As you read this, I’m on an airplane winging off to Las Vegas for The Amazing Meeting (Amazing Schedule here). I understand that I am expected to be Amazing, but usually all I can manage is a low-key Interesting, so it will be quite the challenge.
Anyway, I am told that I should arrange a Pharyngulation of some sort. Who else is going? What fits into our schedule? One thing we could do is look for the Bad Astronomers to arrange something, and then we crash it, elbow aside all the starry-eyed geeks, and take over. But maybe you have a better idea … share it here.
You are a movie star from a [hype]culture-changing movie[/hype], hence you cannot fail to be amazing.
Get expelled from another idiots’ venue, and your amazingness will never wane.
Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/2kxyc7
I suggest that you commandeer a jet and fly the whole meeting out to Atlantic City so I can attend. I’ll book the room.
I… am… so… jealous right now!
Say hello to the Ottawa Skeptics contingent (which will not include moi, as I blew all my vacation already).
Dang, I wish I could go this year, but with daughter’s graduation and a long-planned trip to Italy, I can’t make it. Had a blast at TAM 5 and hope to be at TAM 6. The drive from Phoenix is not that bad.
7, doggone it, TAM 7.
Hmph. I so wanted to go. Please tip one back for me tomorrow as tomorrow is the anniversary of my first breath.
Teh sadz. I haz it.
You’re so money!
This is where your Squishy-pod comes into the picture.
Wear is like a HAAAAAT!!
Should you wish a break from the high-intensity planet-killing fakeness that is Las Vegas (i.e., should you be sane, IMO), I recommend a half-day trip out to Red Rock Canyon. Beautiful piece of desert.
I’m going! I’m going! So damn excited. I’m flying out there at an absurdly early hour tomorrow morning. There are several Denver Skeptics who are already out there.
Maybe we should arrange a Pharyngulation for sometime on Sunday morning (since I presume not too many of us will be attending church). Although the Gospel Sunday at the House of Blues is supposed to be cool. Or maybe Saturday night although there’s a JREF Forum party that night.
Going to Penn & Teller Saturday night…I’ll be the short chick in the (probably very out of fashion) hot pink dress. Eeeek!
Elin, you troublemaker, you… *waves*
-Rusty
off-topic…
“Should I vaccinate my baby?”
http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/family/06/19/ep.vaccines/index.html
read the caption below the first picture. lovely…
Is there going to be a recording of this meeting? It looks like an awes…er..amazing schedule!
Have fun Elin #11!!
Red Rock Canyon?? What part of “Las Vegas” don’t you understand?
I want PZ to bring back pictures of pole dancers, and triumphant grannies at slot machines!
Las Vegas is also home to the “world’s largest mechanical neon sign,” the cowboy Vegas Vic on Fremont Street. There’s a definite photo op there, for … something. A place in the Kitsch Museum, maybe.
I’ll be there. Looks like lunches and dinners are mostly open on the schedule, as are evenings for those who aren’t attending the optional events.
The CineVegas film festival is also going on… unfortunately, “Gonzo: The Life and Work of Hunter S. Thompson” is at 1 p.m. Saturday, overlapping with Phil Plait and Adam Savage. “Your Name Here” looks like it might have been entertaining, but showed last weekend.
“Them!” (the giant ant movie with an uncredited very young Leonard Nimoy) is showing tonight at 9 p.m. on a big outdoor screen on Fremont St.
#8
You know what you are? You’re like a big bear with claws and with fangs…
So, what is the topic of your amazing-ness?
Just showing some of your emails would probably be hilarious.
I’m already here, but I have to warn you, PZ! This heat isn’t for Northerns! Take plenty of water! (Oh, and we do expect you to be Amazing :-)
South King County will be representin’ at TAM!! Look for the wilted, pale folk near the back clutching their Starbuck’s cups and that will be my husband & I fresh from very near PZ’s old squiddin’ grounds.
Seriously, though, my JREF forum name is the same as my name here and will be on my nametag…we’ll find you and say hi!
Make sure to get a picture of yourself arm-in-arm with an animatronic Elvis. I mean, it’s Las Vegas, there must be at least one of those around.
Whoever put that program together wasn’t exactly going for gender balance :(. But have fun, all!
Damn damn damn damn. I hate working. i want to go to meetings like this. In vegas.
Hey, watch out for the creotards crashers! You can bet they know you’re coming to bad mouth them. Makes us all proud here at Pharyngula! And watch out for those humungus great all-you-can-eat pig outs!
I’m already here, ready to go to the workshops today. We made the drive out from San Diego yesterday. It was 111 deg F in Baker
Gotta love Vegas, where the parking is free, but internet service in the room is $12.99/day. I have no idea if there’ll be wireless coverage available at the meeting itself.
I hear that Teller doesn’t really sound like James Earl Jones.
David #26—Sadly, no, he does not. Google “teller zombie” and be enlightened.
I just checked the schedule and the line up of speakers for that Amazing Meeting: Wow, that should have been stretch to at least a month! The assemblage of brain power will be enough to levitate Nevada!
Damn I wish I knew about this earlier, I have some vac days saved up. I’d love to return to the scene of the crime. I got married there, and a freaky chemist cooked up some 2CB as a wedding present, so we managed to replicate the HST experience.
WO HOOOO!!
cool lights, and plenty of giant lizards
I DO, and still married!!!
You better be amazing! I am skipping out on a cabana filled with beautiful women in bikinis at Ditch Fridays to hear you speak (Local Vegas folk know what I am talking about). ;)
-Matt
The “vegas” part–ain’t no meadows there whatsoever.
They should change the name of that town to “Los Asesinos De Las Tortugas.”
I’m tempted to go just to see Erin wiggling around in a hot-pink dress. Maybe it’ll match PZ’s plushy?
PaulZach > Balzac.
Holy crap! Look at that lineup! Neil DeGrasse Tyson, PZ, Adam Savage, Penn & Teller? Why didn’t I know such an awesome meeting exists!
I’m here – will join any pharynx of pharyngulators that is set up.
Did anyone else get an image of PZ dancing like Elvis with “Viva, Las Vegas!” running as a soundtrack?
No? Just me? Figures.
OT, but I missed out on the Spore fun initially. And even though I suspect a few hundred people have already done this, I present to you: Crocoduck, Ray Comfort’s worst nightmare!
Red Rock Canyon is great, but the thermal hammer has come down already, so I would suggest Mt. Charleston instead. You can see a variety of chipmunk (or ground squirrel) that exists nowhere else, owing to genetic isolation since the last glacial period.
Also, try the mango sorbet in the sandwich shop in the Wynn.
Also also, go to Hedary’s and / or the Samosa Factory, both on Sahara, west of the strip. You’ll thank me.
And the nuclear test museum.
Pyrotechnics, man. Pyrotechnics. That is all you need to be amazing.
HEY GET BACK HERE !!!!!
You’re supposed to be at THIS MEETING in Minneapolis!!!!!
Folks, you can read all about TAM at randi.org, James Randi’s site. I’ve been reading it faithfully for years, and the PZ crowd would certainly be welcome there.
Best thing about TAM 5 for me? I asked Phil Plait to take a photo of me with Adam Savage, and HE asked ME if I could get a photo of him with Adam. When I asked Adam, HE asked ME if I could get a picture of him with Phil! Such brain power married with humility is awesome to experience. Everybody was very approachable. I couldn’t get to the South Park guys only because there was such a huge crowd around them. And after hearing Teller speak, I wish he’d do it more often. He’s got a great voice, and he’s thoughtful and well-spoken.
@Greg Laden: Oh, that’ll be his clone.
Happy Birthday, Brownian! Your birthday is my birthday too! We have the same star sign- we must have many things in common! That almost guarantees me a Molly!
Happy Birthday to you too, tyaddow!
Keep in mind that we both share our birthday with Nicole Kidman; I hope this doesn’t doom us each to marry and divorce a Scientologist.
Vegas? I live in Vegas! Why do I never hear about these things till too late???!!!
And yeah, I’ll second the recommend for Hedary’s.
Scooter @ # 29 I left you a comment on # 157, at “He’ll Fit Right In”
Dine at Rosemary’s Restaurant. Lunch or dinner. It is my favorite affordable fine dining place in Vegas.
8125 W. Sahara
Las Vegas, NV 89117
Outstanding food, outstanding service, not in a casino.
Their awards and accolades are too numerous to mention. I highly recommend the Chef’s tasting menu for dinner, along with the sommelier’s tasting recommendations.
http://www.rosemarysrestaurant.com/
—
If you are feeling spanking rich w/ your slots winnings, by all means put on your finest suit and have dinner at Picasso, located in the Bellagio. It is my favorite UNaffordable fine dining place, and it will be the best several hundred dollars you ever spent. I’m not kidding. Bellagio’s other restaurants are fine, but Picasso is just a stunning experience. Request a table near the windows – you’ll have an enviable view of the Fountains of Bellagio (I used to work on that show).
—
Email me if you want good seats for Cirque shows – I also used to work at “O” and KA and my partner (soon to be wife) works at “O” and has access to the best seats in the house (unfortunately, not at a discount).
It’s a weird situation to be walking down a hallway and have all these strangers say, “Hi, PZ!”
I can’t do anything Sunday. Sunday I have to be at that meeting Greg Laden just yelled at me about (I’m catching a 12:50 AM flight, and will be showing up at Evolution 2008 with a rumpled suit and red-rimmed eyes. And a buxom showgirl on each arm.)
PZ… If you’re out and about tonight, drop by my bar (shameless plug), Fat Tuesday, at the Planet Hollywood. I’ll treat you to a daiquiri that is guaranteed to make your liver quiver, sir! I’m in after 7pm.
Thanks for reading!
Biff the Bartender
“buxom showgirl”
Heh.
Any “buxom” on a real showgirl is mere external padding. Those women dance their asses (and other body parts) off. Takes a lot of calories to do shows 5 (or more) days a week.
I worked with ’em. Real close-like.
Heh.
You can always go to the Atomic Testing Museum. It’s actually quite fascinating.
http://www.atomictestingmuseum.org/
The Imperial Palace Auto Museum is also nice if you like old cars.
So, what you’re saying is, there are two kinds:
“Buxom” showgirls, and buxom “showgirls”. Am I right?
Seriously, though, I played a lot of basketball all through H.S. and into college. Hoop is a damn good workout, but… well, let’s just say I was never mistaken for a boy.
Geez, Brownian, we’ve both Gems. My b-day was this week too. No wonder we speak the same language!
Kseniya, hah! Yes, you are right.
Certainly not all women work ’em off. It seems a peculiar to dancers, the brand of showgirls I worked with. ;)
And then I graduated to swimmers and gymnasts.
Damn, damn, damn!
I live in Vegas. I was born in Vegas. Hell, my wife and son are still in Vegas, right now!
But me? No. I’m stuck in the f**king middle-east for a year, on the one time one of my cultural heroes decides to swing by!
Crap! Maybe you can swing by Camp Arifjan, Kuwait on the way.
will be showing up at Evolution 2008 with a rumpled suit and red-rimmed eyes. And a buxom showgirl on each arm.)
In other words, as per usual, except your hair is usually nicely combed.
I thought that was because we’re both of Eastern European extraction.
Happy Belated Birthday!
Butbutbut… but you’re a Southern Slav, I’m an Eastern Slav. Shouldn’t we be at war, or something?
“And a buxom showgirl on each arm”
You’ve just made millions of cephalopods extremely jealous!
You’ve posted the same inane bullshit on every thread now. Mission accomplished. Go away.
My comment (#59) is now irrelevent following the deletion of all of Mabus’s comments.