Sadly, the TAM audio is now offline. I recieved a cease and desist letter from the JREF lawyers, which due to contents you’ll shortly see, I’m going to go ahead and post it here.

EDIT: I wussed out and am not actually posting the letter.

In case you didn’t make it through that gobbledegook, the lawyer referenced something I said in an email to someone not a part of the James Randi Educational Foundation. That someone was Derek from the podcast Skepticality, who asked me what the licensing details on my recordings were. (Podcasters are really careful about only using what the license allows them to in their shows.) I told Derek that I didn’t technically have permission to record the lectures, and that he’d have to ask James Randi (who Derek was going to be calling anyways) whether it was all right to use on his show. I don’t blame Derek at all, I’m sure he wasn’t tattling, just trying to find out if it was OK to use the audio. I’m guessing it wasn’t :)

In any case, I figured that since they’re playing dirty by using emails not addressed to them as a scare tactic, that it’d be ok for me to post these letters not addressed to you.

Here’s my reply:

Dear Michael F. Huber,

Being a staunch supporter of the JREF —and not wishing them any more grief or harm (whether perceived or otherwise)—I’ve removed the offending material.

It saddens me greatly that the JREF would choose to take legal action against someone who so obviously supports them both financially and in spirit and intent, when a simple email telling me they don’t want me distributing these files would have sufficed very nicely. I mean, obviously I’m a supporter, I paid over $300 to the JREF just to attend the meeting, let alone the $300+ I spent flying to Vegas. Heck, that alone ought to prove it; anyone who knows me knows I don’t even get on planes, let alone go to that godforsaken city. Then there’s the fact that I spent hours and hours of my time and money to help “spread the word” by helping people to hear the very important messages that the speakers wished others to hear.

How could that hurt the JREF? Isn’t spreading the word about critical thinking the entire point of the JREF? Recording devices were not only NOT prohibited, they were extremely prevalent throughout the whole conference. Everywhere you looked you could see camcorders, cameras, laptops, digital recorders and other devices capable of recording. Is the problem that the JREF is afraid I will hurt the sales of the DVD? I’m sure not making any money off this as I’m sure you’ve seen, I don’t even have banner ads on my site and if you actually listen to any of the audio, you’ll see that it is of such poor quality that no one would dare trying to sell copies. Also, I’m willing to bet that they’ll actually have more sales, as people who listened to the audio will want to see the stuff they missed because they couldn’t see it. There was a some really great visual stuff.

Also, no matter what I jokingly said in the email you referenced — you know, the one where I suggested that I “surreptitiously” recorded the speakers — my recording gear was in plain sight on the table in front of me at all times. Bonus points to you for bringing up “eavesdropping” charges while referencing an email that wasn’t addressed to anyone at the JREF in the first place. That takes class. While on the subject of that ill-gotten email: the context of what I said was that I told Derek (who is on speaking terms with James Randi) that since I didn’t have explicit permission to record the show, I was unable to assign a license to it, suggesting that he ask Randi himself if it was ok to use the audio on his radio program. If I were trying to be sneaky, do you think I would suggest that Derek bring the matter to Mr. Randi’s attention?

As for those eavesdropping charges, I’m pretty sure that those don’t apply to recording someone who is a) speaking into a microphone in public, b) surrounded by tons of people with visible recording equipment, and c) extremely passionate about spreading the word on the issues they’re speaking about (unless, obviously, the issue they’re passionately speaking about is unlawful recording, then there might be a problem..). I don’t think I would have to worry too much about that, even if I weren’t complying by removing the material, which I am.

In any case, I’ve done what you ask and hope that this won’t affect my future dealings with the JREF in any negative way. I think they’re a great organization, and I’d be very sad to be unable to pay membership fees to them in the future. I think I’ve made my case fairly clearly that no harm was intended and that I continue to support the work they do.

Oh also: seeing how part of your claim against me referenced an email conversation with someone uninvolved in this issue, I’m sure you won’t mind that I’ve posted both your letter and this reply to my website where other uninvolved people can read about it.

jer warren

cc: James Randi Educational Foundation

Here’s the much anticipated Mythbusters Q&A. There’s a 12 minute chunk in the middle where they are playing the “bloopers” reel (which consists largely of Adam hurting himself, natch), which you probably won’t get much out of in audio land. I didn’t want to just edit it out, because there is some pretty funny stuff in there, so I apologize if you feel at all lost.

UPDATE: I accidentally exported a stereo mp3 with only the left channel intact rather than a mono one, I’ve since reuploaded it. Sorry about that.

OFFLINE due to cease and desist.

Here’s an rss/podcast feed for you to subscribe to.

Whoops. I uploaded and created the blog post for Daniel Dennett, but I apparently forgot to click submit. His talk was actually right before Carolyn Porco’s.

Daniel Dennett’s research centers on philosophy of mind and philosophy of science, particularly as those fields relate to evolutionary biology and cognitive science. He is currently the Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Philosophy and director of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University.

BREAKING THE SPELL

What is the future of religion, and why should we all care? Like weather forecasting, religion forecasting depends on knowing the phenomenon, and seeing where it came from. Religions are biological phenomena that have evolved to coexist with human beings just the way pigeons and squirrels—and language and music—have evolved. Philosopher/evolutionist Daniel Dennett peeks under the hood and shows that when we reverse engineer religions, we find they have evolved some surprising adaptations in their competition for our allegiance. Should we try to tame religion, improve it, ban it or wait for it to go extinct on its own? The answer depends on learning more about why religions are so potent.

OFFLINE due to cease and desist.

Here’s an rss/podcast feed for you to subscribe to.

Greetings everyone coming in from BoingBoing. I’m still going through all the talks, about 2/3rds of which are currently online now, with more to post as I edit them down. Don’t miss Penn Jillette’s Q&A, the Mythbusters Q&A (which hasn’t been posted yet) and Dr. Richard Wiseman’s talk.

The ideal way to hear these is via the podcast feed, as they will be downloaded in the proper order, preserving some sense of what the Amazing Meeting was like.

The volume is pretty low on these, but I couldn’t jack them up much more without distortion. You’ll just have to turn it up yourself. Some of the talks are worse than others in the audio department, so don’t give up on it if the first one you hear is too crappy for you.

Up next was Carolyn Porco:

Dr. Carolyn Porco is a leader in the exploration of the solar system. She wrote her thesis on Voyager, has worked on the Mars Observer, the Lunar Explorer, and Cassini. Her company produces space imagery in an artistic and educational manner.

PLANETS, PIETY & POLITICS

As a veteran Imaging Scientist on the Voyager mission to the outer planets in the 1980s, and as the current leader of the Imaging Science team on the Cassini mission to Saturn, Dr. Porco has traveled the length and breadth of the solar system. As a former member of many NASA advisory committees, she has also observed first hand the changing political winds blowing through the hallways of NASA. Her presentation will take us to the spectacular realm of Saturn and alert us to what the President’s `Vision’ for the future of space exploration could mean for the scientific enterprise at NASA, while telling us why the exploration of our cosmic environment matters for the intellectual and spiritual health of our species.

OFFLINE due to cease and desist.

Here’s an rss/podcast feed for you to subscribe to.