UPDATE: Read it in his own words! Relive the horror of the road! Cringe as you hear all the gory details of near death and automotive crunchiness, here at Pharyngula!
Myers, trapped in remote region, unable to blog.
UPDATE: Myers has been picked up from the scene by rescue vehicle dispatched from Morris, and is now en route to Saint Cloud airport. where he will take flight to Michigan. Pharyngula readers await direct word from Myers, who may be able to blog from airport.
There were no major storms in the region at the time of the accident, but several freak snow squalls were reported in the area and can be seen on radar records. From an insurance perspective, this will probably be considered an Act of God. Which is funny.
We can only hope that this diner has some kick-ass biscuits and gravy.
The initial tweets:
At about 7:30: pzmyersDisaster. Trying to get to the airport it's snowing, totaled the car in a crash. Now stranded in Glenwood.
At about 8:20: Yeah, car is totaled-wheels pointing in diff directions. I'm OK, except for little cuts from a broken glass shower.
8:20: Now stuck in a tiny town with no way tothe airport. Waiting for my wife to pick me up...but she has to drive slowly, too.
Glenwood, Minnesota is about 60 miles or so west of Saint Cloud.
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Thank twitter nobody was hurt badly.
Thanks for blogging this, Greg. Anyone know if PZ has a 'tip box' somewhere?
I will ask about the tip box.
Thanks for the updates, Greg. And yay for Twitter!
Very glad to hear he's OK. "Act of God"...does that mean the insurance company will send the bill to all the people who are praying that something bad happens to him?
Glad he's doing fine, but looks like he needs someone to guest blog for him. How am I going to get through work? You may have to amp up your efforts today, Greg.
I take it your Ebay comment on Twitter is a joke...?
My prayers are with you PZ! To Chtulu that is...
Glad he's okay. Interesting communication systems we have.
Love the reconstruction, BTW. Lester Haines at the Register has been doing that sort of thing with playmobil for ages. An example: here. Good fun all round.
That's what you get for being a dirty liberal athiest - god has smoten the evil one! Well, his car anyway. Guess his aim was off.
Gute Besserung, und gute, sichere Weiterreise, PZ!
I can confirm that PZ had the biscuits and gravy for breakfast.
UNABLE TO BLOG?
This is worse than dying!
[/laf]
I'm glad the old Peez is okay. Myers cheats death once more!
How's the coffee there? Sweet 'n' Low or Splenda? Obsessed sycophantic minions NEED TO KNOW
Revenge of teh frackin' cracker!
OK, checking on coffee...
Why is there a preliminary artist's reconstruction of Myers wreck?
I would think you would get a real artist instead of a preliminary one!
Did his whole life flash before his eyes at the time of the wreck? Or just the RSS feed?
Glad to hear that PZ is OK, I guess this means that the cracker fairy is better at taking out planes than cars.
Clearly an act of GOD. unLESS..... it was just an accident.
It was an epic struggle between PZ and the Cracker Fairy. Lets just hope someone got it on tape.
He should have stopped for breakfast before, rather than after, the snow storm.
I'm glad to hear that PZ is ok, but let's hope that that stain on all things good, gingi edmonds, does not get word of this development. She'll aim her 'I told you so' death ray upon him.
Bill Donohue was seen leaving the scene.
Indeed...just like the plane landing in the Potomac, it's a MIRACLE he wasn't injured! Praise the Lord!
I have seen PZ Myers car. This is not necessarily a bad thing.
Myers reports consternation over the cost of replacement of his vehicle
FUNDRAISER!!!
"Let's put on a show."
khan, I think Billy's parents have a barn we could use.
More worried by his inability to blog and be connected than by the accident. That's PZ "tout craché" (from somebody who, in the same circumstances, checks his bike before himself).
On another level, I just cannot wait to read the "christian" reactions of the several fundies trolls and creobots that haunts Pharyngula and the "quartier".
Besides that, best wishes for him and his recovery. As we say down here: "Lo que no mata, engorda".
Proof positive that God hates cars.
If it was PZ that Cracker Gawd was aiming at, and took out the car, that's not the sort of aim I'd regard as supernatural.
Has M-Dot checked the road yet for signs of communion wafers strewn about the road? And according to Catholic superstition, I mean "Doctrine", after Teh Miracle of Transubstantiation, the wafers turn into the Body and Blood Of Jesus Christ, and those blood and guts on the roads are damn slippery...
Glad to hear he's allright! Hopefully he's back blogging again soon!
I can't believe Prof. Myers would drive such a POS vehicle. :)
I like that map!
Snow? Almost April? Why do people live in this region, what did they do that caused them to be sent there?
He's back!
I first saw this in the comments over at The Big P, and I have to say at first I thought it was a bloody-minded troll being an ass.
But hey, this is the first time I've been not-disdainful of twitter. So I guess that's something.
PZ updates:
* Thanks to the heroic efforts of the indispensable Trophy Wife, I am now at the airport and will make it to Michigan in time! Huzzah! (about 12:30 Minnesota time)
* Still finding broken glass in strange places. Took off my shoes for airport security, and scattered glittery bits all over the conveyer belt (about 12:35)
* Things are looking up: snagged an exit row window seat for the plane. (about 13:00 Minnesota time)
Via PZ's twitter page
The airport in question was not the local Glenwood airport, as I initially guessed, but one about 60 miles (100km) further on.
Greg, I love that reconstruction! Where did you get it? Who's the preliminary artist?
Tulse noted:
Of course the one that landed on the Potomac a number of years ago went right through to the bottom. It was the one that landed on the Hudson that was awesome because, as Sully said, he didn't waste his time praying.
Yea, the glenwood airport, if there is one, is a small plane deal. I'm sure PZ was heading for the Big City: Saint Cloud.
That photo, to be honest, was the first thing that popped out of google images when I typed in "car wreck".
Hey, Freelunch, intrepid reporters like Laden do not need no stinking facts.
The artists reconstruction brought tears to my eyes and soreness to my tummy. rotflmfao
ThirtyFiveUp
At least Potomac was spelled correctly. Many incorrect variations are possible. Hudson is easy by comparison.
Ah, Potomac, Hudson...what's the diff? ;)
(Yes, my original geographically-challenged comment was referring to Sully's "miraculous" landing.)
Tulse,
One BIG difference is the rocks. Most places I've hiked, biked & camped along the Potomac are rock and shallow.
;-)
I note a clear lack of Evil White Stuff* in your reconstruction. tsk tsk
*I actually like the Evil White Stuff. but then, I don't ever have to drive a car in it.
Xavier,
How about someone living in Atlanta and will be moving to Minnesota on my own, with no family and only friends there?
Yes, I'm nuts.
As a small correction, most insurance companies now prefer to use the phrase "Act of Nature" in their policies, as it can be deemed applicable, rather than null and void, to policyholders who hold no conception of "God."
Get well soon. :)
Thanks for the map. I'd always wondered where central Minnesota was in relation to the rest of the state.
Based on PZ's description, I don't think that was snow, AKA "Evil White Stuff". This sounds like the work of black ice, perhaps with a smattering of snow on it, but it's the ice that makes things go bad.
jadehawk. Preliminary reconstruction. Snow not added yet.
Ice is evil. There was much of it this winter (SW Ohio). I was a minor casualty (frakked wrist).
I did have a similar experience earlier this year, with the car going for about a block against my will. But there was no truck at the end of the line or any other object to hit. So I did a U-turn and went back the other way just for fun, and eventually after doing this a few times, turned into the driveway I had been missing again and again and again.
That was black ice.
Based on PZ's description, I don't think that was snow, AKA "Evil White Stuff". This sounds like the work of black ice, perhaps with a smattering of snow on it, but it's the ice that makes things go bad.
oh, I bet there was snow! unless of course all that stuff just fell over my place and didn't make it no Minnesota :-p
Snow? Almost April? Why do people live in this region, what did they do that caused them to be sent there?
that's nothing. last year, we had snow all the way through May.
I believe it was ice covered with a layer of dusty snow.
To anyone who has lost a loved one in a road accident the faux-jollity of Greg's piece may not be very amusing.
Relieved and delighted that PZ is ok.
Many others are not so lucky. In particular, we could do without that photograph of bodies draped over a car.
Toby, I appreciate what you are saying, but a similar thing could be said in many different contexts about many different things. Yet we continue to have humor and tragedy right next to each other all the time. There is, in the end, very little that I could every say about anything if I accounted for every possible sensibility by keeping silent.
That artist's impression is obviously fake - where are the cephalopods? Oh - maybe PZ already cooked and ate 'em.
The artist did get one tiny detail wrong though: where's the ice?
was there really 6 people that were in the car at the time of the crash or was those dummys because they don't look real
Hey Greg
How about giving the reconstruction artist (me) some credit for this extremely popular picture that has been on the Flickr website since me and the kids created it in August 2005. Nearly 100,000 sick bastards have viewed it since then!
:)
Danny, click the caption.
Cheers guys!
Driving in snowy weather is quite dangerous as the roads are not clearly visible. When the forecast predicts snow, the best way to avoid accidents is to avoid driving at all, at least until the roads have been cleared. However, if you must drive in the snow and ice, it is important to keep certain safety precautions in mind to reduce the risk of accidents.
If you skid do not attempt to brake; instead steer into the direction of the skid whilst gently releasing the accelerator pedal.
- Always drive slowly and carefully in particularly cold conditions; even if the road doesn't look icy there may be black ice on the road's surface.
- Leave plenty of distance between you and the car in front. The usual 2 second gap should be changed to at least a 10 second gap in icy conditions.