The following is an attempt at summarizing what happened on last Friday, 6/3. This event was one of many that I’ve participated in. Usually they are called “video chats” but I like to forget that I’m taking to people spread out all over the country. I like to think of this as my regular social group, with friends, because that’s what it feels like to me.

Topics

• Sara Mayhew’s first of many received ad hominem attacks - Sara posted a blog article last week that attracted quit a bit of reaction, including one commenter that lobbed a direct insult at her appearance. Since Sara’s profile picture was out of date, she posted an updated one to make sure the commenter was insulting her correctly.
• Discussed the finer points of why “Psychic Astrology” doesn’t make sense, although we agreed they must be able to read the minds of people on other planets.
• “5 miles? That’s like 35 in dog miles!”
• VirtualDS First: Second Life Avatar on Video Chat
• World Health Organization adds cell phones to a list of things that “might” cause cancer. Here’s a nice response by Phil Plait, and if you want more details watch this talk by Prof. Christopher Davis of University of Maryland. 
• Minor side conversation about things that can cause cancer, such as alcohol and the link to throat cancer (among other things). [CDC - ancer Prevention and Control]
• Discovered that Adobe Connect can take a little while to become stable (the first half hour was rocky) so we had a nice bitch session about the poor state of video chat software technology, including a thorough roasting of the-chat-service-that-shall-not-be-named.
• Quantum mechanics rule ‘bent’ in classic experiment - I scratched my head about this new item, and the recent article about the possibility of our universe being inside a black hole. I couldn’t find the original article, but I did find this one.
• Very brief report about Balticon, and the tabling of NCAS, the CoR, and Dave Silverman being on non-secular related panels.
• Overheard sarcasm: ”Some people in the atheist movement that put you off a bit?”
• Discussed the need to keep atheism and skepticism distinct.
• Simultaneous to our event, Jeff Wagg was live streaming a Chicago Skeptics event with Chris Stedman
• TAM! TAM! Who’s going to TAM!? What’s up with all the schedule changes? [By the way, it looks like the Southpoint Hotel is all booked except for some of the really expensive rooms. If you don’t have a room, your best bet might be to find someone that already has one, but could do with a roommate]
• The SGU and something about “being super giddy about Steve’s big head” - for some reason I don’t remember who said that, but it starts with an “M”.
• CSICON - CFI conference in October
• We had a rather detailed and interesting discussion about the issues surrounding Lawrence Krauss’ support of his friend Jeffrey Epstein, and how some are still upset about it. Apparently there has been some discussion (in forums elsewhere) about an organized walk-out at TAM. For a different perspective on this issue, take a look at this article.
• Jon Ronson - Thank you for convincing us we’re all psychopaths.
• Google Correlate associates “skeptics” with global warming denial.
• “The Twitter Troll that Shall Not Be Named” and 18 years of stupid.
• Overheard: ”We need to use the word wackamole more often in general conversation”
• Anthony Weiner’s Wiener - that’s all I’m going to say about that.
• Treelobsters is one of the most offensive comics EVAH! (not really) - “Your hate mail is conflicted”
• Overheard: “Size doesn’t matter … when it comes to buttons”
• Apparently I’ve committed to giving one of the VDS-guest-only Surly’s to whomever can get Phil Plait on VirtualDS, although I strongly suspect it’ll be Melissa. 
• Heidi Anderson is awesome. We need to have her back on, soon.
• Bob Blaskiewicz attended a “Truther” rally in Atlanta and is currently writing it up for Skeptical Inquirer. A great resource for 911 conspiracy theories is Ryan Mackey.
• A number of us shared success stories about talking with “believers” in one thing or another, pointing them politely to correct information or encouraging them to find good sources, resulting in their more skeptical outlook. 
• Overheard: “Brian Dunning is the Ted Baxter of the skeptic world.”
• Jamie Bernstein and Ken Reibel were “kicked out” of Autism One conference in Chicago. [Part 1, Part 2]
• Antivax hate-fest: Jenny Mcarthy, Andrew Wakefield [this one will really piss you off], Mayer Eisenstein, Mark & David Geier, and others…

Attendees

Backin15, bartskeptic, Bob Blaskiewicz, Brian Gregory, Cleon, Cory Albrecht, Cur, Eve Siebert, hardindr, J.D. Mack, JakeLsewhere, Kammy, Kate W, Melissa, Sara E. Mayhew, Scott Price, sillyhead, Steve (treelobsters). Tana, Tanya (Daisies and Shit), Todd T.

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If there’s anything that I missed that should be mentioned, or anyone that attended that wants to be linked, please make sure I know in the comments. Thanks again for everyone that attended what I’m for now on going to just refer to as “The Event”. The reason this is so much fun is only due to the wonderful people that join us! So really, THANKS!