On Friday, I made an announcement about the Skeptics’ Circle scheduled for July 31 in the light of having learned some very bad news, namely that the planned host, Jeff of Blue Collar Scientist, had recently been diagnosed with liver cancer. I wanted to verify that Jeff wasn’t going to host (as I assumed he wouldn’t; after all, it’s only a blog carnival). Jeff finally got back to me and informed that (1) he is doing as well as can be expected and (2) he won’t be hosting. Once again, let’s all wish him nothing but the best in his impending battle against this cancer.
I was originally going to hold a drawing of some sort to decide whom to award the date to, including people who wrote me to volunteer and bloggers scheduled after July 31 who might want a chance to move their turn up a bit. Heck, I even toyed with the idea of taking the slot myself. Then, I was informed that I had screwed up. Hard as it is to believe, it’s true. It turns out that I had originally promised the August 14 date to The Lay Scientist but somehow had given it to another blogger after I had promised it to The Lay Scientist. I’m terribly embarrassed by the mistake. Thus, the fairest way for me to deal with the situation, it seems to me, is to give the July 31 slot to the Lay Scientist. So that’s what I’m going to do.
My thanks to everyone who volunteered, and I will be contacting all of you individually to see if you’d still want to volunteer for the first open slots in the fall. Finally, let’s not forget that there is still this week’s Skeptics’ Circle, to be hosted at Ionian Enchantment on Thursday, June 19. There’s still time for you to submit your best skeptical work and be included in the carnival, so get crackin’!
