The REALL News - February 1996

<body> <div id="main-title"><img src="/images/main-title.gif" width="329" height="81" alt=""></div> <div id="global-navbar"> <ul> <li><a href="/">Home</a></li> <li><a href="/about/">About Us</a></li> <li><a href="/newsletter/">Newsletter</a></li> <li><a href="/letters/">Letters</a></li> <li><a href="/calendar.html">Calendar</a></li> <li><a href="/links.html">Links</a></li> <li><a href="/search.html">Search</a></li> <li><a href="/email.html">E-Mail</a></li> </ul> </div>  <p align="center"><i>(<a href="index.html">Toggle Frames</a>)</i></p> <h1 align="center"><img src="/images/anthony/std_news.gif" alt="*" align="middle" WIDTH="64" HEIGHT="54">The REALL News<img src="/images/anthony/std_news.gif" alt="*" align="middle" WIDTH="64" HEIGHT="54"></h1> <p align="center"><i>"It's a very dangerous thing to believe in nonsense." -- James Randi</i></p> <hr> <table border="0" width="100%"> <tr> <td width="50%"><b>Volume 4 Issue 2</b></td> <td align="right" width="50%"><b>February 1996</b></td> </tr> </table> <hr> <h2 align="center">In This Issue</h2> <div align="center"><center> <table border="0" width="80%"> <tr> <th align="left">Features</th> <th align="left">Departments</th> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="50%"><ul> <li><a href="what-if-i-werent-a-skeptic.html">What if I Weren't a Skeptic?</a>, by David Bloomberg</li> <li><a href="sacrament-of-confirmation.html">The Sacrament of Confirmation</a>, by Bob Ladendorf</li> <li><a href="weirdness-on-the-web.html">Weirdness on the Web</a>, by Wally Hartshorn</li> <li><a href="reallity-checklist-1995.html">REALLity Checklist -- 1995 in Review</a>, by David Bloomberg</li> <li><a href="reallity-check.html">REALLity Check</a>, by David Bloomberg</li> </ul> </td> <td valign="top" width="50%"><ul> <li><a href="chairman.html">From the Chairman</a> - David Bloomberg</li> <li><a href="editor.html">From the Editor</a> - Bob Ladendorf</li> <li><a href="masthead.html">Masthead</a></li> </ul> </td> </tr> </table> </center></div> <p> </p> <div align="center"><center> <table border="1" width="80%"> <tr> <td width="100%"><h2 align="center">Special 3rd Anniversary Issue</h2> <table border="0" cellspacing="5"> <tr> <td width="50%" valign="top"><h3>What if I Weren't a Skeptic?</h3> <p align="center"><b>by David Bloomberg</b></p> <font FACE="Times"><p></font>The title of this article may seem to be a bit of an odd question. However, let me assure you that Im not going to go into a deep philosophical discussion here, just a short examination of the way both skeptics and non-skeptics think.</p> <p>Let me first say that I consider it an honor to be called a "skeptic." I have seen it used as an implied insult by some, but to me it says that I am a critical thinker, and certainly thinking cannot be a bad thing (unless youre a failed school board candidate, but thats another matter [see "<a href="../../v03/n10/reallity.html">REALLity Check</a>" in Vol. 3, #10 and "<a href="reallity-checklist-1995.html">REALLity Checklist</a>," this issue]).<a href="what-if-i-werent-a-skeptic.html"><img alt="More" border="0" hspace="2" src="/images/anthony/hpoint_right.gif" WIDTH="33" HEIGHT="14">More</a></td> <td width="50%" valign="top"><h3 align="center">The Sacrament of Confirmation</h3> <p align="center"><b>by Bob Ladendorf</b></p> <font FACE="Times"><p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"></font>Speaking to a standing-room only crowd of more than 50 people at the February REALL meeting, Prof. Charles Schweighauser lambasted astrology and alleged UFO evidence based on principles of physics and astronomy.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Citing various scientific reasons for disproving astrology, Schweighauser asserted that a human desire to know what the future holds and outright charlatanism motivated by money are the two main reasons for its continuing appeal. As for UFOs, he pointed out the high improbability of any physical visitations by aliens based on the vast distances to travel, extreme mass of fuel to launch a spacecraft at the speed of light, and the friction of atoms that would tear any craft apart.<a href="sacrament-of-confirmation.html"><img alt="More" border="0" hspace="2" src="/images/anthony/hpoint_right.gif" WIDTH="33" HEIGHT="14">More</a></td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </center></div>   </body>