The Skeptics have been saddened by the deaths of two of our most lively and engaged members.

Ray Carr was a fine example of an active Skeptic.

While critical thinking is an essential part of the defence against pseudo-science, general knowledge also has an important role. The more knowledge you have about more things, the better equipped you are to detect the propagation of nonsense. However, the authorities may not be so concerned.

The above is a suggested logo for NZCSICOP. It was designed by a Wellington Skeptic, Hugh Young. Hugh has provided the following commentary:

A talk given to the 1989 NZCSICOP Conference, Christchurch

I was first conscious that I had met Procrustes about 20 years ago, though I did not at that time know his name. At the beginning of a course of instruction on how to examine medical patients the clinical tutor had us don headphones plugged into an amplifier while his stethoscope wandered over the chest of a lady who each year donated her time to the greater glory of Medicine. She had a diseased mitral heart valve and we were invited to identify the "low pitched rumbling diastolic murmur" and "There! Listen carefully!

The German physician, H. Rheder described the following clinical trial in 1955. In the local hospital were three patients under his care; one suffering from chronic gall bladder disease, a second from severe pancreatitis associated with weight loss, constipation and depression, and the third had an inoperable uterine cancer, with anaemia, weakness and massive accumulation of fluid in the abdomen.

There were some strange responses to New Zealand's first big earthquake prediction.

A recent leading article in The New Zealand Medical Journal looked at Diet and Behaviour. Food intolerance was strongly associated with the mother's level of education. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing? As regards the putative link between sugar and problem behaviours the article says "'...it is just as likely that restless or aggressive children seek out more sugar as that sugar causes the inappropriate behaviour." The authors conclude "...it should be recognized that modification of a particular child's diet is almost always accompanied by changes in management."

A recent best-seller illustrates the history of the triumph of intellectual theory over ignorant pragmatism or reactionary ideology.

I have just got around to reading the article "Science vs Religion" in Skeptic No. 11, and am still wondering why it was written for such a journal (or was it?).

From Ancient Skies, Vol 16, No 6. (1990)