Skeptical Bay Area events

Tomorrow (Wednesday), Bay Area Skeptics will be hosting the excellent Rebecca Watson for a Skeptics in the Pub Quiz. Watson is a founder of Skepchick, a host of the Skeptics Guide to the Universe, and a force for skepticism and sensibility in a world that is too frequently senseless. As a member of the Bay Area Skeptics board, I'm pretty jazzed about this event.

You can play alone or, to improve your chance of winning awesome prizes, you can form a team of 5 or fewer. All questions will relate to science and skepticism, so there's no need to memorize obscure baseball stats prior to playing.

Entry is $2/person, with half the proceeds to benefit the Bay Area Skeptics and the other half to benefit La Peña Cultural Center, our café host for the evening.

WHERE: Café Valparaiso (at La Peña), 3105 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley

When: 7PM, Wednesday, May 18

And that's not all! This Saturday, I'll be dropping in on the Bay Area's Rapture-that-wasn't party, which will feature Watson, Jen McCreight, Mr. Deity himself, Greta Christina, and Matt Dillahunty. Afterward, unless the Rapture and earthquakes take us all away, I'll be spending the day at the Maker Faire.

And then, May 29, I'm excited to have helped organize the second annual SkeptiCal: Northern California Science and Skepticism Conference. Last year's event was a blast, with great talks and great conversation, and this year's lineup of speakers is great. I'll be joining NCSE's Genie Scott and Glenn Branch for a chat about creationism, we'll have Skeptic's Dictionary creator Bob Carroll talking, not to mention Skeptologists Mark Edward and Yau-Man Chan to talk about their work to bring skepticism to the TV. Peter Gleick, a world-famous expert on climate and water issues, will be coming up from Oakland to talk about climate science and the false skeptics who attack it, while psychologist Anthony Pratkanis will discuss the ways our memory can deceive us. Wendy Northcutt will talk about the Darwin Awards, Wendy Northcutt will discuss how Wikipedia can be a friend to skeptics, and Norm Goldblatt will try to make us laugh it all off.

For the price, it's a deal not to be missed, and Bay Area Skeptics, Sacramento Area Skeptics, and the other organizers all hope you'll join us. It's all day (9-6) at the Berkeley Marina Doubletree Hotel (200 Marina Boulevard).