¡Hola, amigos! I’m posting this from sunny, tropical…Michigan??!? Wait a minute, I thought January trips were supposed to be to some place with warm beaches and drinks with umbrellas and bikinis, not Detroit. This is more of a lateral shift, a change in longitude, rather than latitude.
There must have been some terrible ConFusion in my travel plans…
As Jimmy Buffet say, “Changes in longitude, changes in onngitude.”
Or was it his brother Warren?
Welcome to Michigan, PZ. As I said in the forums, gimme a ring if you need something to do.
Not this Warren. (Though I am frequently subject to buffeting.)
Intercratonic shift is just continental drift – that’s just plain WRONGITUDE, dude! Of course, when the Yellowstone hotspot comes your way, look for some changes in the vertical dimension – see the January Scientific American article The Mississippi’s Curious Origins.
(Alas, you must be a member to view the entire article, so if you want the more technical version, try this: The Mississippi Embayment, North America: a first order continental structure generated by the Cretaceous superplume mantle event. Who says the mid-continent has to be boring?
Why would you wanna go somewhere tropical? We have snow and grey skies and wind chills….
Uh, never mind. Now I’m getting depressed. Oh well, in 6 months it’ll be warm again.
Anyway, welcome to Michigan!
Any chance we’ll get to see a PZ vs. Ed Brayton cage match?
welcome to michigan, PZ. i grew up in the city that’s hosting the convention, so i assure you that you’re in for some boredom if you leave the safety of the hotel. unless you have a fondness of Legoland-style suburban houses or high-class shopping malls (which sounds a bit like an oxymoron, i know).
i couldn’t tell you why, but i have a certain devout love for the detroit area. i hope you make it out of there with your wits intact. some people don’t…
This is tropical, for Michigan. :)
I can’t believe the famous PZ Meyers is currently located within walking distance of my house! I hope you have a pleasant stay in the Winter Water Wonderland.
Oh, and don’t complain about the weather. It’s a full 12 degrees warmer here than it is in Morris, don’t forget the sunscreen!
*mails PZ a drink with an umbrella in it* Sorry, you’re outta luck on the beaches. And while I could also mail a bikini I’m not sure on your size. :P
And Detroit can sort of seem tropical, or at least the Detroit airport can. Find the corridor between the “A” gates and the “B” and “C” gates. Go about halfway in, get clear of the moving walkways and just stand there watching is walls.
At some point, you’ll get bright colors and tropical birds.
I imagine it’s the kind of experience that’s even better high, but really that hallway doesn’t need anything extra. It’s sufficiently trippy already.
(This hallway completely outstrips the freakiness of O’Hare’s undulating neon lights corridor)
“i couldn’t tell you why, but i have a certain devout love for the detroit area.”
-clockwork
as a fellow Michigander, I have to agree, there’s nothing else like Michigan, with the fabulous ruins of Detroit, the economy in the toilet;we were forth last economically back in 2005, and that’s only because Katrina made mincemeat out of Louisiana and Mississippi.We’re still ahead of Washington D.C. though, yay!
In spite of all this, our state has an ennui and culture that is quite quirky and odd in it’s own way and no amount of suburbanization or deindustrialization will ever take that away.
Come to East Lansing! Cavort around with Dr. Pennock! Teach a few classes! :)
I had so wanted to attend this Con, with PZ *and* Howard Waldrop, one of my favorite writers; I hoped to have my copy of Howard Who? autographed. Circumstances have conspired against me. Guess I’ll just have to reread the book snuggled under a warm blanket. Have fun, all ye ConFused.