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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 President of WA Skeptics. He is an education
consultant, former lecturer in geosciences at universities in Australia and
the USA, and author of numerous science texts and book chapters.
Dr Geoffrey Dean (right) is Organiser of the WA Skeptics Awards
for Young Critical Writers. He is a technical editor, former analytical
chemist, and author of numerous scientific papers and book chapters.
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Meetings of WA Skeptics in 2010
The dates for our meetings in 2010 are as follows. All dates are a
Tuesday:
16 March, 18 May, 20 July, 21 September, 16 November.
All meetings are in the seminar room at Grace Vaughan House, Shenton
Park, starting at 7:30pm.
Scroll down for more details and a location map, and for reports and
pictures of meetings since 2005.
Meetings forthcoming in 2010
16 March 2010. Dr John Happs will speak on Scientists Behaving
Badly -- an illustrated overview of climate change and the latest
developments in the growing international scandal about the IPCC and
its abuse of the scientific process. The evening will include an update
on WA Skeptics happenings since 2009.
Click here for his open letter to
Australia's Chief Scientist about the IPCC scandal.
18 May 2010. David Archibald will speak on Solar Cycles and their
Influence on the Earth's Climate. He is the author of Solar Cycle 24:
Why the world will continue cooling and why carbon dioxide won't make a
detectable difference. It has 37 full colour illustrations, a foreward
by Professor David Bellamy, and predicts global cooling for the next
decade due to a very weak solar cycle 24. His predictions to date have
been spot on.
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Pictured are David Archibald (left)
with David Bellamy, August 2008.
David Archibald's work, including
easy-to-read articles and YouTube
presentations, can be found at
www.davidarchibald.info
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About our meetings
WA Skeptics have been holding free meetings open to all since the late
1980s. 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 either
a speaker or a video on a paranormal topic (see list and descriptions of
previous meetings below), 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. Doors open at 7:00 pm. All are welcome.

Entrance to Grace Vaughan House is 500m from Selby Street and 800m from
Karrakatta Railway Station. Look for large
blue sign-on-a-pole (it says "Department of Health, Grace Vaughan House, 227
Stubbs Terrace") then follow the signs.
Entry can be tricky in the dark if coming from Selby Street due to
hard-to-see islands in the road and in the entrance.
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,
climate change, cold reading, Cottingley fairies, creationism, crop
circles, crystal power, dowsing, end of the world, ESP, faith healing,
feng shui, firewalking, gaia theory, ghosts, global warming, 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. On average we
provide a talk every fortnight to audiences of up to 200 people. 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.
Meetings of WA Skeptics since 2005
Meetings in 2009
Meetings in 2009 were disrupted because our normal meeting room at Grace
Vaughan House was being refurbished and was unavailable. Otherwise 2009
featured excellent speakers and our first social meeting.

Molecular biologist Joanne Nova addresses WA Skeptics in November 2009
on how bullies and status seekers destroy rational
debate on climate change. "Science is not a democracy and natural laws
don't form because a UN committee decreed it."
Global actions are not driven by science but by bank profiteering. You
can learn more at http://joannenova.com.au
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July 2009 -- Sociologist Dr Jeremy Northcote gave an overview
of his book The Paranormal and the Politics of Truth in which
he examines the tactics used by believers and skeptics. For his
purpose the actual truth was irrelevant. Supposed debate about
the paranormal is actually a dispute marked by closed minds on
both sides, and by differing agendas, for example believers may be
seeking meaning whereas skeptics seek evidence. So nothing gets
resolved. Genuine debate is simply too threatening to cherished
beliefs. The only remedy is for both sides to understand each other
but this seems unlikely to happen. The audience tended to disagree --
skeptics (at least in WA) understand very well what is happening.
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Saturday 8 August 2009 -- this Evening of Skepticism was organised not
by WA Skeptics but by UWA's Atheists and Agnostics Society. It featured
Richard Saunders and Dr Rachael Dunlop, both vice-presidents of the
Australian Skeptics in Sydney. Saunders was also the skeptical judge on
The One, Channel 7s top rating search-for-a-psychic show for 2008.
Despite eminent speakers and advance mention in the Subiaco POST, only
about 70 people attended, mostly from atheist groups (ironically neither
speaker said much about atheism) with about half a dozen each from the
WA Humanists and WA Skeptics. Both speakers illustrated their talks with
Power Point visuals.
Saunders opened the evening by stressing that you don't need to be
gullible or drunk to be fooled. You just need to be human. A series of
optical illusions had the audience seeing things that were most
definitely not there. Ghostly images on digital photos were unnoticed
specks of dust floating close to the flash. "I am a fake" says the sign
above a fake psychic at Melbourne fairs. She gives demos of how psychics
seem to know everything about you when in fact they know nothing.
Psychics rely on our ability to read specifics into generalities.
Suppose they say "You have problems with money". We immediately think of
OUR problems and OUR money. No money problems? "Just wait until next
week". They can't lose. Which is why most people believe in psychics.
Without proper training most of us are unable to see the rip-off.
Incredibly, some people refuse to believe the "I am a fake" sign, and
plead for private readings! All you need to be ripped-off is to be
human.
Dr Rachael Dunlop spoke about Alt Med scams with examples copied from
free magazines at health food stores. "Healing energies", "biomagnetic
toxicity", the list of claims unsupported by science went on and on.
Some practices such as iridology and dowsing regularly fail when
submitted to blind trials. Other practices such as ear candling could be
harmful. Particularly harmful was the anti-vaccination campaign run by
the deceptively titled "Australian Vaccination Network". The Network
claims to be pro-choice but is actually anti-vaccination and
anti-choice. It works by spreading false information about vaccines. It
claims that whooping cough is "just a bad cough". But about 1 in 200
children will go on to develop pneumonia and die. It wrongly claims that
vaccines cause diseases such as autism. Fifty years ago we lived in
dread of killer diseases such as smallpox, diptheria, and polio. Today,
thanks to vaccines, smallpox is gone, and the rest have almost
disappeared. The audience was still asking questions when the meeting
ran out of time.

May 2009 -- WA Skeptics hold a social meeting at China House
restaurant, Shenton Park.
Although restaurant-based skeptic meetings are common in the Eastern
States, this was our first in WA.
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. This year 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.
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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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.
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WA Skeptics at a meeting in July 2005.
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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