Archive for category Skeptics in the Pub
Skeptics in the Pub: Mark Edon
Posted by Mike in Skeptics in the Pub on January 27, 2012
Creationism in the UK – Closing the Ark Door After the T-Rex has bolted?
by Mark Edon
When: Thursday, February 16th, 2012 8.00 – 11.00 PM
Where: The Head of Steam, 7 Lime Street, Liverpool
Mark Edon, from the British Centre for Science Education will be talking about the current issues surrounding creationism in the UK; why Skeptics should care; how to argue against creationism and maybe even a bit of science.
About the Speaker
Mark Edon is a lifelong fan of science, and first got involved in the UK anti-creationist scene after creationists interfered at his children’s school. He is currently studying for a degree in Life Sciences at the Open University.
Mark is also the Humanist representative on the Leeds City Council Standing Advisory Committee on Religious Education (SACRE) and the secretary for the BCSE (British Centre for Science Education).
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Skeptics in the Pub: Peter Blanchard
Posted by Mike in Skeptics in the Pub on December 19, 2011
Homeopathy: Is it legal?
by Peter Blanchard
When: Thursday, January 19th, 2012 8.00 – 11.00 PM
Where: The Head of Steam, 7 Lime Street, Liverpool
Homeopathic products have long been shown to have no effect on illnesses, and no active ingredients – yet these sugar pills are sold on high streets across the country and by our most respected pharmacists. Given that the pills are indistinguishable from sugar pills, yet proponents claim remarkable powers of healing from them, how legal are the claims made?
Peter Blanchard is a blogger and activist who has amassed the most comprehensive lay understanding of the ins and outs of regulating homeopathic products.
In this talk, he’ll explain who can and can’t supply homeopathic products, what homeopathic remedies can be advertised and what claims can and can’t be made about. He’ll also cover the highly restricted circumstances under which some homeopathic medicines can be supplied – exposing those who operate outside of these rules.
Having been successful in getting reluctant regulators to act on those who break the law, he’ll go through tactics you can use to make successful complaints, and how you can help.
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Skeptics in the Pub: Michael Marshall
Posted by Marsh in Skeptics in the Pub on September 9, 2011
Bad News: How PR Came to Rule Modern Journalism
by Michael Marshall
When: Thursday, December 15th, 2011 8.00 – 11.00 PM
Where: The Head of Steam, 7 Lime Street, Liverpool
“You can’t believe everything you read in the papers.”
Everyone knows this, but few people realise this truism extends far beyond the celebrity pages and gossip columns, and spills into ‘real’ news. Here, the near-invisible influence of PR companies is often pivotal in deciding what news gets told, and how it gets reported. By taking a brief look at the history of modern journalism, and using real examples taken from recent headlines, Michael Marshall will show why you really, really can’t believe everything you read in the papers.
Michael Marshall is the co-founder and vice-president of the Merseyside Skeptics Society and appears on the “Skeptics with a K”, “Righteous Indignation” and “Strange Quarks” podcasts. Besides organising national and international campaigns against homeopathy, he writes about the often-unsuspected role of PR in modern media. He was once called by Ben Goldacre ‘a mighty nerd from Liverpool’. He was also once rather amusingly called a very rude word by self-proclaimed psychic Joe Power.
Skeptics in the Pub: Jon Ronson
Posted by Marsh in Skeptics in the Pub on September 5, 2011
The Psychopath Test
by Jon Ronson
When: Thursday, November 17th, 2011 8.00 – 11.00 PM
Where: The Head of Steam, 7 Lime Street, Liverpool
When the journalist Jon Ronson is contacted by a leading neurologist who has recently received a cryptically puzzling book in the mail he is challenged to solve the mystery behind it. As he searches for answers, Jon soon finds himself, unexpectedly, on an utterly compelling and often unbelievable adventure into the world of madness. Jon meets a Broadmoor inmate who swears he faked a mental disorder to get a lighter sentence but is now stuck there, with nobody believing he’s sane. He meets some of the people who catalogue mental illness, and those who vehemently oppose them. He meets the influential psychologist who developed the industry standard Psychopath Test and who is convinced that many important CEOs and politicians are in fact psychopaths. Jon learns from him how to ferret out these high-flying psychopaths and, armed with his new psychopath-spotting abilities, heads into the corridors of power.
Jon Ronson is an award-winning writer and documentary maker. He is the author of two bestsellers: “Them: Adventures with Extremists” and “The Men Who Stare at Goats”, and two collections, “Out of the Ordinary: True Tales of Everyday Craziness” and” What I Do: More True Tales”.
Skeptics in the Pub: John Walliss
Posted by Marsh in Skeptics in the Pub on September 4, 2011
It’s (Not) the End of the World As We Know It
by John Walliss
When: Thursday, October 20th, 2011 8.00 – 11.00 PM
Where: The Head of Steam, 7 Lime Street, Liverpool
On 21st May 2011 the end of the world should have begun. This prophecy, from evangelical Christian radio broadcaster Harold Camping, however, did not come to pass. Christians all over the world were not raptured, the Tribulation period did not begin, and Camping, who has subsequently suffered a stroke, and his followers are having to come to terms with the apparent failure, or at least delay, of the prophesied events to occur.
Camping however, is not unique in religious history. Numerous other prophets and religious leaders have made claims that the world will end on a specific date with events subsequently proving them wrong.
John will examine the phenomenon of prophetic failure, drawing on the wealth of literature that we have developed in the social sciences over the last 60 or so years. In doing so he will hope to answer such questions as what happens when prophecy fails and does prophecy ever really fail?
John Walliss is the senior lecturer in the sociology of religion and Director of the Centre for Millennialism Studies within the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at Liverpool Hope University..
Skeptics in the Pub: Stuart Ritchie
Posted by Marsh in Skeptics in the Pub on September 4, 2011
The Science of Pornography and Anti-Porn Campaigners: A Skeptical Look At The Debate
by Stuart Ritchie
When: Thursday, September 15th, 2011 8.00 – 11.00 PM
Where: The Head of Steam, 7 Lime Street, Liverpool
Is pornography turning us all into sex offenders? What effect does it have on societal attitudes towards women? Is porn taking over the internet? If certain recent books – such as ‘Pornland’ by Professor Gail Dines – are to be believed, pornography is having all these effects and more, and is a hugely detrimental force in our society.
But what does the best scientific evidence say? Stuart Ritchie, a PhD Psychology student at The University of Edinburgh, takes a skeptical look at the arguments for and against pornography.
NOTE: This is a replacement talk for “How to be a Psychic Con-man” by Ash Pryce, which has been postponed until further notice.
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