Announcing the very first Canberra Skeptics In The Pub.

4pm, Sunday 21st February, at King O'Malley's Irish Pub, 131 City Walk, Canberra Centre. Upstairs, in The Snug.

A gathering of like-minded skeptics, for the purpose of having a beer and talking about subjects of interest. Bring something to talk about. Bring a friend. Invite anyone you can think of. Search for it on Facebook. I'm hoping that this will become a regular event.

I just had occasion to order goods from an online shop located in Hong Kong. On my order confirmation, it provided this bit of information:

Your order will be shipped by Air Mail.
It usually takes 7-20 days to US/Europe and 7-10 days to Asia countries.
Shipments to ITALY may take 20-30 days.

Is this a comment on the quality of Italian mail?

I've decided what I'm going to do for the AAF's Heroes and Villains party this weekend.

As background, I went to the last H&V party as the Mad Scientist. I also went to a Zombie party as a Mad Scientist (pics of both are on Facebook). For this party, I have been prohibited from utilising the lab coat.

I think it's going to be pretty stunning, but not for the reasons you might expect. That's all I'll say for now.

Here's what I've been doing today:

• 20:27 Shuttle launch is "red" again due to weather. #space bit.ly/buDRzk

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Here's what I've been doing today:

• 19:48 Apparently, Luke Perry is cool. Who knew? #skeptic bit.ly/atjrkN
• 21:24 Attack of the beagles! bit.ly/ap6FGs
• 22:14 This is a REALLY fascinating podcast. #history bit.ly/aQBARg

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I had a great day at training this afternoon. After a little warming up, we did some four-on-four group work. We had two people per side using sword and shield, one single-handed spear and shield, and one pole weapon (axe and glaive). The one hit I took that I'll still feel tomorrow was when I was standing next to one of the spear guys, when his spear got forcefully deflected into my forward shin. Ow!

Anyway, I had fun. I fought safely and effectively. I still don't have a great deal of endurance, but I did more fights today than I have in some time. It was fun.

To change subjects, I've been doing the "Arthwollipot sometimes tweets" thing for a couple of weeks now, and I'm interested in seeing whether it is pissing people the hell off.

( Twitter Poll )

Here's what I've been doing today:

• 19:39 Fact-checking scientology's answer to Senator Xenophon #scientology bit.ly/9ICrP7
• 22:02 RT @HappySinger: Homeopathic contraceptive! homeocare.blogspot.com/2006/05/contraception-homeopathy.html #ten23 #WTF?

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Here's what I've been doing today:

• 09:34 Ugh. #migrane Going back to bed. If anyone needs me, piss off.
• 20:18 Scientologists in Haiti (spelled it right that time) #scientology bit.ly/cWm8HM

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It turns out that I'm actually famous. A little bit. In a certain subculture.

I am known to rather a lot of people in a lot of countries. A lot more than I ever thought I would be. The Nonsense Podcast has some three thousand downloads per episode - well, it did up until we went on break. And quite frankly, I'm okay with that. I haven't yet had anyone run up to me in the street and say "Hey, you're Arthwollipot!" But it kinda happened at TAM, and it was fun.

Fame and celebrity are different things though. I wouldn't want to be a celebrity. In fact, that would kinda suck. But I'd like to be just a little bit famous. I'd like to be famous because if a lot of people know who I am and if I am doing some good stuff for the community I'm famous in, I might be invited to conferences. And that'd mean that I could attend the conferences without having to pay for them.

My desire for fame is purely selfish, you understand.

Here's what I've been doing today:

• 21:40 Wow. Just... wow. #hubble bit.ly/aKA4HY

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Here's what I've been doing today:

• 00:12 "You are a terrible writer but an amazing alchemist, because you have managed to turn poo into paragraphs." #lol
• 21:47 Canberra Skeptics In The Pub: One step closer to reality. #csitp
• 22:57 Scientists profiteering in Haiti #scientology bit.ly/coRXY8
• 23:31 Confessions of a 10:23 Campain Safety Officer #1023 bit.ly/djdavq

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Here's what I've been doing today:

• 10:17 I am almost awake. Almost. #bleargh
• 21:10 The Roman Army Knife: Beating the Swiss by 1,800 years. bit.ly/cPpBCC
• 21:55 Oh hell. Colbert won a Grammy. He's going to be intolerable!

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Here's what I've been doing today:

• 19:52 Got a great GTKYS interview with Mike McRae today. Look for it on an upcoming episode of #nonsensepodcast
• 23:02 This is just fantastic. Well done, SF! I'm never gonna give you up. #skeptic bit.ly/dCWYQq

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Here's what I've been doing today:

• 00:30 Say what you like about Microsoft. Bill has his head screwed on pretty much perfectly. #skeptic bit.ly/c7NtQW
• 11:12 Too breezy to maintain a decent flame this morning. Also I need a better ignition source. #beadery

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Here's what I've been doing today:

• 23:14 One step towards sustainable fusion energy. Cool. bit.ly/9Zna6M

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Here's what I've been doing today:

• 00:29 What I want is an app that automatically sorts apps according to frequency of use. #iPhone
• 15:52 Can someone please tell me why I have "I Will Survive" stuck in my head? #earworm
• 23:09 RT @neilcreek: I encourage all A-cup Aussie girls to upload topless photos of themselves to facebook to protest this new law!
• 23:21 Cross fingers.

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Here's what I've been doing today:

• 01:34 Awesome Cat is awesome. twitpic.com/zupot
• 10:22 Okay Aussies, hands up - who got sunburned yesterday? o/
• 23:48 I consider it a duty, when someone posts a pic of Jesus in a bowl of pasta or something to say "I think it looks more like Darth Vader"

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A new podcast has been announced. DJ Grothe, the new President of the James Randi Educational Foundation, previously hosted an interview podcast called Point of Inquiry, which I rather enjoyed. Now he has a new podcast - For Good Reason, produced in association with the JREF. I'm looking forward to hearing it.

There are a few podcasts that I listen to religiously. These are them:

The Geologic Podcast. George Hrab is seriously funny. Furthermore he's a genuinely nice guy, who'll stop and chat to anyone who walks up to him and says "vibraphone".

The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe. Always worth listening to. They have fantastic content and a bunch of very fine presenters.

The Skeptic Zone. As good as SGU, but Australian, so better.

Skepticality. The original skeptical podcast. Derek and Swoopy interview all the best people, and not only those in the skeptical movement. A recent episode was all about absinthe.

Skeptoid. Whatever you might think of Brian Dunning as a person (and opinions are mixed), he always has good, well-researched content.

Reasonable Doubts. Three atheist/agnostic/freethinkers, all with a religious background and formal education, discuss religion. For those who, like me, find religion fascinating as a social phenomenon.

Role Playing Public Radio. Tom and Ross slag each other off and talk about roleplaying. It truly is awe-inspiring. They have a separate feed for actual-play recordings of real games.

The Nonsense Podcast. OMG! These guys are, like, totally awesome!!!

These are the eight that I consider it a priority to listen to. I have others - I have to give a shoutout to my friend Liz for the Natural 20 RPG Podcast, which she co-hosted right up until a little guy named Asher appeared from between her legs. Rational Alchemy is always interesting too, although it's a little rambly and unfocused. But hey, I really like that sort of thing. I also get Soccergirl, Inc., which has been running for, like, forever.

But these are the ones that I push aside to make room for my Big Eight. I'll usually queue up a number of episodes and listen to them all in a go.

Do you have a list of favourite podcasts?

Here's what I've been doing today:

• 10:17 Tomorrow being a public holiday, I'm hoping that today will be relatiely peaceful.
• 20:40 I thought that twilight would be a great time for bead-making. And it is. Unfortunately it's also a great time for mosquitoes.

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