“We in Ireland we are proud of our reputation for creativity, for originality and for our unique and imaginative view of the world.”(Higgins, 2012)
This summer Ireland hosted the Euroscience Open Forum. This science conference had speakers from all aspects of the scientific community. From those who study the basic structure of the Universe, like Rolf-Dieter Heuer, to food specialists such as Hervé This. It is this diverse nature of science we need to communicate to the public.
There are a few blogs that I have in my RSS feed just to give me a bit of motivation with my own pet projects. One of these is the Time Management Ninja who recently blogged about 21 Signs You Are Failing At Time Management. Don’t get me wrong, these blogs (along with ones on frugality, creativity and decluttering) I read in an aspirational way and very little makes its way into my daily routine in any meaningful sense. It was that last post by TMN that really made me think about how apathetic I can be towards my skepticism. As listeners to the podcast will know, I find it easy to speak to my skepticism but much, much harder to write about it much less anything more involved. I am also under no illusions that I will ever have the where-with-all to organise something like the 1023 campaign or Project Barnum. I do find myself frustrated with how jaded I feel towards “our” cause at times. I do really feel like I am often up that creek without a paddle, so I thought I would air my 21 Signs You Are Jaded as a Skeptic in the hopes that I can reinvigorate my own passion for science, skepticism and critical thinking.
I have been lucky enough that I have been asked to give my talk “Confessions of a Former Help Food Shop Worker” in the UK twice this year.
Firstly for the Greater Manchester Skeptics in July, at which I had a great time! They are a great group of people and I just loved the amount of audience interaction. We had a good laugh, mostly at my expense but what else are the Irish good at if not self deprecation. Having been to QED Con twice now (have you bought your 2013 ticket yet?!) it was great to see the Mancunian Skeptics in a less hectic environment.
I am ashamed to admit that prior to this year I had not heard of the European Science Open Forum. I will use the fact that I am not a scientist as an excuse for this failing on my part. I was fully aware of Dublin being the European City of Science this year and it was because of this that I became aware of ESOF. Eyeing up the programme of events and reading into the history of the group only served to make me more ashamed that I had been ignorant of this group for this long. They are a true grassroots movement and their forum is one that brings together people from across the science and research worlds from both academia and industry to fantastic effect.
As many of you who listen to the podcast may already know I suffer from eczema and have done all of my life. Like many children I had dry itchy eczema as a child that was exasperated by hot baths, biological detergents and highly perfumed soaps. In time, as with many babies and toddlers who suffer from this form of eczema, I grew out of it. I would only have recurrences if I came in contact with strong soaps or slept in sheets washed in biological detergents for several nights. As with many sufferers, my triggers can be different from others and no two sufferers are the same.
Cromwell as viewed by Ireland
Oliver Cromwell, like so many figures in Irish history, is very difficult to get an objective opinion on. The man is seen as a devil in human form by many even now, centuries after the events attributed to him took place. It is fair to say that no other English individual has become the poster-boy for Anglo-Irish division and hatred as much as the 17th century Parliamentarian leader.
Last November I became for the first time, without parental supervision, a pet caretaker.
The Ling Herself
My partner and I took in Ling a six year old cat who was no longer able to be cared for where she was living. The first month was a whirl of vet’s appointments for checkups, vaccinations, worming, flea tablets, nutritional advice and catnip. Since then things have calmed down and she has integrated into family life. This has given me the time to think about her long term care and this is when I came across homeopathy for pets.
As inevitable as a new year rolling around is the rash of products, articles, DVDs, “pull out and keep cards”, posters and deals to help us all with one of the most common New Year’s resolutions – losing weight. All media is a-glow with the latest diet, supplement or fitness regime, and with the promise of this is the one that will work.
I recently had a discussion on Twitter around the way in which skepticism can be applied to the world. The conversation was kicked off by a tweet of mine in which I linked to some blog posts about feminism, following on from this a very good blogger of Three Men make a Tiger fame posited that discussions about sexism, feminism or gender don’t necessarily belong within skeptical discourse.
Note: To be honest, there is a slight feeling of unease writing about feminism when you’re… well, how can I put this delicately… Male? However, if I were stopped on the street and asked “do you label yourself a feminist?” I’d say yes, so I’d hardly be true to my views if I shirked away from writing about these things just because I’m one X chromosome short of a better set of hips.
