A little quote from Ben Franklin:

“Being ignorant is not so much a shame as being unwilling to learn.”

Randi speaks of learning here as well.

Here’s to, hopefully, another 35+ years of learning.

I never knew Randi did a TED talk. Thanks Bad Astronomer.

Harry Houdini was and still is an iconic figure of the magic, escape artist and debunking societies. Harry set the bar for future magicians and skeptics by regularly showing frauds to be what they were: charlatans, thieves, and ultimately failures.  To try and take his debunking further, he had an arrangement worked out with his wife. They shared a secret word that was to be used during seances attempting to contact Harry after his death (seances were all the rage at the time in the 1920′s).

In this manner, no matter who led the seance and what trickery was used, his wife had the key to whether it really worked. Of course, it never did. Despite claims and showmanship, no one ever held a seance where the proper magic word was revealed.

photo via Flikr

This Halloween a star studded cast, including magician Teller (of Penn and Teller), famed author and biologist Richard Dawkins, and all led by what is no doubt the most famous debunker of 20th and 21st century, James Randi, are coming together on Halloween to try contact Harry from beyond the grave.

I can only begin to imagine what an awesome event this would be. You’ve got the top minds in magic and skepticism in one room.

The comedy value alone would be worth the time and cost of travelling to this event. The showmanship will undoubtedly by priceless.

Luckily it’s supposed to be broadcast live over the internet around 9:00pm. Hopefully the kids will have collapsed from their sugar comas by then and I can catch the ‘cast.