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Post-TAM9 Thoughts

Does anyone remember who the author, or what the title was of that book that Carol Tavris talked about on the history of Catholicism?

She also mentioned a few major points that self-identifying catholics are usually completely wrong about, does any one remember what those were again?
 
I emailed her about that and she very quickly emailed me back with the info:

Uta Ranke-Heinemann, Eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven: Women, sexuality, and the Catholic church
 
She mentioned abortion (OK for Catholics at some points through the Middle Ages), and then also mentioned in a second email that the doctrine of papal infallibility itself was introduced (formally?) in 1870. I'm not sure that sounds right, but assuming she's right, that's pretty ironic, eh?
 
Wikipedia does mention that papal infallibility was formally defined in 1870. Not sure how wishy-washy the informal definition was before that, but it does have an interesting history section about the doctrine.
 
Does anyone know the name of the photographer who was working at the Skeptic's Society table? I met him but I can't find his name or e-mail address on their site. In fact I can't find anyone's name on that site except for Michael Shermer's :)
 
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squishy said:
This was also my first TAM, and while I had a lot of memorable moments, one of my favorites was watching the birth of an internet meme from the man who invented the word "meme."
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Wow, this simply screams "win" :D

ETA: Welcome to the Forum, squishy!
 
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I told DJ this was my 5th TAM, and I think it was the most smooth, well-run event I've ever attended. I think the decision to formally hire staffers to help run things was a great idea!

And even though I only attended one talk, Neil deGrasse Tyson's lecture, during the entire TAM, I had a great time doing my own workshop presentation, helping with the vaccine clinic, and generally getting my fingers into all manner of interesting behind-the-scenes goings on (let's just say it has to do with a certain Challenge :) )
 
MattusMaximus said:
I told DJ this was my 5th TAM, and I think it was the most smooth, well-run event I've ever attended. I think the decision to formally hire staffers to help run things was a great idea!
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I feel kind of bad for bringing this up because perhaps it's inevitable, but the many A/V issues (starting with the problems during George Hrab's excellent opening number and going on from there) made it less than perfect. Never having tried to run a conference of this size, I wonder what can be done to improve in this area.

(Oh, and if you only saw Tyson's talk, IIRC that was one talk where the A/V worked near perfectly.)
 
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AdMan said:
I feel kind of bad for bringing this up because perhaps it's inevitable, but the many A/V issues (starting with the problems during George Hrab's excellent opening number and going on from there) made it less than perfect. Never having tried to run a conference of this size, I wonder what can be done to improve in this area.

(Oh, and if you only saw Tyson's talk, IIRC that was one talk where the A/V worked near perfectly.)
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There were some A/V issues in my workshop as well, but it was nothing really that bad. We had it fixed within a couple of minutes and things went smoothly from then on.

Now, if there were more consistent and systemic A/V issues, then that is an area for improvement. However, I still say that overall this was the most well-run TAM ever.
 
Chris RN said:
I hear you... It would be nice if there were a non-smoking area to meet.
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I was constantly feeling sick..it could have also been sleep deprivation and lack of food but the smoke also really got to me. One additional thing that bugged me is the place was a little chilly so I often had my zip up hoodie on but at one point a security guard pulled me aside and told me to take off the hood. Now if its obscuring your face to commit a crime thats the issue then baseball caps are just as big a issue as banks well know but they didnt seem to care about other hats that obscured the security cameras view. It couldn't be a dress code or class issue, I mean the folks in there were pretty trashy and they didnt seem to care how badly or skimpily dressed you were. Seriously, its not like we were at TAM London where you might have to worry about soccer hooligans either. It just made little sense and was annoying because I didnt want to break the rules but I constantly caught myself putting my hood up out of habit cause my head was cold and then quickly remembered and took it down hopping I didnt get in trouble.

Other than that I had an amazing time. It was my first TAM and Im glad I was able to actually get a ticket. I met some great folks. The Veg meet-up went great, its was really cool meeting those folks and one kid even made buttons. I got some awesome tacos afterwards to eat which watching Max Maven who was pretty incredible. Desiree Schell was amazing, I loved her presentation and had a great conversation with her afterwards since I kinda have had my feet in both worlds of skepticism and social activism. DJ Grothe was extremely nice as always, I love how personable he is even being the president of the org put on such a large event and being so busy. I got very little sleep the entire time cause I just didnt want to miss out on the random conversations that start in the bar or people going places after hours.

I definitely wanna go back. And I'll prepare better next time.
 
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I regularly put on concerts with more microphones than at TAM 9, and I was thinking all along how I would have checked the A/V issues better than what I saw.

TAM 9 was great, but sound reinforcement was below par.
 
I had no idea what to expect from TAM. I'd only met one person that was attending this year (Geek Goddess) so the rest of you yahoos were like animals waiting to kill and eat me in the lobby as far as I was concerned.

I do have to thank Hutch, first and foremost for getting me out there. I know I was supposed to bring the rest of the family with me, and that didn't happen, so, next year I'm going to get someone out there on my dime to repay his generosity. Hutch, you will always be in my cool book, even if you didn't know who I was at the airport. Despite wearing a jersey with POWERS on the back...

Like I mentioned earlier, I had absolutely no idea who any one was. I'm generally shy by nature, and suddenly making 1600 friends seemed like a dauntiing task. Plus, I felt a little out of my element. Here I am, surrounded by people who breed PhDs and authors and whatnot, and there I stick out, a ...car salesman. I felt underwhelmed, a tad out of place, and the phrase "what the F*** am I doing here?" crossed my mind more than a few times. And that all changed when I met Kochanski. I saundered (some would call it a sashay) over to the forum table where she was, introduced myself, and she stood up and gave me a giant hug. I suddenly had this feeling wash over me.

Soon after that, more people showed up. Forgive me if I forget anyone, but Horatious, kitty, hcmom, The Mutha (and Dolly), GG (love) OOB, Faydra, Hokey, Hokey mom, RemieV, zooterkin, Chris, kitten, Eos, saganite, Scrut (yes, even you) El Spectre, and geez, am I forgetting names here, but everyone i met instantly made me feel welcome and kept me busy at all times.

I've decided to go next year just so I can play penny slots with Hokey's mom and her again. Best time I had there was probably all three of us lined up just mashing buttons and pointing to our machines screaming "winning!!". Dinner with Mutha and Dolly was great, raiding with my guild mates was awesome, as well as chugging brews with Horatius. To me it wasn't the event, it was the atmosphere. Given how my life has gone lately, I needed something like this, and suddenly I wasn't some loner from Florida, i was with my friends and family I've known for years that I was meeting for the first time.

"you have exactly one hour to stop doing that."
"meet me by the horse's ass"
"they're probably at the Del Mar"

Phrases I can't stop thinking about even as I stared out of my window at work today, with a phone full of memories. Can't wait til Tamageddon next year.
 
I have had the pleasure (and honor) of attending every TAM, including TAM 5.5 and two of the TAM cruises (to the Bermuda Triangle and to the Galapagos Islands). In many respects TAM 9 was a culmination and composite of the best of prior TAMS. We were missing a few personalities for various reasons (Christopher Hitchens, the Mythbusters, Julia Sweeney, Hal Bidlack and Jeff Wagg), but the repeats we did have (Dawkins, Penn, Tyson, Shermer, Wiseman, Plait, etc.) and the new faces (Nye, Hrab, etc.) made up for the absentees and then some. The "production values" were one level up from prior TAMS. The attendees (over 1,600 and counting) are reaching some kind of "critical mass" number where we will either have to change the structure of TAM or find a venue where larger numbers can be comfortably accommodated. The large numbers represent a somewhat lost opportunity however -- as far as the skeptical "movement" is concerned. For one thing, would not it have been a glorious thing to have had a printed program (and related website) where all those attendees could have been listed by name, email address, area of interest or expertise, etc. In years past, I have been told that such an exchange of personal information would be "intrusive" and an invasion of privacy. My response was then (and is repeated here), so, those who prefer to remain anonymous can simply opt out of any such program directory, and those who would like to be able to network and share their personal information could opt in! I have found that -- just as a fortuitous happenstance -- I would run into some old friend from long ago and far away who I had no idea was interested in skepticism or the JREF. I am sure that among over 1600 attendees there were many lost opportunities to greet old friends. This is particularly sad (I maintain tragic), because we who aspire to a world where critical thinking is universal, and science, reason, skepticism and a devotion to truth and reality, represent a minute percentage of the human population. We must be able to interact in any way opportunity so presents. The TAMs are one such opportunity, and to be kept anonymous due to some stubborn policy position among the TAM organizers is one such tragedy.

Well, I will never give up and will again make the request and suggestion to the JREF powers that be and maybe next year.....
 
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Every TAM I've attended has been a special experience (this was my 7th TAM). Except for not meeting/seeing enough people, I had a blast!!....an outer space blast.....;)
 
feldesq said:
Well, I will never give up and will again make the request and suggestion to the JREF powers that be and maybe next year.....
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Tell them that for me, too.

"The modern composer refuses to die." - Edgar Varese, quoted by Frank Zappa
 
Fun as always but I really missed a lot of regulars. I could probably list a couple dozen people I expected to see but didn't. I blame TAM London. I guess our European friends can't afford to go to both. (Not their fault of course. I sure as hell can't.)
 
TAM 8 and TAM 9 were different and both great to be at. The TAM 8 registration hand-out folder was simple and said to me informal and economical. And that worked just fine with me.

As I ran my fingers around the TAM 9 handout cover, it was a kind of, we reached the big time. We are professionals AND we are a fun, light hearted group. My collage son who I brought to TAM 9 later took the whole handout apart and pined the cover and speakers list to his wall. I've since gone out and found some frames.

Right after TAM 8, and now right after TAM 9 I'm thinking and planning the next TAM. Maybe even an international one if I know early enough.

Being a long time fan of George Hrab, I was really ready for an up beat happy pleasant time there. His video and the SGU efforts at their video really lifted things.

PZ, Neil De Grasse Tyson, Science Guy and the other speakers added some nice spice to the whole mix.....
 
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