I was planning to post something this week, but it’s going to go up next week instead. It encompasses gaming, biology, creationism, and Pharyngula, and it’s also substantially longer than anything I’ve posted here yet, so I hope you look forward to settling in with the (as it turns out not very) sordid tale.
There’s been a lot of other fun work. I’ve been preparing for another “Speaking Up” spot on Skeptically Speaking on Friday, August 20th. I also wrote two articles for AbleGamers, one about a patent for Microsoft’s new Kinect gaming system that included the capability for sign language (which was later reportedly dropped from the project), and another about how the strength of the PC market positively affects disabled gamers. Although I don’t have any real experience in market research analysis, I found that applying critical thinking to the data in the latter story helped a lot. And if you missed my post about my adventures in pudding…well, there’s probably a better way of phrasing that, but I promise it’s fully SFW.
And then — scroll down to the flyer — there’s this neat party happening practically around the corner from where I live, in Hollywood, on Saturday, August 21. The IIG are a great bunch of people, and I really hope to celebrate with them…and with you too, if you can make it!
I would like to send you off with this week’s CNN spot about the AbleGamers Foundation. It’s short, and it nicely spotlights the work that Mark and Steve are doing, which I’m proud to have the opportunity to support. Have a great weekend!
I huff and puff a lot about the necessity of critical thinking, but it’s not because I have mastered the art of skepticism and am offering my pearls of wisdom from on high. Far from it. Unlike Jenny McCarthy, I have not yet earned my degree from Google University. I’m more like a second-grader who’s just gaining enough confidence to raise her hand in class sometimes. I’m learning every day, which is a great process but as someone once said, the more you learn, the more you realize you don’t know.
I was raised by wolves two skeptics, so the irrational beliefs and behaviors I’ve acquired over the years have not, on the whole, been too difficult to discard. With one exception: I never really absorbed the religious aspect of Judaism, but some of the cultural superstitions did take hold. I was like a kid who resents having to go to temple, because I realized even then that I was going to grow up believing in something I didn’t want to. And that’s exactly what happened. Now, I figure if I’m going to give people grief for irrational behavior, it’s only fair that I examine my own.
(Also as a kid, I thought that Stevie Wonder was singing “fairly” instead of “very superstitious,” which made the song a little confusing.)
I’m going to talk about this for a little bit on Skeptically Speaking tonight, to which you can listen live here at 5pm Pacific time, or get from the website usually by Sunday or Monday. The main part of the episode will be about the Independent Investigations Group here in Los Angeles, which is a great group that I am just starting to get involved with. In their words:
The Independent Investigations Group investigates fringe science, paranormal and extraordinary claims from a rational, scientific viewpoint, and disseminates factual information about such inquiries to the public.
How fun is that!
And on that note, I send you off with a mystical cat who is never going to win a $50,000 prize, or any other. Cute though. Sorry I can’t remember where I saw it first, but due credit to whomever.
This week, Skepchick asked the question “what kind of skeptic are you?” This question comes at an interesting time for me, but has been apt for quite a while. I’m often frustrated by my lack of capacity to do more with my interest in skepticism. Being as ravenous as I am to learn more about it, I feel I’m missing out on a lot of cool events that take place in Southern California’s robust skeptical community. (Of course, back when I was healthy, I was working and going to school, and didn’t have the time to do much more than attend a Skeptic Society conference.)
Surly Amy, Surly Johnny, carr2d2, and Tim3P0 listen to Brian Hart of the Greater L.A. Skeptics Meetup Group (not pictured)
Last week I had the great pleasure to enjoy some delicious shabu shabu and some even more delicious skeptical banter with an awesome group of people. It reminded me that, per Monday’s post, I really need to damn the torpedoes and go full speed ahead a little more frequently than I do now, because it’s just too much fun to be around like-minded people who also love to talk about this stuff. I’m lucky that Paul is also a skeptic — he comes to it from his engineering background and love of magic — so we can go to events together which makes it easier on me physically, not to mention how great it is to have a partner who shares my enthusiasm!
Of course I will still be blogging about skepticism (among the usual other things) here, and in February I will be returning to Skeptically Speaking‘s “Speaking Up” segment. I’m also very happy to mention that I’ve joined the team at Grassroots Skeptics as its editorial manager — doesn’t that sound fancy? — so I get to scratch that itch to volunteer my time for a cause I believe in.
I’m looking forward to upping the “active” quotient of my skepticism this year by continuing to connect and work with passionate and talented people, both online and offline. To illustrate the point, I send you off with a comic from the community favorite Tree Lobsters! by Steve DeGroof, whom I met during a Virtual Drinking Skeptically chat. I was in on I believe the first Twitter chat about confectionopathy, a treatment I am seriously considering. And by the way, Tree Lobsters! is running a fundraiser right now to benefit Engineers Without Borders.
