It’s Labor Day weekend and that means hordes of science fiction, fantasy, and comic fans have descended on Atlanta for Dragon*Con. Dragon*Con is the largest popular culture convention in the world with over 35,000 attendees and an incredible array of programming options. The weekend means being packed into elevators full of stormtroopers, vampires, and steampunk enthusiasts, countless themed parties, film festivals, a parade, costume contests, endless entertainment, and perhaps the most fertile ground for people-watching found anywhere in the world. As if that isn’t enough, there is also an entire weekend of lectures, panels, workshops, and live podcasts being presented by some the leading thinkers in the skeptical community. This programming is part of Skeptrack. Skeptrack is in it’s third year of existence as a fan-track devoted to exploring and advancing science and reason, especially related to paranormal and pseudoscientific claims.
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Here is a recap of the stories that appeared last recently at Science-Based Medicine, a multi-author skeptical blog that separates the science from the woo in medicine.
Apparently, Uri Geller is sticking by his decision that no matter what people say about him, it's all good publicity, just as I'm sure that mentalist Kreskin probably celebrates the existence of the movie The Great Buck Howard, even though it's a devastating and hilarious exposé of him and his methods. Geller delights in quoting Oscar Wilde: "The only thing worse than being talked about, is not being talked about." Take a look here at the latest major comment on the professional spoon-bender, this time by Stephen Colbert, and decide whether Geller will celebrate this event or summon his lawyers – one of his very favorite pastimes – to bleat and moan once again. Colbert being Colbert, he could not possibly have passed up an opportunity to show just how ridiculous the latest from Geller really is. Even Geller’s devoted teenyboppers might gag at this claim.
Of course, we're still waiting for Geller to announce that he has succeeded in bringing back one of the cameras that the lunar astronauts left on our satellite 39 years ago; an intention he announced long ago, but which has so far not been achieved, for some strange reason.
In an effort to make our extensive video library available online free of charge, The James Randi Educational Foundation is posting high quality digital video lectures and sessions from previous Amaz!ng Meetings and other events on randi.org. Check back often to see the latest video content.
Science writer and psychiatrist Ben Goldacre takes a historical look at homeopathy and its critics while reviewing the often misrepresented results of over 200 scientific trials. His talk gives an, at times, humorous explanation of what homeopathy is and why its principles are implausible and even “childish”.