October 2020
NCAS Public Lecture Series
Synchronicity:
The Epic Quest to Understand the
Quantum Nature of Cause and Effect
YouTube Live Event with Q and A
Presented
by Paul Halpern, PhD
Professor of Physics, University of the Sciences in Philadelphia
Saturday, October 10, 1:30pm US/Eastern (UTC-04:00)
NCASVideo YouTube Channel:
For more information, call the NCAS Skeptic Line at
240-670-NCAS (6227).
ncas@ncas.org
In this talk, Paul Halpern will discuss his new book, Synchronicity: The Epic Quest to Understand the Quantum Nature of Cause and Effect. Synchronicity is a popular science book about the search for connections in nature, from the debates of the ancient Greeks to modern quantum teleportation experiments, centering on the dialogue between Nobel physicist Wolfgang Pauli and psychoanalyst Carl Jung in the mid-20th century. Together they explored a concept called "synchronicity," a weird phenomenon they thought could link events without causes.
There will be an online question-and-answer segment after the presentation.
https://www.ncas.org/2020/09/october-10-synchronicity-epic-quest-to.html
How to Watch and Participate in this Online Event:
1) Use a supported browser... https://www.youtube.com/supported_browsers
2) Use the link https://youtu.be/-fdIsyS0zF0 . If typing the link, use capital "I" and "0" (zeroes).
3) The live stream begins shortly before 1:30pm US/Eastern (UTC-04:00) on Saturday, October 10, 2020.
4) To post questions, you must be signed in to a Google account.
5) Post your questions in the chat window to the right of the video player when the live stream is active.
6) Click into where it says "Say something..." and
begin typing (up to 200 characters). Then click the send icon 
.
Along with your question, please post what city or town you're in.
Message to Current and Prospective NCAS Members
In response to the economic hardship and other uncertainties that our members may be facing, NCAS has automatically extended by one year all memberships that expire in 2020 or later. Payment will be accepted for new memberships as well as renewals for 2019 and before: new and renewed will have a bonus year added. Each life member may sponsor a new one-year membership at no charge. (Double life memberships may sponsor two.) Send your sponsored member's name and contact information to ncas@ncas.org. This offer will continue until further notice.
November NCAS Lecture
Caitlin Ahrens, PhD, a planetary scientist at NASA's Goddard Space
Flight Center, will present "In a World…A Hollywood View of
Planets." Venture along fascinating planetary landscapes on the
silver screen and real planetary photographs for discussions of
"dangerous" planets and the potential for astrobiology.
Saturday, November 14 at 1:30 PM ET, live on the NCASVideo YouTube channel.
Robert L. Park (1931-2020)
NCAS mourns the death of Bob Park, Professor Emeritus of Physics at the
University of Maryland at College Park. Park, who died on April 29,
brought his skeptical message to the public through op-ed pages of major
newspapers, appearances in radio and television programs, and his often
controversial What’s New weekly feature (1984-2013) on science policy
issues. His first non-technical book, Voodoo Science: The Road from
Foolishness to Fraud (published in 2000 by Oxford University Press and
translated into ten languages), synthesized much of his commentary regarding
"infinite free energy" machines, magnetic healing, a purported link
between cancer and power lines or cell phones, cold fusion, and other junk
science.
In March 2008, NCAS presented its Philip J. Klass Award to Park for outstanding contributions in promoting critical thinking and scientific understanding. Later that year, Princeton University Press published Superstition: Belief in the Age of Science, Park's scathing perspective on supernatural beliefs, including "New Age" spiritualism and faith-based medical claims.
Dr. Park gave a talk on Superstition to NCAS in September 2009:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgK9vNJFDj4&list=PL5C8D41EB69CB1096&index=2
The University of Maryland's obituary for Park:
https://umdphysics.umd.edu/about-us/news/department-news/1594-bob-park.html
The Internet Archive's capture of the What's New issues archive covering 1987-2013:
https://web.archive.org/web/20140124195058/http://bobpark.physics.umd.edu/archives.html
Park's talk on Voodoo Science, presented as part of an NCAS workshop in April 2002, was described in the NCAS Skeptical Eye:
https://files.ncas.org/eyes/SE-15.1.pdf
The citation for Park's Philip J. Klass Award is available here...
https://files.ncas.org/flyers/KlassAward_program2008.pdf
...and the award is on display in the University of Maryland's Physics
Department lobby:
(Photo by Chip Denman)
Belgian Skeptics Seek Crowdfunding after Multimillionaire Takes Lawsuit to Appeals Court
Recently the president of the Belgium skeptics group SKEPP (https://skepp.be/) emailed ncas.org, seeking crowdfunded financial support for two SKEPP authors who "criticized the content of the pseudo-scientific master classes as well as the marketing tricks [Carl] Van de Velde [similar to Tony Robbins] uses to attract participants." The authors won the lawsuit brought by Van de Velde...
...but Van de Velde is taking the case to the Court of Appeals. See the SKEPP site for more info about the case, and how to contribute to the authors' legal defense:
https://skepp.be/nl/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=5#English2
AmazonSmile: Thanks to our members who are supporting NCAS!
When shopping at smile.amazon.com, you'll find the same low prices, vast selection, and convenient shopping experience as Amazon.com, with the added bonus that a portion of the purchase price (0.5%) goes to NCAS! It's simple and automatic, and it doesn't cost you anything!AmazonSmile's disbursements to NCAS in the second quarter of 2020 came to $32.84, meaning that over $6500 of purchases were designated in support of NCAS. (As an example of how NCAS can put that money to good use, it's enough to cover 90 minutes of a Montgomery County lecture room rental.)
Thanks again to our members who have chosen to support NCAS!
For more information:
http://smile.amazon.com/about
https://press.aboutamazon.com/news-releases/news-release-details/amazon-launches-amazonsmile-simple-automatic-way-customers
Shadow Light
Some members and contacts of NCAS receive a postal notification of this and every new monthly Shadow of a Doubt. The Shadow Light postcard announces the monthly lecture and highlights of the electronic Shadow of a Doubt, which is available online at ncas.org/shadow. NCAS thereby reduces Shadow production and postage costs. To further reduce costs, members and contacts can opt out of postal notification altogether, while continuing to receive Shadow of a Doubt via e-mail. To opt out, send us an e-mail at ncas@ncas.org.
Time to Renew?
Be sure to check your renewal date above your postal address on the Shadow Light postcard. Send any queries to ncas@ncas.org. Use the online membership form to renew.
http://ncas.org/shadow
