The Amazing Meeting 5, Las Vegas (TAM5)

In late January, I attended "The Amazing Meeting 5", in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Amazing Meeting (or TAM5, for those in the know), was started by James "The Amazing" Randi, a well known magician and skeptic, who has his own charitable organization, the James Randi Educational Foundation, in Florida. Randi is well connected, having been in both the entertainment business and also well known among those of a skeptical mind, so there's always a great lineup, including the following guests (and click on any photo for comments, notes, and larger sizes):

Penn and Teller (and James Randi):


The Mythbusters (two years in a row!)


The creators of Comedy Central's "South Park", Trey Parker and Matt Stone:


From Saturday Night Live and Sex and the City, Julia Sweeney:


Vanity Fair writer (and author) Christopher Hitchens:


Peter Sagal, of National Public Radio (NPR)'s "Wait, wait, don't tell me".


The Skepchick, Rebecca Watson:


The "Bad Astronomer" Phil Plait, of Sonoma State University:


British Psychologist and author (and magician) Richard Wiseman, and yours truly, the Froggy, and tadpole:


National Council of Science Education President Eugenie Scott:


President of the Skeptics Society, and Skeptic Magazine publisher, Michael Shermer:


Overall, I really had a great time. It was the largest skeptics event ever (800 people), but still small enough to meet every speaker personally, and learn a lot. The largest podcasts, Skepticality, and the Skeptics Guide to the universe, were there, as well as CNN, the Las Vegas newspapers and television stations also. There's a lot of smart people in this group, that's for sure. The speakers were definitely hit and miss (who knew the editor of the Onion could be such a boring speaker?), but this event is really "amazing". Don't miss it if you are in Vegas next June (they moved it to the hot Vegas summer so more teachers can attend). Plus, where else do you see t-shirts like this?

Billy Meier, hot babes, UFOs, and the end of the world

Billy Meiers is a well known figure in the world of the true UFO believers. One reason why is that he's been around for a while - his first contact with aliens was in 1942, when he was five years old. Another - big- reason, is that he claims to have actual photographic proof of contact with aliens. As an example, here's a photograph from 1975:



You can see the problem with photos like this - they look exactly like someone hung a hubcap or something similar from a fishing wire, and took a photograph. The photo doesn't even have perspective or movement. It doesn't help that Meier's ex wife said that she saw him fake the photos. Another person took similar photos to show how easy it is to fake such photos:

http://www.iigwest.com/ufopix.html

One of his most controversial photos was of two aliens, Asket and Nera. Meiers showed the following photograph for years, and claimed loudly that it was photographic evidence of two aliens that he had contact with:


Note the caption at the bottom, specifically the "maliciously forced by the MiB" part. Originally, Meier insisted that the photograph was genuine, and another person, sympathetic to him, pointed out that the face was unique, and that no one had come forward claiming to look like that. However, someone found the blonde model, and revealed that they found out who both of the two women were - dancers on the old Dean Martin TV show:



The story then changed again -- Meiers claimed that after he took the photos of the aliens, he didn't have the money to develop the film, and a mysterious government agent - part of the "men in black", he claimed (MiB), offered to take the film and develop it. They then switched the photograph for this photograph, thus fooling even Meiers for years, and making him look like a fool, as well as destroying crucial evidence of aliens.

Coincidence that the aliens were hot 70s babes? Mars needs women, anyone? Sorry, I digress.

Oh, and by the way, he claims that the Earth will end in November 2006. Wait, that's passed. As Wikipedia and his website reports, the world will end "in November of either 2006, 2008, 2010, or 2011... At one time, Meier reported November, 2006 as the most likely start of World War III. This has since been revised to November of 2008. In any case, in November of an upcoming year, four world leaders will die within seven days of one another as a sign that the Third World War has begun. "