So, tell me again why I’m going to Minnesota?

Well, drat.
You know, there’s a reason why I moved out of the Midwest. And no, it’s not so I would miss the snow and cold even more when I returned. Oh well. All these times I’ve watched PZ tweet about getting stuck driving in blizzards… it’s only appropriate that I get to experience it myself. At least this was a good reminder that yes, I should actually pack a winter coat, and gloves, and a scarf, and layers…

…I’m still banking on a group from Hawaii inviting me for next spring break. Anyone down there listening?

Upcoming Minnesota speaking schedule

If you’re near Minnesota, make sure to check my talk God’s Lady Problem: Breaking up with abusive supernatural beings next week!

Tuesday, 3/22
St. Cloud, MN
7:00pm in Atwood, Cascade Room

720 Fourth Ave South
Host: Secular Student Alliance at St. Cloud State University
Facebook event

Wednesday, 3/23
Morris, MN
Host: UM Morris Freethinkers
Part of Pride Week programming, woo!
6:30pm in HFA 6

Thursday, 3/24
Minneapolis, MN
7pm in Murphy Hall 130
206 Church Street SE
Host: Campus Atheists, Skeptics and Humanists (CASH) at UM
Facebook event

Unofficial pub nights will likely follow (at least Thursday for sure). Nothing is set in stone, but I’ll let people at the event know and I’ll tweet where we’re going.

I hope PZ’s ready for our slumber party. I’m sooooo excited to paint each other’s nails while plotting atheist world domination.

Haha, I’m just kidding. Like I paint my nails, pfft.

Godless Seattlites – want to learn more about Christian apologetics?

Bob Seidensticker will be speaking at the Seattle Atheists meeting tomorrow about common Christian apologetics. He’ll be examining common arguments so we can learn their strengths and weaknesses, and be better prepared to respond in the future. It starts at 1pm and is at 2100 24th Ave. S. in Seattle, WA.

I’ve met Bob a couple times now, and he’s wonderfully eloquent – I highly recommend his talk to anyone who has the time to go. I’ll be there for sure!

Off my ASS for …myself – Week 11

Aka, the week of Fail.

Starting weight: 186.4 lbs
Last week’s weight: 169.4 lbs
Current weight: 170.8
Weight loss this week: -1.4 lbs
Total weight loss: 15.6 lbs

Oops.

Yeah, it wasn’t a good week for weight loss. I ate out and drank way too much – and while I thought I was staying under my calorie restrictions, it’s very easy to underestimate restaurant foods. Not to mention I’ve been waking up at 11am every day – woo vacation. I’m sure if I was weighing myself at 8am like usual, I’d be a little bit lower.

Oh well.

The extra fail was that I told myself I’d try out the gym now that I’m on break…and I totally spent the whole time playing Pokemon instead. And next week I’ll be speaking in Minnesota, which means eating a lot of food while traveling.

Dooooooooomed!

And I so wanted to be in the mid 160s for the AHA conference… Well, I have 3 weeks. Maybe I can still do it!

Homeopathy in Pokemon?!

Super Potions: Heals 50 HP, costs 700 PokeDollars
Fresh Water: Heals 50 HP, costs 200 PokeDollars

Why…Super Potions are just fresh water that have been marked up because of the fancy label! I’m sure if you read the fine print there’s something about “parts per million” or “Not approved by the PokeFood and Drug Administration.”

Where are all the skeptics in the Pokemon universe to out this scam? Maybe they’re too busy fighting off swarms of Woobats.
…Don’t worry, I’m about the beat the Elite Four, so Pokemon talk will die down soon.

(Via reddit)

I fully intended to speak at Rock Beyond Belief

Duh, right? You’d think that would be obvious because I had it listed on my speaking schedule, blogged about it four different times, and even turned down other speaking events that conflicted with it.

But Fort Bragg doesn’t believe me, or any of the speakers. They’re telling reporters it’s okay that they refused to fund the event, because no one really intended to come. No one filed a “Statement of Intent” – a document that wasn’t required of the evangelical Christian Rock the Fort event, nor was it ever mentioned to organizer Justin Griffith until after the fact.

Richard Dawkins and other speakers have now openly given their “Statement of Intent,” so consider this mine. I was one of the first speakers approached to participate in Rock Beyond Belief, along with Hemant Mehta. I agreed wholeheartedly, because the separation of church and state is supremely important to me, and I wanted to help respond to that evangelical festival in any way I could. As I saw more and more speakers and performers added to the schedule, my excitement grew. I couldn’t wait for April 2nd! I was doing this without honorarium even though grad students aren’t exactly made of money, and I would miss at least a day of work for travel.

I fully intended to speak. But now I can’t, because Fort Bragg is apparently run by a bunch of hypocrites.

If you want to respond to the shameful action Fort Bragg is taking, at least sign the petition here. That link also lists contact information if you want to express your outrage, and specific instructions for what you can do if you’re part of the military and don’t want to face potential consequences.

Take the Blag Hag 2011 Census!

It’s that time of the year again: Time for you guys to give me data so I can drool over correlations and make pretty graphs! Yes, it’s time for the Blag Hag 2011 census!

The survey is only 13 questions, so it shouldn’t take very long. And if you fill it out, I’ll be able to better understand what my readership looks like, what they enjoy about my blog, and how that changes over time. I’m really curious to see if we find any interesting correlations, or how things have changed since last year’s census.

Fill out the Blag Hag 2011 census here!

Last year 467 people took the survey, so hopefully we can crush that number. I’ll leave it up for a couple of days so enough people have the chance to take it. Though knowing last year, I’ll get antsy and want to crunch some numbers, so take it sooner rather than later!

And as a disclaimer, I promise I’m not selling this information to anyone or using it to stalk you. At most, you’ll be part of a pretty graph or some interesting comments will be posted here anonymously.

Now, go take it!

Happy Saint Patricks Day!

Technically the McCreights (rhymes with “right”) are Scotch-Irish, but feel free to send kisses and green beer my way anyway. …Even though I’m actually more Greek than I am Irish or Scottish. Whatever, let me embrace my Irish-sounding surname!

Anyone celebrating today?

I’m going to Vegas, baby

…because I’ll be speaking at The Amaz!ng Meeting 9!

I’ve been dying to announce this since I found out, since it’s an honor to be invited to speak at such a large and truly amazing skeptical event. And it’s even more of an honor now that the speaker’s list has been announced, and I see what awesome people I’m listed with (and I made it in before the “And many more” cut!):

Elyse Anders
Greta Christina
Rachel Dunlop
Pamela Gay
DJ Grothe
Harriet Hall
Jennifer Michael Hecht
PZ Myers
Steve Novella
Bill Nye
Jennifer Ouellette
Penn & Teller
Phil Plait
James Randi
Adam Savage
Eugenie Scott
Michael Shermer
Karen Stollznow
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Rebecca Watson

…Just to name a few. Go check out the whole list here. The weird thing about my life is that I’ve actually met or even befriended most of that list already – I’m mostly excited because I know it means it’ll be an excellent conference. …Well, and I’m still flailing about meeting Neil deGrasse Tyson and Bill Nye. BILL NYE! *swoon*

Oh, and I should add that 24 out of 49 speakers are women. Way to go, TAM! See, who says these amazing skeptical women don’t exist? And no, I’m not just going to be speaking on the panel on diversity (though it’s great they’re having that discussion). Isn’t that awesome?! EDIT: Sadie Crabtree, Communications Director of the JREF, just informed me that the women actually outnumber the men as solo presenters this year. I think that’s a first for a skeptical conference! Go TAM9!

TAM9 Goal: Get Phil in the hot tub again, along with as many other speakers as possible.

I hope I’ll see you there this summer!

I'm going to Vegas, baby

…because I’ll be speaking at The Amaz!ng Meeting 9!

I’ve been dying to announce this since I found out, since it’s an honor to be invited to speak at such a large and truly amazing skeptical event. And it’s even more of an honor now that the speaker’s list has been announced, and I see what awesome people I’m listed with (and I made it in before the “And many more” cut!):

Elyse Anders
Greta Christina
Rachel Dunlop
Pamela Gay
DJ Grothe
Harriet Hall
Jennifer Michael Hecht
PZ Myers
Steve Novella
Bill Nye
Jennifer Ouellette
Penn & Teller
Phil Plait
James Randi
Adam Savage
Eugenie Scott
Michael Shermer
Karen Stollznow
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Rebecca Watson

…Just to name a few. Go check out the whole list here. The weird thing about my life is that I’ve actually met or even befriended most of that list already – I’m mostly excited because I know it means it’ll be an excellent conference. …Well, and I’m still flailing about meeting Neil deGrasse Tyson and Bill Nye. BILL NYE! *swoon*

Oh, and I should add that 24 out of 49 speakers are women. Way to go, TAM! See, who says these amazing skeptical women don’t exist? And no, I’m not just going to be speaking on the panel on diversity (though it’s great they’re having that discussion). Isn’t that awesome?! EDIT: Sadie Crabtree, Communications Director of the JREF, just informed me that the women actually outnumber the men as solo presenters this year. I think that’s a first for a skeptical conference! Go TAM9!

TAM9 Goal: Get Phil in the hot tub again, along with as many other speakers as possible.

I hope I’ll see you there this summer!