Predictably nothing much happened over Christmas (well, I did bugger all - Ryan might have done some stuff behind the scenes), but hopefully we'll start getting things moving in 2009.

Happy new year to everyone who's around... anyone do anything exciting?

I went on a short holiday to Iceland (which wasn't remotely utilitarian, but I wanted to see some glaciers while they're still there). Once I sort through my photos I might post a couple of the more successful ones here, if anyone's interested.

Anyone else come back from the holidays with any stories?

Not much happened, saw a heap of bands, bought CDs, played with the cat at my mothers house, sat in the sun, chatted with friends, so generally had a good time. Read trash, ate ice cream, lay on the grass, drew pictures, went to exhibitions and danced on a table until 5am. Actually I did quite a fair bit...

Arepo wrote:Predictably nothing much happened over Christmas (well, I did bugger all - Ryan might have done some stuff behind the scenes), but hopefully we'll start getting things moving in 2009.

No, I didn't do much over christmas. I have, however, noticed we've been getting a little bit of downtime today and yesterday. If it continues, I'll ask what's been going on.
I suppose I'd just been earning some money through my part time job, catching up with some friends, getting unfortunately a little sunburnt, and reading some books. In particular, I'm going through a phase of interest in neuroscience. Actually, I've enjoyed lots of fascinating viewing at www.thesciencenetwork.org.

I've also encountered an unfamiliar feeling: I'm craving the restart of university.
I look forward to an ethical, fun 2009 and I hope you're having similarly positive starts to the year.

Don Alhambra is a neuroscientist... hopefully he'll swing by at some point if there's anything you want to discuss on it.

Happy New Year, and greetings Jone ! It is an absolute honor to be joining the JREF team, and to work with Randi, who has been a hero of mine since I was a young magician.

First, I want to report that the time I had in Ft. Lauderdale last month, spending time with Randi and the staff, excited me even more than I already was about making the move to the JREF. The place is bursting at the seams with creative ideas for how to better advance critical thinking in our society. And spending time with Randi talking tricks, like demonstrating our own versions of the Linking Rings to each other (the magical version of "Dueling Banjos"?), and talking magic history, was also very memorable. Yes, Randi is the leading skeptic spokesperson in the world today, but my time with him last month emphasized to me that he will always be first and foremost a magician. My first calling was as a magician as well, and so working with him to advance the Foundation's mission is an exciting prospect.