Tomfoolery Blog

Archive for the ‘events’ Category

It’s been shrouded in mystery for some time, but the QED conference, a joint venture of the Merseyside Skeptics Society and the Greater Manchester Skeptic Society, has made itself fully public. The first of th speakers have been announced, and oh boy, is it exciting!

I’m most looking forward to the visit of Eugenie C Scott. In case you need telling, she is the Executive Director of the National Center for Science Education (NCSE) over in the States, the author of this fantastic introduction to the evolution/creationism “controversy”, and she has been at the forefront of the science versus religion battle for decades. She is an excellent speaker, and many videos of her talks are available on youtube.

Also announced are Jon Ronson, the man behind “The Men Who Stare At Goats” (and not responsible for the propagation of the dreadful song “Valerie”), science documentary maker Jim Al-Khalili, psychology Professor Bruce Hood, and “Science of Scams” co-host Kat Akingbade. The event will be compared by George Hrab.

The QED conference (which I’m already nicknaming “Smugfest”) will run from February 5th-6th at the Manchester Ramada Piccadilly. Tickets are only £99, or just £75 for students. Less than half the price of TAM London tickets, and no comic books in sight!

I’m so excited by this, if I wasn’t at work I’d be doing a little leprechaun dance!

On February 18th, I gave a talk on the scientific method to the Merseyside Skeptic Society. Andy Wilson has kindly provided me with the audio, I’ve plopped the slides on top, and you can see part 1 on youtube:

And Part 2 here:

Now, this is a bit of an experiment for me. Although the talk was captured on sound tape, it wasn’t videoed. If you like the talk, I’m keen to talk elsewhere, so you can get in touch with me at tom at tomfooleryblog dot com.

The evening itself was highly enjoyable, and included a live recording of Skeptics With a K and talks from Alan Callister, Mike Hall and Michael Marshall. You can hear the recording (and Marsh’s talk) here.

Sorry for the short notice! This Thursday I will be giving a brief talk on the scientific method at the Merseyside Skeptics Society (MSS) Skeptics in the Pub event at the Vines Pub, L1, Liverpool. I’ll be sharing the stage with Allan Callister, who will be talking Emotional Freedom Technique, something of an interest of his of late. Next, the MSS president Mike Hall will be examining Bad Logic, with examples from the world of religion. Mike Marsh will be taking to the mic next to explain How PR Took Over Journalism, and where we go from here.

There will be a Q+A, and a live recording of the Skeptics With a K podcast. Come down if you can, these are always great, friendly, informative evenings!