Monthly Lectures

Monthly lectures are held on the third Saturday of each month at 2:00 PM in the W2-48 room of the West Building at the Community College of Philadelphia.
Click here for directions
The general public is more than welcome to attend our lectures.
Contact email: erickrieg@verizon.net

Executive Meetings

Executive meetings are held prior to the monthly lectures, at 1:00 p.m. Any member may attend.

Join our email list.

Future Meetings

April 19, 2008 -- Science Education in Crisis

At 2 PM on Saturday April 19, Andrew Petto will talk about Science issues including attempts to interfere with teaching evolution.

May 17, 2008 -- Banquet in Horsham.

Media Integrity Panel Discussion including Faye Flam and Tony Romeo

At Noon at Edible's in Horsham on Saturday May 17, we will have a panel discussion about media issues. This costs 25$ per person, paid in advance to our Treasurer, Ray Haupt.

July 13, 2008 -- PhACT Picnic

Noon at Mondauk Common Park
Bring food to cook or just eat. We meet at the Pavilion in the woods on the south east side of the park, with parking off Broad Street in the middle of Upper Dublin.

September 20, 2008 -- Innumeracy -- Math in Society

by John Allen Paulos
More information on John's writings is at http://www.math.temple.edu/~paulos/.

Note, this is back at our Philadelphia Community College location.

Future Speaker Ideas

  • Dr. Kenneth L. Feder (Penn State Department of Anthropology) is the author of "Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries" and http://www.ascentofhumanity.com/. I'd like to set up a either a talk or debate on the merits of "Evolutionary Psychology" - The theory that fundamental aspects of human behavior are more easily understood in terms of tens of thousands of years of evolution during the times that humans banded in simple small tribal groups under harsh circumstances.
  • Mike Ewall, the anti-fluoridationist, probably knows environmental activists who are well-versed on this subject.
  • bio ethics
  • Futurology: the history of trying to predict the future - the psychology and brain function of drawing wrong conclusions
  • memetics - the meme (analogus to gene) theory of the spread of ideas
  • a warming earth (a look at the evidence - what can be done)
  • fighting frivolous lawsuits (including those that try to repress free speech)
  • the psychology of how people learn
  • controversies involving "intelligence" (and the measurement of)
  • a summary of attacks on science (from political pressure, anti-evolution forces, religious attempts to limit stem cell research

Past Meetings

March 15, 2008 -- Real Free Energy

Nick Pine will lead a PHACT discussion on inexpensive solar house heating with sunspaces at Philadelphia Community College. Houses can be close to 100% solar-heated in Pennsylvania, solar house heating can be 100 times less expensive than solar electricity, per peak watt, and houses in the Northeast need 5 times more heat energy than electrical energy, so why so much interest in solar electricity, while we still burn oil to heat our houses?

Nick is an electrical engineer by training and a registered US Patent Agent who used to design integrated circuits with time constants measured in nanoseconds and who now designs solar house heating systems with time constants measured in days. He lives in Skippack, he's easy to listen to, and he advocates using basic physics (eg Ohm's law for heatflow), do-it-yourself commercial greenhouse techniques, lightweight polycarbonate film glazing, recycled automobile radiators, windshield wiper motors, and low-power inexpensive computers and sensors to frugally solar-heat houses and water for showers, with no ugly expensive rooftop panels. See http://www.ece.villanova.edu/~nick/ for more about Nick's work.

January 19, 2008 -- Vaccine Safety: Science Politics and the Media

Paul Offit, MD, chief of infectious diseases at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the Henle Professor of Immunologic and Infectious Diseases at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, is an internationally recognized expert in the fields of immunology and virology. He's received numerous awards, including the J. Edmund Bradley Prize for Excellence in Pediatrics and the Young Investigator Award in vaccine development. Dr. Offit has written two books, Vaccines: What Every Parent Should Know (with Louis Bell, M.D.) and Breaking the Antibiotic Habit: A Parent's Guide to Coughs, Colds, Ear Infections, and Sore Throats.

November 17 -- Everything's Relative and Other Fables in Science and Technology

Our November 17 speaker is Tony Rothman, who is a cosmologist who studies the Big Bang and related events. He is interested in extremal black holes, black holes on the verge of becoming naked singularities, as well as on the detection of gravitons. His father was Milton Rothman, who helped PhACT get started 11 years ago and also wrote much on Physics. Tony will speak on his latest book, "Everything's Relative and Other Fables in Science and Technology". This book takes a closer look and corrects much common knowledge about key historical moments in science and technology and corrects myths. Tony is a professor of Physics where Einstein used to teach at Princeton University.

October 20, 2007 -- Science and Sexuality

Philadelphia Inquirer author of the column "Carnal Knowledge", Faye Flam will discuss the science of sexuality. She has been covering science for the Inquirer since 95. Faye has explored all kinds of fringe thinking related to sexuality for the past 3 years. Her column has included awkward topics like, hatred of homosexuality, the science of kissing, elder sex, genital fits, the history of condoms and the algorithm of attraction.

Tony Rothman's home page

September 15, 2007 -- Mysterious Delusions: Witchcraft in Salem Village

The witchcraft trials in Salem in 1692-1693 were the largest episode of witch hunting in what is now the United States and the last large witchcraft outbreak in Western Civilization. Over a hundred persons were accused of witchcraft and imprisoned; nineteen witches were convicted and executed. A variety of explanations for this event have been advanced. In the Seventeenth Century most citizens of Massachusetts believed that witches existed and that the accused were part of a conspiracy to overthrow Christianity and replace it with the rule of Satan. During the Enlightenment many educated persons adopted the view that the witchcraft accusers were frauds and that their fits before the Massachusetts judges were mere imposture. In the last fifty years a new set of explanations has emerged. Some attempts at explanation have focused on food-born toxins (ergot fungus) or pathogens (encephalitis). Other explanations have emphasized mass hysteria, bitter quarrels within the Salem Village community, the psychological stresses of adolescence and aging, or the psychological stresses experienced during a period of protracted warfare. This presentation will critique the modern explanations in the light of the historical record.

Prof. Walter F. Rowe is professor of forensic sciences at The George Washington University. He holds a PhD in chemistry from Harvard University. Prof. Rowe is a Fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and a former member of the editorial board of the Journal of Forensic Sciences. Prof. Rowe is a longtime student of the Salem witchcraft outbreak and has spoken on this topic before National Capital Area Skeptics (NCAS), as well as the annual meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. He has had a long-term interest in the application of the methods of forensic science to the study of history. Prof. Rowe has applied forensic methods of image analysis to Civil War photography and he is currently applying the methods of forensic firearms examination to archaeological artifacts excavated at the site of the 1866 Fetterman Massacre.

April 21, 2007 -- Award Banquet with Ted Daeschler

Ted Daschler discovered the fish-to-lizard transition species (a major missing link that creationists have gloated was not discovered).

February 17, 2007 -- Global Warming and Projections of Future Climate Change

Dr. Thomas Delworth is leader of the Climate Dynamics and Prediction Group at the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) in Princeton, New Jersy, where he has been a research scientist since 1984. GFDL is is one of the world's leading climate modeling centers, and is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

As the Earth continues to warm there is accelerating interest in the topic of Global Warming. In this talk Dr. Delworth will first summarize the physical basis underlying global warming, including the tools used to study the topic. Next he will examine the observational evidence supporting the conclusion that the Earth is warming in response to increasing greenhouse gases. This includes evidence both from the modern instrumental era and paleoclimate records (such as ice cores). Finally, he will examine a synthesis of projections of future climate change and their impacts, including estimates of uncertainty. Associated with this will be a discussion of key highlights from the recently released report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

January 20, 2007 -- ACLU chapter board member Bill Ewing spoke on issues of free speech.

Saturday, November 18, 2007 -- Science Askew

Don Simanek spoke on "SCIENCE ASKEW": Gems of science humor, satire, and parody from his just-published book of the same title by Donald E. Simanek and John C. Holden.
Previews:
  • The age of the universe is a function of time
  • The illustrated dictionary of physics
  • The Ideal Scientific Equipment Company
  • The Hazards of Solar Power
  • A Religion for the Rest of Us

Friday, Oct 13, 2006 -- Michael Shermer

Best-selling science author Michael Shermer ("Science Friction", "The Science of Good and Evil", "How We Believe", "Why People Believe Weird Things", "Denying History","Science Skepticism and the Media", "The Borderlands of Science"), is the founder of Skeptic magazine and of the international Skeptics Society. He will speak promptly at 7pm, Oct 13th, at the ETHICAL SOCIETY at 1906 S. Rittenhouse Square in Center City, Philadelphia. Following, the Freethought Society will hold their "Friday the 13th party" at 8 p.m. upstairs while Mr. Shermer remains downstairs for a while to sign books.
Stephen Jay Gould called Shermer "a powerful activist and essayist in the service of reason . . . an important figure in American life." In addition to his skeptical contributions to the world, Michael is also a really cool guy: He's down to earth, he used to be on "the other side", he has bicycle raced across the continent, he started the Southern California Skeptics, is a columnist for Scientific American, and he's a family man.
PhACT highly recommends people to bring friends for this rare chance to meet this amazing "Uber Skeptic" in Philadelphia while he promotes his new book.

Saturday, September 16, 2006 -- William Wong of Princeton University will discuss Black Light Power Corporation and the Hydrino atomic theory.

If this company is correct, we could have an incredibly powerful easily available source of energy and new materials never invisioned before. If wrong, the company is engaging in a high level of folly.

June, 2006 -- Picnic at Galena Lake

We had a picnic at Peace Valley Park at Lake Galena in Bucks County.

May 18, 2006 -- PhACT Day at The Academy of Natural Sciences

Interested in the work of Charles Darwin? The theory of evolution? The process of natural selection? Dinosaurs? Hominids? Evolutionary oddities? Then join PhACT in an interesting tour of Philadelphia's Academy of Natural History.

Since its founding in 1812, The Academy of Natural Sciences has made tremendous progress in unlocking the secrets of life through its world-renowned scientific research and expansive scientific collections. The Academy has continually been at the forefront of documenting species, interpreting their roles in the environment, and restoring and preserving ecosystem health, and also has attempted to share this scientific knowledge with other organizations, governments, businesses, and individuals to inspire stewardship of our planet's natural environment.

Saturday, April 15, 2006 -- Mr. Ralph Gumbert on Terrorism and Emergency Response

Trenton Emergency Medical Service, based in Trenton, New Jersey, maintains a state of readiness in the advent of an emergency like a terrorist attack, but does not have as extensive storage capacity for overages.

Ralph Gumbert, RN, CEN, EMT-P, is Trenton Emergency Services Director. Mr. Gumbert will discuss the current state of preparedness of emergency response teams, the realities concerning supply needs for emergencies, and how to realistically deal with these issues.

Saturday, March 18, 2006 -- Dennis Lee and Free Energy -- can motors run on snake oil?

Ex-convict Dennis Lee is currently on a nationwide tour promoting an engine promised to run on water, a process to neutralize radioactive materials, and a device said to make free electricity without fuel. He has been promising such amazing technology for over 20 years while collecting significant sums of money from followers. Dennis Lee promises to put on a demonstration March 22 at the Messiah Maranatha Christian Fellowship 3610 North 15th Street Philadelphia. An electrical engineer and speaker on the subject, Eric Krieg agrees with a dozen state attorneys general and branches of the BBB that call Dennis Lee a con man. Krieg encourages forewarned people to attend presentations to hear an unforgettable unintentionally entertaining pitch.

Eric Krieg has an electrical engineering degree from Lafayette college and has worked in the greater Philadelphia area as an engineer for the past 25 years. He is presently helping to develop fiber optic transmitters and amplifiers for the telecommunications industry. He was one of the dozen people who help found PhACT a decade ago. His interests in paranormal claims include free energy, alternative physics, dowsing, and conspiracy theory. He is married with 3 children and enjoys running, mountain biking, and rock climbing.

www.phact.org/e/dennis.html

Saturday, February 18, 2006 -- The Two Mysteries of the Great Pyramids.

Starting in the mid-nineteenth century, many novel theories have arisen about the Great Pyramid of Khufu. Tom Napier will discuss the purpose of the Pyramid, explain the mathematical basis of its construction and consider what we can learn from prophecies based on its dimensions. We will show what "pyramid power" tells us about how to test the validity of our beliefs.

Tom Napier is a physicist and an engineer. During the 1970's, he worked at the European Space Technology Center in the Netherlands and the European Center for Nuclear Research in Switzerland. He spent eight years at an electronics company in Horsham, PA, where he developed equipment to communicate with space probes. Now he offers electronics consulting services and contributes design articles to electronics magazines. Tom has been interested in the paranormal and in pseudo-scientific theories since he was a student. In 1994, he helped found the Philadelphia Association for Critical Thinking (PhACT). This organization encourages people to apply scientific reasoning to the ideas they encounter. He frequently speaks to lay audiences about fringe ideas in science.

Saturday, January 21, 2006 --Toxicology and the Environment: Separating fact from fiction.

Is organic food healthy? Is diet soda OK? Are environmental health risks increasing or decreasing? What about pesticides and cancer? Ethanol-powered cars: the next great step? Dr. Cragin will discuss many of the common questions people have about toxicology and the modern world.

David Cragin has a Ph.D. in pharmacology and toxicology from the University of California. At the university, his teaching focuses on risk assessment and critical thinking.

Saturday, November 18, 2005 -- A Skeptical look at Skepticism

Charles Eisenstein is a professor in the department of Science, Technology, and Society at Penn State University. He writes on many contrarian topics including the common belief that the Cartesian view of the world is crumbling. He has followed the world of organized skepticism for many years and can pretty well parrot the skeptical line on almost any claim. He feels we are lacking something. Some of his writings are found at www.westonaprice.org/healthissues/ethicsmeat.html and www.newtrendspublishing.com/YOGA/.

Saturday, Oct 15, 2005 -- Medical Bioethics

We will have Stacy Ake speak about the bio ethics and consciousness. She is a professor at Drexel University. Dr. Ake's areas of research in philosophy are semiotics (Peirce, Percy), existentialism (Kierkegaard), existential ethics (Bonhoeffer), and theology (Chesterton, Derrida, MacDonald, Zizek). Her interests in biology include population genetics, evolutionary theory, and the co-evolution of bacterial pathogenicity and human immune response. Her interstitial interests include biosemiotics (Deacon, Emmeche, Hoffmeyer, Seboek, von Uexkull), the creation of a lived or existential philosophy of mind as found at the intersection of neuroscience and psychology (Damasio, Edelman, Ramachandran, Sacks), and the elucidation of a realetik vis-a-vis the biological and metabiological natures of human reality. She has been teaching since 1981.

Saturday, Sept 17, 2005 -- "The Di Vinci Code"

We will have Joe Szimhart speak about the code. Millions of people have bought this best selling book. Check out Joe's review of the book at: www.culticstudiesreview.org/csr_bkreviews/bkrev_davincicode.htm.

Saturday, June 18, 2005 -- Phact Picnic and investigation of "Ringing Rocks"

We had a picnic and a field trip to investigate the claim of evil energy blocking life at the rock field.

May 7, 2005 -- Thomas Beebee "Icons of end of the world thinking"

The consequences and genealogies of millenarian thinking surround us. Even apart from characters like David Koresh, Millenarian thinking pervades the cultures of the Americas. For those of us in the mainstream, millenarian thought is an example of the "Other within us". While a standard theory of its origin holds that it results from "relative deprivation," in the Americas it is found as well as a founding discourse (Columbus brought it with him), as well at the highest levels of society, such as in speeches on the floor of the U. S. Senate. The mystical, fatalistic vision of the war between good and evil inevitably becomes contextualized throughout the Americas, making it difficult to recognize the conflicts as apocalyptic. What begins as mysticism ends up as politics. The Cold War is one good example of this, and the Nation of Islam another. Both are real and pragmatic struggles, yet each also draws its rhetoric and mythology from a notion of the end of the world and Armageddon. Such thinking surfaces most clearly in rhetoric, literature, and film. Thomas will show in this talk that the repeated outbreaks of millenarian violence have been both acts of resistance to the eradication of traditional ways of life in the process of nationalization and globalization, and important sources in the American construction of origins and foundations. These two aspects converge on a single idea: stories about the end times legitimize our obscure, difficult, and painful beginnings and substitute a narrative of the future for a missing myth of origins.

Thomas Beebee is a professor for Comparitive Literature and German at Penn State and working on a book about symbols of belief in the end of the world.

April 16, 2005 -- Ted Schick -- coauthor of "How to Think About Weird Things

We had Ted Speak 7 years ago. Click here to see report. His book is now a text book in hundreds of colleges. He has done an excellent job of getting paid to get the educational establishment to teach our message concerning critical thinking. He will talk about critical thinking and drawing conclusions.

Theodore Schick Jr. is a professor of philosophy at Muhlenberg College, Allentown, PA, and co-author (with Lewis Vaughn) of How To Think About Weird Things. He received his B.A. from Harvard University and his Ph.D. in philosophy from Brown University. He has published numerous articles on epistemology, philosophy of science, philosophy of mind, and ethics in such journals as Skeptic, International Philosophical Quarterly, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Idealistic Studies, Thought, The Journal of Speculative Philosophy, The Journal of Aesthetic Education, and Dialog.

March 19, 2005 -- The Social Epistemology of Medical Consensus Conference

Miriam Solomon is on for March 19. She will talk on the social epistemology of medical consensus conferences and the consensus processes of scientific communities (i.e., how do expert panels come to agreement on medical controversies?). Miriam is a professor of philosophy at Temple University and director of Graduate Studies. And a brief bio: Miriam Solomon is Professor of Philosophy at Temple University. She received her BA from Cambridge University (Natural Sciences) and her PhD in Philosophy from Harvard University (Philosophy). She has published widely in epistemology, philosophy of science, philosophy of language, medical ethics, and feminist philosophy. Her book, "Social Empiricism" is published by MIT Press (2001).

Saturday, February 19, 2005 -- Confronting Creationists in the Schools

Colin Purrington gave a very short history on why Fundamentalists have such a burning desire to undermine evolution education, with emphasis on their most recent successes in Georgia, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania public schools. He talked about several national organizations that try to confront these gains, and about how the contributions of "ordinary" people, especially parents, are even more needed today. And he gave an overview of his "evolution outreach" projects that aim to get such people interested in (or outraged by) the quality of biology instruction at their children's schools.

Short Bio: Undergrad: Reed College, Portland, OR (bio major)
PhD: Brown University (studied sex ratio bias in plants)
Current: Associate Professor at Swarthmore College (teach evolution, study parasitic plant evolution)

Saturday, January 15, 2005 -- A Startling Geological Announcement

Generations ago, people noticed the shape of the continents showed an apparent interlocking pattern. But it wasn't until science really proved the long age of the earth and direct evidence was validated before the continental drift theory was accepted as fact. There seems to be a tendency of fringe people who spring forward to disagree with most major pronouncements of Science. Several years ago, PhACT member Harry Rothwell happened upon a copy of JSE, Journal for Scientific Exploration. The journal from the SSE (Society for Scientific Advancement) asserts that mainstream science is often too closed to critique new ideas. Harry noticed an article asserting that theory of continental drift was not properly grounded (no pun intended). In this talk, Harry takes a look at the ideas behind this thinking vs. the evidence that our world is clad in a series of shifting plates. Harry Rothwell, one of our PhACT members, will present an article published in the autumn 2000 edition of the Journal of Scientific Exploration. "Plate Tectonics: A Paradigm Under Threat" maintains that a volume of geological evidence contradicts continental drift, plate tectonics, subduction, and the relative youth of oceanic crust. The paper concludes that the basic principles of plate tectonics, therefore, need to be reexamined, revised or rejected. What can this article teach us about Earth's geology, the scientific method, and prospects of informing the general population about current earth science? This is exceptionally timely as we have just seen what can happen as these plates move about.

Tuesday Dec 21, 2004 - Winter Solstice Party at member Bonnie Finkelstein's house.

This is for members; directions are in our newsletter -- people are to bring food along. We will have entertainment as always.

Saturday, November 20, 2004 -- Ghosts in Philadelphia?

Fort Mifflin had the largest PA battle of the revolutionary war and has been said to be haunted for a number of years now. We will have a panel discussion involving Eric Krieg, Bob Glickman, and Rodney Anonymous (former lead of the punk band "Dead Milkmen") discuss Fort Mifflin and their experiences sleeping overnight in allegedly haunted rooms.

Saturday, October 16, 2004 -- Bunkum in Psychology

We heard from Becky Strickland. She has been a member of PhACT for years and is on the council. She has an MA in Psychology and for 10 years has been an adjunct at Gloucester County College teaching General Psychology. She discussed unproven claims in the field of psychology including dissociative disorder (once called multiple personality disorder), facilated communications, alcoholics anonymous, dubious theories in counseling psychology, the latest child abuse witch hunts, and why Megan's law doesn't protect children.

Saturday, September 18, 2004 -- A PhACT Get-together with Benjamin Radford

We met at Otto's Brauhaus. Benjamin Radford, Managing Editor of Skeptical Inquirer magazine, was the featured speaker at our tenth anniversary event. He gave a lecture discussing media criticism based on his book Media Mythmakers: How Journalists, Activists, and Advertisers Mislead Us. As an added attraction, Radford also gave a separate talk detailing his work as a paranormal investigator and his search for lake monsters.

Saturday, June 19, 2004 -- PhACT Family Picnic at Upper Dublin Mondauk Common Park

We had a great time at our picnic with food cooking, music, talking, eating, and tossing round identified flying objects.

Saturday, May 15, 2004 -- Tour of the purportedly haunted Eastern Penitentiary

We have long eaten at Jack's firehouse after meetings right across from the Pen. We took a private tour. The site now has a number of forms of progressive artwork commemorating a bygone era. In 1787, a group of forward thinking people decided to build an at-the-time modern facility where criminals could have time for reflection to reform themselves according to Quaker principals in total isolation. The facility was built 30 years later as the largest building of its time. More than 300 other prisons were built worldwide according to the same plan. Charles Dickens wrote of the prison in 1842.

Saturday, April 17, 2004 -- Freedom, Determinism, and Moral Responsibility

Our own Bill Wisdom, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Temple University, will speak on "Freedom, Determinism, and Moral Responsibility". This will have nothing to do with the paranormal, and little to do with skepticism, but will rather be an exercise in critical thinking about a cluster of notions that are more often used than carefully considered. The cluster is interesting in part because it lies at the point where the three main branches of Philosophy meet: Ethics, Metaphysics, and the Theory of Knowledge. Bill will address the questions of what the terms "freedom", "determinism", and "moral responsibility" mean -- or might mean, or ought to mean -- and how they are related to each other, in hopes of provoking an active discussion of these and related topics.

Saturday, March 20, 2004 -- The Henry George Economic Theory

Dan Sullivan, director of the local Henry George School, will present a progressive position of Economics and taxation. Part of that discussion will be about the so-called left/right, liberal/conservative divide, how the parties have migrated from one side to the other, and how factions tend to polarize society. Georgists feel that Henry George was one of the last Liberals in the sense that he believed in balanced, humane, and free society as opposed to the controlling factionalism that we tend to see today.

Saturday, February 21, 2004 -- Risky Business: Assessing Risks to Human Health

What is risk? Which risks matter? Mike Jayjock, Ph.D., CIH, will give a talk on how we view risk and how scientists calculate health risks.

Dr. Jayjock is a Senior Research Fellow in the Rohm and Haas Toxicology Department; he is also the Manager of Risk Assessment. He has a Masters and a Ph.D. from Drexel University in Environmental Engineering and Science and he is a CIH in the comprehensive practice of Industrial Hygiene.

Saturday, January 17, 2004 -- Toxicology in the Media: Separating Fact from Fiction

Modern science has changed our lives such that now personal decisions heavily influence a person's healthspan and lifespan. However, media reports often give seemingly conflicting information on "what is good for you" versus "what is bad for you" and it can be difficult to make good decisions. Using news reports and other sources, Dr. Cragin will offer some simple techniques for spotting health misinformation. Having this information will enable you to make better decisions about protecting your health and the environment.

Dave Cragin is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Departments of Pharmacology/Toxicology and Health Sciences at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia and is a Principal Occupational and Environmental Toxicologist for Merck & Co.

Sunday, December 21, 2003 -- Winter Solstice Party

Saturday, November 2, 2003 -- "Open Mike Night" at PhACT

Members of our group don't seem to fear ghosts or public speaking. This meeting will prove out the latter. There will be a list of general questions or scenarios on the screen up front. We'll go around the room making sure everyone gets a turn at one. Come and swap some ideas.

Saturday, October 18, 2003 -- Examining the Fringe Culture of Free Energy claimants

Eric Krieg spoke on the following topic: A wonderful new age in society would blossom forth if we had a clean, fuelless, infinite source of energy. Many people believe such technology exists today. Claims of free energy are not merely an urban legend; they are part of a fascinating fringe culture of claimants and believers. Their history actually goes back hundreds of years and is much more than a colorful cast of kooks, cons, and morons. Their realm also includes books, journals, conspiracy theory, heroes, bogus science, snake oil demonstrations, incredible patience, and creative excuses. Eric's initial skeptical involvement in their world was probably like a kid poking a wounded animal with a stick, but he has gone on to document this under-reported comical side of American culture.

Saturday, September 20, 2003 -- Controversies in Science and Society: An Exploration of Critical Thinking About Scientific Theories

Speaker: Andrew J. Petto, Associate Professor of Liberal Arts, University of the Arts, Philadelphia, and Editor, National Center for Science Education, Oakland CA. When evolution was awarded its proper status as the fundamental theoretical foundation all of modern biology in national and state science education standards, evolution opponents proposed that standards should include considering "alternatives" to evolution under the guise of "critical thinking." Evolution opponents have consistently lost battles in both legal and scientific arenas over the past 30 years, but despite these failures, they have made considerable inroads in the political arena (including the infamous "Santorum Amendment"). What makes these non-scientific proposals so successful?

Saturday, May 17, 2003 Faye Flam (Science editor for the Philadelphia Inquirer) spoke on Science in Journalism)

June 14, 2003 -- Picnic

We had our annual picnic in "the pavilion in the woods" in the southeast corner of Upper Dublin's Mondauk Commons park.

April 19, 2003 -- Walter Rowe speaking on "Science in the Courtroom"

March 15, 2003 -- Harmful Cults

Joe Szimhart has worked as a consultant internationally regarding harmful cults since 1986. He began helping people to reject cultic influences in 1980 as a deprogrammer or exit counselor. He has lectured and written widely on this topic and has appeared in dozens of media presentations. His reviews and articles have appeared in the Cultic Studies Journal (www.csj.org) and the Skeptical Inquirer regularly. He has had a long career as an artist. Currently he is employed at a psychiatric emergency hospital as an intake and crisis manager. He resides in Pottstown, PA, with his wife and daughters. He maintains a website about his cult-related work at www.users.fast.net/~szimhart. Joe will present a summary of the cult controversy and how it has changed in the past 30 years. He will address social, medical, scientific, and legal aspects of the problem, and he will comment on recent news about the Raelian "cloning" sect with short video clips. Reading list to be provided.

January 18, 2003 -- Complimentary and Alternative Medicine

Dr. Barrie R. Cassileth spoke about Complimentary and Alternative Medicine. She is from the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

November 16, 2003 -- The Pitfalls of Polygraph Testing

Distinguishing honesty from dishonesty is an incredibly important yet fiendishly difficult task that challenges individuals and institutions at all levels of our society. The validity of conclusions drawn from polygraph examinations can vary substantially depending on the specific procedures that are used to conduct the exams and interpret their results. In addition to these sources of variance, the base rate of deception in the population being tested has a significant influence on the validity of conclusions that can be easy to overlook.

Professor John Ruscio is the author of Clear Thinking with Psychology: Separating Sense from Nonsense and Applying What We Have Learned.

October 19, 2003 -- "Con Men"

Detective Lou Sgro spoke on con men and elder crime. Lou has been on the force helping to defend us from various crooks for 37 years. He is presently working with elder crime in the Major Crimes unit in Philadelphia. He last spoke to PhACT in April of 1996. Lou is one of the rare law enforcement people who understands the workings of criminal clans who have been perfecting techniques for generations.

September, 2002 -- Bob Glickman vs. The Flying Saucers

In August, PhACT member Bob Glickman made it onto CN8's It's Your Call with Lynn Doyle to discuss UFO phenomena. The producers were kind enough to give Bob a copy of the tape, and he was kind enough to let us all watch it. Afterwards, Bob entertained questions, which led to an animated discussion of UFOlogy.

August, 2002 - PhACT Phamily Picnic

The PhACT Phamily Picnic was held in Mondauk Commons Park. A good time was had by all.

June, 2002 - "The Borderlands of Science - Where Sense Meets Nonsense"

Dr. Michael Shermer, the Publisher of Skeptic magazine, columnist for Scientific American, and the author of Why People Believe Weird Things and How We Believe, turns his skeptical eye in his latest book, on which this lecture is based, to the fuzzy borderlands of science--the fuzzy fringes and blurry edges between science and pseudoscience, science and nonscience, normal science and revolutionary science, and between science and nonsense. Dr. Shermer turns his critical thinking from the pseudoscience he has investigated in his previous works, to that gray area between science and pseudoscience, where it is not clear whether a claim will turn out to be the next great revolution in science or the next big hoax in pseudoscience.

May, 2002 -- The Seven Warning Signs of Voodoo Science

by Robert Park, Professor of Physics at The University of Maryland, and author of the book Voodoo Science
A best-selling health guru insists that his brand of spiritual healing is firmly grounded in quantum theory; half the population believes Earth is being visited by space aliens who have mastered faster-than-light travel; and educated people are wearing magnets in their shoes to restore their natural energy. Have scientists set people up for this? In our eagerness to share the excitement of discovery, have we conveyed a message that the universe is so strange that anything can happen? Professor Park addressed the question of what we can tell non-scientists that will help them judge which claims are science and which are voodoo.

October, 2001 -- The Psychic, The Paranormal, and the Supernatural

Mr. George P. Hansen was employed in parapsychology laboratories for eight years. He has published positive findings as well as a number of stinging critiques. His published work on UFOs has focused on hoaxes and government disinformation efforts. His lecture reviewed some of the modern laboratory research in parapsychology, as well as some of the controversies surrounding it. Anthropological theories of structuralism and liminality were then presented to explain why the paranormal remains controversial. Mr. Hansen has just published a book, The Trickster and the Paranormal. See http://www.tricksterbook.com.

September, 2001 -- How to Convince a Skeptic

PhACT member Tom Napier explained how, by using proper experimental design and simple mathematical models, a test can be devised to be both fair to the claimant and convincing to the skeptic. He attempted to show how we can reliably differentiate between extraordinary powers and random chance -- if only the claimants would let us. As a physics student, Tom was trained in the design of experiments while, in his free time, he tested people for telepathic ability. In recent years he has been developing electronic methods of recovering signals buried in noise, a fitting preparation for examining paranormal claims.

March, 2001 -- Looking For a Miracle

PhACT joined with the Freethought Society of Greater Philadelphia (FSGP) to sponsor a Philadelphia speaking engagement for Joe Nickell, Senior Research Fellow of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal. Nickell's speech, based on his book Looking for a Miracle, examined such intriguing phenomena as weeping icons, the liquefying blood of St. Januarius, holy apparitions, and the image on the Shroud of Turin. This slide presentation outlined Nickell's own investigations on behalf of CSICOP. Nickell spoke at the Philadelphia Ethical Society Building located at 1906 South Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia. A group of FSGP members met at a nearby restaurant for a pre-meeting dinner with Nickell.

February, 2001 -- AIDS Deniers: When Pseudo-science Kills

by Anna Forbes and Walt Cuirle.
The married team of Forbes and Cuirle talked about the growing misbeliefs associated with AIDS. Despite overwhelming scientific evidence to the contrary, a small but highly vocal cadre of "AIDS deniers" vehemently maintain that HIV is not the cause of AIDS. The media attention given to their views has potentially life-threatening implications for the 36 million people now living with HIV worldwide. Anna Forbes is a community organizer, teacher, and writer, specializing in HIV/AIDS issues. She teaches at the Bryn Mawr School of Social Work, and has published widely on AIDS-related public policy and advocacy issues. Walter Cuirle is a physicist and writer. He was an op-ed columnist for ComputerWorld. Walter and Anna have published collaboratively on HIV/AIDS surveillance and privacy issues and submitted Congressional testimony on this topic in 1994.

January, 2001 - Skeptical Discussion Day

Most PhACT members who aren't already into public speaking are at least great conversationalists. We tried to come to a consensus response to common questions leveled at skeptics like:
  • "Isn't skepticism just one more 'ism'?"
  • "Haven't skeptics derided all great discoveries?"
  • "Is Skepticism too boring to ever be noticed?"

December, 2000 - Winter Solstice Party

We had a great party with a rousing game of "Skeptical Jeopardy".

November, 2000 - The History of Skepticism

Although the emergence of the "skeptical movement" is relatively recent, the minority viewpoint we advocate has promoted in different forms by our brave intellectual forefathers for thousands of years. Former Temple University Professor of Philosophy, Bill Wisdom reviewed this history. Bill has taught Philosophy for four decades and has lectured internationally.

October, 2000 -- Debunking Thought Field Therapy

by James D. Herbert, PhD, and Brandon Gaudiano
Our speakers have authored Thought Field Therapy: A Critical Analysis (Skeptical Inquirer, July 2000). Dr. Herbert has published in numerous psychological journals on questionable therapies in mental health, especially Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. He has also done numerous interviews in the popular media on the topic. Recently, he commented on EMDR for a piece in The Tennessean. He is nationally known for his writings on quackery and pseudoscience in mental health.
Also speaking was Brandon Gaudiano, who is currently pursuing his doctorate in clinical psychology at MCP Hahnemann University in Philadelphia, PA. Currently, he works as a staff therapist at the Social Anxiety Treatment Program and at a partial hospitalization program at Hahnemann Hospital.

September, 2000 -- Medical Orgonomy

Orgonomy is a crackpot science which has a considerable following in this area -- including the "College of Orgonomy", which does "research" and training in Princeton. The subject was invented by Wilhelm Reich, a former student of Freud's. Reich has published works on psychoanalysis which are still accepted by Psychology proffessors today. However, before he ended up dying in prison, he spawned a number of really whacked out beliefs. Our speaker, Richar Moroch, has a degree in Political Science, and has been a contributing author to both Skeptical Inquirer and Skeptic Magazine.

May, 2000 -- The Norm Biss Story

This was a firsthand account by a convert to skepticism. Electric motor Technician Norm Biss of Erie bought Joe Newman's book, which made fantastic promises concerning motors. He got his company to make a deal to develop one of Newman's promised over-unity devices. Norm's growing suspicions culminated the night before it was to be tested, when Newman absconded with the device. Norm's novel information gathering and bold Internet presence have had quite an impact on the "free energy community".
Norm Biss was our first blue-collar speaker. He a decorated Vietnam veteran. Norm has developed equipment to help his company become a leader in servicing large-size electric motors for industrial applications.

April, 2000 -- If the Spirit is Willing: a Brief History of Spiritualism

The mid-1800s through the 1920s was the heyday for Spiritualism. Many respectable and influential persons held that Spiritualism was a scientific religion with definitive proof of the hereafter. Although it may seem quaint and even comical today, the history of the Spiritualist movement sheds a lot of light on sincere believers and outrageous fakers, including magicians, scientists, philosophers, artists, politicians, and just plain citizens on both sides. Chip Denman gave a brief history of some of the most notable seance mediums and those who investigated them.

Chip Denman is a statistician at the University of Maryland, where he teaches "Science/Pseudoscience" for the University Honors Program, and is past-president of the DC area skeptics group.

March, 2000 -- Global Warming - Is it Real? Should we Care?

by Tom Delworth.
The issue of Global Warming evokes passionate responses from both ends of the political spectrum. The issue is a complex mixture of science and politics. In this presentation, Tom focused on an overview of the scientific basis for Global Warming and the uncertainties associated with future projections of climate change. It is critical that we separate the science of the issue (Is the climate warming, and why?) from any policy implications (Should we do something about it?).

February, 2000 -- Field Trip to the Philadelphia Mütter Museum

I've heard it described as a freak show museum that you don't want to see more than once. The museum describes itself as having "medical oddities". Their collection includes many crackpot medical devices from previous centuries. Nothing paranormal - but plenty abnormal.

January, 2000 -- Psychology of Children's Behavior

by Cathy Fiorello, of the Temple University School of Psychology
Does ADHD exist? Does spanking work? What is dyslexia anyway? And what really happens when kids eat sugar? We learned how scientific thinking can cut through the myths of children's behavior.

December, 1999 -- Keeping Fiction out of Science -- panel discussion

Members Eric Krieg, Paula Crock, Tom Napier, and Walter Cuirle hosted a panel discussion on the topic of science being misappropriated at the 63rd annual Philadelphia Science Fiction Conference.

This month we also attended the Nov. 10th Dennis Lee free energy show at the First Union Center in Philly.

October, 1999 -- Destructive Cults

Attorney Joe Flanagan has been both a cult member and an exit counselor. He told us how to recognize a cult and explained how cults having widely different belief systems have adopted similar coercive methods to recruit and retain members.

September, 1999 -- Does Eating Candy Increase Longevity?

Jeff Lewis and David Cragin are an epidemiologist and a toxicologist, respectively. They looked into questions like:
  • How bad is the cancer epidemic?
  • When will we return to the good old days of safe pesticides and wholesome food?
  • Is health misinformation simply a innocuous game, or does it have real consequences for the well-being of Americans?
The speakers gave an excellent overview of health misinformation and how to look at medical studies and statistics.

May, 1999 -- Fanaticism in Cyberspace

by Eric Krieg
Many consider fraud, viruses, and predators the greatest Internet threat. But what of cults and political extremists trolling for recruits? Eric Krieg explored issues like:
  • What kind of reality impaired people are out there?
  • What sorts of deception can you expect?
  • What kinds of low-budget tools are there for reaching millions?
  • How can rational people fight back?
Examples of some of the nuts out there can be found at: http://www.phact.org/e/crack.html.

April, 1999 -- PhACT Annual Banquet

We heard a neat update from Pamela Freyd of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation.

March, 1999 -- Media Integrity Symposium

We heard a panel discussion by local representatives of TV, radio, and newspapers discuss questions like:
  • How does the media decide what is newsworthy?
  • What are the long-term trends in the media?
  • How do ratings affect news quality?
  • What are rules for getting "the other point of view?"

February, 1999 -- How Do You Know That's Impossible?

by Walter Cuirle
Some things we dismiss as impossible because of our experience, and we call that common sense. Other things we dismiss because of logic, and we call that mathematics. But sometimes that system of experience and mathematics we call science will dismiss something as impossible in a way that seems completely at odds with both logic and common sense. How can that be? How do we "know" that's impossible?

Walter Cuirle is a physicist and writer. He was an op-ed columnist for ComputerWorld and other magazines, back in the period between IBM and Microsoft, when there was some point in expressing an opinion. His science writing has appeared here and there in less quantity that he would like, and his science fiction has appeared in Analog at greater length than he ever expected. He teaches physics at St. Joseph's University, a Jesuit institution in Philadelphia. Read a review of this talk here.

January, 1998 -- "Hot Air, Hope, and Hand Waving

Tom Napier, Physicist and former Rocket Scientist, has been a practicing engineer for years both here in the States and at scientific research sites in Europe. He has written many electronics articles for engineering periodicals. Recently, he has written a number of articles on the Internet providing a scientific response to claims of Free Energy. Tom was one of the PhACT members who investigated Dennis Lee's claims of free energy via heat pump technology. His speech addressed the real science that gets misapplied by the hoards of "inventors" in the perpetual search for a free lunch.

November, 1998 -- "How to Think About Weird Things"

No one wants to be stupid or irrational. Yet there is widespread belief in all sorts of things that seem to have little evidential support. Why is that? In this talk, Schick explored the causes of, and proposed a cure for, credulity. Read a review of this talk here.

Ted Schick, Jr., is a professor of philosophy at Muhlenberg College, where he teaches Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Mind, and Biomedical Ethics. He received his B.A. from Harvard University and his Ph.D. from Brown University, where he taught a freshman seminar entitled The Philosophical Implications of Parapsychology. He is the co-author (with Lewis Vaughn) of How to Think About Weird Things and Doing Philosophy: An Introduction through Thought Experiments. He has also published numerous articles on epistemology, metaphysics, and ethics in such journals as The Skeptical Inquirer, Skeptic Magazine, Free Inquiry, International Philosophical Quarterly, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Idealistic Studies, Thought, The Journal of Speculative Philosophy, and The Journal of Aesthetic Education. The recipient of the Lindbach award for Distinguished Teaching and the Donald B. Hoffman Research Fellowship, he is currently working on a text in the philosophy of science.

October, 1998 -- The Skeptic as Expert Witness in the Case Against the Faith Healers

Bill Wisdom, PhACT Council member and former Temple University philosophy professor, spoke on his involvement as an expert witness for the defense in the recent trial of a pair of faith healers. Read a review of this meeting here.

September, 1998 -- "Creationism's Achilles Heel: The Geologic Record"

Professor Donald Wise addressed an audience of about 40 on creationist geology and the claims made by "God's own scientists".

May, 1998 -- Introducing Cryonics

Doug Platt reviewed many aspects of Cryonics, including how it works, why it's not popular, and how it relates to our perception of identity.

April, 1998 -- PhACT Annual Luncheon

Joe Nickell, CSICOP Senior Researcher, spoke on "Investigating the Paranormal" at Fisher's Tudor House in Bensalem, PA.

March, 1998 -- What Constitutes Proof When Examing Alternative Healthcare?

Biochemist Dr. Saul Green, of the Sloane Kettering Institute, discussed alternative medicine with a focus on anti-cancer "treatments". Read a review of this talk here.

February, 1998 -- Memes and Mass Delusion

Aaron Lynch, author of Thought Contagion, gave a powerful lecture on memetics, the science of how belief spreads through society. Read a review of this talk here.

January, 1998 -- The Roswell Incident

Tom Carey, the local director of MUFON, presented his case for alien craft crashing in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947. Read a review of this talk here.

November, 1997 -- Weird Encounters Day

Craig Olsen moderated a series of short presentations by members on their encounters with the paranormal. Read a review of this talk here.

October, 1997 -- Making Sense of the Millennium

Ted Daniels, Director of the Millennium Watch Institute, gave a thought-provoking talk on "end of the world groups". Read a review of this talk here.

September, 1997 -- The High Cost of Free Energy

Eric Krieg gave us a closer look at Dennis Lee's free energy claims and investment opportunities. Read a review of this talk here.

July, 1997 -- PhACT Family Picnic

We had a great group picnic at a park in Bucks County, PA.

May, 1997 -- Skeptical About Skeptics

David Leiter, an Engineer, warned of the downfalls of the skeptical mindset. He defended two subjects that James Randi attacked. Read a review of this talk here.

April, 1997 -- Group Discussion Day

On this day, we split up into groups and discussed various topics. Read a review of this discussion here.

February, 1997 -- Conspiracy Theory

Evan Harrington, published in Skeptical Inquirer, and a psychology graduate, gave an excellent and enlightening lecture on conspiracy theories and the psychology of those who believe. He gave much detail on dangerous militia rumors floating around and showed a number of fascinating video sequences. He gave a social-psychological view of irrational beliefs. Read a review of this talk here.

January, 1997 -- Can Nurses Feel Energy Fields?

Bob Glickman, PhACT President and Nurse, spoke on the subject of Therapeutic Touch and his own ongoing investigation. Read a review of this talk here.

November, 1996 -- The James Randi Luncheon

The arch-skeptic himself, James Randi, the scourge of psychics and the star of TV shows throughout the world. Randi visited Philadelphia to see therapeutic touch in action, and to hand out kilobucks if it really worked.

September, 1996 -- False Memories

Pam Freyd, of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation, presented a program detailing the devastating affects that false memories have on their victims. Pam also explained how people who have been trapped by these memories can recover. It was a chilling look into crackpot psychology. Read a review of this talk here.

August, 1996 -- Ringing Rocks

We investigated paranormal claims at Ringing Rocks in northern Bucks County, PA. Read a review of this excursion here.

July, 1996 -- Creationism's Sins

Craig Olsen, a local naturalist, gave this lecture on the folly of creationism. Read a review of this talk here.

June, 1996 - World Skeptic Conference

At the end of June, many of our members traveled to Buffalo to attend the World Skeptic Conference.

May, 1996 - Health Frauds and Quackery, by Dr. Stephen Barrett, MD

Dr. Barrett, who operates the Quackwatch web site is a nationally renowned author, editor, and consumer advocate. He is editor emeritus of Nutrition Forum. His many books include The Health Robbers: A Close Look at Quackery in America. He is co-chairman of CSICOP's Health Claims Subcommittee. Read a review of this talk here.

April, 1996 -- Psychics and the Law

Officer Louis Sgro of the Philadelphia Police Dept. gave an excellent talk on Psychics and the Law. He told a lot of neat stories about locking up corrupt gypsies. Read a review of this talk here.

March, 1996 -- Critical Thinking vs Superstition

A talk by Eric Krieg at an award banquet for the Montgomery County Math contestants.
Eric gave a well received presentation on critical thinking vs superstition at this award banquet sponsored by the area Professional Engineers society. Among other stunts, Eric offered a brand new free car to anyone who could simply remotely (or via ESP) read the serial number on a $20 bill.

March, 1996 -- UFOs

We were treated to a speech on UFOs by the world renowned Philip Klass. The talk covered the point of view not offered by "In Search Of" and "Sightings". Mr. Klass, a senior editor for Aviation Week and Space Technology, is the leading U.S. authority on the UFO phenomenon. He has investigated thousands of UFO reports and is the author of UFOs Explained and UFOs: the Public Deceived. Read a review of this talk here.

February, 1996 -- Does Astrology Work?

Eric Krieg gave a lecture on the scientific basis for Astrology. Apparently, there have been many tests of astrology's ability to predict things about people - but none of it correlates better than chance. Read a review of this talk here.

January, 1996 -- The Two Mysteries of the Great Pyramid

Tom Napier gave a lecture on the pyramids, the many myths surrounding them, how they were built, and why people believe nutty things about them. Read a review of this talk here.

November, 1995 -- How to Tell What is Possible and Impossible

Milton Rothman, senior PhACT member, science fiction writer, and author of many books on physics and skepticism, told us how to tell what is possible from what is not.

February, 1995 -- Cults and Pseudoscience

Joe Szimhart, an expert on cults and a deprogrammer, gave a lecture on cults.
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