I will be doing a Cafe Scientifique with the above title on Tuesday, January 19 (tomorrow as I write this) at 7:00 p.m. at the Bryant Lake Bowl. Doors open at 6. Get there early or call for reservations! The venue is small and the last CS sold out. Call 612-825-8949 for reservations (tickets are 5 – 12 bucks depending on something, not sure what).

There are a LOT of videos coming out on Science Online 10. Go to YouTube and enter Scio10 in search and you’ll see them. Here are a few chosen from what is there already.

This is not comprehensive … but will give you a flavor of the event.

Enjoy:

Continue reading Selected #Scio10 Videos →

In reference to this

Bullet Point 1: I agree, and I wanted to do that to you but for some reason we did not hook up.
Bullet Point 2: It is good to match up the flesh to the sound, it changes everything!
Bullet Point 3: I’m sure you are right about the explosion. Brilliant, actually (imagine that said in an Oxford accent).
Bullet Point 4: I saw this as well, and some of us are now talking about a “blog book tour” idea as an example of that. I hope you are interested.
Bullet Point 5: Sorry about your brain breaking, but it will get better (imagine that in a Monty Python accent).
Bullet Point 6: True.
Bullet Point 7: Reminds me of Levi Straus’s comments about using a wire recorder while working in the Amazon.
Bullet Point 8: Meh.

• Bullet point 1: I just laid down and passed out.
• Bullet point 2: I stayed as far away from SciCurious as possible, for that very reason.
• Bullet Point 3: I also want to bottle Damond Nollan.
• Bullet Point 4: LOL. But seriously, this is a philosophy that not only applies to phones but to all technology. Keep it simple = keep it accessible (often).
• Bullet Point 5: OMG, is that how we looked? That’s the last time I do something with PZ Myers! : )
• Bullet POint 6: … Question 1: Yeah. But funnily enough, a “fact checker” probably always knows one when one sees one. Question 2: I don’t have time to think about that. Question 3: Huh.

Post bullet point questions: No, it would be bad. We need to think of ways to not break this great thing. The conference is currently at its maximum size or nearly so.

I have a few ideas: Make off-site on line participation real, easy, fun and effective, so people who normally attend will be inclined to skip some conferences and attend others, yet participate in all; Have a six month off-set conference in another location (I think the organizers were thinking of something like this).

The above remarks are a response to this post.

Well, I got back last night, but then I was asleep until now. So, as I have my morning cup of coffee I’m going through a couple/few hundred emails. Sorry some comments were trapped in moderation, but I’ve released all the real ones.

Later, I’ll tell you all about the conference. I had long interesting talks with Sheril, Chris, PZ, Rebecca, which you should have expected, but also I have some interesting stuff from Chicago’s Rabiah Mayas, some reactions to Abel Pharmboy and Damond Nollan’s section, and others. A lot of what I learned at this conference is very useful to me but not especially bloggable. The session I was in, organized by Stephanie Zvan, was brilliant, as expected given how wonderful we all are at doing this kind of stuff and more importantly, the amazing audience-participants we garnered for it.

Hat tip Kathy

Every time Rush Limbaugh opens his mouth I grow less enamored with the mindless fetish for free speech that permeates American culture. And notice that I use the word “culture” and not “civilization.” Because as long as this sort of thing is routine on our airwaves, we ain’t got that civilization thing.
Continue reading Rush Limbaugh: Don’t send help to Haiti →

The Center for Inquiry is accepting disaster-relief donations through its S.H.A.R.E. program to support those providing care to the survivors of the 7.0 earthquake that struck Jan. 12 near the capital city of Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

All donations–100 percent with no operating costs retained–will be sent directly to the secular aid group Doctors Without Borders, which suffered the loss of all three of its medical facilities and is working against difficulties to provide the basics of first-aid care and stabilization.

The needs of those who’ve lost their family members, their homes, and their livelihoods will be very great. Your assistance will make a huge difference for the victims of this tragic disaster. Please join us and other humanists and skeptics as we help those in need in this time of crisis.

CLICK HERE

The new strain of virus is likely to replace the older one; and if there’s a third wave later in the year it could be more virulent. We had the equivalent of a flu season’s worth of illness and deaths from August to November, when there are normally very few. In Canada, most of the people who died have been younger women (which is most unusual). So getting your flu shot is important, perhaps vital.

Read about it here

Continue reading Big Question: Feast or famine? →