Shots from The Battery

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CAUTION: EXTREMELY NERDY POST TO FOLLOW! Reading further may cause involuntary acquisition of useless knowledge. We do not assume responsibility for boredom or trivia related titillation.
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As some of you may know I am taking organic chemistry this year in college, and despite all of the fear mongering from my peers last summer, I’ve really enjoyed it so far! As the course has progressed, we’ve covered several interesting side-topics intended to put chemical concepts into “real world” context for us. Today’s lecture touched on one such topic, and I thought it would be fun to share with all of you. I’ve tried to keep concepts/terminology as simple as possible to allow everyone to understand the basics here, so if you happen to be a REAL chemist, please don’t beat me up too much for the minor inaccuracies in my analogies/artistry. Also anything I referenced that I thought a layperson might not recognize is clarified in ( ). All of that being said…

Have you ever wondered how Rain-X works?

Well, it turns out that the surface of glass is acidic, which for our purposes means that it has little hydroxyl (OH) groups that can lose their hydrogen (H) atoms. The presence of these hydroxyl groups also means that the surface of the glass can hydrogen bond (dashed lines) with water molecules (H-O-H) like so:

That hydrogen bonding is what makes the rain drops “stick” to your windshield! If you are a little rusty on your chemistry, it is probably easiest to imagine hydrogen bonding in terms of magnets. You know from experience with household magnets that opposite ends (N/S, +/-) attract each other, but can still be pulled apart pretty easily. That’s like hydrogen bonding! The hydrogen atoms are the (+) ends in this case, and the lone pairs of electrons (side-by-side dots) on the oxygen (O) atoms are the (-) ends. The attraction between these atoms is strong enough to keep the water droplets attached to your windshield (like opposing magnets), but weak enough that a little force from your wiper blades can easily separate the bonds and send the water droplets flying.

Rain-X prevents this interaction by deprotonating the hydroxyl groups and installing inert methylated silica groups. In other words, the H from the OH of the glass is taken away & replaced with the -Si- group as demonstrated in the picture below:

As you can see from the image, the silica group blocks the glass from binding to the water molecule, and without this bond the water rolls right off of the surface!

So why do you have to reapply Rain-X if the surface of the glass is no longer able to hydrogen bond with water? Over time the surface of the glass is exposed to contaminates from a combination of wind, dirt, rain, etc, and the process is reversed.

Di and I have accepted an invitation to be the guest speakers at the Secular Humanists of the Lowcountry meeting in February at Gage Hall in downtown Charleston.

Topic: Atheism/Agnosticism and new media, with a focus on podcasting and blogging.

This will be our first public event together since we stopped producing the show and returned to academia, so we’re really looking forward to engaging a crowd again.

We’ll try to update the blog with more info as it comes available.

Here are a pair of excellent music videos from the new They Might Be Giants CD/DVD Here Comes Science:

Science is Real

I like the stories
about angels unicorns and elves
now I like the stories
as much as anybody else
but
when I’m seeking knowledge
either simple or abstract
the facts are with science
science is real

Now this is communicating science, people!

I Am a Paleontologist

And we know what our nieces and nephews will be getting from us this holiday season.

And today we add yet another evangelical official to the ever-growing mass of flotsam swirling down the drain of conservative political hypocrisy:

Kristin Maguire, the Chairwoman of the S.C. State Board of Education resigned her post shortly before SC poliblog FITSNews published a piece claiming that Maguire is a “prolific author of hardcore erotic fiction on the Internet.” FITS promised something juicy was on the way last Friday, which is actually when she submitted her resignation to the LuvGov himself. The article also alleges that Maguire engaged in lap dances at bars, public indecency at Jenny Sanford’s desk in the governor’s office, and points to a probable cover-up by Sanford’s staff when they were tipped off earlier this year.

While her resignation letter makes no mention of the alleged salacious details, the upstate evangelical apparently acknowledged to FITS that “she had visited certain websites where such material was posted and reviewed.”

This is probably good news for all public school students in S.C., as the home-schooling mom of four had no business chairing the very board responsible for public education policy to start with. She has been a vocal anti-evolutionist and is a strong supporter of “abstinence only” sex education. When she was elevated to lead the S.C. Board, her appointment was hailed as a victory for social conservatives and cheered on Christian blogs and websites across the Southeast.

Here are samples of the erotic fiction written by “Bridget Keeney,” who is alleged by FITS to be S.C. Board of Education Chairwoman Kristin Maguire:
Continental Cuisine
Lauren’s Masturbatory Musings

and here’s the letter to Board Members:

Dear Board Members,

Many of you know that I have been carrying an ever increasing burden with
regards to my parents’ health. Finally, last week, as I mapped out with my mom and her physician what our lives will look like for the next several months, it became clear that there is no way that I can adequately meet my family’s and parents’ needs while being a conscientious member, let alone Chair, of the State Board of Education. The math simply doesn’t work.

I reluctantly reached the decision to resign from the State Board of Education. I tendered my resignation to the Governor on Friday so he could appoint someone who can fully participate in the important discussions and policy decisions that are in the immediate future of the Board.

It has been an honor to serve with all of you. The combined experience and passion around the Board table is amazing. There is a camaraderie and unity of purpose that has allowed room for respectful disagreement and constructive discussions in which the opinions and wisdom of all members are both sought and heard. I am certain that the students of South Carolina are better for the investment that all of us have made to this end.

While I regret not finishing my term as Chair I am proud of the work that the Board has accomplished this year. I am confident that you all will finish the year strong under Chairman Moore’s leadership with the continued support of the State Department of Education.

I ask for your understanding as my family and I enter this next phase of our journey. One day I hope to again partner with many of you to continue to improve education for our state’s children.

Sincerely,

Kristin Maguire

If only the Governor himself would realize his time to step aside has come too…

We aren’t endorsing Dwight Drake for Governor yet, but we might if he keeps coming with great spots like this.

My trusty DSE701 E-Cigar

Doesn’t the title of this post sound like a fucked-up Harry Potter novel?

I’ve done a lot of pseudonymous posting around the internetz on the wonders of electronic cigarettes, but it just occurred to me that I’ve never mentioned them here on our own blog. Some of you are aware of my struggle with cigarette addiction and the number of times I’ve tried to quit with this method or that. Cold turkey, nicorette, nicoderm, nicofart, various prescription meds… nothing ever worked to keep me off the smoke.

I’ve now been using e-cigarettes for almost nine months, and today marks five months smoke-free thanks to these vapor-producing machines. If you’ve seen these advertised and thought about using one, I’d recommend you read the rest of this post and do a little research before jumping in. Doing so blindly could lead to a costly and unsatisfying experience.

E-cigs, personal vaporizers, digital smokes, smokeless cigarettes, techno-foggers… there are countless names for these devices, but the basic idea for all of them is the same; a small rechargeable battery powers a small atomizer that heats a gel of water, propylene glycol, flavoring, and nicotine. The heat produces an odorless nicotine vapor that one inhales just like “analog” cigarette. An LED on the tip even glows as you inhale. Because there is no combustion, the vapor contains anywhere from 98% to 99.9% fewer carcinogens than cigarettes. The taste is much different than smoke, but the process and sensation are almost the same.

The e-cigarette was invented in China for the 2008 Summer Olympics, as an alternative to smoking in areas where the habit was banned. I first heard of them last fall, when the NY Times profiled a company called NJoy, one of the first large-scale distributors of these devices here in the US. I immediately ordered an NJoy starter kit for $80 and began researching the growing community of electronic smoking as I waited patiently for mine to arrive. The NJoy arrived exactly as advertised, two white rechargeable batteries, one white atomizer, a charger, and a pack of five disposable nicotine cartridges. It is slightly longer than a pen when assembled, and resembles a traditional cigarette in a Hunter Thompson-esque holder.

There is a learning curve for these things, and it took me about a week to learn how to consistently inhale properly for maximum satisfaction. I immediately discovered that the NJoy claim that each nicotine cartridge was the equivalent of a pack of traditional cigarettes was totally bogus, as each cartridge actually lasted about 8-10 cigarettes, maybe less. I’ve since found that this is accurate for most users. Batteries lasted about the equivalent of a pack before needing a recharge. Most atomizers are prone to failure, and most users treat them as disposable part with an average life expectancy of 2-4 weeks. My Njoy atomizer lasted about 3 weeks before it began to act up… and I’ve since learned that even when new, the NJoy e-cigarette pales in comparison to other products on the market for much less.

There are several main styles of e-cigarettes, and almost all on the market today (including NJoy) are produced in just a couple of factories in China. My early favorite was the penstyle, models RN4072 and DES801. All penstyles were interchangeable with my NJoy batteries, and available in a wide range of colors. Atomizers cost between $7-$9, and new batteries around $15. I even have a USB “passthru” that allows me to power the pen by plugging into any USB port. The best part was that prefilled cartidges from these suppliers cost about 50 cents apiece. Whatever you do, do not buy a starter kit for $200+ from a vendor in the mall. There are literally hundreds of online complaints about these types of vendors, and most are just people realizing they paid 3-4 times more than neccessary.

In late December, I also discovered several US companies that sold the flavored liquid in bottles for less than $.50/ml. Johnson Creek Smoke Juice was an early favorite, and until they changed the formula their original Tennessee Cured was perhaps the best e-liquid I ever tasted. I’ve used a number of suppliers since, (PURESMOKER, E-Smokey treats, and GoodProphets, among others) and prefer the ‘tobacco’ flavors like Flue Cured and Ruyan4 in 24mg nicotine. Using the liquid, I refill my own cartridges for a daily cost of less than a QUARTER. (yes, just 25 cents!)

After buying or trying almost every style of techno-fogger out there, I’ve settled on the E-cigar (DSE701, RN4062) as my favorite daily digital smokestick. Hands down, it beats all others in terms of cost, battery life, performance, and consistency. The $45.00 starter kit comes with 2 batteries, an atomizer tube, a battery charger, and a number of prefilled cartridges. I do not use the cartridges in my e-cigars, and prefer to drip about 4-6 drops of e-juice on the atty. 5-6 drops of juice generally lasts 4-6 hours, or the equivalent of about 4 cigarettes. Rechargeable batteries last DAYS before needing to be switched and only cost $3 each. Also, they’re tough. I’ve been exclusively using the same 2 cigars without a problem since February, which might actually be some sort of record for e-cig atomizer lifespan. I haven’t ‘babied’ these at all, as both have been dropped, stepped on and abused repeatedly.

I bought two cigars and a few ounces of juice in February, and they’re still kicking. My next order will be for a lower nicotine juice when I deplete my current supply. I plan to slowly step the level down to zero nicotine over the next few months, and hope to be able to go even vapor-free by New Years. At this point, compared to smoking, I’ve saved over $400, even with all the trial and error I went through.

After 5 months without smoking, I just feel better altogether. No more tightness in my chest, and I don’t even crave analog smoke anymore. I spent about 3 months coughing up the nastiest goo I’ve ever seen.(Reason # 1 for never smoking again) My lung capacity has gotten much better, and I no longer wake up in the early morning hours struggling to breathe. My blood pressure has dropped and I don’t get winded walking up a large flight of stairs. I don’t smell like an ashtray, and I can taste again. Even though I never smoked in the house, even it smells better. Of course, I’ve also gained 10 lbs since my taste and smell returned.

Despite my trial and error experience, electronic alternatives have allowed me to wean myself from traditional cigarettes and I highly recommend them for anyone who wishes to reduce or eliminate cigarette smoking. They’re not 100%safe - especially compared to not smoking - but I think they’re certainly safer than the thousands of chemicals in cigarette smoke.

Stay tuned next time, we plan to profile Clemson organic chemist John W. Huffman and discuss our observations on the wonderful research he has done on the synthesis of analogues and metabolites of our dear old friend, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol. Good stuff, and truly AMAZING work!

FITSNEWS is reporting that Richard Dawkins may be coming to SC to visit the growing number of atheists down here:

Richard Dawkins, the world’s foremost atheist, is coming to the University of South Carolina this October, sources tell FITS.

Dawkins was rumord to have been deciding between either South Carolina or Southern California, but he apparently wants to acknowledge the Palmetto State’s growing atheist population. The visit will reportedly take place on October 12, although no details have been released to the public.

FITS has a decent track record of reliability with their sources - even if they occasionally succumb to bouts of tabloidery.

We’re trying to confirm this through RDF now.

Speaking of our old creationist foes, last night Stephen Colbert dedicated a segment to imprisoned fraudster Kent Hovind and the impending sale of his creationist Dinosaur Adventure Land amusement park to pay the $480,000 in taxes he was convicted of evading:

For those of you who have followed the blog since the podcasting days, you’ll probably remember us laying into his crazy ideas as far back as 2005. It was his creation seminars that bamboozled Di’s sister and our brother-in-law and subsequently drew us into the science vs. creation debate.

Kent is currently being held at Edgefield Federal Pen here in SC, and Di’s sis still visits him occasionally.

UPDATE 8/20/09 9:15 am
We just received the following e-mail from the ministry:

The United States government has given CSE notice that the ministry property (including the homes of three families) must be vacated within 28 days. While we disagree with this decision, we are complying with all the government’s requests.

So, we are relocating the ministry to a new location only one mile away. While news of leaving property that we have served from for over 20 years is devastating; however, despite the circumstances, the future is exciting!

Unsurprisingly, they’re also asking for more $$… $35,000 to be exact. Wonder what happened to the other 40 grand they supposedly raised for that Supreme Court appeal in April?

Di and I are vicariously following PZ Meyers and a crowd of 300 atheists from the Secular Student Alliance as they tour Ken Ham’s Creation “Museum” in Kentucky.

Follow the fun on twitter: #creozerg

Hilarity is already ensuing.

With Diana back up and running 100% since the back surgery in February, we’ve been making an effort to get out of the house and enjoy the outdoors. We’ve gone on long hikes, participated in a couple of archaeological digs, rock-climbed on an interesting geological formation, and plan to purchase a canoe for some Lowcountry outings this fall.

As I mentioned in the last update, we spent a few days digging at the 1700’s ruins of the St. Paul’s Parish Church out at Dixie Plantation with the CoC Archaeology field school back in June. I hope to publish some pics and a more detailed post about that real soon. The site is the subject of at least one dissertation, so I want to make sure we won’t be stepping on anyone’s toes before I post anything in detail.

After having such a great time with the field school dig down here, we began our own little dig on the ruins of an old plantation home on my parents’ property in NE Aiken County during our weeklong summer semester break. Located in a grassed park less than 50′ from my parents’ home, the ruins of the old house are barely visible on the surface, save a few bricks and bits of melted glass poking through on the slightly elevated 25′x40′ mound. There were additional structures on the property, including a probable barn site that produced a myriad of rusty horse shoes, tackle and tools until my father built a greenhouse over it in the early 90’s.

Since my childhood, the mound in the park has always been the most obvious and prolific producer of interesting relics. One of the most exiting is this tinted glass ink well with J&IEM and the date Oct. 31 1865 imprinted on it:

My sister and I discovered it intact in the summer of 1992, poking out of the soil in a flat area between the mound and a very old oak. I’ve since found that it is called the “Turtle” style by most ink bottle collectors, and was made by John Moore in Warren Maine. In his 1865 price catalog, Moore called them “Monitors” after the famous Civil War Naval Ship. These wells are fairly rare today, and one has to wonder how it travelled to Aiken all those years ago. We’ll probably never know that story, but from this excellently preserved piece of molded glass we can assume that someone on the plantation knew how to write.

I’ve been able to tentatively date the long-gone structure to around 1850, based on the type of nails, brick and other artifacts we have found on the site. The latest artifacts date to the early 1930’s, so we probably have a rough range of about 80 years of occupation as a plantation. The site could have been occupied earlier and later, but there isn’t any evidence yet to prove this.

The plantation was located less than 1/2 mile upriver from the small town of Plunkett. Located on the upper South Edisto River basin, Plunkett had a post office and appeared on maps for over 25 years between 1870 and 1895, but ceased to exist sometime between 1895 and 1905. In 1933, we know my parent’s property and a large portion of Plunkett became part of the WW Long 4-H camp tract and the agricultural plantations were replanted with loblolly pines in evenly-spaced rows. Today these trees tower 60’ over the old fields, making it hard to picture the area as farmland. At some point before or after the 4-H club acquired the property, we suspect the home burned. The tract my parents now own, the plantation home site, remained part of the 4-H camp until the construction of Interstate 20 bisected it from the camp and Lake Long the early 1970’s. Shortly after, the newly orphaned land north of I-20 owned by the camp was divided and sold as individual 10-12 acre residential lots. I’ve had some difficulty researching the earliest property records because of the location itself. The plantation was originally located in Edgefield County until the 1871, when it was absorbed into the newly-created Aiken County. Surprisingly, my ancestors, the Vollmers, were one of the first families to settle in the upper S. Edisto Basin, directly neighboring the the Plunketts. Although it is not likely, it’s actually possible that my parents reside on the same plot of land they did. Unfortunately, we may never know the names of the original plantation owner because many Edgefield County property records were lost in the shuffle long ago. Next visit will involve a trip to the Aiken County library (it was closed for the holiday this time), when I hope to finally get a bead on who owned the place before the 4-H camp.

Over three days of our break in early July, Di and I performed a series of carefully chosen test pits and opened a couple of units at the site. We used an 18”x24” sifter with ¼” mesh we built ourselves for under $20. There are several companies that sell them for $50-$70 apiece, but we decided to go the DIY route and were very pleased with the results. Di did a majority of the sifting and thinks the size is perfect for her.

The test pits produced a few pieces of pottery and ceramics, in addition to the very common chunks of melted glass, square wrought nails, and brick fragments. On the surface near one of the tests, I discovered a large piece of alkaline glazed stoneware, likely from a large storage jar commonly produced in the Aiken and Edgefield area during the 19th century. Intact examples of this same style of pottery from Edgefield are very popular collectibles these days, fetching thousands of dollars apiece. Sadly, I was unable to locate any more of it. Either way, it was a promising find.

We located one 3’x3’ unit near the edge of the mound, hoping to uncover remnants of a foundation underneath. Unfortunately, this unit did not reveal a foundation, but it did allow us to nicely identify the different levels of debris on the site and confirmed our suspicions of a massive fire. Below a 2-3″ layer of hardened sandy topsoil, we immediately hit a layer of whole bricks and burned brick rubble, grout, nails, and a few fragments of thin flat glass, probably from a window. Immediately below the rubble was a definite layer of blackened earth, peppered with pieces of charcoal. We continued to dig an additional 4-6” below the fire layer, but no additional artifacts were located below the rubble. There was a definite color change about 2-3” below the charcoal, indicating we had reached the occupational period subsoil.

On the final day, I opened another 3×3 unit in a 10×10 depression adjacent to the mound. We suspect this was a trash pit or possibly a cellar that was filled with debris after the structure was destroyed. As is often the case in archaeology, you seem to find the best stuff when you’re running out of time. The shallow pit unit immediately produced a tantalizing amount of promising artifacts, including glass medicine bottles, unusually large square nails, and shovel after shovel of ceramic and pottery sherds. As the day ended, we covered the floor of the unit with a layer of plastic to mark our progress and filled it back in. I can’t wait to get back into that one when we return this fall.

Despite the short duration, our first three days of digging on this site provided us with hundreds of artifacts to clean and catalogue. Next time, we plan to expand both units we opened and perform a few more tests outside the mound to fill in some additional pieces of our puzzle. Even if we never know who lived there, we will learn more about how they lived and get a clearer glimpse of what life was like on this post-antebellum plantation in the midlands of SC.

We phrase the question that way because it seems that it would be much easier to count the ones who aren’t molesting children around here these days.

Seriously. Are there any of you out there? If so, you seem to be becoming a rare breed.

For the third time in less than 2 weeks, the Post & Courier is reporting that another Lowcountry pastor has been charged in connection with a sex crime involving a child.

And that doesn’t even count another preachin’ perv who was sentenced yesterday. That guy actually had his church flock crowding the Moncks Corner courtroom to support him.

We’re gathering news reports of SC preachers who have been busted for such nastiness in just the past year.. and we’re up to nine.
That’s right. NINE. And that doesn’t include another dozen or so who have been busted for anything ranging from embezzlement to burning down their own churches.

These people are supposed to be our moral leaders?

No, thank you.

Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve been by to check on our website.

Now that we’ve waded through the mountains of spam in our comment moderation box (mostly bots linking to .info sites), I thought it might be nice to make a post to update anyone who is curious as to our whereabouts & might still be subscribed to our blog.

We are both still enrolled in college and are working towards finishing our degrees. Things are progressing nicely, and we’ve managed to maintain the 4.0 GPA’s. We had a lot of fun last semester antagonizing helping our creationist classmates in survey of anthropology… so much that I decided to change my Major to Anthro! Di’s steadfastly plodding along with the biology, too. At the current pace, we should be able to begin graduate studies by fall of 2011.

We’re still managing the sheds, as our boss has been incredibly flexible and understanding enough to allow us to modify business hours to our school schedules. A return to college would have been more difficult if not impossible without his cooperation.

Di had back surgery a few months ago, and they pulled this out of her:

That is part most of the disc from in between her L4 & L5 vertebrae.

The unrecognized herniation had been causing problems for years. She had to have the disc removed because it had herniated completely out, traveled up her spinal column, and wrapped itself around a nerve cord, which caused excruciating pain in her lower back and legs. Any of you that may have met us over the years may have noticed that she had some slight mobility problems, but now they are no more. For the many commenters who responded to the post about her undiagnosable pink spots last year, we now have at least a theory on the cause. The spots appeared within weeks of the onset of intense pain, which was probably the original herniation. We now believe the release of spinal fluid/matter resulted in an inflammatory response that caused the petechia and purpora on her lower extremities. Anyhow, since the surgery she’s fully recovered, the doctor said she has almost no chance of recurrence, and she’s lost 35 lbs in less than 4 months!

We recently spent a few days in the field digging with Kimberly Pyszka, Maureen Hays and the CoC archaeology field school students at the old St. Paul’s Stono Church ruins. I think I’ll probably throw up a separate post about this experience… so much to share.

We’ve also taken an interest in amateur archaeology and fossil hunting. We bought some equipment and have been planning day-trips to some favorite spots, mostly in the Aiken area. SC has an ample amount of places to find historic and prehistoric artifacts and interesting fossil specimens, plus it’s a cheap and healthy outdoor activity. (We aren’t robbing graves, are in full compliance with federal and state laws, dig only on private land with permission, fully document anything we find, and will donate any significant “discoveries” to an appropriate museum for curation. We are not hoarding collectors or seeking any profit… it’s just a fun hobby.)

We also adopted a new member of the NaD canine family. We’ve had little George for a few years:

but now she has a companion named Ringo:

Ringo was a shelter dog that was rescued from an evil puppy mill. We adopted him from Pet Helpers, which is a really awesome group that runs a no-kill shelter down here. If there are any locals reading this who are looking to adopt or contribute to a worthy cause, we highly recommend you talk to them.

We’re planning on attending Dragon*Con again this year because it was so much fun last time. If you are planning on going, and have not yet booked your hotel, I would highly recommend that you do so…NOW! All of the host hotels are completely booked up (unless you want to pay $460 for a suite at the Hilton), but there are still a few rooms left at some of the over-flow hotels.

Other than that, it’s just been the same old same old. Work, class, eat, sleep… repeat.

We almost got ourselves kicked out of bio lecture last night due to uncontrollable snickers when our professor showed this film:

*unless they are passing through on their way to that huge RPG session in the ballroom.

So when Derek and Swoopy started asking us to come to Dragon*Con a few years ago, I hesitated a bit because I really didn’t fully understand why a large group of skeptics belonged at one of the world’s largest Sci-Fi and Fantasy conventions. I mean, with 30,000 people dressed up as dark elves, stormtroopers, captain America, dragons, fairies, and a myriad of other strange and just plain freakish costumes, one would expect that most analytical and skeptical thinkers would stay clear of the masses of them gathering in the capitol of Georgia each year.

After Di and I attended the 22nd annual event over the Labor Day break, I can say that I both understand and support a Skeptic track at Dragon*Con and any other massive sci-fi cons. Derek explained the hitory of the Skeptrack, and it actually makes total sense. In the mid 90’s, the X Track was created to cover all of the X-Files-ish issues such as ufos, telekinesis, ghosties, bigfoot and the like. The Skeptrack was born in response to the X Track, and has grown each year since 2003.

So after the short flight and a bumpy ride on the MARTA from the airport to Peachtree Center on Friday morning, we found ourselves on the 2nd floor of the Atlanta Hilton and in a small conference room with James Randi, Phil Plait, Michael Shermer, Ben Radford, Pamela Gay, George Hrab, Lori Lipman Brown and Richard Saunders among others. Over the next 72 hours, we attended over 15 panels and events with these people and got a chance to talk to each of them, some much more than others. Lori was on the Colbert Report last week, and until recently she was the only lobbyist for secularists in Washington. We thoroughly enjoyed her presentations. Herb Silverman from here in SC is president of the Secular Coalition for America, the organization she directs and promotes.

There was a somewhat subdued Skeptics vs. Believers debate on Saturday, although Di got some great shots of Randi million-dollar-challenging Graham Watson, a Tommy Chong-looking dude who claims his experiments on telekinetic rat healing were statistically successful. Watson declined the offer to verify his findings. There were so many things to do that we found ourselves torn on what to see when the schedules conflicted. And the skeptics had costumes too… we even got touched by the noodly appendages of the FSM herself. (pic below)

We spent the rest of the weekend bouncing from the Science, Podcasting and Electronic Freedom tracks and saw presentations on topics ranging from evolution to the future of podcasting. I’ll put a full list of the actual panel titles and panelists from the events we saw below the fold.

On the podcasting side, we attended a late-night edition of The Cult of UHF LIVE, the Peer awards session, and a couple of miscellaneous panels. Besides Derek and Swoopy, we were so psyched to see some of our old podcast friends. Dave Slusher found us right away, and we laughed that although we live like 45 minutes apart, we only see each other out of state… Cali, NC, and now GA! We finally crossed paths with JC Hutchins Sunday night because we lost his #, but we got a chance to hang for a bit before we left on Monday. Next year, JC, we promise we’ll call you as soon as we’re off the plane. SOCCERGIRL! We love Soccergirl. She just got back from the Galapagos on the Amazing Adventure III, and seeing her at Dragon*Con was possibly the biggest surprise of the weekend. George Hrab is one of the coolest people we have ever met… he exudes just fun.

After the Podcast Peer Award session on Sunday, we ate a bite with Soccergirl, George, Scott Siglar and Richard Saunders and then all of us followed Evo, Plait, and a few others over to a tiny hotel room filled with even more people and, most importantly, a keg of home-brewed beer!

Anyhow, I have a bunch of pics we’re uploading to our flickr account, but here are a few for the blog:
-Di and Michael Shermer, publisher of Skeptic Magazine. Check out his books, we have most of them.

James Randi, magician, skeptic, and founder of James Randi Educational Foundation

Lori Lipman Brown, Director and lobbyist of The Secular Coalition for America.

Bad Astronomer Phil Plait and Di. We love Phil. We really got a bargain when Benjamin Radford missed his panel on Saturday and Phil stepped in for an hour of unstructured conversation with the audience.

Di and the Right Rev. Chumley, host of the Cult of UHF.

James Randi challenges Graham Watson to accept a million bucks. Watson called Randi a fraud at the end of last year’s debate. Watson complains about lack of funding for paranormal research, but will not take 1 million dollars for repeating his telekinetic mouse-healing experiments under scientific conditions.

FSM and Pastafarian Pirate. These two were EVERYWHERE this weekend. All hail the noodly appendages.

Skeptics Panel with James Randi, George Hrab, Jeff Wagg, DJ Grothe, Lori Lipman Brown, Ben Radford and Dr Karen Stollznow.

James Randi was tired, too. Check the cool “orb” floating between DJ and Lori!

Panel list and more info below fold.
Read the rest of this entry →

There have been quite a few cases of cryptid-scammery in the past year or so, and with the announcement of a press conference this afternoon, a couple of of “Bigfoot trackers” from northern Georgia are going to trot out in front of the cameras to prove they have the body of sasquatch in a deep-chest freezer.

Ah, summertime… The season when tabloids and MSM trade places for a few months.
It’s a sad testament that the National Enquirer broke the biggest political scandal of the summer while the MSM are sending hundreds of reporters to things like the Bigfoot press conference. Is this the Twilight Zone?

Documented discovery, sighting, or capture of crypto-zoological or mythical animals are sure to draw ratings, especially during the slow summer months for news media outlets, but not even one of the many groundbreaking “discoveries” have turned out to be conclusively verifiable.

So in the spirit of healthy skepticism, we though we’d recount some of the recent supposed cryptids that have left many gullible people disappointed:

Remember that rotting shark that creatio-gandist Kent Hovind claimed was a plesiosaur a few years ago?

FAIL.

Or the infamous Lizard Man who reportedly chewed on a car bumper here in SC earlier this year? DNA testing revealed that the scaly-monster was actually a dog.
FAIL.

A few weeks ago, that funky-looking ‘hell-demon’ turned decomposed raccoon in Montuak captivated the MSM for several days before the hoax ran its course.
FAIL.

What about the Chupacabra that mysteriously became a rotten coyote last year in Texas?

FAIL.

Or that officer in Texas who claimed he captured the elusive chupacabra running from his cruiser on his dashboard camera last week? That one turned out to be a LIVE coyote.

DOUBLE FAIL.

And now, CNN, FOX, and a pile of ratings-starved news organizations are telling us that a pair of cops from North Georgia have the body of a 7′ 7″ Bigfoot in a freezer.

Let’s just say we’re more than a bit skeptical.

Anyhow, if any of you believe that these people really have a dead bigfoot in their freezer, we’ve got a couple of unicorns and a leprechaun tied up in our storage shed that we’ll sell you.

08/19/08 UPDATE: It was a hoax. The “body” was a just a rubber costume in a freezer, as we suspected.

Within the next hour of thaw, a break appeared up near the feet area. … I observed the foot which looked unnatural, reached in and confirmed it was a rubber foot.”

The Biscardi team immediately went into crisis mode. Biscardi called Whitton and Dyer at their California hotel. They admitted it was a hoax and agreed to sign a promissory note at a meeting set for 8 a.m. Pacific time at the hotel.

But when Biscardi got there, he “found that they had left.”

“At this time action is being instigated against the perpetrators of this fraud…”

This revelation just makes this quote from Biscardi last week rather amusing:
“I want to get to the bottom of it,” Biscardi said. “What I seen, what I touched, what I felt, and what I prodded was not a mask that was sewn on a bear hide, OK?”

So, if Tom Biscardi isn’t a liar and actually saw and touched the body, the fact that he was fooled by a frozen Halloween costume should permanently discredit him and searchingforbigfoot.com.

When Di and I decided to return to college last year, it’d been awhile since either of us last stepped foot in a classroom. When we got married at age 19, the realities of rent, bills, and jobs quickly pulled our attentions from scholastic affairs to those of survival. Quite a few years had passed since our last semester at USC in the spring of 1999, and nearly a decade of aimless gallivanting and misguided adventure separated us from the promising academic futures we once had.

Or so we thought.

Over the past 6-8 months, I’ve discovered that the stability and established routine of our married lifestyle is extremely conducive to good study habits, focus, and overall academic success. Gone are the times of weeknight partying until dusk and late-night end-of-semester cram sessions; replaced by quiet, yet leisurely nights of reading textbooks, researching projects, doing homework, studying, or composing papers. Also gone are the times of fretting about grades; replaced by expectations of high scores. We’ve learned that even with full-time jobs, it is possible to attend college full-time and excel academically. Our bosses have been more than gracious with time off and have allowed us to adjust the office hours to accommodate our class schedules, so we are incredibly grateful for the latitude they’ve allowed us.

On the other hand, being an older student is not all positive. I’ve found that at age 28, our bodies simply cannot handle the nonstop fast-food and frozen-dinner diets the way they once did. A decade ago, we could thoughtlessly fuel ourselves on nothing but ramen, pizza, french fries, and snack food. These days, a week of that crap can cause more problems than I’m willing to detail — or you’re willing to read — here. Fast-food and prepared or frozen dinners are just so quick and easy, and it’s hard to avoid them if you’re constantly on the go or too preoccupied to cook a decent meal. Besides the incredibly poor nutrition from such feasts, those on-the-go meals often leave us feeling groggy or sometimes even more hungry than before. I gained my freshman 15 back when Clinton was still in office, but could easily claim another sophomore 15 over the past few months. Maybe 20.

That must stop.

So this time, we plan to spend the entire week before school starts cooking, canning and freezing enough quickly-preparable meals to last the whole semester. Home-made frozen dinners and canned veggies. Besides saving a ton of money, we’ll get to eat decent food specifically prepared by and for us. No preservatives, low sodium, and no funky additives, fats, or oils. 12 quarts each of yellow squash, green beans, and black-eye peas from the farmers market. Slow-cooked roast beef, baked chicken, meat loaf, and Salisbury steak. We even plan to make a bunch of pre-plated meals. Freezer to the microwave and ready to eat in 5 or 6 minutes - faster than a trip through the drive-thru at McDonald’s and not saturated with crap!

Anyhow, we’re getting together a monstrous grocery list, and I’ll try to remember to update everyone on the success or failure of our home-cooked semester experiment. So stay tuned, we’ll have another weigh-in in December.

I just had one of my finest moments of personal stupidity, so I thought I’d share — if only as a warning to the rest of our friends who share my household maintenance deficiencies.

About six months ago, Di asked me to install a deadbolt on the front door, and I finally got around to the job yesterday. I’ll admit I procrastinated, mainly because I knew I’d screw something up in the process of the installation. Change the lock??? fine… but if you want the deadbolt, it could get messy. She already knows that power tools and Nate have never gotten along well.

I imagined almost every scenario of DIY dumbfuckery possible, most ending in something like:
“No, honey, those extra holes and gaping openings around the lock were in the illustrations on the instructions” or, “How much is that insurance deductible again?”

Anyhow, I went to Lowe’s yesterday afternoon and picked out a properly-suited lock and deadbolt and an installation kit for the drill. I was actually feeling pretty confident by the time I got home. After about 10 minutes of close scrutiny of the instructions, I plugged in the drill with the 2 1/4″ hole saw bit and used the plastic jig that came with the drill kit to line up the hole. Easy-peasy. I pressed the trigger on the drill, and pressed it against the door.

As the drill passed through the wood, it struggled a bit, and I noticed the lamp beside me dimming and brightening. I finished drilling the large hole in the door and quickly moved on to the smaller hole in the door frame for the bolt. After about twenty minutes, I realized that I had completed the dreaded project without losing any fingers or permanently defacing the door.

Sadly, if that was the end of the story, I wouldn’t be sharing it.

5 minutes later, I discovered that I had basically BRICKED a perfectly functional PC.

As I was cleaning up, I noticed the fairly-new media center PC in our entertainment system was emitting an unusually audible fan noise, and It sounded like all of them were going full-blast. At first I thought that perhaps it had restarted or the vibration had awakened it, but it just kept whirring away. I turned on the TV, and sure enough, the screen was displaying the dreaded “No Video Source” message. SHIT.

Despite being on a surge protector, the power flux I created with the straining drill must have fried the motherboard or processor. I’d stupidly created a series of brown-outs and didn’t even consider the fact that the entertainment center was on the same circuit!

The unit turns on, the power lights glow and the fans start spinning madly, but that is all we get.
No display, no POST bios beeps… nothing. I killed a $1000 computer to install a $50 lock.

And that, folks, is why we unplug expensive electronics when using power tools.

The door, however, now locks gloriously.

As you may have noticed, we’ve been a little too busy with the holiday & midterm tests to keep pace with our regular updates, but this little gem from my email box demanded a posting.

You can read more about the outing of our state and the “so gay” tourism campaign here, here, or here.

We somehow managed to spend our entire stimulus rebate without spending a dime on pornography… which is a damn shame. What were we thinking??? Our silly oversight was a total waste of our governmental freesources.

Honestly, though, we were probably too busy making our own porn with the uber-fun sex swing that GW bought for us in May.

Do not fret, though. The industry is doing well even without our patronage, looks like the rest of you perverts were making up for our porno purchasing slackitude:

An independent market-research firm, AIMRCo (Adult Internet Market Research Company), has discovered that many websites focused on adult or erotic material have experienced an upswing in sales in the recent weeks since checks have appeared in millions of Americans’ mailboxes across the country.

To apologize for our transgression, we’re budgeting in at least 10% exclusively for porn the next time we get all economically stimulated by Uncle Sam.

Praise Pasta! We can prostelitize Pastafarian prophecy with our plastic now. While we wish his blessed interest rate was a little less Almighty, Our Saucy Lord will soon make His noodly presence known to all who swipe him:

Sample of our Cap-One card-lab Mastercard.

R-Amen.

Breathe!

Summer semester is chugging right along, and as of yesterday, we’re half-way there. Our healthy competition with the GPA’s will have to continue after the holiday — we’re still rocking a pair of 4.0’s with nary a fuxup between us yet.

We’ve a short break this week, and we’re headed away from the annual glut of tourists clogging the roads down here. Last Summer, the 4th of July weekend was nothing but gridlock. Even getting over to the damn grocery store 3 blocks away was a nightmare… not very holiday-ish, if you ask us. So, we’re gonna celebrate our freedom someplace where we can actually move freely.

When we return next week, it’s back to the grind-stone for another 40 days or so, and then the fall semester begins. I have a feeling this next year is going to fly by.

Anyhow, we’ll have the laptops and wireless access, so we’ll try to throw up some posts from our mini-vacation.

Little more than a year after his death, one of my grandfather’s famous custom knives has been recognized by Field and Stream as one of the best 20 knives ever made:

# 14. George Herron Model 6 Drop Point
George Herron began in the early 1960s as a Randall imitator, changed over to Loveless-style knives, and eventually developed a style of his own - which is imitated by everyone. What Herron brought to the game besides practicality was immaculate workmanship and a matchless eye for lines. The Model 6 is Herron’s version of the drop-point hunter. You can see the Loveless influence, but the Model 6 is slimmer and far more graceful. While the quality of Loveless’s work has varied, there’s never been a Herron knife that wasn’t perfect.

My model 6 and leather sheath are serial-numbered 1998, and were a surprise graduation gift. While the 6 is probably his most famous style, I’m partial to the “Little Dude” model, mainly because he named it after me shortly after my birth in 1980. It’s true that he was a perfectionist, too. Even after a 6-pack of Coors, his hands were more steady than mine will ever be. I thought he was a human machine as a boy.

The man did not like dogs, though… especially strays. Those who followed the podcast may remember the story of Di’s horrific first Thanksgiving at his house.

Gramp’s been on several F&S covers since the 70’s, and his knives are selling on eBay for thousands apiece these days. As a teen, he once told me that the collectors had more money than sense, and after seeing the prices skyrocket in recent years, I think he was probably right.

Anyhow, I’m sure he would’ve snorted loudly and chuckled at this article.

But on the bright side:

At least we’re rapidly nearing the end of this nightmare.

Damn. That’s a lot of D’s — and who knew Darwin even had relatives here in SC?

The Post and Courier is reporting that Charles Darwin’s kin are soon to be amongst us. The family is apparently holding a big reunion here in Charleston this weekend, and one of CD’s distant relatives (also named Charles) actually lives in Gaffney. Our Chuck D, who used to run a roller rink and restaurant here in town, told Brian Hicks that evolution probably won’t be discussed much when all of the relatives get together. SC CD also claims he’s a creationist and evolutionist. That’s interesting that he’s resolved the two, we think more Christians should. It’s similar to biologist Ken Miller’s perspective, and certainly less obtuse than the anti-science biblical literalism faction.

Either way, we’d love to be flies on the wall when they gather en masse.

At a time when the Bush administration and all of their buddies are running around saber-rattling about dropping new oil wells, this little car could be the coolest thing we’ve ever seen. It can maintain a speed of 50 mph for 1 hour on just 1 liter of WATER! The inventors claim it can also be fueled with tea, rain, or saltwater:

We realize the technology is a few years from being seen on the street, but it’s a major step in the right direction. It’s also sad that more innovation like this isn’t being fostered and unveiled here in the US. Instead, the Bush administration and energy lobbyists are pushing to allow more domestic drilling. We heard a guest on Dan Abram’s show appropriately compare that to “searching through our couches for loose change because the mortgage is 6 moths past-due.” Instead of embracing new technology or actual ways to reduce fossil fuel consumption, they are pushing for more of the same — more oil, more prospecting opportunities for their allies, more no-bid contracts to Exxon and Shell to run oil operations in Iraq — it should be criminal. We suppose it’s also to be expected when the energy industry is allowed to write our Nation’s energy policy.

And last week, McCain flip-flopped on offshore drilling. He obviously wants more of the same, too… thankfully, the $4/gal gas we’ve seen under the Republican energy policy is going to kill his already dismal chances of winning the election this fall.

When history is written, we’re increasingly hopeful that BushCheneyCo’s collusion with big oil is gonna make teapot dome look like a big ol’ tea party.

But by then, we’ll probably be using our tea in the water-car!