Begin the banjo music. You’ve got a difficult decision to face. There are two conferences going on simultaneously this weekend, and you should go to one!

CHOOSE NOW!

Rock Beyond Belief	Midwest Science of Origins Conference
Venue: Fort Bragg, NC	Venue: Morris, MN
Headliner: Richard Dawkins	Headliner: Neil Shubin
Topic: Rock’n’Roll!	Topic: SCIENCE!
Date: 31 March	Date: 30 March-1 April

After objectively weighing the merits of both, I have come to the entirely impartial conclusion that you should all attend the Midwest Science of Origins Conference — after all, it’s 3 days long, and located in lovely Morris, which I swear is entirely thawed out already.

Of course, if you’re already somewhere south of Minnesota, and are concerned about the accommodations available in a town of 5,000 people, I suppose you could be forgiven for attending Rock Beyond Belief instead. I will allow it.

There is one other difference. Midwest Science of Origins Conference has been sailing along without controversy, fully supported by the university, and with a team of enthusiastic students contributing to the organization. On the other hand, Rock Beyond Belief has faced constant harassment : the latest nonsense comes from a frivolous administration that is telling RBB that they can’t have a food drive for the homeless. Why? I don’t know. Evangelical Christians were allowed to do all kinds of fundraising for their event, but apparently it’s OK to discriminate against godless atheists, even when they’re trying to do good for the community.

All right, I guess you should go to Rock Beyond Belief if you can, if just to piss off the whimsical jerks higher up the command chain. But the Midwest Science of Origins Conference is a solid second choice!

So we’ll see you in one place or the other, right?

Take heed, world: despite miserable weather, the Reason Rally drew a good-sized and wonderfully diverse crowd, exactly what we all wanted.

"We are here to celebrate our belief in reason, science and the power of the human mind," comedian Paul Provenza said from the podium as raindrops fell. "We are here to say to elected politicians … that there is a base for them to stand on to stand up to the religious right."

That brought a cheer from the crowd, estimated at between 8,000 and 10,000 people — a sharp increase over The Godless March on Washington, another atheist-themed rally held 10 years ago in the same spot that attracted about 3,000 people.

Also visibly different was the composition of the crowd, which was largely under the age of 30, at least half female and included many people of color. Ten years ago, the crowd was mostly white, over 40 and predominantly male.

You missed it? You can watch Richard Dawkins, Greta Christina, Taslim Nasrin, and Tim Minchin already, thanks to all those gadgets people were aiming at the stage.

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The Washington Post has a reasonable review, while that goofy clueless babbler Cathy Lynn Grossman has an awful one, although it does have a nice picture of Jen.

I’m about to depart lovely Morris for a long day of travel to Washington DC. Several other FtB bloggers are already there, or on their way. We may experience a shortage of content! I guess you’ll have to go read all the stay-at-homes this weekend, although even that bunch may just be weeping over how they’re not at the Reason Rally.

I’ll try to post the occasional blog entry or tweet from my privileged position in the speakers’ stands, but I understand that tens of thousands of technophilic pro-science godless people in one place may strain the capacity of the cell towers in the area.

The Reason Rally is on Saturday! I know many of you are going and preparing to leave right now — a contingent of students from UMM are leaving today, although I have to teach tomorrow, so Mary and I are not getting on a plane until late Friday. I have a few words for those of you who will be spending a few days traveling and sleeping on couches at friends’ apartments and such.

I have complaints about a few of the speakers, but that’s to be expected: in a large and diverse and growing movement like this, there are bound to be differences of opinion. Don’t worry about it. The one thing most of us are united in is agreement that reason and evidence and rational policy making must rule our country — celebrate that in common with your fellow godless folk. But don’t be shy about arguing, because that’s what we do.

I know there are plans floating about for meetups and lunches and dinners with groups of people, and I’ve told people that I’ll try to make them. However, the current estimates are for 30-50,000 to show up! I suspect that all plans are going to disintegrate in the confrontation with channeled chaos. I recommend that everyone embrace the unpredictability, enjoy the company of the people you find yourself with, and go with the flow. Abandon all preconceptions that you have to be at some particular place at some particular time, and if you are, great, if you aren’t, don’t be stressed.

One possible downer: rain is predicted for Washington DC, with thunderstorms in the afternoon, which may reduce attendance. Come prepared. In large crowds, ponchos or raincoats are better than umbrellas. Cultivate the right attitude, and savor the weather — I’m a Seattle native, so I plan to see any rain as a blessing. And if there’s any thunder during my talk, all the better: obviously, that will be Thor shouting his approbation.

Read the pro tips.

I may be a little bit out of touch for a while. I have to give a speech to 30,000+ people? I don’t think I should just wing this one. If I sound a little nervous up there, be gentle.

Oh, look. A brand new godless conference, Freethought Festival 2012, to be held in Madison, Wisconsin on 27-29 April. And it’s free. You’re all going to go, right?

And don’t forget, there’s another free conference here in the upper midwest: The Midwest Science of Origins Conference, next week on the 30th, right here in Morris, Minnesota.

You’ve got no excuses.