From: James Lakes lakes@senet.com.au
Greetings,
My name is James Lakes and I am a committee member of Skeptics (SA), the South Australian branch of the Australian Skeptics.
I would like this opportunity in bringing to your attention the existence of a series of web pages which I have constructed and included within the Australian Skeptics web site. These pages are devoted solely to 230 plus subjects that may be considered contentious. The index listing for these subjects can be viewed at:
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~contact/links/slnkindx.htm
These web pages have been named "The Skeptical Links Project", which as the name suggests, is a collection of links (currently 640) to various web pages on the World Wide Web floating within the realm of the paranormal and pseudo-scientific - anything from acupuncture through to zombies.
These links have also been alphabetically sorted, and individually rated as:
1 - Top Site M - Must Visit E - Excellent V - Very Good G - Good A - Australian S - Sceptical H - Humorous * - Local (skeptics.com.au)
Upon viewing these pages, would you be willing to link The Skeptical Links Project, and our web site:
to your web domain?
Are there any pages within your own respective web site that you would like to submit for inclusion within The Skeptical Links Project? If you would like to submit pages, please send the web address and page title to lakes@senet.com.au .
For further information regarding The Skeptical Links Project, please view the (?) web page at:
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~contact/links/slnkhelp.htm
You may also wish to view other lists that I have constructed:
Astronomy Prominent Sceptics Sceptical Organisations Weird News Reports Junk Email & Net Abuse Top Skeptical Links Lucky No. 7 Humorous Sites Sensational Science Sites (under construction)
All of these can be accessed via the Topics and Links page:
http://www.skeptics.com.au/features/links/links.htm
Regards, James Lakes Skeptics (SA)
_--_|\ / \ \_/--*_/ Greetings from Adelaide
The path of sound credence is through the thick forest of skepticism. --- George Jean Nathan, Materia Critica ---
Prof. Lodewijk Woltjer je predni holandsky astronom, ktery radu let zastaval funkci reditele spolecne Evropske jizni observatore [ESO], jejiz sidlo je v Garchingu v Nemecku a jejiz dalekohledy se nachazeji v La Silla a na Cerro Paranal v Chile [tam se prave nyni dokoncuje nejvetsi dalekohled sveta]. Vloni v zari mel prof. Woltjer zvanou prednasku na 7. evropske astronomicke konferenci JENAM 98 v Praze a jeji podstatna cast nyni vysla v EAS Newsletter No. 16 [1998], str. 2 - 4.
Z prednasky vyjimam:
Ctyri velke evropske zeme, tj. Francie, Nemecko, Italie a Velka Britanie maji kazda asi 800 astronomu na urovni PhD, tj. v prumeru 12 astronomu na milion obyvatel, neboli 0,5% z celkoveho poctu badatelu v techto zemich. Kazda zeme dale zamestnava v astronomickych institucich asi stejne mnozstvi ostatniho personalu [inzenyri, technici, urednice].
Kazda zeme vydava rocne na astronomii zhruba 215 milionu euro [vcetne prispevku na ESO, ESA a vyzkum planet], coz odpovida 0,02 % HDP. V USA jsou obdobne udaje: 14 PhD astronomu na milion obyvatel a 0,035% HDP.
x- X -x
To znamena, ze kazdy z techto evropskych statu vydava na samotnou astronomii rocne kolem 7,5 miliardy Kc [tato castka s ohledem na 'neprakticnost' astronomie pochazi temer vyhradne ze statniho rozpoctu], tj. asi 3/4 castky, ktera se u nas nyni na r. 1999 planuje na veskerou vedu a vyzkum. Pro srovnani jeste uvadim, ze u nas pripada asi 6 PhD astronomu na milion obyvatel. V prepoctu na pocet obyvatelstva bychom pro docileni rovnych podminek pro nase badatele meli tedy jenom na astronomii vydavat neco kolem 1,1 mld Kc rocne; vzhledem k relativne polovicnimu poctu astronomu [dalsi ostuda!] pak 550 mil Kc rocne. Povazuji za zazrak, ze pri nesrovnatelne horsim financovani nas vyzkum jeste vubec funguje.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Online archive of CZECHSCI mailing list is located at: http://www.reference.com/cgi-bin/pn/listarch?list=CZECHSCI@markl.cz ---------------------------------------------------------------------
Dobry den,
posilam dalsi inzerat - tentokrat z Jizni Koree. Vice lze nalezt na webove strance:
http://xxx.lanl.gov/Announce/Jobs/
S pozdravem,
Alexander Moroz
PS :
FACULTY POSITIONS IN PHYSICS, KOREA ADVANCED INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (KAIST), KOREA
Kiwoon Choi, professor at KAIST kchoi@higgs.kaist.ac.kr
Thu, 17 Dec 98 21:41:44 -0700
FACULTY POSITIONS IN PHYSICS DEPARTMENT AT KAIST
The Department of Physics at KAIST(Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) invites applications for one or more faculty positions starting Fall 1999. Candidates from all areas of theoretical and experimental physics are encouraged to apply. Applications from non-Korean citizens fluent in English are particularly welcome. The rank of the positions is open and will be determined by the qualifications and experiences of the successful candidates. The salary will be commensurate with the scale of standard U.S. Universities. Preference will be given to candidates who have well-recognized research accomplishments and who are devoted to teaching. The successful candidates are expected to leads research activities at KAIST in their areas of expertise and to teach classes in English. Applicants should submit a brief statement of research interests and goals, curriculum vitae including a list of publications by January 31, 1999 to:
Prof. B. Y. Kim Department of Physics KAIST Taejon, 305-701, Korea e-mail: yoonkim@sorak.kaist.ac.kr
Inquires can also be addressed to Prof. B. Y. Kim at the above e-mail address or Tel: 82-42-869-2527.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Alexander Moroz FOM Institute tel. : +31-20-6081353 AMOLF fax : +31-20-6684106 Kruislaan 407
email: moroz@amolf.nl NL-1098 SJ Amsterdam The Netherlands
( http://www.amolf.nl/external/wwwlab/atoms/theory/ )
--------------------------------------------------------------
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Willem Betz wbetz@huis.vub.ac.be
Concerning: Recognition of alternative treatments in Belgium.
In Belgium, Health Minister Marcel Colla introduced a bill for acknowledgement of alternative treatments. He is pushing hard to see this bill passed before the end of the year.
Many people wonder if the suggested way of acknowledgement will offer a true solution for this problem. It aims at giving a monopoly for certain alt treatments to selected groups.
A few days ago a report was represented to the press by a study group within the scope of the Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research by representatives of the seven Belgian universities and the two Royal Academies for medicine (Flemish and French).
This report confirms once more that there is NO convincing evidence for the efficacy of so-called alternative treatments and the dangers and adverse effects can be serious.
The Belgian minister M. Colla ignored this document. In his opinion it is not scientific. Which is quite a strong pronouncement from a politician, aimed against all acknowledged scientific institutions of the country.
He also ignores the directives of the European parliament, to acknowledge AFTER proof is given of the effectiveness and when the dangers are known. >From 1993 until now, a European study group worked within the scope of the COST on the same subject (COST B4). In this study group representatives of fifteen countries took part. The final report is released now, and printed as a book form (110 pages). It was officially represented on the 29th of October 1998 in London.
The conclusions of COST B4 are almost identical to those of the Belgian universities : There is no convincing evidence for the effectiveness of alternative treatments, with as only (and they are even dubious) exceptions : one acupuncturespot against nausea, relieving pain after toothextraction and manual treatments can sometimes help against backache. Herbs of course are effective, but can be very dangerous too. The ethical and scientific rules of conduct must be the same for altmed and scientific med.
Let’s hope there will come an end now to the false optimistic messages of existing proof which were prematurely passed on to the press.
If minister Colla wants to ignore this report also, we have to start having serious doubts about his motives or at the advices he gets.
Conclusion : Recognition, YES but ONLY AFTER EVIDENCE OF EFFECTIVENESS IS PRODUCED AND THE DANGERS ARE KNOWN.
SKEPP, Belgian Skeptical Association
The booklet can be ordered in Belgium:
Title: COST Action B4, Unconventional medicine Final Report of the Management Committee 1993-98 ref.: EUR 18420 EN La Librairie Europeenne/De Europese Boekhandel 244, rue de la Loi/Wetstraat, 244 1040 Brussels Tel 02/295.26.39 fax 02/735.08.60 email: mail@libeurop.be
for other countries, please mail us for the address, the supply is very limited, but a reprint will be made.
Prof. Dr. Willem Betz VUB Free University Brussels Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy Laarbeeklaan, 103 B-1090 Brussel Belgium phone: ++32/2/477.43.11 fax: ++32/2/477.43.01
email office: wbetz@huis.vub.ac.be
email home: wbetzhome@skynet.be
