Every year the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) puts on what many consider to be the premier Skeptics’ conference. The 7th annual “The Amazing Meeting” (or TAM) was July 9th-12th in Las Vegas.

TAM is a collection of speakers, workshops and paper presentations. Here’s the full TAM 7 schedule. In addition there are magic shows, talent shows, and a live Million Dollar Challenge test. For the first time the JREF chose to stream TAM 7 live via uStream, which is very cool for those who can’t afford to go to TAM. This year TAM 7 was $425/person for the main conference and that doesn’t include optional workshops, your flight, hotel, dinners and booze. Of course, dinners are things you can skimp on*.

Of course, the main reason to go to TAM is to meet other skeptics from around the globe. For many of us this is an opportunity to meet people you’ve talked with on the various forums run by the JREF, or the Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe or Skepticality, to name a few. My wife and I were fortunate to meet, hang out and have dinner with many different couples. The different people we met were from as close as Lafayette, Indiana to Atlanta, Georgia. We met couples from Edmonton, Alberta, Sydney, Australia and Northern Sweden. In my opinion this is why you go to TAM, to meet people.

I know the following is a  lot of name dropping but believe me, everyone is extremely approachable and available to talk to. I was able to have a very nerd conversation regarding the SemanticWeb with Tim Farley of What’s The Harm. I was able to get some great information and tips on putting on a SkeptiCamp by Reed Esau. I did shots with Jay Novella (such a lightweight) and congratulated Rebecca Watson and Sid Rodriguez on their very public marriage. We were able to get a first look at Brian Dunning’s next project, Truth Hurts, and party with the SkepChicks.

But what had to be the highlight for me was being able to talk briefly with Daniel Loxton, the author of a short essay titled, Where do we go from here? This essay when I originally heard it on the Skepticality podcast came at a time in my life when I was a more passive skeptic. I was someone who consumed skeptical media and information but didn’t generate or participate actively within the community. This essay came at the right time for me to make that jump from consumer to participant and it has given me another creative outlet.

* I’m told you can skip the booze but that sounds like quackery.

The recent October 28th podcast covered his list of the 10 most wanted celebrities who endorse harmful pseudoscience. Now I must specify that he does not want these people to be hurt or harmed, he simply wants people to be aware of how dangerous following these people can be.

There are figures on both the right and the left politically, but all are taken to task for the harmful ideas they promote. Guess who is number 1: Oprah Winfrey. A magazine I read about a year ago called Oprah the closest thing America has to a living Deity. All the more reason to take whatever she says with a truckload of salt.

The rest of the list:

1. Oprah Winfrey – Jumping on every Alternative Bandwagon that comes along
2. Jenny McCarthy – Anti-Vaccination
3. Prince Charles – Alternative Medicine
4. Bill Maher – Alternative Medicine
5. Larry King – Bad Journalism
6. Pamela Anderson – PETA
7. Ben Stein – Comparing Science to Nazism, Creationism
8. Joe Rogan – 9/11 Truther, et al.
9. Chuck Norris – Christianity
10. Montel Williams – psychics

I urge you to check this podcast out. It’s only about 10 minutes long to listen to and even faster to read.