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ThorGoLucky
Snuggle Wolf
USA
1486 Posts |
 Posted - 10/26/2016 : 12:01:09 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Kil
...I'm not a volunteer this year, which means I just might have more time to do posts. We'll see. |
Potential woo-hoo!
Let's keep an eye on #CSICon and #CSICon2016 in Twitter to see what impromptu social gatherings are afoot. Get on Twitter, Kil!
| I'm really really hoping my lyft app works. |
I installed Uber and Lyft. We gots optiony thingies!
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| Edited by - ThorGoLucky on 10/26/2016 12:04:31 |
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13476 Posts |
Posted - 10/27/2016 : 16:53:54 [Permalink]
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Okay now. I’m at the Excalibur with Thor, We are now registered for the event.
This morning wasn’t without some excitement of the possible mishap kind but it seemed to resolve itself. For example I used an app call Lyft for the first time and when the guy came to pick me up, he said he isn’t authorized to drive into LAX. Ultimately, being a nice guy, he took me anyway. I did have a backup plan, which was to call a cab. In the meantime, Thor didn’t think he was going to make his flight. That would have been a major bummer because he would have had to find another flight at no doubt a much greater cost. Plus the hotel reservations were in his name. So I couldn’t have gotten to a room until he arrived.
But he made it, I got my Lyft ride and all is well.
The room is nice. It has a view of the airport. Kinda cool. We registered for the event and then had lunch at an Italian place. Great food!
I’m sure this will change, but we aren’t seeing many registration tags on people. At a TAM event, we’d see lots of people wearing their tag, but so far, we’ve seen only a few people with them on. I’m not sure what the attendance is, but if that’s any indicator, this won’t be as well attended as any of the last several TAM events. But who knows? Tonight’s reception should tell us more about attendance.
Thor is napping and I think I’ll head up to the conference area just to see what’s up and maybe catch up with some friends.
I’ll try to check in later.
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Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26020 Posts |
Posted - 10/27/2016 : 21:06:09 [Permalink]
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Back in the day, Thursdays at scifi/fantasy cons were for the die-hardiest of the die-hards. There was never anything scheduled, so Thursday night was all about booze for the (maybe) 0.5% of con-goers who showed up that day. I remember one con (where full attendance on Saturday was about 1000 people), at which somehow my room got picked for the pre-con Thursday party, so there were like 15 people in my little double-occupancy (and some of them did a bucket brigade thingy for ice, so my bathtub had something like 30 bottles of champagne in it - for a short while). I did get to chat with the couple who started that particular con, so that was nice.
Anyways, some of the best cons I've been to had small attendance numbers. The larger they got, the more impersonal they seemed.
Just have some fun. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13476 Posts |
Posted - 10/27/2016 : 21:37:10 [Permalink]
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I ran into some people I know and we went to a bar and hung out until the reception. My guess was right. I think we are looking at around 500 people at this conference. I mean, it feels like one of the old TAMs going back to TAM4 where the numbers were low enough to make the reception fun. Noise level was down and actually getting to talk to people what very nice. I'm assuming that we will have tables in front of our seats, like TAMs of old. Another good thing. With all of the controversy over the years with regard to TAM, it was an immensely popular convention. Not everyone, as I have pointed out before, were into the politics of the skeptical movement. Some came because of the speakers, and some came because it was the premier skeptical event in the world.
It seems Ron Lindsay is out, really as of a year ago and the parting was completely amicable as far as I can tell. He is here. Anyhow the CSI and The Richard Dawkins Foundation has merged and Robyn Blumner from the Dawkins foundation now heads the CSI and was the main speaker for the CSI at the reception, along with . It seems that both objectives of the CSI has merged into one cause. That is, its humanism and scientific skepticism separation is no more. This is not new news but I suppose this was its most formal announcement yet. Skeptical Inquirer Editor Kendrick also spoke.
I'm not real comfortable with these developments but there you go.
Anyhow, with so many important skeptics accessible in one room, the reception was again, the best I've been to since the early years of TAM.
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Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13476 Posts |
Posted - 10/27/2016 : 21:42:24 [Permalink]
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| By the way. A beer costs 8 bucks at this hotel. Not in my budget. There are several of us who are thinking of buying these beverages somewhere else and bringing them here. |
Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26020 Posts |
Posted - 10/28/2016 : 04:32:32 [Permalink]
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Evolution topics coming to CSICON Las Vegas
Oh:Originally posted by Kil
By the way. A beer costs 8 bucks at this hotel. Not in my budget. There are several of us who are thinking of buying these beverages somewhere else and bringing them here. |
Pro tip: In your bathroom sink, place one washcloth, as flat as possible. Cover with a bucket of ice. Cover that with beer. Then another bucket or two of ice. Then lay a small towel across the top of the sink. Free beer fridge. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13476 Posts |
Posted - 10/28/2016 : 21:19:01 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Dave W.
Evolution topics coming to CSICON Las Vegas
Oh:Originally posted by Kil
By the way. A beer costs 8 bucks at this hotel. Not in my budget. There are several of us who are thinking of buying these beverages somewhere else and bringing them here. |
Pro tip: In your bathroom sink, place one washcloth, as flat as possible. Cover with a bucket of ice. Cover that with beer. Then another bucket or two of ice. Then lay a small towel across the top of the sink. Free beer fridge.
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Thor went to the AM/PM across the street for some wine. :-)
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Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13476 Posts |
Posted - 10/28/2016 : 21:21:04 [Permalink]
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Friday:
We headed out for breakfast. There really are lots of choices here and both Thor and I are on the wishy-washy side of life. Anyhow, once we found a place we could agree on, I noticed that I had either lost my wallet or left it in the room. So we ate, but I really couldn’t enjoy my breakfast worrying about my wallet. As usual, it turned out that I had just left it behind. Whew!
On to the first day of talks:
George Hrab did a nice intro, complete with a video of a skeptical song he wrote. Very funny stuff.
Briefly,
James Alcock talked about when people confuse labels for knowledge which can lead to circular reasoning, and more.
Maria Konnikova talked the power of story telling and how we can feel that something is true, but it’s really just a story. Claims, whether true or false, imbedded into stories easily stick to people. That’s how lawyers win with the best story, whether true or false. Trust but verify. See “The Great Imposter.”
Carol Travis talked about our biases and how they play a significant role in our reasoning. We are all subject to cognative biases. Once we put effort into recognizing our core beliefs we might be able to recognize new and better evidence. And in that we can reduce our own cognative dissonence. Or, we can cling to our core beliefs.
Paul Offit talked about the history of opiate addiction and its many failures of trying to separate pain relief from addiction using opiates and its synthetic versions.
Harriet Hall talked about ‘Functional Medicine” which in her view is total bullshit.
Kavin Senapathy talked about people like the “food babe” (You know her) and her book called “The Fear Babe” and the formation of science moms, combating her bullshit.
Lunch.
Ron Linsday talk was on “Why Skepticism.” His point was that taking on the small stuff teaches rationality.
Michael Mann (I was out for coffee. Sorry.)
Kevin Folta’s talk was probably the nearest and dearest to my heart. He talked about all the GMO wars and the misinformation out there about them. He also talked about how he has been the target of a misinformation campaign against him, for accepting a small amount of money from Monsanto just to keep help pay for his travels talking to schools about GMOs. Something he did before Monsanto gave him a cent.
I skipped the interview with Richard Dawkins, which was last on Friday, because I’ve seen him interviewed in person three other times. Perhaps if he had given a talk I might have stayed, but hey…
Thor and I were signed up for The Tournament of Kings, which is the big show at The Excalibur. Our tickets were though the CFI and we sat in a CFI area set aside for us. Cool show!
Along with the show is a dinner of Cornish game hen, roasted potatoes, greens and a muffin all to be eaten without utensils. No knives and no forks. Kinda fun. There was an apple turnover for desert. I did have a beer with dinner. It didn’t cost me 8 bucks. (Trivia: The Excalibur is the buyer of Cornish game hens in the world.) And while eating dinner there is a play of going on which included hand-to-hand combat, jousting, Merlin, horses and lots of cheerleading by both the male contestants and their maidens. Each seating section represented a country. There were evil knights and dragons too and they brought along pyrotechnics.
Anyhow, great show.
Thor helped me with the talk descriptions in a big way. After all, I have a tendency to nod off.
There is a lack of a real hangout here, which is kind of a bummer. It is the thing that is the most unlike a TAM event. |
Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13476 Posts |
Posted - 10/29/2016 : 17:21:10 [Permalink]
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I'll get into more details about the day, but here's a summary of the talks, again with Thor's help. Amazingly, he helped me while almost asleep. He had a pillow over his head while I was writing this thing. In a way it's kinda funny. He helped to keep me awake during the talks, and I'm keeping him awake writing about the talks.
I’m just going to go over the Saturday talks lightly and skipping some until I get home.
Eugenie Scott talked about the difficulties of teaching evolution in states that have made the teaching of creationism possible, and the difficulties of teaching the teachers how to teach the subject. The teachers are feeling some pressure from school boards and the public, and some feel it isn’t worth the hassle.
Bertha Vazquez dealt with a simalure topic as Scott, but from a middle school teacher’s perspective. She holds workshops to teach other teachers how to tackle critical thinking and evolution.
Stuart Vyse says brain training and epically Luminosity is a scam.
David Halfand says Goggle is manipulated by informtionists who provide either good information or bad. On almost any goggle search mostly bad information comes up first.
Tamar Wilner, whose hero was Wonder Woman’s says we must all make up our own “Lasso of Truth.”
Do it looking for red flags (which she listed but I’m not going to.) Use reliable sites and fact checkers. If you see the name “Paul Horner” on any site, run!
Joe Nickell wants you to know that a skeptics job is to investigate, and not with intention of debunking a claim. Claims do get debunked but going in with that intention means you have brought your bias with you.
Jill Tarter talked about extreamophiles and exoplanets pointing out that there are more planets out there than there are stars.
Elizabeth Loftus talked about how we are all subject to false memories, weather partial or complete. We all have them and they effect our emotions.
At this point I made my way down to have my boarding pass for tomorrow printed out.
I’m skipping the interview with Randi because as much as I love the guy, I have been to several of those.
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Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13476 Posts |
Posted - 10/30/2016 : 19:23:41 [Permalink]
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Okay. I'm home and I can go into more detail about the trip itself now. I wanted to strike while the iron was hot, so to speak, on the talks. Having Thor help me with that stuff was pretty great. I mean, he managed to not doze off. Not that the talks were boring. It's just me. I do that.
But right now I'm going to unpack and go eat something and I'll get to this. |
Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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Philo
Skeptic Friend
66 Posts |
Posted - 12/26/2016 : 14:46:24 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by KilIt seems Ron Lindsay is out, really as of a year ago and the parting was completely amicable as far as I can tell. He is here. Anyhow the CSI and The Richard Dawkins Foundation has merged and Robyn Blumner from the Dawkins foundation now heads the CSI and was the main speaker for the CSI at the reception, along with . It seems that both objectives of the CSI has merged into one cause. That is, its humanism and scientific skepticism separation is no more. This is not new news but I suppose this was its most formal announcement yet. Skeptical Inquirer Editor Kendrick also spoke.
I'm not real comfortable with these developments but there you go. |
Kil, I think you are going too far here.
Yes, I agree that it is sad that CSI, in many ways the organization that started the modern skeptical movement, merged with CSH under CFI. From what I understand many within CSI opposed this merger, but please correct me if I'm wrong.
But, CSI is not the only skeptic organization in town. Within the USA, you have the Skeptics Society. You also have many local skeptical groups. In Europe there are plenty of skeptical organizations, in many cases they are national organizations. Many of them are part of ECSO (European Council of Skeptical Organisations), the European-level umbrella group of skeptical organizations. Australia also has a strong national skeptical organization.
These aren't going to merge with humanists anytime soon. So while CSI may be declining, the movement lives on. |
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13476 Posts |
Posted - 12/27/2016 : 01:15:58 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Philo
Originally posted by KilIt seems Ron Lindsay is out, really as of a year ago and the parting was completely amicable as far as I can tell. He is here. Anyhow the CSI and The Richard Dawkins Foundation has merged and Robyn Blumner from the Dawkins foundation now heads the CSI and was the main speaker for the CSI at the reception, along with . It seems that both objectives of the CSI has merged into one cause. That is, its humanism and scientific skepticism separation is no more. This is not new news but I suppose this was its most formal announcement yet. Skeptical Inquirer Editor Kendrick also spoke.
I'm not real comfortable with these developments but there you go. |
Kil, I think you are going too far here.
Yes, I agree that it is sad that CSI, in many ways the organization that started the modern skeptical movement, merged with CSH under CFI. From what I understand many within CSI opposed this merger, but please correct me if I'm wrong.
But, CSI is not the only skeptic organization in town. Within the USA, you have the Skeptics Society. You also have many local skeptical groups. In Europe there are plenty of skeptical organizations, in many cases they are national organizations. Many of them are part of ECSO (European Council of Skeptical Organisations), the European-level umbrella group of skeptical organizations. Australia also has a strong national skeptical organization.
These aren't going to merge with humanists anytime soon. So while CSI may be declining, the movement lives on.
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I am involved with a local group of skeptics and I know there are other skeptical organizations. My guess is that Skeptical Inquirer magazine will continue to be of value. There are people in the Skeptic Society who I admire, but Michael Shermer is not one of them. Past behaviours of his make it impossible for me to support that organization as long as he is one of its heads.
I have SFN and I'm fine with the CFI, I suppose. There are plenty of great skeptics and skeptical sites out there like Science-Based Medicine and other blogs. So much so that I'm not all that worried about the skeptical community as a whole. We might be more fragmented than we were a few years ago, but oh well.
I became, or maybe better put, I realized I was a skeptic by way of Skeptical Inquirer. Some people credit Randi and Sagan for bringing them to skepticism. As much as I love them, I must credit Paul Kurtz and CSICOP for bringing me to skepticism. (I should mention that Randi and Sagan were both CSICOP fellows and Randi was one of its founders.) So if there is a real change of direction and scope, which causes me some discomfort, I suppose it's because it was through CSICOP by way of Skeptical Inquirer that I came to a cause that love and continue to promote. SFN exists because one day back in the eighties, I picked up a copy of Skeptical Inquirer. The first of many. |
Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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CSICON Los Vegas
