Issue 2 * February 15, 2006

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Special Report: TAM4

(Continued)

Saturday
The male:female ratio at TAM was still a bit uneven this year, but few complaints were heard.
I woke up just in time to scramble down to the lectures. No gym again this morning, but I was sure that I'd work out three times as much on Sun . . . oh, screw it. I ate a bunch of pastries and briefly lost the ability to remember the names of vegetables.

Saturday's lectures began with Richard Wiseman. I won't mention here how funny and entertaining he was, or how he once again received some of the highest praise from the attendee surveys, as it's just likely to give him a big head and then we'll never hear the end of it. Daniel Dennett delivered another well-received lecture on the evolution and future of religion in our world. The line-cutting Carolyn Porco showed astronomy buffs the photo album of a lifetime, and Mythbusters Jamie Hyneman, Adam Savage, and Kari Byron got a fantastic reception, despite the fact that they didn't blow up a single thing. Paul Provenza said some things that would have landed him in jail in some countries, Ellen Johnson gave a fantastic retrospective of Madeline Murray O'Hair, and Hal Bidlack discussed his personal views on theism, providing a transition into a spirited discussion on whether or not a skeptic can believe in a god. The answer was . . . well, you'll just have to buy the TAM4 DVD to find out.

Carnie Todd Robbins ran this year's auction, raising thousands of dollars for the JREF. Popular items included an American flag shirt worn by Penn earlier in the conference (which Randi then put on and danced around the stage - classic), a can of farts donated by the Mythbusters (yes, a can of farts, don't make me repeat myself), and a Skepchick calendar, signed by every skepchick in it, which sold for (I believe) $425.

The Mythbusters appreciating the 2006 Skepchick Calendar
I managed to get some time alone with Adam, Jamie, and Kari of the Mythbusters in order to give them each a signed Skepchick 2006 Calendar. They appeared to like them, and hopes are high for convincing one or all of them to join in on the 2007 calendars. In the approximately 40 minutes I spent with them, we were interrupted at least 300 times by autograph seekers, many of whom were not in Vegas for TAM. It's beyond cool to see how they've taken critical thinking out of the lecture hall and into everyday life. They make me wish that I had cable. Or a television.

The Chocolate Challenge!
Saturday night was the annual Forum Party, which each year reaches new levels of debauchery so incredible that I can scarcely even think about it without blushing. Keynote speaker Murray Gell-Mann looked quite happy with his well-heeled (pun) company, Richard Wiseman made me laugh so hard I think vodka came out my nose, and Phil Plait bogarted most of the truffles. The party features an annual chocolate challenge, expertly run by Christian, a German with some kind of obsession with proving German chocolate is the best in the world. I'm pretty sure it has never won. There was so much delicious chocolate from around the world that I almost feel ashamed that I didn't gain 10 pounds before I left. And I left, by the way, at around 1 am when the party was still raging. Also, I was wearing UK skeptic Sid Rodrigues' Chuck Taylors -- yet another example of a charitable skeptic, this time helping out a girl with cold feet who couldn't stand to wear her pink high heels a second longer.

Sunday
Science celebrity Richard Wiseman attempting to blend in
On Sunday I ate an entire bucket of pure sugar and one stick of butter. I considered going to the gym, but instead I got two hours of sleep and considered buying one of those Rascal scooters for the elderly and lazy as I ran to the conference room.

Luckily, the paper presentations were split into two groups in two different rooms, so I had to keep moving around which kept me awake. I faintly remember CSICOP's Ben Radford and the JREF forum's own Robert Lancaster delivering some outstanding presentations, but I'm going to have to buy the TAM DVDs to be sure.

Talented geologists Ray "Slick" Beiersdorfer and Evelyn "Kitten" Mervine (you think I'm making those nicknames up but I'm not) then led five carloads of skeptics on a tour through Red Rocks Canyon. I was lucky enough to sit in the backseat of a car between Phil "The Bad Astronomer" Plait and Ray "Hot Fudge Sundae" Hyman (okay, I made up that last one but I swear it's appropriate). We had a great time exploring the breathtaking landscapes, getting mildly lost, and wedging ourselves into small gaps in the rocks for the benefit of funny pictures.

That night was the last night many people were in town. We went to dinner, and then a large group ended up once again in my hotel room. The party was raging, and I was wilting. Something about the multitude of things I had to do at this TAM combined with the non-stop partying started to get to me. In the middle of the party, I picked up my plastic cup of whiskey and walked barefoot down to the hotel bar. I assumed that if everyone was in my bedroom, I'd get some privacy anywhere else.

My sort of fiance and I
I walked into the darkened lounge. It was after midnight and they were closing down, but in Vegas apparently you can just go wherever you want no matter what. As I walked past the bar to the tables in the back next to the giant glass doors that overlooked the pool, I saw that there was one other person there. Sid, who had so graciously given me his shoes a few nights ago, sat alone smoking a cigarette and enjoying a beer. At this point, as I settled in next to him to just be quiet and stare out the windows, I realized my favorite aspect of TAM. Somehow, wherever you go, you're not alone. In a vast world that seems so fraught with misinformation and superstition, we collect in this basin of sin and false promises and we make it our own.We overrun the bars and the elevators and the poker tables and pretend for a weekend that we live in a world of logic and intellect.

Sid and I talked a while, and decided that we should get married next year in Vegas, at TAM 5. He folded me an engagement ring out of a ten dollar bill and told me he didn't mind if I hocked it the next morning for some breakfast (I was bluffing, I wouldn't dare).

So if you're interested, you're all invited to the wedding. I was thinking we'd have Randi perform it, maybe in an Elvis get-up. I haven't run this past Randi yet, but I think it's right up his alley. After all, what else are we going to do to top this year?

Was that not enough for you? See the JREF forum for more TAM 4 stories, or the blog of my very good friend, MoeFaux. Special thanks to Christian, MoeFaux, TJ , and Chip for the photos.

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