Archive for the 'skepticism' Category
TAM 9 From Outer Space……
jewel July 18th, 2011
Or, as the locals call it — Vegas!
We were fortunate enough to make it to TAM this year. We had such a good time at TAM6 that we greatly looked forward to being able to go again. It took us a couple years, but we finally made it to TAM9.
We got into Vegas on Thursday afternoon so we had a bit of chill time before things really got going. At the welcome reception Thursday night, we found there were over 1600 registrants this year. I think TAM6 was around 1000 or so. On Friday, we were told that of the 1600+ registrations, 40% of them were women and 50% were first TAMers! Very exciting indeed! Continue Reading »
A Wave of Reason
jewel November 22nd, 2010
The new Symphony of Science video is up — and it has many of my favorite skeptics & scientists in it! Carl Sagan, James Randi, Richard Dawkins and the Bad Astronomer himself! I think this is my favorite one yet. 
Happy Birthday Carl Sagan
jewel November 9th, 2009
Today is Carl Sagan’s 75th birthday. I wish he were still around so that I could tell him just how important his life was to me and many others like me. You see, it was reading his books that got me interested in science and skepticism and critical thinking. His books that made me see the real wonder of the universe. I would not be the person I am today if it weren’t for Dr. Sagan.
I never got to meet him, never got to thank him for everything he did for his fellow humans. Everything he did for me.
If you’ve never read any of his books, I recommend them all, but particularly The Demon Haunted World. If you’ve never seen Cosmos, it’s on Hulu, you should check it out.
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
~~ Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science As a Candle in the Dark
London TAM Sold Out!!!
jewel May 11th, 2009
Holy fuck! I just read that the London TAM in October sold out within an hour of registration opening! That’s Amaz!ng! Sadly, I’m not one of the lucky folks going. Just don’t have the money this year, but I’m extremely excited that the event is so popular. This means they will have more and maybe, just maybe I’ll be able to go next year.
I’d been racking my brain and going through the closets for things to sell to go to London TAM, but it just wasn’t happening. With it being sold out, at least I don’t have to fret over it.
Damn. I’m severely jealous of everone that gets to go. But, I look forward to reading all about it. Plus, I will make it to a future one. Damn it.
Never Gets Old
jewel April 12th, 2009
Today on Bad Astronomy, Phil Plait linked to a BBC Radio 4 program where Brian Cox speaks about Carl Sagan. Listening to it made me nostalgic to watch the Cosmos TV series. So, I just fetched my DVD set and have begun watching.
Even 30 years after it was made, Cosmos is relevant and brilliant and inspiring. Carl Sagan takes us all on journey to know ourselves, where we came from and, hopefully, where we’re going.
Carl Sagan introduced me to skepticism and critical thinking and I am ever thankful for that. He inspired me to learn. Far from taking the beauty out of the universe, science teaches us just how magnificent it really is. And that we can even comprehend any of it is truly awesome.
If you haven’t seen Cosmos it’s available on Hulu. Check it out!
My Journey Into Skepticism
jewel December 13th, 2008
I haven’t always been a skeptic. Far from it, in fact. There was a time when I believed in all manor of nonsense – UFO’s, alien abductions, ghosts, homeopathy…. It’s kind of weird for me to think about now. Continue Reading »
LHC Really Isn’t Going to Destroy the Earth
jewel August 27th, 2008
Twice in the past couple weeks I have walked by someones desk at work and saw them looking at one of the scare monger websites saying that the Large Hadron Collider is going to destroy the planet! Oh noes! Sadly, both times the person reading the site was buying into all the weapons grade bullshit the site was spewing. Also, sadly, I have no links to the sites they were visiting. I’ll have to remember to get links next time.
Anyway, thankfully, people way smarter than me have done all the hard work for me and have explained exactly why these scare monger websites are so very wrong and I was able to point these folks in the right direction and give them, hopefully, some peace of mind. I hate to see people scared over nothing and actually buying into whatever these snake oil salesmen are selling. And it’s always something, isn’t it. Continue Reading »
Bigfoot?
jewel August 15th, 2008
This alleged Bigfoot discovery was all the talk around the water cooler at work today. Yeah, color me skeptical. I could barely contain my laughter when I heard about it. Seriously? Are the news outlets bored? Continue Reading »
A trick of perspective
jewel July 20th, 2008
Today is the 39th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. Phil Plait over at Bad Astronomy, posted about it today along with the left half of the picture above of Buzz Aldrin’s footprint on the moon. There is a really neat trick of perspective in that picture (that many of the commenter’s noticed). When the picture is looked at right side up, the footprint looks raised and the surrounding ground more solid, while when turned upside down the footprint looks indented (like one would expect) and the surrounding ground looks softer. I just love stuff like this. Continue Reading »
Google+
Twitter
