Stan’s Obligatory Blog

12/30/2006

Skeptics lunch

Filed under: — stan @ 6:03 pm

Back when I first got on the Internet in 1991, it was a different place than it is today. It was pretty much all text-based, and mailing lists were a big deal. I got hold of the master list of mailing lists and I was looking through it to see what looked interesting. Along the way, I saw a list called Skeptic, which was about discussion and debunking of the paranormal. I think that sort of thing is a grand old time, so I signed up. And I’ve been on that list ever since.

There’s not always all that much on-topic discussion there, but it’s still a good time for socializing. So when Wade from Boston said he was going to be visiting Los Angeles for the holidays this year, the local listmembers made a point to arrange a gathering.

There were seven of us there today. It was a fun time, with stories about traveling to strange parts of the world, looking at some of Dave’s photos, and of course Magic Dave pulling out his cards and doing tricks. One of the tricks even involved a deck of ESP test cards. We all know there’s no such thing as ESP, but it was still a good trick.

Overall, it was a fun time.

In the pictures:
1. Dave and his cards.
2. Scott W.
3. Dave doing his mindreader trick: “Your card is named Phil”
4. “Feeling the vibrations”
5. ESP test cards
6. Dave and Wade doing the card and yarn trick
7. Dave’s card finale
8. Scott W., GJ, Ben, Scott P., Stan,Dave, Wade

WTF?

Filed under: — stan @ 4:56 pm

…or why you should not automatically follow directions from Google Maps.

I was going down to Huntington Beach today to meet my friends from the Skeptics mailing list, so I asked Google how to get there. I mostly wanted to know how far it was. I used to live around there, so I pretty much knew how to get off the freeway to get on Beach Blvd.

When I saw the directions, there was a funny bit at the end, so I zoomed the map in to see. WTF? How and why is that more direct than just taking the ramp down to Center Ave, taking a left and then right on Beach? WTF?

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