Announcements
oracknows | November 6, 2008Unbelievable.
It really is. It's simply amazing that The Skeptics' Circle has been around so long. It's been around so long that we're already up to the 99th Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle over at Ferret's Cage. The new generation of skepticism has landed with a great addition to the lore of the Skeptics' Circle.
Next up is...well...me. Given how long it's been since I've hosted a Circle, I decided to take the organizer's prerogative and host the 100th Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle. So send your entries to me by November 19, and I'll see what sort of twisted and entertaining Circle I can…
illconsidered | November 6, 2008Michael Crichton has died of cancer. He was 66 years old.
Climate Progress has a lengthy obituary for those of you unfamiliar with his destructive role in the climate debate.
I enjoyed Jurassic Park.
oracknows | November 3, 2008Once more, it's rapidly approaching that time again. The 99th Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle will be landing at Ferret's Cage in less than three days. That means there's still time to get your entries to the Ferret King in time to be included in the blog carnival. The cool thing is that Ferret King is only 15 and thus represents the new generation of skepticism. So, if you have a blog and regularly write about skepticism, reason, and/or critically thinking, then help nurture the next generation by submitting your best work to the Skeptics' Circle. Instructions are here, and the guidelines…
oracknows | October 23, 2008...is here at The Uncredible Hallq, and it's a fine collection of the latest skeptical blogging.
Meanwhile the countdown towards #100 continues. Next up is King of Ferrets Ferret Cage, who will be hosting the 99th Edition of the Skeptics' Circle a fortnight hence, on Thursday, November 6, 2008. I should go back and check to see whether King of Ferrets is the youngest host we've ever had (age 15). Now, I know you all want to encourage the next generation of skeptics; so encourage King of Ferrets and be sure to send him your best stuff in time to be included in the next Circle.
Also, if you're…
oracknows | October 21, 2008Yike.
I've been truly remiss in my duty. The Skeptics' Circle is a mere day and a half away. But it's not too late to submit your best skeptical work to Chris at The Uncredible Hallq.
So, if you wanted to submit a post this week but haven't gotten around to it, there isn't much time left.
thusspakezuska | October 20, 2008...with Donors Choose?
Hello, Zuskateers! I'm setting off today to go spend time with mom, who is in the hospital again. I don't know how long I'll be there, which means I don't know when I'll be getting back to blogging. If I have time while I'm there I'll try to get in a short post or two but it seems unlikely. If you comment on something and it gets lost in moderation, please be patient; I will try to check every so often to make sure someone's pearls of wisdom did not get caught up in the spam filter.
In the meantime, while I am gone, maybe you would like to consider supporting the…
oracknows | October 14, 2008Blog friend Dr. Val Jones has moved. She's no longer blogging at Revolution Health but has instead gone solo, blogging at Getting Better with Dr. Val. She's also doing a weekly gig at Science-Based Medicine now, and indeed has started out with a bang. Let's put it this way: There are few bloggers I know who have coined a term that is likely to become fairly widely used in the skeptical blogosphere, much less coined the term in their first post.
Dr. Val's work is definitely worth checking out both at her own blog and her sideline gig.
oracknows | October 7, 2008...it'll be because the flu vaccine poisoned me, of course!
That's right. Today I got my flu shot, complete with thimerosal and formaldehyde! I do put my money where my mouth is, so to speak. No word on whether there was any of the dreaded Polysorbate 80 in the vaccine, though. Oh, well. Maybe next time.
Also, while we're at it, my latest post over at The ScienceBlogs Book Club is up and ready for your perusal. Read it, enjoy it, trash it if you like. Just don't ignore it.
You know how much I hate it when my posts are ignored.
oracknows | October 6, 2008...with the 97th Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle, which is due to be hosted at Evolved and Rational on Thursday, October 9. That's less than three days away, folks. There's still a couple of days left to get your skeptical entries submitted to Evolved Rationalist. So, if you've procrastinated thus far, remember that time's running out.
Then join us all at Evolved and Rational on Thursday for a sampling of the best the skeptical blogosphere has to offer over the last couple of weeks.
oracknows | October 3, 2008...at The ScienceBlogs Book Club has been posted. Go forth and enjoy. As always for these Book Club Posts, no comments are allowed here. Got a response? Hate my guts? Think I'm in the pocket of Big Pharma, Big Government, and the Illuminati, too? At least for this post, say it over there!
thusspakezuska | October 1, 2008It's October, and that means it's DonorsChoose time again! ScienceBlogs bloggers are, once again, participating in the DonorsChoose Blogger Challenge. Basically, we ask you, our readers, to help public school teachers across the U.S. fund proposals for classroom supplies, activities, and field trips.
It's a shame we have to ask at all, but our nation's public school teachers are woefully underfunded and often spend their own personal money to purchase needed classroom supplies. Looking over proposals to build my challenge, it was heartbreaking to see that for some teachers, the lack of…
oracknows | October 1, 2008...has been posted over at The ScienceBlogs Book Club.
Head on over. As will be the case for all my posts at the Book Club, please leave comments there, not here. Thanks.
oracknows | October 1, 2008Just a quick announcement here:
The ScienceBlogs Book Club is back up and running, and this time the book under discussion is the latest by that Dark Lord of Vaccination himself, that Darth Vader to the antivaccinationist Luke Skywalker, otherwise known as Satan Incarnate to Jenny McCarthy, J.B. Handley, Andrew Wakefield, Dan Olmsted, and the crew of antivaccinationists spreading misinformation and endangering public health and promoting an amazing panoply of quackery to "cure" autism, Dr. Paul Offit. The book under discussion is Autism's False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the…
sporte | September 29, 2008This First Annual Conference for New Jersey Biotechnology Educators will be held on Saturday, Oct. 4th at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, New Jersey.
I'm excited about attending this conference, not only because of the biotechnology part, but because I've reading Sarah Vowel's book Assassination vacation and I'm looking forward to seeing the last resting place of President James Garfield. Sarah Vowel is an incredibly funny commentator on NPR's "This American Life" and so, even though I don't usually read about people making pilgrimages to famous presidential sites, I had to read…
oracknows | September 25, 2008It's finally here. Once again, the Skeptics' Circle has landed at another skeptical blog, to spread the joy of reason and critical thinking hither and yon throughout the blogosphere. This time, the 96th Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle is at Endcycle, and it's another fine addition to the growing list of previous meetings. Go forth and enjoy.
Then be ready for two weeks hence, when once again the Circle will land, with the host for next time scheduled to be Evolved Rationalist at Evolved and Rational. Bloggers, get your skeptical material read to submit and join us here again on October 9.
sporte | September 25, 2008Dave, Maria, Grrl, and I will all be at Ozzie's in Lower Queen Anne on Saturday afternoon.
I've never met the other three bloggers but after checking out Maria's wedding pictures and the liquid nitrogen, I'm really looking forward to this. We'll be upstairs in the mezzanine and we'll have a ScienceBlogs poster.
Relevant details:
Saturday, Sept. 27th at 4 pm in the upstairs mezzanine at Ozzie's.
Address: 105 W. Mercer St., Seattle, WA 98119
thusspakezuska | September 23, 2008I received an email from Dr. Kimberly Fairchild, Assistant Professor of Psychology at Manhattan College, asking for help in recruiting participants for a survey she is conducting. Kimberly is interested in the relationship between early experiences with catcalling and current experiences. The survey she is currently conducting is an extension of her dissertation work. The survey is women-only, completely voluntary, and should only take about 20 minutes to complete. Kimberly has promised to report back to me with the final results next spring, so hopefully I can share them with you here.…
oracknows | September 17, 2008Well, looky here:
The ScienceBlogs Book Club is back!
From October 1 through October 10, we'll be discussing Autism's False Prophets, by Dr. Paul Offit.
Dr. Offit will be joined on the blog by a panel of experts, and we're inviting all of you to join in by reading the book at home, and contributing your thoughts, questions, and comments in the 'comments' section of the posts. Our panelists will be reading them and responding.
More good news: Columbia University Press is giving away 50 copies of Autism's False Prophets free to ScienceBlogs Book Club readers.
Here are the details.
Also, one of…
sporte | September 17, 2008Okay, occasional readers, friends, and former students, the date is official. I walked over to Ozzie's, chatted with one of the waitresses (a Garfield grad, no less!), talked with a manager on the phone, and we're on for the party.
You can find us on Saturday, Sept. 27th at 4 pm in the upstairs mezzanine at Ozzie's.
Address: 105 W. Mercer St., Seattle, WA 98119
Dave Bacon will be there (I don't think he's related to Kevin, but here's your chance to ask, and we could start a new game! Six degrees of David Bacon!). Grrl Scientist will be signing autographs. And, we'll get a chance to…
oracknows | September 11, 2008The 95th Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle has been posted by Bob Carroll over at Skeptimedia:
Seven years ago, The Very Lost Prophecies of Michel Nostradamus were found by Quantum Beam Radium and Harvard Veritas Schwartz in a Peruvian cave. Dr. Schwartz's validated spirit guide directed the pair to the cave by interpreting entangled stains found by Radium on a South Park urinal. We now know, after doing a thorough meta-analysis and finding odds against chance of a trillion to one, that the Great One predicted it all.
With that begins one of the longest, cleverest, and most varied we've seen,…