Virtual Skeptics

Lights, iSight Camera, and keep still . . .

Ed would not have been
impressed with me

On Halloween night, I accepted a kind invitation to appear on the vodcast The Virtual Skeptics.  It was a special episode celebrating Halloween with the guests discussing any paranormal experiences we have experienced.  The show normally consists of a panel of skeptics discussing news topics of interest to skeptics, and ending with a guess the book segment. I hope I am not telling secrets, but the panelist are an impressive lot to see joke around pre and post recording, but each backed with an impressive command of the subject matter.  I felt like a brown shoe in a room of tuxedos.*

I shared my one and only brush with a ghost sighting.  I do not actually believe I saw a spirit, or had a communication from the beyond.  At the time, when I was not yet a Skeptic, I did not think it likely that I saw a ghost.  It was weird.  However, it was an experience which revealed to me that when people report they saw a ghost, they probably did experience something creepy or at least something that fooled their senses. People who report such activity need not be hoaxers or off their cracker.  (That is unless I am off my cracker too.)

It was a bit different than this

I have heard tech blogger and podcaster John Gruber discussing how he much more enjoys and feels comfortable on an audio program than on a video program.  He never knows where to look, or how to dress.  I have to say, having been a guest on a couple podcasts, and now being a guest on a vodcast, I can opine that Mr. Gruber ain’t whistling Dixie.  I had to keep reminding myself that I was being observed, perhaps even scrutinized, by an audience.  I have a tendency to fiddle with stuff, or squirm in my seat, or pet the dog or cat.  Sitting there on video petting Pip would not have been cool.  (He meowed below me once or twice.) I also completely forgot the whole guess the book segment.  Luckily, a bookshelf is handy next to my Mac.  I am not sure how I let that slip my mind. 

On the other hand, it was handy to see the reaction of the other panelists.  It has made me wonder if more podcasts will use a Google Hangout or similar service to see each other during recording even for an audio podcast.

All in all it was fun, and all were very nice.  I suppose if one chucked their blog and went for a video production, one would get used to it.  However, I do not plan to leave the written word anytime soon.  

*Apologies to the estate of George Gobel.