Once again, we are proud to host a charity Star Party right before Dragon*Con this year! If you are coming to Dragon*Con, plan on coming a day early so you can attend! We’ll have Phil Plait, Pamela Gay, Nicole Gugliucci and George Hrab providing education and entertainment, plus drinks, food and an all-around good time!

This event is in honor of Jeff Medkeff, the Blue Collar Scientist, astronomer, skeptic and friend to many of us. Jeff succumbed to liver cancer in 2008. All proceeds will go toward the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in Jeff’s name.

Get all the details you need and buy tickets here! Can’t make it but still want to donate? Contribute at my fundraising page directly!

Some of you may know who Tim Minchin is, some of you may not.  He is a musical, comic, performance artist with a skeptical bent and is very entertaining.  He will be performing in Atlanta at Center Stage on Thursday, July 14.

A little about the man:

Tim Minchin is an Australian, musician, actor, comedian and writer. He has been performing his unique brand of musical comedy in front of appropriately excitable and ever growing audiences since starting out in South Melbourne’s Butterfly Club in 2005. He won the Director’s Award at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival for his break-out show Darkside, and followed this later the same year with one of the most successful debut acts ever at the Edinburgh Fringe – winning the Perrier Award for Best Newcomer. Without wanting to go on and on about it, he’s done some pretty successful live shows since then, often in Australia or the UK, but also on the North American continent (yes that includes you too Canada). But not you Guatemala. Maybe one day.

His current songs span topics such as environmentalism, rationalism, prejudice(ism) and his amour de boobs(ism). In fact it would hardly be over the top to say that his love of boobs would be up there in the back of Plato’s cave in the bit that’s carved out for the most perfect and complete example of the love of boobs. But not in a weird way. During his shows he plays the piano, always nicely and oftentimes wildly and excitingly, whilst looking wonderfully athletic, in a pair of delightfully uncomfortable skinny jeans.

You can get an idea of his act here:

Once again the pollen is high, the temperatures are rising, and once again the bleary eyed skeptics shall emerge from the dark pub and venture out into the light.

I recently asked Maria to post a poll on the Meetup group asking which area of the metro area people would be most interested in for a Skeptics in the Park event. The two top choices by a wide margin were inside the perimeter and north of the perimeter, which is pretty much the only areas we’ve had SitPark thus far, so I’ll just continue the trend.

Unfortunately, I have not had a chance to scout out new in-town parks, but I also want to have our first event before it gets too hot. So, on May 7th, we will be going back to our old standby, Grant Park.

We’ll start around Noon. Food and drinks will be provided (typical grilling fare), but feel free to bring your own food if you like.

For those who have joined us before, we’ll (hopefully) be at the same pavilion we usually use. If you have never been to a SitPark in Grant Park, directions follow after the break.
» Continue reading “Skeptics in the Park – May 7th!”

What do a documentary about autism, a drama about two latchkey kids making do without their mother and an animated short about a cocktail party have in common?  They all touch on issues of interest to skeptics and they all have appeared at film festivals in the last year.  With the Atlanta Film Festival coming up at the end of this month, and having just attended a film festival last weekend, I thought it might be interesting to talk about the intersection of film festivals and skepticism.

I’ve always been a fan of TV and movies, but I had never gone to a film festival until last year when my girlfriend took me to the Wisconsin Film Festival in Madison, Wisconsin.  She’s attended it for several years with a long-time friend who lives there.  We had a great time last year, and returned for the 2011 event just this past weekend.

Each year at Wisconsin Film Fest I find there are one or two films (of the over 200 screened) that touch on skeptical topics.  So far, I haven’t seen any appear that pushed a non-evidence-based viewpoint (e.g. “Loose Change” or “What The Bleep Do We Know“). I don’t know if we owe that mainly to the Wisconsin festival’s selection process, or the lack of promotional acumen of the producers of those films, or both.

In any case, here are a few films that I’ve seen and enjoyed at film festivals that skeptics might find interesting, and several more that are coming up soon. Several are available on DVD, and two of them you can watch online for free. I’ll provide the links. Read on…

» Continue reading “Documentaries, movies and skepticism”

It’s time! Tickets for our 2nd Annual Charity Star Party are on sale now! Are you coming to Dragon*Con this year? If so, you should seriously consider coming in a day early to attend. This year’s entertainment includes renowned astronomers and hosts of AstronomyCast, Pamela Gay and Fraser Cain with special appearance by musician George Hrab! Plus, Skepchick Rebecca Watson will be hosting the event. The Emory University Physics department is sponsoring the event and will be showing off their observatory and telescopes.

This event is in honor of Jeff Medkeff, the Blue Collar Scientist, astronomer, skeptic and friend to many of us. Jeff succumbed to liver cancer in 2008. All proceeds will go toward the Light the Night Fund: The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in Jeff’s name.

Food, drinks and conversations with astronomers. What more could you ask for? Oh yeah, star gazing!

We have a bit more space than we did last year but tickets will sell out. Get them while you can!

I’ve been remiss in my recapping duties on this, but here’s a brief summary at last of how things went. Once again, any suggestions/comments are welcome

To be continued after the break:

» Continue reading “Skeptics in the Park II: Post Mortem”

Announcing our second ever Skeptics in the Park!

The Atlanta Skeptics will once again emerge from the pub and wander outside on Saturday, June 12th from 11AM-3PM at Jones Bridge Park.

Details after the break:

» Continue reading “Skeptics in the Park – June 12th”

Two internationally known skeptics are appearing in Atlanta in June. Outspoken atheist and political pundit Christopher Hitchens is touring in support of his new book Hitch-22 and the well-known mentalist Banachek is doing a ticketed mentalism show at the Academy Theatre.

Update Friday June 4: Details on Banachek tickets updated! See below.

Full details on times and tickets after the jump…
» Continue reading “Two notable skeptics appearing in Atlanta in June”

On May 15th and 16th, we held our 2nd Skepticamp here in Atlanta. This year’s event included presentations from 18 attendees, a poster presentation session, a round table discussion on “Skepticism for Everyone through Social Media”, sword fights, a pony made of cake and 60+ attendees each day!

Atlanta Skepticamp 2010

For me, the presentations that stood out came from LaVerne Knight-West and Dr. Ginger Campbell (host of Brain Science Podcast and Books and Ideas). Each shared their personal journeys and experiences with the skeptical community, and warm, fuzzy feelings ensued.

Dr. Ginger Campbell at Atlanta Skepticamp 2010

Certainly the most unique presenter at Skepticamp was martial arts expert, John Clements. In addition to the fact that he brought SWORDS, he himself was highly entertaining. One of the more quotable Skepticamp moments: During a demonstration with SWORDS, John matter-of-factly states, “People with weapons KILL people without weapons, that’s why we have so many of them.”  I was afforded the opportunity to challenge him in duel. I could have killed him, but the 2nd rule of Skepticamp is “Be Awesome. And Don’t Kill Anyone.”

Presenter John Clements is no match for Taylor Proctor's sword fighting skills.

I was personally excited to see the presentations from Brian, Laura, Veronica, Sean and Bob, who participated in our SkeptiBOOTcamp workshops over the weeks leading up to Skepticamp. The whole thing was a bit of an experiment, and I hope to develop the idea further before next year’s Skepticamp. I do encourage other organizers to consider doing something like this before Skepticamps. I think each participant’s presentation benefited in some way from the support and assistance gained through the different workshops.

Presenter Laura Ross at Atlanta Skepticamp 2010

Another notable aspect of Atlanta’s Skepticamp was our theme, “Critical Thinking For Everyone.” I felt the message successfully resounded throughout the weekend. Each presenter shared their own unique perspective on skepticism, and the panel on “Skepticism for Everyone through Social Media,” yielded a lot of discussion and sharing from the audience. I felt an overall sense of humility from participants throughout the weekend, a sentiment that can seem sometimes lacking in the skeptical community.  I want to give extra thanks to Swoopy from Skepticality, for helping me out with my idea for a theme and really running with it.

Maria Walters and Tim Farley during panel discussion at Atlanta Skepticamp 2010

I definitely learned a lot more from organizing this year’s Skepticamp than I did during the planning of Atlanta’s first camp last year. The discussions and events of last weekend’s event, raised interesting questions in my mind to consider as I think about how we can move forward for next year’s Skepticamp. Namely, What is primary goal of having community events like Skepticamp? Is it to promote skepticism and critical thinking, or is it to nurture the skeptic?

There was marked shift in the nature of presentations from last year to this year. Last year, a majority of presentations were informative overviews of topics like logical fallacies, neuroscience, evolution, detox myths, etc. This year, more presentations addressed a skeptic’s humble lesson learned. Presenter Russ discussed how our fears, often fueled further by media sensationalism, can lead to the presumption of a crisis and unnecessary hysteria; Christian gave us an account his pleasant and relaxing visit to an acupuncturist, (despite leaving with an unhealed knee injury); Brian shared an anecdotal example of how even the most rational of skeptical critical thinkers are not immune to irrational thought. I’m excited and very interested to see the direction in which presentations might go for next year.

Thanks to all who volunteered, gave a talk, and attended Atlanta Skepticamp 2010!

I personally want to give extra-special thank yous to:

Maria Walters – for taking charge of planning when I was stressed and over-committed.

Mark Ditsler of Abrupt Media – for all things A/V club; equipment, recording, streaming, time-keeping. His contribution was priceless, as always

Derek Colanduno- for offering up our venue (even if it was quite toasty)

David Rodriguez – for designing our Skepticamp logo and shirts.

Derek (again) and Swoopy of Skepticality – for being our badass MCs.

Brian Thompson of Amateur Scientist Podcast- for coming all the way to Atlanta to record a live podcast at our Skepticamp Fundraiser in March.

Kylie Sturgess, George Hrab, A Kovacs and Surly Amy – for their recorded messages to Atlanta Skepticampers.

Shayna Glick – for making my Skepticamp dreams come true! All I wanted for Skepticamp was a pony!

SkeptiPony, official mascot of Atlanta Skepticamp 2010

Thanks to all our sponsors!

JREF

Skeptic Magazine

Fund For Thought

Skeptical Inquirer

Skepticality

Amateur Scientist Podcast

Thinking Man Tavern

Skepchick

Surly Ramics

Tree Lobsters

Abrupt Media

Bluefox Graphic

Skepticamp, created in Denver, perfected in Atlanta!

One of the greatest things about being in the Skeptical community is how quickly we rally around a cause. It seems that no matter what the subject, we have at least one person who’s a domain expert in the field; We have a belly-dancing astronomer for Pete’s sake!

I got a message on Google Talk today from my good friend @MasalaSkeptic, asking if I knew anyone who was hiring. It seems that a member of the Atlanta Skeptics had just been laid off and was looking for a job. Since the Atlanta Skepticamp is in a few days, I mentioned that we should make an effort to help that person and others out. Bringing together smart, critical thinking job-seekers and employers that value those same skills really is a no-brainer.

That’s probably why it occurred to me.

If people show interest and some good comes from this, who knows, maybe there will be a website in the near future. For now, I’m starting small. It would be great if a few people actually get some help out of this, but what I don’t want (and refuse) to do is detract from why we hold Skepticamp in the first place – to encourage participation in open discussion about science and skepticism. I want to prevent headhunters and commercial job sites from being involved; just friends in the community connecting with others. To borrow from Google’s alleged motto and “not be mean” is the goal.

Job seekers: If you’re attending the Atlanta Skepticamp and are looking for a job, please send your resume and a cover letter to skeptijob at gmail dot com. I will NOT give your information out to anyone except those people who attend Skepticamp without your consent.

Employers (or people who know about a job): If you are attending Atlanta Skepticamp and are looking to fill a position, please send a job description and the pertinent info to skeptijob at gmail dot com.

Thanks!

@JoeAnderson