I'm here at the Hyatt Regency in Washington DC, and I've received a lot of questions about my plans and availability. Here's the deal: I'm here for an AU meeting, and that's my first priority; then I'm giving a talk at GMU Saturday evening. I may have to depart from the traditional post-seminar beer pilgrimage this time, though: my talk is overlapping a bit with an AU event in the evening, and I should scurry back early to catch part of it.
Now there is the possibility of a late night (like, 10:00) get-together here at the Hyatt or nearby, and if there is any interest, I could probably gather a few other interested science bloggers to join us. Leave a comment if you think that's worth doing>
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Another example of liberal media cover-ups. If the christian preachers would indulge themselves on an "post seminar beer pilgrimage" (the man's own words!), the headlines would shout it out with letters bigger than an average cat.
Atheists, being the vile, amoral creatures they are apparently hold no reservations in embracing alcoholism. As if trying to force people to think wouldn't be bad enough...
Come to Connecticut! It's a really exciting state, with tons to do... OK, I lied, but come anyway.
Sounds like fun; wish I could be there. Since another favorite scienceblogger Ed Brayton's also in DC for the AU event, my dream would be lunch with the two of you (he's free on Sunday, he says.) Your views are pretty similar, but I bet it would still be interesting.
And fun. Think about it.
(exit to sound of maniacal laughter ... again)
Southern California is in definite need of your wisdom. And I think you should definitely consider it a mecca to your (beer) pilgrimage
Offtopic, but I can't help myself: There are thousands of people here in downtown SLC protesting the Mormon church's support for Prop 8. They're in all the public areas around the Mormon temple holding up signs, chanting, and generally snarling up traffic.
I've never been so proud of the people in the state, nor so disappointed in its religion.
If it's still there, three words are all you need to know for Guiness and good times: Dubliner
Good. Turnabout is fair play. The magic-underpants crowd made themselves a lot of enemies; now they're going to have to pay.
Utah has a falling percentage of Mormons, now at 60% and down from 75% a few decades ago. It is projected that in 22 years, they will lose their majority. Or not, this is disputed. Maybe the Mormon church counts like the Catholics, once in your in whether you leave or not.
SLC itself is majority nonmormon although a map I looked at once indicated that they gerrymandered the state so all the heathens or pagans were in one spot.
On behalf of the local DC rational community, I for one am looking forward to your talk at Mason, and am also hopefull about knocking back a few drinks with PZ and others this weekend...
Viva la secret muslim, socialist, friend of terrorist supporters!
Welcome to DC. I'd definitely be interested in a godless, beer-enhanced nerd-fest tomorrow night. There are a couple of places up on Mass Ave near the Hyatt that would be great. I can recommend Kelly's Irish Times (F and Mass, I think), but there are other places right there as well.
PZ - I am in DC and it's my birthday weekend. Nothing would put icing on the cake (so to speak) in better style than a drink with my favorite cracker-impaling science dude.
Barry
"Landed in DC" reminds me of "Earth vs the Flying Saucers":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2o4fdX8gUMY
Not sure if I can make the talk, but would love a late night get together, so count me in for that.
That is right. Stay out late, because there will likely be a Gideon Bible waiting for you in your hotel room. Every hotel has at least four spiritual texts: the Old and New Testaments, the Hebrew Bible, the Book of Mormon, and Buddhist text. And you will have to demand something (or nothing?) for the Atheists, and be really militant about it!
Forget PZ, I want to drink with this guy!
raven @ #8:
Actually, it's the opposite. They've split Salt Lake City between all three congressional districts, ensuring that no district gets too much of the heathen population.
http://www.kued.org/productions/voteutah/voter/map.html
Here's the local piece on the march, which was literally a block from my house. http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=4728411 . They removed the piece that said the march had less turnout than expected. They estimated the number of people at 200 around 6:00 P.M. here, when there were easily over 1200 at that time.
Hey PZ, I'm a Marylander, and I met you at some hotel bar the last time you came to Maryland. It'd be cool if we did something like that again.
If you're at GMU, try to track down 2002 economics Nobel Laureate Vernon Smith. He's done a lot of good work looking at economics from an evolutionary perspective. I think you'd enjoy talking to him.
Here's a link to his GMU page: http://www.law.gmu.edu/faculty/directory/former/smith_vernon
Enjoy D.C.!
From a poster named Dlx2 on an online forum (you can find that for youself):
The Church of Scientology charges you exorbitant amounts to access their literature.
The RRS charges you exorbitant amounts to access their literature.
The Church of Scientology pretends expertise in psychology.
The RRS pretends expertise in a variety of areas, including history, philosophy, psychology, and science.
The Church of Scientology spreads vicious rumors about those who criticize it.
The RRS has spread vicious rumors about Dawkins for criticizing them.
Etc.
Keep us informed. See you at the talk!
Since people are discussing the protests against the LDS church in Utah and elsewhere, I'd like to take this opportunity to point peoples attention here:
http://lds501c3.wordpress.com/
Help us revoke the Mormon churches 501(c)(3)Tax Exempt status, report their actions to the IRS, document what you can - the owner of the blog has a collection of the evidences and I encourage others to do their own digging.
Their involvement in pushing for legislation is a despicable act and one even denounced by their own founder
Brigham Young stated, in regards to Polygamy, "Marriage is a civil contract. You might as well make a law to say how many children a man shall have, as to make a law to say how many wives he shall have. It would be as sensible to make a law to say how many horses or oxen he shall possess, or how many cows his wife shall milk."
Lets send these people a message - I have already emailed PZ about this in hopes he'll display it prominently and help gather much needed attention.
I'm allowed to stay up late, but I'm on the wrong coast for PZ's late-night meet-and-greet. Maybe next time!
Meanwhile, I have received a message from the "Our Country Deserves Better PAC," which toured the country in the last days of the presidential campaign to save us from the horrors of an Obama administration. It seems not to have worked. The PAC is now considering whether to keep up the fight (in hopes of success in 2010 or 2012) or fold its tent and give up. There's an on-line poll! Do you like on-line polls? The choices are "YES - We must fight for victory!" and "NO - We should accept defeat and move on."
Guess which response I picked! As of right now, YES has 95% of the vote. I seem to be out of step.
I'm in the MD 'burbs and would make it downtown if you had a meet at a pub of any sort. You might recognize me from the London Natural History meet-up a year or so ago.
Hey PZ,
I was one of the ones who emailed you. Yes, it'd fun to meet up afterward. Any plans at 10pm then?
I'll ask after the lecture then.
Off-topic! (I may never get within 10000km of DC so perhaps this is justifiable.) I was interested to hear this interview:
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=YCJ9v_-aJho&eurl=http://chocosays.blogspo…
In which an ex-faith healer (who stopped because it was not, in his opinion, in line with Scriptures) talks about how 'faith healing' works because people are susceptible. Most of what he says can easily be applied to religion in general.
I will be there if it happens.
Oooh, that would be right near the red line, which means it would be quite easy to get to and from there. My husband and I are interested. We hope to make it to your talk too. I'm tutoring today trying to make some extra. Ahh, being a poor grad student, I love my life. We hope to see you!!!
how long until Walton or one of our other libertarian commenters turns this thread into a discussion on their favorite topic?
Best beer selection in DC:
http://www.lovethebeer.com/rfd.html
I can't be there, I only work in DC and live in Spotsylvania County, a mere hour drive away.
/OT
Oh dear, have you heard about this new documentary:
http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/thebeautifultruth
It seems to be about a conspiracy of the medical establishment to suppress natural therapies that cure cancer, and instead push expensive non-working cancer therapies and medicines to patients.
They also mention the "Gerson Therapy", which according to wikipedia seems to be a magic detoxification diet, that cures almost all sicknesses.
Has a decision been made about drinking tonight? I will follow you to the ends of the earth or DC city limits, whichever comes first.
I'll be at the GMU talk. Would have loved to attend a gathering afterward, but driving into DC at 10pm (for drinking, no less) isn't conducive to safely arriving home in Great Falls post-socialization. I had been hoping for something more local to GMU and the VA 'burbs. Ah well.
I'm definitely interested and would love to attend a gathering if there is one. Only caveat: I'm still all puffy-cheeked from recent dental surgery, so I can't talk much, can't smile much, can't laugh, can't drink while on the painkillers, and kind of loathe going out in public with my chin twice the size it should be. So, I'm sure I'll be charming company!
Welcome to DC, PZ! I am honored to have you in my zip code, and while I can't make it to your GMU talk, if there are late night drinks to be had I will be there.
I'm a lurker here--this is actually my first post! :)
I'm definitely attending the talk tonight, and would quite enjoy any gathering afterward, if it's an open invitation? Regardless, looking forward to GMU tonight.
OF COURSE we all know that the medical industry is suppressing all "natural" therapies. What else would all the conspiracy theorists do with their time. The Medical folks are doing it to give them something to do.
I second (or third, or fourth) the drinks. Perhaps meeting at the Hyatt lobby 'round 10ish would be a good idea to gather the "horde", and then head over to wherever?
Dubliner is a good place. Irish Times too. They are both about a block away from the Hyatt.