THE CREATIONISM CONTROVERSY AND WHY PEOPLE BELIEVE IN GOD
Michael Shermer speaks to the Humanist Community of Palo Alto, California Sunday evening, 7:00p.m. February 11 at the YWCA in Palo Alto (4161 Alma St.). For further information contact Burt Liebert at 650/493-3747

SKEPTICS SOCIETY CALTECH LECTURE SERIES FOR THE SPRING
The Skeptics Society is pleased to present a dynamite spring Caltech lecture series, now entering our tenth season! (We began in March, 1992, with James "The Amazing" Randi, and have now hosted over 100 speakers and events.)

All events are held in Baxter Lecture Hall on the Caltech campus in Pasadena. $5.00 donation at the door for members, $8.00 nonmembers. Free to the JPL/Caltech community. Directions: Off the 210 freeway south on Lake Ave., east (left) on Del Mar, right (south) on Michigan, which dead ends into the faculty parking lot (parking here okay on Sundays). Baxter is to the southeast of the large white round building on the south end of the faculty parking lot. From the 110 freeway follow to the end (it becomes the Arroyo Parkway), right on Del Mar, following directions above.

2:00pm Sunday, March 11, Dr. Alison Winter, Caltech historian of science. MESMERIZED! Science, Pseudoscience, and Powers of Mind in Victorian Britain.

Across Victorian Britain, in castles and cottages, rectories and pubs, and even hospitals and churches, thousands of women and hundreds of men were put into mesmeric trances. Apparently reasonable human beings twisted into bizarre postures, called out in unknown languages, and placidly bore assaults that should have caused unbearable pain. The Victorians were literally entranced--mesmerized--with this phenomenon.

Dr. Alison Winter, a Caltech historian of science and author of the highly acclaimed book Mesmerized: Powers of Mind in Victorian Britain (copies available at the lecture), reveals who was entranced, who did the entrancing, why mesmerism was such a compelling experience to so many, and how to others it became powerful evidence of fraud and "unscientific" behavior. Dr. Winter also explores the relationship between science and society, as well as science and pseudoscience, demonstrating how and why the line between the two is not always so clear. Book signing follows lecture.

Following the lecture: MEADE STAR PARTY at Mt. Wilson with JPL astronomer Gil Clark. Bring a sack dinner and drink. We will eat at Mt. Wilson and watch the sun set. Then observe the heavens. Directions: Off the 210 freeway take Angeles Crest Hwy. north for about 10 miles to Clear Creek. Stay right (DO NOT go left toward Palmdale/Lancaster) and follow hwy. for about 5 miles to Red Box. Right at Red Box (restroom/ranger structure there, red box on corner) and go about 5 miles to the entrance gate to Mt. Wilson. We will gather there and follow Gil in to the picnic grounds and telescopes.

2:00pm Sunday, April 29, K.C. Cole, author, Los Angeles Times science writer.

You Don't Want to Miss the Skeptics First Ever Lecture About NOTHING! The Hole in the Universe: How Scientists Peered Over the Edge of Emptiness and Found Everything.

Behind the front-page reports of fascinating discoveries in physics, cosmology, and math, lurks a deep underlying mystery--an all-pervasive presence that eludes understanding, yet controls everything else that happens. That mysterious presence is NOTHING. Los Angeles Times science writer K.C. Cole plunges into the void with today's top scientists and theorists, showing how the continuing search for ultimate nothingness is leading to a profoundly new understanding of the origins and nature of the universe.

Every time scientists think they have reached the ultimate void, new stuff appears: a black hole, an undulating string, an additional dimension of space or time, repulsive antigravity, and universes that breed like bunnies. In this lecture based on her newly published book, K.C. Cole shows that in nothing there is everything. Book signing follows lecture.

2:00pm Sunday, May 20, Julia Sweeney, actor, Saturday Night Live comedian.
The GOD Monologue. A Work in Progress.

Last year, Saturday Night Live's Julia Sweeney, actor and comedian, teamed with film producer Quentin Tarantino (Jackie Brown, Pulp Fiction) to create an uplifting and humorous motion picture presentation of Julia's hilarious stand-up performance, "God Said, 'Ha!'" in which she shows that laughter is the best revenge. Winner of Best Picture at the Seattle Film Festival, it was a brilliant tour de force as Sweeney recounts with wit and humor her courageous fight against cancer and the general travails of life.

In this new show, "The God Monologue," Sweeney recounts her journey from religious belief to secular skepticism. Raised Roman Catholic, Sweeney tells the story of her awakening, which included a revelation in the Galapagos islands when she read Charles Darwin's Origin of Species, which she calls "a page turner." With intelligence and humor Sweeney takes us through her intellectual transformation, and along the way touches on some of the deepest questions any of us can ask ourselves.

Don't miss this unique performance, a first for the Skeptics Society.

2:00pm Sunday, June 10, Dr. Michael Shermer, Publisher, Skeptic magazine. The Borderlands of Science: Where Sense Meets Nonsense

In a lecture based on his newly released book of the same title, Dr. Shermer explores the fuzzy fringes and blurry edges between science and pseudoscience, science and nonscience, normal science and revolutionary science, and between sense and nonsense. 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.

In philosophy of science this is called the "boundary problem"--where to draw the boundary line between science and pseudoscience. Examples of borderlands science include superstring theory, inflationary cosmology, theories of consciousness, grand theories of economics, SETI, hypnosis, chiropractic, acupuncture, cryonics, and Omega Point Theory. Shermer introduces the "Baloney Detection Kit" that can be applied to any claim that lies in the grey borderlands, and a fuzzy logic solution to determining where the line should be drawn for any particular claim. Book signing follows lecture.

Thanks for posting the article on faulty science textbooks. You might want to specifically tell your readers that by going to http://www.aapt.org/ they can click to download the 102 page Hubisz report that was the subject of the AP article.

Check out this hilarious web page on alien abductions. I especially got a laugh over the "abductalizer." http://www.alienabductions.com/index2.html

Shame on you for your blatant back-patting of yourself and back-selling of past issues of the Skeptic at the cost of any balanced look at the issues involved in HIV/AIDS science. The rather-lengthy piece you allowed Harris to do six years ago never proved much of anything, and in the brief follow-up you allowed Dr. Rasnick in the following issue, he effectively answered many of Harris' points. But you seem to forget all that and want to pretend the issues are all settled and so clear. They are not.

Fortunately, because of all the work of people Questioning AIDS, the U.S. government made a major turnaround in AIDS policy just last week! I will send you a copy of an article on the backtracking on AIDS meds that finally admits what we have been saying all along: these drugs are DANGEROUS (and have never been proven to save a single life). Personally, I lost THREE FRIENDS in the year 2000 to the drugs' "side effects" which included major heart attacks and liver failures. I tested "HIV positive" over five years ago, have taken no meds and am absolutely fine. My boyfriend is 8 years "+" and no meds, also fine. My friends who are 10, 12, even 15 years 'positive' without the meds are fine. Most of my friends who have gone on the meds have gone on to great cascading illnesses, having to take one drug or operation or blood transfusion after another to counter the drugs 'side (HAH!) effects'. They went from person to patient to corpse as their reward for following doctor's orders and swallowing common sense.

Dr. Rasnick has, I believe, AGREED to be injected with an isolate of HIV, if anyone will ever isolate and purify one: something that has never been done. I challenge you to set your own personal feelings aside (I understand you have a close loved-one who is positive and on-the-meds) and give this issue another look. I am certain that Dr. Rasnick or Dr. Kary Mullis (Nobel winner) or journalist Celia Farber would be HAPPY to pen an article for your audience. This time, how about letting the skeptical side go first, and then followup with a tiny rebuttal from the mainstream?

Or how about a PUBLIC DEBATE on this issue -- surely we can fill a room on a topic like this and I am certain we of the TRULY skeptical side of AIDS can do more than our share in defending our science and opinions. I would be happy to assist in the securing of appropriate debaters. Are you game?

Rex Poindexter, rxpoindexter@earthlink.net

There is a sizeable minority of scientists, microbiologists and immunologists mainly, who are not convinced that the answer to AIDS is HIV treatment. We think that HIV is *necessary, but not sufficient* in itself to be the sole cause of the panoply of symptoms called AIDS. There are numerous ideas out there which are more or less acceptable science based on the observations. Without going inot detail, I can say that all of them are based more on the antibody to HIV than to the HIV itself.

One of the more knowledgeable proponents of this concept is Robert Root-Bernstein of Michigan State University. When you revisit this question, I would hope that you would avoid the conspiracy theorists, goofs, and other assorted types that are pretty easy pickings, and look at some of the reputable science that says we may have led ourselves astray on this one.

John, microbiology/genetics

In your listing of the top recommended skeptic books, I found the following reader comment, which would seem to support the ultra-skeptical/conspiratorial HIV/AIDS viewpoint:

What If Everything You Always Knew About AIDS Was Wrong? by Christine Maggiore

"This book attempts to deconstruct the numerous pseudo-science AIDS theories we have all been lulled into accepting courtesy of the most extensive and expensive propaganda campaign in U.S. history. With numerous scientific journal references, Ms. Maggiore attempts to lead the reader to be skeptical of all things AIDS. Her personal experiences, and those of many others who question AIDS theories and refuse to swallow the popularly-sold toxic AIDS meds, are a less-technical and more personal side of the discussion to balance out the avalanche of unsupportable 'science' that threatens to bury us all."

So what gives? Is "AIDS skepticism" science or pseudoscience? If it is pseudoscience (as the e-Skeptic article strongly suggests), what is this book doing on the list?

I think that the book list is a very useful resource. I found a few books that I have already read (or at least purchased!), and many more that I would like to read. I would hope that all of these books reflect a truly skeptical viewpoint, based on evidence and critical thinking. I am strongly opposed to censorship in any form, but I'm pretty sure that if someone suggested a book supporting ID or CAM, it would have not been added to the list - for obvious reasons! If you are going to put a controversial (to say the least) book such as What if Everything You Always Knew About AIDS Was Wrong? on this list, at least supply a rationale or suggest an alternative point of view. Otherwise, you do your readers a disservice.

RoseAnne Mussar, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, rose@mussar.com

So David Rasnick is skeptical of the HIV/AIDS connection. Thats just ducky. One need not be an epidemiologist to see the connection.... one gets HIV and in a couple of years will most likely have AIDS. But Rasnick does not agree. Perhaps he should test his theory on himself. Tobacco companys denied the smoking/lung cancer connection for years and perhaps still do. Just what level of proof is needed?

I thank Skeptic for discussing this issue. Healthy skepticism on any subject is a good thing when it is intended to forward knowledge and understanding, but Rasnick seems no more honest or upfront than are Holocaust Deniers.

Ray Haupt, reh215@aol.com

HERE IS A RATHER POIGNANT BIT OF SATIRE OF DAVID RASNICK'S ORIGINAL LETTER
The Bullet Blunder by Dumbth Rasnick, PhD

The deadly, bullet hypothesis of guns is the biggest scientific, medical blunder of the 20th Century. The evidence is overwhelming that bullets are not leathal, airborne, or cause death. I have come to realize that embarrassment is the main obstacle to exposing this simple fact.

So why are we barraged, almost daily, by an endless litany of gun horrors and shooting death statistics? Why do virtually all doctors and law enforcement officials profess their unswerving allegiance to the unproven hypothesis that bullets are lethal and airborne when the evidence is greatly against it?

There are more than 100 thousand doctors and scientists who have built their careers and reputations by simply accepting the articles of faith about guns. At this late date, it is simple human embarrassment that is the biggest obstacle to bringing the gun insanity to an end. It is the fear of being so obviously and hopelessly wrong about guns that keeps lips sealed, the money flowing and gun rhetoric spiraling to stratospheric heights of absurdity.

The physicians who know or suspect the truth are embarrassed or afraid to admit that the ballistics tests are absurd and should be outlawed, and that bullet-proof vests are injuring and killing people. We are taught to fear bullets, and to believe that bullets are harbingers of injury and death sometime in the future. When you protest this absurdity and point out to health care workers that bullet wounds are the very essence of anti-bullet immunity your objections are met with either contempt or embarrassed silence.

The National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the World Health Organization are terrorizing hundreds of millions of people around the world by their reckless and absurd policy of equating shooting someone with murder. Self preservation compels these institutions to not only maintain but to actually compound their errors, which adds to the fear, suffering, and misery of the world-the antithesis of their reason for being.

The only way we can free ourselves from the bullet blunder and bring an end to the tyranny of fear is to have an open international discourse and debate on all gun issues. Anger will be a natural response to facing the enormity of the scandal of bullets. Anger has its place but it should be put aside quickly. It is a mistake to focus on villains and on whom to punish. The bullet blunder is a sociological phenomenon in which we all share a measure of responsibility.

Ultimately, the bullet blunder is not really about guns, nor even about health and injury, nor even about science and medicine. The bullet blunder is about the health of our democracies. A healthy democracy demands that its citizens keep a skeptical, even suspicious, eye on its institutions in order to prevent them from becoming the autonomous, authoritarian regimes they are now.

The bullet blunder shows that we need to rethink and restructure our institutions of government, science, health, academe, journalism and media. We must replace the National Institutes of Health as the primary gatekeeper of research funding with numerous competing sources of funding. We must restructure the peer review processes of scientific publishing and funding so that they do not promote and protect any particular dogma or fashion of thought or exclude competing ideas. A robust and mean investigative journalism must be revived, rewarded and cherished.

Finally, as citizens we must take back the authority and responsibility for our own health and well being and that of our democracies.

This from Dr. Harris, who wrote the monograph for Skeptic:

I got a grin from the HIV-AIDS skeptics stuff. Since 1995 there have been all kinds of papers finding that the rate of HIV replication, which can be directly measured now, predicts onset time of AIDS. And the HIV virus did indeed come from chimps, an idea which I said made sense in my article, and which has proven out. All in all, I have found almost nothing in this article which needs to be revised, except for the case report of the Manchester sailor in 1959, who was thought to have died from AIDS but whose preserved tissues have since tested negative (the first report which I cited was in error, and has since been retracted with much embarrassment by the author). There is one well tested serum sample from that time which does contain HIV however, so HIV-1 had crossed to humans by that time. Best guess now from virus evolutionary data is that this happened sometime in the 1930's.

Steve Harris, M.D., 71450.1773@compuserve.com, sbharris@ix.netcom.com