Not the same "Them" but still pretty awesome.

There was a lot of food and lively discussion at our last book club meeting, where we discussed Jon Ronson’s Them: Adventures with Extremists. This book was a thriller/comedy/nonfiction and definitely a fun read. When I first heard about the book, I thought it would be an interesting perspective on conspiracy theorists,  but Ronson also writes about how some of the conspiracies are based on factual groups/events (although what may appear harmless to most people is obviously the opposite to the conspiracy nuts).

Every group of people have their own version of “people (mostly men) meeting in a secret room to decide the fate of the world”. Change that to lizards and you have David Icke.

One thing I really enjoyed about the book was how Ronson set out to portray his subjects as normal, just with a slightly crazy twist. The result is a comedy where you aren’t really sure if the conspiracy theorist knows s/he’s joking. The subjects written about in this book include: Omar, the Muslim extremist who named his daughter “The Black Flag of Islam”; Randy Weaver and the Ruby Ridge Incident; Thom Robb, rebrander of a kinder, gentler KKK; and the Bohemian Grove group, a collection of rich/influential men who enjoy reliving their frat days with faux-Pagan ceremonies.

The Bilderberg Group is brought up many times in the book, as most conspiracy theorists believe that They are the secret world-controlling group. At the first couple mentions, I was skeptical that the group existed, but upon further reading (and Wikipedia’ing), it is revealed that the Bilderberg Group is real and does in fact include a lot of world leaders/rich people/up-and-comers. Allegedly the group sent someone to tail and intimidate Ronson and his contact, and later on Ronson actually interviews a Bilderberger who says that the group enjoys the conspiracy theories (because it makes them feel cool). The group (which has invited people like Margaret Thatcher and Ben Bernanke) has an annual meeting where they get together and discuss current issues and network with other like-walleted people. They don’t control the world exactly, but there is at least one example cited where one person’s speech about a certain topic changed the mind of a lot of influential world leaders and perhaps affected history.

The Bilderberg Group is in direct contrast to the Bohemian Grovers, which also meet up annually. However, their parties include lots of cross-dressing (with a common thread of misogyny), the Cremation of Care (where an owl effigy is burned), and all the peeing-on-trees that one weekend can hold.

This is a good coffee-shop read: short, intriguing, and the kind of book you can lose yourself in for a few hours in the afternoon over a cup of something hot and sweet.

Our next meeting is Saturday, October 2nd at 3pm, and the location is TBD (although if we have one more nice weekend we will probably meet at Harvard Yard). We are reading Who Goes First? The Story of Self-Experimentation in Medicine by Lawrence K. Altman. The picnic was a big success and we plan on doing that again, and if you have any opinions on that please leave that in the comments.

And for anyone who wants to get a head start on the next book on the list, in honor of October I have picked: World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks (they mention this book enough on SGU and they have an interview with the author, plus it’s science-fiction, so that should hopefully be enough justification for the BSBC). If you have any more book suggestions, please leave them in the comments. See you next time!

Just a quick reminder that the Boston Skeptics’ Book Club is meeting up this Saturday at 3 pm to discuss Them: Adventures with Extremists by Jon Ronson. There’s been a slight change of venue and we’re going to be in Harvard Yard this time, and here is a map of where we’ll be, with a giant green pepper marking our meeting spot (click to enlarge):

(Yes, that’s a giant green pepper, it was the coolest brush I could find in my open-source photo editing software, plus it’s totally appropriate since we’re having a picnic this time.)

In case you can’t make it out, it’s across from the Tanner Fountain (looks like a bunch of mist rising up from a circle of rocks) between the Harvard Science Center and the Sanders Theatre. There’s a little grove of trees (seen in the background here) and we’ll set up there with our books and our food. Bring whatever food you want–I’ll be bringing some plates, utensils, cups, and probably a fruit of some sort but everything is welcome as long as you bring yourself! We get at least one newcomer per meeting, so don’t be shy. The weather should be beautiful, and who wouldn’t want to hang out with a bunch of nerds skeptics on a Saturday afternoon anyway? Look, I even made it a Facebook event this time so you can RSVP!

Media Bonus: Here is the link of Jon Ronson at one of our Pub events. He starts talking about his extremist adventures at 5:54 and shows a video of the Cremation of Care at 17:00. Enjoy!

This month, we will be watching and mocking El Chupacabra. Jeff Wagg of the James Randi Educational Foundation will be providing commentary, and you will get the chance to join in! We will be inviting audience members to come on stage and take a turn poking fun at this horrifically bad (so I’m told) movie. This will be a fun one–don’t miss it!

If you are interested in having a turn with the mic, please leave a comment so we can get an idea of numbers ahead of time! Don’t worry, Jeff will be there to help you:)

When: Monday, August 30th at 7:00pm

Where: Tommy Doyles, Harvard Square (upstairs)

Don’t forget to RSVP if you are on Facebook!

Hey guys, come join us for this month’s brunch! We had great attendance last time, but let’s do even better this time! The Living Room has delicious food and an impressive list of mimosas (as well as some bloody Mary varieties) so you should definitely be there. See you at 11 am on Sunday, August 22nd (101 Atlantic Avenue in the North End).

If you are on Facebook, don’t forget to RSVP on our event page!

The Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation (ocrf.org) is in the midst of it’s largest fundraising season. And one of it’s new contributors is Power Balance. If you attended Travis Roy’s talk last week or watched the video, you’ll recall that he discussed their rubber bracelets, claimed to use ‘frequencies’ to enhance your strength, balance and whatever else, and demonstrated how their product is nothing but smoke and mirrors… And a rubber bracelet. Or you may have seen Richard Saunders on Australia’s ‘Today Tonight’ demonstrating how in, a simple blinded test, the Power Balance demonstrator couldn’t tell who had the product and who didn’t when it was hidden from his sight. In other words, he was the one causing the effect, not the bracelet, by putting different leverage on the subject depending on whether they had the product on their person or not. When he didn’t know if they did or not, the effect was absent.

I bring this up because Power Balance has just announced that it is throwing it’s pseudo-scientific product’s support behind the actual science of cancer research. As thoughtful as that might sound, don’t assume for a moment that they’ve become a philanthropic organization. It’s still sell sell sell.

They’re having a celebrity poker tourney to promote Power Balance…and the OCRF will get some donations out of it in the end. *barf*

Well, I say you can make a better, more selfless, donation. Give the money you won’t waste on Power Balance’s worthless product (well, unless you just like expensive rubber bracelets) directly to the OCRF or any other worthwhile science-based research fund. Or just make it clear that you see through their crocodile sales tears by tweeting your support for research money that’s not predicated on people having to be scammed out of their money first.

You can donate to the OCRF here: ocrf.org
You can donate to the American Cancer Society here: cancer.org

And if you’d like to make sure Power Balance and OCRF know you’ve cut out the middle scam… Err… I mean middle man… Tweet about it. Who knows… Enough tweets and we could start a trending topic.

Tweet this: (link will take you to Twitter)
I just donated the money I could have wasted on @powerbalance directly to @OCRF http://ocrf.org #MoneyForScience #PowerBalanceScam

OR

Tweet this: (link will take you to Twitter)
I’d rather give directly to @OCRF http://ocrf.org than waste my. Money on @powerbalance #MoneyForScience #PowerBalanceScam

Travis Roy of Granite State Skeptics talked a bit about skeptical activism and also demonstrated how the Power Balance bracelet, and other trinkets like it, is far better at relieving you of your money than anything else. Turnout was lovely and we had several new faces in the audience. Welcome!

BSitP July 26th, 2010 – Travis Roy “Skeptical Activism” from Maggie McFee on Vimeo.

If I only had a brain...

This past Saturday, the Boston Skeptics’ Book Club met in the park (on a very lovely day) to discuss An Anthropologist on Mars by Oliver Sacks. There were seven different stories about individuals with interesting neurological conditions:

• A painter who went totally colorblind after a car accident and had to relearn his new “leaden” world
• A man who lost the ability to form memories past 1968 due to a benign brain tumor (which also made him blind and completely unaware of the fact that anything was wrong with him)
• A blind man who regained his sight after 50 years, only to be unsettled by what he was seeing
• A surgeon with Tourette’s whose tics disappear when he is operating
• An artist so obsessed with his childhood town that he was able to paint it from memory 30 years later from a 3-D model he had constructed in his head
• A young autistic artist (and other autistic prodigies)
• Temple Grandin, who talks about her “squeeze machine” and her own theories about how people with Asperger’s actually function and see the world

The book was only about 300 pages, and while some book clubbers enjoyed the stories about the individuals as described by Sacks, the overall consensus was that Sacks could have delved deeper into some of the mechanisms behind the neurological conditions. He went on in great deal about the ways that the brain can interpret color (as in the case of the colorblind painter), but he only touched on what may have been going on in the case of the artist who had a photographic memory of his childhood town (he alluded to epilepsy but that was about it). We were also curious about the surgeon with Tourette’s:
What exactly caused his tics to disappear during surgery? Was it because he was in the mindset of a surgeon or did his tics disappear only if he was in a routine (i.e. not a surgical technique that he just learned).

This book is a fun read, even if it raises more questions about the science of neurology than it answers, but it still provides an interesting perspective on how others see the world and deal with their particular conditions.

Our next book is Them: Adventures with Extremists by the utterly awesome Jon Ronson. Until now I’ve only heard his segments on This American Life, but if his books are anything like those then they should be very compelling. We’re planning on meeting at the Boston Commons Harvard Yard (ed–slight change of venue) this time, weather permitting, on August 28th at 3 pm. Also, this time we’re making it a picnic! Because nothing goes better with a good book than some strawberries and cheese (or John’s coffee). Please let us know what you’re bringing in the comments. And of course, bring yourself, no matter what stage of the book you’re at.

For those of you who want a head start on the book after this one, we will be reading a book suggested by our own skeptic Kerry: Who Goes First: The Story of Self-
Experimentation in Medicine by Lawrence K. Altman.

So far, the forecast is calling for a partly cloudy/sunny day with a high in the 80′s, so it should be a beautiful day to get together in our normal meeting spot at Christopher Columbus Park and discuss An Anthropologist on Mars by Oliver Sacks. Meeting time is 3 pm, as usual. I’ll bring the SPF 70 sunscreen! (That is not an exaggeration.)

If you want a little extra, you should check out Temple Grandin by HBO Films (I saw it the other day and it was a pretty good biopic). It covers her early life and how she became such an accomplished scientist and how she learned how to deal with Asperger’s (and a good dose of sexism). If you don’t have HBO but you want to hear more about Temple, Terry Gross did an interview with her earlier this year that is definitely worth a listen.

Come one, come all! Even if you haven’t read/finished the book, you know you want an excuse to hang out in the sun and discuss science. See you there!

Since I shot all this and it’s been OK’d for distribution online… I figured we ought to have it on our site, too. :) – Maggie

NECSS 2010 – 1 – Keynote – D. J. Grothe from Maggie McFee on Vimeo.