Category Archives: Competitions

Win tickets to Questival.

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Questival is a weekend camping trip organised by The National Federation of Atheist, Humanist and Secular Student Societies and Leeds Atheist Society, inspired by Camp Quest UK, and is sponsored by the British Humanist Association.

Unlike Camp Quest, which is aimed at children, Questival is for fully grown atheists, agnostics, humanists, freethinkers and all those who embrace a naturalistic rather than supernatural world view. The event, whilst aimed mainly at students, is open to adults of all ages. The weekend features comedienne Iszi Lawrence and Skepchick Rebecca Watson. The theme will be… having fun!

Questival runs from 5pm on Friday 13/08/2010 until 4pm on Sunday 15/08/2010. The event will be held at Dalesbridge Camp Site, Austwick, Near Settle, North Yorkshire, LA2 8AZ. The site has a good 2G signal for all mobile networks and has free WIFI available.

In addition to walks around the Dales, discussions about critical thinking and logical fallacies, scientific method and pseudo-science, philosophy and ethics, Iszi Lawrence and Rebecca Watson will be attending to speak at the event.

Tickets can be purchased from the British Humanist Association, however it would be advisable to purchase quickly as tickets are selling quickly and only a small number remain.

How to win two tickets

The Skeptic has two tickets (worth £60 total) donated by the organisers, to give away as part of a competition. To win the tickets, email competitions@skeptic.org.uk with your answer to the following:

What activity, event or product would you like sceptical groups to hold or develop within the UK?

The tickets will be given to the individual who submits the idea judged to be the best, by staff from The Skeptic and by any other nominated judge(s). Responses should be concise and feasible. The competition will close at midnight (GMT) on Saturday 07/08/2010. By submitting ideas, you agree they may be used or developed at a future point.

    CFI logo competition.

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    CFI UK needs a new logo (for boring admin reason – Charity Commission application). Winner gets life membership (free entry to Conway Hall events) plus the glory.

    The rules are:
    - Your design should be created in vector format, but emailed for judging as a 400×400 pixel JPG or PNG file no bigger than 300Kb in size.
    - It must include the letters CFI UK.
    - It should reflect the ethos of the Center for Inquiry.
    - It should look good in both colour and greyscale, and be suitable for use in the website masthead, letterheads, t-shirts, publicity posters and banners.
    - The design must be your own original work, and not contain elements which are subject to third party copyright.
     
    Something with a candle (Enlightenment, Prometheus, etc.) echoing the standard CFI logo would obviously be suitable, but anything considered as long as it looks cool.
     
    Submit entries to Stephen Law at think [at] royalinstitutephilosophy.org
    Deadline June 15th.

      The Skeptic Book Contest – Hair of the Dog and Other Scientific Surprises

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      Karl Sabbagh’s ‘The Hair of the Dog and Other Scientific Surprises‘ is a collection of quirky scientific knowledge that will definitely make you the [scientific] life of the next party you’re at.

      Science is full of surprises: the peculiar peepshow beginnings of baby incubators; the unexpected positive fallout from the H-bomb; the dinosaurs that caused sonic booms; the irrational nature of the number pi; the fifth taste sensation lurking in everyone’s taste buds which nobody knew about (except for the Japanese).Whilst shedding light on these conundrums, Karl Sabbagh shows that seemingly trivial queries or assumptions lead to a deeper understanding of how science works. Who would have thought that scientists would turn to the hypothesis ‘All swans are white’ to determine the stability of the entire universe? Or that if we choose to spend our hard-earned money on other people it might make us happier than if we spend it on ourselves?

      If you’ve ever been amazed by what scientific discovery has shown us about the world (like why the hair of the dog really works!), you could win a signed copy of this book from Karl Sabbagh and The Skeptic. To enter, simply tell us your favourite ‘Scientific Surprise’ in the comment section below or email competition[at]skeptic.org.uk.

      There’s no right answer for this one, just awesome science.  The contest closes Friday the 18th at 5pm GMT.