Bay Area Skeptics is a non-profit educational organization, founded in June 1982 to encourage critical thinking, and accuracy in the media and in our schools. We encourage rational thought by using and promoting scientific methods to analyze data. We are particularly interested in such topics as the paranormal, pseudoscience, fraud, and untested and poorly tested medical and psychotherapeutic practices.
Bay Area Skeptics events are always free and are open to everyone. We feel strongly that there should be no charge to be a Bay Area Skeptic, and we welcome everybody at our events.
As one means of promoting critical thinking, we sponsor a monthly lecture series that, as always, is free and open to all. In the last several months, we have had, among many excellent speakers, Dr. Margaret Singer and Ms. Patricia Ryan (former Chair of Cult Awareness Network) discuss cults and the Jonestown massacre, Dr. Wallace Sampson of Stanford University discuss homeopathy, magician and author Mr. Bob Steiner demonstrate street cons, Dr. Eugenie Scott of the National Center for Science Education discuss the public school teaching of evolution, and poet and scholar Dr. Philip Appleman talk about Darwin and read from his latest book of poetry.
Another means by which we promote the scientific process is through our newsletter, BASIS. We finance Bay Area Skeptics activities through subscriptions to BASIS. BASIS is published quarterly, and each issue contains book and lecture reviews, editorial comment, letters, and items of local and national interest. A subscription to BASIS is US $18.00 per year. Sample copies of BASIS are available at Bay Area Skeptics events and lectures. Currently, we are in process of making all back issues of BASIS available through this home page.
Special event, Thursday, September 10: Michael Shermer, author and founder/president of the Skeptic's Society in Los Angeles, will be at Kepler's Books, 1010 El Camino Real (corner of Santa Cruz Ave.), Menlo Park, 7:30-9:00 pm to discuss & sign the paperback edition of Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time.
Special event, Sunday, September 13: Michael Shermer, author and founder/president of the Skeptic's Society in Los Angeles, will be at Spring Hill Books, 1210 Union at Hyde, San Francisco, 5:00 pm to discuss & sign the paperback edition of Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time.
(Exact dates/locations for the following events are being arranged, and will be announced very soon.)
In October, Dr. Wallace Sampson will be our speaker, on the economics of alternative medicine.
For November, Margaret Singer will speak to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the mass murders at Jonestown -- and plans to bring at least one former People's Temple leader with her. Tod Berger, former Heaven's Gate member, may also participate.
In December, we'll have our traditional Christmas party, at a location to be decided (probably a restaurant, this time -- suggestions invited).
In January, 1999, UFO expert and CSICOP Fellow Robert Sheaffer will be our featured speaker.
For February, 1999, our speaker will be cognitive scientist Barry Beyerstein of the British Columbia Skeptics (and CSICOP Fellow).
In March, 1999, we will hear from Dr. David Anderson and Dr. Dan Wethimer of the SETI@home project.
For April, 1999, we'll host Michael Shermer, founder and president of the Skeptic's Society in Los Angeles.
As always, you can call our 24-hour information line, at (510) LA-TRUTH, for more information.
Saturday, August 1, 1998, Rick Moen hosted Bay Area Skeptics's annual summer picnic, noon-ish, at the Lake View Picnic Site, Tilden Park, Berkeley. T'was a potluck. (Some food was provided.) Camaraderie, swimming (at nearby Lake Anza), and steam-train rides were enjoyed by many.
On Monday, June 29, Ruth Stotter, director of the Dominican College Storytelling Program, spoke on "Urban Legends". Ms. Stotter is a well-published storyteller who has done readings in many countries. She discussed urban legends, and tell urban legends and other stories, to frighten and delight. She is author of the books About Storytelling: Writings on Stories and Story Telling and The Golden Ax: Folktales of Greed and Passion.
On Wed., May 20, our speaker was Kevin Padian, speaking on "The Origins of Birds: The Sociology of a Scientific Debate". Padian is Professor of Integrative Biology at UC Berkeley and Curator of the Museum of Paleontology.
On Thursday, April 9, we were privileged to host Marc Abrahams, editor of The Annals of Improbable Research. Sometimes called "The MAD Magazine of science", AIR publishes "publishes original articles, data, effluvia and news of improbable research" (most of it genuine) six times a year, and annually puts on the Ig Nobel Prize ceremonies at MIT, honouring people whose achievements "cannot or should not be reproduced." (Marc will include a slide show of highlights from past Ig Nobel events.)
Heckling was encouraged, and laboratory coats and other paraphrenalia, welcome.
On Tuesday, March 17, we had Mel Dickson, Ph.D., visiting from Australia. Dr. Dickson, a research microbiologist from the University of New South Wales, spoke on "Truth and Science: What Are the Facts?" Does repeatability make an experiment's results valid? Does having a workable model of reality mean you're on the right track?
Our Wed, Feb. 25 meeting featured Dr. Mary Matossian, emeritus professor of history, who spoke on "Ergot Poisoning in History: Introduction to Witchcraft Persecution, So-Called Religious Awakenings, Panics, and Naturalistic Thinking". Dr. Matossian is author of Poisons of the Past (Yale, 1989) and Shaping World History (M.E. Sharpe, 1997).
Sa, December 13, 1997: BAS's Christmas Party was held at Kate Talbot's house in Pacifica, starting at 5 pm. T'was a potluck affair.
Th, November 19, 1997: Austin Miles, former faith-healer and author of "Don't Call Me Brother" spoke.
We, October 22, 1997: Psychic Surgery, Faith Healing, and Other Medical Quackery. Bob Steiner performed live demonstrations of psychic surgery and other dubious medical techniques. Attendees were well healed! Included was video-tape footage of famous on-air encounters between faith-healers and skeptics.
Fr, September 26, 1997: Is Psychology a Science? Terence Sandbek, clinical psychologist and co-founder of Bay Area Skeptics, spoke concerning crazy therapies including (but not limited to) past lives therapy, pet therapy (therapy for your pets), EMDR, and Age Regression Therapy. He also addressed the topic of psychology as a science, and misconceptions about the nature of the psychology profession. Where & When: 7:30 PM at the Berkeley West Branch Library, 1125 University Avenue, one block east of San Pablo Avenue, Berkeley.
Dr. Sandbek is Director of Cognitive Therapy at Sierra Vista Hospital in Sacramento, and founder/director of California Clinic, an outpatient treatment program for eating disorders and phobias. He is author of The Deadly Diet, a psychology book on eating disorders, and is President of Sacramento Skeptics.
Su, September 7, 1997: Annual Bay Area Skeptics picnic. The picnic was held noon-ish, at the Quarry Picnic Site, Tilden Park, Berkeley. Some food was provided (and we were also grateful to those who brought something to share), camaraderie, swimming (at nearby Lake Anza), and Wondrous Entertainment
Th, July 31, 1997: How to Avoid Being Manipulated, Bamboozled, and Seduced by "Experts" and "Authorities". Mindlessly going along with authority is easy. Even smart people do it. Our July speaker, social psychologist Doctor Sharon Presley, explained how this effect works, and suggested techniques to help spot and avoid manipulation by experts, avoid the "seduction of the situation", and stand up to unjust authority. The speaker showed the audience ways to more effectively examine what experts and authorities say. Dr. Presley is Executive Director of Resources for Independent Thinking in Oakland.
People in Bay Area Skeptics come from diverse backgrounds and professions, and represent all age groups. The interest that we share is a realization that rational thought and reason are of paramount importance in these times, and that we can ill afford to discount the marvels of the scientific process.
One of our basic tenets holds that we're concerned only with what's testable. We're absolutely not a religious or antireligious group. We respect the religious and nonreligious beliefs of others, and recognize that spirituality is based on faith and is not testable. Consequently, spirituality in itself is of no interest to Bay Area Skeptics, and we welcome people who identify themselves as spiritual. If, however, a spiritual leader or spiritual group makes a testable claim, then that claim ceases to be a matter of faith and, as such, might be an area of interest to Bay Area Skeptics.
You can submit articles, letters, and reviews for BASIS by e-mail directly to the Editor. Additionally, you can write to us at at BAS, 17722 Buti Park Ct., Castro Valley, CA 94546. We can also be reached by leaving a message on our 24-hour telephone information line at 510-LA-TRUTH.
The Bay Area Skeptics Home Page will continue to evolve. We find it refreshing and reassuring to find other fine organizations and groups throughout the world and throughout this country that are concerned, as we are, with critical thinking and rational thought. We have provided links to several that are on the Internet. If you have not done so already, we at BAS recommend that you search the Net, with a skeptical eye, to find many other fine resources that are not included on our links.
Bay Area Skeptics sponsors the worldwide skeptic ftp archive at this site. (Our thanks to Anson Kennedy of Georgia Skeptics for making this collection possible.) Please send all new contributions, especially issues of skeptics' newsletters, to the /incoming directory, and then describe the upload to us via e-mail to BAS Webmaster. Thank you!Last modified: September 8, 1998
Rick Moen copyright © 1998-end-