I’m holding up just fine so far, despite having to keep up with slightly younger college students who can stay up late and drink. Last night it was the students of UC Davis’s Agnostic and Atheist Student Association, and I also met the ferocious Truth Machine and the professorial Zeno. Oh, and Jonathan Eisen twittered bits of the lecture. I should probably suggest people use a #pz hashtag or something to make that easier to find.
Today I’m off to talk at Berkeley, 7:00 at 2050 Valley Life Science Building, UC Berkeley. There are rumors that I’m a firebrand, but really, I’m just a guy with poor impulse control.
You survived to physical meeting with TM? Damn, his reputation is going to take a hit!
Ah, that would explain why TM appeared to be in a good mood (for him) this morning.
I seem to be placing the wrong words in the wrong slots. mutter…mutter…mutter…
The squid made it through the document scanner quite nicely:
http://microecos.wordpress.com/2010/01/22/pz-myers-signed-my-squid/
Thanks!
The rain means god hates you. If you jog in a zig zag pattern, you might be able to avoid the lightening bolts.
The foul mouthed witch is turning into a troll? Well, I mean, it looks like typical troll-writing…
Via Eisen I see that you have been saying nice things about one of my books on the tour. Thanks for being a one-man publicity army!
PZ called me “professorial”! [preens]
I would like to request that if we (SANE) go out to dinner with you afterward, we go somewhere where they let in people under 21.
All I can say is: have fun getting over the hill tomorrow. Although now that I look at the forecast, it shouldn’t be that bad.
While you’re there, Seabright Brewing has better beer than Front Street, and better food too. Good Mexican can be had at Tampico Kitchen downtown. If you want a more upmarket Mexican food joint, El Palomar is pretty damn good, the bar is an especially nice room, I’ve wasted many an afternoon in there. There are also a bunch of good taquerias in town, my favorite was (I haven’t lived in SC for 10 year now) Tacos Moreno on Water Street. Best al pastor burritos you’ll ever have. For a more Caribbean experience you might want to try Rosa’s Rosticeria, just across the bridge from Seabright (hey, they were all walking distance from my home). Oh, and I didn’t even begin to mention the sushi joints. There are a bunch of them, Naka, Mobo and Sukeroku are the best as far as I’m concerned (at Sukeroku, your sushi chef is featured on the posters for fish). Have fun!
BTW, how the heck do I get you to come out to Bozeman and give a talk about chickenosaurus? Our happy hours are cheaper!
Guess I put too many restaurant links in the last one, at least you’ll read it!
Well, that much fun.
Anyone who is on the fence about going to one of PZ’s appearances near you, go ahead, it’s fun.
And I didn’t even hang around for the beer part.
Good talk. I was surprised there weren’t any creo cranks there, or none that spoke up anyway.
Met some interesting yoot at LaVal’s, too. I know any student group’s event will skew toward a young demographic, but it’s still encouraging to see the low wrinkle ratio. I speak as the contributor of at least a tenth of the wrinkles at LaVal’s, where we probably hadn’t set butt for the last 20 years. Maybe we just stay up later than the other old farts.
Anyway: Hello Santa Rosa!
I trust you’ll take the coastal route to Santa Cruz. The sky should be interesting. Duarte’s in Pescadero for lunch, and I second (again) the rec of the Brazilian place in SC.
Aloha,
Ron Sullivan
http//:toad.faultline.org
I was actually kinda disappointed in the lack of creationists. Woulda been entertaining.
PZ, I would be honored to take you up on your offer to officiate my marriage, but only if you find a way to incorporate the crockoduck as a metaphor for our two bodies becoming one ungodly chimera…
Thanks for the wonderful conversation over double-fisted beer,
Ryan
Absolutely! Some impressive views, sky and sea and surroundings, and a fun drive. It’s also a lot of fun by bicycle. There several good restaurants along the way, and no problem with the restaurants and brewpubs in Santa Cruz. (I used to live in the Santa Cruz area, but that was so long ago I cannot give any specific recommendations. In any case, I’m sure the Professional Poopyhead be well looked after.)
Umm, Ron Sullivan? Your heart seems to be in the right place, but your colon isn’t. Surprising what goes unnoticed sometimes, isn’t it?
I’m referring of course, to the one in the URL in your signature at #12. It’s a protocol thing.
Johnnie, it’s not a protocol thing, it’s a fucked up message board software thing and Ron is no where near the first victim of it.
He exists?!
I thought there was a consensus that tm™ was a polemical AI.
Looks like the “firebrand” article uses the image from Wikipedia. I’m so glad you sent in that one to replace the considerably less-flattering on we had.
whoops… Johnnie, sorry, my error, I misunderstood you and thought you were talking about the typical board name mangling thing.
You’re right, Johnnie; I have to hand-type my info because I don’t have the patience to mess with the Google log-in tangle any more, and I put that in last night after my nightcap, ergo typo.
Or! It’s a Seekrit Code and anyone who wants to go to Toad in the Hole has to break it!
Our Boy gets a glorious sunny day for that coastal drive—who’s toting him?—and I’ll admit I’m tempted to leap in the car and go down to Pescadero myself.
Also: Great to see you again, JH; I swear if you hadn’t grown that beard since the last time I saw you I wouldn’t have recognized you. Really. I mean that as it’s written.
It was interesting being in a crowd in Berkeley and seeing so few familiar faces. Got into a nice chat with a nurse from Stanford and a young veteran of non-Evangelical homeschooling.
I’d considered asking PZ a question to evoke stories: What got you on this road, anyway? I don’t mean bio or even atheism; I mean the blog-et-al crusade*. What tipped it, what set you off, what was the Last Straw?
*Sugggestions for better noun are invited.
Ron Sullivan
http://toad.faultline.org
Was good to meet you PZ and CJO! I was happy to see how completely you filled the auditorium, too. I only saw literally a couple of empty seats. I’m not the most sociable of characters these days, so I was really surprised to run into two other people who knew me – knew me well enough that they’ve been seated at my own kitchen table, that is!
Really, I’m a lot more surprised that they spotted and recognized me than that they were at your event, although the beanbag ermine on my shoulder may have given me away..
Thank you for visiting somewhere that I could get to to say hello personally, PZ! Get plenty of rest between engagements, and enjoy the rest of your whirlwind tour of California! ;)
I challenge ANY of these college students to keep up with you. You do the following.
1) Write on a major blob.
2) Teach university level biology (which includes preparing for class, grading papers, and so on).
3) Give various interviews and lectures around the country.
Hell, I can’t even keep up with reading your blog and watching various interviews of you, let alone, actually doing those things myself.
Thanks Ron, was great to see the two of you again too. (no observers, there are no two Rons.)
The beard thing is confusing… so you’re saying, I had no beard then, and you wouldn’t have recognized me now if I looked like I had looked then?
Well, I barely recognize myself from day to day so I guess that’s understandable.
(Also, if I remember correctly, last time I saw you I was very heavily medicated and essentially a zombie)
So what would one have to do to get PZ to speak at their school?