Date: February 17th 2008

Hi All,

I am afraid the curse has struck again! There was a misunderstanding over the booking of next Tuesday's creationist speaker and he will now have to talk at a later date.
Fortunately, Dr Matthew Smith has very kindly offered to do a talk at SitP straight after he's done one for APRU @ Goldsmiths - you can't have too much of a good thing!

The title of Matthew's talk to SitP is "Confessions of a Spiritual Junkie: A Psychologist's Search for Enlightenment". There may be a little overlap with the APRU talk but also some new stuff - so it's worth going to both if you can!

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Title: Confessions of a Spiritual Junkie: A Psychologist's Search for Enlightenment

Date: Tuesday 19th February 2008

Time: 7.00 pm

Location:
The Penderel's Oak
283-288 High Holborn
London
WC1V 7HP

Tel: 020 7242 5669


What do the Loch Ness Monster, Noel Edmonds, magic-eye pictures, butterflies, forgiveness, and the number 42 all have in common? Could it be they all have something to do with the meaning of life? Or are they simply the not so random thoughts of a man going through a mid-life crisis? Join psychologist Matthew Smith on his search for spiritual enlightenment and the meaning of life.

Dr Matthew Smith is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Liverpool Hope University.
He has conducted research on replication issues in parapsychology and psychological variables associated with paranormal belief. Dr Smith was awarded his PhD on the psychology and parapsychology of luck from the University of Hertfordshire in 1998. Matthew was awarded the Gertrude Schmeidler Award for an Outstanding Contribution to Parapsychology by the Parapsychological Association. Dr Matthew Smith’s current research is examining the role of experimenter variables in ganzfeld-ESP research. He has also received funding from the Perrott-Warrick Fund, the Parapsychology Foundation, and the Society for Psychical Research and has made several television appearances as a Resident Parapsychologist for Living TV's Most Haunted.

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For those who didn't make it to the Center for Inquiry Grand Opening on the 18th January, here are a couple of reports of the event:

http://www.centerforinquiry.net/london/news/london_opening/

http://freethinkingblog.blogspot.com/2008/01/cfi-london-opening-ceremony.html

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If you're based in Birmingham and are missing out on the Skeptical goodness in London this Tuesday, don't worry, because I found this event on Thursday, just for you.

Title: Did we really land on the Moon?

Speaker: Dr Martin Hendry

Date: Thursday 21 February 2008

Time: 7:00 pm

Venue:
University of Birmingham Astronomical Society
School of Physics and Astronomy
University of Birmingham
Birmingham
B15 2TT

Did Neil Armstrong really walk on the Moon? Almost 40 years on from Apollo 11 a surprising number of people believe that Armstrong's famous "One small step" was an elaborate hoax, filmed in secret here on Earth. Conspiracy theorists point to a range of "evidence" to support their claim: waving flags, strange shadows, no stars in the sky, deadly solar radiation.

In this talk, using real Apollo video footage and a series of simple demonstrations, we will take a closer look at the science behind "moon hoax" claims, and ask whether we really did land on the Moon.

Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes



More at University of Birmingham Astronomical Society...
http://www.astrosoc.org.uk


Entry is FREE

Additional Information:
http://www.talkandtelescope.org.uk

Hope to see you on Tuesday.

Details of future (and past) meetings can be found on http://www.skeptic.org.uk/pub .

We're listed in upcoming.org, lecturelist.org and BBC Focus magazine.