RIP Martin Gardner, 1914-2010

The Skeptics Society's eSkeptic email newsletter brought me the sad news this morning that Martin Gardner, founder of modern sketpicism, passed away on May 22, 2010. Here's a Google News search that will bring up all news items about this extraordinary polymath. And here is the Amazon.com author page on Martin Gardner. If you've not had the pleasure of his essays, The Night Is Large: Collected Essays, 1938-1995 (1997) is one place to start.

Lost, the Movie

How long before we see a Lost movie based on the TV series that ended its six year run on May 23, 2010?

[polldaddy poll=3250135]

CHEK TV interview, fleeting 5 seconds of fame about VIH heli lift of RBCM new HVAC equipment

I was down around the Royal BC Museum early this morning to watch and photograph the VIH helicopter lifting the museum's new HVAC equipment on to the roof of the exhibits building. A CHEK TV cameraman approached me for an interview. I'd talked to him earlier and he asked who I was, so I guess he thought I'd make an interesting talking head. It was all of 5 seconds or so that aired, but I was misidentified as another fellow he interviewed who appeared before I did.

The story appeared on the CHEK TV News at 5 pm on May 16, 2010. The story is currently online under the title "Museum Lift". Due to the way WordPress.com handles security, I'm unable to embed the video into this post.

Royal BC Museum gets bitten by the blogging bug at last

The Royal BC Museum Blog, hosted by Google's Blogger service, in case you had not yet heard, is out there on the blogosphere. The first post by Tim Willis was on March 10, 2010 and the most recent by archivist Ann ten Cate, all about a bathroom fetish, was on May 12, 2010. The RBCM is also on Facebook and YouTube.