I’ll cut right to the chase and say this: TAM8 was the best TAM ever. By far. The TAM8 experience started for me when I met my friend Jonathan at the Vegas airport. We’ve been doing a podcast for most of the last 3 calendar years, but until this past weekend, I hadn’t seen Jonathan in person in over thirteen years. So before I had even stepped foot in the South Point Casino, the trip was already worth it.

It is abundantly clear to me, and I mean no disrespect to anyone else, that DJ Grothe is the perfect choice to lead the JREF. This year’s TAM had more speakers, more panels, and less breaks in the action than I can remember in any of the previous 5 TAMs that I have attended. The panels were all well run, and I give a tip of the hat to all the moderators. They kept the panels on topic for the most part, and they were all nicely focused on specific areas of skepticism.

There just seemed like there were a ton of speakers this year, and they were all so good, that the days seemed to fly by. Before I knew it, it was 6 PM and the day was over. Technical problems that have plagued previous TAMs didn’t seem to be as prevalent. There was only one speaker whose presentation I didn’t really enjoy, but one that really surprised me was Jennifer Michael Hecht. I really enjoyed her talk, but thinking it would be kind of “artsy” I thought I might be a little bored. However, I found her talk very interesting, and I hope she comes back next year.

The one talk that everyone was talking about was Phil Plait’s “Don’t Be A Dick” talk. He received a raucous standing ovation, and the Twitterverse was filled with compliments (and a few complaints). No other talk was as frank with us skeptics as Phil’s was. He flat out told us (and himself) that we need to drastically improve the tone that we take with “non-skeptics.” Judging by the crowd reaction, it’s something that a lot of people had on their minds.

The one thing about TAM that I always regret, is that I’m not more social. As a naturally introverted person, I tend to keep to myself and not engage as much in meeting fellow skeptics. I enjoy being there, and people seem pretty friendly in person and even on Facebook and the Twitters. I’m trying to friend via Facebook and follow via the Twitters as much as I can, and maybe make some contacts that way. I did talk with Dr. Joe Nickell for a bit and also someone from the Reason Foundation as well, and that was a lot of fun, but I should really try better in general.

In closing, Jonathan was pretty blown away by his first TAM, and I have to say, it was definitely the best one so far. I look forward to reading other people’s thoughts on TAM as everyone counts down the days until TAM9. I’ll be there once again.

Does anthropogenic climate change exist? After years of being somewhat of a skeptic on the subject, due to what I feel were some real issues with the concepts of “urban heat isles” and the non-change in the temperature of the upper atmosphere, I believe those issues have been resolved and it’s clear to me that we have had an effect on the planet’s climate. I hesitate to use the phrase “global warming”, because it’s an awfully imprecise phrase. Will all parts of the planet warm? No. Can we predict with any certainty which parts of the planet will get the warmest? Nope. We have models that make general predictions, but the actual effects can be tempered or exacerbated due to local environmental situations or unforeseen events like the Mt. Pinatuba volcanic explosion in 1991. Anthropogenic climate change, though, is real, and regardless of what your political alignment may be, you have to accept that fact. I remain skeptical of most the pronounced solutions and the overall mindset of those who are the most vocal about climate change, but that discussion will have to be for another day.

Back to my original point:

Dear “Journalists”,

Just because there is a warm spell during winter, it doesn’t mean it’s because of climate change. Just because there is a heat wave during the summer, it doesn’t mean it’s because of climate change. Report the weather how it is, and when we have events outside the average, do some actual work and explain how, if at all, it could relate to climate change, hot or cold, wet or dry. There is a great disservice to the country and the world, by only reporting on climate change with a thin veneer of research.

Thank you for reading, now back to the subzero temperatures.

(click here if the video doesn’t embed)

My brother and I, though, are so far in the back you can’t make us out. We did bend the spoons though, and the trick worked nicely.

Click here if you can’t see the video

Found this video on the Skepchick Blog.

The commercial for Dr. Frank’s Pet Pain Spray shows a bunch of obese dogs struggling to move around, and after they drink water with some of this homeopathic spray added, they magically start running around. The key word in all of this is: homeopathic. Homeopathic “treatments” are in plentiful supply in just about any store that sells medicine. A lot of people assume that homeopathic treatments are all about natural herbs and substances. That’s not what homeopathy is about at all.

Simply put, the idea with homeopathy is that you first find the substance that is causing distress. For the sage of argument, let’s say that carrot juice causes irritable bowel syndrome. The homeopathic solution would be to take 1ml of carrot juice and dilute it with 1000 ml of distilled water. Then you take that, and shake it back and forth 10,000 times. Next, you take 1 ml of that, and dilute that with 1000 ml of distilled water. Shake again. Take that 1ml of that, and dilute it again, and so on, and so on. In the end, you get something that is 99.999% likely to contain zero molecules of carrot juice. Some how the carrot juice is supposed to imprint it’s “vibrations” on the distilled water, which will in turn, eliminate the irritable bowel syndrome.

This is, of course, nonsense. If you don’t believe me, go to the store, buy 20 boxes of homeopathic sleeping pills, and then take them all at once. You’ll be fine, trust me. There isn’t a shred of scientific evidence to show that homeopathy works. There isn’t even a defined mechanism for how homeopathy works. It’s all just blather.

Now it’s annoying when people try homeopathy, but at least humans can think for themselves and report to you if something is or isn’t helping. A pet cannot communicate to you directly. It will suffer in pain while one gleefully sprays distilled water into its water. In fact, you might even hurt the pet more if you make him do something his old joints can’t, because you believe the spray is working.

So don’t ever, ever use Dr. Frank’s Pet Pain Spray and think you’re helping your pet. If you want to keep your pet as healthy as can be, buy premium dog food, feed him some vegetables now and then, keep the weight low, and regularly walk him. If you do think he’s having problems ask your vet perhaps for some anti-inflammatories. And if your vet suggests anything homeopathic, time to find a new vet.

All snarkiness aside, why would prayer work? Does God not care about you unless you pray? Is there minimum level of prayer needed to effect change? What if people in other states decide to pray for Georgia to not have rain? Whose prayer wins out? Do you get brownie points for praying even if God ignores you? Is God up there laughing at the prospect of people in Georgia running out of water?

Now of course, at some point, it will rain in Georgia. It’s the law of averages, but there will be those who claim God’s intervention was the reason. I tend to think, though, it will just be a case of things returning to the mean. After an extended period of time without rain, people get desperate and start praying, rain dancing or maybe even giving themselves over to Satan. However, at some point, the end of the dry period and the period of panic overlap, leading some people to see a causal relationship between prayer and rain. I hope the majority of Georgian’s see how stupid praying for rain is, and maybe think about actual solutions a state could do to prevent shortages of water in the future.