Skepchick

Issue 2 * February 15, 2006

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Special Report: TAM4

Rebecca Watson

Luckily the Stardust is being torn down soon

Stepping off the plane in Boston after a week in Las Vegas, the first thing I realize is how cold and gray the world is. There appears to be a distinct lack of neon, the carpeting has less than three colors, and I am not allowed to carry a giant sippy cup of whiskey down the street. And where are the pirates? I miss the pirates. But most of all, as I stand in a bar that night listening to a woman talk about her chakras without the slightest hint of irony, I miss the skeptics. Oh, how I miss the skeptics.

I had attended The Amaz!ng Meeting 4, the James Randi Educational Foundation's annual conference bringing the world's greatest critical thinkers together for a weekend of lectures, panel discussions, and performances. The conference featured speakers such as Murray Gell-Mann, Michael Shermer, Carolyn Porco, Christopher Hitchens, Richard Wiseman, Nadine Strossen, the Mythbusters, Penn & Teller, Julia Sweeney, Phil Plait, and far too many more to list. Surrounding the educational portion of the conference were an outrageous number of social activities not officially sanctioned by the JREF; because, when you decide to have a conference in Las Vegas, some extracurricular fun may occur. Here’s a quick overview of the weekend, leaving out only the most salacious stories (I'm not going to tell you who broke that headboard, or how), so you'll have to use your imagination.

Tuesday

Photo #362 of Phil Plait and I hugging

I stepped off a plane in Las Vegas around midnight. On the flight, by sheer coincidence (or was it?), I sat next to the parents of JREF’s own web flunky, Jeff Wagg. This was fortunate for me, since 1.) his parents are very nice and 2.) it guaranteed me a ride to the hotel. Jeff picked us up, and immediately handed me several hotel key cards with names written on them. I had come to Vegas with no set plan of where I would sleep – I assumed that either someone would just scoot over in the bed, I’d nap in a bathtub, or I just wouldn’t sleep. Thankfully, random strangers from the Internet stepped forward to offer me a bed, and luckily I have no qualms about sharing rooms with random strangers from the Internet. Okay, technically they weren't completely random - I "knew" them from their posts on the JREF forum.

After I dropped off my suitcase in my first room, I traveled downstairs to one of the hotel bars, where I found about five people hanging out. I had met one before, and the rest I knew by funny names and avatars on the JREF forum. We all drank and talked for a few hours, but I have no memory of what was said. This is probably for the best.

Wednesday

A supercute skepdude shows off an impossible business card to TAM guest Karen Russell

I visited the hotel gym to work out just before 7am. I felt so productive. There were four other freaks of nature in there with me.
In the hospitality suite, the JREF gang (including Randi, Linda “Queen of JREF” Shallenberger, her hilarious husband Karl, Hal “Not Really Such a Prude” Bidlack, and Scott “Volunteer Coordinator” Romanowski – sorry Scott, I’ll come up with a more exciting nickname for you later) were preparing for the conference’s start the next day by assembling welcome packets. I pretended as though I was going to help out, and then slipped into the next room with Randi. He showed me a bent paperclip and explained that it was way too cold in the room earlier, so he picked the lock to the thermostat and turned up the heat. Then he noticed that the door to the outside was open. Good times. I finally decided to help the crew by putting together name badges, which I took outside by the pool. There, I was approached by a young man whose first question to me was, “Are you here with your grandmother?” The level of discourse did not necessarily improve from there, and after about ten minutes he left. Try as I might, I was unable to indoctrinate him into the skeptical cause.

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