There Are Four Lights

I’m currently spending a little time in Los Angeles, away from my lil’ hobbit hole up in Canada. Unlike when I’m in Canada (where I stay in my hobbit hole, have no adventures, and eat second breakfast), since I’ve been here I’ve been heading out to events and cool places—-and meeting cool people.

A couple weeks ago, I was invited out to the Magic Castle by Richard Wiseman, psychologist, magician, and author of The Luck Factor, Quirkology, and his newest book 59 Seconds. My man, Q, and I had a lovely time at the castle with everyone in our group and key lime pie and cosmopolitans were had by all! (ok, just me).

The Magic Castle is, guess what, full of magic! We had a blast and Q and I are actually headed back in October for his birthday. All of the photos can be found on my Flickr page, here.

I found out about Richard and his new book while listening to an episode of The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe a few months back. He was being interviewed about 59 Seconds, which lead me to buying the book and then tweeting about it. His @reply of thanks and mention of my TED attendance was the beginning of our twitter friendship!

Twitter was also responsible for our outing yesterday to our first Caltech skeptics lecture. I caught Michael Shermer‘s tweet about Dr. Jeff Schweitzer‘s talk “Beyond Cosmic Dice: Moral Life In A Random World” and Q was nice enough to take his nerdy gal out to Pasadena to be with skeptics and endure all that sciency-stuff he doesn’t like, awww~!

Well, since I’m a TED Fellowship member, I couldn’t waste the opportunity to introduce myself to another TEDster! Here’s a pic of Michael Shermer and I from after the lecture, when everyone met up at a nearby restaurant. Unfortunately—-as you can see—-I’m back to my usual ‘no makeup + nerd vision + ponytail’ look…

This had already been posted on PZ Myers‘ mega-traffic blog, Pharyngula, but I wanted to post it here too, since it is so awesomely nerdtastic!

Carl Sagan – ‘A Glorious Dawn’ ft Stephen Hawking (Cosmos Remixed)

I have some super geeky fan devotion of my own to post; Darwin, Einstein, Sagan, and Newton…all drawn in manga ‘bishounen’ style! No, I’m not kidding—-I have Charlie and Albert sketched already and am inspired to finish & colour all four, after having seen this awesome display of nerdom!

I’ve added three new images to the header rotation…just some quick little Trek doodles.

How much do you know about Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12 Step programs? It’s a support group, right? It’s safe to say it’s widely regarded as the most successful recovery program for addiction. Then again, accupuncture is widely regarded as a successful treatment for all kinds of illnesses but anyone familiar with science-based medicine knows it simply doesn’t work. So, why should 12 Step programs be treated with any less skepticism? After all, AA makes claims regarding the causes of and treatments for alcoholism. What evidence, if any, is there to support these claims?

“Undrunk: A Skeptic’s Guide to AA”, by A.J. Adams, seems anything but skeptical. That is, the word ‘skeptic’ seems to be used in the “I was skeptical, at first” kind of way…rather than referring to a person who evaluates claims based on evidence and the scientific method. Has AA escaped the attention of the science and skepticism community? Certainly, the 12 Step industry must be one of the most successful quackery organizations out there–embedding themselves into the medical industry as successfully as any alternative medicine woo–and branding themselves as secular more successfully than intelligent designers.

AA and its counterparts (there’s a 12 step program for just about any addiction) are anything but secular. Of course, any program member will tell you that atheists and agnostics are welcome…but the program is chuck-full of religion; only about four of the twelves steps make no use of god or spirituality. Dr. Harriet Hall wrote a great article over at Science-Based Medicine about AA and the lack of evidence for it’s effectiveness: AA is Faith-Based, Not Evidence-Based. Another resource I found is a blog called Stinkin Thinkin:

…[W]hat we’re doing is muckraking, in the time-honored sense of the word. AA and 12-Step is has a monopoly. Sure there are some alternatives, but none of these alternatives are offered in your general addictions treatment facility. And none of these alternatives have the power to lobby in Washington the way that AA does…to get insurance money

There is a group called SOS (Secular Organizations for Sobriety, or Save Our Selves) which provides non-religious support for alcoholism and drug addiction. I found some interesting articles about AA by browsing their site:

AA, as a doctor once told me, is “an evangelical movement about saving souls”. At its core it has a good heart – it wants to save people from their demons. But, as with the death penalty, McCarthyism, the Conquistadors and other such crusades against evil, the pious ambitions of AA make the movement blind to its own hooliganism. As disinterested in individuality as the SS, and unaccountable for its actions as the KKK, AA preaches, bullies and lies to achieve its ends, and it does so with all the righteous impunity of a secret sect. Unlike other religious cults, however, AA’s victims are those who escape from its grip and return to society, their brains so laundered by fundamentalist claptrap that a glass of beer can take on the menace of a loaded pistol. That I eluded such a fate myself is thanks to nothing but sheer good luck – those not as fortunate as I can’t tell us about it, their stools at the bars and chairs in AA inhabited by new people entirely disinterested in tales of the dead ones who went before them.

I know there’s a lot of woo for skeptics to deal with, but I think the 12 Step industry deserves more criticism from the skeptical community. AA isn’t an effective treatment, never mind the most effective treatment for alcoholism, and those suffering due to substance abuse deserve treatments which are evaluated for their safety and efficacy.

There’s a movie coming out about the end of the world called 2012. It’s based on modern-day myths that the Mayans predicted the world would end in 2012 and that there are scientific facts which support their claims. This is wrong.

The film has some new ads out that look like real commercials for an organization setup to shelter people from the devastation. Unfortunately, there are many woo-artists who have been spreading the 2012 myth for quite some time now. This major motion picture is drawing more attention to this so-called Mayan prophecy.

Griffith Observatory has a nice page on their site which debunks the 2012 myth, here. This is appropriate, since most of the myth’s claims are astronomical (no pun intended).

THERE IS NO PLANETARY ALIGNMENT on December 21st, 2012. Even if there was, planetary alignments WON’T DESTROY THE EARTH.

THERE IS NO GALACTIC ALIGNMENT of our solar system either. Our galaxy is too huge to have a midpoint that you could pinpoint to a specific year.

THERE IS NO MYSTERIOUS PLANET headed our way to destroy us. Government agencies aren’t hiding evidence of a Planet X or Planet Niburu.

Now, here comes the really silly part; guess what? THE MAYAN CALENDAR DOESN’T END IN 2012. Yes…the claim that’s the basis of the 2012 myth isn’t true either. The Mayans never made any 2012 apocalyptic predictions. Part of their calendar ends–which had many cycles–but a new one begins.

So, you probably shouldn’t be concerned about the world ending in 2012. At least, not any more than you do any other year. Our own calendar ends too—-on December 31st. I predict some people may even have a party!

I have a weakness for the fashion of the online store, YesStyle.com. My closet contains many of their items, which I wear whenever I decide I should get out of my pjs and put on something nice. And what better place to do that then at the TED 2009 conference!

This is my creme-coloured ballerina skirt from YesStyle, which I wore for the first time at the TED Prize Gala back in February. The conference was held in Long Beach. This layered skirt is from the South Korean brand, Ukki. You can still grab it for about $50 US.

I also have this lovely “Flower-and-Vine” zip wallet by Let’s Fly, a Chinese brand. This particular item is no longer available, but YesStyle carries many of the brand’s other cute women’s bags and wallets.

One feature that I like about YesStyle is their “set” section. You can find some pretty affordable outfits in this sections, where items are combined together. I first came across YesStyle while looking for clothing references for my artwork. Looking through the site’s fashion always makes me want to sketch cute manga girls dressed up in their adorable items. So I did!

This set is from the South Korean brand, Beccgirl. It includes a v-neck long sleeve shirt and the check pattern skirt. Several colours are available in both the skirt and shirt, with the option of mix-and-matching your choice. Not included are the boots and the adorable suspenders. I have a thing for suspenders!

There you have it–YesStyle+manga! …And evidence that this geeky mangaka can, occasionally, get all dolled up!