I'm not frightened of speaking in public. In fact, I like doing it very much. Here are some talks I have given over the years.

I am available to speak anywhere at any time, provided that reasonable expenses are paid and I don't have to be away from work for too long (an honorarium may be negotiated in that case). My preferred topic at present is alternative medicine and quackery, but I can whip up a speech on other topics if needed.

• Y2K - Is there still time to panic? (Australian Skeptics 1999 Convention)
• Y2K - What went wrong? (Presentation given at a dinner held by the Australian Skeptics in February 2000)
• Anti-vaccination liars (Australian Skeptics 2001 Convention)
• Quackery (Presentation given at a dinner held by the Australian Skeptics in February 2003)
• Dangerous Practitioners Supplementary, Complementary and Alternative Medicine (Australian Skeptics 2003 Convention)
• Conspiracy Theories (Australian Skeptics 2003 Convention)
• You could just die laughing (Australian Skeptics 2004 Convention)
• Internet Scams - old scams with a fresh new look. (Presentation to Victoria Skeptics in melbourne, April 2005)
  • Every generation believes that it has invented everything, and the Internet generation is no exception. Scams like the Nigerian letters, snake oil sales, pyramid schemes, credit card fraud and even phishing (using false documents to get sensitive information) have been around for decades, if not centuries. The Internet just makes it easier for some scamsters to go about their business. On the other hand, it has also made it easier to expose some of them. This talk will be about how to identify scams, how to fight them, and how to laugh at how transparent some of them are.
• Herbal remedies - the good, the bad and the ugly. (A forum discussion at the University of the Third Age in Canberra, July 2005. I did the "ugly" part.)
• Herbal Remedies: History, Heresy and Hereafter. (Presentation at the National Museum of Australia in Canberra, July 2005.)
  • A museum dedicated to the history of Australia might seem like a strange place to discuss herbal and natural medicines, but the Australia we know today only exists because of a natural medicine. The entire 207 years of the development of modern Australia is contingent upon one natural treatment for one disease. The use of natural medicines probably predates even the evolution of modern man (cats can only digest meat, which is why they eat grass to clean their insides out when they are sick). This talk will look at some of the myths about herbal medicine - that a long history of use proves efficacy, that natural is always better - and also how it integrates with, competes with and even conflicts with the reality of medical science.
• Multi-level Marketing - Financial scams and cult-like behaviour (Australian Skeptics 2005 National Convention)

• Quackery Down Under (A talk given at James Randi's Amazing Meeting on behalf of Australian Skeptics and ACAHF, January 2004)
• Watch out, doctors, the quacks are after your patients! (March 2004)
• Don't hold your breath waiting for change (Susan Kronheim Memorial Lecture at the 2004 Undersea & Hyperbaric Medical Society Annual Scientific Meeting, May 2004)
• You could just die laughing (Presentation to the 2004 Annual Conference of the Manly Warringah Division of General Practice)

• Awards Presentation - Information Technology - North Sydney College of TAFE (March 1998)
• Making Enemies on the Net (October 1999)
• Awards Presentation - Information Technology - Richmond College of TAFE (May 2001)
• A Different Internet Security Problem - harassment, stalking and identity theft (September 2002)

Other places.

• How many Ps in Internet Marketing? (August 2000)
• The most difficult speech I have ever done (April 2007)

Here are some radio appearances I have done over the last few years. You can hear them (and even download podcasts) at www.ratbags.com/rsoles/radio/

• August 23, 2008 - The Great Debate - Does God Exist?
  Debate featuring Professor John Lennox and Dr Michael Shermer during Australian Science Week 2008.
• October 22, 2007 - Talking with Richard Saunders in The Tank about quackery
• October 28, 2006 - Nutritionist Stuart Adams with the Jelly Bean Lady on 4BC (with interjections from PB)
• October 14, 2006 - Friday the 13th (With Sarah Macdonald on ABC Radio 702)
  The obscure reference to tunnels and radio announcers at the start of the interview refers to two local events of the day - a road tunnel under the city of Sydney had been found to be leaking groundwater and the regular presenter of the show (who uses the tunnel to get to work) was having an unplanned day off from work. We skeptics just love coincidences.
• August 27, 2006 - The Planets - Pluto, The Lord Of The Underworld
  Colin Matthews' 2000 addition to Gustav Holst's 1917 Planets suite. The planet Pluto was unknown when Holst composed the original work
• August 24, 2006 - The Tank - So much badness, so little time.
• August 19, 2006 - With Tony Murphy and the Jelly Bean Lady on 4BC talking about homeopathy and other forms of fraud
• July 11, 2006 - This Land Is Your Land
  It's not me in the podcast, it's Arlo Guthrie and Pete Seeger singing ALL the verses of Woody Guthrie's classic song. Enjoy. Think about it.
• November 26, 2005 - With Tony Murphy and the Jelly Bean Lady on 4BC talking about cures for diabetes.
• August 22, 2005 - The Great Psychic Debate on TripleM
  Note: This is not a complete recording of the program, and leaves out such parts as me telling the "psychic" how she does her tricks and her denying any knowledge of the expression "cold reading". Also, the time between her being asked to do a reading of me and her refusal was not the instant it appears - she agreed then changed her mind. I attempted to get a full recording from the radio station but I was unsuccessful.
• July 13, 2005 - Herbal Remedies: History, Heresy and Hereafter (ABC 666)
• April 4, 2005 - Internet Scams - old scams with a fresh new look (ABC 774)
• November 28, 2004 - Alternative Therapies - With John Cleary on ABC 702
• May 27, 2004 - Chiropractors quack onto babies (2GB)
• January 1, 2004 - Weirdness and woowoo (ABC 1233)
• May 7, 2003 - Pan Pharmaceuticals and other quackery (2GB)
• October 17, 2002 - The Skeptic Tank (netFM)
• October 3, 2002 - The Skeptic Tank (netFM)
• August 15, 2002 - The Skeptic Tank (netFM)
• July 18, 2002 - The Skeptic Tank (netFM)
• June 20, 2002 - The Skeptic Tank (netFM)
• June 13, 2002 - The Skeptic Tank (netFM)
• May 23, 2002 - The Skeptic Tank (netFM)
• April 18, 2002 - The Skeptic Tank (netFM)
• March 27, 2002 - The Skeptic Tank (netFM)
• December 5, 2001 - The Skeptic Tank (netFM)

Here are some videos in which I appear or which may be of general interest to visitors to this site. You can see them at http://www.ratbags.com/rsoles/video/ 2007: Tom Cruise is nuts (Tom in couch-leaping mode on Oprah) 2007: 15 Greatest Milestones in Health and Medicine - Vaccination 2007: Talking with Richard Saunders in The Tank about quackery 2007: Those cartoons which caused all the fuss and death threats in 2006 2007: Scientology controversy (A Current Affair) 2007: Scientology (BBC Panorama) 2007: Miracle House (Today Tonight) 2006: A skeptic of homeopathy commits suicide!! 2004: Creationism v Evolution - Australian Skeptics Convention 2004 2003: Theories of Everything - Australian Skeptics 2002: The Millenial Power is used to cure a woman of the sin of lust 2000: James Randi at the 2000 World Skeptics' Convention in Sydney 1980: James Randi in Australia 1980 - Water Diviners