Eugenie Scott, of the National Center for Science Education, gave a presentation on the scientific invalidity of Intelligent Design at Dragon*Con.

For four days spanning the Labor Day weekend this year, I was in Atlanta attending Dragon*Con, described as “the largest multi-media, popular culture convention focusing on science fiction and fantasy, gaming, comics, literature, art, music, and film in the US”.  The convention is huge, filling four high rise hotels with over 35,000 attendees.  The schedules are packed with celebrities, writers, artists, vendors, contests, gaming, charity events, and a parade through the streets of Atlanta.  Dragon*Con also has over 30 special interest “tracks”, which are conventions within the convention.

One might wonder what Dragon*Con has to do with Freethought.  In 2008, the Skeptrack was launched at Dragon*Con.  It grew out of the established Science and Space tracks as a new track focused on skepticism and rational thought.  The first year of Skeptrack was well attended, so it returned again in 2009 with double the meeting space. It was my primary reason for going to Dragon*Con this year, and I spent the majority of my time attending the Skeptrack presentations.

Skeptrack is similar to the annual skeptics conference, “The Amazing Meeting” (TAM), held in Las Vegas.  Although Skeptrack is sometimes referred to as “mini-TAM”, it is actually longer than TAM with over 30 hours of events.  A wide variety of topics covered parenting, atheism, medicine, brain science, paranormal investigations, women’s issues, blogging, podcasting, and “feeding the skeptic’s soul”.  The non-stop party atmosphere of Dragon*Con keeps Skeptrack from getting too serious.  Older children are welcome and can find plenty to keep them occupied.  Skeptrack also provides a great opportunity for outreach since anyone at Dragon*Con is free to wander into Skeptrack.  Even though the convention focuses on fantasy and escapism, many of the attendees are interesting in learning about the facts behind the fiction, a mindset that fits well with Skeptrack.

Skeptrack had notable speakers in the rational thought community including Eugenie Scott (National Center for Science Education), Phil Plait (Bad Astronomy blog and president of JREF), Joe Nickell (Committee for Skeptical Inquiry), D.J. Grothe (Center for Inquiry), Ed Buckner (American Atheists), Seth Shostak (SETI Institute), and many others.  There was a special video message from James Randi, who could not attend in person this year because of medical issues. Comedy and music were provided by George Hrab, who visited the Dallas area less than a year ago.  Podcasters recorded live shows from Skeptrack, such as “Skepticality,” “Skeptics Guide to the Universe,” “American Freethought,” “Amateur Scientist,” “Skeptoid,” and “The Skeptic Zone” from Australia.  Those podcast episodes are now available online.

Planning for Dragon*Con and Skeptrack has started for Sept 3-6 2010. Discount memberships to the convention are already available and many hotels are taking reservations.  More information can be found at dragoncon.org and skeptrack.org.  If you are interested in attending next year, plan early since the hotels fill up fast.

The Dragon*Con attendees provide a wide variety of costumes from the realms of fantasy, science fiction, and popular culture. Also in attendance: the Ghostbusters, Predators, Aliens, Doctor Who, and the entire cast of characters from Star Wars.

UPDATE (8/20/09):

[John Hendricks and Martina K were interviewed by CBS 11 reporter J.D. Miles regarding Gail's murder investigation. If you have any information regarding Gail's death, please contact the Dallas Police Department immediately. -ZM]

July 22-23, 2009 marks the fourth anniversary of a deeply tragic event: the murder of our fellow member, Gail Delay. Gail is still dearly missed by her many friends at the North Texas Church of Freethought, the SPCA, the Dallas Zoo, and Scarborough Faire. Parts of our lives were stolen when Gail was taken from us.

Gail's vitality and humor enriched the lives of those that knew her. Gail's many talents expressed through NTCOF presentations and music brought zest and enjoyment to those that attended. Her contributions live on.  A video of one of Gail's presentations was the perfect center piece for the Freethought and Grief segment of the January 2009 service.

To learn more about the many remarkable facets of Gail Delay's life please visit the site www.delaythis.com (maintained by Martina K) and the Gail Delay page at our site. You can leave your thoughts and feelings about Gail on the our deLay'd reactions page of delaythis.com and see the comments from others.

Gail's tragic murder remains unsolved with no recent progress in the investigation. If you have any information that could help the investigation, please contact detective This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it with the Dallas Police Department at 214-671-3661.

As freethinkers, we do not look to an afterlife to continue our relationship with Gail, but we can take comfort and solace in the happy memories that remain of Gail’s journey with us in this fragile and precious life that we all share. We’ll also give Gail the last word:

About our own death and our own life, leave your mark, tell your stories, raise a little hell, but not too much so that your organs be donated, and then if we do, we will have that life well lived and right now when we are still alive, we will be in a better place.    -- Gail Delay

Last weekend I went to James Randi's "Amazing Meeting" at the South Point Hotel in Las Vegas.  There I listened to presentations from magicians, scientists and investigators of alleged paranormal phenomena.  But aside from asking why there would be a meeting in Las Vegas in the middle of summer, one might wonder why a magician would be interested in science and the paranormal.  There are actually two answers, one obvious and one subtle.

First the obvious:  James Randi noticed early on that many people claiming to have paranormal abilities (e.g. bending spoons or talking to the dead) were actually just doing simple parlor tricks and claiming them to be real.  He was appalled at how they often were believed and has dedicated his life to show the public what these frauds are really doing.  He has created such a reputation for himself that most of those charlatans now as a rule avoid Randi or anyone associated with him.

The second reason has to do with the fundamental nature of human psychology.  Our minds are constantly biased to make assumptions and look for patterns that give meaning to the world around us.  Magic deliberately uses this tendency to create incorrect assumptions in our minds through sleight-of-hand and diversion.  Magic shows how biased are minds really are, not just in being fooled by others, but also in fooling ourselves.

Ultimately, the best defense against this is the scientific method.  Its strict adherence to critical thinking and emphasis on peer review and replication seems to be the best way we have to understand our world.  And so James Randi's organization has a standing offer of 1 million dollars to anyone who can demonstrate their paranormal abilities under scientific conditions.  And at the end of the conference, they did actually test a woman who claimed to be able to use a crystal to find a specified playing card in a sealed envelope under scientific conditions.  Unfortunately for her, she did not succeed.  But this is not a unique occurrence, as no one has yet come forward who has demonstrated the necessary paranormal abilities to earn the prize.