Jun 10
Surly-Ramics
icon1 Sara E.M. | icon2 Atheism, Media, Skepticism | icon4 06 10th, 2010| icon31 Comment »

Surly Amy, a Skepchick and the artist behind Surly-Ramics, took some lovely photos of me wearing her beautiful handmade jewelery. You can find them over on her flickr page. Surly-Ramics is the place to go if you’re looking for jewelery to show off your love of science and skepticism! They can be found on Etsy too!

Apr 26

My Nokia Responsiveness Campaign video, shown in a previous post, is also available on the Nokia Responsiveness website (in addition to being uploaded to YouTube). The difference is that the Nokia site has an interactive component, where people are invited to respond to my question at the end of the video: “Do we have the courage to let go of our beliefs in order to grab on to what is true?”.

The responses are displayed graphically on my Responsiveness portal, where you can watch the video, read my bio, and see other’s responses. I hope you’ll head over and leave a response. Also available are some neat widgets, banners, and badges to display on your blog, webpage, twitter, or email signature. My widget can be seen in the sidebar here at There Are Four Lights. You’ll find all of these goodies by going to the toolkit section of the Responsiveness viewer.

So head on over and give your response! Tell your friends and post the widget on your blog!

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Apr 24
Web Roundup
icon1 Sara E.M. | icon2 Events, Media | icon4 04 24th, 2010| icon3No Comments »
web-roundup

Nokia Responsiveness video: As mentioned in the previous post, my Responsiveness Campaign video for Nokia has been posted: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YewnVH_JQEQ.

Skepchick, one of the top skeptic blogs, noticed and posted about it the video here.

Dr. Phil Plait, aka Bad Astronomer, posted about me as well on his blog over at Discover, Bad Astronomy.

Anime News Network picked up the press release from Skepticality about their interview with me on episode 127: mp3 download, itunes. You can also find info about it in Skeptic Mag’s eSkeptic for April 21st, 2010.

My first post as new contributor to the Canadian blog, Skeptic North, was posted: The (unofficial) Manga Guide to Woo Arguments.

Live Science and Newsarama also posted an article about me, written by Jeremy Hsu.

Apr 9

Last July, I spent a day filming for Nokia‘s Responsiveness campaign. I spoke about my work and latest series, Legend of the Ztarr, and how I’m hoping to relate it to skepticism and critical thinking (since I think those are important when evaluating how to response to the world around us). Please share!

Apr 5
skepticism-through-manga-at-cfi

Last Wednesday, I spoke at the Center for Inquiry‘s monthly science cafe, Cafe Inquiry. The talk and Q&A afterwards has been uploaded to YouTube in six parts:

Part 1 is my introduction and my explanation of skepticism and why I think it’s important. I also touch on why new age magical thinking and spirituality can be so appealing and easier to promote. My goal is to use storytelling to show skeptical values as virtues.

Part 2 is an overview of manga and why I’ve chosen it as a medium to tell stories that promote skepticism. I also speak about some series that have inspired me in my approach to doing this—-which is also an excuse to talk about Masters of the Universe.

Part 3 is about my series I’m producing, Legend of the Ztarr, and how I hope it will convey messages about critical thinking and humanism.

The Q&A discussion that took place afterwards is also available:

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Feb 26
open-to-ideas-article-in-ottawa-citizen

I was interviewed by Kate Heartfield last week for an article in the Ottawa Citizen. The article, Open to Ideas, can be read online here as well.

I spoke with one of those creative people last week. Unless you’re a fan of manga, chances are you’ve never heard of Sara Mayhew, who just got back from a worldwide conference of ideas in California.

Mayhew is no big-city jetsetter. She’s a 24-year-old comic-book artist who lives in Kirkland Lake, in northern Ontario. She divides her time between freelance illustration and creating manga — a style of comics that originated in Japan.

She and Bill Gates have a few things in common. They both spoke at the 2009 TED Conference, and they’re both unrepentant geeks. Geeks change the world.

Yes, I think that was just a comparison between me and Bill Gates. But no pressure…