I think the Irish must be a competitive people — I had mentioned that the students in Galway had kept me out well past midnight with an ever-flowing tap, so here they had to keep me going at a series of pubs and restaurants until the barkeep threw us out at 1:30am. It was a fine end to a grand week in Ireland.

This morning Mark Ravinet gave me a tour of the city and a bit of historical background on The Troubles, and we drove through the Catholic and Protestant neighborhoods that once were festering with active unrest — something we couldn’t have done a few years ago, but that are thankfully calm now. We did stop and do a little tagging at a peace line.

I don’t take sides in this one. I think everyone has had enough division and it’s time for reconciliation.

I’ve just arrived back in Dublin after another drive through eastern Ireland, and am hanging on the edge of collapse. Good timing, too — I’m flying back home tomorrow.

I just finished an afternoon lecture on evo-devo at Queen’s University Belfast, which went well, I think. At least I didn’t pass out at the lectern. Then I also did an interview with William Crawley that I think is going to be aired on the BBC on Sunday. I managed to remain conscious through all that, too. I’m leaving in about 15 minutes for the final lecture (Peter Froggatt Centre (Room G06) at Queen’s University) of my grand tour of Ireland, and yes, I shall be perky and alert throughout it! If you’re there, do not mock the bags under my eyes, the tremble in my hand, or the rumpledness of my clothing, those are badges of honor. Then the students shall work their godless wicked ways on me and force me to drink Guinness again. That’ll be it. I expect catastrophic collapse tonight.

Tomorrow, at least, is a light day back in Dublin, before I fly back home on Sunday.

Hmmm. The students in Galway gave me a fifth of Irish whiskey. I’ve been assiduously avoiding the touch of demon drink^* this entire trip — now I’m wondering how I’m going to get it on the plane for the flight home. Or do I have to drink it all tomorrow?

^*The Guinness doesn’t count. That’s sustenance.

Oh-oh. It’s midnight here in Ireland. I’ve been out with the NUI Galway Skeptic Society, struggling to keep up with people much younger than myself again…and with the magical infinite flow of Guinness I’ve discovered in Irish pubs frequented by college students. I’m too old for this, I think.

But wait…young people and infinite Guinness…I think I’ve discovered the fountain of youth! I’d be even more excited about this if I didn’t have to get up really early tomorrow to catch a train to Dublin.

I don’t know who I am anymore. I was sent this summary of one of my talks in California, and apparently I’m an evil fool. Then I got this analysis of my influence, and apparently I’m honest and outspoken.

I get these wildly disparate descriptions of myself all the time. The net effect: I can’t believe anything anymore. This must be why I’m an atheist!

It looks like the Irish are finally fed up with me and I’m about to be flung from the top of a medieval castle, but that’s actually me cautiously easing backwards and down to kiss the Blarney Stone.

The above kiss was made after Atheist Ireland aimed a camera at me to promote their organization. It might have helped if I’d switched the order.

(via Gavin Golden)

I am off to a fun start here in Ireland, with a busy day yesterday. I was on the Tom McGurk radio show, which is summarized by a listener. Basically, it was the cracker incident compressed into less than 10 minutes, with McGurk barking at me and an amazingly clueless and pompous senator, Ronan Mullen, brought in to wax indignant at my affront to Catholicism. It was not a good format to actually address the issues — Mullen actually dared me to blaspheme against Muslims, for instance, and all I had time to do was laugh at the hilarity of yet another instance of fatwah envy before they both went gallumphing over me with outrage — but that was OK, the point was to stir up some argument and maybe get a few more people to show up at my talks where I can actually make a reasonable case.

Last night I also shared a table with Michael Nugent of Atheist Ireland to discuss the blasphemy laws with an overfull room. Michael was the real star there — he’s very knowledgeable about Irish politics, much more so than me, obviously. One of the great points he made was that Mullen’s indignation about an atheist committing blasphemy was profoundly hypocritical. Apparently, Mullen voted against the blasphemy law at first, for an interesting reason: it didn’t provide for allowing religious people to blaspheme against other religions than their own.

It’s a busy few days coming up. This afternoon I’m going to record an interview for a show called Culture Shock on Newstalk Radio, which is broadcast on Thursdays at 10pm on 106-108fm. I’ll be at UCD tonight at 6:30, in Theatre B in the Science Hub.

Tomorrow I hop on a train for Cork, 7pm in Council Chambers Room, 1st floor, North Wing of Main Quadrangle, UCC. I’ll be sharing the stage with a representative from Educate Together, and the subject will be on the importance of a secular education.

On Thursday, I’ll be in Galway, speaking in the O’Flaherty Theatre, NUI Galway, at 6:30 pm. I see they’ve listed a couple of potential topics…maybe I’ll just poll the audience to see which they want to hear.

On Friday, I’ll be talking about Creationism and Complexity in Belfast, 6pm in the Peter Froggatt centre, room G06, at Queens University. We’d also talked about doing a second lecture in Belfast, on evo-devo for general audiences, probably on Saturday, but I haven’t heard any details on that just yet.

Sunday I fly home to collapse in the arms of the Trophy Wife™.

And now you all know where to find me. If I could just get over the jet lag, which hit me something fierce this morning, it should be a fun week.

On top of previous summaries, Zeno now recounts the tale of my visit to Sierra College. One amusing feature of the Q&A at Sierra was that a notorious creationist showed up, and I caused him considerable distress by turning his complaints against him by asking him to give his best evidence for god, and also by viciously inviting him to our post-talk libations. I am such a poopyhead.

I also got one horrified reaction to my Davis talk published by a faitheist. It’s hilarious. The author professes to be an atheist, but then defends Christianity. Sort of.

Christians may refer to themselves as a “flock,” but they aren’t sheep. It takes courage to say you believe in something that can’t be proven. When scientists formulate hypotheses, they are vulnerable to critique, and they must conduct research to remove all doubt. Religious believers must deal with the same vulnerability, but with the knowledge that they can never prove the existence of a God. Religion takes bravery.

Well, gosh. Then I guess the bravest people of them all are the ones who pick the most absurd, most ridiculous, most insane religious beliefs. If courage trumps reason as a virtue, the greatest thing you can do is flail madly for lunacy.

I had a nice break for about 14 hours — I arrived in Minneapolis, and my wife showed up with her massage table (there’s a reason she is the Trophy Wife™), but now I have to get on a series of planes to arrive after a series of stops in exotic Dublin, where I shall somehow find my way to someplace to stay for a day or so before giving a talk to the University College Dublin humanists. It should be fine, even if I am stumbling about a bit with uncertainty about where I’m going — the Irish are a hospitable people, and if nothing else, I can always find a pub.

Everyone uses that picture Larry Moran shot of me on the bridge across the Thames…I may have to start sending him royalties.