The 122nd Skeptics' Circle is up...

Friend of HJHOP Richard Hughes has posted the minutes of the SkeptiCirc, Inc., board meeting. I know we don't meet that often, but is always good to see everyone at these meetings.

I am going to highlight two posts. One is the 2012 end of the world scenario as seen by, well, Mayans, which comes from The Skeptical Teacher. The other is from Heathen Mike, from Mike's Weekly Skeptic Rant. It's a debate with anti-vaxxers.

Speaking of taking skepticism to the streets, as I sat on the bus home from work, a couple of kids from a local college hopped on. I perked up when someone said, "blah blah Jesus. We make a cake that says, 'Happy Birthday, Jesus'."

"Really?"

"Yep."

"Well, you know that he was actually born in August."

"Christmas is pagan. The tree? It's a pagan symbol. Yeah, I read that the Christmas star is something that only appears in August."

"Mumble, mumble, the Three Wise Men or Kings or Shepherds."

At this point, it was clear that I was going to have to butt in: "It's possible that the Star did not even exist, you know." And they looked at me, and I explained why I was getting involved, "I teach a class about extraordinary claims."

"Oh, do you teach at Pretty Nice University?" one asked, pointing at my baseball cap.

"Yep. Are you students there?"

"No, we go to Rival University."

"Well, that's OK." And there was much laughing.

Anyway, I warned them to be skeptical, lest they turn out like this guy...

HJ (suddenly I want to puree a bass)