Atlanta Skeptics

“No Religion” Billboard Campaign in Atlanta “after Labor Day”

BubbaRich — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 04:45:35 +0000

Kelly Nelson, a travel writer for the Atlanta Examiner open publishing news site, wrote a short article in the Examiner. She says that the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s billboard campaign (including “In Reason We Trust” on a penny) will hit Atlanta after Labor Day 2010. I didn’t see the Auburn University billboards in Atlanta get vandalized, so maybe these billboards have a chance to survive, too.

Is Kelly otherwise active in the Atlanta Skeptics/critical thinking community?

8,675,309 views later…

Doctor Atlantis — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 03:20:51 +0000

A hoax revealed

As a skeptic, like it or not, I’ve gotten something of a reputation in my family as the go-to person for “is this real?” queries regarding Internet memes. I spend way too much time doing other people’s Google-searches and Snopes-checks. So I’ve gotten something of a nose for an Internet hoax when I see one. Of course one of the biggest clues is that one of my relatives sends me the thing as part of a chain of forwarded e-mails. If it contains the text “forward this to five friends” or similar, it is hard to wipe the scent of hoax off of it.

But Tuesday of this week something a bit astonishing started happening. My facebook feed became full of the same link being forwarded by dozens and dozens of people. After who knows how many times, I finally clicked on it to see what the fuss was about. It was there that I met “Jenny” the girl who quit her job with a white-board.

It was a funny pictorial essay about a girl who quits her job by revealing to everyone at the office that the boss is a bit of a douche. Very amusing, but for a few reasons it didn’t ring true to me. First of all, it looked like a staged photo shoot to me. Second, and not to insult the many beautiful people out there who are not models, but the girl in the shot looked too much like a model or actress to me. That was reinforced by the fantastic job she did of wordlessly explaining her emotions.
So in my mind it looked fake. I didn’t have time to do any further research and I thought it was funny so I forwarded it to my friends with this caveat:

“This is funny. It looks completely fake to me – but it is funny. Also the website is probably NSFW even though the picture series itself is tame enough.”

I was surprised at how many people thought it was real although it seemed pretty obviously meant to entertain even if it was faked. Things like this are like a comic version of The Blair Witch Project. Fake things with an air of verisimilitude can be funnier than just a straight up piece of fiction.

But if I’d done my homework the answer was out there. The site that posted the photos, thechive.com, had done a casting call for a “girl-next-door” type model (see that on Boing Boing). Perhaps more importantly, the guys behind the site had already done to previous hoaxes of some magnitude, the Donald Trump $10,000 tip hoax and the Texting Virgin. Skeptics advise you to be careful about believing anything, but I don’t think I need to bring up boys, crying and wolves here.

So does it matter that only a few of my Facebook friends seemed to think this story was fake? Nope. I haven’t heard anybody complain much. The story made people laugh, and the actress involved, Elyse Porterfield, didn’t hurt many people’s eyes. And will the guys behind this hoax again? I’m sure they’ll think of something.

And what was the point of the hoax? Oh there’s been speculation that they’re mocking the media for their lack of research. That sounds like James Randi and the Carlos experiment. But I suspect it’s something not quite so noble – the ad revenue of millions of eyes. Either way, I’m sure everyone will benefit from this hoax, especially Ms. Porterfield. But will it actually remind the media to be more cautious in their exuberence? I think not.

Ironically, at the same time this hoax was going on a real world drama involving a flight attendant was unfolding that was just as entertaining in its own way. But Ben Radford has explained that this story too wasn’t quite what it seemed to be. Is nothing amusing and unusual going on in the word? Well this morning I saw a man wearing urban camouflage riding a large unicycle down Barrett Parkway. Yes, technically I didn’t get photos and I didn’t forward those photos to my friends, but it was a great reminder to me that there are plenty of unusual things going on out there that are both amusing and real. I just had to get off of the Internet for a few minutes to see it.

Star Party Tickets on Sale Now!

Maria — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 11:56:25 +0000

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!

TAM8 – Final Thoughts

Doctor Atlantis — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 05:22:57 +0000

I’m home now and settling back into every day life after leaving TAM8 was quite a jolt. It’s kind of how I feel after Dragon*Con each year – exhausted, elated and longing for more. I met so many interesting people, heard so many fascinating talks and generally tried to embrace every waking moment of the conference with as much sponge-like attentiveness as I could muster.

Saturday was a treat for me personally because I got to do a half-hour interview with James Randi himself. His organization puts on The Amazing Meeting, and I’ve seen him so many times but getting to sit down and talk to him face to face was delightful. It’s astonishing to meet someone so in the moment and even more so when you consider his moments span eight decades. Along with my MonsterTalk co-hosts, we talked with Randi about a famous poltergeist case he’d investigated back in the 1980’s. It was fascinating and I was excited to discover that not only did he remember the case, but that he’d included it in his upcoming book, A Magician in the Laboratory.

The night before I’d gone to dinner with members of The Skeptics Society and had a wonderful and eclectic conversation. So much of TAM is just that, the opportunity to talk with very bright people about ideas that are important. Even though the World Cup was going on, talk tended towards big ideas and big plans.

Saturday also saw some very funny people talking about very serious ideas on stage. David Javerbaum of The Daily Show and comedian Paul Provenza got many laughs as they talked about their experiences. And in between them a panel with my co-hosts Ben Radford and Karen Stollznow along with Joe Nickell and James Randi discussed how to do a scientific paranormal investigation.

I love paranormal investigations because they’re entertaining and hone one’s critical thinking skills. But much of skeptical activism is geared towards improving the public’s awareness of critical health and educational ideas. A panel on quack medicine, which is astonishingly pervasive despite the lack of supporting evidence for those modalities, reminded attendees that sometimes magical thinking and misguided cause/effect interpretations can lead to death.

And then there was James McGaha. I was so torn by his appearance because he’s a bit of a hero of mine for his work on investigating many UFO cases. At the same time, despite more than 95% of climate scientists agreeing that Global Warming is real and caused by humans (AGW), McGaha doesn’t buy that hypothesis. While Sunday mornings at TAM are traditionally a time for people to recover from the party the night before while listening to papers being presented by a select few attendees, I was pacing around excitedly waiting for the 9 am panel, Global Climate Change and the Responsibility of the Skeptics Movement.

I wasn’t sure what we’d get here. The panel was moderated by Massimo Pigliucci and consisted of Michael Shermer, Donald Prothero, James McGaha and Daniel Loxton. It was a fascinating discussion about when it is appropriate for a layman to accept the scientific consensus. McGaha’s inability to accept the AGW premise seemed at odds with many of the things he said about the importance of science and the scientific method. At one point he referred to experts in climate as “so called climate scientists.” In the same way experts on ancient human ruins might be referred to as “so called archeologists.” It was odd.

The best part of that important panel, I thought, was that Massimo kept everyone focused on the topic which wasn’t whether AGW is real (it is) but on how skeptics should handle issues which they themselves aren’t qualified to know the answer to through direct knowledge. Perhaps Daniel Loxton made the best point, namely that if you think you’ve got a better answer or theory then write it up and submit it to a peer reviewed journal of climate science. The arena of public opinion isn’t where science happens, peer reviewed journals are.

Finally TAM8 ended with a demonstration of what a JREF Million Dollar Challenge looks like. It wasn’t an actual test, just a demonstration. The JREF announced that mentalist Banachek will be taking over the MDC challenges, and this demonstration was performed by MDC claimant Anita Ikonen who claimed to be able to see if someone was missing a kidney, among other things. Anita sat behind some volunteers and stared at them and doodled for six minutes for each of them. After quite a long time she failed to pick which of the five was missing a kidney. There was a 20% chance she’d just guess it – but not that day.

After the test was over someone said to me, “Wouldn’t it have been wonderful if her power was real?” And I said, “Sure – why then we’d be able to get the results of x-rays, only it would take 60 times longer and we couldn’t see them!” But seriously, I guess it would be cool if people could look at you and see if you were missing organs. But you wouldn’t need any powers to look at me and tell I was missing sleep.

Sheer exuberance kept me awake and soon after the MDC demo a group of us Atlanta Skeptics headed over to the airport and boarded our planes and came home. Now a torrent of Facebook photos are recounting my experiences for me, and friends I made at TAM are keeping in touch. I can’t thank the JREF enough for putting this event together. It is such a powerful thing. I’m honored that I got to participate, and I’m so glad that so many of the Atlanta Skeptics were there so I didn’t get quite so homesick.

Thanks, y’all!

TAM 8 – Thoughts about Day 2

Doctor Atlantis — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 18:30:23 +0000

I’m in the back of the room listening to a fascinating talk by Dr. Bruce Hood, author of Supersense. Already this morning I’ve talked with James Randi about a mysterious Georgia poltergeist case which I’ll put up on MonsterTalk soon. I learned things in that interview that I’d never heard and am excited that he’s written it up in his new book which should be out in a few months. But that’s today and I want to write a bit about yesterday. This is day three of TAM 8 in Las Vegas – but I want to talk about what happened on day 2.

Bruce Hood sounds very smart. He’s talking about the brain and how it works. He seems very well informed, though my first meeting with him was last night in the hotel bar when he was wearing a fake moustache and singing the theme music from Star Trek in an impromptu barber-shop quartet. It’s amazing – and yes, I can tell you that this conference lives up to its name.

Friday was really a packed day of intellectual discussions and delightful talks. It’s such a thrill for me to be able to hear these well informed experts get up and talk about big ideas, and to be able to get up after the talk and have post-talk discussions with well informed attendees from around the world. The value of TAM exceeds the value of any single talk – and perhaps even the cumulative information from all the talks. These lectures spur on the minds of all the audience members and then they get new ideas and the ideas branch and flower and take new paths.

Phil Plait, the Bad Astronomer, gave a talk about the importance of civility. He quoted Wil Wheaton and his talk could be summarized in four words, “Don’t be a dick.” For some people that idea is counter-intuitive. When you know that something isn’t so it is often difficult to find a nice and constructive way to share it. It’s an important idea for pro-reality advocates since science, which many of us claim to support, shows that simply telling people they are wrong is likely to make them more certain they’re right! Well said, Mr. Plait.

Joe Nickell, one of my personal heroes, gave a lovely lecture on his many “in disguise” investigations. I’ve heard a lot of Joe’s talks before, but every time I learn something new or hear a new story. I hope he’s around for many years to come.

One of the highlights of the day’s events was a talk consisting of Ray Hyman, Paul Kurtz, Ken Frazier and James Randi. It was all about the origin of the skeptics movement, and in the end it culminated with Randi presenting a lifetime achievement to Dr. Kurtz. I hope the JREF is getting all of this stuff successfully recorded because there are many historic moments taking place here. I saw Paul Kurtz meet science journalist Simon Singh in a hallway – for the first time. It was a private, brief meeting between two people I respect very much and I only got to see it because I happened to be in the right place in the right time. In Las Vegas at TAM 8.

Adam Savage of the Mythbusters gave a fantastic and enthusiastic speech coming in just days after his show was nominated for an emmy, and he gave us the news that Mythbusters has been signed on for 5 more years! There are many myths to be investigated, and many more things to be blown-up.

Women had a lot to say yesterday on skepticsim, science, feminism, and more. There is a really great mix of people here of known and unknown champions of truth. For one brief moment we got to see Eugenie Scott, another hero for the advancement of science education. Little cameos like that of unadvertised awesome abound here.

It will take me some time to parse through all the information I’m getting here. And to keep in touch with all the people I’m meeting. And to calm down and get back to real life when I leave. BUT, I don’t have to because there’s two more days!

So not yet.

For now I’ll just take an aspirin because my face hurts a bit from grinning so much!

TAM8 – First Thoughts

Doctor Atlantis — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 18:11:12 +0000

Downstairs the clink and bings of a thousand slot machines remind you that you’re in Las Vegas, but upstairs in the conference center there is a feel of enthusiasm at a day filled with science, reason, rationalism and yes, skepticism. I’m at the James Randi Educational Foundation’s “The Amazing Meeting 8” – more commonly known as TAM. This is the eighth year that the venerable Randi’s foundation has pulled together some of the leading figures in the world of fact-based thinking and put them in a venue where they can mingle and communicate with the everyday people who are trying to make the world a more reasonable place.

The official TAM8 Banner

This year the keynote speaker is Richard Dawkins, author of The Greatest Show on Earth, The Blind Watchmaker, The Ancestor’s Tale, as well as the book that branded him as one of the four-horsemen of “The New Atheists” movement, The God Delusion. Dawkins did a Q&A sessions last night moderated by magician Jamie Ian Swiss. I expect he’ll have much more to say, but he has a kind of nerd Rock Star reception around here. It’s impressive to see.

Even more of a Rock Star, and ushered about by security everywhere he goes, is Mythbusters host Adam Savage. I’m very much looking forward to hearing what Mr. Savage has to say while he’s here. Just before I left to fly out here I was watching a “best-of” episode of Mythbusters with my son. And I told him, “I’m going to see that red-haired man when I go to Las Vegas.” My son laughed because he thought I was joking.

“Is that why you’re going?” he asked.

Adam Savage channels Jamie Hyneman

It’s not the only reason, but it’s a good one. Savage is an engaging speaker and has many entertaining things to say about making television that promotes science. His quixotic quests to reproduce certain Hollywood film artifacts are legendary.

The schedule is pretty full during the day and there are lots of opportunities to mingle and network. You can check out the full guest list here but even that doesn’t cover the many notable attendees such as life-extension specialist Aubrey de Grey and of course, myself! (I jest… A bit.)

It is no small thing for me to be out here. I’m not alone of course, many of the Atlanta Skeptics are out here with me – which is a comfort. My co-hosts to MonsterTalk Ben Radford and Dr. Karen Stollznow are here too, the first time we’ve all been together since starting our podcast. I really appreciate the opportunity to take part in this and want to say a special thanks to JREF president, D.J. Grothe and my wife Kathleen for helping this to become a reality.

Ammonite - artist's rendition

I think there are probably a lot of educators here. Definitely a lot of clever, clever folks. I got to talk paleontology with some scientists last night. We talked fossils and discussed trilobites and ammonites. Did you know that much is known about how these extinct animals moved through the waters of the ancient earth because of hydrology experiments done in water-tanks? Did you know that before they went extinct they were dying out and there is a controversy about whether they died out before – or during – the Cretacious-Tertiary Extinction Event? I didn’t. There’s a lot to learn out here in the desert.

Wish you were here.

I’ll post updates as time allows.

Skeptics in the Park II: Post Mortem

Stephen K — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 03:42:59 +0000

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:

It was a hot humid day, which was an upgrade I think from the cold rainy park outing of last October. I’m hoping on the third go round we’ll end up with a nice temperate day that is neither too hot nor too cold. We had a pretty good turn out.

I don’t know exact numbers, but I’m confident there were at least about 20 people that showed up:

The grilling started a little late, but it wasn’t the ordeal that the last outing was:

We were close to the playground so the kids that came along had something to keep themselves occupied and there were also some toys and games to be had:

All in all it was a successful event. In the end I don’t think we raised enough money to cover the cost of the pavillion or food, but I think renting a space instead of just hoping one would be available was the best choice. I’m not sure exactly when the next Skeptics in the Park will take place, but don’t look for it until the weather starts cooling down again, most likely after Dragon*Con.

If you attended Skeptics in the Park, please give any feedback below.

Skeptics in the Park – June 12th

Stephen K — Mon, 31 May 2010 14:11:14 +0000

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:

What: Skeptics in the Park

When: June 12, 2010

Time: 11AM-3PM

Where: Jones Bridge Park – Pavilion #2 (the small one next to the playground)

How Much: $5 per person

RSVP

This time around we have rented a pavilion, so there is a small charge per person. The money will go to off-set the pavilion rental and food. We will provide meat (and grilling services), chips, soda, mustard/ketchup, and plates/napkins/cups/forks/knives. Please feel free to bring along anything that goes well with burgers/hotdogs, or anything else to sling on the grill. Please note that alcohol is not permitted on park grounds.

Also, Christian will be bringing a frisbee and possibly some other outdoorsy game stuff. There is a playground next to the pavilion, and feel free to bring whatever you like.

I hope you can join us in the park. All you have to do is click the RSVP link above and we’ll see you there!

Two notable skeptics appearing in Atlanta in June

Tim Farley — Sat, 29 May 2010 16:16:23 +0000

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…

Christopher Hitchens – Hitch-22 – June 18

Christopher Hitchens is well known political commentator who is a contributing editor of Vanity Fair magazine and has appeared on Real Time with Bill Maher and many other programs. He has spoken at The Amazing Meeting in Las Vegas. He is considered (along with Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and others) one of the leaders of the “new atheist” movement.

Hitchens’ latest book is called Hitch-22: A Memoir. It is the “story of his life, lived large” and has received many positive reviews.

Hitchens is currently touring to promote the book in the United States. On Friday June 18th the tour reaches Atlanta at the Barnes and Noble Bookstore in Buckhead (2900 Peachtree Rd, 404-261-7747). According to the event page at the bookstore website, he will appear at 7:00 PM. Those wishing to guarantee a spot and/or get a book signed should obtain a (free) ticket at the store starting at 5:00 PM on the day of the signing.

Banachek – Academy Theatre – June 30

Banachek is a world leading mentalist who managed to convince scientists that he had actual psychic abilities in the famous “Project Alpha” hoax orchestrated by James Randi. He has performed at The Amazing Meeting and hundreds of other venues. He is also a magic consultant who has helped performers such as Criss Angel and Penn & Teller perfect their illusions.

Banachek will be performing at the Academy Theatre in Avondale Estates on Wednesday, June 30th at 8:00 PM. If you haven’t seen him perform before at TAM or elsewhere, it really is a tremendous show.

Update June 4th on tickets:
There’s not just one mentalism show at Academy Theatre this month! In fact, mentalist Nick Compise is performing his show “Wonders of the Mind” tomorrow night, Saturday June 5th at 8:00 PM. Tickets are only $14 and can be purchased online.

Because Nick was instrumental in getting Banachek to come to the Academy Theatre later in the month, those who attend Nick’s show on Saturday will get first crack at tickets to Banachek. Those tickets go on sale on Saturday at the theater and online, and will be $25.

Oh, really, Mr. O’Rahilly?

Doctor Atlantis — Thu, 27 May 2010 06:10:23 +0000

The Wem Town Hall Ghost photo - courtesy Fortean Picture Library

In September of 2009 I started an investigation into the Wem Town Hall ghost photo. This famous photo shows a ghostly girl in the burning wreckage of a fire that took place in the Town Hall of the British town of Wem on November 19, 1995. The photographer was a man named Tony O’Rahilly and he took several photos of the fire that night. The last photo on the reel showed a girls face in the doorway of the blazing fire and the photo caught the imagination of many. Was this girl really in the building? Fire fighter footage of the same fire showed no such girl. No body was found, and many speculated that this was a ghost. Paranormal researchers even came up with a name for the girl, calling her Jane Churm after a little girl who started a fire in Wem back in 1677.

For fifteen years the photo was a mystery which made many top-10 ghost lists. But now an elderly man in England has identified the source of the ghost girl’s image and brought closure to this case. Read on past the break to get a history of the case and see the solution.

A paranormal investigation group called the Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena (ASSAP) investigated the photo and found that it was likely a simulacrum caused by burning debris. Soon after, a BBC television show called Out of this World investigated the case and came to the conclusion that the photo was a hoax using a digital image as the basis of the ghostly subject.

If you’re interested, the episode is available on YouTube in two parts:

Wem Ghost Girl – pt 1/2

Wem Ghost Girl – pt 2/2

When I decided to look into the case, despite the fairly compelling information in Out of this World, I started by trying to get a copy of the original image. The Fortean Picture Library gave me two very nice pieces of evidence. One was a scan of Mr. O’Rahilly’s negatives, and the other was a high definition scan of the original photo. Unlike the photo in in the documentary, the girls face had no horizontal scan lines. This was important because the photography expert in the episode said that they were easily detectable in the copy he received.

I contacted several people involved with the television episode, including the ASSAP team. My ASSAP contact stated that they felt the lines the photography expert saw were probably an artifact of the reproduction process they’d used to make their copy of the photo for analysis. This may well be true.

I’d been trying for weeks to contact the photography expert in question when the story containing the solution broke in a UK newspaper, The Shropshire Star. A previous issue of the paper had run an old postcard from 1922 and one of their readers, a 77 year old man named Brian Lear noticed that the girl in the postcard bore an uncanny resemblance to the girl in the Wem Town Hall photo. And lets be clear here – it’s not just that she looked similar, but that she’s wearing the same clothes and features match up perfectly to the girl in the ghost photo. It seems clear that Out of this World was closer to the truth than I’d thought.

Below you’ll see the famous ghost photo, the postcard that the girl’s image was swiped from, and a couple of animated photos to show how perfectly the two images line up.

The Post Card Girl - Detail from 1922 postcard

The postcard which contains the "ghost" girl's image.

An animated overlay to show how the "ghost" and the postcard girl line up perfectly.

It’s not often that such a beautiful and obvious solution arises in these kinds of case, but I’m certainly happy that Mr. Lear was paying attention. A pity that Mr. O’Rahilly didn’t live to see the very specific solution to his hoax be made public, but at least the answer is now out in the public. It’ll be up to skeptics and honest folk to make the solution widely known to the rest of the paranormalist community.