London Skeptics in the Pub

Skeptics in the Pub - 13 October 2008: Why don�t creationists just shut up?

2008-10-09T15:36:32Z

Hello,

Our next speaker is a Young Earth creationist. Details below.

If you are looking for something interesting to do at Christmas, Robin Ince has added another date to his "Nine Lessons and Carols for Godless People" in December at the Hammersmith Apollo. More details can be found here: http://skeptic.org.uk/news/2008/1290

See you all on Monday.

-Sid

Paul Taylor joined Answers in Genesis in August 2005 as a writer and speaker. He is now Head of Media and Publications and editor for Answers Update. Paul regularly contributes to the AiG website and Answers Magazine and writes articles published in various Christian magazines.

Why don’t creationists just shut up?

Why do creationists believe what they believe? Is it, to quote Richard Dawkins, just “blind faith in the absence, or even in the teeth, of evidence”? The illustrated talk will argue that even those who don’t accept their conclusions should recognise that there is a solid logic to a young earth creationist position.

------------------------------------------------

Hi Sid

Thanks for this. I’ll plump for Monday October 13th 2008, if that’s OK.

Paul Taylor BSc MEd
Senior Speaker / Head of Media
Answers in Genesis (UK/Europe)
PO Box 8078, Leicester, LE21 9AJ
ptaylor@answersingenesis.org
Answers in Genesis (the ministry of Creation Science Foundation) is a non-profit, Christ-centred, non-denominational, evangelistic ministry dedicated to upholding the authority of the Bible from the very first verse.

London Skeptics in the Pub Message

2008-09-20T06:17:18Z

Hello,

Just a quick one, as there were a few other events of interest and developments that I didn't have the info for a week ago.

Firstly, apologies for the poor sound quality at Ben's talk last week. We've been having problems with the sound there since we moved, and the manager at the Penderel's has his hands tied as to what he can do to resolve this issue. Fortunately, a representative from their Head Office came down to write a feature for the local rag and will endeavour to keep us happy - as having close to 300 people turn up for a pub talk in a room that can only hold 200 is something they'd like to keep.
I've also had a email from a lovely reporter from The Metro newspaper freebie for Londoners, who has written up a piece for inclusion into this Monday's edition (Hmm. I may have to put a booking system in place for the very over-subscribed talks, but I'll keep you posted.).

Other events and stuff...

1) I've had news that Robin Ince's Christmas extravaganza, Nine Lessons and Carols for Godless People, has almost sold out. This is something very special that you wont want to miss. So get your bookings in sharpish and please Digg it to annoy the swivel-eyed Fundies. http://digg.com/celebrity/Nine_yes_9_Lessons_and_Carols_for_Godless_People

2) I've had to move the Facebook group to a Page, as it was causing strange things to occur to the events I posted on there and the only solution given by the customer services was to move all the members and entries over. It should make updating the events and recent news a lot easier for me too, as it can take feeds and other applications. Hope no one's too annoyed with the move. http://www.new.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/London-United-Kingdom/London-Skeptics-in-the-Pub/13256221934

3) There's an Iszi Lawrence (comedian and skepchick) & Tom Greeves (Mayor Boris Johnson's speech writer) Double Bill on in Camden on Oct 5th, which is cheap as chips and should be doubly fun.
http://www.etceteratheatre.com/page.php?pageID=2#show6

4)
i) Prof Chris French will be kicking-off his term-time evening lecture series at Goldsmiths with Dr Susan Blackmore on Oct 7th @ 6.10pm. The whole schedule until March can be found here: http://www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/apru/speakers.php
ii) You may have heard that Chris also tested Derek Ogilvie for a show on telly a while back. It's finally being shown this Thursday on Five @ 9pm.

5) I'll be having a few drinks to celebrate Science Blogs 1 millionth comment at a party in London tonight. Please pop by and say hello.
http://scienceblogs.com/seed/2008/09/celebrate_one_million_comments.php

See you soon.

Sid

Skeptics in the Pub - September 15th 2008

2008-09-06T12:02:03Z

Hi All,

It will be a year since we moved to The Penderel's Oak this September, so to celebrate we have an extra special guest speaker.

Ben Goldacre is a Doctor of Chiropractic, gaining a First from Oxford Brookes University and a Masters in aromatherapy from the Strand Polytechnic.
He's most famous for his column in The Grauniad, which can only be described as a users guide to alternative therapies.
He will be giving a talk on "Bad Science", which, by strange coincidence, is also the name of his book which is currently in the Amazon top 20 bestsellers list and #1 in the popular science list.*

I'm sure Ben will be happy to sign your copies of his book if you bring one along to SitP next Monday after the talk - or until his hand drops off [The Amazon link is here: http://preview.tinyurl.com/5jhxe7].

If you can't make it down on Monday, Ben will be speaking again at Foyles bookshop on Charing Cross road on Wednesday 17th.
Details can be found here...http://www.foyles.co.uk/events.asp?#goldacre

Please feel free to forward this email onto anyone you think would be interested in coming along.

See you all next week.

Sid Rodrigues

* Some, or all of this biography may be inaccurate or fabricated.

Monday 15 September @ 7pm
Ben Goldacre - Bad Science

In an age where so-called science is said to be the answer to everything from weight loss to personal happiness and unlimited wealth, join us as Ben Goldacre explains just what science won't do for you - and why this science craze may not have all the answers.

The Penderel's Oak (The Cellar Bar)
283-288 High Holborn
London
WC1V 7HP

Tel: 020 7242 5669

London Skeptics in the Pub - 18th August and other bits 'n' bobs

2008-08-04T15:20:14Z

Hi All,

An earlier reminder this month as there are a few other events and announcements I didn't want to leave off the list.

Unfortunately, a sad one to start off with. I found out today that astronomer "The Blue Collar Scientist", Jeff Medkeff, passed away last night. Jeff was an inspiration to science communicators and skeptics worldwide and a prolific blogger. He was generous enough to have asteroids he co-discovered named after PZ Myers, Phil Plait, Rebecca Watson and Michael Stackpole, among others.
He will be sorely missed and this months SitP will be dedicated to his memory.

This months speaker went down a storm at Leicester Skeptics in the Pub, so I'm happy to announce that astronomy fanatic, Doug Ellison, will repeat that performance with a presentation extraordinaire on "The Truth about Mars". Details at the bottom of this post.

Spiritualist Hunter Emma-Louise Rhodes has written and will be performing in and directing a play entitled "Crackshot", starting a short run from tomorrow night (5th August) at the Hen & Chickens Theatre, Islington. http://unrestrictedview.co.uk/page/venue.php?id=1

Skeptical comedians, Simon Dunn, Iszi Lawrence and Robin Ince will all be performing their wonderful things at the Camden Fringe from the 7th August onwards. Go see all of them: http://www.camdenfringe.org/index.php?id=2

If anyone listens to science-y/enlightenment podcasts, then you shouldn't really miss this one from Neil Denny & Co., as it's now on iTunes (or any other pod-feedie you'd care to subscribe to). http://littleatoms.com

Finally, Chris French has announced the next set of APRU lectures at Goldsmiths. They start in October, but don't say I didn't give you any warning. http://www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/apru/speakers.php
As Chris is the Editor-in-Chief of The Skeptic magazine, he has extended his offer of a free introductory issue, when you get a years subscription ( £15 for 5 issues instead of 4) at Skeptics in the Pub. Please bring some extra cash, your cheque book or your credit card details on the 18th to make use of this 'once in a blue moon' offer. He must like you all very much.

Oh! And before I forget. I'd like to congratulate April emergency SitP meeting guest speaker, "The Bad Astronomer" Dr Phil Plait, on his appointment as President of the James Randi Educational Foundation. We hope to see him again at Euro-TAM in 2009 - but keep that one under your hat. http://skeptic.org.uk/news/2008/1199

Please feel free to forward this mail onto anyone you think would be interested in coming to any of these events.

Hope to see you soon.

Sid Rodrigues

Monday, August 18, 2008
Time: 7:00pm

The Truth About Mars

From websites to the blogsphere, controversial books and the tabloid media love the Red Planet.
They tell of the "Face on Mars", spacecraft conspiracies, Cydonia, unnatural rock formations and a cover-up to hide 'the truth' about Mars.
With half a dozen spacecraft on or around Mars, data is streaming back at an unprecedented rate, adding new layers of detail to our understanding of the Red Planet.

Doug Ellison takes you on a tour of the more popular conspiracies and fringe theories, and presents the raw data that tells us the 'Truth about Mars'.

Location:
The Penderel's Oak
283 High Holborn
London, United Kingdom
020 7242 5669
Email: pub@skeptic.org.uk

Skeptics in the Pub next week... and a few other items of interest

2008-07-14T15:17:43Z

Hi All,

Warning! This months SitP is now on a Monday.

This months speaker is Terry Sanderson, the President of the National Secular Society and will be giving us a talk on news of a world religious revival.
There will be a skeptical nuddie calendar for the best question at Q&As - I have both male and female nuddies from skepchick.org, in case you were wondering. I'm feeling generous this month. Full details are under under the fold....right at the bottom.

If you have any photos of past Skeptics in the Pub meetings, feel free to share them on the group Flickr site or on our Facebook group.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/skeptics/

*London*
If you're missing the third Tuesday spot tomorrow and are at a loose end, I'll be having a few drinks and a chat with the Nature Networkers (NN) at The Lamb, Lambs Conduit St in Holborn. Do feel free to pop along (You are entitled to a FREE BEER if you print out your NN profile; hint, hint). The link was a bit lengthy, so I've "tinied" it so it will fit in this post.
(Nature Network London Pub Night...Part 11 http://preview.tinyurl.com/5mcqb6)

Dr Caroline Watt will be giving a talk at Kensington Central Library this Thursday, 6:35 pm:
Psychic experimenters and psychic healers: Research at the KPU
http://www.spr.ac.uk/expcms/index.php?section=4

If you missed it the other week, mind magician Philip Escoffey will be doing his excellent and mind-boggling stuff again at the Soho Theatre on Thursday 24th July - very good.
Tickets are £10. http://www.6impossiblethings.co.uk/

And just in case I forget and it sells out again next month, Robin Ince will be having a short run at the Camden Fringe in August with his "School for Gifted Children", featuring more people being enthused about stuff they've found out about - science, comedy, music, serial killers; and is very good too.
http://camdenfringe.org/index.php?id=2&disp=details&acts_id=177

*York*
If you've got friends in the North East that would like to join in on the fun, John Jackson and Graham Lappin from UK Skeptics have organised a social tomorrow at The Punch Bowl in York. Details can be found here: http://ukskeptics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2689

*Leicester*
Simon Perry has another instalment of SitP Leicester, with "The Truth about Mars" tomorrow too. http://leicester.skepticsinthepub.org

The few of you subscribers who are on the WRONG side of the pond, Mike Feldman has managed to coerce a van load of people at TAM to start their own skeptics meetups around the US. You'd be a fool to miss out on one near you.
http://drinkingskeptically.org/

I think that's it!

Please feel free to forward this email onto anyone you'd think would be interested in coming to any of these events, or even subscribing to this mailing list.

See you soon and toodle pip!

Sid Rodrigues

---------------------

Monday, July 21, 2008@7:00pm

Terry Sanderson - A World Religious Revival: Fact or Fiction?
There are repeated claims that there is some kind of massive religious revival going on around the world – but is it true? Terry Sanderson takes a skeptical look at the figures and finds that all is not as it seems.

Terry Sanderson is the President of the National Secular Society. He is also a freelance journalist and his column in GT magazine is the longest-running feature in any gay paper in the world – 25 years and still going strong.
He has also been an agony aunt on Woman’s Own under the tutelage of Claire Rayner.

The NSS wesbite is http://www.secularism.org.uk.

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

Tel: 020 7242 5669

London Skeptics in the Pub - June Events

2008-06-05T16:16:12Z

Hi All,

We have another two events at the Penderel's Oak this month.

Firstly, on Tuesday 17th we have Steve Parsons & Ciaran O'Keeffe from Living TV's "Most Haunted" on "How NOT to Investigate the Paranormal". This talk has only been cancelled at short notice twice. So I hope the third time's a charm.
Then, on the 24th, we have Fred Singer on "Global Warming: What Al Gore never told You". I will be winging my way back from the James Randi Educational Foundation's "Amaz!ng Meeting" on that day, so past long-standing Skeptics in the Pub Chair, Nick Pullar, will be commanding that meeting on this occasion.

Just to warn everyone that we'll be moving our regular Tuesday spot to a Monday from July onwards. The new management at the Penderel's have had a few other plans in the pipeline for Tuesdays, so will no longer be available for us to use from then onwards.

I've also been asked very nicely (by Chris French) to ask anyone who does/doesn't read The Skeptic magazine if they can fill out a quick 2 minute online survey (it will literally take no more than a couple of minutes).
http://skeptic.org.uk/survey/

As always, there are a few other events over the next month you may find interesting:

Mind-reading magician & skeptic, Philip Escoffey, will be giving a preview of his Edinburgh show "6 Impossible Things Before Dinner" in London on the 30th June. It's a bargain at Â£5 a ticket.
More details can be found here: http://skeptic.org.uk/news/2008/1149

On the 12th June, the Society for Psychical Research will hold a lecture on "A 5-Year Clinical Study of NDEs in a Welsh Intensive Therapy Unit" by Penny Sartori. (http://www.spr.ac.uk/expcms/index.php?section=4)

If you're not in London and are missing out on all the fun, Rebecca at Skepchick has an events calendar for the rest of the world: http://skepchick.org/blog/?page_id=1062/

Hope to see you all soon.

Sid Rodrigues

Tuesday 17th June - How not to investigate the Paranormal

Steve and CiarÃ¡n amuse with their horror stories from the world of paranormal investigation. They discuss equipment faux-pas, television investigations and unusual cases. As well as discussing ethics, and presenting the most extreme unethical stories, Steve and CiarÃ¡n candidly discuss hilarious cases brought to their attention and their most embarrassing moments investigating in the dark!

Tuesday 24th June - Global Warming: Science, Economics, and some Moral Issues: What Al Gore Never Told You

The science is settled: Evidence clearly demonstrates that carbon dioxide contributes insignificantly to Global Warming and is therefore not a 'pollutant.' This fact has not yet been widely recognized, and irrational Global Warming fears continue to distort energy policies and foreign policy. All efforts to curtail CO2 emissions, whether global, federal, or at the state level, are pointless - and in any case, ineffective and very costly. On the whole, a warmer climate is beneficial. Fred Singer will comment on the vast number of implications.

7pm@
The Penderel's Oak
283-288 High Holborn
London
WC1V 7HP

Tel: 020 7242 5669

London Skeptics in the Pub - 20th May and other interesting events

2008-05-11T04:04:05Z

Hi All,

A bit of an early reminder this month.

Not only do we have Prof Richard J Evans at SitP on Tuesday 20th, Prof Chris French will be giving a lecture for the London branch of Mensa on the 13th and at the snappily titled, Society for Psychical Research, on the 15th (Details can be found here: http://skeptic.org.uk/news/2008/05/04/yet-more-events-in-may/).

If you missed An Evening with James Randi & Friends last month, you may be pleased to know that two of the Doctor doctors (Ben Goldacre and Simon Singh) will be showing off at the excellent Robin Ince's "The School for Gifted Children" @ The Albany, Great Portland St, on 28th May at 7:45pm (Tel: 020 7387 5706), along with a stellar cast of comedians, musicians and others, including:
Stewart Lee, popular atheist co-writer of Jerry Springer the Opera and award winning stand up.
Jo Neary, the brilliant character actress from BBC3â€™s Ideal.
Gavin Osborn, the indie folk strummer and on-stage composer for Daniel Kitson
Andrew Collins, the published diarist and former NME journo.

Last time there was music and stand-up about Jean Charcotâ€™s ideas of hysteria, the man who tried to attain the biggest ball of twine, how a glass eye proved the bigfoot film was fake, what scientists should do if they really wanted to â€œplay godâ€ and that sort of thing (for about three hours).
Tickets are Â£10/ Â£7 concession

It will be sure to sell out, so get your tickets asap (other details can be found here: http://skeptic.org.uk/news/2008/05/08/robbie-jon-ronson-on-ufosand-stuff/).

TTFN

Sid Rodrigues

Tuesday, 20th May 2008 - 7:00 pm

Holocaust Denial and Freedom of Speech - Prof. Richard J Evans

Conspiracy theories about recent and even more distant historical events have become ever more widespread, especially with the growth of the Internet. One such theory, generally known as "Holocaust denial", claims that professional historians, the mass media, and governments have conspired to suppress the truth about the Nazi extermination of the Jews during the Second World War - which is that it never happened.

How has this theory come about? Who supports it , and why? How do its proponents deal with their critics? What, if anything, could or should be done to combat Holocaust denial? This talk draws on the speaker's experiences as an expert witness in a High Court libel case to suggest some answers.

Richard J. Evans is Professor of Modern History at Cambridge University. His books include "The Coming of the Third Reich" and "The Third Reich in Power". He has taught at Birkbeck, and Gresham College, contributes occasionally to radio and television, most recently to Radio 4's "In Our Time" and Channel 5's "Hitler Speaks".

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

Tel: 020 7242 5669

www.skeptic/org/uk/pub
www.skeptic.org.uk/leicester

Skeptics in the Pub, London & Leicester - May Outings

2008-05-03T06:44:28Z

Hi All,

Sorry for the slightly late mailing this month. I'm still recovering from the three SitP's last month and the Evening with James Randi & Friends.

And there will be another three this month!!? But not all in London, thank the beegeesus.

There is now a brand-spanking new Skeptics in the Pub, Leicester, so if you have friends in the Midlands who would be interested in a talk by Simon Singh. Now would be a good time to forward this message to them.

Here's the list of events for this month.

Skeptics in the Pub, London
Date: Tuesday 6th May 2008
Time: 7.00pm

Title:
Chiropractic - A 113 year Struggle from Pseudoscience to Legitimacy

Speaker:
Prof Mahlon Wagner

In the US, Chiropractic is the second largest of the health-care professions with close to 50,000 practitioners (Doctors of Chiropractic). Significant numbers of chiropractors also exist in the UK and Europe as well as Australia.
Mahlon will examine the origins of Chiropractic (a healer in 1895), the questionable diagnostic and treatments used, reasons for their success, and public attitudes toward (and satisfaction with) chiropractic as compared to traditional medicine.

Mahlon Wagner (Professor Emeritus of Psychology - State University of New York) taught experimental psychology, statistics, research design, history of psychology and parapsychology for 30 years at Oswego.
He has been a visiting professor at the University of the Saarland in Saarbruecken and the Justus-Liebig University, Giessen in Germany

Date: Tuesday 20th May 2008
Time: 7.00pm

Title:
Holocaust Denial and Freedom of Speech

Speaker:
Prof Richard J. Evans

Conspiracy theories about recent and even more distant historical events have become ever more widespread, especially with the growth of the Internet. One such theory, generally known as "Holocaust denial", claims that professional historians, the mass media, and governments have conspired to suppress the truth about the Nazi extermination of the Jews during the Second World War - which is that it never happened.

How has this theory come about? Who supports it , and why? How do its proponents deal with their critics? What, if anything, could or should be done to combat Holocaust denial? This talk draws on the speaker's experiences as an expert witness in a High Court libel case to suggest some answers.

Richard J. Evans is Professor of Modern History at Cambridge University. His books include "The Coming of the Third Reich" and "The Third Reich in Power", both published by Penguin. He has taught in adult education at Birkbeck, and at Gresham College, and contributes occasionally to radio and television, most recently to Radio 4's "In Our Time" and Channel 5 television's "Hitler Speaks".

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

Web: http://skeptic.org.uk/pub/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2381060970

Skeptics in the Pub, Leicester

Date: Tuesday 20th May 2008
Time: 7.30pm

Title:
Trick or Treatment? Alternative Medicine on Trial

Speaker:
Dr Simon Singh

Prince Charles is a staunch defender and millions of people swear by it; most UK doctors consider it to be little more than superstition and a waste of money.
Welcome to the world of alternative medicine.

Join Simon Singh, as he brings his considerable scientific knowledge and scrupulous impartiality to this most controversial subject and an honest examination of more than thirty of the most popular treatments, such as Acupuncture, Homoeopathy, Aromatherapy, Reflexology, Chiropractic and Herbal medicines.

After completing a PhD in particle physics, Simon Singh joined the BBC and worked as a director and producer on programmes such as Tomorrow's World and Horizon (NOVA in the US). He has also presented programmes on Radio 4, BBC4 and Channel 4. He is best known as the author of Fermat's Last Theorem, The Code Book and Big Bang.

Location:
The Rutland & Derby Arms
23 Millstone Lane
Leicester
LE1 5JN

Pub Tel: 0116 262 3299

Web: http://skeptic.org.uk/leicester/
email: leicesterskeptics@googlemail.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=12736582903

We also have the Skeptics in the Pub, London Outing! - Saturday, May 10th 2008

A day-trip to the Mystic Arts psychic fair at Olympia (http://www.themysticarts.co.uk/).
We haven't done one of these in a while so, email Jon, turn up and buy the t-shirt. It should all be good fun.

There are a limited number of tickets at a discounted price of Â£5.50 (instead of Â£7.50) are available, and if you'd like to come, you can secure your ticket by contacting Jon Cohen at jon_cohen@mac.com. We'll also plan a meeting place before hand (possibly a pub), so when we get an idea of numbers, you'll be the first to know where and when.

You can also purchase a souvenir "[James Randi is] our Guru/We value the enlightenment" t-shirt from Jon for the additional, low, low cost price of Â£4.00 by letting him know your size in the email.

We expect to have a fun afternoon asking psychics questions, having our auras read and having our chakras aligned.

CFI London has a week of evening lectures from the May Day bank holiday onwards (5th - 10th May).
Details here: http://www.centerforinquiry.net/london/events/the_sources_of_the_book/

Please feel free to forward this email on to anyone you think would be interested in coming to any of these events.

See you all soon.

Sid Rodrigues

Today! - Simon Singh book signing @ The Science Museum, London

2008-04-26T03:30:10Z

Hi All,

Just a quick one to tell you that our excellent past speaker, Simon will be signing copies of 'Trick or Treatment? Alternative Medicine on Trial' at Waterstones at the Science Museum today.

Other details can be found in his newsletter, which I've posted here: http://skeptic.org.uk/news/?p=1115

Hope to see some of you there.

Best,

Sid Rodrigues

Science Museum Signing & Lectures

It is very short notice, but if you are in London today then I will be signing books at Waterstones bookshop at the Science Museum (020-7942 4481, London SW7) from 3.30pm until 4pm. Please come along and say hello if you are in the neighbourhood. And, of course, the museum has free admission, so you can check out the Making of the Modern World gallery or explore the revamped Launch Pad, which is full of interactive exhibits.

In particular, if you are an alternative therapist who has been annoyed by â€˜Trick or Treatmentâ€™ or any of my recent articles, then please come along for a chat and we can talk about the evidence for and against alternative medicine.

I will provide more information soon, but I will be speaking at the Hay Book Festival on May 24, the Bristol Festival of Ideas on May 21 and at the Edinburgh Book Festival on August 10. In the first two lectures, I will be speaking with my co-author Professor Ernst.

Skeptics in the Pub - Just one last thing...Quirkology tonight!

2008-04-22T08:47:06Z

Hi All,

Just a quick update. The last month has been a busy one, with Simon Singh's April Fools special ( an article in today's Independent here: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-wellbeing/features/complementary-therapies-the-big-con-813248.html ), David Allen Green's legal predictions for mediums, alternative medicine practitioners and psychics in 2008 on the 15th, James Randi & Friends at Conway Hall on the 19th being a massive sell-out success and the fabulous Phil Plait giving a stunning (and impromptu) lecture on the Moon Hoax Hoax last night. It was so full, there wasn't even enough room to swing a herded cat.

Many apologies, but unfortunately James Randi couldn't make it for the evening. I think he was seeing many old and new faces at the Magic Circle that night -- He is a busy man, after all. I hope to grab him for a talk the next time he comes to blighty - James has expressed his enthusiasm for giving a talk at SitP on many an occasion and I'll see to it that he does.

One thing that slipped my mind last night. Prof Richard Wiseman is looking for eligible men to take part in a fun experiment examining the psychology of speed dating at Borders on Oxford Street tonight.
During the study, people will meet others who either do, or do not, share their taste in books, and the results will reveal whether speed dating can be made more effective by matching people on the basis of the books they love.

The study will start at 7pm and will last about 2 hours. Sounds like a fun evening!

If you wish to participate, please click http://www.borderslocal.co.uk/oxford-street/events

And lastly. Our next speaker will be Prof Mahlon Wagner from the State University of New York. He'll be giving us the lowdown on chiropractic in the US and Europe on 6 May. More details can be found on our homepage http://www.skeptic.org.uk/pub

TTFN,

Sid

Septics in the Pub? Very Important News!

2008-04-17T06:03:00Z

Hi All,

No. That wasn't a misspelling in the title.

We have one last Skeptics in the Pub Special this month - it would have been a shame to miss the opportunity. Bad Astronomy and The Amaz!ng meeting regular Phil Plait and James Randi WILL be down on Monday 21st April to give us Brits two fantastic talks. Phil has promised a comprehensive dissection of Moon-landing hoaxes and conspiracies and James will be giving another of his Amaz!ng lectures. Lets make this a deserving send-off for two deserving visitors.

As mentioned on Tuesday, here are the details of the sceptical outings from Nick Pullar:
-----------------
Hi Sid

SWA (Spiritual Worker's Association - www.swa.org.uk) are having their demo this Friday 18th April in Trafalgar Square at noon.

Our big outing will be on 10 May 2008 to the Mystic Arts fair at Olympia (http://www.themysticarts.co.uk/). Tell them that they can order a tee-shirt if they want, which will be at cost. There will be a photo of Randi with "He is my guru", and the slogan - "I believe in (the) Enlightenment" on the back. We have secured discounted tickets (The discounted tickets are Â£5.50; normal price, Â£7.50), and people will need to contact Jon (jon_cohen@mac.com) to request them.

Cheers

Nick

P.S. Didn't Mr Green do well?
----------------------

Thanks Nick. Mr Green did very well, indeed.

I'll be having some birthday drinks tonight (and the event will be having a belated 1st birthday party) at the Nature Network London meetup at 6.30pm upstairs at the Rugby Tavern, 19 Great James Street, Holborn, WC1N 3ES. It will promise to be a science celebrity shin-dig, with Phil Plait, Nature podcast/science blogger Adam Rutherford, TV presenter/ tech geek Gia Milinovich, James "The Amaz!ng" Randi and rock-star/physicist Brian Cox (N.B. not Brian May) will possibly be there too.

Hope to see you all tonight or Saturday or Monday.

Best,

Sid

http://www.skeptic.org.uk