• Quick recap of #SkeptOKon

    Yesterday was the first student-run skeptic conference in Oklahoma, possibly the first ever skeptical conference here in Oklahoma. I’ve captured most of the major highlights on Storify:

    1. I’m on my way to Oklahoma City to complain about the Ten Commandments monument, but someone crashed a car into it and broke it to rubble.
    2. I love doing freethought events in my home state. Of course, I’ll drive by 674 churches on my way to the…  http://fb.me/1Nh38C1DB 
    3. Apparently God is attending SkeptOKon. And just like the Christian God he cares where you eat and drink. @professorlack
    4. “By the end of the semester, I will have destroyed everything you hold dear.” — @professorlack #SkeptOKon(He wasn’t being serious, BTW.)
    5. No interfaith persons showed up for the interfaith panel at SkeptOKon? Or are they just moving in mysterious ways?
    6. A Christian and a Jew show up to an interfaith panel at a skeptic convention. . .. . . j/k no they didn’t
    7. Just heard a really interesting talk at #SkeptOKon on effective and ineffective approaches to autism behavioral therapies.
    8. Laptop-droppingly good!
    9. Aron Ra, Dr Farha, @ThinkingAtheist and @D4M10N still coming up at #SkeptOKon To top off the day, I’m next to the @BlueBallSkeptic guys.
    10. Enjoying the #SkeptOKon conference with my oldest daughter. I love how skeptics think!
    11. .@D4M10N, @logicalrobot and Dr. Bryan Farha are up on the stage at #SkeptOKon. Should be a fun panel. http://t.co/dpDRYdFWEV

      .@D4M10N, @LogicalRobot and Dr. Bryan Farha are up on the stage at #SkeptOKon. Should be a fun panel. pic.twitter.com/dpDRYdFWEV
    12. Wooer is actually happy to be speaking with skeptics so that he can learn something instead of speaking to “true believers”! #SkeptOKon
    13. EVP voices are from a disembodied source and are the best evidence for ghosts.-paranormal panelist Jim Pace
      At SkeptOKon
    14. Quantum Physics best evidence 4 paranormal. Dbl slit exp shows obs change outcome.-paranormal panelist Stephen Dillard-CarollSkeptOKon
    15. Bigfoot-Patterson film is best evidence. I don’t believe in Bigfoot. I know it exists.-paranormal panelist Carl HartlineSkeptOKon
    16. Best evidence against psychic ability: no one has passed JREF million dollar challenge.-paranormal panelist Bryan FarhaSkeptOKon
    17. evidence against Bigfoot: we have no physical samples. All purported are misidentified-paranormal panelist Matthew KorstjensSkeptOKon
    18. Evidence against ghosts: mind is matter. But ghosts are immaterial minds.-paranormal panelist Damion Reinhardt @D4M10NSkeptOKon
    19. @BirdTerrifier @LogicalRobot
      Before today, I’d never even considered the possibility of Bigfoot’s ghost. #SkeptOKon

    Our own Caleb Lack played a key role in making this all happen, and my thanks also goes out to the UCO Skeptics for all their volunteer efforts. We all had a great time, and learned all sorts of weird stuff.

    My personal favorite bit was the part about the ghost of Bigfoot leaving traces of electronic voice phenomenon for us to decipher, but more generally I was grateful for the opportunity to engage directly with psychics, paranormalists and cryptid-hunters. It’s fair to say that more skeptical conventions do not provide such opportunities, and I cannot imagine that was easy to pull off.

    Looking forward to next year!

    Category: ConferencesSkepticism

    Article by: Damion Reinhardt

    Former fundie finds freethought fairly fab.