Skeptical panel at TAM 2

Back in 2004 I attended The Amaz!ng Meeting 2. I’ve written about these skeptic conferences a zillion times before; they are run by James Randi, who is a leading force in the skepticism movement, and attendees include Penn and Teller, The Mythbusters, Scott Dikkers (head cheese of The Onion), and lots of scientists and magicians and other cool folks.

There is usually a panel of one kind or another, where the speakers take questions from the audience and play off each other. These are a lot of fun, and can be very entertaining.

Randi’s group is putting up lots of videos on YouTube, and they just recently added a video of the panel from TAM 2. I watched the whole thing recently. It was fun to see it again! I’m on it, as are Randi (of course), Penn and Teller (you can hear Teller speak!), Eugenie Scott, Bob Parks, and others. Give it a look! Here is Part 1, and you can find the other segments from there. I don’t start talking until Part 2, and I swear if I knew Hervey Peoples was going to wear red and white and I was going to sit right next to her, I would have chosen a different shirt.

December 18th, 2007 9:37 AM by Phil Plait in Antiscience, Piece of mind, Science, Skepticism, Time Sink | 7 comments | RSS feed | Trackback >

7 Responses to “Skeptical panel at TAM 2”

1. Jerrald Hayes Says:
December 18th, 2007 at 10:04 am

I saw all the TAM 2 videos on YouTube the other day and couldn’t help but notice still shot of the video reminded me of a famous piece of artwork we all know and are familiar with: http://rationallythinkingoutloud.wordpress.com/2007/12/01/the-last-supper-at-tam-2/
2. uknesvuinng Says:
December 18th, 2007 at 10:11 am

Completely not relevant to this post, but somewhat relevant to skepticism: Dave Barry has the real story behind a book of supposed information from deceased celebrities.

(URL cause I’m not sure if HTML works in the comment form and there’s no preview button):

http://blogs.herald.com/dave_barrys_blog/2007/12/press-release-o.html
3. RMPink Says:
December 18th, 2007 at 11:23 am

I’ve never been a big fan of head cheese, but I do enjoy the Onion. I shall check this out right away.
4. The Centipede Says:
December 18th, 2007 at 2:12 pm

“Scott Dikkers (head cheese of The Onion)”

Here’s to hoping that awful pun was unintentional. I thought this was a family-friendly blog, Doctor.
5. Grand Lunar Says:
December 19th, 2007 at 4:35 am

What is the username used by Randi’s group on YouTube? I wanna subscribe to that.

I also wondered why the title said “TAM 2″. I thought “Didn’t we just have TAM 5?”

Anyway, should be fun!
6. Grand Lunar Says:
December 19th, 2007 at 4:37 am

Never mind, found it! Done it!
7. Tom Says:
December 19th, 2007 at 6:35 am

Who’s the moderator? It seems odd for a military person to take on a role like that in uniform.

About Bad Astronomy

Phil Plait, the creator of Bad Astronomy, is an astronomer, lecturer, and author. After ten years working on Hubble Space Telescope and six more working on astronomy education, he struck out on his own as a writer. He's written two books, dozens of magazine articles, and 12 bazillion blog articles. He is a skeptic and fights the abuse of science, but his true love is praising the wonders of real science.

The original BA site (with the Moon Hoax debunking, movie reviews, and all that) can be found here.

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