The Amazing Meeting 8 ( TAM8 )– Day 3 Saturday Afternoon Summary
Too see more summaries of TAM8….
The Amazing Meeting 8 – Day 1 Thursday Skepticism In The Classroom
The Amazing Meeting 8 – Day 1 Thursday Skepticism And Feminism
The Amazing Meeting 8 ( TAM8 )– Day 2 Friday Morning Summary
The Amazing Meeting 8 ( TAM8 )– Day 2 Friday Afternoon Summary
The Amazing Meeting 8 ( TAM8 )– Day 3 Saturday Morning Summary
Saturday Afternoon….
After a slow morning we had a pretty good afternoon.
Above is David Javerbaum. He has eleven Emmy Awards and is the former executive produce of The Daily Show. He was a funny guy. He started his talk with an opening prayer and later when asked questions called some girl an uppity chick. Below is James McGaha. He is a real astronomer and gave an informative if not dry presentation. We found out later that he is also a global warming denier – don’t even get me started.
Above is Jennifer Michael Hecht. After an apparently confused appearance on the feminism panel she hit a home run with this talk. She mostly talked about religion and her book “Doubt” I may have to order a copy! Next up is Paul Provenza. He delivered adult content in a take no prisoners style. He opens up with some great one liners…
“TAM is like a dog park and I just want to sniff everybody’s ass.”
and
“I can now say I’ve opened for Richard Fucking Dawkins.”
As I got to the front to take this picture he asked the AV guy to play a video clip. After a few seconds he said something like, “are you going to play it or should I just fuck myself.” Without thinking I shouted out, “Can we have both?” He laughed and said yeah sure, I’m here to please… He was so funny that we ran out to the JREF table and bought a copy of his book “Sataristas”.
Finally, Dawkins!
Wait what? No presentation, No PowerPoint. WTF???
I have seen Dawkins live 3 times; University of Kansas – 10/30/06, University of Wisconsin (Madison) – 3/11/08, and Indiana University – 10/12/09. They were all GREAT! Dawkins knows how to put together a presentation and work the crowd. That is what I wanted to see again. I was denied. D.J. Grothe, I love you but this well uh… sucked. It was such a bummer.
After that… I need a drink… Off to the Skepchick Party!
Heya! Thanks for the feedback. I love when Richard Dawkins gives his talks, as well. Having been involved in organizing a number of his campus book tours, I can attest to how inspiring his talks are.
But just for the record, he explicitly requested on a couple occasions that I interview him rather than his giving an address. The topics we discussed, worked out with him beforehand, were a kind of lead up to promotion of his book coming out, the Magic of Reality, which sounds excellent.
Again, thanks for the feedback, and cheers..
I already ordered Doubt. It is really good.