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Australian Skeptics WA Branch
Contact and meeting details
WA Skeptics, Box 466, Subiaco WA 6904. Tel (08) 9448 8458
Email: info AT undeceivingourselves DOT com
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Dr John Happs (left) is an education consultant and President of WA Skeptics. Dr Geoffrey Dean (right) is a technical editor and Organiser of the WA Skeptics Awards for Young Critical Writers. |
Meeting dates in 2009
Tuesday 17 March, Tuesday 19 May, Tuesday 21 July, Tuesday 22 September,
Tuesday 17 November. All meetings start at 7:30 pm at Grace Vaughan
House, 227 Stubbs Terrace, Shenton Park, see map below. and last about
two hours followed by refreshments. They usually feature current events
followed by a video on a paranormal topic (see list and descriptions of
previous meetings below), sometimes a speaker, followed by a lively
discussion. If you want to hear both sides of the paranormal story then
put these meetings on your calendar. Admission, refreshments, and
parking are free. Just turn up. All are welcome.
Entrance to Grace Vaughan House is 500m from Selby Street and 800m from Karrakatta Railway Station. Look for large blue sometimes-illuminated sign-on-a-pole (it says "Grace Vaughan House 227 Stubbs Tce") then follow the signs. The entry can be tricky in the dark if coming from Selby Street due to hard-to-see islands in the road and in the entry.
About WA Skeptics
WA Skeptics, the WA branch of Australian Skeptics Inc, began in 1981 in
Subiaco. It encourages a responsible view of curious and unlikely claims
(including medical claims) by providing regular meetings open to all,
speakers for club functions, annual awards for young critical writers,
an information service for the media, and pre-tests of WA claimants for
the Australian Skeptics $100,000 prize. It has no formal membership and
no subscription fee.
Topics of interest to WA Skeptics include: the afterlife, alien encounters, alternative medicine, ancient astronauts, astrology, Atlantis, auras, Bermuda Triangle, Bigfoot, biorhythms, cattle mutilation, channelling, Chinese medicine, chiropractic, clairvoyancy, cold reading, Cottingley fairies, creationism, crop circles, crystal power, dowsing, end of the world, ESP, faith healing, feng shui, firewalking, gaia theory, ghosts, graphology, homoeopathy, horoscopes, hundredth monkey, hypnosis, I Ching, intelligent design, iridology, karma, kinesiology, life on other planets, Loch Ness monster, lunar effects, magnet therapy, miracles, Moon hoax, Murphy's Law, Nazca lines, near death experiences, New Age, Noah's ark, Nostradamus, numerology, ouija boards, out-of-body experiences, palmistry, perpetual motion, phrenology, planetary influences, poltergeists, pseudoscience, psychic surgery, psychic powers, psychics, psychokinesis, pyramid power, reductionism, reincarnation, runes, Sai Baba, scams, seances, shroud of Turin, skepticism, spiritualism, spontaneous human combustion, spoon bending, star signs, stigmata, tarot cards, telepathy, transcendental meditation, UFOs, unicorns. urban legends, voodoo, water divining.
Media and speaker enquiries
When you need facts about paranormal claims, or a speaker, call WA
Skeptics at the number given at the top of this page. Our services are
free. However, because we insist on accuracy and anti-sensationalism,
print journalists using our services are required to check their copy
with us before publication.
Previous meetings in 2008
Highlights included videos of Richard Dawkins on The Enemies of Reason,
videos from the Penn and Teller series, Dr John Happs on misconceptions
about climate change, Dr Kim Kirsner from UWA on locating HMAS Sydney,
Luke McGuiness on the skeptics National Convention in Adelaide, Dr
Geoffrey Dean on four ways to reduce belief in weird things (reduce
public uncertainty, revamp the media, reform education, revise Western
worldviews, none of which will happen), and a look at possible future
directions for our website, all followed by lively discussion. This year
the WA Skeptics Awards were presented by Dr Michael Shermer, visiting
Perth from the USA as part of Science Week, see 2008 Results listed
under WA Skeptics Awards.
WA Skeptics at a meeting in November 2008. Perth subscribers to the national magazine the Skeptic exceed 120, with occupations that include chemistry, computers, education, engineering, geology, geophysics, graphic design, journalism, libraries, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, psychology, radiology, teaching, and technical writing. More than two-thirds are on email. Since 1995 the attendance at meetings has averaged around 20, a comfortable number in a room with seating for 25.
Previous meetings in 2007
Highlights included speakers on 9/11 conspiracy theories and on climate
change, both followed by lively and informed discussion, the
presentation of WA Skeptics Awards for 2007 by Professor Richard
Wiseman, visiting Perth from the UK as part of Science Week (see 2007
Results listed under WA Skeptics Awards), and the launch on 20 November
of our website www.undeceivingourselves.com. An additional meeting in
February for a pre-test of claimed telepaths came to nothing when the
telepaths failed to show up, see Attempts on the $A100,000 Prize listed
under Investigations by WA Skeptics > Undeceiving Ourselves.
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Previous meetings in 2006 Our five meetings in 2006 were well attended and began shortly after the nominal start time of 7:30 pm. As well as the usual mix of videos and accounts of current happenings, much of the discussion this year was devoted to our WA Skeptics Awards for Young Critical Writers launched in February 2006 to nearly 100 secondary schools through out WA. The first Award presentations were made at our July meeting, see 2006 Results listed under WA Skeptics Awards. The year ended with the wine-tasting tests described in Has Wine a Magnetic Personality? listed under Investigations by WA Skeptics > Strange Things. |
WA Skeptics at a meeting in July 2005.
Previous meetings in 2005
Our five meetings in 2005 included videos on Nostradamus and a TV
special from Britain's LWT in which psychics tested their predictive
skills against people with expertise in psychology, sport, politics and
weather forecasting. But the procedures were poorly designed and heavily
edited, so no conclusion was possible. Highlights were a successful
drive for volunteers to help with organising meetings, and an
illustrated history of WA Skeptics since 1980, for excerpts see History
of WA Skeptics. In June there were nearly 120 Perth subscribers to the
national magazine the Skeptic. In August mailouts to the 150 names on
our mailing list were discontinued in favour of handouts at meetings.
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