April 2022
NCAS
Public Lecture Series
UFOs:
Then, Now, and Next
YouTube Live
Event with Q and A
Presented by
Robert Sheaffer
Author of Bad UFOs and UFO Sightings: The
Evidence
Saturday, April 2, 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.orgRobert
Sheaffer, one of the leading skeptical investigators of
UFOs, will discuss the history of the phenomenon
(including an update about a famous case, now solved),
recent news, and possible future directions. He'll recall
his mentor, colleague, and friend, Philip J. Klass
(1919-2005), generally considered the top skeptical UFO
investigator of his time. Klass was a founding member of
CSICOP (now called CSI, the Committee for Skeptical
Inquiry), was one of the original conveners of NCAS in
1987, and was an important long-time mentor to the
organization. Also, what was it like to be a skeptic in
the Washington, DC area in the 1970s? Sheaffer can speak
from personal experience.
Robert Sheaffer
is a writer with a lifelong interest in astronomy and the
question of life on other worlds. The author of
UFO
Sightings (1998), his latest book is
Bad UFOs
(2016), which is also the name of his blog that casts a
skeptical eye on claims about UFOs. He was a founding
member (with Philip J. Klass and James Oberg) of the UFO
Subcommittee of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, and
was a longtime fellow of that organization. Mr. Sheaffer
is also a founding director and past Chairman of the Bay
Area Skeptics, a local skeptics' group in the San
Francisco Bay area. He has appeared on many radio and TV
programs, and his writings and reviews have appeared in
such diverse publications as
OMNI,
Scientific
American,
Spaceflight,
Astronomy,
The
Humanist,
Free Inquiry,
Reason, and
others. His "Psychic Vibrations" column in
Skeptical
Inquirer kept readers informed of weird developments
in the "science" of UFOs, psychic research, cryptozoology,
etc from 1977 to 2017. Mr. Sheaffer lives near San Diego,
California, having most recently worked as a data
communications engineer in Silicon Valley.
(Photo by Susan Gerbic)
There will be an online
question-and-answer segment after the presentation.
How
to Watch and Participate in this Online Event:
2) Use the link
https://youtu.be/EqiF-ApmO7c
. If typing the link, use capital "O".
3) The live stream begins
shortly before 1:30pm US/Eastern (UTC-04:00) on
Saturday, April 2, 2022.
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.
Save the Date -- Klass Award Dinner
on April 27
NCAS is pleased to present its 2022 Philip J. Klass
Award for outstanding contributions in critical thinking
and scientific understanding to skeptical activist Susan
Gerbic on Wednesday, April 27 at Busboys and
Poets Takoma in Washington. Additional details to
follow.
April PhACT Lecture
Our skeptical neighbors to the north, the
Philadelphia Association for Critical Thinking (PhACT),
will host their next online event on Saturday, April 23
at 2 PM ET. Speaker Michael Marshall (Project Director
of the Good Thinking Society, Vice President of the
Merseyside Skeptics Society, and host of the
Be
Reasonable podcast) will discuss his experiences
of "The White Rose," a group claiming that COVID-19 is a
hoax concocted by the governments of the world to
instill fear into their people, as a pretext for
introducing new, permanent totalitarian laws. Event
details at
http://www.phact.org/meetings.php.
April 30 NCAS Lecture
Susan Gerbic will present "Grief Vampires:
Wikipedia and More." In February 2019, The New York
Times Magazine reported on her team (the "Guerilla
Skeptics") and their successful work exposing psychic
medium Thomas John in a sting. During the pandemic, the
Guerilla Skeptics struck again, researching and exposing
multiple mediums operating on Zoom using hot and cold
reading to appear to be in communication with the dead.
Saturday, April 30 at 1:30 PM at Arlington Central
Library.
NCAS Board
Elections: Electronic Voting
The upcoming 2022 NCAS election will use electronic
voting. When voting begins, each member will receive an
email from NCAS (via surveymonkey.com) containing a
unique web address usable as a single-cast secret
ballot. (NCAS will receive information indicating who
voted, but nothing to indicate who cast each ballot.)
Note that voters will not be at risk for spamming as a
result of participating...SurveyMonkey has a
zero-tolerance spam policy:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/mp/legal/acceptable-uses-policy/
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 fourth quarter
of 2021 came to $44.68, meaning that nearly $9000 of
purchases were designated in support of NCAS. (As an
example of how NCAS can put that money to good use, it's
more than enough to cover two hours of a Montgomery County
lecture room rental.)
Thanks again to our members who have chosen to support
NCAS!
For more information:
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Shadow of a
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Shadow
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NCAS thereby reduces
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queries to
ncas@ncas.org. Use the
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membership form to renew.
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