During my recent visit to America, I had the pleasure of making contact with several of the Skeptics in the San Francisco area. The editor of BASIS (Bay Area Skeptics Information Sheet), Kent Harker, entertained me for a day and gave me the information from Free Inquiry that has been put together to make the article on American Faith Healers. I also had a happy evening with Bob Steiner, the founder of the Bay Area Skeptics, He is a chartered accountant but now spends more time on his magic shows and the affairs of the skeptics. He is currently demonstrating to local policemen how sharks work the 'three-card-trick' or 'thimble-rigging' and how accomplices work with them. Numbers of these sharps can be seen in action on the streets of New York, but not to my knowledge elsewhere. Most interestingly, Bob showed me the video of his appearances as 'Steve Terbot', the American psychic on the Bert Newton show in Australia. He was on three shows. In the first two he demonstrated his powers and then allowed himself to be unmasked. He also appeared at some local halls and was showered with money (which he returned) from earnest believers. I have several issues of BASIS, dealing with the matter but will not repeat them here as it was fully covered in the June 1984 issue of the Australian Skeptic which many members will receive. However, if members would like to know more, please let me know. I have several phone numbers of Bay Area skeptics. If anyone is visiting there I am sure they will be as warmly welcomed as I was.

No two American faith healers are exactly alike since they are competing in a crowded market place, but they do have enough features in common to make a general survey possible. This account of how 'big name' healers work is put together from reports by skeptics who have attended their meetings.

The meeting organized by Christchurch members on "Medicine: Orthodox, Fringe and Quack" was held in the School of Medicine on 6 December, 1986. It was, as far as can be judged, a success on several counts. It was attended by over 80 people, many of them medical practitioners; the fee charged enabled us to make a small profit; we enrolled some new members; and gained further attention from the news media.

Circle the dates 29 and 30 August on your calendar, for these are the days for the second annual conference of NZCSICOP, to be held this year at Victoria University in Wellington. We plan to have lectures and symposia all day Saturday and till noon Sunday, so there will be opportunity for a good mix of material. Accommodation will be in Weir House and can be expected to be quite reasonably priced. Last year's meeting was of course very successful, and we can expect an equally arresting series of presentations this year in Wellington. Plan now to join us. And if you have any ideas either for a presentation yourself or for a speaker or event you'd like to see, please let me know.

Self-proclaimed psychic Colin Amery is suing the former leader of the sceptics society, Dr David Marks, claiming his tarot card reading business crashed after Marks publicly questioned psychic abilities. Marks was senior psychology lecturer at Otago University when he tested Amery's claimed extrasensory powers.

It's thumbs up for Sunday News in a long running battle with self proclaimed psychic Colin Amery.

The suggestion that fringe medicine is more successful than orthodox medicine (NZ Skeptic 3, editorial) was presumably put forward at challenge). It is a suggestion encountered quite frequently these days but rests on two major fallacies. Firstly, medicine is narrowly described as a cure for disease. Secondly, it is assumed that people who recover have been cured by the treatment received. The success of real medicine is illustrated by a cutting from Scientific American, Oct, 1936. It gives the average life expectancy for white males and females in America. In 1900, it was: males 48, females 51, In 1936; males 59, females 63. Compare these with recent figures, The great successes of orthodox medicine have been in the prevention and eradication of diseases. The list of once threatening diseases in N.Z. includes; tuberculosis, polio, typhoid, diphtheria, cholera and smallpox.

Ruben Romany is an artist and to support his artwork he also practises astrology and palmistry. Presently visiting Dunedin from Christchurch to practise his craft, Ruben is quick to admit that he is one of the ''biggest sceptics out"'.

New York may be the slickest and sharpest of cities, but its smartest citizens are turning to tarot cards, psychics and inter-species communicators to solve their problems. Shirley Lowe has tuned in.

Since ancient times, alternative healing methods have been used by medical practitioners and spiritual adepts to soothe the irritation of body and soul. Many people today are drawn towards the mystical and transcendental as alternatives to orthodox methods. Before people condemn these alternatives, they must look carefully at them, not shutting their eyes to the unsatisfactory and disastrous results that happen when they have ignorantly employed. For those wanting to channel their research into the area of alternative medicine, I give a list of practices currently being carried on in New Zealand.

Stephen Jay Gould, the world's best known palaeontologist, was approached by a creationist in Auckland after a lecture.