Photos from Auskeptcon14

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Recommended – see these photos full screen mode on Flickr.

The photos in the above slide show are from the recent Australian Skeptics National Convention 2014, held in Sydney. A huge thanks to the Sydney based organisers with ASI, they did a fantastic job. The convention featured the likes of, Dr Karl Kruszelnicki, Dick Smith, George Hrab, Peter Fitzsimons, Michael Marshall, Dr Rachael Dunlop, Peter Hadfield, Dr Amanda Bauer, the entire Skeptics Guide to the Universe crew and most of the team from ABC’s consumer protection program, The Checkout. A full list of speakers can be found here. Heck – even James Randi dropped in for a cameo!

The convention was held at an excellent venue in The Concourse, Chatswood where everything ran perfectly.  Well done to all involved for an entertaining and inspiring convention.  We look forward to Brisbane next year.

 

George Hrab at the Clyde

I should really have put this post up weeks ago but, sorry I’ve been busy, with work, blah blah…. I’m sure you don’t want to hear about it.  Anyway this post is a not-very-good attempt to re-live a great night, a bit of a pat on the back for the organizer, Catherine D and to show some nice photos.

And what a week TAM Australia Fringe was in Melbourne, with events on successive nights.   Beginning on Tuesday the 30^th of November, George Hrab put on a great performance at the Clyde Hotel.

Self confessed “suit guy”, podcaster, composer and musician George Hrab was pleasantly surprised to find that he had so many fans in Melbourne. A crowd that numbered around 150, knew the words and joined in with enthusiasm.   What a fun night, lyrics that resonate with skeptics and rational thinkers, music and laughter – good stuff.

I recall talking to Terry Kelly after the event. He said:

That was great. I can’t believe it was a free event – I would have paid good money to see that!

(hint, Terry, don’t tell Catherine).

George played Far, I really didn’t

TAM Australia wrap up

The post conference high is beginning to wear off and life starts to get back to a normal routine again.

For those Victorian Skeptics lucky enough to go to The Amazing Meeting the experience was quite amazing – and as a skeptic; it’s not easy to say that.

(If you’d just like to see a nice slide show of photos from TAM Oz and you don’t much care to read a summary – skip to here)

Expectations were high: so many big name skeptics where on the bill. Would it work?  Such a lot happened it’s difficult to summarize.  I’ll just mention some highlights in no particular order.

My favorite session was one that had to be put together quickly to fill in for a speaker who couldn’t make it – the twitter quiz.  Rebecca Watson quickly researched some questions. A panel of experts, mainly from the SGU, were pitted against the audience in a race to give the correct answer first.  The panel had the advantage of being able to answer directly into the microphones whilst the audience had to post the answer to twitter using the #TAMQuiz hashtag.  Audience answers were displayed real-time on the big screens.  What ensued was glorious, hilarious mayhem that left the audience with sore stomach muscles from laughing.  For instance, in answer

George Hrab in Melbourne

 

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Apparently skeptics are just a bunch of old-age naysayers with no religion, culture or art.  As such, don’t tell anyone about George Hrab and his upcoming gig in Melbourne, I wouldn’t want to burst anyone’s bubble.  I’d really hate for his gig to be spoilt by – you know – loads and loads of people turning up.

George is an active Pennsylvania based musician, composer, podcaster and skeptic.

George’s podcast; the Geologic Podcast, has a huge following and easily has the best sound quality of any skeptical podcast available.  The Geologic Podcast features segments such as “George talks to his mum” and “religious moron of the week”.

In a very bold move, George’s last album “Trebuchet” was released free, in its entirety, in one of his regular podcasts.  I first really began to appreciate George’s music when he produced the song “Far”, which became