Lot of dead air here lately, sorry about that. It’s a combination of factors: my laptop is dying (replacement has been ordered) and is no longer reliable, especially not for traveling…so it’s locked down in my office and confined to only light duties. But that means I’m away from home without a fully functional blogging computer. My work flow is disrupted! But I’ll be going home today.
Also, I was ambitious: I’ve done 11 panels at CONvergence so far (one more this afternoon), and co-hosted the Freethoughtblogs party, 8pm-1am, every night — actually, most of the work there has been done by Mary, who’s going to collapse once we get home, I think. My voice is gone, fried and frazzled, which will make this last session an ordeal. I think I’ll just point to the other people and have them do all the work, while I nap.
Anyway, Pharyngula will be back to normal by Monday. I hope. I think it depends on me getting my brain back on track. Fortunately I don’t need to talk to blog.
45 comments
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PZ Myers
8 July 2012 at 11:08 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I understand thinking is expected, though, which may be difficult.
Sili (I have no penis and I must jizz)
8 July 2012 at 11:10 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Mary! Mary! Mary!
(Please come cuddle the sheep with the rest of us.)
Zeno
8 July 2012 at 11:13 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
“Returning to normal” — or what passes for normal around here. Looking forward to your getting back into high gear.
Zeno
8 July 2012 at 11:16 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Here’s a recommendation for some summer reading, for those of you who don’t already have enough to do. It’s seriously good.
timgueguen
8 July 2012 at 11:24 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
And what do you come back to? A 1667(!) comment thread! Nasty.
mythbri
8 July 2012 at 11:39 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
PZ, when you say “Freethought Blog Parties” you are of course referring to “Freethought Bullying Parties”, right? Or do you mean that you didn’t round up everyone that you could, lock them into a room and berate them until they agreed with you?
Some bully you are.
onion girl, OM; social workers do it with paperwork
8 July 2012 at 11:55 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Please do take care of yourselves–both of you. Chamomile tea with honey & ginger is my favorite lost voice remedy. :)
And you must hurry back to blogging full speed; there is a serious dearth of bullying around here–I thought the rule was one blog post per hour devoted for bullying, and it definitely seems FtB is falling short of that goal.
You has a reputation to maintain!
Beatrice
8 July 2012 at 12:03 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I hope returning to normal will include restricting reasonable fellow to TZT.
He is shitting all over I get email
PZ Myers
8 July 2012 at 12:10 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Yes, first priority when I get back is to bully the mega-threads back into shape.
Caine, prémédité méchante langue
8 July 2012 at 12:14 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Beatrice:
Seconded. Although, to be honest, I’m leaning more towards Off with his head! at this point.
happyrabo
8 July 2012 at 12:16 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Not only were people not locked into the party room, I personally witnessed PZ in the party room being polite to the vapid “Ancient Aliens” dingleberry he had recently humiliated in a debate on that topic. Some monster you turned out to be!
Sili (I have no penis and I must jizz)
8 July 2012 at 12:32 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Clever namedropping there.
Nope. Not jealous at all. Not at all. Not even a little bit. Not even at all.
carlie
8 July 2012 at 12:47 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
No no, first priority is sleep, second is food, third is stuff like laundry, then is cleaning up threads.
RFW
8 July 2012 at 12:57 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
You need to take lessons from a voice coach. Not kidding.
A good voice coach can teach you how to talk as much as you have without leaving your voice in tatters.
Lawyers know this, but deal with it in varied ways. One young lawyer I worked with (his summer job) was taking singing lessons to improve his voice projection, the better to argue cases in court. Another (her summer job) headed off afterwards to spend six months in a chateau in the Loire Valley to improve her French by immersion. As she put it, you can’t argue cases before the Supreme Court of Canada if you are not fluently bilingual.
As lawyers, so biologists who take on significant speaking engagements.
onion girl, OM; social workers do it with paperwork
8 July 2012 at 1:12 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Err…yes, but only within physical limits. I used to sing and learned all kinds of tricks for boosting your voice’s capacity (honey and ginger being one), but there are limits. No matter how many tricks you learn, if you exhaust your voice, it’s done, and will need time to rest.
Even with vocal tricks, significant public speaking over the course of 3 (4?) days is going to bump up against most people’s natural limits.
Draken
8 July 2012 at 1:20 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Tough for her; I knew a Quebecoise who had the hardest time making herself understandable to, or understand, a native Frenchman. But that should not stop anyone from visiting the Loire valley.
irisvanderpluym
8 July 2012 at 1:33 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Former rock singer here. Honey, ginger, teas and/or voice coaches? All good ideas. Here are two great ideas for when “the show must go on.” 1) gargle with glycerin. IIRC, it’s not as bad as it sounds. Vocal cords become much more supple without cracking. 2) gargle and drink a shot or two of Grand Marnier (or similar). Okay, this one might be woo… but (a) it always worked for me (therefore it must be true fax! because SCIENCE!), and (b) it’s a shot or two of sweet, strong liquor. I.e., no downside.
Ophelia Benson
8 July 2012 at 1:37 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Freethought blogs party? Well how much work can that have been? It was just you and Mary sitting around having a beer, right? Obviously nobody else showed up. Everybody else everywhere hates Freethought blogs. Hates hates hates it (and it is it: many minds but just one thought). I know this because the same person under different names keeps showing up to tell me so.
irisvanderpluym
8 July 2012 at 1:44 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
@ Ophelia
That would be me. I AM LEGION!
(Wait, wut?)
Joey Maloney
8 July 2012 at 2:08 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Via FB, an official message from Convergence.
Now really, how hard was that?
Niki M
8 July 2012 at 2:11 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Oh yeah, the place was empty as hell. No huge crowds of people moving in and out, no games of Munchkin, no sitting in the awesome throne, no booze in quantities enough to drown a team of Budweiser horses…or give me a wicked hangover…
That person is an eeidot (and you’ll come next year, yespleaseyay?)
'Tis Himself
8 July 2012 at 2:53 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
That would be nice.
Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls
8 July 2012 at 3:05 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Normal? Hmmmm…almost sounds good…might give me a chance to clean the troll stomping tutu and steel toed troll stomping boots. But then, that’s why there is back-ups.
Markita Lynda—damn climate change!
8 July 2012 at 3:18 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
When you can’t think, just keep tossing the ball to other people:
“And what do you think about this issue, Yukio?” “What’s your experience with this been, Xavier?” “How would you handle something like that, Zenobia?”
sisu
8 July 2012 at 3:38 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I know, right? He & Mary came into the kids’ space and taught my 3 year old about owls. He didn’t even eat a single baby!!
Janine: Fucking Dyke Of Rage Mountain
8 July 2012 at 3:42 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Nerd, the trouble with normal is it always gets worse.
Lonely Panda, e.s.l.
8 July 2012 at 3:47 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Zenobia would probably just advocate a series of half measures.
chigau (間違っていない)
8 July 2012 at 4:13 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
What time “Monday”?
(UTC)
birgerjohansson
8 July 2012 at 4:21 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
“My voice is gone, fried and frazzled”
Obviously the revenge of Zod. No thunderbolts were available.
— — — — — — — —
Crossposted: “She was executed for the crime of being raped.” http://freethoughtblogs.com/taslima/2012/07/08/she-was-executed-for-the-crime-of-being-raped/
HULK SMASH!!!!!
larry
8 July 2012 at 5:41 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I do not use WordPress to blog (I use another service) thus I had to do a little digging to resurrect this account. This will be a one way and one time communication.
My road to non-belief has been long and mostly solitary. I simply could not find any source of romantic, idealistic atheism, a belief is sheltering, and soaring. I read all the book and consumed all the blogs. I watched videos and witnessed the debates. The lynchpin for non-beleif was not a storm of facts or a reasoned argument. It was RIchard Dawkins description of his boyhood in The God Delusion. Reading his words I thought, “That is my boyhood and I want it back!”
I turned from religion embracing a wide-eyed curiosity of the world. I turned from bitterness and judgements….sexism…double speak. And now what do I see in my new home? I see bitterness and fighting. I see immaturity. I see a person posting a carefully selected email to place himself in a good light. You should be ashamed of yourself……but I know you are not.
I prefer my solitary road until I can find a decent source of information and opinions. Again, this communication is a one time only event. I will never be back.
Niki M
8 July 2012 at 5:47 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
And nothing of value was lost.
allencdexter
8 July 2012 at 6:16 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
It will be nice having you back. I especially miss those accounts of why people became atheists. Post a few make up one if you can,
Hope the voice gets back to normal quickly.
Rest assured that you were missed by many of us who don’t buy into all this controversy. It got downright nasty — shockingly so. I finally just tuned it out and refused to read all the drivel. Those commenters were clicking keys in vain, as far as I was concerned.
carlie
8 July 2012 at 6:25 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Ew, Larry, you got melodrama all over my screen! That stuff is hell to clean off. So sticky.
a3kr0n
8 July 2012 at 6:54 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Hey Larry @ 30, why not check out the new video from birdieupon?
tim rowledge, Ersatz Haderach
8 July 2012 at 6:58 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Iris –
The traditional beverage at Cons for those using their voices a lot – mainly the filkers – is Tullamore Dew. Not being a drinker I can’t offer any personal opinion, but it certainly seems to help Leslie Fish keep her guitar under control.
Joey –
Oh boy, the comments… There really isn’t much hope, is there?
woodyemanuel
8 July 2012 at 7:26 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Ditch the laptop – get an iPad.
sphex
8 July 2012 at 7:26 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
… and me without my violin. DARNIT!
nonny
8 July 2012 at 8:14 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Welcome back. Sounds like you were busy.
feralboy12
8 July 2012 at 8:25 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
All I can say is Hats Off To Larry.
DLC
8 July 2012 at 10:38 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I know how you feel, PZ. back in the day I used to get home from a con and feel like I needed a vacation to recover from my vacation. Take it easy for a day or two, the place won’t go too much further down the tubes.
Liked the sign linked @20. nice, and to the point.
Naked Bunny with a Whip
9 July 2012 at 7:23 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Sounds like somebody is still clinging to his religion.
irenedelse
9 July 2012 at 7:58 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
@ larry:
You mean that atheists still have to live in the wider world, to deal with immature trolls, and with sexists and liars who send them disgusting emails, right? Right?
/snark
Naked Bunny with a Whip
9 July 2012 at 8:04 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
How many “I get email” posts has PZ made over the years, anyway? That was the 20th on FTB alone, if I’m reading the URL correctly. Funny that the mysterious Larry was suddenly so distressed by the latest. The content wasn’t especially remarkable by “I get email” standards.
Ing: Gerund of Death
9 July 2012 at 8:15 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I am so sick of the sexism of religion that I just want everyone to ignore the sexism of atheism! The worst thing you ever did PZ was talk about sexism! Yes, it’s PZ’s fault. Now that bold Abbie Smith defending sexism, she’s a hero.
How many more of these copypate template posts of “you used to be cool” do we have to go through?
Naked Bunny with a Whip
9 July 2012 at 10:20 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I was calling them flounces, but is it technically a flounce if you never comment here and have apparently never read the site?