We normally hold our conferences in May or June every year, but this year we are having it on Saturday, October 7, 2000, in a special Festschrift to honor Stephen Jay Gould who will be retiring after 300 consecutive essays in Natural History magazine (#300 appears in the December issue, but he'll be done writing by October), and as a tribute to his remarkable contributions to evolutionary theory, science, and literature.
We've got an amazing line-up of speakers. Gould will give a keynote address in the evening. Caltech's president, Nobel laureate DAVID BALTIMORE, will open the day's ceremonies. RICHARD MILNER, Gould's editor at Natural History and famed for his wonderful operatic Darwin show, is composing a special piece in honor of Gould in the style of Gilbert and Sullivan. Additional confirmed speakers/performers so far include engineering superstar PAUL MACCREADY, magician/author JAMES RANDI, social psychologist CAROL TAVRIS, and historian of science DAN KEVLES. Social scientist FRANK SULLOWAY, biologist LYNN MARGULIS, entertainer and author STEVE ALLEN, and magicians PENN AND TELLER have been invited and are trying to work it out on their schedules. I will be the host for the day.
Each speaker will have 20-30 minutes to make a few remarks about Gould, about his contributions to the speaker's field and/or to science and culture in general, and, tangentially, to comment on the prospects for science in the 21st century.
Details on the price and how to sign up are forthcoming. We will be in Caltech's huge Beckman Auditorium. We are expecting a sell-out audience so as soon as we are ready to start taking reservations I'll post a notice on this list.
It will be the greatest collection of minds to appear in one room at Caltech since Richard Feynman dined there alone.
For my Fox Family television series, EXPLORING THE UNKNOWN, we are producing nearly 30 segments. We need some suggestions of guests (believers and skeptics) for our segments on reflexology, astrology, the Bermuda Triangle, dreams, and dolphins (language/intelligence). Suggestions and leads and any information you can provide on any of these would be most appreciated. Send them straight to me at skepticmag@aol.com
Martin Gardner reviewed Susan Blackmore's new book, THE MEME MACHINE, rather harshly in last Sunday's Los Angeles Times. Here is the address:
http://www.calendarlive.com/calendarlive/books/bookreview/20000305/t00000014.html
Victor Stenger, Professor of Physics at the University of Hawaii and outspoken critic of "energy medicine" and the misinterpretation of modern physics, is coming to Colorado this month and welcoming the local skeptics to his lectures!
Stenger will be giving two lectures: On Monday, March 13th (noon), he will speak on "A Physicist Looks at the Human Energy Field" at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver. This lecture is geared toward the general public. On Monday, March 20th (4pm), Prof. Stenger will give a more technical lecture at CSU in Ft. Collins on "The Misinterpretation and Misuse of Quantum Mechanics."
From: Joe Littrell agent13@io.com
Rael love
By Taras Grescoe
Salon
http://www.salon.com/travel/feature/2000/03/08/raelians/index.html
Grand Prairie woman loses jewelry in fortuneteller scam
By Robert Tharp
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
http://www.star-telegram.com/news/doc/1047/1:FRONT26/1:FRONT260307100.html
Ghosts at museum investigated
By Heather Johnson
St. Paul Pioneer Press
http://www.pioneerplanet.com:80/seven-days/4/news/docs/005559.htm
Unlucky numbers
By Danny Dugan
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com:80/magazine/20000308life8.asp