If you haven't been keeping up with the New Humanist Advent Podcasts, there are many new ones since I last mentioned them: Ben Goldacre, Martin Rowson, Chris Addison, Ben Miller, Andrew Collins, , Eddie Izzard, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, and Laurie Taylor. I do have to mention that Eddie Izzard totally stole my suggestion of celebrating Isaac Newton, and turned it into a weird ramble about how intelligent people have bad parties where there is no bathing and no shagging going on. I think I am horribly offended, even if it is true that very few parties that I've attended have involved bathing or shagging. Perhaps I'm not really offended, but just moderately worried that I've missed out on a lot of very fun parties.
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"I think I am horribly offended, even if it is true that very few parties that I've attended have involved bathing or shagging."
Same here. Hopeless geeks, that's who we are.
You apparently didn't go to the right college!
"weird ramble" must be a new euphemism for "not funny".
All you really need is a party with bathing: the shagging will follow, especially if you're the sort to share your tub toys.
I think a new holiday tradition is in the works here...
I know it has more than a hint of paganism, but I really like the idea of celebrating the winter solstice. Bathing and shagging sounds just right for it, though.
Izzard speaks a tragic truth.
I happen to think that geeks throw great parties. Admittedly, they're usually light on the bathing and shagging, but occasionally someone will fall in a fountain or river...
I attended a great party this past weekend, but perhaps it wasn't any fun at all, since my yardstick appears be defective. It was hosted by hairdressers, even - but no bathing or shagging that I noticed. Such a shame...
Since Izzard stole your idea about celebrating Newton's birthday, I think it's only fair that you steal Izzard's cross-dressing schtik. Of course, he did a bad job with the Newton idea, so it's only reasonable that you return the favor by dressing up in tasteless frocks and flower-print sacks. That'll show him!
I'd take the shagging without the party, myself.
(Sniff....) A true geek hates parties.
Out of curiosity, are there others out here like me who can't stand pod-casts? Perhaps part of it is that I have a short attention span, and it's magnified without seeing something accompanying the spoken word.
Yes, I do listen to the radio, but very little of it is talk, and only about half an hour of NPR every day, although it would be nice for them to remove the obvious Israeli bias in their reporting.
Don't get me wrong, podcasts can be absolutely fascinating, but it's so much easier to retain information upon reading it than hearing it.
The Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant podcast is brilliant!
@ #11
I agree. All true geek get-togethers should involve little more than dice, rulebooks, and paper.
...
It's when you get us alone that the bathing and shagging come into it.
Helioprogenus: at least you can hear them if you choose to. I'm deaf, and transcripts of podcasts are pretty rare.
Fortunately there are more than enough good written articles out there to keep you and me occupied...
Well Maugrim, perhaps the rapidly evolving speed of technology will come around to having more podcasts quickly transcribed. But until then, you're right, there are more than enough articles to keep our minds sharp.
That's why I love Gervais and Merchant.
All the best parties I've ever attended involved both bathing and shagging, sometimes simultaneously. Sadly, now that I'm married, I never get invited to such parties anymore, because A) I can't get babysitters who will stay until 05 hours, and B) the bathing and shagging tends not to happen in a very child-friendly environment, so I can't take the sprog with me.
I'm certain the parties are still happening. We're just not getting invited, PZ.
Dammit, my supply of such parties dried up (as it were) some years ago when my friends started having kids. There seems to be a view that parties where people bring their kids along should be low on the bathing part and even lower on the shagging-while-bathing part.
Oh well, at least I have the memories ...
If you want some great anti-religion Eddie Izzard on YouTube, go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LtiyefHCe4
Get on your Harley and head to Sturgis. Bathing and shagging. Drunken puking, swearing and enough leather to make pirates cry.
Or at least there was in 1993, last time I rode through... and watched. *smirk* We took a chase rig loaded with Oregon melons and sold/traded them for an amazing amount.
You should fit right in PZ, beard, great horned viking helmet. There ya go!
When I go to parties with intelligent people, there is always shagging and bathing.
Maybe that's just me...
You should go to VSS
@Joakim
"The Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant podcast is brilliant!"
I agree - they are just so 'stream of conciousness" with a lot of their stuff.
You can see the genuine philosphical doubt in their podcast as they drift back and forth from religious belief!
I've been away for a bit and am only just catching up with scienceblogs. Anyways, you might like to know there have been three more podcasts since Laurie Taylor, Marcus Brigstocke (yes you all remember the youtube vid of his that Richard Dawkins uses in a couple of his talks), Mark Steel ('e's from my 'ome town ya know) who's surprisingly funny in this one (I find him hit-and-miss in general), and Ann Druyan, who's really very good.