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Meeting Program

1998-1999 Season

See the main meeting page for location and time.

	Biomagnetism Joseph Gastright, EdD Investigations Officer, A.R.T.	14 Nov 1998
Do small permanent magnets cure diseases and reduce pain? How do magnetic fields interact with living tissue? Why isn't the research on magnetic medicine more promising? All of these questions will be answered along with a review of the history of magnetic cures.

	Science Literacy vs the Bible Literally George F. Bishop, PhD Professor of Political Science, University of Cincinnati	12 Dec 1998
Strength of belief in biblical creation and science literacy are inversely related in industrialized nations. George's recent work on this topic, plus some new info on the beliefs of scientists will highlight this presentation.

	ESP ...or Intuition? A representative of Klein Associates, Inc. Klein Associates, Inc., Fairborn, OH	9 Jan 1999
...Intuition or expertise? ...Rational or not? Classic, laboratory-bound studies of decision-making had no place for gut feelings. Seeing a gap between the lab and real-life, Gary Klein, PhD began probing and demystifying intuition nearly 30 years ago. He (and others) have since established the powerful role it plays when experts make decisions under emergency or high-stakes settings (including masters-level chess). Klein Associates now provides consulting services to military, corporate, health care and other clients seeking to redesign their organizations around these newer models of decision-making (including some here in Cincinnati).

	Alar + 10 years Donna Rouster Rouster's Apple House, Milford, OH	13 March 1999
February 26th marked the 10th anniversary of an event that belongs in the annals of media infamy -- broadcast of a CBS 60 Minutes segment called "A is for Apple." In an exclusive deal negotiated with the Natural Resources Defense Council and their public relations firm, CBS fired the opening salvo in what was soon revealed to be a dramatic and devastating manipulation of public understanding and public policy regarding a little-used product that helped growers control maturation of red apples and cherries. Meryl Streep was written into the script and talk show hosts grabbed ratings as they rode the tail of this comet. The cooler heads of science never had a chance to prevail. So what happened to apple growers? What was their immediate experience and response? What have the long term effects been? And, what have the ripple effects been? One local grower will give us a glimpse of what it was like to weather this storm.

	Round-table Discussion Various	10 April 1999
The April membership meeting was a round table dedicated to serious skeptical conversation. President Roy Auerbach began with a report on pseudoscience in the high end hi-fi market. Roy's report was followed by a discussion of whether black metal trays make meat defrost any faster than just putting the meat on the kitchen counter. The defrosting discussion was followed by discussions of the possibility of teleportation or metatransfer (as in"Beam me up, Scotty"), hydrothermal rifts, the origin of life (here on Earth or elsewhere or both) and a report by Publicity Coordinator Gary Himes on speculative theorizing on time travel. Members ended up wondering about spontaneous human combustion. Meeting Organizer Brad Bonham, reading from Secrets of the Supernatural : Investigating the World's Occult Mysteries, by Joe Nickel and John F. Fischer, (1996), explained that spontaneous human combustion is a poorly understood but explainable phenomenon in which a person burns with the immediate surroundings, for example, a chair, but leaving the rest of the room untouched. Usually the person is elderly, not mobile, and has used sleeping pills or alcohol and was smoking or very near an open fireplace at the time of the accident. The fire is not "spontaneous" but caused by smoking or the nearby fire. A variety of circumstances can account for the failure of the fire to spread.

	Bigfoot or...? Ron Schaffner Creature Chronicles, Milford, OH	8 May 1999
First published in 1980, Creature Chronicles was primarily a newsletter about Bigfoot. It has expanded to cover a wide range of cryptozoological topics, including reports of animal oddities. Join us as Ron discusses the Roger Patterson Bigfoot video and shares stories from local investigations he's conducted over the last couple of decades.

	Feng Shui -- Healing Touch for the Homestead? Richard McGrath, STD Professor of Theology (emeritus), Thomas More College	12 June 1999
Feng shui (pronounced "phong schway" and translating literally as "wind water") is an ancient Chinese approach to nature based on the notion that energy (good & bad) flows through landscape features and man-made structures. The goal of feng shui is to optimize the flow of good energy (chi), thus optimizing luck or good fortune at a site. A building's shape, orientation, placement of rooms, doors, windows and certain artifacts are all considered. Once primarily a concern in the placement of temples and burial sites (and practiced only by those who'd studied the principles for decades), detection and interpretation of the metaphysical energies coursing through your home or office is now available simply by calling an interior decorator! For a fee, of course. But if, as many choose to interpret, more luck = more money, you can't lose. Right? Join us as Dick brings us up to speed on this trendy New Age "energy" scam.

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