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Many of the things we rely on for energy end up ultimately depleting our vigour, such as drinking coffee or swallowing batteries. Endeavour a new energy renewal with today’s Groupon: for $15, you get a Harmony Balance-Band from Balance-Band.net (a $40 value).

Harmony Balance-Bands, made of tourmaline, seek to stimulate healthy physical activity and improve daily life by emitting approximately 1,500 negative ions per cubic centimetre. Some scientists suggest that wearing the negative-ion-emitting bands helps balance the high percentage of positive ions squatting in the atmosphere, which can cause impaired heart function, weakened bones, and constricted blood vessels. Each colourful bracelet ($40) encircles the wrist in an effort to neutralize free radicals, revitalize cell metabolism, enhance immune function, and break down the fourth wall. By donning a wrist wrap 24 hours each day, customers often claim to sleep more deeply than a store-bought baby and exercise with the vigour of a bubby aerobics instructor. Because the bands are free of magnets, pregnant women and swimmers are also able to sport the Harmony Balance arm belts.

Break down the fourth wall? This silicon band lets you talk to the people watching you on TV?

Thrown in with the crazy claims, they suggest that magnets are somehow harmful to pregnant women?

I went to the actual site for Harmony Balance-Bands, and they have WebMD logos and MSNBC logos without context – no links or rational explanation. They also have Facebook and Twitter images without links. At one point the site says “Don’t believe us? Check the Further Reading section (there isn’t one) or Google for yourself!”

I did find these four internal links to the four important key features that these expensive placebos:

They claim these hunks of plastic; emit light in the Far Infrared thanks to MAGIC TOURMALINE!, blah blah blah negative ions (which increases nitrogen in urine? Huh?), convert moisture to negative ions and make electricity (sweat and you get negative ions and an electric shock?), and that tourmaline (which is where in the band?) generates ALPHA WAVES!

I did a bit of a search, and it seems this Harmony place is just parroting the same claims as nearly every other maker of this sort of bands.

If you’ve already purchased one, have considered buying one, or know someone who has, maybe you should check out the identical product that’s just as effective; Placebo Bands. They’re just as effective, but come in a couple nicer colours and are much more affordable.

Wednesday – Mac King afternoon show. I think one of the best parts was when the woman at the door came up and asked “How many in your party?” I smiled and responded “sixteen.” She responded, apparently angry; “HOW MANY PEOPLE IN YOUR PARTY, SIR?” Weird reaction… I looked at her, looked back at the group of people I was with, and said “sixteen…?” and she huffed and pointed at a spot.

Back at the Southpoint, the Canadian Contingent met for Mexican food at Baja Miguels. Fred Bremmer, Ethan Clow, Micheal Kruse, Rob Tarzwell and other Canadians I’m forgetting, as well as an American and a pair of Australians

Thursday night – Ran into Desiree Schell and Brian Thompson who seemed to be hiding in the slot machines… I’d been heading back to my room from the Del Mar Lounge, but stopped to plot for a half hour or so.

Friday – Met Yau-Man Chan in the hall, and he pulled a Survivor postcard out of his pocket and signed it for me when he found I was from out of country.

PZ Myers misrepresented an entire panel as liars on twitter by quote-mining. Of course, when confronted, he said he’d never quote mine as if that negated what he’d done. I wanted to snag him and discuss it in person rather than via twitter, but whenever I saw him after that panel, he was surrounded by a group of people. That group was typically all male, and when I came close, they were talking about Elevator Etiquette. I wasn’t about to wade into that mine field.

Saturday – Standing in the hall joking about people in line for pertussis vaccinations not knowing what they were lining up for, and getting to the front of the line… only to find no snacks, no cookies. Shortly after, I went to walk around the line and ran into Erik, who was lined up for the shot. He had a bowl of home-made cookies and offered me one. I’m not sure which of us is psychic here – maybe both of us.

Sunday – Dinner at Gaylord’s Indian Restaurant at the Rio prior to Penn & Teller with about a dozen people.

I had a couple people that I didn’t know come up to me and say hello, and that they liked whatever it was that I do. I’m not exactly sure what that is… but they all assured me that they weren’t mistaken, and that they follow me on twitter or facebook. Neat

Thanks to Pam and Justin at CFI for the help with the room.

We have 21 total attendees so far, 10 of which have ticked “YES” to giving a presentation. I’ve mentioned on the wiki that any further presenters are welcome to signup and be queued up for the NEXT Skepticamp, as we’re not likely to have any time for anyone else at this point.

Planned presentations for October 23, 2010, by presenter name;

1. Erik Davis – Cognitive Underpinnings of Sympathetic Magic
2. Behzad Elahi – How to make sense of medical literature / levels of evidence / Clinical trials
3. Scott Gavura – Undecided – Health product licensing, Homeopathy, etc
4. Michael Kruse – Naturopathy
5. Michael MacMay – Libel Law, Skeptics, and the Internet: A Primer
6. Karl Mamer – Conspiracy theories
7. Iain Martel – Philosophy of Science and Pseudoscience (or Why Skeptics Should Stop Talking about Falsifiability)
8. Jeff Orchard – It’s not enough to just be right Can we overcome the irrational pitfalls of human psychology? Maybe, maybe not. I say, If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.
9. Steve Thoms – Politics, Policy, Skeptical Activism
10. Justin Trottier – Critical Thinking in High Schools

We can accomodate a fair number of attendees yet; signup at http://bit.ly/TOattend

Regardless, I’m not hurting for things to do and see in the second half of the year.

June 16-20

Toronto’s NXNE event sounds absolutely insane this year, with some seriously large names, and a whole heap of small names that I’ve been wanting to see. We have Iggy & The Stooges and X, both playing free concerts at Yonge and Dundas; both the subject of documentaries playing in the film part of the festival. There are dozens of other bands that I have heard of that I must try to fit into my schedule, and hundreds more that will likely fill in the empty spaces. Mudhoney, Zola Jesus, Quintron and Miss Pussycat, The Pack A.D., Japandroids, 222s, so much more…

The film lineup isn’t fully published yet, but from what is listed already, I’m going to have trouble enough fitting them all in. From the latest NXNE press release;

NXNE Film is thrilled to present the Canadian premiere of Search and Destroy: Iggy Pop and The Stooges’ Raw Power. This documentary spotlights the making of the 1973 seminal rock album, Raw Power.

Suck – This film is a Rock’n’roll vampire spoof, a wild ride down a highway to hell, with a killer cast including Iggy Pop, Alice Cooper, Henry Rollins, and Dave Foley.

X: The Unheard Music – One of the most important bands to ever emerge from Los Angeles, X changed the face of punk music with their raw, vibrant, original style. We see the band at its peak in this legendary film, hammering out a powerful story with a striking, visionary style accompanied by unforgettable music.

Do It Again – Geoff Edgers, a newspaper reporter, decides to take a most improbable leap. He sets out to find the still-surviving members of the long dormant British rock band, the Kinks (“You Really Got Me,” “Lola” and “Come Dancing”), to convince them to reunite.

Year of the Carnivore – Sook Yin Lee’s new film about a girl with an unrequited crush on a boy who thinks she’s bad in bed, so she goes out to get more ‘experience’.

July 6-13

Heading to Las Vegas in the middle of the summer to hide from the desert inside the South Point Casino, far south of the Strip. The outside won’t matter anyway – it’s James Randi’s The Amazing Meeting 8, aka TAM 8. A couple thousand attendees, along with skeptics, entertainers, and scientists; Richard Dawkins, James Randi, Penn & Teller, Michael Goudeau, Adam Savage, D.J. Grothe, Simon Singh, Jamy Ian Swiss, Banachek, Massimo Pigliucci, Karen Stollznow, Richard Saunders, Roy Zimmerman, and a lot more. I won’t need to leave the hotel for the entire weekend.

September 1-7

Atlanta for Dragon*Con 2010. We have a table in the dealers’ hall that moves a fair chunk of handmade chain mail (Binarysoul Designs), but the real reason that we started going was for the wide spectrum of events; sci-fi and fantasy fandom is the base that Dragon*Con was built on, but that’s expanded to include EFF, Music, an Indie Film Festival, Science, Pseudoscience, Skepticism, Podcasting, and plenty more.

Aubrey de Grey, Margaret Downey, Barbara A. Drescher, Brian Dunning, Dr. Pamela Gay, Kevin R. Grazier, George Hrab, Jennifer Ouellette, Benjamin Radford, James Randi, Adam Savage

There are some seriously crazy guests too… psychic trance channeling woo.

October 14-19

My original plan was to go to Amsterdam or London (or any of a handful of other countries) to see Einstürzende Neubauten play a pair of 30th Anniversary shows. London, it turns out, has won this hands down, as this very same weekend is when the second UK Amazing meeting; TAM London. A full day of 8am-6pm of science, skepticism, and geekiness, and then an evening with some of the best music ever performed that includes power tools. I may not be able to sleep the whole weekend. I have my ticket for TAM purchased, and a cheap hotel near Paddington station booked. Now just need to find airfare and wait on ticket information for the Neubauten shows…

During the day on the 16th and 17th, it’s TAM London at the Hilton London Metropole with appearances by Richard Dawkins, Alan Moore, Graham Linehan, Andy Nyman, James Randi, Robin Ince, Adam Rutherford, Susan Blackmore, Cory Doctorow, DJ Grothe, PZ Myers, Richard Wiseman, Melinda Gebbie, Marcus Chown, Tim Minchin, Gia Milinovich, Simon Singh, Rebecca Watson, David Allen Green aka Jack of Kent, Tracey Brown, and Karen James. Oh yes, and Stephen Fry; one way or the other (“While Stephen is hoping to join us in person, in the event of a scheduling conflict we will endeavour to find a creative technological solution.”).

The Neubauten events are described on their site as “more than just a single concert event during the anniversary tour. The band is planning to make a guest performance on an additional day, presenting the audience with a mixed program of the Einstürzende Neubauten, films, solo shows, guests and friends. More specifically, the band will play a great concert on the first night, while the second night will be divided into 3-part program. It’ll begin with films and installations. Afterwards the band will play a further, but much shorter concert in which the Neubauten will present material that has never been played live, hasn’t been played live for a long time, or never in this form.”

Last week, I was rather happy to find the Skeptics Canada people arranged a Skeptics in the Pub event (that happened last night). Finally, a chance to meet other people in Toronto who know who James Randi is.

Then, while I was looking for the information on meetup.com, I found there was another Skeptics in the Pub event set for the following Tuesday at one in the afternoon. Weird… from 0 to 2 in rather short order… It’s a bit weird that it’s set to occur at 1 in the afternoon on a weekday, but who am I to judge?

Then today, I thought I’d post something about how I enjoyed last night’s event, and I did a bit of followup research on the local skeptic culture. Turns out the 1 in the afternoon organizer is also a member of Skeptics Canada, and he’s also involved at CFI Toronto. Interesting… so I find myself browsing CFI’s Toronto events page, and find that there’s ANOTHER Skeptics In The Pub event listed there for September 26th; next saturday.

CFI Toronto and Skeptics Canada need to talk to each other, I think… How many pub centered meetups does Toronto need?

I met some interesting people, and was able to spread my dislike of Toronto quack-peddler Damian Rogers, and hopefully convince others to visit her article online and submit their thoughts on this week’s article entitled “Don’t fear the flu.” The article starts off quoting someone who offers what sounds like rational advice, and then moves on to pitching the latest essential oil and “anti-flu” techniques…

A representative of the Living Libations line of organic essential oils, raw chocolate and skincare, Millman combines her background as an aromatherapist, reflexologist and nutritional counsellor with her studies of Traditional Chinese Medicine to perform highly individualized health treatments for her clients. (I’ve seen her myself and think she’s great.) She agrees with Lytle that the amped-up anxiety levels around H1N1 are overblown and is particularly suspicious of the flu shot that has been rushed through.

Millman, who recently managed to heal her own wrist injury in 12 days rather than the six weeks her doctor predicted it would take, is a great believer in the therapeutic power of pure, organic essential oils, which are not synthetic perfumes but concentrated plant oils extracted through an artisanal steam-distillation process (many cheaper brands often use chemical solvents for extraction). She says the oils have almost limitless applications because of their antibacterial, antiviral, antispasmodic, anti-inflammatory, anti-rheumatic, antioxidant, anti-infectious qualities. “They are all anti-, anti-, anti-, anti!” she laughs.

While the idea of using scent to stay healthy may sound flaky, you may change your tune if you keep an open mind and experiment a bit. I’ve noticed an immediate difference in my sense of well-being after exposure to high-quality oils. Millman suggests using the oils “breakfast, lunch and dinner” to see the greatest benefits. In addition to steam inhalations, she says you can introduce them to many daily activities like skincare and housecleaning (adding oils like tea-tree and rosemary to vinegar makes a great toxin-free surface disinfectant). Millman loves oils because they are inexpensive and easy to use; she says simply simmering drops of tea-tree, eucalyptus and rosemary in water on the stove for a couple of hours (in a pot you don’t mind mucking up; keep adding water as needed) will help eliminate pathogens in the air.

To boost your immune system, Millman also recommends taking high doses of vitamins C and D, keeping your midsection covered to protect your kidneys from chill, wearing scarves, eating hot soup and drinking adaptogen herbal teas (like nettle, rhodiola and the Chinese herb jiaogulan). And, of course, don’t freak out.

Keeping your kidneys warm? You don’t get flu from a chill, to any part of your body, let alone your kidneys.

Tea-tree oil has no mechanism for eliminating toxins in the air. It might cover up the smell of the exhaust leaking in from the garage, but it’s not removing the carbon monoxide.

Boosting your immune system is a fallacy, and the efficacy of high-dose vitamins C and D is unproven, and may be harmful in anyone who already eats a balanced diet.

What does the wrist injury anecdote have to do with anything? If it’s important, what kind of injury? fracture? sprain? discomfort? Of course she “healed it herself” – you can’t subcontract healing – everyone does it themselves. Essential oils might smell pretty, but they don’t regenerate bone or heal tissues.

In an unrelated matter, I just learned that Richard Dawkins is in town on the 29th as part of his book tour; of course, there are no tickets available for the event any longer.

A is Ad hominem, attacks quite insulting,

They may feel good but no good is resulting.

B is for Bible, they swear it’s all true,

But so do the Muslims, and Buddhists, and Jews.

C is Creation, 6000 years past;

But when looked at the evidence is always half-assed.

D is Debunker, it’s said with a jeer.

But we cannot debunk without bunk, that is clear.

E: EVP, hearing voices of dead,

but it’s really just patterns of sound you are fed.

F: The Face that’s on Mars is really a butte,

Is there on the obverse a giant patoot?

G is for Geller, a spoon he will bend,

Is it magic or powers, or more likely pretend?

H, Homeopathy, infinite dilution,

Perhaps better known as persistent delusion.

I, Ideomotor, the dowser’s director,

It fallaciously points on a randomized vector.

J is Junk science, it’s always reforming,

from alt med to New Age, and anti-global warming.

K is for Karma, you reap what you sow,

but if it’s not coincidence, then how would you know?

L’s Levitation, they claim that they float

but I think it’s just bouncing they’re trying to promote.

M: Mayans said: doom in Twenty Oh Twelve,
In 2013 those predictions we’ll shelve.

N is Nibiru, a planet of vapor,

It never shows up but it looks good on paper.

O: Oxygen water, marks can’t get their fill,

What they don’t understand is that they don’t have gills.

P: Faces in patterns is called Pareidolia,

In clouds it’s mundane but in pastry it’s holier?

Q is for Quacks, their science is lacking,

They’ll sell you snake oil with the government’s backing.

R: Repressed memories, bad things you’ve forgotten,

But it’s really the premise behind it that’s rotten.

S: Sylvia Browne, who randomly guesses,

That people believe her is why it depresses.

T’s for Trudeau, and the trash that he’s sellin’,

But credit card fraud? FTC: “He’s a felon.”

U, Unidentified, the definition’s specific,

But it doesn’t stop cranks thinking they’re scientific.

V is Vaccines, which clear germs up quick,

But some folks don’t like them, they fight little pricks.

W’s for Woo-woo, Randi’s favorite word choice,

And who’ll argue with him? He gave us our voice!

X is for Xenu, scientologist’s Satan,

Give us all of your money, your engrams we’ll straighten.

Y is for Yeti, the Bigfoot, Sasquatch,

A whole lot of nonsense without a single hair swatch.

Z is for Zetans, those E.T. mind readers,

But they disappeared as they followed the Lieder.

Now you know your ABCs,

Don’t fall prey to fallacies.

I find it disturbing how easily my fellow skeptics just dismiss out of hand the possibility that New Age Energy is a real possibility. The trouble is that you’re limiting yourselves too early on into a narrow definition of the word “Energy.”

I assure you, Energy is possible from New Age sources. Now, I’m no scientician, so I’m not sure on the exact numbers, so bear with me.

Now, let’s say that you have a furnace in your home for heating; until now you’ve bought heating oil, natural gas, wood, coal, or another consumable to burn for heat in the winter.

I offer up nature’s perfect fuel; 100% organic, locally sourced New Age Energy.

First, you need to gather all the psychics, new age healers, mentalists herbalists, chiropractors, iridologists, Roto Rooter / Ghost Hunters and anyone else who claims that they have energy rays that emanate from their eyes or their hands. All cities seem to have a large number of such people, and you can gather them together by advertising a free seminar with Deepak Chopra or Kevin Trudeau. Advertise it and they will come.

Now, there will be a fair bit of noise, and you will need a decent amount of storage, so I would recommend a nice out of the way location like a warehouse on the edge of town. Mention in the ads that it’s the site of an ancient tomb or something to quell any suspicions in the attendees.

Now, there are a couple ways to go once all the New Agers are gathered, but carbon monoxide is a nice painless option.

Other equipment that is needed:

• Large volume wood chipper
• Tarps
• Production freeze-drying equipment
• Packaging equipment

You’d be surprised how much energy is contained inside your average tofu fed New Ager; a couple of them, chipped and dried can provide heat all winter long. Nearly free energy from a wholly new age source.

Dr. Pamela Gay’s talk on “Selling The Impossible” was one of the talks that I attended that hadn’t been on my original list; amazing how things sneak in like that. She gave a talk about critical thinking when buying things.

• Magic detoxifying footpads that turn colour as they “draw toxins” out from your body. Well, plain water causes them to change colour too; even distilled water with no toxins.


• Airbourne – Invented by a School Teacher. Thanks, but I’d rather use something invented by a person with understanding of chemistry, biology, and infectious diseases.


• Magnetic bracelets. Magnets attract blood? Better not get that MRI, then.


• 5 hour energy drink – small shot of sucrose and caffeine, that claims to keep you going for 5 hours with no crash. Does even coffee do that?


• Orgasmix cream. Just rub in for ten minutes. Hmm…


• Book “Free Energy and Antigravity Propulsion” is what’s to thank for me not having to pay for a flight back from Atlanta… just sort of floated back for free

All the items came from Amazon; she encouraged us to find and review similar products in order to help.

Late night, after watching the live riffing to the Claude Rains movie courtesy of Cult of UHF, I stuck around as a number of other people entered the room; there was nothing scheduled in the Podcasting track for 1 AM, but this looked interesting. Sure enough, I was able to sit in on a dress rehearsal of the live cast of Dr. Horrible’s Sing a Long. They were also going to do a run-through of the Buffy musical episode Once More With Feeling but I had to get some sleep. Considering how busy the Dr. Horrible shows were in the next couple days, with lines longer than the badge pickup lines, I’m happy to have seen them Bad Horse around informally.

Saturday had a talk by Dr. Steve Novella (Skeptics’ Guide To The Universe), where he discussed how science-based medicine differs from so-called alternative medicine. He mentioned Enzyte, and how founder and CEO, Steve Warshak, and his mother Harriett Warshak, convicted on charges of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering. Big Pharma is evil, but these guys are the alternative?

Basically, if something is required by law to state “These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.” then you should NOT BE USING IT to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. There’s a reason that they don’t submit for testing; they can’t show results.

1600 Saturday – Astronomy Cast Live show.

On my way into the Hilton for the Science Based Medicine talk, I stopped to get a sandwish and while waiting for them to het it up, I’m pretty sure I witnessed a completely unmolested Hero – specifically, The Cheerleader. It’s a bit surprising that in such a geek filled space, with poor social skills, and she’s not bothered while she stands in line and buys a coffee. This becomes even more surprising the next day when I hear stories of line-ups and a special room setup to keep the people lining up to see her from making the other celebrities on the Walk of Fame cry. Apparently they move Hayden to another room to cut some of the traffic. People were also complaining about the costs of autographs; I’ve never really understood autographs, so I’m of the ‘then don’t get one’ camp.

The Astronomy Cast recording had a surprise, unannounced guest in Phil Plait. This is good, as I missed his earlier panel on how the world will end. Apparently Phil does semi-regular appearances on Coast To Coast AM, as well. I’d check that out, but Coast To Coast is painful at best to listen to when True Believers are on, and it’s even harder to subscribe to as a podcast.

Spoke with Reed Esau about the Denver Airport Conspiracy. It seems that some believe that there’s a third level basement that houses elements of the New World Order, Reptilians, and Free Masons. Conspiracy theories about murals depicting aliens and such… Requires some investigation.

George Hrab performed a song by Rush (meh), and something by King Crimson and “Any Kind Of Pain” by Frank Zappa (off Broadway the Hard Way). I think George made it less goofy and more touching, possibly because he was singing it at a girl in the front row. Okay, okay, I take back all the cynicism I had about their relationship being some sort of act for their respective podcasts.

After his show, I had to tell him that I was the one person who knew who Klaus Nomi was and was able to identify his impact on Geo’s Occasional Songs for the Periodic Table, element Einstienium. He’d offered up a CD to anyone who could ID the influence; the CD I received was inscribed to say that I was the coolest person in Nova Scotia. Nice, but it’s a rather low bar. I also mentioned that I’d setup the Facebook page for Donna. I did this a while after I bought his Non-coloring Book, but had I done so earlier, I might have been able to save the $20… When I mentioned it, he looked fully shocked and blown away, and his words were along the lines of “Wow! Thanks! I suppose I should blow you!” He then told the assembled masses all about German performance artist Klaus Nomi; though many of the people there are too young to remember when Saturday Night Live was good, let alone back before OUR time when Klaus was on with Bowie.

Also on Saturday, the sales in the dealer room picked up as people were finally done that initial rough budget first run-through of the show, and could start committing to buying.

URLs mentioned in the Astronomy Cast and elsewhere; http://www.secular.org, http://www.radfordbooks.com, http://www.bad-language.com

Foot pads: http://www.devicewatch.org/reports/kinoki.shtml

Enzyte: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enzyte

Periodic Table: http://georgehrab.blogspot.com/2008/07/occasional-songs-for-periodic-table.html

The Amazing Show w/ James Randi – September 4, 2008

Justin: So explain; what is Dragon Con

Randi: A good question. It’s very hard to answer.

It’s a mass of… well… the official count is 37,000 people I think. But, it’s quite a bit higher than that, and for various reasons we don’t have an official, real time count of the number of heads, because a lot of them had several.

These are people… wow… hard to describe. Really hard to describe. First of all I must say that Dragon Con; first time I’ve been to it, first time I’d even ever heard of it, I admit. It was quite a surprise to me. It was not what I expected it would be, it was much much more, and it was much more important than I ever thought it could be.

Dragon*Con I kind of expected would be a knock down, drag out riot [...] and it was not at all. First of all, the class of people there represented was much different from what I thought; I’m not going to say higher, or lower or anything, but much different. There were people from every walk of life – but the most important thing I observed; a lot of people in wheelchairs; a lot of disabled people. A lot of extremely corpulent people [...]

These are misfits, Justin. Misfits who FIT when they’re at Dragon*Con, and they fit with this milieu. They’re at home. No one questions their existence or their appearance or their behaviour at all. [...] Everyone helped everybody else. No one had any kind of disability or unusual factor in their lives or a difference in appearance or attitude or whatever that other people didn’t understand and accommodate to immediately.

These are misfits who are not misfits when they’re there

I’m trying to not be unkind by calling them misfits; a lot of them are…

Many are not; I think that the majority of them are not.

I think it’s a hell of a thing. I enjoyed myself from the moment I set foot in one of the five hotels in Atlanta that were jam packed. Five full hotels, and they weren’t all staying at those hotels, but the traffic on the street; everything from wheelchairs and Darth Vaders bumping into each other because they couldn’t see through the mask. Capes and wands and light sabers, and everything you could imagine. It was fantasy world come to life…

I was never happier.

I’m a bearded magician, 80 years of age, and if that isn’t a misfit, I don’t know what is.

I belonged.

Dragon Con was a tremendous experience for me, and certainly I want to do it next year and the year after because they had several skeptical groups meeting. The rooms that we were assigned filled up immediately, and there were people standing around the walls.

Justin: That’s what happens when you bring the A Team; you can’t just roll in with Randi, Plaitt and Shermer and expect not to fill the room.

It was really very heartening, and we got excellent comments and questions. Really excellent.

It’s very hard to sum up Dragon Con, I can assure you. We had a hell of a time. It was quite something. Atlanta Georgia will never look the same to me again.

So, Randi is planning on being back, even though he’s scheduled to be in the UK for part of the time next year’s event is scheduled… he says he’s planning to make some adjustments to his schedule. Maybe we can get Dawkins too for next year.

Dragoncon 2008 – Thurs Aug 28

Wandering around a mostly empty set of hotel rooms and I decided to see how Skepticality’s Derek and Robynn (Swoopy) were doing on setup. Introduced myself and offered assistance, though they didn’t seem to be sure what was up, either. I think that they might have been at that point in the setup process where you just aren’t sure what else you can do, but you want to do more…

Met Kylie Sturgess (Tank, Podblack) while I was there, whose name sounds familiar. She attracted another Australian who I did a double take with. “Excuse me… Karen (Stollznow – aka skepbitch)?” I introduced myself as her Facebook friend. She kindly lied, saying that my name sounded familiar. Actually, now that I think about it, I did send her a couple emails about a Skeptical Blog Carnival at one point a couple months back.

How is it that we traveled to Atlanta with no delays, no lost luggage, no breakages, no hassles at security checkpoints, or customs? There was one point when a screener leaned over and asked me a question. “Excuse me, is this your bag? Do you have a bunch of double-A batteries in your carry-on?” Oddly, he was just curious, and nodded when I said “yes”; I had about 40 batteries in bricks in order to avoid trying to find batteries for the camera in a city I’m not familiar with.

Apparently the key to selling jewelry in the US is don’t ask, don’t tell. Admit to a small sin , and the bigger sin might be ignored. We openly admitted that $200 in gifts would be left in the US, and nobody asked about the production silver work. Next time, avoid the hassle and ship directly. According to NAFTA, we shouldn’t have to pay duty on anything over about $2000 value so long as the goods were manufactured in North America. Of course, DHS and TSA staff might not exactly be up on what is and is not allowed by law; all you need is one bitchy DHS person and no matter how much you are in the write, you could still be bent over in the back room.

Initial planned panels that I thought of attending…

Friday
1300 – Skeptics 101 – Plait, Randi, Saunders, Grothe, Wagg
1430 – Why Magic is important – Randi, Wagg
1730 – Science Based Medicine – Ginger
2030 – SAPS Investigates – Smith (was replaced with a Q&A by Ben Radford due to missing luggage…)
2330 – Cult of UHF (podcasting) -OR- Beamed Aboard a UFO by a Psychic Sasquatch

Saturday
1130 – Podsci Panel – Saunders, Grothe, Wagg, Novella -OR- Point of Inquiry

1600 – AstronomyCast Live / Skeptics vs. Believers (Sheraton)
2200 – George Hrab / Geologic Podcast recording
2330 – Soccergirl Live

Sunday
1000 – Supernatural Howto – Saunders
1130 – Skeptics Guide Live
1730 – JREF Million Dollar demo

Monday
1000 – Practical Techniques in public skepticism – Michael Stackpole
1130 – Global Skepticism – Stollznow, Saunders, Sturgess

Fri Aug 29

Overheard while walking from the back of the Marriott to the Hilton, surrounded by people in costumes; “There are so many empty basements in the country today.”

James Randi disappointed the audience of the Skeptics 101 panel by announcing right off the top that he would not be performing his famous naked dance on fire.

Book referenced: Lynn Kelly’s “Skeptic’s Guide To The Paranormal”

Met Tim from What’s The Harm? and Reed Esau who’s been working with the barcamp idea to adapt it to skeptics. Snagged a draft copy of his “Raising Our Game” which presents some good ideas on the informal approach to skeptical get togethers.

On Friday, I sat in on a video podcasting panel instead of the full-to-capacity Magic panel with James Randi. The podcasting panel had Richard Saunders (TANK), Rhett Aultman, and the Right Rev. Chumley (Cult of UHF). I had to go up to speak to Rhett, as I was certain he was someone I met in San Jose at Linux World. He wasn’t, but I’d still have placed money on it; they both worked at Motorola, both have girlfriends named Amy, and other similarities. Crazy.

The video podcasting guys swore by this one guy’s hand-made microphones. I really only noted it down because it had the oddest URL – http://giant-squid-audio-lab.com/

They also mentioned Stranger Things video podcast as having stellar production values (It won the 2008 Parsec Award for Best Sci-fi Video Podcast)

There’s been some talk of a chainmail competition saturday morning at ten. A couple people have mentioned it before they really thought about it, seeming a bit concerned after the fact that they might have invited competition. The ‘bald bikini making guy’ might have some competition…

People will buy all sorts of crap, it seems, as the tiara / circlet vendor next to us is turning out $100 bits of painted wire with ‘gemstones.’ There are wire masks and dragons you can hang in the room where you cast your spells to empower yourselves.

Internetage:

• Karen Stollznow wrote about sex with George Hrab, borrowing one of my images of the maestro’s briefs.


• Live Astronomy Castfrom DragonCon 2008 with guests Kevin Grazier and Phil Plait talking about how they love Doctor Who and what they love and loathe in sci-fi (Episode 104)
• Live Skeptics Guide To the Universe from DragonCon 2008 with special guests James Randi, Pamela Gay, and Derek Colanduno (Episode #163)


• Skepticality podcast – the official podcast of Skeptic Magazine, had an interview with What’s The Harm founder Tim Farley prior to DragonCon – they haven’t posted anything since the big event, as I’m sure both Derek and Swoopy are still recovering


• Cult of UHF Free B-Movies


• Geologic Podcast with George Hrab


• TANK Vodcast
• PodBlack Cat

I have been putting photos up on Facebook. Check out the Skeptics Photos, and Costume and venue Photos.