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PZ Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris.
…and this is a pharyngula stage embryo.
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The Jews are a frightened people. Nineteen centuries of Christian love have broken down their nerves.
[Israel Zangwill]
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Category: Personal
Posted on: November 25, 2009 2:41 PM, by PZ Myers
And wouldn't you know it, right there in the title it announces that I'm mild-mannered. Next time, I swear, I'm gonna…I'm gonna…I'm not sure what I'm going to do. Maybe I'll take off my glasses. Maybe I'll cuss, darn it.
I've got to do something to shed this teddy bear reputation. A tattoo, you think? Get my teeth filed all pointy-like? Stop taking showers?
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Comments
Posted by: Harmless Eccentric
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November 25, 2009 2:48 PM
You should definitely get a tattoo.
Posted by: Lilith | November 25, 2009 2:50 PM
As a serial killer?
Posted by: 'Tis Himself, OM
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November 25, 2009 2:50 PM
Get a squid tat on your forehead.
Posted by: MScott
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November 25, 2009 2:51 PM
Take the glasses off works for Clark Kent... ;)
Posted by: spurge | November 25, 2009 2:51 PM
PZ is being slandered by the Boston Phoenix.
http://thephoenix.com/Boston/Life/93405-Greg-Epstein-Atheist-Superstar/
"And last July, atheist blogger PZ Myers — inspired by an old anti-Semitic smear — drove a rusty nail through a communion wafer (considered the body of Jesus by Catholics when blessed), tossed both items in the trash, threw in a banana peel and some coffee grounds for good measure, and wrote about it gleefully in a post titled "The Great Desecration." (In a final flourish, Myers re-nailed the wafer to pages ripped from the Koran and The God Delusion.)"
Posted by: Joe Agnost | November 25, 2009 2:52 PM
What's with the comments thought? It seems that the majority of the comments are critical of PZ... many misunderstanding what 'cracker-gate' was about. (sigh)
Posted by: Ashley F. Miller | November 25, 2009 2:53 PM
I think the only way you could lose the teddy bear reputation would be to go as ad hominem as most of your enemies. And stop being from Minnesota.
Posted by: Darrin Chandler | November 25, 2009 2:56 PM
I think you should embrace the teddy bear image. It's a tactical advantage, you know...
Posted by: MikeTV | November 25, 2009 2:57 PM
Yeah... i agree... embrace your teddybearishness.
Posted by: Nick | November 25, 2009 2:58 PM
No, no, PZ, you've got it backward.
You don't take off the glasses, you put them on.
NS: "So, PZ, what's your hones opinion of creationists?"
PZ: "Well, you could say I find their reasoning...
/sunglasses
...unevolved."
YEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH
Posted by: nitramnaed | November 25, 2009 2:58 PM
A little "BLING" would help.
Posted by: Nerd of Redhead, OM
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November 25, 2009 3:00 PM
Jeesh, next time try waving your
cyberpistolevil cat around. That should get their attention.Posted by: mikecbraun
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November 25, 2009 3:00 PM
Obviously you need some lessons in being nasty and strident from the master himself, Richard Dawkins!
Posted by: anonymous bloger | November 25, 2009 3:02 PM
Well done PZ... ooo you scary, evil, child eating, christmas spoiling, stalin supporting, gas chamber operating, nihilistic, sexually perverted, hell bound atheist!
Seriously though, you are one of the least scary people on the internet (sorry). You could try threatening to write unfavourable things about peoples silly views in a book and not just a blog?
That will scare them and truly show your hate filled, intolerant, dangerously extreme nature!
ooh! and you need more intimidating atheist and evolution supporting ties!
http://carnifexinsania.blogspot.com/
Posted by: Jean-François | November 25, 2009 3:02 PM
I suggest you fight a giant octopus to the death... that'll show 'em!
Posted by: Joel
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November 25, 2009 3:02 PM
No offense, but I fall out of my chair laughing whenever I see a comic-sans blogger accusing you or Dr. Dennett of being shrill. I mean, seriously?
I suggest you buy a Harley, let your beard grow out a few more inches, don some cheap sunglasses, and change your name to "ZZ Myers."
Posted by: Ashley F. Miller | November 25, 2009 3:03 PM
Maybe you just need to pretend you're British.
Posted by: daveau
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November 25, 2009 3:04 PM
It's natural selection. It allows you to sneak up on your prey without causing alarm.
Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp | November 25, 2009 3:05 PM
What you need is a secret volcano hideout.
And an eyepatch.
You've already got the evil cat.
Also, an army of incompetent thugs and henchman helps the public persona as well.
Posted by: mikecbraun
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November 25, 2009 3:05 PM
Joel for the win!
Posted by: David Marjanović, OM | November 25, 2009 3:06 PM
Keep appearing mild-mannered. Only give interviews while stroking a cat that's sitting on your lap, and occasionally approach your right pinkie finger to the right corner of your mouth.
Posted by: mattincinci
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November 25, 2009 3:07 PM
filed pointy teeth like the pope, or even a tattoo might work, but agree you ought to lose the "portly" teddy bear look
Posted by: Russell | November 25, 2009 3:08 PM
I simply called you 'very laid back' in my Skepticon photo blog.
Posted by: brenth | November 25, 2009 3:08 PM
Devil horn implants on your forehead and some facial piercings.
Posted by: mikecbraun
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November 25, 2009 3:08 PM
Do the rock-and-roll devil horn thing with your hands and yell, "666!" while sticking your tongue out before any kind of interview in the future. That should work. They'll at least think you're a douche, which is way better than a teddy bear.
Posted by: Lana | November 25, 2009 3:09 PM
It's obvious. You need to wear tights and a cape.
(I must admit Joel has the best idea.)
Posted by: Karl Haro von Mogel | November 25, 2009 3:10 PM
Perhaps Sarah "profilin'" Palin had something to do with this.Posted by: Blake Stacey
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November 25, 2009 3:12 PM
No no no, you don't take off your glasses. You just have them reflecting light at all times.
Posted by: Strangest brew
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November 25, 2009 3:12 PM
PZ...while they are busy profiling your 'umble professorship... do ya think a little word in the editors shell like about crass ridiculous and misleading headlines do not a science journal make.
It might encourage them to shape up and fly straight a tad?
They are getting quite a bad rep for that sort of nonsense...first Darwin then you...can ya sense a pattern developing here?
Just a thought...pretend to be a teddy bear..then bite his 'ead off when he ain't lookin'
Posted by: count-01
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November 25, 2009 3:13 PM
Tooth-filing and outlandish Maori-style facial tattooing could help. And maybe some contact lenses. Helps with the intimidating stare.
Posted by: Glen Davidson | November 25, 2009 3:16 PM
Tattoo "atheist" on yourself, PZ.
That'll show what an IDiot-persecuting, baby-baking monster you really are.
Works with the fundies, anyhow.
Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/mxaa3p
Posted by: bevo/devo | November 25, 2009 3:21 PM
Definitely a tattoo, PZ. And there won't be any tomfoolery going on behind your back in class, either.
Posted by: Fred Marin | November 25, 2009 3:21 PM
Don't take it too personally, or seriously. They called the CRU at East Anglia Univ. the "custodian of the most respected global temperature record".
They're in critical need of some good old fashioned scientific scepticism - perhaps you could help.
Posted by: Owlmirror | November 25, 2009 3:27 PM
Good luck with that!
"Mild-mannered and colourful"
"Mild-mannered and carcharodontylous"
"Mild-mannered and aromatic"
Posted by: wiley | November 25, 2009 3:27 PM
Get a haircut!
..and a shave.
Posted by: daveau
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November 25, 2009 3:37 PM
Wiley's comment prompts me to ask when was the last time you shaved your beard and mustache off, PZ?
Posted by: Pongo | November 25, 2009 3:42 PM
Nothing wrong with being a teddy bear, you just need to be the right kind of teddy bear.
Isn't that right, Mr Wiggles?
Posted by: Parse
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November 25, 2009 3:46 PM
Of course you've got to seem mild mannered. How else could you pull off your alter ego?
Posted by: Sultmhoor | November 25, 2009 3:51 PM
As someone also of the teddybearish persuasion, let me tell you we're rather formidable in battle. Grow the beard out!
Posted by: Gary Dargan | November 25, 2009 3:57 PM
Maybe you should channel Charles Manson and carve an 'A' into your forehead
Posted by: DouglasG | November 25, 2009 4:13 PM
Hitler is evil. Thus, everything that Hitler ever did is also evil. Hence, since Hitler was a dog lover, all dog lovers are evil. Hitler was a vegetarian. Thus, vegetarianism is an abomination in the eyes of the lord. Wow, this is easy... I wonder how he felt about vegetarian dogs?
Posted by: 'Tis Himself, OM
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November 25, 2009 4:21 PM
Buy a Thompson submachine gun and learn to disassemble, clean and reassemble it without looking. When giving interviews, perform these functions with the gun while staring the interviewer in the face.
Nobody will ever refer to you as mild mannered again.
Posted by: Jadehawk, OM
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November 25, 2009 4:22 PM
I vote for teeth sharpening...
Posted by: Esve | November 25, 2009 4:24 PM
It's your own fault, you know, for being so... well, un-militant. On the one hand, that's sort of a plus for publicity, because it disproves the notion that all atheists are aggressive. On the other hand, well, it doesn't do you justice does it?
I recommend hanging out on street corners with Christopher Hitchens, smoking and having a snarky debate about religion. Oh, and wear an 'I was Expelled from "Expelled"' shirt for added irony... :)
Posted by: daveau
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November 25, 2009 4:26 PM
Jadehawk@43
Nah. Then he'd look like an ewok.
Posted by: Pen | November 25, 2009 4:29 PM
You need to eat kryptonite.
Posted by: RVS | November 25, 2009 4:31 PM
Godless Libearal?
Posted by: Art | November 25, 2009 4:32 PM
I'm thinking a Klingon cranial plate implant, glowing red cat-eye contacts, and six months heavy use of free wights and steroids should have the desired effect. The spectacle of half the crowd cheering and the other half losing control over their bowels when you rip the head off a particularly snotty creationist in a roid rage and then, in a calm tone, proceed to debate the disembodied head is, of course, pure gravy.
Posted by: Marty | November 25, 2009 4:32 PM
Forward your email from the creationist you debated recently. How could you be mild-mannered if you manage a mud wrestling pit?
Posted by: Martin | November 25, 2009 4:49 PM
Urgh, not unless he drapes the cape in front. I suggest facial jewelery, perhaps an eyebrow ring to start.Posted by: becca | November 25, 2009 4:53 PM
Army (Navy?) of sharks with frickin laser beams attached to their heads.
Posted by: Irene Delse | November 25, 2009 4:58 PM
"Mild-mannered man from Minnesota": nice alliteration. Now, if only journos remembered that it was the Vikings, Saxons and other fierce Northern types who gave this poetic device to the English literature... ;-)
Posted by: Akiko | November 25, 2009 5:03 PM
I would never call your writing mild.
Posted by: Sean | November 25, 2009 5:11 PM
You need to demonstrate that you're FIERCE like Adam Lambert. The next time you're on stage with a male Creationist, walk him like a dog and give him a big kiss.
-S
Posted by: roro80 | November 25, 2009 5:25 PM
My personal favorite among the "bad boy" looks is angsty glam boy, but that rarely works on guys over 25. So I'd say that leaves two good choices: grizzled Harley dude or happily-aging ex-flower child. Both allow you to keep the beard, and neither require permanant body modification. It just depends on whether you want to get a bike and a leather jacket or some tie-dye and patchouli.
Posted by: jacqueline
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November 25, 2009 5:36 PM
perhaps all three?
Posted by: daveau
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November 25, 2009 5:43 PM
It's obvious to me, anyway: tentacle implants.
Posted by: Susan | November 25, 2009 5:55 PM
Congratulations! Good interview, if a bit defensive on their part. I think they got their revenge by nagging you to paint your house.
Posted by: Romeo Vitelli | November 25, 2009 5:57 PM
You're only mild-mannered until you jump into the phonebooth. As you come out as Pharyngula-man you're faster than a speeding troll, more powerful than a creationist argument, and able to leap logical flaws with a single bound.
Can a comic book be far behind?
Posted by: Charles Minus | November 25, 2009 6:01 PM
I think a simple tattoo of a teardrop under your right eye would do the trick. And a little cross on the web between the thumb and finger. Needs to be done by an ex-con with a safety pin, though, none of that professional crap.
Posted by: Happy Tentacles | November 25, 2009 6:08 PM
A subterranean hideout, a dubious accent and a long-haired white cat to stroke. That should do it.
Posted by: Rrr | November 25, 2009 6:17 PM
No no no. Never hit a guy with glasses.
Use some other blunt instrument. Sledgehammer? Brick? 2x4? A glass squid perhaps?
Posted by: DiscoveredJoys | November 25, 2009 6:23 PM
Oh pish and tush!
The very first week I stop my subscription to New Scientist they publish something worth reading. I canceled my subscription because of the increasing tendency to include science entertainment articles rather than science information articles (you may remember the 'Darwin Was Wrong!' cover).
Is there such a word as antisynchronicity?
Posted by: Stardrake | November 25, 2009 7:17 PM
Joel @16--Good idea, but you forgot the Les Paul. Don't be forgetting the Les Paul...
Posted by: Dee | November 25, 2009 7:19 PM
They called you the "mild-mannered man from Minnesota" - you can call yourself 4M maybe?
Posted by: Pierce R. Butler | November 25, 2009 7:26 PM
I've got to do something to shed this teddy bear reputation.
But, Prof. Myers, you've clearly been working hard to accommodate those communications professionals who've urged you to maintain a civil dialog with both All and Sundry.
Why, you haven't even called anyone a demented fuckwit since July of '08!
Posted by: Knockgoats | November 25, 2009 7:29 PM
Grow the beard long, and twist the strands into multiple mini-plaits to suggest tentacles.
Posted by: astrounit | November 25, 2009 7:43 PM
We trust, PZ, that you won't let fame (and near-future fortune) prevent you from forgetting about and gabbing with your lesser anonymous friends.
No, of course not. You value them as much as we value you.
It must have something to do with that puzzlingly vague quality called "integrity" - in this case, as it authentically applies to honesty, and an enthusiastic and wonder-filled devotion to the authority of nature and the science that extracts that real information out of the world we live in...NOT as it applies to that horriblly popular knee-jerk backwards gunk and glue-like adherence to and the many blatant fakeries of mere faith. Which is all the steam they've got in their rusty little locomotive, an "integrity" based on a belief system (never mind WHY they have to believe it, for reasons no sane person recognizes) that steadily corrodes under the exposure of something called "truth".
Which they shan't get away with absconding.
What a trip - from the "old days" when some (certainly unknown to ME) biology prof from Morris started a blog (i miss those days!)...to the incipient author of a best-selling book. (hmmm...rather disconcerting to find one's self finding nostalgia in little more than a half-dozen years)
Incredibly well done too, every step of the way. Bravo!
This sort of thing would have been unthinkable a short decade ago. Who would possibly have dared predict back then that anyone who was passionate about atheism (of all things) could, on something called a "blog", ever cultivate such an infuriating "influence", "anger millions with his tirades against religion" AND consequently cause a most rewarding epidemic of teeth-gnashing amongst people who have lost the ability to think for themselves and require a serious dentist?
Guess we rarely consider "hard and dedicated work" as a real player anymore, heh heh heh...
You tapped a motherlode that almost no one would admit was there all along (even though most of them full-well knew it might)...and you mightn't have either perhaps, at first, you could plainly see the progressive flaring of that magnificent negatively-curved hyperbolic surface - no, membrane - deploying to encompass ever more space (the better to capture passing wanderers by, ha ha...)
And that horn blared forth with a most satisfying clarion call...ahhhhhhhhh....that is absolutely, positively, NOT associated with the reflexive negative connotations of attack and antagonism but the positive message of measured reasoning together with an alert love of evidence.
I feel very fortunate to have seen such a little nub come into such a healthy and prodigious bloom. And LEARNED so much along the way by simply WATCHING it happen.
Thank YOU, sir, from the bottom of my heart.
Just stay safe please.
Man, I can't wait to see how this lusciously big and beautiful and fragrant blossom of fresh air will reproduce itself.
Posted by: anonymous bloger | November 25, 2009 7:52 PM
We should run a research program to find the most evil looking and the cuddliest atheist bloggers....
Posted by: Soulless | November 25, 2009 8:00 PM
You could eat a few babies. That ought to do it.
Posted by: Joel
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November 25, 2009 8:11 PM
A tattoo for sure. Science / Maths tattoos are fantastic
Posted by: Snoof | November 25, 2009 8:42 PM
I vote for PZ "Squidbeard" Myers.
Whether they're actual tentacles or merely dreadlocks is a matter of taste or biology.
Posted by: John S. Wilkins
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November 25, 2009 10:09 PM
I've told you before. Just show the horns and pointy tail. Alternatively, get a metal mask like Dr Doom.
Posted by: Mark
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November 25, 2009 10:47 PM
I enjoyed the profile. I actually helped me solve a bit of an ethical dilemma. The small town where I live is finally getting a Science Cafe here but I was chagrined to see that it was being held, of all places, at a Xtian-friendly coffee shop.
I try not to patronize businesses like that. My reasoning was thus, if it is legitimate for a business to entice potential customers by indicating that the proprietors are "good god-fearin' folks like y'all," then the inverse is equally legitimate-for me to choose NOT to patronize their establishment because "y'all are NOT at all like me."
Finding out that PZ does not fear that his joe might be poisoned by some crazed believer acting on a fatwa issued by, say, Bill Donohue, made me re-think my aversion to walking into that coffee shop. Who knows, perhaps I can finally meet other like-minded individuals...it can be very lonely being a pale blue dot in a very red state.
And when we "give thanks" this year, take a page from Dan Dennett and be thankful for the goodness of our fellow human beings and not an imaginary sky-fairy.
Posted by: Finback | November 26, 2009 12:19 AM
Nick, #10.
Sir, I tip my cap to you. I actually choked on my salad roll as I read that.
Posted by: UFo | November 26, 2009 1:05 AM
I just saw the article about you and your blog in NewScientist today. My first thought, was "Cool! Another smart guy pushing back against the forces of the new Dark Ages... gotta go check him out!" On reading a bit of this blog, I'm amazed it took me so long to find it. Keep up the good fight. I'm kinda on the fence re your criticism of the "Darwin was wrong" headline. It cuts both ways. One can always counter the boneheads waving that cover with: "If you would take to trouble to actually read the article in question...." thereby exposing the bonehead's intellectual shallowness, so while the headline sends the wrong message, the truth is out there nevertheless.
Posted by: Ragutis
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November 26, 2009 1:07 AM
What's with the Blofeldian suggestions? Dr. No is clearly the better stylistic inspiration. FFS, people... undersea lair.
Sheesh...
Posted by: may | November 26, 2009 4:44 AM
teddybear rep?
it's your own fault.
riding a stega-steed in a royal blue shirt with a pin stripe suit,training shoes and no spurs.
what do you expect?
Posted by: Mark Z | November 26, 2009 6:14 AM
"I vote for PZ "Squidbeard" Myers."
Second that! Pirates are soooooo cool.
Ramen
Posted by: Mack the Spife | November 26, 2009 6:20 AM
The next time you're in a debate, and the other debater is being particularly tiresome, pounce on them, and bite part of their ear off! Then pull out a knife and do a line of coke off it.
Possibly there should be knuckle tattoos, too, ones that say squid on one hand and evil on the other hand.
Barring that, take up some particularly violent, bloody sport: ultimate fighting, no holds barred boxing, quail hunting with Dick Cheney.
Posted by: Richard Eis | November 26, 2009 6:35 AM
You have flying monkey minions at your command. Regularly insult dangerous organisations. You love squid. You held Jesus hostage. You have even disobeyed the creation museum rules and rode a dinosaur (At the same time)
Such unrepentant evil, yet you still have a teddy bear image.
and you think you are doing something wrong? Surely the bestest evil is the cuddly looking kind.
Posted by: Whatevermachine | November 26, 2009 7:28 AM
Nooo, I love PZ's teddybear-ness :P
Posted by: Chris Swanson | November 26, 2009 9:22 AM
Phil Plait over on badastronomy.com got himself a sciencey tattoo. Maybe that might be what you need!
Posted by: Alyson Miers | November 26, 2009 12:44 PM
Wear a Cthulu mask and snarl at passing children.
Posted by: natural cynic | November 26, 2009 1:11 PM
C'mon PZ, you're a frakkin' pirate. Now look like one: eyepatch, longer beard braided, sweat-stained tricorn hat and maybe even a hook.
Posted by: John Daugherty | November 26, 2009 3:39 PM
"Today Myers lives in a peeling white house across the street from the University of Minnesota Morris."
I know a good painter, you could get Darwin's face on the side of your house.
Posted by: darvolution proponentsist | November 26, 2009 6:31 PM
Here's to giving Thanksgiving a good kick in the balls! It's a nice warm up considering
ChristmasSolsticemas is right around the corner.Also, a shout out to the Universe for letting 'shit happen'.*
* - 'shit happens' is occasionally confused with 'specified complexity'.
Posted by: SteveL
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November 27, 2009 12:27 AM
Looks like they're claiming that PZ grudgingly endorsed their "Darwin was wrong" story.
Posted by: furr-a-bruin
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November 28, 2009 5:08 AM
Another vote for ZZ Myers - but you could throw in a double handful of big ugly biker rings (the kind they wear because brass knuckles are illegal), some big cigars and an ever-present bottle of Jack Daniel's. (You don't have to actually drink it, just give the impression you do. ;)
Tattoos are cool - but if you're wearing that leather biker jacket, no one would be able to see a set of full sleeves anyway.... The longer beard would rock. Of course [looking down at beard that extends below my sternum] I'm kinda biased on that point.
Remember - inside every teddy bear, there's a snarlin' grizzly with 4" claws and wicked fangs ready to maul the opposition!
Posted by: cats and boxers | January 2, 2010 5:16 AM
I knw y r prbbly bsy bt I thght d lt y knw tht yr blg lks bt dffrnt n ggl chrm. I hv jst nstlld ggl chrm nd ll th wbpgs lk ytb nd ggl lk th sm bt yr st lks lttl dffrnt. It lks lk th fnt s bt smllr nd ts dffrnt typ f fnt. Myb ts jst my cmptr bcs I'v skd frnd f mn f yr st lks dffrnt t hm n dffrnt brwsrs nd h sd n.
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