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James Randi underwent bypass surgery last Thursday. He is currently in stable condition. He is receiving excellent care, but will need quiet time to recover. We will release more information as it becomes available, and we ask everyone to please respect the family’s wishes for privacy at this time.
For those who feel a need to help, please consider donating blood at your local Red Cross or Community Blood Center. Cards may be sent to Randi in care of JREF, 201 SE 12 Street, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316. I know there is nothing we can "do" to get him well, but wishing him the best doesn't hurt.
Hang in there, Big Guy.
Posted by Jody at 10:32 AM
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The Amazing Meeting 4: Day 4
Alright, let me post info about the last day of speakers. I'm determined to get all of this up on-line before The Amazing Meeting 5
The Big Bad: Phil Plait
8:30 AM Keynote Presentation
Dr. Phil Plait had a simple message: They Aren't Stopping with Evolution.
Phil, an educator and astronomer who runs the Bad Astronomy Website -- and who also bares a staggeringly scary resemblance to Dr. Richard Denison -- gave a compelling presentation about the Religiously Ignorant's efforts to broaden their "revisionism" away from just Biology/Evolution and into the rest of the sciences, including Astronomy.
Phil found this revisionism odd because measure for measure, the evidence that exists in support of the physical age of the universe, the formation of planets, the speed of light, all of physics and astronomy in general, is even tighter than that for evolution. (And if you know anything at all about evolution and the strength of the data there, that's an incredibly strong statement.)
Phil pointed out that our good friends at the Institute for Creation Research are the main tools spreading bad cosmological information. (If your organization believes the Earth is only 6,000 years old then anyone who says otherwise -- like say all of the scientific community -- goes on the enemies list.) Again, from the ICR and related quarters, the whole "teach the controversy" bullshit is starting to raise it's head, with their erroneous claims about the formation of planets, stars and even the universe itself, being the "alternative" view that needs to be taught.
Ugh.
Stopping the Race: Ann Palkovich
9:45 AM
Dr. Palkovich, an Associate Professor of Anthropology at one of my alma matters, George Mason University, presented information from her field of biological anthropology and used it to critique how the idea of "race" is used in our society.
Biological Anthropology, as opposed to the more familar Cultural Anthropology, is a science of human variation. Why are people different from each other? How can measure that difference and how do those differences actually play out in the real world with respect to popular notions of the same?
To me, what was surprising is learning that there is no scientific consensus on race. Most of what we correlate with race (skin tones, physical features and the like) really match-up as easily, cleanly and clearly with perceived ethnicities as we might think. Going into this lecture, I understood from my own education, that a good deal of our ideas about race don't really hold up under scientific scrutiny. Walking out of the lecture (well actually she walked out to make room for the next speaker) is that actually its just about all of our ideas regarding race falls apart.
You can trace ancestry though an individual -- there are certain markers and characteristics that are generally common to small groups of people from different geographical regions on the planet -- but you are never going to find the broad collection of "traits" we commonly associate with white people, or black people or asian peoples. They simply don't exist "in the wild." There's more variation within populations than within "races."
The reason many of these notions of race continue is for cultural reasons. In the West this is tied to strong ideas that took root during the Eugenics movement of the early part of the 20th century. Again, surprisingly, Dr. Palkovich pointed out that it wasn't scientific circles that entrenched the eugenics notions in the popular mindset. By 1913, biological anthropology had rejected the "perfection" ideas at the heart of the Eugenics movement. Social and political groups were much more fertile grounds, where the harshest ideas of Eugenics grew, blooming into such monstrosities as the Nazi movement.
Ghostly Science: David Richards
10:15 AM
David Richards, a Skeptical Investigator from my home town of Los Angeles, proposed a thesis that media in general, and movies -- horror movies -- in particular, have increased the usage of the "supernatural" as the primary antagonist in their stories. He felt this movement reinforced the lack of critical thinking among general American audiences.
He used the novel The Haunting of Hill House as a jumping off point for his discussion, pointing out that there have been 4 movies made from this one book, two versions in the early 1960s and two in the late 1990s. The original films, the the book they were based on, doesn't make the supernatural the point of the story at all -- both were really about the evils humans did to each other. The two most recent films changed this significantly, having the evil be tied directly to ghosts, spirits etc.
David then tried to quantify the use of the supernatural in movies from the the first films of the 1920s up to the present day. He picked 10 early films and 10 recent films, assigned a value of 0-2 based on the "amount" of supernatural in those movies, then compared and average between two populations.
I had a lot of problems with his presentation. Emotionally, I'm somewhat inclined to believe there's more "supernatural" in the movies today than there was 40 years ago. Intellectually though, I'm far less sure. Because much of David's presentation ruled out other factors and media (social change, television, internet) the correlation he comes up with is very vacant. Further, I didn't like his rating method and his choice of films -- it was all terribly ad hoc and somewhat cherry picked.
I did engage him in a brief discussion after his session. He's a nice guy and he did recognize the severe limitations of his paper. Discussion flowed into our own ideas regarding the future of theaters, DVDs, VOD and cable.
We didn't agree there, either.
The Sexy Skeptic: Larisa Beckwith
11:00 AM
I missed part of Larisa's talk due to my own conversations with David (see above.) Basically though Larisa related her own experiences and research as a Clinical Psychologist and Public Health worker to illustrate the extent that pseudo-science notions have dangerously permeated our culture.
I came in on a vivid example she drew out of childhood autism. Many, many parents are refusing to vaccinate their children because of erroneous fears of mercury induced autism -- some are even extending this "no vaccination" policy to their pets. Given the recent outbreaks of polio in Africa based on Islamic anti-vaccination pronouncements there, it's pretty easy to see where this is going.
From research that she conducted, one of the worrying responses was that her surveyed population felt that "scientists have power that makes them dangerous." (I really want to get a copy of her research.) She moved that a social marketing theory based campaign (eg. "This is your brain. This is your brain on drugs." PSAs) needs to be undertaken to positively market science, skepticism and critical thought.
I'll finish the rest of this day another day.
Posted by Jody at 12:58 AM
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The Amazing Meeting 4: Day Three
11:59PM
It's really hard to blog and attend a conference.
Non-stop.
All day.
We had wonderful topics from the scientific study of religion to "can deists be skeptics?"
And we had more conversations over coffee.
And lunch.
And dinner.
And at the annual Phil Plait Bad Astronomy Chocolate Challenge and Party that I just got back from.
So, sorry, no massive up-date at this moment -- as usual I'm beat.
Tomorrow is the last day of the conference: it's the parting kisses, the last moment of being in the majority, and then the lonesome schleps back home. I'm going to try to live-blog from the conference room itself, but it will all depend on the previously crappy signal strength.
In any event, just like I did today, I will take notes tomorrow and finish off my blog report sometime between Sunday and Tuesday.
God willing.
Bahahahahahahahaha.
I'm so funny.
Shut up.
Posted by Jody at 12:28 AM
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Must Sleep.
Will Blog Tomorrow.
May Cthulu crush your bones softly while you sleep.
Posted by Jody at 12:20 AM
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4:30 PM
"Science in Politics and the Politics of Science."
I'm Beat. Will fill this one in soon.
Posted by Jody at 12:01 AM
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3:30 PM
I'm Beat. Will fill this one in soon.
Posted by Jody at 12:00 AM
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2:30 PM
Penn entered the Meeting like a rock star and left the stage like a god.
He was, as they say, "The Shit."
The day was running long so the 45 minutes that had been set aside for him had whittled itself down to about 20. He lit off a few zingers but quickly went to questions from the audience. He admitted that many episodes of "Bullshit" didn't give all the facts of the issues they tackled. "Bullshit" is essentially an entertainment show, one that skews towards the libertarian views of Penn and Teller. They try to debunk what they can, but they also play the show for jokes and entertainment. His hope, and he said he had some evidence for this, was that people who wanted to know more about the issues would at least head to the internet to do more research. He and Teller just signed a deal for two more years of "Bullshit." Apparently the show is doing well in the ratings -- but in the process, they've pissed off most every executive at Showtime. So further seasons after five aren't that likely.
He spoiled at least one episode of the new season (don't read further if you don't want to know) -- they're hitting the Boy Scouts early on in Season Three. Penn said that philosophically he has no problem with with Scouting, as a private organization, denying membership to gays and atheists -- that's their right -- but rather he's pissed that they deny that membership while taking federal funds. Millions and millions of dollars are spent by the United States in subsidy of the Boy Scouts -- a no-no in his mind. What surprised him, and pissed him off even more, was that in researching Scouting, he and his team discovered how heavily influenced the Boy Scouts of America are by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The Mormons give more money, sponsor more troops, and occupy more senior management positions in the BSA than any other group. The LDS have even made Scouting an essential part of youth ministry... something else I could see that burned at him. I can't wait for the video.
Speaking of videos, Penn gave a strong thumbs up to Dawkins "Root of All Evil" program. Dawkins sent him (and Randi) a copy of the program. As most of us have heard, it pulls no punches. He says its inevitable the program will air here Stateside. It's just too good.
Someone asked him to explain the "bullet" trick he and Teller are known for -- the one where a gun is fired and I believe Teller catches the slug in his teeth. Surprisingly, Penn was open to revealing the secret. As far as I could tell, in principle, he didn't have a problem telling everyone how the trick was done. He didn't though -- and he didn't tell by coming up with some humerous cop-out, but rather in saying that there's a beauty to viewing the trick and certain ugliness to describing how it's actually done. He was a little muddled here with his examples, but the idea of "beauty" in a magic trick was a common theme of many of the other magicians who were also in attendance. Jamy Ian Smith spoke of something similar the night before. Penn encouraged people who were interested in how tricks were done to use the Internet and search the U.S. Patent Office for patented magic tricks. Many famous tricks are there, and with a little leg work, you can find the tricks and copious, detailed minutiae of how the tricks were done -- step-by-step details that run into hundreds of pages. I'm still a little fuzzy on how this is the "ugly" side of magic... but he's Penn, so I guess you just have to accept his word on faith...
Oh yeah. "Moxie Crimefighter Jillete" actually wasn't his decision for his daughter's name. It was his wife's. She thinks middle names are bullshit, so she's the one who picked it out. Penn just gets roasted in the media for it. Anyone want to know the name of their soon to arrive son? Zoltan Teller Jillete. Now that's a sweet name.
Posted by Jody at 11:58 PM
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1:15 PM
I'm Beat. Will fill this one in soon.
Posted by Jody at 11:54 PM
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The Amazing Meeting: Day Two
1:45 PM
James Randi is hot and I'm man enough to admit it.
I'm beat. Will fill this one in soon..
Posted by Jody at 11:52 PM
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A guy leans in to me during the break and says "We are God."
Then I'm glad I don't have to pay taxes on all the land I own, I reply .
"Earth is a reflection of God," he continues.
I don't see the Earth when I look in the mirror, I answer back.
Don't Look Him in the Eyes!
"You know what the most numerous species is on Earth?"
Politicians?
"Ants."
Of course.
Damn those are dark shades he has on. Fuck! I made eye contact!
"Ants are God."
Wait, I thought I was?
"See, Ants are the most numerous species on the planet. Therefore, they're god."
Well I'm in deep shit.
Memory: Oppressive Virginia Summer. Beating Virginia Sun. Tall Virginia Grass. Sandy Virginia ant hill. Bored Virginia boy. Large magnifying glass. Focused Photonic Death searing ants/god.
"I wrote a book on it. 'The World Below.'" He points at his shoe.
Is it on Amazon?
"I haven't published it yet."
I wouldn't have guessed that.
Aren't bacteria and viruses the most numerous species on the planet?
"Ummm..."
So they must be God, right?
"Ummm...."
Well, I'm just following along with your logic.
"The Ants send out the Grays in the UFOs."
Just look at my shoe. Just look at my shoe.
"Wanna see my printing press?"
Run. Run very, very fast.
Posted by Jody at 11:37 PM
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The Amazing Meeting: Day 2.
10:45 AM
Murray Gell-Man has been around.
Nobel prize in physics, the year I was born (1969.) Manhattan Project. Presidential Science Advisory Committee. Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Bush the Elder, Clinton, Bush the Lesser. His name is a word in the dictionary. I'm doubt I'm going to have the same number of wacky adventures as he had -- or end my life as a word. Maybe a perv. Or eating a bird. Okay, I'll stop now.
Gell-Mann's stories from all the administrations he worked with were real world examples of politics and science clashing. On some occasions it was minor -- his time with Ike -- others it was far more pronounced -- under Reagan, clashing with Edward Teller over SDI/Star Wars -- and once, it was even down right cordial: the Clinton presidency.
He pointed out though that no matter the agency or the president, science always runs second place to whatever major program or initiative is currently in favor with whatever agency he worked with. He gave the example of the mid seventies switch at NASA from the Atlas rockets and their successful history to the over-promised but now top priority shuttle. The line at NASA was that the shuttle was the Best Thing. Everything else must be secondary to it. The agency became the biggest critic of its former success, a way of diverting attention (and budget) from its own past toward the new It of the future.
He held out his harshest words for the Bush II administration. He said he'd never seen such a glaring example of a decisions being made ahead of time and science -- facts, as he iterated over and over again -- being bent to support the decision.
Also, it bothered him greatly that the current evolution exhibit at the New York Museum of Natural History wasn't able to draw any corporate funding and that a recent school administrator's rejection of allowing ID to infect his districts' science classes was regarded as a "courageous act" "in favor of Darwin" and not as truth denying lies a place at the table.
Note: It bothers me too.
Posted by Jody at 11:35 PM
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The Amazing Meeting: Day 2.
9:30 AM
My fellow Godless Skeptics and Reasonable Non-Deists, we've been assailed by Jack Chick tracts long enough. It's time we fight back, and I know just the book to do it with.
If you are familiar with the mega phenom of The Purpose Driven Life then you know that unless you've sublimated yourself to the purpose the Christian god has for you, you are doomed to hopelessness, depression, drug abuse and meaningless sex in this life, and Eternal Damnation in the next. You're screwed in this life and in the next -- and not in the fun way.
In response to all those Chick tracts and Purposeful books, Shermer has published a personal response: The Soul of Science How can we find spiritual meaning and purpose in a scientific worldview? Spirituality is a way of being in the world, a sense of one’s place in the cosmos, a relationship to that which extends beyond our selves. There are many sources of spirituality; religion may be the most common, but it is by no means the only. Anything that generates a sense of awe may be a source of spirituality. Science does this in spades. His presentation was reading the essay contained in the book. It's pretty good. It articulates a simple philosophy of life, meaning, and purpose, rooted in the provisional truths gathered through scientific investigation, and presented rather eloquently between the pages of the pocket sized book. They're cheap too at $5 dollars a pop and make, as what brought up, wonderful gifts.
Of course I haven't bought one yet.
Posted by Jody at 11:01 PM
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The Amazing Meeting: Day 2.
8:30 AM
Is it just me, or does Christopher Hitchens always look like he just rolled out of bed?
He pops up on Jon Stewart or PBS, looking like he nabbed whatever was clean, stuck his glasses in pocket, his smokes in his coat, and his notes in his wallet. I need to learn that art. I don't have the hair, and I don't smoke, and I can't write like he can, but still.
Hitchens opening speech played off of Jefferson's efforts at ending the Barbary Coast Piracy during the first years of his presidency. Hitch drew parallels between Jefferson's action and Bushes, both men in his estimation taking bold steps to oppose the evil of religiously directed fascism. He argued that, unlike Jefferson, liberals had lost the "moral high ground" to the conservatives over the war effort and the need to stop the advance of militant Islam.
He wove through his presentation the need to oppose religious extremism wherever it may be -- with the Muslims in the Mideast or the Religious Right and their faux "War on Christmas" right here at home. One of the things he was quite sure of was that the Founders, and Jefferson particularly, didn't do what they did so that every shopping mall throughout the land must have, 200 years later, a Christmas Tree next to the cash register and clerks who were required to say "Merry Christmas" on pain of condemnation.
He gave many examples of Jefferson's opposition to religous tests, pointing out the varring discriminatory standards of Colonial times, religious tests that Jefferson went to great pains to circumvent with the secular language he included in the Virginia constitution, the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and his famous letter to the Baptists of Virginia outlining the wall of "separation between Church and State."
Religion has managed to prosper in the USA, Hitchens said, because of the secular state that was founded, not in spite of it.
In reference to the whole NSA domestic spying controversy he was quite clear that in his view "Powers once given [to the government ] won't be given back." And I found this odd in light of his praise for the unilateral actions of both Jefferson and Bush. I believe, like Hitchens does, that Militant Islam must be opposed wherever it is. That's why fighting in Iraq is the most boneheadedly stupid idea I've ever seen. Part of the reason why Bush can even have the NSA do what it did is because of the misleading war in Iraq. Supporting his (lack) of reasons and rational for the invasion is supporting a grab for power by the Executive. Complaining about it now, seems to me, like sour grapes.
But damn he can still write better than I can.
Posted by Jody at 10:33 PM
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The Amazing Meeting: Day 2.
Breakfast: 8:00 AM
I made a bee-line for the coffee first. I'm horrible in the mornings without that nasty little brew flowing through my body. The neruons have been conditioned to continue their sleep until java beans wake them from their staid slumbers. That I can shave and get dressed without the use of my brain is a delicate art indeed, one that I have to say I'm a master of. Considering the number of people who amble through life without using theirs, my feat is very, very modest.
So like a curtains' opening before a play or the vanishing of morning vapor with the touch of the sun, the coffee parted my haze and I found myself aware of being in the midst of something truly awesome: nearly 800 Contrarians, Free Thinkers, Skeptics, star gazers, Thaumaturges, Rationalists, Objectivists, Reason-enablers, raconteurs, Randians and RANDIans, smiling, joking, chatting, arguing, kissing, and hugging. Geeks all, we were home.
Posted by Jody at 10:31 PM
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A Quick Note at Lunch
Dammit. Hitchens didn't cause a fight. Instead he was erudite, intelligent and damn inspiring. Well, there's still Penn & Teller in the afternoon, as well as the science panel at 4:30.
In any event, it's been an enlightening morning so far. I'll have details soon.
Now I must go get chicken wings before they're all gone...
Another Quick Note at Dinner
Man, my mind is blown. I've got a pile of notes from all the presenters that I'm going to try to enter tonight. I realize I haven't even finished last night's entry, but in the interests of not falling too far behind, and because the gracious Dr. Meyers has routed a few folks over here, I'm going to plow ahead and move on to what happened today. I get as far as I can before I head for the sheets. At least you'll get a flavor of everything, even if I cant get everything that happened down tonight.
BTW, I write fiction for a living. I get paid to lie truthfully about the Truth. If you want to be sure everything relayed here is 100% exactly as it happened, read this guy instead.
Posted by Jody at 12:05 PM
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Thursday: When Skeptics Shout
Okay, it's late and we're starting tomorrow at the ungodly (<---------get it! Heheheheeheheh. I know. It wasn't that funny. Shoot me. I'm running on caffeine fumes here) hour of 7:30 in the AM, so I've got time for just some quick impressions of the day. I'll try to expand these later, but for now:
Today is actually just the "Pre-Meeting" Workshop on Information and Disinformation. It was presented by Chip Denman, a statistics professor out of M.D. and Jamy (Jaime) Ian Swiss, a magician out of... well, whatever magical place spawns magicians. Chip led off with some wonderful examples of how our visual systems betray us, how we don't always see what we think we see and say what we mean to say. That wacky little million year old grey matter sitting between our ears co-opted a variety of systems and functions to adapt to an environment where social interaction and threat assessment was key to survival. The ways we trick others, and get tricked ourselves, directly flows from this.
The most vivid examples of this came when Jamy zinged us with his masterful illusions. As an aside, about three hours ago had the wonderful opportunity to actually see Jamy do a live show to a small audience of us skeptics. His slight of hand card dances left you going "How the @#$@#$@# did he do that?" Jamy's good, so his earlier illusions performed during the workshop, while simple, were vivid effective in demonstrating how the "flaws" that Chip pointed out with his theoretical constructs were knowingly exploited, for fun, by illusionists.
Back to theory, Chip followed Jamy's performance (not something I'd care to do) with some less exciting but far more common illusions that crop up when graphs and charts display information that really means nothin'. We waded into the flaws of bar charts, pie charts, and and trend lines. I hear the gentleman on a Firefox browser from the Midwest go "Booorrrringggg!" In one sense it was -- heaven knows bar graphs aren't that interesting. But, and here's where the argument happened -- and get that many skeptics and free thinkers in a room together and damnit if you aren't going to get a really good and really loud argument -- with the Hard Science Freethinkers on one side and the Soft Science Skeptics on the other.
What that argument consisted of, how it played out, and how many chairs were thrown, is going to have to wait until sometime tomorrow, because Uncle Jody's going to bed. Christopher Hitchens is speaking in the morning, and he's really going to cause a fight.
Posted by Jody at 12:50 AM
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Wednesday Afternoon: Escape from L.A.
If I believed in omens, I might have been worried. The car radio FM transmitter for my iPod died literally as I was driving out of town. Could it be Divine Retribution for pissing this guy off , my offenses against Foster's Faithful Flock a glaring affront to the diginity of the Diety?
No.
It was crappy manufacturing by DLO the makers of the lifeless $100 hunk of plastic, phallically inserted into the power-port in my Mustang. Three stops later, another $100 bucks and a Griffin iPod transmitter (that worked out of the box) now doing a similar metaphorical mating with my Mustang, I was bumper to bumpering my way out of the City of Angels, bound for the Sin City.
Now, I wish I could say that I had some madcap adventure along the way: that a hot car full of hot jocks, hallted half way to Hesperia after overheating, flagged me down and were henceforce very greatful for my help. Or that a wrong turn, off a detoured road stranded me in a sleepy, sarahan town, a clandestine cavalcade for a Cthulu coven. Alas, no. I made it to Las Vegas by dark, a little tired, a bit hungry, but still in one piece.
Well, there's always the way back.
(It's a shoggoth! Faster, little car! Faster!)
Posted by Jody at 12:22 AM
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I'm being amazed at the moment.
I'll have some updates later tonight.
Posted by Jody at 05:28 PM
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