…and this is a 
I'm going to be speaking at the U of M tonight. I actually have to leave soon for this, because we had a light snowfall yesterday, and last I checked, the roads were slick as shellacked snot. I'm giving myself lots of extra driving time to improve my odds of actually getting there intact and with a still functional vehicle.
Also, some of us will be meeting at the campus club in Coffman Union sometime before the 7:30 talk. Feel free to stop by and say hello!
Skatje and I are here — the roads were good and we made it plenty early. Stop by the Campus Club (4th floor of Coffman Union) any time before 7:30. If you take too long, all the salmon will be gone, I warn you.
Comments
Posted by: tokenadult | December 3, 2009 2:39 PM
Have a safe drive. I expect to see you at the talk and at the CASH event afterward.
Posted by: DKB | December 3, 2009 2:50 PM
Dang, I'm going to be in Minneapolis from Monday to Wednesday next week. Missed it by that much. Have a good time.
Posted by: Desert Son, OM
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December 3, 2009 2:52 PM
Safe travels! Hope it's a great time!
Still learning,
Robert
Posted by: Celtic_Evolution
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December 3, 2009 2:56 PM
I would think the snot would be slicker before it was shellacked, no? Would shellacking not decrease viscosity?
Posted by: R. Schauer
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December 3, 2009 3:03 PM
PZ,
I'll be at the Campus Club by 5:30 so if you get into town early just come on by.
All others interested in coming to the Campus Club pre-party...just come on over around 6pm for libations and snack! 'Til this evening!
Posted by: Zeno | December 3, 2009 3:09 PM
Our current budget crisis in California means we've run out of road snot to spread on our freeways, but California drivers are resourceful. Even a light rain shower that dampens the roadways very slightly is enough to cause us to spin out of control and slide off onto the shoulder. I mean, someone should warn us that wet pavement has a lower coefficient of friction! (Duh.)
Posted by: Givesgoodemail | December 3, 2009 3:10 PM
Ratbunnies! I have to fetch guests in from out-of-town tonight, so I'm gonna miss your talk.
Spit on a creationist for me.
Posted by: bcoppola | December 3, 2009 3:12 PM
#4: Well, I for one thought the alliteration was pretty slick.
Challenge to Digital Cuttlefish: a poetic opus, if you please, using "slick shellacked snot" or variants thereof, i.e., the original "slicker than...", "slickly shellacked", etc.
Posted by: Keenacat
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December 3, 2009 3:35 PM
I second bcoppolas motion towards Cuttlefish. Would you do an alliteration poem, pretty please?
Posted by: Randomfactor | December 3, 2009 3:35 PM
Please drive carefully...we remember the trip last March...
Nobody Up There must like you.
Posted by: eddie
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December 3, 2009 3:40 PM
OT but I'm watching the Euro edition of the Daily Show. Game over; you got Bush III.
Posted by: HappyHax0r
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December 3, 2009 3:59 PM
Amazing... I've heard "slick as a soaped bottle", "slick as soaped glass" and "the roads feel like they're greased"... but I've never heard "slick as shellacked snot."
I'm going to have to add that to my repertoire :).
Posted by: MikeM | December 3, 2009 4:11 PM
What kind of car did you end up getting?
(I hope it's an A3.)
Posted by: Marsha | December 3, 2009 4:14 PM
This weekend I'm going to shellac some snot and see what happens... once a skeptic, always a skeptic, I guess :)
Posted by: Jimmy Groove | December 3, 2009 4:56 PM
You should wear this mask for your talk. That way nobody would ever forget it.
http://bobbasset.com/?p=272#more-272
Posted by: Lee Picton | December 3, 2009 5:34 PM
Hey, another enquiring mind wants to know - what car did you end up getting after your misadventure last year?
Posted by: Art | December 3, 2009 5:50 PM
Drive safe and don't forget that most people would rather you miss a meeting than see you risk getting hurt.
We might also look into taking up a collection to get you a reconditioned ex-military duce-and-a half, 6x6 with PTO winch, for winter driving.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M35_2-1/2_ton_cargo_truck
The 'gun truck' version might be necessary in the heavily fundamentalist/anti-evo areas. Adding enough driving lights to melt the ice in front of you and inflict radiation burns at fifty paces sound right. With a 2-1/2 ton cargo capacity you could just about get all the material you need for a proper presentation and still have room for the trophy wife and/or a spare driver.
we could paint on an appropriate name: "El Duce" and "Natural Selection" come to mind.
Posted by: JBabs073
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December 3, 2009 7:11 PM
I'm excited to hear your lecture!
Glad to see you making another appearance out here at the TC campus. Don't forget us in the spring semester!
Posted by: Carl | December 3, 2009 7:26 PM
Will the talk be recorded? I don't live anywhere near Minneapolis, but I'd be quite interested in listening to an MP3 of talk if one is made available for download.
Posted by: JHS
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December 3, 2009 8:00 PM
The more pressing question....will there be hotdish?
Posted by: Phoenix Woman | December 3, 2009 10:52 PM
Good on you for surviving! You'll have noticed that the snow tapered off once you hit the Twin Cities Urban Anti-Precipitation Shield.
By the way, there's good news concerning Obama, China and climate change: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/18/obama-and-hu-jintao-talk-_n_361847.html
Posted by: jaynie | December 3, 2009 11:41 PM
What an excellent lecture. Good to get the old neurons firing again.
Thank you for signing my "Origin". I was too shy to ask for a pic or go to the on after...
Posted by: tokenadult | December 4, 2009 12:14 AM
Good talk. I'm sorry I didn't stay for the apres talk event, but some people in the family are going through colds, and I have to be lab helper at my second son's science class tomorrow. I was pleased to see the large audience for a lecture on biology just for fun.
Posted by: andocommando82
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December 4, 2009 12:41 AM
I wanted to come, but I had to work late. Sorry!
Posted by: The effin' bear
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December 4, 2009 4:17 AM
It's too bad that your touring is mostly confined to the upper Midwest —, as I would love to see one of your talks here in Cackalacki. However, I think that the Midwest, with its nearly 100% white population, is more in need of the Good Word of Rational Thought than in the Carolinas, where science teaching often coincides with ... actual science, believe it or not.
Posted by: the pro from dover | December 4, 2009 6:31 AM
If you can't make it to Minneapolis on Saturday, perhaps you can go to Fort Collins Colorado for the annual politically incorrect Christmas tree trimming festival, athiests welcome, with your own space for signs etc. Marvin Straus is your local cotact there.
Posted by: Chris | December 4, 2009 9:33 AM
Speaking of misadventures w/ respect to cars, and since Skatje recently got her license, and since you two obviously made it to the UofM, I'm curious, which one of you was driving?
*ducks*
Posted by: R. Schauer
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December 4, 2009 12:10 PM
Ann Marie and I both enjoyed your's and Skatje's company at the Campus Club and the lecture at U of M Molecular Bio.
I thought the turnout was great at the lecture and you did a magnificient job of helping us "lay people" understand more about how our nervous system evolved. Sincere thanks for your generosity of time, PZ!
"Be an opener of doors for such as come after thee." R.W. Emerson