RSLancastr
www.StopSylvia.com
I've been asked by a few people to write up my TAM5 experience. I hesitate to do this, because so many wonderful things happened to me that week, this is going to look like I'm bragging.
It was all such a blur of incredible moments that I may well be describing some of them out of order here. But you'll get the general idea...
(This report turned out to be much longer than I had anticipated. Sorry.)
=====================================
I went to TAM5 looking forward to just relaxing and taking it all in. Back at TAM4 (my first TAM), I was so panicked about presenting a paper on Sunday that I couldn't just relax and enjoy. This time I figured - hey, no paper - I can just socialize and learn!
Little did I know...
The story really starts several days prior to TAM5.
Friday, Jan 12
After pulling an all-nighter at work, I come home in the early afternoon. I decide to do a quick check of my email before climbing into bed.
Among my StopSylviaBrowne emails, I find one which tells me that Shawn Hornbeck, the 15-year-old boy which had been found that day after being missing for four years, had a connection to Sylvia Browne.
Shawn's parents had been on the Montel Williams show a few years back, and Browne had told them that Shawn was dead.
I decided, rather than wait until I had the video0 of the episode, to put together a quick-and-dirty article on it using information from some news accounts I found. The article went up that day, and I went to bed.
Over the next few days, the site got some increased traffic, due to people finding the site while searching for information on Shawn Hornbeck.
Tuesday, Jan 16
I arrived at the Riviera Tuesday evening, checked in, and started trying to get a feel for the layout of the hotel (by the time I left the following Monday, I still couldn't find anything in that place). I met Wollery, BrianSI and some others, and ended up enjoying a quiet dinner with Chaos before calling it a night.
Wednesday, Jan 17
I got up early (for me, anyway), around 7:40am. The volunteering didn't start for a few hours, so I decided to wander around and see who I might meet from the forum.
First, I checked my StopSylviaBrowne email at an Internet kiosk by the hotel registration. There were a few more emails than usual, but one caught my attention. In part, it read:
I called the reporter, got her voice mail, and left my cell number, telling her to call me any time, day or night. Having done so, I headed for the coffee shop for breakfast, hoping to run into some forumites. No such luck. I sit and eat breakfast, wondering where everyone else is. (As it turns out, the clock in my hotel room was one hour fast. I was eating breakfast at 7:00).
After breakfast, I get back to wandering around, and who do I find but James Randi, standing alone, examining a poster on a wall. I introduce myself, not sure if he would remember me from last year, and we talk about - what else - Sylvia Browne. I tell him about the NY Daily News contact, and he is pleased.
Jeff Wagg arrives, and the three of us wander to the area where the volunteers will be stuffing packets. I meet some of the other behind-the-scenes folks, then Mr. Randi and I wander off to have breakfast. (I've already eaten, but I'll have seconds if it means visiting with Randi!)
We get to the coffee shop and find Hal and Elaine finishing up their meal. We sit with them, and order. Most of the talk is of Browne (and Kaz), and partway through the meal, my cell phone rings. It is the reporter.
It's loud in the restaurant, so I put the phone to one ear and cover the other with my hand, and do the interview. Some part of the back of my mid is thinking "I'm sitting next to James Randi, and being interviewed by a New York reporter about Sylvia Browne. What universe did I wake up in today?!?!"
Partway through the interview, I glance over, and Hal, Elaine and Mr. Randi are all watching me and nodding at my answers. talk about pressure!
After the interview, I tell Mr. Randi that I would have handed the phone over to him, but it was so loud in there... "No, no." he says. "This is YOUR baby."
Wow.
The rest of the day is spent stuffing packets, going to lunch with the other volunteers at the Peppermill, and watching my email like a hawk. If any more press requests come through, I do not want to miss them. I also do some further reading on the web regarding the Hornbeck, case, in case it comes up.
I don't even remember now what happened that evening...
Thursday, Jan 18
First thing, I hit the Internet kiosk and check my mail. It is 8am or so, and there are already far more emails in my InBox than there usually are in an entire day. I don't have the time (nor, at $0.75 per minute, the money) to respond to them, but it becomes evident that the NY Daily News article had come out:
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/489771p-412369c.html
One of the emails breaks some more good news:
Somewhere in there - maybe on the forum - I learn that Penn Jillette had also mentioned the site on his show!
Another email holds yet another surprise:
I call the number, and have a conversation something like this:
I tell her this is no longer the case. Jeff shows up, and we break the news to him. They aren't happy, as they've just juggled Mr. Randi's schedule to fit in the interview around the reception that night, and now, who knows?
Another email that day breaks yet another bit of news:
I go up to my room and call my fiancee, telling her all the news. I hang up my cell, and the hotel room phone rings.
I pick it up, expecting it to be the registration desk again, as there had been some confusion about my check-in.
A man starts talking about the Bill O'Reilly interview, and it took a couple of sentences before I realize it was Mr. Randi, calling to fill me in on the latest! I tell him what I had told Jeff. He had been in interviews, so was not aware that the interview had been postponed.
After hanging up, I just fall backwards onto my bed, laughing. James Randi called me to fill me in on something - I'm still in that other universe!
Then I get an email from CNN. Anderson Cooper is doing a segment on the Shaw Hornbeck/Sylvia Browne story, and they want to know if I have video of the Montel show where Browne spoke with Shawn's folks.
I reply, telling them that I do not have it with me, but here's where they can order it. I also give them my cell number, and tell them not to hesitate to call me any time if they need any info which would help them with the story.
I spend the rest of the day meeting and talking to lots of people. The word about the O'Reilly interview is out, and everyone is excited.
At one point in the day, something happened which will stay with me forever. A lot of wonderful things happened that week, but this quiet moment was by far my favorite.
I was walking through the crowd around the registration area, when Mr. Randi sees me and walks over. "Robert, Sylvia Browne is taking some serious hits this week, and it is largely to your credit."
I can't even describe how that made me feel. Mr. Randi has been one of my heroes for more than thirty years.
How many people ever get to even MEET their heroes, let alone hear something like that from him or her?
I don't know if I'm describing it well, But it is a moment I will remember as long as I live.
Later that day, I am talking with a vendor at a booth where you can buy custom-embroidered hats. I am strongly considering buying a hat and having them embroider it with the StopSylviaBrowne logo, when Hal comes up to me and says "Penn is here, and he wants to interview you. Is that okay?"
Sure. Why not! (Holy crap!)
He takes me down the hallway, and I see Penn towering over the others around him. Hal introduces me, and Penn says "Hi. My names Penn. I have a radio show. Wanna be on it?"
"Sure, thanks. When?"
"Now. The equipment is upstairs."
Oh jeez...
I follow Penn and Mike Goudeau (his co-host) to the elevators.
As we wait for the elevator, Penn turns to me and says "So, think you can talk about her for forty minutes?"
"I guess we'll see." There's a pause, and I continue: "Of course, I haven't talked to a lawyer, so I really don't know what I can and cannot say, but I'll wing it."
There is another pause, then Penn replies "Don't say 'c***'."
I laugh. "So, I guess that 'fraudulent c***' is out of the question?"
We enter the elevator.
Goudeau says "Actually, part of my job is to note the time whenever he (Penn) says 'c***, so we can edit it out later. So feel free."
That having been settled, we exit the elevator and walk to a suite (I believe it was Mr. Randi's) where three mics have been set up on a round, glass-top table by the windows overlooking the strip. Two sound engineers are already there, and they man the equipment. The three of us put on the "cans" (this is what world-weary, media-savvy people such as myself call "earphones"), and we're off to the races.
I'll let you wait until the show is broadcast to hear what happened during the interview. Penn said that they were taping a bunch of interviews at TAM, and that they would be broadcasting them over the coming weeks. So I don't know if or when mine will come up. Consult your local listings.
That night, I get to the Reception, and almost immediately someone (sorry, I forget who) tells me about a conversation about Sylvia Browne he overheard down in the lobby. I won't go into details here, but I knew I had to follow up on it right away.
I went back down to the lobby, and spoke with someone. Interesting. An article for the SSB site may result from it. That's all I'll say now.
I go back up to the Reception, only to find out that Mr. Randi had announced the O'Reily thing, and introduced me, but I was nowhere to be found. Damn!
After the reception, I notice I have some voice mail on my cell. It was the CNN producer, wanting to speak with me. I call her back, and she asks if I can tape an interview in the morning.
I tell her I have a face better suited for a radio interview. She laughs, but she assures me that the makeup people can work miracles. I agree to the interview, and she says she will call me at 9am to let me know when and where it will happen.
Friday, Jan 19
I get up early, but decide not to have any breakfast. If the interview makes me nervous, it's better that it not happen on a full stomach.
The producer calls, and asks if 11am is good for the interview. I tell her that's fine, and she gives me directions to where the taping will be held, as well as a phone number to contact the people at the taping location should I need to.
I check my SSB email for the umpteenth time. Ever since the NY Daily News article hit the stands, I'd been getting more than a hundred emails a day, as opposed to the four or five a day I had been getting prior to that.
I don't have time to reply, but I read each one to make sure I don't miss anything important. As usual the vast majority of them are very positive, with a couple being negative. Mixed in with all of this were requests for radio interviews. I respond and agree to them. And I won't need makeup!
I will miss some of the first few speakers of this, the first day of the conference. But I show up to see Hal introduce Mr. Randi, and hear him speak about the changes to the Challenge. After that I'm out the door, out to get my car from the valet, and I drive to the location where the interview will be taped.
It was a sort of generic studio, I assume used by various networks (there was nothing to indicate that it was a CNN affiliate), located in an industrial park behind a restaurant near the strip.
I go inside, and am taken to a room where a camera is pointed at a chair behind a small desk-like thing. Behind the chair is a black backdrop. Large lights are aimed at the chair and surrounding area.
I sit down, and the cameraman hangs a small earpiece over my ear, and asks me to place it in the ear. He then hands me a small mic on a clip and asks me to feed it up through my shirt and out the collar, where he takes it and clips it to my collar. He then takes his place behind the camera, and a producer in New York asks me, via the earpiece, if I can hear her. I respond that I hear her fine.
She tells me that they will tape my answers to a bunch of questions, but that they will probably only use the answers to a couple of them to enhance the segment.
She then tells me to hold on, and they will be right with me. I sit and smile, wondering if the CNN people would give me the same advice that Penn had.
After a few minutes, during which I hear various things going on in New York, she comes back on and explains to me that she will be asking me questions, and I need to focus on a point to my left of the camera rather than looking straight into the camera, and pretend to be answering someone sitting there. I pick a spot, even though it is hard to see - it's black, and I am not wearing my glasses - and we start.
Over the next twenty minutes or so, I'm asked a handful of questions, such as "What motivated you to create the site?" "Why Sylvia Browne?" "Does she really harm people?" and so on. I answer them to the best of my abilities.
At one point in the interview, they received an email from Browne's business manager, and read it to me, asking my response to it.
Afterwards, they thank me, and with a *click*, New York is no longer in my ear.
As I get ready to leave, the cameraman talks to me for a minute about Browne. I get the impression that he is more skeptical of her than he was twenty minutes ago.
Back at the Riviera, I check my email again, and join the conference in progress.
Someone - I think it was Boo, but maybe it was Elaine - tells me that Randi will be live on the same show as my taped interview, and that it has been arranged that it be shown on the huge screens on either side of the stage in the conference room. Nice!
The rest of the day is somewhat of a blur.
At 7pm, about one or two hundred of us show up in the conference room to watch Anderson Cooper. The show starts with other news, but soon the Browne segment starts. From the moment the title screen comes up with a picture of Sylvia Browne next to the words "DEAD WRONG", we know we are in for a treat.
I should mention that as soon as it was known that we were going to be on CNN, people were worried that - as usual - the skeptical viewpoint would be marginalized. I tried to assure everyone that from what I had heard, it looked like that would not be the case this time, and fortunately, I was right.
After that "DEAD WRONG" title card came up, we spent the next ten or twelve minutes reveling in a piece which pulled no punches. People clapped and cheered when Mr. Randi or I was on screen, booed and hissed at Browne, and whenever host Anderson Cooper used phrases like "alleged psychic" and "self-described psychic", there were shouts of "Yessss!!!!!" heard in various parts of the room.
Looking back, how perfect was that? The theme of the conference was "Skepticism and the Media," and we watched James Randi being interviewed on a news show, live, during the conference!
After it was over, the mood was definitely celebratory. The skeptical point of view had, for once, been given its due. I shook lots of hands, and got lots of Skepchick hugs.
I watched Hal's one many show (impressive, especially the Q&A portion), and Julie Sweeney and Jill Sobule's show (sweet and funny), and the night was over.
Later, I realized I had not eaten anything all day other than a sandwich at lunch, so I stopped in at the coffee shop for a late dinner. I was joined by Boo and Jeff, and we talked about what a day it had been.
Jeff asked if I had gotten any more interesting emails that day, and told them about some of the radio interview requests. I also remarked that next year, I was going to have a laptop, because I had spent somewhere around $300 at the Internet kiosks in the hotels so far.
We all finished dinner, and called it a night.
Saturday, January 20
I had breakfast at the banquet hall, sitting next to Mr. and Mrs. Wagg. Very nice people, and I defintely learned where Jeff gets his skepticism! Also at the table was Robert Todd Carroll of SkepDic.com fame, whose nametag confused me because it lacked the "Todd".
After breakfast, we entered the conference room, and as the first order of business, Hal announced to the crowd that I had spent over $300 on Internet charges, pursuing the Browne story from the hotel. A box was on the table with the JREF books for sale, and all were encouraged to donate towards reimbursing me for those costs!
I looked around the room, to see if Jeff Wagg was near enough to throw something at. He wasn't.
Next up was Mr. Randi, who started by saying that as soon as he was through at the podium, he was going to be dropping a hundred dollar bill into the Robert Lancaster fund.
Later in the day, Hal announced that a total of $786.55 had been collected.
I was touched, and I was embarrassed at the same time. As with so much that happened that week, it was just... overwhelming.
When Jeff Wagg brought it to me later, along with another $20 which someone had given him as he brought it over, I said "That's the last time I tell you how much something costs, mister!" He laughed.
Sunday, Jan 21
I wrote a brief thank-you note, hoping it could be read by Hal (or whoever) to the crowd, but there wasn't time to read it with all of the papers to be presented.
Here is what it said:
As if the week had not already been wonderful enough, on Sunday night, through a series of unusual circumstances, I ended up having dinner at a very nice restaurant with Mr. Randi and his posse.
Monday, Jan 22
I bump into Chaos down in the lobby, and we eat breakfast in the coffee shop. Afterwards, I finish packing, get my car from the valet, and drive back to Los Angeles, all the while going over in my mind the events of a week which has been nothing short of... Amazing.
PS: The O'Reilly people never got back to us. And we didn't even miss them.
It was all such a blur of incredible moments that I may well be describing some of them out of order here. But you'll get the general idea...
(This report turned out to be much longer than I had anticipated. Sorry.)
=====================================
I went to TAM5 looking forward to just relaxing and taking it all in. Back at TAM4 (my first TAM), I was so panicked about presenting a paper on Sunday that I couldn't just relax and enjoy. This time I figured - hey, no paper - I can just socialize and learn!
Little did I know...
The story really starts several days prior to TAM5.
Friday, Jan 12
After pulling an all-nighter at work, I come home in the early afternoon. I decide to do a quick check of my email before climbing into bed.
Among my StopSylviaBrowne emails, I find one which tells me that Shawn Hornbeck, the 15-year-old boy which had been found that day after being missing for four years, had a connection to Sylvia Browne.
Shawn's parents had been on the Montel Williams show a few years back, and Browne had told them that Shawn was dead.
I decided, rather than wait until I had the video0 of the episode, to put together a quick-and-dirty article on it using information from some news accounts I found. The article went up that day, and I went to bed.
Over the next few days, the site got some increased traffic, due to people finding the site while searching for information on Shawn Hornbeck.
Tuesday, Jan 16
I arrived at the Riviera Tuesday evening, checked in, and started trying to get a feel for the layout of the hotel (by the time I left the following Monday, I still couldn't find anything in that place). I met Wollery, BrianSI and some others, and ended up enjoying a quiet dinner with Chaos before calling it a night.
Wednesday, Jan 17
I got up early (for me, anyway), around 7:40am. The volunteering didn't start for a few hours, so I decided to wander around and see who I might meet from the forum.
First, I checked my StopSylviaBrowne email at an Internet kiosk by the hotel registration. There were a few more emails than usual, but one caught my attention. In part, it read:
Nice!!!!
I called the reporter, got her voice mail, and left my cell number, telling her to call me any time, day or night. Having done so, I headed for the coffee shop for breakfast, hoping to run into some forumites. No such luck. I sit and eat breakfast, wondering where everyone else is. (As it turns out, the clock in my hotel room was one hour fast. I was eating breakfast at 7:00).
After breakfast, I get back to wandering around, and who do I find but James Randi, standing alone, examining a poster on a wall. I introduce myself, not sure if he would remember me from last year, and we talk about - what else - Sylvia Browne. I tell him about the NY Daily News contact, and he is pleased.
Jeff Wagg arrives, and the three of us wander to the area where the volunteers will be stuffing packets. I meet some of the other behind-the-scenes folks, then Mr. Randi and I wander off to have breakfast. (I've already eaten, but I'll have seconds if it means visiting with Randi!)
We get to the coffee shop and find Hal and Elaine finishing up their meal. We sit with them, and order. Most of the talk is of Browne (and Kaz), and partway through the meal, my cell phone rings. It is the reporter.
It's loud in the restaurant, so I put the phone to one ear and cover the other with my hand, and do the interview. Some part of the back of my mid is thinking "I'm sitting next to James Randi, and being interviewed by a New York reporter about Sylvia Browne. What universe did I wake up in today?!?!"
Partway through the interview, I glance over, and Hal, Elaine and Mr. Randi are all watching me and nodding at my answers. talk about pressure!
After the interview, I tell Mr. Randi that I would have handed the phone over to him, but it was so loud in there... "No, no." he says. "This is YOUR baby."
Wow.
The rest of the day is spent stuffing packets, going to lunch with the other volunteers at the Peppermill, and watching my email like a hawk. If any more press requests come through, I do not want to miss them. I also do some further reading on the web regarding the Hornbeck, case, in case it comes up.
I don't even remember now what happened that evening...
Thursday, Jan 18
First thing, I hit the Internet kiosk and check my mail. It is 8am or so, and there are already far more emails in my InBox than there usually are in an entire day. I don't have the time (nor, at $0.75 per minute, the money) to respond to them, but it becomes evident that the NY Daily News article had come out:
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/489771p-412369c.html
One of the emails breaks some more good news:
Stern?!?! Holy crap!!
Somewhere in there - maybe on the forum - I learn that Penn Jillette had also mentioned the site on his show!
Another email holds yet another surprise:
Okay, now I am on overload.
I call the number, and have a conversation something like this:
I hang up and run off to find Jeff. At the registration desk, I find Linda, who tells me Mr. Randi is going to be on the O'Reilly Factor that night.
I tell her this is no longer the case. Jeff shows up, and we break the news to him. They aren't happy, as they've just juggled Mr. Randi's schedule to fit in the interview around the reception that night, and now, who knows?
Another email that day breaks yet another bit of news:
At this point I'm just shaking my head and laughing, it's all just... surreal.
I go up to my room and call my fiancee, telling her all the news. I hang up my cell, and the hotel room phone rings.
I pick it up, expecting it to be the registration desk again, as there had been some confusion about my check-in.
A man starts talking about the Bill O'Reilly interview, and it took a couple of sentences before I realize it was Mr. Randi, calling to fill me in on the latest! I tell him what I had told Jeff. He had been in interviews, so was not aware that the interview had been postponed.
After hanging up, I just fall backwards onto my bed, laughing. James Randi called me to fill me in on something - I'm still in that other universe!
Then I get an email from CNN. Anderson Cooper is doing a segment on the Shaw Hornbeck/Sylvia Browne story, and they want to know if I have video of the Montel show where Browne spoke with Shawn's folks.
I reply, telling them that I do not have it with me, but here's where they can order it. I also give them my cell number, and tell them not to hesitate to call me any time if they need any info which would help them with the story.
I spend the rest of the day meeting and talking to lots of people. The word about the O'Reilly interview is out, and everyone is excited.
At one point in the day, something happened which will stay with me forever. A lot of wonderful things happened that week, but this quiet moment was by far my favorite.
I was walking through the crowd around the registration area, when Mr. Randi sees me and walks over. "Robert, Sylvia Browne is taking some serious hits this week, and it is largely to your credit."
I can't even describe how that made me feel. Mr. Randi has been one of my heroes for more than thirty years.
How many people ever get to even MEET their heroes, let alone hear something like that from him or her?
I don't know if I'm describing it well, But it is a moment I will remember as long as I live.
Later that day, I am talking with a vendor at a booth where you can buy custom-embroidered hats. I am strongly considering buying a hat and having them embroider it with the StopSylviaBrowne logo, when Hal comes up to me and says "Penn is here, and he wants to interview you. Is that okay?"
Sure. Why not! (Holy crap!)
He takes me down the hallway, and I see Penn towering over the others around him. Hal introduces me, and Penn says "Hi. My names Penn. I have a radio show. Wanna be on it?"
"Sure, thanks. When?"
"Now. The equipment is upstairs."
Oh jeez...
I follow Penn and Mike Goudeau (his co-host) to the elevators.
As we wait for the elevator, Penn turns to me and says "So, think you can talk about her for forty minutes?"
"I guess we'll see." There's a pause, and I continue: "Of course, I haven't talked to a lawyer, so I really don't know what I can and cannot say, but I'll wing it."
There is another pause, then Penn replies "Don't say 'c***'."
I laugh. "So, I guess that 'fraudulent c***' is out of the question?"
We enter the elevator.
Goudeau says "Actually, part of my job is to note the time whenever he (Penn) says 'c***, so we can edit it out later. So feel free."
That having been settled, we exit the elevator and walk to a suite (I believe it was Mr. Randi's) where three mics have been set up on a round, glass-top table by the windows overlooking the strip. Two sound engineers are already there, and they man the equipment. The three of us put on the "cans" (this is what world-weary, media-savvy people such as myself call "earphones"), and we're off to the races.
I'll let you wait until the show is broadcast to hear what happened during the interview. Penn said that they were taping a bunch of interviews at TAM, and that they would be broadcasting them over the coming weeks. So I don't know if or when mine will come up. Consult your local listings.
That night, I get to the Reception, and almost immediately someone (sorry, I forget who) tells me about a conversation about Sylvia Browne he overheard down in the lobby. I won't go into details here, but I knew I had to follow up on it right away.
I went back down to the lobby, and spoke with someone. Interesting. An article for the SSB site may result from it. That's all I'll say now.
I go back up to the Reception, only to find out that Mr. Randi had announced the O'Reily thing, and introduced me, but I was nowhere to be found. Damn!
After the reception, I notice I have some voice mail on my cell. It was the CNN producer, wanting to speak with me. I call her back, and she asks if I can tape an interview in the morning.
I tell her I have a face better suited for a radio interview. She laughs, but she assures me that the makeup people can work miracles. I agree to the interview, and she says she will call me at 9am to let me know when and where it will happen.
Friday, Jan 19
I get up early, but decide not to have any breakfast. If the interview makes me nervous, it's better that it not happen on a full stomach.
The producer calls, and asks if 11am is good for the interview. I tell her that's fine, and she gives me directions to where the taping will be held, as well as a phone number to contact the people at the taping location should I need to.
I check my SSB email for the umpteenth time. Ever since the NY Daily News article hit the stands, I'd been getting more than a hundred emails a day, as opposed to the four or five a day I had been getting prior to that.
I don't have time to reply, but I read each one to make sure I don't miss anything important. As usual the vast majority of them are very positive, with a couple being negative. Mixed in with all of this were requests for radio interviews. I respond and agree to them. And I won't need makeup!
I will miss some of the first few speakers of this, the first day of the conference. But I show up to see Hal introduce Mr. Randi, and hear him speak about the changes to the Challenge. After that I'm out the door, out to get my car from the valet, and I drive to the location where the interview will be taped.
It was a sort of generic studio, I assume used by various networks (there was nothing to indicate that it was a CNN affiliate), located in an industrial park behind a restaurant near the strip.
I go inside, and am taken to a room where a camera is pointed at a chair behind a small desk-like thing. Behind the chair is a black backdrop. Large lights are aimed at the chair and surrounding area.
I sit down, and the cameraman hangs a small earpiece over my ear, and asks me to place it in the ear. He then hands me a small mic on a clip and asks me to feed it up through my shirt and out the collar, where he takes it and clips it to my collar. He then takes his place behind the camera, and a producer in New York asks me, via the earpiece, if I can hear her. I respond that I hear her fine.
She tells me that they will tape my answers to a bunch of questions, but that they will probably only use the answers to a couple of them to enhance the segment.
She then tells me to hold on, and they will be right with me. I sit and smile, wondering if the CNN people would give me the same advice that Penn had.
After a few minutes, during which I hear various things going on in New York, she comes back on and explains to me that she will be asking me questions, and I need to focus on a point to my left of the camera rather than looking straight into the camera, and pretend to be answering someone sitting there. I pick a spot, even though it is hard to see - it's black, and I am not wearing my glasses - and we start.
Over the next twenty minutes or so, I'm asked a handful of questions, such as "What motivated you to create the site?" "Why Sylvia Browne?" "Does she really harm people?" and so on. I answer them to the best of my abilities.
At one point in the interview, they received an email from Browne's business manager, and read it to me, asking my response to it.
Afterwards, they thank me, and with a *click*, New York is no longer in my ear.
As I get ready to leave, the cameraman talks to me for a minute about Browne. I get the impression that he is more skeptical of her than he was twenty minutes ago.
Back at the Riviera, I check my email again, and join the conference in progress.
Someone - I think it was Boo, but maybe it was Elaine - tells me that Randi will be live on the same show as my taped interview, and that it has been arranged that it be shown on the huge screens on either side of the stage in the conference room. Nice!
The rest of the day is somewhat of a blur.
At 7pm, about one or two hundred of us show up in the conference room to watch Anderson Cooper. The show starts with other news, but soon the Browne segment starts. From the moment the title screen comes up with a picture of Sylvia Browne next to the words "DEAD WRONG", we know we are in for a treat.
I should mention that as soon as it was known that we were going to be on CNN, people were worried that - as usual - the skeptical viewpoint would be marginalized. I tried to assure everyone that from what I had heard, it looked like that would not be the case this time, and fortunately, I was right.
After that "DEAD WRONG" title card came up, we spent the next ten or twelve minutes reveling in a piece which pulled no punches. People clapped and cheered when Mr. Randi or I was on screen, booed and hissed at Browne, and whenever host Anderson Cooper used phrases like "alleged psychic" and "self-described psychic", there were shouts of "Yessss!!!!!" heard in various parts of the room.
Looking back, how perfect was that? The theme of the conference was "Skepticism and the Media," and we watched James Randi being interviewed on a news show, live, during the conference!
After it was over, the mood was definitely celebratory. The skeptical point of view had, for once, been given its due. I shook lots of hands, and got lots of Skepchick hugs.
I watched Hal's one many show (impressive, especially the Q&A portion), and Julie Sweeney and Jill Sobule's show (sweet and funny), and the night was over.
Later, I realized I had not eaten anything all day other than a sandwich at lunch, so I stopped in at the coffee shop for a late dinner. I was joined by Boo and Jeff, and we talked about what a day it had been.
Jeff asked if I had gotten any more interesting emails that day, and told them about some of the radio interview requests. I also remarked that next year, I was going to have a laptop, because I had spent somewhere around $300 at the Internet kiosks in the hotels so far.
We all finished dinner, and called it a night.
Saturday, January 20
I had breakfast at the banquet hall, sitting next to Mr. and Mrs. Wagg. Very nice people, and I defintely learned where Jeff gets his skepticism! Also at the table was Robert Todd Carroll of SkepDic.com fame, whose nametag confused me because it lacked the "Todd".
After breakfast, we entered the conference room, and as the first order of business, Hal announced to the crowd that I had spent over $300 on Internet charges, pursuing the Browne story from the hotel. A box was on the table with the JREF books for sale, and all were encouraged to donate towards reimbursing me for those costs!
I looked around the room, to see if Jeff Wagg was near enough to throw something at. He wasn't.
Next up was Mr. Randi, who started by saying that as soon as he was through at the podium, he was going to be dropping a hundred dollar bill into the Robert Lancaster fund.
Later in the day, Hal announced that a total of $786.55 had been collected.
I was touched, and I was embarrassed at the same time. As with so much that happened that week, it was just... overwhelming.
When Jeff Wagg brought it to me later, along with another $20 which someone had given him as he brought it over, I said "That's the last time I tell you how much something costs, mister!" He laughed.
Sunday, Jan 21
I wrote a brief thank-you note, hoping it could be read by Hal (or whoever) to the crowd, but there wasn't time to read it with all of the papers to be presented.
Here is what it said:
It doesn't say what I feel by half, but it will have to do.
As if the week had not already been wonderful enough, on Sunday night, through a series of unusual circumstances, I ended up having dinner at a very nice restaurant with Mr. Randi and his posse.
Monday, Jan 22
I bump into Chaos down in the lobby, and we eat breakfast in the coffee shop. Afterwards, I finish packing, get my car from the valet, and drive back to Los Angeles, all the while going over in my mind the events of a week which has been nothing short of... Amazing.
PS: The O'Reilly people never got back to us. And we didn't even miss them.
