01 September 2010 by Jonathan Abrams
William Shatner is hosting a new documentary-style show called “William Shatner’s Weird or What?” (great name!). It’s in premiering in Canada tonight on History Television (10pm ET/PT). In promotion of the show Shatner has been interviewed by the Canadian media including the Ottawa Citizen. According to the Ottawa Citizen: Each week, the show will look at [...]
Posted in Canada, Media, Skepticism8 Comments
30 August 2010 by Jonathan Abrams
The Canadian Medical Association (CMA) is the national organization that advocates for the interest of physicians in Canada. They also publish the well regarded Canadian Medical Association Journal. The CMA has a vocal public advocacy function and routinely speaks out on different public health issues and the sustainability of medicare. Recently they have been in [...]
Posted in Alternative Medicine, Health, Ontario, Skepticism6 Comments
17 August 2010 by Jonathan Abrams
Phil Plait‘s much blogged about talk at The Amazing Meeting 8 (aka TAM8) in Vegas called “Don’t Be a Duck”, I mean, “Don’t Be a Dick” has been made available for viewing online. I recommend you check it out. Even though what he’s saying isn’t new (I blogged similar thoughts) he does present the argument [...]
Posted in Culture, Skepticism2 Comments
03 August 2010 by Jonathan Abrams
For my weekly podcast, The Reality Check, we often have a short “skeptical” parody of a song before the show starts. Many people wanted a full-length parody song, so for our 100th episode we parodied that obvious: Journey’s Don’t Stop Believing. I hope you enjoy the song and video: If you want a high quality [...]
Posted in Critical Thinking, Skepticism1 Comment
13 July 2010 by Jonathan Abrams
Over the past week I saw two incredible sights, the first was the Grand Canyon (pictures don’t do it justice) and the second was a gathering of over 1300 skeptics in a Las Vegas hotel. (Or was that three?) For the past 8 years the James Randi Educational Foundation (aka the JREF) has hosted a [...]
Posted in Canada, Skepticism6 Comments
05 May 2010 by Jonathan Abrams
Some people think that our politicians are rational people that care about evidence and logic. Then again, one in five believe that aliens exist and live among us. One of Canada’s former defence ministers, Paul Hellyer, may not be in the first group but can be counted within the second group. Hellyer has supposedly been [...]
Posted in Skepticism2 Comments
24 February 2010 by Jonathan Abrams
Now should be a time to get excited and to be proud, we’re hosting the Olympics! Unfortunately, the games have been tainted for me due to their association with Cold-fX. Cold-fX is a pill manufactured and marketed by Afexa Life Sciences (formerly CV Technologies) to “help reduce colds and flu”. It’s the official cold and [...]
Posted in Alternative Medicine, Medicinal Advertising, Medicine, Science4 Comments
15 February 2010 by Jonathan Abrams
I’m a bad Skeptic North reader. I noticed some major nonsense in my local newspaper and I didn’t tip off Melany for her weekly Sunday article about media fails. I selfishly kept it all too myself. To make matters worse, it was Valentine’s Day related which was yesterday when her article went up. So I [...]
Posted in Pseudoscience, ScienceComments Off
01 February 2010 by Jonathan Abrams
One of the first investigations at Ottawa Skeptics involved a local inventor who claimed to have invented a device that would solves the world’s energy problems. The invention is called the Perepiteia and the inventor is Thane Heins. Thane was an energetic and optimistic fellow that didn’t let the naysayers and doubters get in his [...]
Posted in Science, SkepticismComments Off
25 January 2010 by Jonathan Abrams
Can someone “choose” to believe something? You see it on TV all the time: “Honey, I wasn’t sleeping around on you, you have to believe me!” I’m not a psychologist, and haven’t spent my life researching the issue, so I don’t exactly know how beliefs are formed, and I assume no one fully knows. But [...]
Posted in CultureComments Off
Jonathan Abrams is the latest founder and president of the Ottawa Skeptics. He organizes local events, makes media appearances as the token skeptic, and is one of the website maintainers. He is the host of the skepticism podcast The Reality Check. When he’s not thinking about science and skepticism, he’s working as a computer engineer, playing pinball, or doing the dishes.
