The Amazing Meeting 2013 -- Day Two, Part One

Although I was feeling about as refreshed as the gloomy, forest fire-ridden day outside, I nevertheless felt a rush of excitement when I thought about the upcoming Amazing Meeting, and when I saw my new friend Jamy Ian Swiss.

In the Great Conference Hall, various skeptical groups were setting up their respective tables. Kyle Hill was keen on showing his... enthusiasm? while Sarah Mayhew hid inside of her fauxler bear jacket:

 

Because SCIENCE! Best answer ever.

I had lunch with Greg in the midst of Randi's volunteer group, even though neither of us were volunteers. Well, Massimo Polidoro kind of invited us over...

However, Massimo and Randi were facing the other way,

so we socialized with other people instead.

Later on, I went upstairs and interviewed such folks as George Hrab as well as Bryan and Baxter, and I don't even remember who else!
` I took this photo at the Australian Skeptic's table, where the blue microphone light signaled my interview with Richard Saunders and his origami:

We had a lot of fun, although he seemed a bit bewildered by my sitting next to him:

Is that a drop bear in the background?

This is probably one of the worst pictures I've taken at TAM, so it's important that everyone sees it:

I also interviewed Amanda Devaus about various things, including the nearby mysterious door that was sealed up for the Million Dollar Challenge. Somehow, this whole thing eventually devolved into a big dowsing rod duel:

Have I mentioned the musk candy?

I was trying to capture some camera lens envy here, but it's a desperate attempt:

On the CSI table with Dan Loxton and Don Prothero, were quite a selection of books. I bought a few, although not the one with Carl Buell's depiction of an enormous, 15 ton rhino on the cover:

Really! Since modern elephants would overheat without their broad, blood vessel-filled ears, the much larger (and thus harder to cool) rhino would have needed something similar.
` And, since this rhino's snout bones were similar to those of its tapir cousins, it is shown with an elongated upper lip.

I have no recollection of what I was doing for some time, but this photo shows many of the skeptics who were around, including Shane Greenup, Ray Hyman, and yes, that's the back of Michael Shermer.
` It's about the worst photo I took all TAM, but it's the only record of that time period.

Later on, I was recording in the green room with Daniel Loxton, Derek Colunduno, Tim Farley, and my Podcasting Laptop of Doom.

Was in the middle of my Daniel Loxton interview when my mike started to get some bizarre feedback for no particular reason. Not sure what to do, I left the room, switched to Linux, got that working finally, and went back to doing more interviews -- alas, I didn't get back to Dan.

Indeed, I can't even guess how much trouble I caused before TAM even officially started. Speaking of which, the opening ceremony is in the next post...