The 79th Skeptic’s Circle - Rollin With Teh Lol-ling

Ack!

The new Skeptic's Circle is here! Yes, the 79th Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle has convened over at Podblack Blog, and it's another great collection of skeptical blogging. So why am I disturbed? I just realized that I've utterly failed in my organizer duties in that I totally forgot to submit one of my own posts to the Circle. The shame! Even worse, the Circle's just fine without me; if I hadn't pointed it out I doubt that anyone would have noticed that I hadn't submitted anything.

So why point it out?

Actually, in a way it's a very good thing. It just goes to show that the Skeptics' Circle is bigger than any one person or blogger. It doesn't need me and no doubt would go on in some incarnation or another if I ever had to give up being its organizer. That's a good thing.

So, here's hoping the Circle is still there for decades to come, a beacon of sanity and reason in the cesspit of credulity that is the blogosphere. Now go over and read it.

The 78th Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle: Still high from the chelation

It's that time again.

The Skeptics' Circle has once again descended upon the blogosphere to try to do battle with the rampant credulity therein and by bringing a whiff of skepticism and critical thinking into what is, sadly, a free-for-all of posting first and asking questions later. Hard as it is to believe, the Circle has been existence for three years now, and, in fact, the very first edition first appeared on February 3, 2005 on the blog of its founder, St. Nate, who sadly has given up blogging and, even more sadly, has deleted his blog so that it has now become a spam blog. Over the three years that the Circle has been in existence, I've been consistently impressed and amazed at the usually high level of quality of the posts and the creativity of the hosts. This time around, Rod Clark at The Skeptical Surfer takes on the challenge of hosting and upholding the tradition. He's having a bit of a hard time, though, as he's still "high from the chelation." Fortunately, he's overcome that problem to serve up a cracking good bunch of skeptical blog posts in the 78th Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle.

The next meeting will be on January 31 and will be hosted at Podblack Blog. Information on how to submit and deadlines is here. Guidelines for submitting posts to be included in the Circle can be found here.

Of course, here I must make the obligatory biweekly plea: If you have a skeptically-oriented blog, you should consider hosting a Circle yourself. The schedule is here, and guidelines and helpful suggestions for hosts are here. Peruse them. Cogitate about them. And then drop me an e-mail. I'll peruse your blog, cogitate upon it to make sure that Deepak Chopra or Michael Behe isn't trying to slip a ringer in, and then get you on the schedule.

Skeptics’ Circle #77–The Overmedicalized Edition

It's 2008. Unfortunately, there don't appear to be any signs that the problems of 2007 as far as rampant credulity and susceptibility to quackery and pseudoscience on the part of the public will be abating this year. Fortunately, we have a remedy--or at least something that can help show you how to examine these outlandish claims from a critical and scientific perspective. Yes, it's the very first Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle of 2008, and it's over at White Coat Underground right now. Appropriately enough, the setting is a primary care office in Anytown, USA, and the patients are...well, just check it out for yourself.

Next up on January 17 will be the Skeptical Surfer. (Is that anything like the Silver Surfer?) Even though it's two weeks away, it's never too early to start lining up your entries.

Finally, now's the time to make a New Years resolution: To host one of these puppies during 2008. You won't regret it. Just wander over to the Skeptics' Circle site, check out the schedule and guidelines, and then contemplate the guidelines for hosts. I'll peruse your blog, and if you're not a closet fan of Deepak Chopra, you're in like flint.