To my surprise, I opened this week’s edition of the university newspaper, and there was an article about me (it’s near the end, on page 18). It’s complimentary, if you think words like “scathing” and “godless” are high compliments, as I do, and it’s also good to see what some of the students think. However! Yes, I say, However!

Those who know the mild-mannered Myers must surely
wonder where the fire comes
from in his blog. He is perhaps
best summarized as a writer
who demands an empiricist
understanding of truth, disdains
misrepresentation of his views,
and insists on a fair shake for
atheists. There is also an element of thrill to his writing,
the thrill of really nailing some
idiot.

Aaaaigh. “Mild-mannered?” I also did a phone interview yesterday with Jason Rennie for his podcast (it’ll air in about a month), and he said afterwards that I sound much different one-on-one than I do on the web. I have got to do something about this horrible image problem — it’s the Wizard of Oz effect. On the web, I’m this giant disembodied head with a stentorian voice, with flames erupting everywhere … and then these people keep insisting on pulling back the curtain and exposing the ordinary, dithering old man with soft-voiced professorial airs.

<sigh>

We are who we are, I guess. It’s just that I wanna be a pirate when I grow up, and my career track seems to be leading me towards the kindly ol’ granpa job, instead.

Hrrm … I seem to have stretched myself a little too thin this weekend. Early this morning I drove off to Minneapolis and Minicon to pick up Skatje and catch a few panels at the con, and then I drove back — I just got back a half hour ago — and despite the fact that there are a great many interesting things to talk about, this day has been a bit too much. Minneapolis really must pick itself up and move about 150 miles further west — I’ll appreciate it, and St Paul will be eternally grateful.

I will address Wilkins/Rosenhouse, Grayling, Klinghoffer (grrr), Mooney, Laden, etc., but right now my brain demands a total shutdown for a little bit.

If you really need a good Easter anti-religion rant to tide you over, read Skatje’s. She got to sleep in the car while I was dodging semis on I94 for most of the day.

So, Mike Haubrich stopped by my office yesterday, and during the conversation he mentioned that there was a video of me on the Seed site … with some trepidation, I took a look, and there it is: it’s my short presentation at the Inspiration Festival last fall. Ouch. I just cringe to see and hear myself, but in the spirit of being forthright and honest and exposing my flaws complete and without censorship, there I am. At least I really, really like developmental biology.

This is not an opening volley to trigger Atrios, the Editors, and TBogg to start hurling appalling YouTube videos across the net at each other. Or you, either.

It’s been a busy day—if you’ve noticed it’s been quiet here, it’s because I’ve been driving back and forth to St Cloud to help my son get situated in his new apartment, and also, by the way, today is our wedding anniversary — note that my wife cleverly scheduled it to be exactly one week after my birthday, making reminders easy.

I was going to make some lecherous joke about getting lucky tonight, but it would be superfluous since I seem to have been in luck for twenty seven years.

Chris of Mixing Memory claims that you can make accurate personality assessments about a person just from listening to ten of their favorite songs. OK, let’s play that game. Here are ten songs I like.

• Excitable boy, Warren Zevon

• Us, Regina Spektor

• Coming in from the cold, The Delgados

• Ravnen, Sorten Muld (actually, my favorite by this band would be Tor af Hafsgaard, but it isn’t on YouTube)

• In your eyes, Peter Gabriel

• Raspberry beret, Prince

• Little fluffy clouds, Orb

• Shine on you crazy diamond, Pink Floyd

• Lullaby, The Cure

• Put your hands where my eyes can see, Busta Rhymes

That wasn’t an easy list to assemble. Only ten? It can’t be very representative. There ought to be some David Bowie and Annie Lennox and Tori Amos and Björk and Patti Smith on there, and some days I feel like Flogging Molly or Pearl Jam or Kraftwerk or Lords of Acid or even, dare I admit it, Enya … but for that moment when I skimmed through my iTunes library, those up there jumped out as pretty darned appealing.

I’m not sure what anyone can determine from that list, though — it looks like it’s largely the “Intense and Rebellious” category in Chris’s list, with a little of the other three categories tossed in.

I just know John Wilkins is going to gasp in horror and write frantic letters to Pieranna Garavaso, the organizer, telling her she’s making a horrible mistake, but I’m going to be on a panel at the 31st Midwest Philosophy Colloquium on 26 March, here in Morris, at (zut alors!) the Newman Center just off campus. Perhaps you too are reeling at that cascade of improbable associations, but really, it makes sense. Eric Olson of the University of Sheffield is giving a talk on defining the boundaries of the beginning and end of human life, so they dug up a local biologist, me, to contribute a bit to the discussion, along with Mark Collier, local philosopher, and Ben Waterworth, local student. Here’s the short summary:

The gradual nature of development from fertilization to birth and beyond leaves it uncertain when we cease to exist. Many philosophers have tried to answer these questions. Olson will argue that most of these answers are wrong and that a simpler answer follows from the apparent fact that we are biological organisms.

I was a little concerned — “simpler answer” in these discussions too often means “stupid answer” — but a quick skim of a few of his papers tells me he’s got some interesting ideas, and that I’m going to have to do some studying over spring break. I see a few places in his argument where I might disagree, but I have to dig a bit deeper and see if he’s already covered my issues elsewhere.

Whoa, I asked for poems for my birthday, I got poems. That was quite a response, and it had me regretting the fact that I didn’t demand money. I could have retired by now.

On top of that, GrrlScientist, Bora, and Archy are compiling lists of birthday greetings, so I can just pop over there and browse through everything you people have written. It brings a tear to the eye, it does, especially since this is a day demanding I do lots and lots of work and not leaving me much time for cruising through the web.

Next week, though, I’ll return the favor: there’s Lynn Margulis’s blog tour on Monday, and since it’s Spring break and I’ll actually be able to relax with some free time, I’ve got a couple of science posts to scribble up — cool stuff with weird invertebrates.

As of 7:07AM Pacific time on 9 March, that is. I expect everyone to write me a poem in celebration. To start you all off, Richard Dawkins has set an example.

Don’t give me that cross-eyed look. It is not unusual that I inspire poetry, I’ll have you know.