Skeptic David Morrison earns big profile for 2012 information. CLICK HERE to read the article.David Morrison

On Monday, July 9th, all five hosts of the Skeptics Guide to the Universe (SGU) podcast attended a meet-and-greet cosponsored by the Bay Area SGU at Ohlone CollegeSkeptics and the Psychology Department at Ohlone College. Many people have asked me how on earth we were able to pull this off, so I thought I'd share the story. I was introduced to Evan Bernstein several years ago while attending "The Amaz!ng Meeting" in Las Vegas, NV. I had never heard of the SGU, and casually asked Evan what brought him to TAM. He replied, "Oh, I thought you knew. I'm Evan from the SGU." I said, "Oh? What's that?" He said, "The Skeptics Guide to the Universe." I said, "Okay. And what's the Skeptics Guide to the Universe?" Evan looked a bit taken aback and laughed, saying, "I'm sorry if I look surprised. It's just that I don't usually

The Bay Area Skeptic’s SkepTalk of 8 August 2012 attracted a packed house and delivered a riveting program that included a one-hour documentary movie followed by the Skype presence of the movie’s principal character, Matthew LaClair. The story begins when Matt LaClair, a student at a suburban New Jersey public high school, hears his history teacher insert Christian proselytizing into his lessons. LaClair believed the teacher was doing this in the other classes he taught and probably had been for years. LaClair also believed that if he voiced an objection [on the basis of respecting the separation of church and state] the teacher would still continue proselytizing in other classes. Matt decided to bring a tape recorder to class and recorded what the teacher had to say about Jesus. [Teacher on tape] “He did everything in his power to make sure that you could go to heaven, so much so that he took your sins on his own body, suffered your pains for you, and he’s saying, ‘Please, accept me, believe.’ If you reject that, you belong in hell.” LaClair and his parents released the tape to the media

    Jamie DeWolf

As many of you know, this year's SkeptiCal 2012 conference was a rousing photo by Heather Appleburysuccess! Hundreds of skeptic-minded guests converged upon the Berkeley Doubletree Hotel to hear talks on what toddlers and children can teach us about being better scientists, the neuroscience of Out-of-Body Experiences, doomsday predictions for 2012, the importance of vaccination, and many other topics. Please CLICK HERE to read an excellent article about the conference by LaRae Meadows of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. In addition to being exceptionally well written, Meadows' article contains brief descriptions of each speaker and break-out session, links to more information on the speakers themselves. Keep your eyes peeled for details about next year's SkeptiCal Conference, and we hope to see you there!

On Wednesday, November 9th, 2011, we were treated to an excellent talk entitled “End of the World Predictions” by Dr. Patrick O’Reilly, psychology professor from U.C. San Francisco.Patrick O'Reilly Dr. O'Reilly delivered a detailed and interesting one-hour talk about the phenomenon of predicting the end of the world, some religiously motivated, some not. This talk was particularly timely, you'll note, since the popular media has become so interested lately in feeding us stories about such predictions. O’Reilly's lecture began by focusing on religiously based end-of-world predictions. He provided some basic terminology which also helped explain some historical and theological facts necessary to understand those who make end-of-world predictions. Paramount to this effort was his definition of Christian Eschatology, a branch of Christianity concerned with the final events in the history of the world, or of humankind. This involves the Second Coming of Jesus, the resurrection

OK, the title of this article isn't completely accurate (and it isn't a Grave DowsingBay Area story, but I couldn't help posting it). At this point in the story, it's not demonstrated that ground-penetrating radar is superior to dowsing for locating a cemetery, but I think it's a safe statement. The state of Mississippi wants to build a highway, but properly needs to see if an abandoned cemetery is in the proposed path. The landowner has hired a dowser who claims to be able to find bodies. CLICK HERE for the whole story. In this ADDITIONAL STORY on the grave dowser, we learn that he can distinguish between male and female bodies by the direction the wires go when he passes over their graves.