…and this is a 
Happy Birthday, Skatje!
Category: Local • Personal
Posted on: August 30, 2007 1:00 AM, by PZ Myers
She really hasn't changed a bit.
Well, maybe a little. Skatje (since everyone asks how it's pronounced, I'll spell it out: scot-ya) is turning 17 today, and guess how she's going to celebrate?
She's hosting the first ever meeting of the UMM Campus Atheists, Skeptics, and Humanists, with free pizza, free discussion, and free thought at the Morris Pizza Hut, at 7:00. She's a regular little godless debutante, I guess.
Comments
You've done a nice job with that procreating business.
Posted by: Jazmin | August 30, 2007 1:08 AM
Here's the best part, people:
PZ DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT THIS UNTIL FOUR IN THE AFTERNOON!
Posted by: Collin Tierney | August 30, 2007 1:27 AM
Good to see some youth atheism activism. cheers.
Posted by: Icewedge | August 30, 2007 1:34 AM
I can see the opposite side now claiming child abuse taking your kid to an atheist get-together. Especially if the pizza has anchovies.
Posted by: Lynn David | August 30, 2007 1:45 AM
The fact that most incoming college students this year were born in 1990 makes me want to cry.
Posted by: syntyche | August 30, 2007 1:50 AM
Holy crap that's a cute picture.
Posted by: Castaa | August 30, 2007 2:08 AM
FYI Skatje looks very much like a Dutch diminutive for "schat", or "sweetie" so every time you mention her name it's like you're using a pet name.
Posted by: Niobe | August 30, 2007 2:09 AM
Still a cute pixie, after all these years. But now apparently with a generous dash of brilliance, and a great deal of inner strength.
Posted by: Hank Fox | August 30, 2007 2:09 AM
Hey, I was a debutante once! 1980, Edwards AFB Officer's Club, and the special guest was (can you believe it?) the late Christopher Reeve, who was a flying enthusiast.
Posted by: Scott Hatfield, OM | August 30, 2007 2:19 AM
By a sheer although I suppose not that startling coincidence, my son celebrates his very first birthday today!
Well, we'll be celebrating it anyway, he pretty much celebrates every day, it's just today he'll be doing it with a fistful of cake.
Posted by: K. Signal Eingang | August 30, 2007 2:27 AM
Well done Doctor. See it doesn't take a deity to create a precious, intelligent, independent life-form...
Just a biologist.
(I hope that comes across the way I intended it to...)
Posted by: Carbonfish | August 30, 2007 2:37 AM
Oh, I'm sure PZ knew about Skatje's birthday whole hours in advance, so he could line up a nice embarrassing picture for the blog ;)))
(incredibly sweet pic, btw)
Posted by: Nix | August 30, 2007 3:28 AM
Well her taste in food may have changed a little then - unless she's also going to be demanding chocolate cake with lots of cream this time round (and there was a first course to that photo which left no evidence on her mouth).
Posted by: SEF | August 30, 2007 4:35 AM
Hm, interesting family. I know I'd be embarrassed if my father put baby/kid pictures of me on a blog... you did get Skatje's permission, right??! :)
Posted by: Maronan | August 30, 2007 4:53 AM
Clearly, she got her looks from the Trophy Wife.
Posted by: Hepatitis_B_Good | August 30, 2007 5:03 AM
But she did her self description in Latin, PZ! Latin!
Paging Dr. Cartwright. Dr. Reed Cartwright!
BCH
Posted by: Burt Humburg | August 30, 2007 5:53 AM
Being Dutch, the name Skatje has the same effect on me as it has on Niobe (#7): cutie, sweetie, darling (a variation of standard Dutch "schatje"). The photo prompted me to say out loud: is het geen skatje? (Isn't she a cutie?)
Posted by: Gerrit | August 30, 2007 7:18 AM
Ah, to be a child and have a birthday. To be the center of the universe, for a day!
Posted by: Northern Virginia | August 30, 2007 8:05 AM
Whoa, those are some strong glasses. Let me guess, at least 4 diopters hyperopia?
Very cute picture, btw. Happy birthday!
Posted by: mirshafie | August 30, 2007 8:31 AM
Won't seem but a few days before she is joining you for Drinking Liberally, PZ!
They grow up so fast, don't they? My daughter, the one who I carried on my shoulders at the Dallas Science Museum just a few weeks ago, and is now 22, will be taking me out for drinks to celebrate my own birthday this weekend.
Posted by: Mike Haubrich, FCD | August 30, 2007 8:51 AM
Niobe and Gerrit:
Skatje looks very much like a Dutch diminutive for "schat" - treasure, sweetheart for the uninformed Anglo-Saxons - but I think it is Frisian rather than Dutch (same meaning).
Posted by: Gerdien de Jong | August 30, 2007 9:50 AM
Happy Birthday !
Posted by: Dave Smith | August 30, 2007 11:17 AM
PZ, I've always wondered, where did you come up with the name?
Posted by: Chris Bell | August 30, 2007 11:58 AM
Wow, just turning 17 is young to be in college. She must have skipped a year in school. My son is 17 and a senior in high school. Hey, they're the same age and he's an atheist too!
Posted by: Lana | August 30, 2007 12:28 PM
Happy Birthday, Skatje! May all your wishes come true!
Posted by: Paguroidea | August 30, 2007 12:46 PM
Live long and prosper!
Posted by: Spocko | August 30, 2007 4:04 PM
Happy Birthday to a fellow August 30th-er. Enjoy your CASH meeting! I'll be settling for beer, college football (go Utes!) and good times with friends.
Posted by: SteveyD | August 30, 2007 6:05 PM
Mmmmmm. Cake.
Posted by: MarcusA | August 31, 2007 7:17 AM