Rebecca Watson drops into Sydney one last time

Skepchick and awesome Skeptics Guide To The Universe member Rebecca Watson has made a final stop in Sydney after her whirlwind antipodean tour of Oz and Kiwi Land.
Rebecca's talk at the Manning Bar, the dry Manning Bar (they didn't open the bar dammit), was entitled How To Ruin Christmas (For Pretty Much Everyone Involved).
I don't think I'll be giving too much away by saying you don't ruin Christmas. You enjoy it more than the fundies and that will piss them off.

As always Rebecca's talks are funny and informative and sometimes a little disturbing. But who the hell has heard of the lovely European Alpine tradition of Krampus? Krampus follows St Nick around and punishes the bad children. Tongues are involved. It is, as we say in this country, pretty fucked up. I love it.

After the talk I walked home through Victoria Park and watched the ducks. I like ducks. Szechuan style.

As you can imagine I was pretty thirsty because the Manning Bar was closed (dammit). So I stopped in at a bottle-O on the way home and picked up a couple of brews including the Magners Pear Cider from Ireland below. Nice.

The Amazing Meeting Oz - Final Day

Two and a half days goes fast when you're having fun. This is the final day of the con. Another early start though. The first cab off the rank at 8 effing 45 was a panel on The Media and the Message.

Steve Cannane, Tim Mendham, Paul Willis and Rob Morrison.

Dr Pamela Gay was next with a talk about instilling curiosity and getting involved in citizen science using the example of Galactic Zoo. Motivational and inspirational. Pamela Gay is an extraordinary person. Very popular by the ovation too.

Dr Pamela Gay.

The speaker designated to be next was sick and unable to attend so Rebecca Watson came up with a skeptical quiz to fill in. The SGU and George Hrab were a team and the audience was the other team. Rebecca asked the question and George had to shout out the answer after conferring with the SGU. We, the audience, twittered, yes tweeted, our answers which were displayed on the big screens behind Rebecca. The team with the most number of correct answers won. The audience won. 14 to 8 from memory. Best use of twitter I've seen. I even signed up on the spot. Best answer of the the day - 'boobs'. Can't remember the question.

Rebecca Watson.

Evan Bernstein, Jay Novella, George Hrab, Bob Novella and Steve Novella.

The skeptical quiz.

More from the skeptical quiz.

Richard Saunders and George Hrab took us through a list of what the psychics missed in 2010. That was easy. Everything. Their, the psychics, predictions weren't much better.


Dr Rachael Dunlop, Brian Dunning, James Randi and Steve Novella.

You even get some luminaries up the back of the room notably Eugenie Scott.

Nearly every session was a full house.

Lunch was a quick sandwich before I hit the bookshop for the last time. I bought my first parenting book - Raising Freethinkers. Then it was off for a game of bag a skeptic. In this game I try and get my photograph taken with a notable skeptic or two. It's an easy game because the attendees at this conference are all fantastic people who give up their time selflessly and don't mind posing with a boofhead. As I said to them, if it's not on my blog it didn't happen.

Rebecca Watson and a boofhead.

Same boofhead with Steven Novella.

That boofhead just won't leave the talent alone. Steve Novella, Boofhead, Brian Dunning, Rebecca Watson and Bob Novella.

Boofhead and Dr Pamela Gay.

After lunch Eugenie Scott spoke on the rise of creationism in the the US and globally. Eugenie is the executive director of the National Center For Science Education in the US.

Eugenie Scott.

Who do you have on a panel about skepticism and entertainment? Entertainers. Some good ones here too. Julian Morrow is from The Chaser (magazine and TV show), Simon Taylor (illusionist), George Hrab (podcaster and entertainer) and James Randi (magician).

Julian Morrow, Simon Taylor, George Hrab and James Randi.


George Hrab and James Randi.


I'm Spartacus... Julian Morrow, Simon Taylor, George Hrab and Randi.

John Smyrk spoke on the credulity of business - management psuedoscience. I always knew that Myers Briggs test was a crock of shit. Now I know why.

Richard Saunders demonstrated how the magic power balance bracelet scam works (hint: it doesn't). Click here to see Richard's expose of this device on Today Tonight.

Richard Saunders, Pamela Gay and Paul Willis.


Pamela Gay, Richard Saunders and Paul Willis.

I listen to a number of skeptical podcasts - the SGU, Skeptoid, et al - but the main Aussie podcast I listen to is The Skeptic Zone. I think today's live show was the first time all the cast have been in the same room together for a show.

The Skeptic Zone Live with Eran Segev, Dr Rachie, Stefan Sojka, Richard Saunders, Joanne Benhamu, Krissy Wilson and Kylie Sturgess.

Joanne Benhamu, Krissy Wilson, Kylie Sturgess and Pamela Gay.

Rob Morrison is a Professor at Flinders Uni in South Australia and a noted science communicator. People of my generation may fondly remember him as the host of the long running Curiosity Show on TV. A whole generation of kids was brought up watching this show as it ran from 1972 to 1990. Rob's presentation was on the Illusion of Reality. He showed a bunch of wicked slides and videos of optical illusions and other tricks. Mind bending.

Rob Morrison.

Optical illusions and trickery

The final formal event for The Amazing Meet Australia 2010 was the closing address from the Amazing One himself, James Randi. Randi has been coming to Australia for 30 years and he said he was honoured to come here representing the James Randi Educational Foundation at TAM Oz. Skepticism has taken off over recent years and one of the forces behind the success of the movement is James Randi. I felt honoured to finally meet the man. Earlier this year I thought I never would. James said he expects to come back to Australia at least one more time for the next Amazing Meeting to probably be held in Melbourne next year. Randi it would be our hounour to have you back.

James Randi gives his closing address.


James The Amazing Randi.

That was it for the conference. I was sad it was over. I got to meet a bunch of my heroes and participate in something very cool in a nerdy way. All that was left now was to bag a couple more skeptics on the way out. I didn't know that Lawrence Leung from ABC TV's Lawrence Leung's Choose Your Own Adventure was even attending. Time for me to embarrass myself with a fan boy moment.

Lawrence Leung, Boofhead and Simon Taylor.


Simon Singh and Boofhead. I'd been carrying that bloody book (Trick Or Treatment) for three days. Each time I ran into Simon I'd managed to leave it somewhere temporarily. Then, spookily, on my way out the door there was Simon signing autographs.

The very last people I ran into on my way out the door though were Rob Morrison and Eugenie Scott. Both very awesome people. I think I gushed just a little bit.

Rob Morrison and Eugenie Scott.

That was it. See you at TAM next year. I'd like to get to TAM in Vegas at some point too.

The Amazing Meeting Oz - Day 2

I hate early mornings. One thing going for the Science Fiction community is most of the sessions at Worldcon started at 10am. Here at TAM the first sessions were about 9am. And with Brian Dunning being first up do you think I'd miss it? Rhetorical question by the way but if you do want an answer then, No. No, I wouldn't miss it. However after the previous night's skeptically drinking session I had my doubts.

So, Brian Dunning was first with a session on spooky sounds. When he eventually got started after some amusing technical difficulties (sorted out by Pamela Gay) it was an entertaining session. 30 minutes seemed way too short. But then that is about 3 times longer than his podcast.

Brian Dunning

Loretta Marron talked about Dodgy and Devious Devices and her one person campaign to have these dangerous quack devices banned by the TGA.

Loretta Marron

Dr Krissy Wilson is a psychologist who researches the psychology of belief. Apparently she appeared once on The Bill as a hooker. Today she claimed to be wearing red undies. She wouldn't prove it though. She did prove to be funny.

Dr Krissy Wilson


The G Spot. The convention was held in the Masonic Centre. This is the Grand Hall or Lodge or something. A large letter G hangs from the ceiling by a G string. It was rumoured the G stands for God but Jay Novella said it actually stands for Geometry. Who knows?

Paul Willis interviews James Randi and Dick Smith for the DVD.

After morning tea where you gulp down a couple of cups of coffee and try and pilfer as many Cookie Man cookies as you can take it was time for a conversation with Dick Smith and James Randi or, as MC Paul Willis, put it at chat with Willie, Dick and Randi. Dick was one of the founders of the Australian Skeptics and he and Randi have been friends for 30 years.

Randi, Dick & Willis.

Randi and Dick Smith relate the story of "Carlos".

One of the highlights for me this weekend was always going to be the Skeptics Guide to the Universe Live. It was kind of surreal watching the show live and not as a podcast. Steve started the show with a hilarious slide show of their trip thus far. Alex, or as I call him that damned kid who outbid me*, appeared for the Science or Fiction segment of the show and performed admirably.
* I bid up to $750 and by then there were only me and the Alex's dad bidding. Someone whispered to me that Alex's dad was a dentist. Shit. There was no way I could out bid a dentist. Maybe if I was Dick Smith. Maybe. I threw in one more bid of $850 so they'd have to bid at least $900 and called it quits. It was for charity after all.

The Skeptics Guide to the Universe Down Under. Woohoo.

Jay Novella and Rebecca Watson.

The entire SGU cast - Jay, Steve, Rebecca, Bob and Evan.

One for the conspiracy nuts. The SGU under the logo of the Masons.

Richard Saunders tweeting away while the SGU entertains with Science or Fiction. Guest star 11 year old Alex sitting with Jay and Steve.

Astronomer Dr Fred Watson showed some slides of the secrets of Saturn and her moons.

Dr Fred Watson.

Australian Skeptics Awards.

Dr Rachael Dunlop, Tim Mendham, Eran Segev and Richard Saunders holding up the Oz Skeptics Bent Spoon Award.

An Apple a Day - Science Based Medicine. A panel with Dr Rachie Dunlop, Dr Steven Novella, Prof Ian Harris and Joanne Benhamu. Don't read this next bit mum. Did you know that the risk from dying from knee replacement surgery is not 1 in 100000 or 1 in even 10000? It is something like 1 in 400 and only about 25% or patients are happy they had the surgery a year later. Shit.

Dr Rachie Dunlop, Prof Ian Harris, Joanne Benhamu and Dr Steven Novella.

Dr Paul Willis tore apart a BBQ duck. Birds are dinosaurs and there are thousands of pieces of evidence that point to this fact. Funniest dissection I've ever attended.

Dr Paul Willis and a BBQ duck.

Dr Simon Singh had the last official spot for the day with Alternative Medicine (and me) On Trial. Simon filled us in on the history and successful resolution of the libel action against him by the British Chiropractors Association. Simon is another of these nice guy skeptics. We chatted a bit while we were boarding the boat for the Skeptics Afloat Cruise (see the next post).

Simon Singh.

The Amazing Meeting Oz - Day 1

The Amazing Meeting Australia (TAM Oz) kicked off today in Sydney. TAM has become the biggest annual skeptical convention in the world when held in Las Vegas and this year we finally got our own TAM in Sydney. It wouldn't be The Amazing Meeting without The Amazing one himself, James Randi, in attendance. Amazingly Randi has made the trip here too. He has had some quite serious medical issues recently, and he is 82, but he still made the trip down under.

Me and James Randi later in the evening at the SGU dinner.
Randi is truly a nice guy. I am in awe of this man. There is a genuine warmth from him when you meet him. You feel like an old friend. I am honoured I finally got to meet one of my heroes. I've idolised Randi since the first times I saw him on the Don Lane Show back in 1980 when after bending a key the same way the "psychic" Uri Geller did, Don told Randi to piss off. Don stormed off the set leaving a stunned Randi behind. I told Randi I'd been a fan since that moment.

The very first panel for TAM Oz - Paranormal in Australia. Tim Mendham, Ian Bryce, Dr Steve Roberts, James Randi and Barry Williams.

Dr Rachael Dunlop introducing the Science Based Medicine Workshop. That is Dr Steve Novella directly below her.

Dr Steve Novella from the SGU.

Dr Mick Vagg.

Ken Mcleod from Stop The Australian Vaccination Network.

Wendy Wilkinson from Stop The Australian Vaccination Network.

The Skeptical Rogues - Jay Novella, Bob Novella and Evan Bernstein.

Master of Ceremonies Paul Willis from the ABCs Catalyst science TV show.

Randi addresses the crowd. Note the glow from the iPads and smart phones in the crowd. I don't think I ever seen as many iPads in the one place before. I think Twitter almost melted down.

Randi performing the levitating match box trick.

Dr Karl Kruszelnicki finally stopped moving for just a second so I could get a non-blurry photo. Hilarious eclectic eccentric exuberant and brilliant presentation by Australia's twelth most trust worthy person and radio Triple J's Science in the Morning presenter.

Funny man, singer, entertainer and podcaster George Hrab belting out one of his funnier songs. He also played his song about loss and death in memoriam of his dog Oscar who passed away a couple of years ago. Yeah, I choked up. Bastard.

George's Twitter Song. Rebecca Watson and Rachael Dunlop read the tweets. Fracking punerific.

After the formalities it was time for the Skeptics Guide to the Universe dinner. I walked in a couple of minutes late to find most of the hundreds of places taken. Me and another bloke (hi Phil) walked over to the only table that had two places left and sat down. Luckily for me I sat down next to Evan Bernstein from the SGU. I swear I didn't know before I sat down. I looked behind me over at the next table and the Guest of Honour himself, James Randi, wasn't more than a metre or two away. Being the hosts, the SGU guides floated from table to table from time to time so after a while Evan left, he thought temporarily, and was replaced by Bob Novella (above). Bob ate with us and I stole things from his plate when he wasn't looking (no I didn't).

Fan boy squee. Brian Dunning from Skeptoid. Excuse me while I squee again. Later in the evening while Brian was distracted I chatted to his lovely wife Lisa for a while. Hmm, that didn't come out right. After my experience at Worldcon a month or so ago I thought the science fiction community was gracious and friendly. The skeptical community makes the SF community look like bitter snobs. These are good people.

What do you call a group of podcasters? I dunno but here are all the podcasters who attended the Skeptics Guide to the Universe dinner. From the left, Bob Novella, Evan Bernstein, Dr Rachie Dunlop, Dr Pamela Gay, Jay Novella, Rebecca Watson, Dr Steven Novella, Brian Dunning, Richard Saunders, George Hrab, Eran Segev & Myk Dowling

The table next to ours with Randi and the Australian Skeptics.

James Randi performing an impromptu disappearing spoon trick for us.
Michael, the guy on Randi's left, earlier won an auction for a guest spot on the Skeptics Guide to the Universe podcast. I'd kicked off the bidding at $500 dollars but Michael eventually snagged the spot for $1500. Prior to that auction the SGU had auctioned off a guest spot on tomorrow's segment of Science Or Fiction for the live recording of the Skeptics Guide to the Universe podcast. The bidding started at $50 and after a few small bids started going up by $100. I jumped in and finally there was only me and another bidder left - unfortunately for me it was an 11 year old kid and his dad (a dentist apparently). Rebecca Watson had spotted the kid and she said she wanted the kid on the show. I knew then it would be lousy of me to keep bidding so I only threw in one more bid for $850. I wasn't going to let them off that cheaply. They bid $900 and we now have a precocious 11 year old podcasting superstar in the making. A self described GSK - generally skeptical kid. Good job Alex.

Below is the video of Randi performing the disappearing spoon trick.


And that was day one.