We conquered Australia. The next step is the EU. The atheists are meeting in Copenhagen on 18-20 June, and I've been authorized to tell you that two special guests will be appearing there.
The first is the Amazing Randi. You have to go listen to a guy whose first name is Amazing! Besides all the other speakers, this guarantees that we will have a fabulous time.
The second is not someone on the speaker list, and she won't be haranguing anyone from a lectern. I'll be going, and at long last, the awesome Trophy Wife™ will be in attendance with me. Just imagine…you'll be able to talk to her and get all kinds of juicy horrible gossip about what I'm actually like in private, and spread it about on the internet!
But only if you come to the meeting! Conference passes are now on sale!
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I was looking at the site while you posted this! That sounds like a great conference theme with an interesting line-up of speakers. And the building is super cool.
The Trophy Wife? In person? Swoon1.
1 Making sure not to land on the Pullet Patrol or the light weight fainting couch.
By the way, PZ -- this story is calling your name:
Why Does Congress Allow a Pedophilia-ridden Church to Control Women’s Rights?
Idiots don't give the prices in € !
Trophy Wife™: Oh, he's generally boring to live with.
Awesome news. Looking forward to this meet up even more now.
who schedules these things during a world cup? silly critters.
OTOH, if I weren't already broke from other commitments, I'd so do this, since I'll actually be in the area* during that time. Unfortunately, another $270 just isn't likely to happen
----
*defined here as a distance less than between Minot and Fargo.
Could someone who is attending please send pictures of the Trophy Wife™? I was beginning to think that she was a figment of PZ's imagination.
Dang. I'm going to Australia in July so no European trips for me for a while. While in Copenhagen, don't forget to debunk the fact that the Danish pastries that they sell there are nothing like the danishes sold everywhere else.
$370 even; anyway, not gonna happen. everybody else have fun though :-)
The Trophy Wife's picture can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonder_Woman
The lasso will be used on any creationists who wander within earshot.
Nope, I'm not going to go. Some crank cultist named ZP Mayerz or something like that will be there. I deal with enough nuts that I don't want to go all the way to Denmark to have to put up with another.
Damn you Myers. Damn you to hell for going there immediately after I'll be flying back the other direction to the States...where you do more speeches...that I'll probably be able to attend in the near future.
How dare you?
Seriously though, enjoy. Hit the gay district, it's a couple of blocks from the university, it's also the goth district. You'll find the coolest clothing and shops, seriously, give it a look.
Also, buy a sandwich. Don't even need to get fancy. Go to an Annette's chain sandwich shops. The Danes get puzzled when I tell them this, but they treat sandwiches like an art form here and they are so fucking tasty.
Failing that, hit a kebab stand. Killer middle-eastern food.
Something is awesome in the state of Denmark!
A lot of those speakers were also in Australia.They have Victor Stenger there, too, would have loved to listen to his talk !!
Never been to Denmark, would have been a good opportunity to go there, but I'm not getting into Europe until a week later, very annoying !
Northern Europe is so pretty. They need to do something about the tremendous amount of Muslims pouring in though.
Oh man! If it was a month later I'd actually by in Copenhagen already for a conference!
Dang it. You keep having all the fun while I'm stuck here at home and not being able to go anywhere.
GregGorey @16
Don't worry, self-correcting problem. Being actual humans, the whammy of freedom for the kids leads to a lot of dissolution of the chains inherent in the religion. Rome wasn't burned in a day, but I've seen the kids definitely, shall we say, corrupted by the freedoms of the culture and the vast liberal expressions and extensive educations.
Like with everywhere, the kids are all right and show that a lot of the nastiness in orthodox islam is being sanded off like so much meaningless waste.
While their parents may or may not hope to stand for "traditional values", their kids are smooching white same-sex partners down by the train station and it is completely illegal to prevent their daughters from receiving the same extensive, very secular education as everyone else.
I've just been reading about the Amazing Randi and discovered that he came out as gay this month, which makes him doubly amazing in my book.
I mean, he's 81, had coronary by-pass surgery and then discovered he had bowel cancer last year and has had further surgery and chemo and he's still gay.
How fucking good is that?
Amazing, lovely man...I also like the fact that, when he dies, he would like to be cremated and have his ashes blown in Yuri Geller's face.
What a guy! :-)
He was more amazing before he said foolish and dangerous things about global warming and revealed the same arrogance and failure to understand the scientific enterprise and its power as an epistemological engine as other armchair "skeptics".
tm @21, you forgot to include "in my opinion".
Mmm I believe he is actually a professional sceptic, but I take your point.
OK, I admit I was unaware of that. But (and I pompously speak as fully paid up member of the Green Party and I don't intend to be a Randi apologist here) he may well have come to his conclusions by way of being suspicious of what he sees as group-think, together with reacting viscerally to some of the stupid alarmist crap that the mass media has touted in relation to their so-called "climate debate" (i.e. make money from a serious problem they don't comprehend).
I can imagine it setting off alarm bells with someone like Randi, who hates woo-woo...especially since it seems he invented the term (not sure about that btw).
I'd be inclined to cut him some slack, given his age and also the fact that he probably made the common human mistake of confusing personal intelligence and expertise in one area with expertise in areas where he is not in possession of the facts, or the years of experience needed to make such widely read pronouncements (hubris, I think it's called).
Also the fact that, like me, he would have gone through a time before the current crisis, when we were "all going to die" because we were in an inter-glacial period and the next ice-age was just around the corner. Or maybe you are too young to remember that particular era of "fact".
you forgot to include "in my opinion".
None of that is merely my opinion, fool.
believe he is actually a professional sceptic
See http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/12/say_it_aint_so_randi.php#com…
Also the fact that, like me, he would have gone through a time before the current crisis, when we were "all going to die" because we were in an inter-glacial period and the next ice-age was just around the corner. Or maybe you are too young to remember that particular era of "fact".
I'm probably older and certainly wiser than you. Unlike you, I am aware that this is a standard global warming denialati talking point. For the refutation of that and other such points, see
http://www.skepticalscience.com/ice-age-predictions-in-1970s.htm
I
P.S. John. I have addressed your foolishness before: as arids said, "He has demonstrated that he hasn't the foggiest notion how science works". Feel free to contrast your own ignorant opinion to a_ray_in_dilbert_space's "opinion" about global warming and Randi's comments about it.
Fil, that was thoroughly discussed here: Say it ain't so, Randi!
tm has a history of not making factual or logical errors.
That was popular media, not scientific opinion.
You might find this of interest: 3 - Climate Change -- Anatomy of a myth.
[meta]
tm is on record as opining that I am a moron and an ignoramus.
I say: Perhaps so, compared to him.
I note that these are relative rankings, not absolute.
--
tm @25, yeah, I recall.
3 - Climate Change -- Anatomy of a myth.
Great link. I also comment on Cato Institutel Fellow Penn Gillette (his credentials? He went to clown school) at http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/12/say_it_aint_so_randi.php#com…
tm is on record as opining that I am a moron and an ignoramus.
I believe you've said that you are amused when I do this, so I'm happy to oblige you. :-)
Lee Brimmicombe-Wood here. This is good news, PZ! As I live just across the bridge in Malmö I may be able to sneak across the border and show my face.
hmmm, this is tempting.
Any Pharyngulite in Copenhagen with a place to stay and willing to host a rude frenchman (NB: I won't smell if you let me shower from time to time, and I can cook without emptying your fridge).
I'll exchange with a place to stay for 2 on the French Riviera if interested (close to Nice)...
@ Truth Machine.
LOL, internets, reducing polite, thoughtful discourse amongst reasonable, thinking people since 1985.
Older and wiser are you, hey, from a smidgen of interaction? Perhaps not so wise as you would wish, certainly not the more polite.
Then again, PZ's blog's basis of brash atheism and robust discourse must of course force all to bow to some new model of interaction that allows no model of amiable disagreement over a few beers, while we all ponder what the fuck life is all about?
I hope not.
Rash pronouncements of "fool", etc?
Get off you high horse, for you only make yourself look rash.
But I digress.
Now to the subject. I make no claim to an in-depth knowledge of climatology, certainly back when I was fifteen or so (I'm near sixty now, you may well be over one hundred for all I know).
Therefore, I do acknowledge the perhaps "populist" nature of the expressed thinking regarding trends in climate change back in the 1960's and '70's may have bamboozled me.
So?
All I am putting forward is the notion that intelligent, general, readers of such subject back then were presented with such paradigms (such, mayhaps as Randi).
Mammoths frozen with fresh food still in their mouths....that sort of emotional stuff; it was all the rage. Forgive me if I do not know how stupid I was....maybe I was too busy learning Bach on the violin, as well as building telescopes and polishing mirrors, that sort of knuckle-dragging pastime.
Plus I had a very hazy notion of what exactly had caused the recent (geologically speaking) cycle of ice ages at all, not being very smart and all. Dust in the solar system that we periodically passed through? Solar instability. No one seemed to know then (if indeed we do now).
You know, if someone like PZ or Richard Dawkins or even an arch egotist like S.J.Gould had responded to my positive appreciation of a colourful figure like James Randi, I think I would have been uplifted by the discourse, instead of being more than a touch peeved as I am now.
"Older and wiser" indeed Pfff.
Silly person.
Added because truth is important. It's late Sunday afternoon here and I have been arguing recent election outcomes with a neighbour (as in how the Green Party may interact with a new hung Parliament here in Tasmania) and I am well and truly, er, "tired and emotional".
Oh, hell, I'm pissed. So I'm not really picking a fight...and may not have made a lot of sense. ;-)
Yall should move the date, it conflicts with the Phish tour.
negentropyeater, if you can live with sleeping on the floor in my living room, you're welcome to crash at my place (actually have a spare box-mattress which you can sleep on, so it's not entirely on the floor).
Given the fact that most of the time will be spent at the convention anyway, I think I could host a couple of people in said living room, as long as they don't mind sharing the floor.
Fil @32
There is no such thing as a "colourful" anything in this part of America, your premise is flawed.
I'll be there! Already bought my tickets.
Looking forward to it all!
@ scooter #36
That kind of makes me sad, even before I really know what you mean...
If I said "colorful" would that help? :-)
A proven "flawed premise" however, to give it more thought, is wonderful.
Mmm, science.
I would love to go - but I just can't justify the 24+ hour plane trip and the expense for a short visit.
I already have plans for a European visit at the end of the year!
Will be at TAM in Sydney in November though!
Kristjan,
thanks for the offer. I'll send you an email (I saw your gmail account on your blog) if I decide to go there. Is that ok with you?
This could be fun. I need to think about the costs though. Will check flights from Nice to Copenhagen.
Thank you.
negentropyeater, no worries - let me know if you want to crash here. I have already bought my ticket for the convention, so I am going no matter what.
If people haven't noticed, there is an early bird price, which expires at the end of this month. So if one is going, it's a good idea to buy your ticket before April 1st.
what, no dawkins?
I see there is a pub crawl included in the program. This is very appropriate knowing PZ's great interest in beer!
If you are going, please don't restrict yourselves to the mainstream Carlsberg, Heineken or whatever watery stuff they might try to shovel down your throat.
Denmark has a lot of micro breweries producing an amazing array of tasty beers of all kinds. I'm sure you will be able to find a couple of favorites. Remember to do a complete survey.
In harmony with the conference theme, the brewery "Djævlebryg" (Devils brew) has two specifik candidates:
"Gudeløs" (Godless), an imperial stout produced in cooperation with Ateistisk Selskab - one on the event organizers.
"OriginAle". A double darwinian IPA. A tribute to Darwins Origin of species. An intelligently designed beer!
Happy hangovers... :-)
@Fil #32: If Truth Machine ever posted a comment that wasn't arrogant and inflammatory, I'd assume it was an impostor. That's TM's schtick, one that I think gets tedious very quickly.
...as opposed to that inflatable one you have been traveling with. It's about time she gets a vacation. (ambiguity deliberate)
Will she be wearing her fancy socks?
Thanks for bringing this up - I just queried who was going on the Thread.
Will anyone be taking the tour? I haven't been a tourist in Cph. for years, but I don't think I'd bother going on the Kanalrundfart unlesst there are other Poopyheads there. Are you all gonna stay in the pub instead?
Some questions here for the estimable P.Z.
1. You are going to these "conferences" that are featuring speakers who are not atheists. In fact, they are anti-atheists. If you read Paul Kurtz's "neo-humanist" manifesto, which Mr. Randi signed onto, there are direct attacks upon the "New Atheists." In churlish and blithering ways, this counter-movement says that religion is fine, religious humanism is fine, we all are going to get magic ponies if we are nice - and these are the folks that you must sit and listen to?
Atheism cannot be where people excuse the sociological destructive power of religion, give it a happy pass, and attack those brave and strong-minded prominent atheists who have taken on that monolith, with its nationalistic, military, social, and legal power. I would be out of the room when Kurtz or Randi gets up to speak.
2. American Atheists has a military vice-president, and is giving her a lifetime achievement award, or something. So, again, I'm out of the room - I'm getting dizzy from going out of the room. PZ, if you stay in the room, and remain quiet while the Stars and Stripes is playing and the sounds of predator drones wafts through the speakers, you chose your side. Everyone in the atheist movement is free to do so, and I may be the only conscientious objector to these proceedings, but what's a comment section for but to hear from the cranks.
Wey hey, an atheist conference near me! No excuses this time, IF, that is, I'll get time off work.
It also made me come out of the Shadow of the Lurkers.
If I can make it, I'd be delighted to shake your tentacle and maybe desecrate a cracker or two. Too bad that in Denmark, nobody'll twitch an eyebrow.
"Atheism cannot be where people excuse the sociological destructive power of religion, give it a happy pass, and attack those brave and strong-minded prominent atheists who have taken on that monolith, with its nationalistic, military, social, and legal power. "
Atheism is where people don't believe in gods. If atheists agreed about everything else then they wouldn't need to have meetings or conferences.
I thought his first name is "The". "Amazing" is his middle name.
So you've posted here nothing but a bunch of impressionistic nonsense about alleged "group-think" and what "we" know or don't know and apparently can't be bothered to attain a basic familiarity with the science (such as from reading an IPCC report, or even an FAQ or summary). True skeptics do not base their views on adolescent responses to mass media reports (and I have to wonder whether you even watched John Morales' short video link) or visceral reactions to consensus, but on an appreciation of the peer-reviewed science.
Pathetic.
ARRRRGHHH!!! Of course you have to pick the time where I have 4 exams! Guess I will have to fail them all, so I can attend.
And here I thought that his first name was "James", and his middle name was "The Amazing." This is so confusing!
Too bad for you Copenhagen's famous Little Mermaid will be out of town.
Pope will 'not be intimidated by petty gossip' over sex abuse scandalsMan, this guy has a gift for public relations, doesn't he?
Given the fact that some of the people involved in arranging the conference are connected to the Djælvebryg brewery, I can't help thinking that there will be some Gudeløs to drink at the conference.
I was wondering the same as Sili. So far I've only bought the ticket for the conference, but I plan to buy one for the dinner as well. I am wondering if it's worth buying tickets for the rest of the stuff.
"Older and wiser" indeed Pfff.
You've proven the "wiser" with that contribution.
If Truth Machine ever posted a comment that wasn't arrogant and inflammatory
I post truth, in this case about Randi, "skepticism" vs. science, and, most importantly, global warming.
So?
So you used a lie -- a standard GW denialist talking point -- to defend Randi's own dangerous ignorance about AGW.
True skeptics do not base their views on adolescent responses to mass media reports (and I have to wonder whether you even watched John Morales' short video link) or visceral reactions to consensus, but on an appreciation of the peer-reviewed science.
I doubt very much that he read my link in #21, which applies to him and to the "amazing" Randi (and that clown Gillette, whom I last saw joined at the hip with Ben Stein on a CNN "panel" discussing the health care bill, both decrying the horrible abuse of Congressional rules used to pass it, being the experts on parliamentary procedure they are) as well as to the person you addressed it to.
does this offer still stand, and could I take advantage of it? I'm sorely tempted to try to scrounge the money together after all, and it would be easier if I didn't have to pay for staying there in addition to travel and convention costs
@phoenixwoman, #11:
Would that make P.Z. Batman or Superman?
Jadehawk, you're very welcome to crash here. You might have to share the floor with other people, but as I said, we're not going to spend much of our time at my apartment anyway.
Squidman
Okees! I'm in!
(Of course, now I'll have to starve next month.)
lol, you're not the only one :-)
why do all my expenses have to pile up right now, when January and February are such unprofitable months?! :-p
yay! thanks :-)
OK, all you attendees, I do have to mention that the Trophy Wife™ does not drink beer. She'll have a little wine, and occasionally I've managed to slip a margarita or something similarly sweetish twixt her lips...but she'll nurse it all night. There will be no drunken table dancing by the mistress of the house, sorry to disappoint.
Well, if I have any money come June, I'll take some Pharyngulistas out for food/beer.
Can't offer accommodation. I plan to bug some friends, myself. Again. Better bring along something for the kid, I guess.
Just told the dole office I'll be taking those three days off. That should take care of the two weeks' notice.
Yeah, but what about the master?
Anyway - if there's time to go to Nørrebro perhaps she'll be able to find a beer to her tastes. Speciality beers have been all the rage the last decade or so - I'm sure they'll have something sufficiently un-beerlike.
...
If even Jadehawk comes during the World Cup, what reason do I still have not to join? I don't need much space to sleep, as long as it's horizontal...
Problem is, I have no income, and certainly won't get any till September or October at the earliest.
Just how to explain to my mother that I need money for going to Denmark for 3 days? Is she going to accept that I don't want to miss this opportunity for my social cyber-life to come into meatspace?
I suppose I'll have to try. I don't need to mention it's a conference... maybe.
Hm.
Me neither. :-) Nor any other alcoholic solution. I don't like the smell and the taste.
OK. Here is the deal - looking around in my living room (one of two rooms in my apartment), I'd say that there is room for about four people, maybe more (six or eight), depending on the need for personal space.
I'd offer people to crash on the floor of my bedroom as well, but I snore like hell (really, I do), so that's not really an option.
So, in other words, there are room for some people - I'll give negentropyeater and Jadehawk first option to crash here, as they asked first, but my offer is for all pharyngulites, current trolls excluded obviously.
cuddle orgy!!!!!
*runs madly cackling out of thread*
Nothing against that, frankly. As mentioned, I don't need more space to sleep than my sleeping bag takes up, probably even a bit less.
Also, I haven't been cuddled by anyone but the baby sister and occasionally one grandmother for... easily 20 years, probably more. But, uh, I don't insist on it :-]
Cuddle orgy or no cuddle orgy, the initial reaction is favorable: "we'll see" (when I'll come) how I'll get to Copenhagen cheaply. Assuming Kristjan Wager's offer stands.
:-)
Of course it does David.
I might mostly lurk these days, but I still consider myself part of the horde, and will of course help other pharyngulites in any way I can :-)
ok. I wanna be properly touristy about this so I'll probably buy the complete ticked, including the sightseeing. There better be some other pharyngulites on that sightseeing tour with me! :-)
Sorry. I skipped the sightseeing for now. I wanted to make sure I got a seat for the main attraction(s).
But I'll get one later, then.
I've never been to Copenhagen before so I splashed out for the tour as well. Figured I may as well make the most of my stay.
All of you who have not been to Copenhagen before really should take the touristy trip-thing-tour. It's quite nice (if the weather behaves). I'll skip it since I've done at least five times and live in Copenhagen as it is. But I will gladly recommend places to eat and drink on Nørrebro. And yes, I've had the occasional blueberry-beer here. (Yuck - by the way) Can't wait to see members of the tentacled horde here.
I completely forgot about the conference fee – 160 $, and limited availability of such "cheap" tickets!!! That's going to be tough.
How much is the trip-thing-tour?
according to the pricelist here, it's $45.
I just paid for the Full Conference Ticket, which is $332 (or $279 for those lucky bastards with student ID's)
also, check your e-mail, David
Sheesh, first Australia had all the fun now Europe. When will things start working in North America's favor?!
You have already paid, that was quick !!! Trying to see if I can my travel plans changed without losing too much money, will let you guys know.
can't leave myself too much time to secondguess my decision, or else I'd just chicken out again :-p
Live in Denmark, about 2 miles from the venue. I'm afraid I can't offer accommodation, we live in 1 1/2 bedroom, two adults and a toddler. My wife has exams in the weeks around the conference, and she will be three weeks away from her due date on the weekend of the conference, so I won't even approach her with any suggestions of a mighty slumber party in our living room ;)
It was hard enough to get the arrangements in place for someone to pick up the young one at kindergarten while I am enjoying listening to Rebecca Watson, according to the preliminary program.
AND... once again such an awesome conference is being held more or less in my nick of the woods at a time I BLOODY CAN'T MAKE IT!
FFSMS, can you not find a better time?
Oh.
I can't really offer accommodation for the meeting proper as mentioned, but if any Pharyngulistas feel like having a look at more of Denmark before/after the conference, I can offer some floorspace in boring'n'ugly Odense (City Of Hans Christian Andersen!!!). I might even be able to borrow an inflatable bed from my Catholic friends, if they can find it.
Word of warning, though: you will be assaulted by cat hair and dustbunnies.
Aaargh....
Why why why? I live on a ship that is moored right next to the venue at the moment, but during this event the ship will be in Arhus... why?
Bloody timing's why.
Could have been so great, to be able to invite all of you, on the ship, as we organize music and all kinds of high level entertainment, no gods required, maybe Poseidon.
Where's me rum?
Why's the rum always gone?
Hmmm.. I'm wondering if we shouldb make a list of Pharyngulites (did I get that right? I'm on my third glass of red bwine) who actually live in Copenhagen? But there'll probably be another post about the cobnfere(bloody b popping up everywhere) nce. We'll make a roll call then.
b
If there is room, and you are still offering, I would like to take advantage of it. I'm tall but very narrow, so I shouldn't take up too much space. :)
We can offer room for two in walking distance of the venue (2 1/2 km). There is also a bus going from out door that stops close to the venue.
Furthermore we are about 15 minutes away from the airport, using the metro.
That's the upside, the downside is that our flat is tiny. We have room for a queen size air mattress in the living room, which can be shared by two people who don't mind spooning, or one on the mattress and one on the not so comfortable couch.
We are a married couple in our late 30's, a toddler who just turned 3, and a baby due about 3 weeks after the convention.
We think it could be fun to offer accommodation for the weekend, so anyone interested contact me on faceboook:
http://tiny.cc/g31m3
Ye Olde Blacksmith: sure, you're welcome to stay at my place.
I think I've got to put a stop to accepting more now, until I hear whether all those who have asked are going to show up or not. Instead I refer to the comment before this (unfortunately I can't access the facebook page right now, but that usually just temporary).
If anyone have any questions, comments etc., feel free to email me at kriswager@gmail.com
The problem of the registration fee appears to be resolving itself almost miraculously... :-)
drop whatever it is you're doing, and check your e-mail :-p
Sounds good David, it would be great if you could make it to the conference.
Yeeeees... I watched Dracula – Dead And Loving It, booked the accommodation for another conference... a bit more patience :-)