Jessica Bluemke grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and graduated from Ball State University in 2008 with a BA in Literature. She currently works as a writer and resides on the North side of Chicago.
I’ve been sitting here trying to think of a clever or meaningful way to sum up my experiences at The Amazing Meeting in Las Vegas last week, and I simply can’t think of anything to do the experience justice. I certainly had an atypical experience compared to most — because I had a press pass for this blog, I had the pleasure of interviewing about a dozen speakers, each of whom was as nice and smart and interesting as could be. … We’ll be releasing the interviews one by one as Mikey finishes them up. We’re aiming to put out about two per week. To kick it off, here is a trailer that he just finished cutting together to give you an idea of who you’ll be hearing from in the coming weeks: [Click headline for more…] Read more
Magicians vs. Psychics Panelists: Banachek, Mark Edward, Max Maven, James Randi and Jamy Ian Swiss Moderator: D.J. Grothe When I realized that the title of the talk was “Magicians vs. Psychics” instead of “Magicians vs Physics” (My brain is pretty tired) I was slightly disappointed, and then excited again. Interesting topic, interesting panel, should be an interesting talk. I was right, but I had to wait for a while. I actually wasn’t over at the press table for this, either…. Read more
Last night’s keynote by James Randi was wonderful, the magic show was a blast, I lost spectacularly at poker to a guy who had a pamphlet that said “Texas Hold ‘Em For Beginners” sticking out of his breast pocket and proceeded to hang out at a bar with a magician. So, I guess what I’m saying is: This trip has been pretty awesome. I had my last scheduled interview this morning, so I’ll be able to actually watch some of… Read more
After Penn Jillette’s amazing doughnut and bacon party last night (Yes, I did eat two Krispy Kremes and about three pounds of bacon, thanks for asking) and some technical issues this morning, we’re back on track! As always, thanks to Michael Greiff for all of the great photos! You can follow him at Instagram at mr_mikeyg. While we’re at it, you can follow me on twitter @blueburie Sanal Edamaruku I’m just catching the tail-end of his talk, but I made… Read more
Skeptical Scope and Mission Panelists: Barbara Drescher, Daniel Loxton, Steven Novella and Jamy Ian Swiss Moderator: Sharon Hill The panel talked about the skeptical movement and community, and where skepticism is going. Is skepticism going to become an academic movement? It seems to be a complicated issue- it sparked a bit of debate. Apparently, the UK has a field of study regarding the public understanding of science, which Novella said he would love to bring stateside. Loxton specified the difference between… Read more
