So. See you Friday? Starts at 7:30. You can RSVP here or on our Facebook invite, if you’re a Facebooker, or on Meetup by clicking on the badge in the sidebar.

Oh! And check out these photos David sent in from the CFI picnic last Saturday:

CFI Pittsburgh Canoe Trip 2009

“Grill the ID Scientist”

Tuesday, June 9
7 PM, University of Pittsburgh Campus (room TBA)

A network of scientists known as the Intelligent Design (ID) community continues to question basic tenets of Darwinism and origin-of-life scenarios. Not only are their views controversial in scientific circles — many in the evangelical world, who might be expected to embrace ID, are also not sold on the value of the ID program.

This event brings together a panel of scientists associated with the ID movement. After a short presentation, the bulk of the evening will be given to questions from the audience. This event is aimed primarily at researchers, graduate students and advanced undergrad students in the sciences. It is open to anyone, but participants must register in advance by sending email to snoke @pitt.edu. In the event of limited seating, preference will be given to grad students and researchers in the life sciences.

Panel:

– Doug Axe, Biologic Institute (formerly of Cambridge University)
– Michael Behe, Lehigh University
– Ann Gauger, Biologic Institute
– David Keller, University of New Mexico
– John Sanford, Cornell University

+ others TBA

moderated by David Snoke, University of Pittsburgh

This is tomorrow night, and is sadly not an actual BBQ. If you want to go, it seems like you’ll need to contact Dr. Snoke.

I’d love to hear some reports from those who attend!

[Hat-tip to DF for the info.]

You remember Mr. Sherman — Illinois Representative Monique Davis interrupted him while he testified before the Springfield House State Government Administration Committee to spectacularly flip her shit:

I don’t know what you have against God, but some of us don’t have much against him. We look forward to him and his blessings… I’m trying to understand the philosophy that you want to spread in the state of Illinois… This is the land of Lincoln where people believe in God… What you have to spew and spread is extremely dangerous… It’s dangerous for our children to even know that your philosophy exists… Get out of that seat! You have no right to be here! We believe in something. You believe in destroying! You believe in destroying what this state was built upon.

This is just a sample of Mr. Sherman’s experiences. Come out and join the discussion this Tuesday!

When: Tuesday, May 5th 2009, 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Where: Quaker Meeting House, 4836 Ellsworth Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15213 (Oakland/Shadyside)

Oh hey! This Friday our friend Hemant Mehta¹, The Friendly Atheist, will be speaking at Carnegie Mellon, hosted by CMU’s AHA group. Pasta will be served!

More deets at the AHA’s Facebook invite and also at Hemant’s site.

Oh hey Part Two: Internet podcast talk show host The Infidel Guy interviewed local “paranormal investigator” John Lewis² who appears to have a physical aversion to questions. He apparently came down with the flu in the middle of the interview and his wife came on the line, apologized, and hung up on the call.

Here are links to IG’s show notes and to the archived show.

It’s official, folks. Miller Auditorium is haunted. But the good news is, they’re friendly ghosts.

“Almost everyone on our team had personal experience,” Mr. Lewis, owner of Titusville-based Baelfire Paranormal Investigation, said yesterday at a news conference in the theater lobby. “I pretty much feel this place is haunted.”

On Feb. 28, he and his 11-member crew spent the night in the auditorium looking for evidence of paranormal activity. Free of charge, they set up infrared video cameras and had digital and 35mm still cameras and digital, analog and micro-cassette audio recorders.

Eleven hours of audio and video and 758 photographs later, they believe to be true what professors and students have suspected for years.

In addition to personal experiences, investigators captured inexplicable digital images of a thick, neon green mist in that same backstage area — the scene shop — and heard voices.

You got that folks? Inexplicable digital images. Not only does that mean it must be ghosts, it is clearly the truth because it says so in the Post-Gazette.

An "inexplicable digital image" taken from Baelfire Paranormal Investigation site. Figured out what causes this, yet? Take a stab in the comments. Bonus points if you recreate the effect yourself and send it in.

Forget science, friends! We’ve been wasting our lives. It only takes some people who know how to take bad photos and a lazy reporter to prove it.

“Inexplicable digital images“, writes L.A. Johnson. Did you ask anyone other than the folks who took them?

Oh, and my previous post about this nonsense has conjured head honcho of the spooky squad himself, Mr. John Lewis, right here to Steel City Skeptics. His comments offer up some new insight into the story, where I am no longer comfortable making light of the potentially mentally ill.

My original post was more about shoddy journalism reporting on unscientific poppycock and adding credibility to professional swindlers, like psychics and ghost hunters, anyway. These folks are free to believe that they’re doing something meaningful, but society at large does not have to humor them. It is irresponsible and dishonest of the local news outlets to do so.

So, I’m going to stick with knocking bad journalism. L.A. Johnson, of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette? I’m looking at you.

A few believers in a theater reinforcing each other’s beliefs does not equal “investigation” — it’s a sleepover party. It sounds like these folks had a fun time and that’s great, but it’s not news.

From the Are You Kidding Me files (via several alert readers), may I direct your attention to the following links:

• WPXI news item — Who You Gonna Call? Ghostbusters To Search For Local Univ. Ghost
• Pittsburgh Tribune-Review article by Craig Smith — Ghost hunters plan spirited investigation
• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article by Anya Sostek — Paranormal investigators scrutinize Slippery Rock theater (subhead: University staff have a haunting suspicion)

Velma says WTF?

Not a note of skepticism, or a hint of anything other than credulity in the whole bunch. Is it laziness? Is it all some lame publicity stunt for a spooky production in the works by SRU? Is it just standard hopping on the trendy ghost hunting train to get viewers and readers to stay tuned after these words from our sponsor [insert commercial for The Ghost Whisperer here]? I don’t know because Craig Smith and Anya Sostek didn’t ask these questions.

A quick google search turned up the ghosthunter’s Paranormal Investigative Team’s website, Baelfire Paranormal Investigation.(According to the second Google result  it is hosted on Angelfire. You remember Angelfire, right? Like Geocities only more Angely. But also with Fire, so totally cool.) It has animations and is very stylish and professional. And I am completely convinced, as someone with several years of past work experience in a color photo lab, by their photographic evidence of paranormal energy spikes that could in no way be examples of light leak, a common cause of red and pink streaks across photos due to hairline cracks in camera bodies, or poor film handling, that this crew knows what they are doing. I can totally see why this exciting developing story is being followed so closely by our local news outlets!

I have started and deleted many drafts of a letter to the editors several times over the past week but I cannot muster anything that is more polite and respectful than I typically am. I am not the best person for this one, so I will stick to making fun of it here, and hopefully inspiring folks with more judicious balance of respect and smacktalk to write the letters, and maybe after Mr. Lewis’s two-week deliberation over whether or not the theater is “officially haunted” the local news will try the story again with a bit more professionalism, and I won’t have to.

If you are interested in a more rational approach to all-things-spooky, have a look at this excellent 2006 Skeptical Inquirer article, Ghost Hunters, written by Joe Nickell. (Thank you, Lauren!)

Click to read review.

Also compare to William James’ Varieties of Religious Experience.

TSA

• 1000 Plaintiffs for Newdow v. Roberts — Friends of Mike Newdow, a group of PA Nonbelievers, has set up a website to assist Constitutional activist Mike Newdow “demonstrate that there is a lot of support for ending the offensive, exclusionary references to God” at future inaugurations, by finding 1,000 people to sign up as plaintiffs. You can go to their site for more information. (Thank you, Bill K.)
• Arab headgear causes stir in Gateway — The Post-Gazette is reports that two students at Gateway High in Monroeville were told to leave school yesterday if they would not remove their kaffiyehs. News video from last night’s WPXI coverage of the story can be found here. (Hat tip, Mel.)
• Dead of Winter — Pittsburgh City Paper reported on the spread of  white-nose syndrome, a deadly epidemic affecting bats, to Pennsylvania. Don’t care if we lose our bat population? Think giant swells of insects (and also, get a clue). Yeah. I said it. (Via my Google alert for bat news. Why are you making that face?)
• Darwin 2009: A Pittsburgh Partnership — An educational partnership promoting citywide events led by Duquesne University. Why should a prominent Catholic University do this? They explain with their own bullet list.
• Skeptical of Pittsburgh’s ability to evolve and to retain it’s youth population? I feel you. The Port Authority is taking a step in the direction of modernity with their RouteShout beta. Now at popular college stops you can text for the next bus arrival.

And I gotta take this oppurtunity to remind you about Drinking Skeptically this Friday night.

The recent high winds snapped a pole along Route 51 near Francesco’s Restaurant. This not only killed power to the restaurant, but created a hazard that forced the blockage and a detour of Rte. 51. Ten tough old birds managed to challenge the blockade or wait out the detour, but in the intervening hour delay, many prospective attendees turned back, including our speaker for the evening, Darwin impersonator David Campbell.

You can still catch Dr. Campbell’s wonderful show for the next three Saturdays at 2pm, at the Carnegie Science Center. Some might scoff at the notion of this as a Valentine’s date, but really what is more romantic than natural selection? (Just ask the Skepchicks!)

And without further ado, let me show you the awesome birthday cake, CFI’s Victor Bernard made that we missed:

No discourse on James Joyce for Christmas Eve. Instead, I’m offering a menu and suggestions on cooking it to help you celebrate whatever you’re celebrating, including your appetite. This was sort of spontaneous. I had pork chops in the fridge and acorn squash hanging around from the last CSA order at the East End Food Co-Op. So I decided to put them together. You can make this anytime over the holidays.

The nights are long, the weather rainy this year and the holidays can be frenetic. Cooking a low-key meal for yourself and others who appreciate it is the ticket for comfort and relaxation, in my book. This is not a competition. For me it’s a meditative activity (as in chop wood, carry water). And you can enjoy the results (usually). So here goes. Plan on about an hour for the whole thing.

Summary:

• Roasted red, white or a combination of potatoes with fresh garlic, basil and rosemary
• Pork chops with Patak’s spicy ginger and garlic tandoori sauce (could alt. be lentils or your favorite TVP item or Tofurkey, if you’re veggie)
• Acorn squash
• Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais or similar wine

Roasted Rosemary, Garlic and Basil Potatoes

1. Pre-heat the oven to about 450 F.
2. Scrub the potatoes and leave the skins on. Chop in small wedges and toss in a glass baking dish with canola or similar oil.
3. Smash a few garlic cloves in a garlic press and distribute over the potatoes. Sprinkle the potatoes liberally with rosemary, basil, salt and pepper. I added a little smoked paprika, too.
4. Turn over the potatoes with a spatula to distribute the oil and spices.
5. Put the uncovered dish in the oven. Set the timer for one hour.

Acorn Squash

1. Carefully slice a medium-sized acorn squash in half (avoiding your thumb). Scrape out the seeds and fibers as much as possible with a large metal spoon.
2. Place the squash halves open side-up on a second glass dish or metal pan. Pour in a little oil in the hollow of each squash half. Sprinkle liberally to taste with any combination of Penzey’s Galena Rib rub, fresh garlic, brown sugar and cayenne pepper.
3. Cover the dish or pan loosely with aluminum foil and place beside the potatoes in the oven.

Pork Chops

1. Pour a little oil in a frying pan and heat.
2. Add the pork chops and brown each side
3. Lower the heat. Mix the ginger and garlic tandoori sauce with a little balsamic or other vinegar. Spoon the sauce over one side of the pork chops. Flip the chops and spoon the sauce over the other side. Cover and simmer for about ten minutes.

If the timing is right, the potatoes and squash should be done about the same time as the pork chops. You might want to turn down the oven to 400F part way through after the potatoes have browned.

Serve with the wine. I also recommend enjoying with Blackadder’s Christmas Carol (also see Wikipedia reference) as a skeptical diversion.

Bon appetit.

TSA