I must admit I was disappointed that I could not watch on a live stream this year. I would have enjoyed watching the live recording of the Skeptics' Guide to the Universe, trying to spot where in TAM is Karl Mamer, as well if I lucked out watching Prof. Dawkins speak when he apparently advocating limiting the amount of fantasy books read by children. The Twitter-rotti was in quite in uproar with this topic. Also, there was another minor blip in the twitter-verse when Prof. Massimo Pigliucci took Penn & Teller to task for their stance on global warming/climate change. The never ending debate between how polite/sensitive ought skeptics to be when discussing issues with believers also came up on twitter. This bit of tweeting seemed to be triggered by a speech given by Prof. Phil Plait. (Or is he just Dr. Plait? He has latter at the end of his name, and he's smart.) Unless and until I break down and buy the DVDs of the conference or it all goes up on YouTube I will withhold judgement on these topics. Although Kylie Sturgess had an interesting piece in this topic
All in all, I must admit it all seems so overwhelming. The lecture and presentation schedule seems so tight that I fear that a lot is said but nothing can be gone into great depth. I have attended a history conference* a few times, and there on paper at least more time was given to each speaker. Being 2,407 miles away, I could be completely wrong, but it just seems to be a whole lot to take in without your brain swimming. Yeah, I still want to attend someday, and Karl can travel down to wine country. (The Pinotage around Charlottesville is amazing.)
I would be remiss if I failed to mention that Karl did a wonderful job blogging from TAM, and I have a world of gratitude for it. I am sure he could have spent his busy time there doing much more interesting things than be tied to a netbook blogging. Lady and I most sincerely thank him.
On the drive home I listened to the Skeptics' Guide to the Universe and Point of Inquiry. I will post a few brief thoughts on each tomorrow.
*The excellent Gettysburg College Civil War Institute is a mecca for serious amateur and professional War of the Rebellion History buffs. I highly recommend it. I volunteered for it a number of times while a student at the college. It was the best week of no sleep I ever experienced.
"Although Kylie Sturgess..."
ReplyDeleteExcuse me?
Try reading what I wrote again and adjust your blogpost phrasing about what I wrote accordingly, thank you? The VERY first sentence reads that I was responding to Dr Pamela Gay's comments from Facebook, and that is what I'm doing. Every point I raise is a general summation about what the overall attitude of 'fantasy is bad' can lead to. Don't call it 'knee-jerk', please, I've been working on unpacking that issue for quite some time. The links to 'Skeptical Books for Children' and the interview with Dale McGowan, indicates that.
I stand corrected. I changed a few words and left in the most offensive part struck out. It was poor wording. However, I do think it is fair to say that this post was triggered by Dr. Dawkins lecture, and the commentary on your post is a running commentary on Dawkins. Again, I believe the correction should suffice.
ReplyDeleteI hope it is obvious that no offense was intended, nor was it meant to be a belittling of your work or thoughts.
With humble pie