- Indian Skeptic, Volume 2
- Gerald Huber of the Indian Skeptic
sent me an e-mail message saying, "Indian Skeptic has now uploaded most of
the contents of Volume 2. (Volume 1 and Volume 3 are still in progress.)" Originally
I thought his message meant a single issue, but when I looked at the site, I found that he
said what he meant -- 12 issues, published between May 1989 and April 1990. That's quite a
bit of reading for us! Thanks for the news, Gerald! Be sure to let us know when you've
posted more.
Hmmm... The Indian Skeptic, hosted on a server located in Germany, is being
reported here on a server located in the U.S. That's one aspect of operating the Skeptic
News that I've found quite interesting -- the opportunity to read about skeptic
activities all over the world! Since nearly one out of every five visitors to the site is
from outside of the U.S., I suspect the international flavor (flavour?) will continue.
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- Letters from REALL
- There's a new feature on the website of the Illinois-based Rational Examination Association of Lincoln Land (of
which I am webmaster). Letters sent by our chairman to various newspapers, magazines, and
others will be posted there. Topics of current letters include the death of
"psychic" Greta Alexander, repressed memories, alternative medicine, and the
origin of the universe.
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- CSICOP On-line is the Sci-Fi Weekly Site of the Week
- The Sci-Fi channel's Sci-Fi Weekly
on-line magazine picked CSICOP's web site as the
Sci-Fi Site of the Week for August 10, 1998. With so many news and documentary programs
promoting the paranormal, it's ironic that a science fiction channel would promote
skepticism. Congratulations, CSICOP!
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- Doubting Thomas, August/September Issue, Full Text
- Keith Lankford sent me a second bit of news
today: "The latest issue of the Sagan
Society's newsletter, Doubting Thomas,
can now be read in full in an all-text format." Thanks again, Keith!
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- The Skeptic, August Issue
- A new issue of the newsletter of the North
Texas Skeptics is now available. Articles in this issue include "A skeptical view
of exorcism and deliverance (part II)," "The third eye,"
"Pseudoscience in France," "Has science found God?," and "Tenured
fruitcakes should go."
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- Skeptical Links Project Updated to Version 9
- What more is there to say, really? Well, just this: If you haven't already made use of
this massive list of links, compiled by the Australian
Skeptics, you've been missing out on a great resource.
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- Thirteenth Annual New Zealand Skeptics Conference
- This is somewhat late news, but the New
Zealand Skeptics have posted information about their upcoming conference, to be held
on August 28-30 in Wellington, New Zealand. (Also, be sure to check the Skeptic News Calendar periodically for additional scheduled
events.)
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- Skeptic Classification Scheme
- Kjetil Kjernsmo, webmaster for the Norwegian
Skeptics, is seeking assistance for a new project, the Skeptic Classification Scheme,
an effort to classify online skeptical material in appropriate categories. Says Kjetil,
"To be able to classify documents well in a subject tree, a good, elaborate
classification scheme is necessary. To be able to correctly classify documents is
important so that documents have a stable URL, that the document is not placed in a
directory it doesn't belong. It is also important for search engines, documents can be
placed automatically in a correct category. Such a scheme that can cover all the subjects
skeptics are involved in needs to be developed."
The intent is to create something like the equivalent of a "Dewey Decimal
System" for skeptical topics. One possible application of this would be to create a
Yahoo-like automated search engine, which would allow the user interested in a particular
topic to locate relevant documents scattered on numerous sites. Kjetil has created an
e-mail discussion list for those interested in learning more about the project and helping
to shape it. I think it sounds like a very interesting, albeit extremely daunting,
project! I know that there are other sites out there that have manually gathered large
collections of links (such as the Australian Skeptics' Skeptical Links Project,
a great resource, by the way). However, developing a way to classify the links
and automate their collection could, if successful, be quite useful.
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- Hawaii Rational Inquirer, August 7 Issue
- Articles in the most recent issue of Victor Stenger's Hawaii Rational Inquirer
include "Olsen Gets Last Word," "Congressman Shows Way to Toilet," and
"Notes on Alternative Medicine from the World Skeptics' Congress."
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- Doubting Thomas, August/September Issue
- More new information on the Doubting
Thomas site -- the table of contents and selected articles from Doubting
Thomas #2 (Special E.T. Edition) are now online. The selected articles include
"God and Stuff," "Are we Being Visited? Not Quite...," by Dr.
Jean-Pierre Caillault, "Skeptics & True Believers: The Exhilerating Connection
Between Science and Religion," reviewed by Keith Lankford, and "Strom Thurmond
Has the Holy Grail," a letter to the editor.
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- Die Themen der GWUP-Mailing-Liste, July 1998
- For those of you who speak German, the Gesellschaft zur
wissenschaftlichen Untersuchung von Parawissenschaften (GWUP) have posted a summary of
July's messages in the GWUP mailing list. This month's topics include
"Elektrosmog," "Glauben versus Wissen," "Gründe für Gott,"
"Ogottogott," "Sonstiges," and "Thorwald Dethlefsen." (I'm
not going to translate the titles; if you can't read the titles, what hope do you have of
reading the actual messages?) ;-)
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- The REALL News, August Issue
- The August issue of The REALL News, the newsletter of the Illinois-based Rational Examination Association of Lincoln Land, is now
online. The feature articles are "Bullets into Water: The Sorcerers of Africa,"
by Richard Petraitis, and "The Tarot Scam -or- Cold (Frosty) Readings," by Derek
Rompot.
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- The New England Journal of Skepticism, Summer Issue
- A new issue of the quarterly newsletter of the New
England Skeptical Society has been released. The article selected for online
publication is "Memory: Confused, Constructed, and Confabulated." Other articles
in this issue include "Skepticism and Religion, Revisited"; "Sightings:
UFO's and Visual Perception"; "The Year 1000 AD and the Millennial Panic";
"Nonsense with Numbers"; "Skeptical Parenting"; "The Zodiac
Investor"; and "Teller Speaks, Part II."
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- Recent Issues of Hawaii Rational Inquirer
- Victor Stenger's Hawaii
Rational Inquirer is an e-mail newsletter that gets distributed every couple of
weeks. Recent articles include Dawkins Reviews Intellectual Postures in the July 16 issue; Has Science
Found God?, More Dawkins, Junior Skeptics, and Heaven-o from Kingsville in
the July 25 issue; Physicist
Responds to Dawkins, and Science as Honesty and Integrity in the August 1 issue; and Randi
Replies to Olsen, Gribbin Not Squeaky Clean Either, and Acetominophen is as
Worthless as Homeopathy for Arthritis Pain in the August 4 issue.
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- Web.Scan for August 1998 - Self-Promotion for Beginners
- The Internet Infidels' Secular Web has posted
this month's Web.Scan. This month they look at the many awards claimed by Church of
Scientology web site.
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- Intenet Infidels Newsletter, August Issue
- The Internet Infidels' Secular Web has posted the
August issue of their newsletter. Some of this month's articles are "Infidels Receive
Death Threat," "$cientologist 'Clam Nanny' Blocks Internet Infidels,"
"July 4th Celebration at Lake Hypatia," "Gullibility Virus Strikes the
Internet!," and "AOL Censors SuraLikeIt."
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- New Address for the Skeptic Friends Network
- The Skeptic Friends Network has a new address, www.skepticfriends.org.
That ought to be easier to remember than
http://pw1.netcom.com/~raycrx/skeptic/skeptic.html, eh? Yes, three items in a row about
the Skeptic Friends Network!
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- Skeptical Inquirer, July/August Issue
- The July/August issue of Skeptical Inquirer, the magazine of CSICOP, was posted yesterday. Selected articles include
"Magnetic Therapy: Plausible Attraction?," "Biomagnetic Pseudoscience and
Nonsense Claims," "Planting a Seed of Doubt," "Book review: Talking to
Heaven by James Van Praagh," and "CSICOP Compiles Top Ten Paranormal
Hoaxes."
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- The Skeptic, July Issue
- The July issue of The Skeptic, the newsletter of the North Texas Skeptics, was posted to
their web site recently. Feature articles include "Show Me God," "The Third
Eye, and "Creation Science Education."
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- Reality Check, Summer Issue
- The Summer issue of Reality Check, the newsletter of the Rationalists of East Tennessee, was posted to
their web site recently. Feature articles include "Einstein's credo," "A
brief history of skepticism, Part II," "The many forms of atheism," and
"Carlos Castaneda is, well, y'know, like maybe."
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- Phactum, June Issue
- Articles from the June issue of Phactum, the newsletter of the Philadelphia Association for Critical Thinking
(PhACT), are now online. The feature articles are "Review of Talk by Joe
Nickell," "Cryonics," "Belief in the Paranormal from an Evolutionary
Perspective," by Jim Enright, "TT Study Makes it to JAMA," and "To a
would be Scientific Revolutionary."
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- The REALL News, June/July Issue
- The June/July issue of The REALL News, the newsletter of the Springfield,
Illinois-based Rational Examination Association of Lincoln
Land, is now online. The feature articles are "A Visit to the Institute for
Creation Research, Part Two," by Karen Bartelt, and "The Eyes Still Speak,"
by Martin Kottmeyer.
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- Prodos Back on Melbourne Radio
- The Australian Skeptics web site reports that
The Prodos Connection, a skeptical radio program, is now back on the air on Melbourne 3WRB
97.4 FM.
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- The REALL News, April/May Issue
- The April/May issue of The REALL News, the newsletter of the Springfield,
Illinois-based Rational Examination Association of Lincoln
Land, is now online. The feature articles are "A Visit to the Institute for
Creation Research, Part One," by Karen Bartelt, and "Lastly, What Roswell
Proved," by Martin Kottmeyer.
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- The
REALL News, March Issue
- The March issue of The REALL News, the newsletter of the Springfield,
Illinois-based Rational Examination Association of Lincoln
Land, is now online. The feature article is "The Illinois UFO Mania of 1897", by Robert Bartholomew.
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- Skeptical Briefs, June Issue, Selected Articles
- Selected articles from the June issue of Skeptical Briefs, the newsletter for associates members of CSICOP, are now online. This issue's feature articles are "Reality Check: The Energy Fields of Life," by Victor J. Stenger, and "Investigative Files: Italy's Graveyard 'Ghost' Photo," by Joe Nickell.
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