The Trophy Wife™ and I are on our way to Oslo and Copenhagen.
It's not exactly a holiday for me — I'm voyaging to exotic locales so I can sit in hotel rooms hunched over my laptop. Expect the blog to be a bit light and fluffy this week.
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PZ Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris.
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Traveling in style
Category: Personal
Posted on: June 14, 2010 6:32 PM, by PZ Myers
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Comments
Posted by: Caine, ghetto féministe
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June 14, 2010 6:45 PM
What a fantastic way to travel! Light and fluffy is fine. I'm sure you'll find a way to have some fun with the Trophy Wife&trade .
Posted by: Nerd of Redhead, OM
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June 14, 2010 6:49 PM
Powered by biofuel I hope. Light and fluffy is to be expected. Have a little fun too.
Caine, for Trophy Wife™, try ampersand, trade, and a semicolon to close.
Posted by: Brownian, Most Vicious & Petty of Pharyngulites
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June 14, 2010 6:53 PM
What's the draft on that thing, PZ? Either sklee's riding artificially high, or those docks are sitting on some pretty tall pilings.
But what do I know? The nearest ocean to me is some outrageous number of clicks away.
Posted by: Glen Davidson
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June 14, 2010 7:02 PM
Mortals, would be my guess.
Glen Davidson
Posted by: pistoreyu
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June 14, 2010 7:11 PM
You will be sorely tempted to leave your laptop, so good luck with that. Have a wonderful time!
I so wish I could go to that conference. I hope that your readers will keep us mopey people well informed.
Posted by: Romeo Vitelli
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June 14, 2010 7:17 PM
Never made it to Oslo. Copenhagen is awesome though. Don't miss the Tivoli Gardens. Whatever you do, don't criticize their Danish pastries. They get downright snippy when you ask them why they don't make them they way they do overseas.
Posted by: Rorschach
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June 14, 2010 7:18 PM
That thing is way cool !
Packing my bags tonight, and leaving for Copenhagen tomorrow !
Posted by: 'Tis Himself, Quel Dommage
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June 14, 2010 7:21 PM
The Officer of the Deck on that motorized thing is ignoring the Rules of the Road. Any vessel under power must give way to a sailing vessel. Comparing the sail set on the dhow being passed to port to the sets of the sails on the lugger and sloop, the dhow had to make an abrupt change of course. The squid's OOD obviously believes in the Rule of Gross Tonnage circumventing the Rules of the Road. Typical stinkpot driver.
Posted by: fly44d
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June 14, 2010 7:29 PM
Enjoy Oslo and Copenhagen! I'd like to go back sometime and relive my youth. :-)
Watch for the old lady playing the slots at the Tivoli smoking a cigar. She is scary.
Posted by: Brownian, Most Vicious & Petty of Pharyngulites
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June 14, 2010 7:30 PM
So, it's like a Humvee of the sea.
Posted by: dnebdal.myopenid.com
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June 14, 2010 7:34 PM
@'Tis Himself, 8:
I believe there might also be another rule in effect.
Posted by: Ströh
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June 14, 2010 7:49 PM
Welcome to Scandinavia, PZ! I would have loved to go to Copenhagen (Gothenburg isn't very far away) but, well, I can't afford it. Maybe next time.
The weather hasn't been great, but I hear it's clearing up. Have a nice trip!
Posted by: Zeno
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June 14, 2010 7:49 PM
Love the little trident aerial. Nice touch.
Posted by: nelc
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June 14, 2010 7:50 PM
I don't believe that the Nautilus was ever one for following the Rules of the Road.
Posted by: Marie the Bookwyrm
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June 14, 2010 7:52 PM
That ship is too cool for words.
Have fun, PZ, TW, and everybody who's able to make the trip! (The rest of us will just stay at home and sigh wistfully.)
Posted by: JollyGinger
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June 14, 2010 7:54 PM
I've been reading your blog religiously (hehe) for about a year now, and I've finally decided to sign up in order to be able to comment for once!
Say it ain't so PZ! What am I going to do for a whole week - after gaining these newfound commenting powers- now that you will be busy NOT making us giggle with new blog entries?
Posted by: Crudely Wrott , Drinking Solo Since Death's Back On The Wagon
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June 14, 2010 8:19 PM
Calm seas and happy trails, O, Traveler.
Come back to us with tales of far off lands and strange climes. We sing the time of your wanderings and we sing the day of your return.
Could you bring me back some Norwegian Wood? I'm sure six or eight board feet would be plenty. You can cut in two if necessary to fit your luggage. Thanks.
Posted by: Standard Curve
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June 14, 2010 8:33 PM
"You're gonna need a bigger boat."
Posted by: RichVR
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June 14, 2010 8:44 PM
Submarine happy ending?
Posted by: RBH
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June 14, 2010 9:08 PM
As I dimly recall from growing up in Minnesota many decades ago, we call that part of the world "Scandihoovia."
Posted by: waynerobinson4
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June 14, 2010 9:12 PM
PZ, don't forget to sample the local beer (Carlsberg) which I seem to remember has a very large sign near the Tivoli advertising it as "Probably the best beer in town" (the Danes must have truth in advertising legislation).
Posted by: Weed Monkey
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June 14, 2010 9:19 PM
waynerobinson4, I'm afraid Carlsberg is just another pale lager with no special characteristics to remember. Drink enough and you'll get drunk, but it's still the same colour when it gets out.
Posted by: cicely (Inadvertent Phytocidal Maniac)
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June 14, 2010 9:37 PM
WANT!!!
Posted by: Ströh
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June 14, 2010 9:42 PM
@waynerobinson4:
They've upgraded it. Now it's: "Carlsberg. Probably the best beer in the world".
Posted by: DLC
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June 14, 2010 9:53 PM
Is there a Nautilus Song? and if not, why not ?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCRT9NyWsFU
this is close ?
It's from the movie "20,000 leagues under the sea."
Posted by: john.s.wilkins
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June 14, 2010 10:06 PM
To the PZMobile, old chum!
Posted by: jackalopemonger
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June 14, 2010 10:37 PM
Awesome Squidmobile. It appears to be traveling backwards, though, or else the architect of that thing got typical squid locomotion very wrong.
Posted by: jimbo123
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June 14, 2010 10:54 PM
Can't believe no one has said it yet...
Rrrrelease the Kraken!!
Posted by: Patricia, OM
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June 14, 2010 11:09 PM
Wait - isn't that the Nautilus? Way to hitch a ride PZ!
Posted by: llewelly
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June 14, 2010 11:31 PM
'Tis Himself, OM | June 14, 2010 7:21 PM:
How dare you suggest a Lord of the Sea ought to give way to a sailing vessel piloted by a mere foodstuff?
Posted by: Scott Hatfield, OM
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June 14, 2010 11:35 PM
PZ:
It's not exactly a holiday for me — I'm voyaging to exotic locales so I can sit in hotel rooms hunched over my laptop. Expect the blog to be a bit light and fluffy this week.
Gosh. That sounds like my life, all of a sudden.
Tell you what, I'll mention your plight over at my blog, troll for a donation, you know, whatever. Let's do it for the children or as a certain (ugh) lady from Kansas liked to say, 'for the kids.'
(Now cleaning reflexive spittle off monitor)
Posted by: recovering catholic
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June 15, 2010 12:03 AM
OT--Markuze/Mabus is spamming NCSE on Facebook with looooonnng messages full of garbage.
Posted by: Patricia, OM
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June 15, 2010 12:24 AM
Could we have some lovely $5.00 trolls to mince in with the light & fluffy?
Posted by: McCthulhu is taking ∞ to eat all the pi
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June 15, 2010 12:48 AM
In honour of your visit, this lovely tale of Viking times:
What did the Norwegian say the first time he saw a pizza?
'Hey! Who puked on my lefse?!?'
Posted by: Bill Baconhill
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June 15, 2010 12:58 AM
Bad time for light and fluffy--a $500,000 statue of Jesus in southwest Ohio was just struck by lightning and burned to the ground.
http://www.wlwt.com/news/23900484/detail.html
Even so, I am extraordinarily jealous of this trip.
Posted by: Brownian, Most Vicious & Petty of Pharyngulites
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June 15, 2010 1:11 AM
Oh, no! Butter Jesus melted?!
Could this be the reason God didn't want people eating lobster and crab?
Posted by: black-wolf72
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June 15, 2010 1:15 AM
Is it Narwhal proof?
Posted by: Bill Baconhill
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June 15, 2010 1:28 AM
#36:
Clearly the Lord had His own shellfish reasons to once again--for the second time--attack His one and only Son.
Posted by: Brownian, Most Vicious & Petty of Pharyngulites
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June 15, 2010 1:41 AM
The first time was to save humanity from Original Sin. Clearly, this Jesus had to die to save humanity from Cheap, Knock-Off Sin.
Posted by: jcmartz.myopenid.com
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June 15, 2010 1:50 AM
Does it comes with the ink?
Posted by: Thebear, just an agent of peas
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June 15, 2010 3:31 AM
PZ:
Carlsberg is extremly forgettable, but i'm sure there are others who deserve mention. Since I'm not danish I don't know which ones (though I have found childhood memories of the red Tuborg.
In Oslo, you should be able to find beer from the microbrewery Den Nøgne Ø, at least at Litteraturhuset. Try it!
Posted by: Ted Powell
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June 15, 2010 3:59 AM
The Heywood Banks tribute to Big Butter Jesus: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-ksuOaI61g
Posted by: Anubis Bloodsin the third
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June 15, 2010 3:59 AM
#35
a $500,000 statue of Jesus in southwest Ohio was just struck by lightning and burned to the ground.
One of the great unsolved mysteries is why, if churches are the house of god, do they require lightening conductors?
I have inquired of many a sparkly eyed dimwitted moron that professes a god of omnipotence why that should be so...
The unscientific consensus seems to be ...ignore the question!
Posted by: Birger Johansson
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June 15, 2010 4:43 AM
Here is some food for thought on the way. Just in at Physorg.com: "Superstition proved to improve performance" http://www.physorg.com/news195710440.html
If this psychological effect stands up to scrutiny, it might help to explain why people are attracted to superstitions and religions;
-it is a side effect of something that once had an evolutionary advantage (and sometimes do today, although this kind of irrational thinking is more likely to have negative overall effects when you live in a complex society).
Have a nice journey.
Posted by: TrineBM
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June 15, 2010 4:50 AM
We will welcome the Squidly overlord with TW and Rorschach and others warmly.
And look what you can try in Tivoli!
http://www.tivoli.dk/composite-5875.htm
My eight-yearold LOVES riding the Nautilus.
I will be attending the conference, so hope to meet you all, but shan't be able to make to the café-thing on Thursday.
Posted by: Birger Johansson
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June 15, 2010 4:50 AM
jimbo123 @28: "Rrrrelease the Kraken!!"
Actually extra appropriate in regard to a journey to Scandinavia..."krake" is an old norse word for a tree that has been uprooted by the wind. When scandinavian sailors spotted carcasses of giant squid, they naturally described it as krake-like (tentactles sprouting like roots) and the word spread into english, becoming a generic word for "sea monster".
Posted by: peter.jeaiem
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June 15, 2010 5:06 AM
See you in Copenhagen PZ.
Speaking of Copenhagen's Tivoli Garden. I have a pass that admits 1 guest free / day. If any pharyngulate wants to go there after any of the conference days send me an email^^. Only 1 spot / day available!
(You still need to pay for the rides, it is just the free entrance to the premise / skipping the queue I can offer).
Posted by: waynerobinson4
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June 15, 2010 5:07 AM
"One of the great unsolved mysteries is why, if churches are the house of god, do they require lightening conductors?"
Well, at least they have stopped storing gunpowder in churches, so at least they're learning.
"When in 1752 Ben Franklin showed that a metal rod could safely send electricity into the ground and therefore protect a building from lightning, many Christian leaders were outraged. For centuries Christians believed that lightning was sent by God as a punishment for sins-and Franklin’s redirection of this tool of God’s wrath was seen as an affront to God’s will. Though lightning rods were quickly put to use by the scientifically minded in the colonies and across Europe, churches, often the tallest and most vulnerable structures in towns and villages, were slow to adopt the new technology. Rather than erecting lightning rods, priests continued with the tradition of consecrating the bells that hung in church spires; during thunderstorms, the metal bells would be rung as special prayers to ward off the storm were recited below. In the 30 years in which German churches rejected Franklin’s invention, 400 church towers were struck and 120 bell ringers were killed. But clergy were shown the most compelling reason for using the rods when lightning hit the church at Saint Nazaire in Brescia, Italy. As in many churches at the time, Saint Nazaire’s underground vault was used to store gunpowder, and at the time of the storm it held more than 200,000 pounds of it. When lightning stuck, the church exploded, destroying one sixth of the city and killing more than 3,000 people. After this, churches maintained their previous rituals to ward off the storms, but many also took the added precaution of installing Franklin’s lightning rod as well, deciding that science and religion could work together to prevent destruction". ("Worst Case Scenario: History" by Piven et al)
Posted by: rszasz
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June 15, 2010 5:59 AM
@'Tis Himself, 8: Not fair at all, there is no wake at the front so the giant sub is surfacing. I'd say the skipper of the dhow is going to claim he never heard the warnings or saw the tenders on the dock waving him off when he gets the bill to re-polish the plates he's about to ding. (see http://yachtpals.com/maltese-falcon-yacht-crash for example of such stupidity)
Posted by: Anubis Bloodsin the third
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June 15, 2010 5:59 AM
#48
Excellent...
I rest my case and then some, absolutely barking fucking imbeciles are they not!
I suppose a certain amount of..'they did not know any better' might be errm!, Christian in response to the early jeebus inc. warriors but even so it does little to answer the main point.
Why are lightening conductors needed on a house of God?
Maybe there is a policy statement somewhere on this glaring embarrassment for them.
Although I have yet to actually hear it in cross examination.
The question tends to get smothered with vague allusions to godless society and atheism in particular.
When pressed the 'debate' degenerates into a whine that all god haters and sundry neer'do well's fail to appreciate the mind of god apparently.
Further inquiry results in the questioner..i.e Me...being intolerant and practising flagrant biassed dissing of jeebus et al!
You see is seems Christians are hated by everyone else for being, well, Christian, and so it goes!
Seems Yahweh is powerless in an electrically active environment, but that raises another pressing question!
How come god is active in the 'electrically' active environment of a jeebus clones sorry excuse for a brain.
Random discharges in the dark, anything but divine!
So many questions...so little time.
And debating with moronic wing of jeebus is uz' just confirms the fact!
Posted by: McCthulhu is taking ∞ to eat all the pi
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June 15, 2010 7:05 AM
Did I miss a memo about the usage of the king's English or have the words 'lightning' and 'lightening' suddenly been declared to be equal or is this just some arbitrary interwebz campaign aimed at making similar words that don't originally mean the same thing, suddenly mean the same thing? I don't want to be one of those online editing dicks, but I have been seeing more and more of this and, seriously, did I miss a memo?
Posted by: Birger Johansson
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June 15, 2010 7:42 AM
What the f¤*ck!!!? Just found this re. Mexican Gulf blowout:
“Oil Rig Was Classified As Ship, Safety Inspection Left To Pacific Marshall Islands” http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-oil-inspection-20100615,0,3043517,full.story
Every time I think we have reached the end of stories exposing BP shenagians,
I get an "Oh, Shit!" moment like the one above.
Posted by: Lee
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June 15, 2010 8:23 AM
Welcome to Copenhagen! Please excuse the rain, and Watch Out for cyklists! They do not always give way. Ignore the 'Vienna bread' (Danish pastries) - they're soggy, over-sweet and tasteless. But you'll probably get them on the breakfast buffet anyway. Instead of Carlsberg or Grøn Tuborg, try Elephant beer - it tastes better and has 7.2% alcohol so you need fewer of them. Or boutique beers like those from Nørrebro Bryghus. Tivoli is definitely worth a look; a very cute example of how to get much entertainment out of little space.
Posted by: Fred The Hun
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June 15, 2010 8:27 AM
It looks like it came up in the middle of an oil slick and it's really pissed...
Posted by: Q.E.D
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June 15, 2010 8:32 AM
Birger @ 52
It's called a "flag of convenience". Ships must be registered to a country. So owners shop around in a race to the bottom for the country with the least regulation and protection for sailors. Usually impovrished countries. Liberia is a favourite. More massive regulation Fail.
Posted by: bbgunn071679
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June 15, 2010 8:49 AM
@ #38
The first attack was just a warning. This time a professional (Thor) did the 'hit.'
Posted by: TrineBM
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June 15, 2010 8:58 AM
Couldn't you all bring some nice weather with you when you come to the conference?
We've just had a HUGE hail/thunderstorm this last ½-hour... Shheeessshhh we're in JUNE! start acting like it weather-types...
Posted by: nigelTheBold, Minister of Spankings
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June 15, 2010 9:01 AM
Touchdown Jesus is gone? Noooooo! I had not been down to see it yet, nor kick a field goal through His Almighty Outstretched Goalposts.
Sigh. Life is often not fair.
Posted by: BradW
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June 15, 2010 9:03 AM
There should be a message in there somewhere for our local Ohio religidiots!
Six stories tall: 1)How many local hungry people would the cost of that eyesore have fed? 2)Anybody know how much rebar was in the thing?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_lightning_strikes_jesus_statue
Isn't there something in the xtian bible about not worshiping idols?
PZ: have a good time and tip a couple local ales for me!
Posted by: https://me.yahoo.com/a/fMMCZL4voNVxA.3VR0DSDg8depqmb8.ALw--#e1b10
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June 15, 2010 9:10 AM
Ironically, I took the following photo and photoshop of the Big Butter Jesus last weekend.
Jesus Supports my license plate
http://www.flickr.com/photos/evodevo_mike/4694401400
I had ordered postcards of that yesterday morning, and now it burned down.
Posted by: Hafnium
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June 15, 2010 9:20 AM
See you tomorrow! Looking forward to it.
Posted by: Crudely Wrott , Drinking Solo Since Death's Back On The Wagon
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June 15, 2010 9:36 AM
Nigel, if you hurry you can still kick your field goal. Drowning Jesus' steel skeleton is still intact and could still function as goal posts; until they are moved, that is.
Posted by: ralfnausk
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June 15, 2010 9:59 AM
Don't worry: According to the Program just released on http://atheistconvention.eu/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Conference-program1.pdf there is WiFi-access in the Royal Libary so You should be able to blog during the Conference :-) I look forward to see and hear You live in Copenhagen!
P.S.: Daytickets for Friday (with PZ!) are still available.
Posted by: prokrastinuft.no
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June 15, 2010 10:54 AM
See you tomorrow, and then afterwards, er, and in Copenhagen also.
And in London in October.
I swear I am not stalking you.
Posted by: blf
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June 15, 2010 12:58 PM
Cthulhu wasn't, so why would a tin can shaped like a Kraken be?
Posted by: blf
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June 15, 2010 1:09 PM
Birger Johansson@52, if the LA Times is only reporting that now, then they are waaaay behind the news. Deepwater Horizon's registration being in the Marshall Islands was reported weeks ago; for example, in the Grauniad:
Posted by: amphiox
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June 15, 2010 1:32 PM
It's all spillover from the iron thing, you see. Magnetism -> Electromagnetism -> Electricity.
It's not just iron of course, but all ferromagnetic materials. Sure, we don't hear about the "chariots of nickel", but they would have worked just as well (as would have any chariots of supercooled lithium).
Of course this means Yahweh is allergic to light, too. But this actually goes a long way in explaining the rest of the Book of Genesis after the first day.
Posted by: Teenage Skeptic
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June 15, 2010 4:51 PM
Should I shirk my band's rehearsal tomorrow and hop a bus to Oslo instead? :look