Skepticism

Birthday Wishes & Skeptics in the Pub Wrap-up!

First of all, a big happy birthday to Steve Novella! Steve’s a sprightly 106 today, so please wish him a long life relatively free of broken hips and things. Steve, I got you this card:

Speaking of, it was Skepchick Jen’s birthday this past Saturday. Jen, I got you this one (NSFW).

Moving on, I had a blast at Boston Skeptics in the Pub last night, and I get the feeling that the 60-or-so people playing skeptical trivia had a blast as well. I’m a bit exhausted, having just come back from a Skepchick party in NYC as well, but it was totally worth it. I’d like to point out that I’m very proud of myself for using mathemagic to figure out the approximate number of attendees: 14 teams of about four people each. Go me. (It’s very early in the morning.)

For those of you who were unable to join the fun, I just wanted to call out a few of my favorite answers from last night. The first round was pretty straight-forward, and the questions got harder as we went along, forcing some teams to get creative, possibly in the hope of getting pity points. (Next time, I probably really will give bonus points for answers that make me laugh.) Here are a few from various teams (I’ve shortened the questions):

Who discovered “The Secret”?
Cheesy McSpookypants

What book was “The Secret” based upon?
Everybody Poops

What Apollo astronaut recently claimed a government cover-up concerning aliens?
This guy –> (quite well-done drawing of astronaut)

A Japanese company recently made news for doing what to sushi to improve the flavor?
Sperm

Who delivered “The Last Lecture?”
Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake

Final Question: Name That Logical Fallacy (Answer was Argumentum ad Ignorantium Ignorantiam)
Non Sequitor (next to drawing of a penguin flapping its wings)

Thanks to everyone who came out and had fun! We’re definitely going to do it again very soon. Also, if anyone else out there is hosting a regular pub night and you’d like my questions, shoot me an email and I’ll help you out.

Rebecca Watson

Rebecca is a writer, speaker, YouTube personality, and unrepentant science nerd. In addition to founding and continuing to run Skepchick, she hosts Quiz-o-Tron, a monthly science-themed quiz show and podcast that pits comedians against nerds. There is an asteroid named in her honor. Twitter @rebeccawatson Mastodon mstdn.social/@rebeccawatson Instagram @actuallyrebeccawatson TikTok @actuallyrebeccawatson YouTube @rebeccawatson BlueSky @rebeccawatson.bsky.social

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21 Comments

  1. I think I can chalk my team’s victory up to having the favor of all of the ghost orbs and ectoplasm that was so clearly (judging by that picture) floating around in Tommy Doyle’s. I believe they were pleased by the jaunty feather in Blake‘s hat and decided to assist us throughout the evening.

  2. Also, how could you not give funny points to this?

    What book was “The Secret” based upon?
    Everybody Poops

    Everybody Poops is at least based on a valid premise. If The Secret were that straightforward, it would have to be called Rhonda Lives In A Giant House Made Of You Money.

  3. Aw, Rebecca, you’re so sweet. I’ll take whatever helps with the sting of starting the downward slide to thirty. ;)

  4. Happy birthday Jen- aka the awesomest Skepchick Quickies co-writer. :)

    And Steve’s looking good for 106.

  5. It’s argumentum ad ignorantiam, not ignorantium. See, ignorantia is a noun in the first declension which means “ignorance”, and the preposition ad takes the accusative case, so the suffix has to be -am.

    “Priscian a little scratched,” as a pedant would say; thus ends your dead language lesson for today.

  6. One of those damn constants has a decimal expansion whose last two digits are the same as the exponent. I would have bet you money that it was Avogadro’s Number, and that the number was therefore 6.023 × 10^23. I’ve had to memorize too many numerical constants in my life. . . .

  7. Well, it’s about time I stopped lurking in the shadows after reading forever…

    Being in Boston North…. errr…. Portland, Maine, I really have little excuse for missing the fun. Sounds like a great time was had by all. Hopefully I will make it next time. Far past time I find some skeptical friends in the real world.

    Oh, and happy birthday Jen (and Steve)!

  8. Hiya mstillman! Hope we see you at the next event.

    I took this quick video before my camera gave out, to get an idea of the crowd:

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