NMSR meets at 7 PM on the second Wednesday of each month, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, at the UNM Law Building (1117 Stanford NE, Room 2402, toward the west [golf course] side of the building).
UNM LAW BUILDING,
1117
STANFORD NE,
ALBUQUERQUE,
NM
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MAY 21st, 2008 NMSR MEETING
Wayne Bundy, speaking on his new book, Out of Chaos:
Evolution from the Big Bang to Human Intellect: Intellect's Essential
Nature to the Survival of Modern Humans.

Wednesday, May 21st, 2008, 7PM at the UNM Law Building
1117 Stanford NE, at Mountain Road and Stanford, Room 2402.
Information: 268-3772

Some Previous NMSR Speakers:
2008
Dave Thomas and John Geohegan: "Media Fumbles and Strange Letters on Chemtrails, Bumblebee Flight, Sea Monsters, History of the Speed of Light and More!
A 2007 and Beyond Retrospective." (Jan. 9th)
Marshall Berman "The 'Intelligently Designed' Attack on Science and Society" (Feb. 13th, Darwin Day)
Benjamin Radford on "Lake Monsters I Have Known" (Mar. 12th)
Ted Cloak on "A Scientific Anthropology: Natural Selection CAN Explain Cultural Progress, and Here's How" (April 9th)
2007
Dr. Jon Aase on "Dysmythology: Should Unborn Babies Fear the
Environment?" (Jan. 10th)
Darwin Day at NMT, UNM (Feb. 9th, 12th) - no 2nd Weds. Meeting
this month.
Dr. Bill Doleman on his involvement in the "Sci-Fi
Investigates" program (Mar. 14th)
Dr. Richard M. Berthold, on "Greeks: Why These Dead White Males
Discovered Rationalism." (April 11th)
John Holmes on "Climate Change: Deal or No Deal" (May 9th)
Ben Radford On "Reflections on a Decade of Paranormal Investigation"
(June 13th)
Randy Thornhill and Corey Fincher On "The Evolutionary Biology of
Political Values" (July 11th)
Science Toys (August 8th)
Dave Thomas on "Alien Fauna of New Mexico" (September 12th)
Ben Radford on "How to Investigate a Haunted House" (October 10th)
Dr. Gary Overturf (UNM Pediatrics),on "The Issue of Thimerosal in Vaccine: The Science and the Hysteria"(Nov. 14th)
Mel Strong, UNM Dept E and PS, "Isotopes, Water Vapor, Flying Machines, and the Border Patrol: Adventures in Tracking New Mexico's Elusive Monsoon Moisture" (Dec. 12th)
2006
Spencer Lucas, New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science,
on "Survivor Chicxulub - Were There Dinosaurs After the Meteor
Impact?" (Jan. 11th)
Pedro Irigonegaray, Kansas attorney, on "Darwin Day 2006" (Feb.
12th)
John Fleck, Alb. Journal, on "Drought, Hurricanes and Global
Climate Change." (March 8th)
George C. Loehr, eLucem*, on "Blackouts & Blunders: the 'Brave
New World' of Electric Power Deregulation." (April 12th)
Jerry Brody on "Evolution, Schmevolution and Didactic Museum
Exhibitions - How Museums Teach What?"(May 10th)
Carolyn Meinel on "Computer Security Research -- In Need of Adult
Supervision." (June 14th)
Carolyn's Site, Carolyn's
Wikipedia Page, Happy
Hacker Site
Dr. Al Zelicoff on "One Flu out of some Cuckoo's Head: Why Pandemic
Influenza isn't a problem (unless you are a chicken)." (July
12th) Al's Web Page
Dr. Mark Boslough on King Tut's Necklace: The Extraterrestrial
Connection (Aug. 9th)
Dr. Cosette Wheeler on "Now that we have a means to prevent cancer,
Will We?" (Sept. 13th)
"A Night of Magic" - Wayne Hicks, Donnie Marchi, and our own Bill
Fienning & Dave Thomas (Oct. 11th)
"Stem Cells" with Dr. Lee Anna Cunningham and Dr. Xinyu Zhao of
UNM HSC (Nov. 8th)
December Meeting - Snowed Out! (Dec. 20th)
2005
Brian Sanderoff of Research and Polling, Inc., on "The
Science of Polling." (Jan., 12th)
"Paleoclimate & Global Warming." Prof. Peter Fawcett (Feb.
9th)
"Folsom Sites on Albuquerque's West Mesa." Bruce Huckell (Mar.
9th)
Hank Beechhold on "How Weird is English, Really?" (April 13th)
Professor E. D. Remoff (prof. emeritus, Miskatonic University,
Arkham, MA) on "My Visit to the Institute for Creation Research," and
Dave Thomas on "The Bible Code: Data Mining for God." (May
11th)
Prof. Les McFadden, Chair, UNM Dept. of Earth and Planetary
Sciences, on "The Role of the Sun in Formation of Desert Pavements."
(June 8th)
Prof. Carlton Caves on "Quantum Cryptography: Secret Communication
Courtesy of Quantum Mechanics." (July 13)
Len Duda on "The Cassini Spacecraft at Saturn" (August 10)
Prof. McAllister Hull (UNM) on "Wartime Los Alamos and Beyond:
Nuclear Weapons and Public Policy." (Sept. 14)
"A Night of Magic" (Oct. 14th)
General Meeting and Elections (Nov. 9th)
Pace VanDevender, Sandia National Labs, on "Ball Lightning--New
Physics, New Energy Source, or Just Entertainment?" (Dec. 14th)
2004
Shenda Baker (Harvey Mudd Chem. Dep't) on
"Fun with Strange
Matter" (Jan. 14th)
Barbara
Forrest (Southeastern Louisiana
University), on
"Moving the Discussion of Intelligent Design in a New Direction."
(Feb. 14th)
Prof. Forrest's new book, Creationism's Trojan Horse: The Wedge of
Intelligent Design,
with Paul R. Gross, Oxford University Press, November 2003 can be
ordered here.
Review by Michael Cavanaugh, President, Institute
on Religion in an Age of Science
"This book is chilling. It lets one see how totalitarian religious thought can begin to take hold even of a multi-cultural free society. We already knew that religious fundamentalists and many evangelicals think teaching evolutionary principles is not only erroneous, but evil. We knew they objected to teaching evolution in the schools. We knew they had concocted various intellectual constructs to deny the truth of evolution, and we knew that the most recent of these constructs, 'Intelligent Design,' was subtle and sophisticated enough to attract the attention of many ordinary citizens. Since 1954, with the founding of the Institute on Religion in an Age of Science (of which I am the current president), many scientists and religion scholars have countered such claims by enthusiastically accepting mainstream science and exploring the implications for a modern understanding, for example in journals like Zygon: Journal of Religion & Science. Our effort has been to affirm the advances of science while preserving the ethical and philosophical insights of traditional religious traditions. And we thought we were doing our part at helping keep the society on track. Then comes this book. It shows what we did NOT already know, namely that there is a concerted and organized plan, 'The Wedge Strategy,' whereby this putative 'scientific' construct called Intelligent Design seeks to give itself a patina of respectability, thereby to make politicians look more credible when they try to remove legitimate science from our schools. But there is no mistaking the true goal of this movement-the Discovery Institute, through its Center for Science and Culture, seeks to 'renew' American culture through the enshrinement of evangelical religious doctrines as public policy. This is a development that every person interested in the science/religion dialogue needs to be aware of and needs to give serious thought to. It is not just the general wedge strategy that needs to be understood, but the detailed tactical maneuvers as well; thus, this is a book that must be read thoroughly, and not just skimmed. Fortunately it is easy and compelling reading, and many of us will want to put copies in the hands of those in a position-whether academically or politically or otherwise-to make a difference in the future of science education. "
Dr. Gregory Cochran on "The Natural History of
Ashkenazi Intelligence." (March 10).
Workshop on "How will the new Science Standards affect the way
evolution is taught?" (April 14th)
Goals of the standards: Producing scientifically literate students - Dr. Steve Sanchez, former SDE Staff
Teaching evolution in New Mexico - Dr. Richard Reif, PED
Strategies for teaching evolution - Sharon Dogruel, Santa Fe, former SDE staff
Evolution and the university curriculum - Prof. Timothy Moy, UNM.
Teaching evolution in the high school classroom - Lisa Durkin, Los Lunas
Intelligent Design's "Scientific Evidence" Against Evolution: Not scientific and not evidence - David E. Thomas, PeraltaWEBSITE: http://www.nmsr.org/workshop.htm
Bryan Styble , "Radioactive Albuquerque" (KKNS
1310 AM), on "Talk Radio: Medium of the Millennium" (May 12)
Brian Lanter, UNM, "Just Because They're Drowning Straw Men With Old
Wine from New Bottles Doesn't Mean We Have To Throw the Baby Out With
the Bath Water." (June 9th)
"An Evening of Magic" with Larry Marken, Richard Searle, Dusty
Cravens, Bill Fienning, Robert Copeland, John Geohegan and Dave
Thomas. (July 14th)
"Where do the laws of physics come from?" with Vic Stenger (August
25th)
Andrew Heckert, Ph.D., on "Dinosaur Record Holders." (Sept. 8th)
DDDV: Lessons Learned. (Oct. 13th)
"Tides on the Bay of Fundy." Walter L. Punke (Nov. 10th)
"Mt. St. Helens." UNM vulcanologist Wolf Elston (Dec. 8th)
2003
Dr. Rebecca Reiss (New Mexico Tech) on
"Molecular Evolution: Studies in Microbes, Middens, and Man." (Jan.
8) SUMMARY
Cosette Wheeler (UNM HSC) and Spencer Lucas (NMMNHS),
Darwin Day -
"How would my career be different if Darwin had never lived?" (Feb
12th)
Dr. William Doleman (UNM, Archeology Dep't) on "The Sci-Fi Channel
Roswell Dig." (March 12) SUMMARY
Dr. Alan Zelicoff (Sandia Nat'l Labs) on "Lies, Damned Lies, and
Polygraphs." (April 9th) SUMMARY
Jim Oberg, CSICOP Fellow, "Lessons of the 'Moon Hoax Myth'"
(April 13th) http://www.jamesoberg.com/
National Astronomy Day (May 10)
Hosted by: LodeStar
Astronomy Center and The
Albuquerque Astronomy Society
Dr. Steve Gregory (UNM), on "Empty Universes and Empty Heads,
Musings on Cosmic Voids and Catastrophe Predictions." (May
14th)
Dr. Ken Stoller, Simply Hyperbarics, on "Hyperbaric
Chambers." (June 11th) http://www.simplyhyperbarics.com
Dr. Diana Northup (Associate Professor, UNM's Biology Department),
on
"Snottites, Phlegmballs, and Deadly Gases, Oh My! Microbes in
Sulfur Caves ."(July 9th)
See http://www.i-pi.com/~diana/
John Geohegan on "The Discovery of Stellar Aberration,"
and Dave Thomas on "The Illusions of Intelligent
Design: Smoke and Mirrors Gone Wild." (August 13th)
Dr. Giday WoldeGabriel on "Geological Perspectives and the Hominid
Record in Ethiopia" (Sept. 10th)
M. Kim Johnson (President, NM Academy of Science), on "History of New
Mexico's Science Standards." (Oct. 8th)
In addition, Ken Frazier (Editor, Skeptical Inquirer) and Amanda
Chesworth (local conference coordinator) preview of
the upcoming CSICOP conference on Hoaxes, Myths and Manias (Oct.
8th)
CSICOP CONFERENCE Hoaxes, Myths and Manias (Oct. 23-26).
[website]
Dr. Eugenie Scott, Ph.D., Executive Director, NCSE,
"Intelligent Design Creationism: Not Ready for Prime Time."
(Smith-Brasher Hall, TVI, Oct. 27th)
Christopher Whittle (UNM) , "Paranormal Belief: Bull Hockey
or Cultural Imperative?" (Nov. 12th)
Gene Franchini (Former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New
Mexico), on "Science and the Law." (Dec. 10th)
2002
Bob Baker of NMSR speaking on "Is There a Fuel
Cell in Your Future?" (Jan. 9th)
Stuart Kauffman of Santa Institute & BiosGroup, speaking on
"Investigations" (Feb. 13th) SUMMARY
Cody Polston & Bob Carter of the Southwest Ghost Hunters
Association on "Hunting for Ghosts." SUMMARY
see: http://www.abqtrib.com/archives/news01/112301_news_ghosts.shtml
(March 13th)
Dr. Galen Knight of Vitaletherapeutics
speaking on
"Close Doesn't Count in Biochemistry, No Matter How Many Tax Dollars
You Throw At It." (April 10th) SUMMARY
Ted Cloak, NMSR, "You Can't Re-invent the Wheel Because It
Was Never Invented in the First Place!" (May 8th)
Peter Feibelman, Sandia, "What Water Wets, and Why!" (June 12th)
Jim Moseley and Karl Pflock on their new book,
Shockingly Close to the Truth : Confessions of a Grave-Robbing
Ufologist (July 10th)
Dr. Adrian Brearley of UNM, "Mars, Magnetite, and
Microbes: Lessons Learned and New Perspectives." (August
14th)
More Info: http://skyandtelescope.com/news/current/article_534_1.asp
Science Toys & Demos (Sept. 11th 2002)
Biology Professor Randy Thornhill (UNM), Retired Professor of
Linguistics (Emeritus) Hank Beechhold, and
Anthropologist Ted Cloak, on "Implications of a New-Found 'Language
Gene.' " (Oct. 9th 2002) SUMMARY
Associate Professor Trish Henning (UNM) on "The Structure of the
Universe." (Nov. 13th 2002) SUMMARY
Dick Burcham (Sandia Nat'l Labs) on "Strategic Indirect
Warfare-The Metamorphosis of War."
2001
Dr. Mohammed Mojahedi, UNM, "Superluminal
Velocities and Einstein Causality" (January) SUMMARY
Dave Thomas, NMSR president, "Technical Problems with
Intelligent Design Theory" (February)
Prof. Henry Beechhold, "The English Language and its
Discontents" (March) SUMMARY
Dr. Gus Simmons, "Proof of Knowledge, Knowledge of
Proof." (April) SUMMARY
Dr. Jeff Brinker , UNM / Sandia Nat. Labs, "Self-assembled
materials...From Dishwashing to Nanostructures." (May)
SUMMARY
Dr. Dave Gutzler, UNM, "Global Warming : Science and Policy
Perspectives" (June) SUMMARY
Dr. Adrian Melott , Univ. of Kansas physicist, "FLAT (Families for
Learning Accurate Theories) : Defending Science
Through Parody." (July) FLAT's Web Page: http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Palms/5737/flat.html
Karl T. Pflock, MUFON, "Roswell: Inconvenient Facts and the Will
to Believe" (August 8th)
Dr. Massimo Pigliucci, "A Critique of Intelligent Design
Theory" (Aug. 11th); see http://www.rationallyspeaking.org
Science Toys (Sept. 15th)
John Geohegan, "Misunderstanding Relativity," (Oct. 10th)
SUMMARY
Larry Crumpler of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and
Science, on
"Looking for Landing Sites on Mars for Mars Exploration Rover 2003
(MER2003)" (Nov. 14th)
Gary Morgan of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science
speaking on
"Early Evolution of Bats, Early Evolution of Whales." (Dec.
12th)
2000
Dr. Gregory W. Donohoe, UNM/NASA
Microelectronics Research Center, on Molecular Electronics
(January)
Dr. Stan Rhine, UNM, on "Dead Reckoning : The Science
Behind and Reasons for Forensic Anthropology." (February)
Dr. Alan Zelicoff, SNL, Biological Weapons Treaties, Polygraph Tests
(March)
Dr. Jerry Dragoo of the UNM Biology , "A Skunk By Any Other
Name..." (April)
Dr. Randy Thornhill, "A Natural History of Rape" (May)
Dr. John Geissman, "Paleomagnetism - More Than Just Sea Floor
Spreading!" (June)
Dr. Peter Fawcett , "The Greenland Ice Core Record: 100,000
Years of Climate Change" (August)
Toby Smith, "Here Come the Aliens...Again! Why Roswell Won't Go
Away." (September)
Prof. Charles B. Moore, "Benjamin Franklin's Legacy and Lightning
Protection" (October)
Prof. John Geissman , UNM, "A report on the National Conference of
Teaching of Evolution, Berkeley, CA." (November)
NMSR president Dave Thomas, "Sabbath Patterns in History?"
(November)
John Geohegan , NMSR vice president, "Choosing Convenient
Realities." (December)
1999
Paul Gammill with the Case for Intelligent
Design and Dave Thomas with the Case for Evolution (January)
Carolyn Meinel (the Happy Hacker) on Computer Hacking (February)
Prof. Carlton Caves on Quantum Mechanics (March)
Dr. Greg Cochran on a New Germ Theory (April)
Dr. Rich Rand on Galaxies (May)
Florence Wengerd on the Scopes Trial (June)
Dr. Albert Einstein, with assistance of Seance master Bill
Fienning (August)
Dr. Ed Flynn on Brain Imaging (September)
Rob Weinstein on Video Technology (October)
John Geohegan on Anti-relativists and Aberration (October)
Dr. Arlin Cooper on Fuzzy Math (November)
Dr. Leonard Duda on the Galileo Mission to Jupiter
(December)
1998
William Dawes of Sandia on Teaching Teachers
Science Curricula (January)
Ralph Genter on The Physics of Astrology (February)
Prof. Wolfgang Elston on Volcanoes of New Mexico (March)
Dr. Keith Gilbert on Probability (April)
Neil Stammer on Giordano Bruno (May)
Prof. Gary Miller on Antarctica (June)
Bill Carlyon, Trish Judd, and Barbara Stein on Alternative Medicine
(August)
David E. Thomas on the Bible Code, Ken Frazier on Skeptics World
Congress (September)
Dr. Virginia Salas on Virus Detection (October)
John Geohegan on Music and Harmony (November)
Dr. Genie Scott of NCSE on Creationism (December)
1997
Dr. Spencer Lucas and Prof. John Geissmann on
Paleontology Tour to China (February)
Prof. Ben Mann on Mathematics and Magic (March)
Reporter John Fleck on the Rose Parade Crowd and other tales
(April)
David E. Thomas on Non-Reversing Mirrors (May)
Prof. Randy Thornhill on Symmetry and Sexual Attraction (June)
Tom Williamson and Carl Diegert on Sounds of Parasaurolophus
(August)
Dr. Gary Morgan on the Evolution of Whales (September)
Teacher Cindy Chapman on Science Competency Testing (October)
Prof. Richard Harris on Significance Testing (November)
Prof. Byron Dieterle on Neutrino measurement at CHOOZ
(December)
1996
Prof. Carl Popp on Chemical Magic (January)
Dr. Alan Hale on Comet Hale-Bopp (February)
Prof. Maya Elrick on Tracking Climate Changes in Rocks (March)
Dr. John McGraw on LodeStar (May)
Prof. David Gutzler on Politics of Climate Change (June)
Tom Ashcroft on Radio Fireball Observations (August)
Karina Running Horse on Science Education (September)
Evelyn Browning-Garriss on Climate and Society (October)
Prof. Chip Shearer on Evidence of Life in Martian Meteorites
(November)
1995
David A. Thomas on Dinosaur Sculpting and
Continental Drift (January)
Prof. Charles B. Moore on the Roswell Incident and Project MOGUL
(February)
Smith Powell of Berea College, KY on Stellar Evolution (March)
John Geissman of UNM on Paleomagnetism (April)
Dick Spalding of Sandia Labs on The April 1978 Bell Island Mystery
Event (May)
John Geohegan on Photographic/Painting Analysis (June)
Prof. Joe Mullins on the Taos Hum (July)
Karl T. Pflock on UFOs (August)
Mark Boslough on Planetary Impacts (October)
Brian Butler of NRAO on Radar Images of the Planets (November)
Sculptor David A. Thomas on Dinosaur Attacks (December)
1994
Spencer Lucas of the NM Museum of Natural
History on Fossils (January)
Chuck Scott on the Population Explosion (February)
Dr. Ferenc Szasz of UNM on Pre-Columbian Contact in the
Americas? (March)
David Crossley on Frauds and UFO's (April)
Dave Thomas on Nostradamus - the Man Who Saw Yesterday (May)
John Geohegan on Science and the New Age (June)
Dave Harmony, John Geohegan, Dave Thomas on Rejecting Relativity :
Einstein's Detractors (August)
Robert Cormack on Illusions and Delusions (September)
Rex Graham of the Albuquerque Journal on Quarks, Kooks, and Fuzzy
Logic (November)
Marshall Berman on "Hot Hands" and Statistics
(December)