<put on JREF hat>
Two very, very cool things:
1) I am very, very excited to let everyone know that registration for The Amaz!ng Meeting 7 will open on February 25! The James Randi Educational Foundation sponsors this meeting every year, and it’s become THE meeting for critical thinking, with close to 1000 people attending. We always have great speakers, and this year is no exception: our keynote is (squee squee!) Bill Prady, the executive producer for "The Big Bang Theory". Regular readers know of my love for both him and the show (like here, and here and here) and it didn’t hurt that he left a comment here once. Bill is a great speaker; he’s funny, smart, and a geek like us. He’ll be a tremendous addition to TAM 7.
We’ll also have lots of other great guests, including Jennifer Ouellette, Michael Shermer, My Close Personal Friend Adam Savage™, and a slew of others. TAM 7 will be in Las Vega$ from July 9-12, 2009, at the South Point Hotel and Casino. You can already book rooms there and get a group discount if you tell them you’re booking for TAM 7 with JREF. Call them at 866-791-7626.
Stay tuned to the JREF website for more info as we announce it, and of course I’ll have tons of information here on Bad Astronomy as events progress.
2) And if that weren’t enough, let me also announce that we’re holding a TAM in London in October!
Yup. There is such a strong presence in England and environs that we decided to go international! So on October 3-4, 2009 we’re doing TAM London, and we have some truly brilliant speakers lined up, with more coming. I won’t say who we have or whom we’re still wheedling, but I will say that if you’re a skeptic in the UK you do not want to miss this one. We’ll have a website with registration info and all that set up soon.
In the meantime, there’s a Facebook group set up for it, and we’ll make sure info is fed there as it comes in. It already has more than 200 people signed up! You can also follow TAM London on Twitter.
I hope to see lots of BABloggees at these events. If you like my blog, you’ll love the TAMs. It’s a fantastic chance to meet lots of people: movers and shakers in the field, as well as just people who want to see reality for the way it is.
</JREF hat>
February 3rd, 2009 at 11:38 am
London, eh? Cool!
Of topic, Phil, but is it just me or is there something wrong with the RSS feed update? I’ve not had a RSS update from Bad Astronomy since “Dilbert got Randi”.
February 3rd, 2009 at 11:42 am
I WANNA WANNA WANNA go, but the wifey would have me drawn & quartered.
[sigh]
February 3rd, 2009 at 11:51 am
Er… I meant to write, “Off topic…”
Bugger!
February 3rd, 2009 at 12:01 pm
East coast TAM! East coast TAM!
I WANNA WANNA WANNA go, too, but the husband-y won’t get on a plane. Maybe if it were coordinated around a NASCAR event… Even then, we’d have to drive and I just don’t think I can handle it. Ditto exasperated sighs.
Maybe 2013 -presuming the world is still here.
February 3rd, 2009 at 12:04 pm
Ivan3Man … My RSS is working fine (got this post through RSS). Perhaps, try resubscribing…?
Dr. Plait … I was so hopeful when I read that you were coming to London as the first London in my mind is London, Ontario (about 30min drive from where I live). Have you guys ever thought about having a TAM in Canada? Specifically, some where in Southern Ontario? I know I would be on board for that.
February 3rd, 2009 at 12:13 pm
I really want to come. I’m going to try to come. But I’m about to move into my own apartment & that’s financially draining at the moment. If I can scrape up the money, I will be there!
February 3rd, 2009 at 12:29 pm
Hmm, TAM London or Oktoberfest… er.. Munich?
Will there be beer and fräulinen at TAM?
February 3rd, 2009 at 12:31 pm
After years of not being able to go…. I’M MAKING THIS ONE!!!! Alice is letting me take the days off dispite that its in the middle of the tourist season. Cant wait!!!!
February 3rd, 2009 at 12:46 pm
Let’s see…Las Vegas in July and then London in October. Nobody cares about weather? I suppose it is off season and cheaper, and people will mostly be inside, but sheesh!
OK, I’m just envious is all. I don’t know if I can make it to either. I vote Fort Lauderdale for all future TAMs…or I’ll compromise, Orlando is always nice.
February 3rd, 2009 at 12:49 pm
Depending on what happens with my career and all, I will try to swing this (again assuming I can get CinC House approval). Been reading a lot about it on the JREF Forums, so I am naturally very excited about this. Gotta make sure to finish Dr. Shermer’s book before then as well.
February 3rd, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Woo hoo, Jennifer Ouellette!
February 3rd, 2009 at 12:51 pm
Damn! London?
I have no idea what’ll I’ll be doing come October, but I hope I have time (and money).
What sorta riffraff will you try to make us settle for?
February 3rd, 2009 at 1:37 pm
I can’t stand the place. Too busy, too noisy and too expensive to get to by any form of transport.
Come to Brum! (That’s Birmingham, 100 miles North of the London, and much easier for the rest of the U.K. population to reach!)
February 3rd, 2009 at 1:38 pm
That should have been (Sigh) – Why is it always London?, but I used angle brackets instead, and it must have been interpreted as HTML code. Oh well. (sigh).
February 3rd, 2009 at 1:40 pm
London? That’s only a cheap one-hour flight away from Amsterdam… very tempting!
February 3rd, 2009 at 1:51 pm
Ooh, might have to hop on a train to London! Hope I can make it down there.
February 3rd, 2009 at 2:05 pm
Great News! I met (and had my BA book signed by) Phil at the Skeptics in the Pub meet in London last year. Phil gave a great talk, but it was disappointing that Randi couldn’t make it too and the whole thing was over too quickly. I hope Randi will be at the London TAM.
February 3rd, 2009 at 2:33 pm
@ Phil (not the Dr.),
Thanks for the tip.
February 3rd, 2009 at 2:40 pm
London, you say?
Count me in. It’s a two hours flight from Madrid.
February 3rd, 2009 at 2:44 pm
London, it just due west from where I live – a little longer trip than from Amsterdam but, yeah, tempting since I haven’t been to London, yet. And the semester shouldn’t have restartet by that time… well….
February 3rd, 2009 at 3:05 pm
Cardiff is also very pretty.. Anyhow – London! Thats almost around the corner! *squee* I am so up for this..
February 3rd, 2009 at 3:12 pm
Excellent news for all of us in the UK. Thanks to the whole TAM London team for organizing this. Sign me up!
February 3rd, 2009 at 4:40 pm
London is great … check out what kind of slogans you can see on buses here: http://is.gd/i1dp
“Science flies you to the moon. Religion flies you into buildings.”
February 3rd, 2009 at 5:11 pm
Hey! Don’t despair! Dr. Phil and The Amaz!ng Randi will be at DragonCon!
February 3rd, 2009 at 5:44 pm
Why not Australia? Where’s the love?
February 3rd, 2009 at 5:57 pm
I sooooooooo want to go to the London TAM. Of course I would like to go to Vegas, too, but LONDON! We’ll see what cash is like when the registration stuff gets posted. I wanna go!
February 3rd, 2009 at 6:24 pm
Come one Phil. Take a chance . Show East Coast Skeptics some Love .
Bring a TAM to the East Coast.
February 3rd, 2009 at 6:43 pm
we decided to go international!
So when are you coming to Australia?
February 4th, 2009 at 12:29 am
I’m thirding Australia! Come on down!
February 4th, 2009 at 12:30 am
Sigh.. I wish I could go to Las Vegas, but it’s so far away from he… London? As in the place that’s only one hour away by plane?
Ok, October 3-4 is now marked as “busy” in my calendar.
February 4th, 2009 at 1:31 am
Brilliant! Can’t wait for TAM London! Does this mean I might get to see you and Richard Wiseman in the same place at the same time? Because, you know, I’ve always had this theory that you’re actually the same guy pulling some wierd kind of stunt!
February 4th, 2009 at 2:47 am
London! That’s like an hour by airplane from here. ZOMG. I shall be filled with rage towards myself if I can’t make London.
February 4th, 2009 at 7:33 am
w00t! Thankfully, I live right here in Las Vegas, I’m literally less than 5 minutes from the South Point. Holy cow, I’ll get to see James Randi AND Phil?
*squeeeeee!*
Please tell me you’ll be signing books, Phil!
*crosses fingers*
February 4th, 2009 at 11:18 am
Australians! No TAM yet, but the Rogues from the Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe are due down your way sometime in 2010. Some mention of this in podcast
February 4th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
The hotel is very reasonable & I’ve booked my stay!
Question, though: What’s the theme this year? I have a vague memory of an announcement, but I may be running my years together. At any rate, I don’t recall it…
February 5th, 2009 at 4:35 am
Whats with all the love for Bill Prady? I don’t get it. The show is based onj making fun of some characters based on tired and incoherent stereotypes, with the occasional sympathetic nod coming out of nowhere. It’s just the usual Hollywood Genius crap with jokes sprinkled in. Granted, the jokes are funny, bit Bill PRady certainly cannot claim to be any sort of boon for skepticism. Not on the basis on this show.
So, again, why all the love?
February 5th, 2009 at 5:50 am
London??? Now I’m excited. When will you have the exact (or even approximate) programme and guest list for October? I still don’t know if I can get off work, but I’d love to come if it works out!
February 12th, 2009 at 6:10 am
Remember, for all of those folks on the East Coast, Phil, Randi, Ben Radford, SGU and many other of your favorite skeptc/science types all come to the giant Dragon*Con event. It is kind of like a TAM, without the casinos and the desert…. oh, and LOTS of geeks in costume.
That will be on September 4th – 7th, Downtown Atlanta this year.