Homo economicus’ Weblog

Realized that the best of the photos I had put on myspace but not on my blog. Rather a miss of me, but that shall be rectified now. Have great memories of the event in Washington DC as this blog will attest to. The blasphemy challenge in front of the White House and the march there from the Jefferson Memorial, and helping out the stall below and meeting up with others of the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science that I had only spoken to via the internet before was truly a memorable experience. 

 In March 21-3 will be going back to the states for the American Atheists Conference in Minnesota. Looking forward to going back and maybe will see you there on the RDFRS stall!

 One question though perhaps is why would you go to a conference, spending a lot of money to fly over, stay over, when usually you can watch the thing free on the internet? The key thing is networking and socialising. This was not just about getting a chance to hear writers I admire but also to meet many activists that could inspire and give advice. To that end I am very grateful to Linda LaScola who when I told her I was being very star struck by it all grabbed me by the hand and introduced me to everyone. That led me to approaching Dawkins with the signed £10 note idea for the auction. The rest as they say is history which can be read on the AAI Conference 2007 (this will be the first blog and all the others after that in the category are the ones relating to AAI).

Thing is you have to be forward. It is not that you have to be great at socialising or witty, smart or anything like that. Socialising in the bar afterwards was an experience as we talked about ideas and controversies. I remember seeing the Mayor of San Diego reverse his decision on same sex civil partnerships and it was moving to watch with other delegates.

So the company, socialising makes it worth every penny (or nickle) in addition to being there.