Almost there

I gave my last lecture to my cancer class. Tomorrow is the last day of my introductory biology class, which will consist of a mini-lecture on one last concept, returning exams and reviewing them, and the student evaluation of the class, which I don’t participate in. Easy.

I sit now in the wreckage of my office, papers piled around me, with more papers coming in imminently, and face the next challenge: grading like a madman. My pocket bristles with red pens. The first stack is to my right: I go to hide in some quiet place and slash and tear. Do not disturb me while the bloodlust is high and the aggravation puts me on the threshold of berserkerdom.

(Ah, they were a pretty good bunch of students this semester. I’ll try not to be too savage.)

Wait, I just got home!

I have to catch up with all of my classes now, but I also have to prepare for the next couple of weekends. Next on the agenda:

  • I’m flying off on Friday for the Northeast Conference on Science and Skepticism in New York. I’ll be talking about squid.

  • Next weekend is the Freethought Festival 2012 in Madison, Wisconsin. I shall be talking about the scientific method, and why it’s incompatible with religion.

  • Then I get a few weekends to stay at home and get through finals week. Yay!

  • On 18 May, I’ll be at Imagine No Religion 2, in Kamloops, British Columbia. I forget what I’m talking about there, something sciencey, I’ll figure it out later.

  • Also on 18 May, I won’t be attending the Women in Secularism conference in Washington DC, because I can’t be in two places at once. However, my daughter Skatje will be my proxy there and will be reporting back on it in her own cantankerous and independent-minded style (I have no idea where she gets that from).

I do have to say something about the Women in Secularism conference: some people are being condescendingly stupid about the fact that we can have a special purpose conference within the broader domain of secularism. It is embarrassingly idiotic that we actually have clueless atheists who are demeaning the idea that there is worth in dedicating conferences to specific issues: would there be any of this dismissal if it were a conference on secular parenting, separation of church and state, secular lobbying, race and religion, or the pernicious influence of religion on education? Because these are all pressing concerns, as is the importance of involving women in atheism, and it is a mark of the growth of atheism and secularism and humanism that we do have focused conferences. Expect to see more of this sort of thing in the future.

But somehow, macho assholes seem to think women are unimportant. Sorry, guys, this is the future coming at you: institutions will be egalitarian or die. And the only thing that’s unimportant is addressing the whines of spoiled man-children who break into tears and rage at any diminution of their privilege. Bye-bye, testosterone-addled dinosaurs.

See also this article at CFI.

Look, people, and yes guys, I’m talking to you specifically. This conference is not about “separating” women from men, it’s about having the spine as a movement to say that women deal with prejudices and oppression that are unique to them, thanks to religion, and at the same time recognizing that our own community has a LOT of work to do in how we treat, acknowledge, and highlight our female half. It’s not a conference exclusively FOR women, but yes, about them. Our boss Ron Lindsay says men absolutely should attend. PZ Myers says men should attend. And I’m telling you, too. If you think it’s a problem to have a conference like this, I challenge you to buy a ticket, show your face, and talk about it like a grownup. No more nameless Internet thuggery.

By the way, there are a limited number of $25 student registrations still available for the women in secularism conference.

Bleh

We got back safely last night after about 24 hours of travel from Australia. I slept like the dead. I am now risen and staggering about zombie-like, and will now lurch off to my 8am class.

You aren’t expecting new content here for a little while, are you? Really?

Practicing time travel

I’m in the Melbourne airport, about to depart on a 9:30am flight to Los Angeles, which will arrive at 7am today. I’d suggest that we keep going around and around and wind the clock back a few years, except that the only effect of time travel seems to be exhaustion and confusion, and I’ve had enough of that for a while. See you in a more familiar time zone tomorrow! I mean, today! I mean…I don’t know. I’m going to just close my eyes and see when I end up.

#atheistcon day 3

It’s the day of reckoning: in about 4 hours, I get to give my talk here at the GAC…sandwiched in between Sam Harris and the Four Horsemen, in front of an intimidatingly huge crowd.

No worries, eh, mate?

I shall survive. They may have to pour me off the stage in a bag, but I’ll get through it all.

Melbourne Day Two

The day is off to an awful start. Internet access in the hotel is only intermittent, and it’s only occasionally that I can get on; and then this morning my laptop plays prima donna and dies, repeatedly, with ugly lock-ups and horribly slow performance. I may be restricted to blogging by iPad all weekend, which is slower and clumsier.

The day will get better. Mary has plans for us. We’re going out to see the sights this morning and afternoon, so she’s totally in charge. She keeps talking about flowers and trees and birds, though, and not a word about Cephalopoda or Insecta, so it might be a little weird. I’ll try to cope.

Then, 4:00 to 6ish, any pharyngula people in the vicinity ought to converge on the South Wharf Hilton Bah for some ‘Strine beeah. The Global Atheist Convention commences at 6:15 with a cocktail party, and then…chaos reigns!

We have arrived!

We are nicely situated in our lovely hotel room in the Melbourne Hilton. Yay, showers! After 15 hours on an airplane, we need them.

There is no rest for the weary traveler, however. We’re charging out on the town shortly to visit the Melbourne Museum — if you’re interested, we’re meeting in the Hilton lobby around 1:30, or otherwise look for the flashing angry eyes of the mob of atheists at the museum at 2.

Breathless adventures await!

Stir crazy

I have nothing to say except that I’ve been traveling since 10:30 Tuesday morning, I’m still in a big metal bird in the sky, and I want to get out. Now. But I guess I’ll wait until we land in Melbourne…in a few more hours. Gaaaaaaah.

Selling papers on Easter Sunday

That was really quick. The Salt Lake Tribune already has an account of my evening’s talk — it’s fairly accurate, too, since I did give a bit of a firebreathing talk.

Also, they have a number of photos online. I didn’t even notice, but I did kinda like this one.

I’m now picturing large numbers of Mormons reading the paper on Easter Sunday morning and hearing all about the ferocious atheists gathering in the city. Rah, us!

OK, here’s another one of me calling down atheist wrath.

Now you’ve seen the full range of the PZ Myers Experience.