SI DIGEST 5-11-98

SkeptInq (SkeptInq@aol.com)
Mon, 11 May 1998 13:31:13 EDT 

 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER ELECTRONIC DIGEST
 For free Digest subscriptions, go to:
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 May 11, 1998

 SI Electronic Digest is the bi-weekly e-mail news update of the Committee for
the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP.)

 Visit http://www.csicop.org.

 The Digest is written and edited by Matthew Nisbet and Barry Karr.  SI Digest
has over 2000 readers worldwide, and is distributed via e-mail from the Center
for Inquiry-International, Amherst N.Y., USA.

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 PLEASE FORWARD TO YOUR SKEPTICAL FRIENDS.
 Send comments, media inquiries and news to:
 SINISBET@aol.com (716-636-1425)

 CSICOP publishes the bi-monthly SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, The Magazine for Science
and Reason.  The May/June issue features a Special Section titled "The Alien
Files" with articles on the Roswell myth, the 1997 Roswell Air Force Report,
the Men In Black hoax, and alien abductions.

 To subscribe at the $17.95 introductory price, go to:
 http://www.csicop.org/si/subscribe/

 Or call 1800-634-1610 (1-716-646-1425 outside the U.S.)

 In this week's SI DIGEST:


 --RELEASE:  World Skeptics Congress, Heidelberg, Germany
 --BOOK PREVIEW:  Encounters with the Paranormal
 --FEATURE: Questioning Talking Apes and Chimpanzee Memoirs
 --CSICOP On-the-Air in South Africa and Malaysia.
 --WWW.FLASHNEWS.COM: A Great Source for News of the Weird

 RELEASE: WORLD SKEPTICS CONGRESS, HEIDELBERG, GERMANY

 For Immediate Release
 Matthew Nisbet 716-636-1425 x219
 www.csicop.org

  ARMAGEDDON AND THE PROPHETS OF DOOMSDAY

  CSICOP Sponsors World Skeptics Congress
  July 23-26, Heidelberg, Germany

 Amherst, N.Y.—  As the end of the millennium nears, science, superstition and
pseudoscience collide.  From the Shroud of Turin to the outrageous claims of
post modernists, how do we evaluate and confront the sudden explosion in the
paranormal and pseudoscience?  How should scientists respond to
misrepresentations of science in the media?  What cultural misperceptions and
international trends in belief lurk around the corner?  What light can science
shed on ages old superstition?

 In July, internationally-known scientists, experts and academics will gather
at the World Skeptics Congress in Heidelberg, Germany, a short 50 miles from
the international city of Frankfurt, to discuss these and other topics as we
begin the countdown to the millennium.  Among a global who's who of
researchers, experts and illuminati, topics featured will include:

 --Anti-Science and Post Modernists
 Belgian physicist Jean Bricmont, co-author of _The Intellectual Imposters_,
headlines a panel of distinguished scientists that includes French
astrophysicists Evry Schatzman and Jean-Claude Pecker.  Together they will
discuss the challenge to science by post modernists.

 --Alternative Medicine In A Scientific World
 From homeopathy to new age healing, Stanford professor Wallace Sampson,
Belgian researcher Willem Betz, Canadian psychologist Barry Beyerstein and
other leading experts evaluate and assess the latest claims of alternative
medicine.

 --The Shroud of Turin
 Investigator/author Joe Nickell and leading microanalyst Walter McCrone will
respond to the latest claims surrounding the world's greatest religious hoax.

 --Global Warming: The Great Debate and What We Can Do
 University of Washington researcher William Calvin and Trigen Energy CEO Tom
Casten will debate the global warming controversy in science.

 --Natural Disasters: Comet Hale Bopp and Cosmic Impacts
 Astronomer Alan Hale and Dutch astrophysicist Cornelis de Jager lead a panel
assessing the threat of natural disaster.

 --The False Memory Debate
 Leading expert Elizabeth Loftus will keynote an address on the current state
of the recovered memory debate.

 "Scientists launched CSICOP twenty-two years ago, and the battle against the
paranormal and pseudoscience continues.  The World Skeptics Congress
represents a gathering of some of the world's brightest and most distinguished
scientists, academics and researchers—all concerned with stemming the
worldwide growth in magical thinking and paranormal belief.  It is one of the
world's great meeting of the minds," declares CSICOP chair and distinguished
philosopher Paul Kurtz.

 The first World Skeptics Congress in 1996 attracted global media coverage
that included the Australian Broadcasting Company, NHK-Japan, BBC Radio, a
live panel discussion on National Public Radio, Science et Vie, Newsweek, the
China Association News, the National Review, Scientific American, the Canadian
Broadcasting Company, and the New York Times.
  —30—

 CSICOP, publisher of SKEPTICAL INQUIRER magazine, is an independent nonprofit
scientific and educational organization founded in 1976 to encourage the
critical investigation of paranormal and fringe science claims from a
responsible scientific point of view.  Distinguished fellows of CSICOP include
Nobel laureates Leon Lederman, Murray Gell-Mann, Francis Crick, Glenn Seaborg
and Steven Weinberg.  Other distinguished fellows include Richard Dawkins,
Stephen Jay Gould, Jill Tarter, John Maddox and Leon Jaroff.

 www.csicop.org

  -------------------------

 BOOK PREVIEW: ENCOUNTERS WITH THE PARANORMAL

  ----------------------

 FEATURE: QUESTIONING TALKING APES AND CHIMPANZEE MEMOIRS
 by Matt Nisbet

  ------------------------------------------------


 CSICOP ON-THE-AIR IN SOUTH AFRICA AND MALAYSIA

 Over the past three weeks, CSICOP has conducted radio interviews with two
different South African radio stations, and with a station in Kua Lumpur,
Maylasia.  Topics have included the Shroud of Turin, the history of hoaxes,
and the work of CSICOP.

 The recent radio interviews are part of CSICOP's continued efforts to expand
media outreach and the message of skepticism to overseas media markets.

 If you have access to well-maintained media contact information outside of
the U.S. and Canada, please send information to Matt Nisbet at
SINISBET@aol.com or send materials to:

  Matt Nisbet
  Public Relations Director
  CSICOP
  PO Box 703
  Amherst NY 14226 USA
  ---------------------

 WIRELESS FLASH NEWS SERVICE: SOURCE FOR NEWS OF THE WEIRD

 Wireless Flash News Service, formerly a part of Copley News Service, provides
daily feature and entertainment content to more than 800 broadcast outlets,
newspapers and web sites world wide.

 They specialize in exclusive off-edge pop culture news, and are a great
source for skeptics looking to keep track of the latest news of the weird and
the fringe.  A FORTEAN TIMES of news services, some recent headlines include:

  Time Traveler Reveals What We Will Laugh At In The Year 2020
  Man Offering $1 Million for A Baby Bigfoot
  Voodo Dolls Making a Comeback
  Did Aliens Abduct Buddy Holly and Patsy Cline?
  White House Rocked By Extraterrestrial Infidelity?

 Radio personalities use Wireless Flash for show prep.  Editors use Wireless
Flash as a column tip sheet and as original page content.  Talk show producers
use Wireless Flash for phoner contact.

 You can check out a sample of their news items at WWW.WIRELESSFLASH.COM.

 Send press releases to newsdesk@flashnews.com.

  ---30---