Iowa? I'm in Iowa?

Dr. M., I really think you ought travel around and see a bit of the world.
You've been so sedentary lately.

See you there!

I'll expect pick-up by the Pharyngula Flying Saucer at 5:30 pm then.

Not to crash a thread, but definitely to have some fun with Faux Noise

Faux News Poll.

Sorry, we're having an old fashioned New England nor'easter right now. I'll have to do some serious shoveling just to get to the car and then get the car out to the road. You Minnesota and Iowa folks just wouldn't understand. ;-)

If you're in Cedar Rapids, PZ, you might have difficulty doing a talk at UNI. Cedar Falls might be a better place to be for that talk.

If you book him, he will come.

Damn, I wish I was back home in IA. I'd come see the show. PZ, please have fun in my home state. Try not to let them get you too drunk. They know how to party there.

MAJeff@5-

If you're in Cedar Rapids, PZ, you might have difficulty doing a talk at UNI. Cedar Falls might be a better place to be for that talk.

I thought it was in Cedar Bluffs. I guess that's what happens when you name all the towns in your state almost the same thing. There's also a town called Cedar, as well as a Cedar township and a Cedar county. Oddly, their state tree is the Northern Red Oak. Go figure.

A what? You owe a what? To whom?

YAAAAYYYYYY! The God of Biscuits is here! Glory be!

Iowa... I can't believe I'm still in Iowa.

*consults map*'
I wonder if PZ will meet his Waterloo. (Somebody had to say it.)

I'll expect pick-up by the Pharyngula Flying Saucer at 5:30 pm then.

I'm hoping to hitch a ride on the back of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, myself.

Not to crash a thread, but definitely to have some fun with Faux Noise

92k votes already, 62% of which claim the Tea Party is fruitless. Oddly accurate, that.

He should be able to get back to UNI from Cedar Rapids fairly quickly. 380 isn't that busy.

Nerd, does that mean that Cedar Falls should have been called Brussels?

Alas, though this is probably the only time this decade that PZ will saunter southward to my state, I've already made plans to see the UNI basketball team tonight.

92k votes already, 62% of which claim the Tea Party is fruitless. Oddly accurate, that.

Oh, I thought it said fruitcakes.

I'm surprised there were any "negative" attributes of the Teatypes to choose. I was just musing that their gathering seemed lily-white, or is that a misconception?

Why has no one invited PZ to Michigan?

I leave from Iowa City in about 7 minutes. The talk is just a room in the student union, I'm worried it won't be big enough. But I'll see in a few hours. :)

Why has no one invited PZ to Michigan?

I suppose he could go to Michigan Tech. It would only take a little longer than to get to UNI.

I want you to visit Kansas City!!!!!

I wonder if my Babelfish can translate from biology into physics or math. It might be worth the serious wet willie you get just to find out.

if you present it... they will come.

Are you going to be making a stop in Des Moines? I can...maybe, kind of...um...try to convince my boss it's work related. I think.

Or I could just slash her tires.

Another vote for PZ to come to one of the other northwest territories, this time Ohio. We have the creation museum just over our border, an evangelical megachurch in C-bus (can't remember which, the names are different but the drivel is the same), and a teabagging kook is leading the governor's race (dunno if he's a YEC but he was taken by Ken Ham when they talked).

Speaking of the teabaggers, they should just admit they're republicans trying to be hip and trendy. It'd save everyone a lot of time.

If anyone needs a reason to love Iowa, yesterday the legislature killed an attempt to take away the rights of same-sex couples to be married. The earliest Iowa voters could see such an issue on their ballot now is 2014.

This one appears to be sticking around...

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20100210/NEWS10/2100363/1007/n…

Curse you pz you are in my hometown (cedar rapids) and i'm in bloody Portland Oregon. Please pz come to Portland the woo here is strong and hard to combat. Then again it wasn't much better in Iowa...

Speaking of Iowa, (from Greg Laden's blog) http://networkedblogs.com/p27469397

Ah, eeanm gets to leave Iowa City to go see PZ. I am stuck at work here. Don't have a horrible accident, I don't want to see your name on a blood sample.

@daveau #8, I know you were just being humorous, but I'm a native Iowan (so I have no sense of humor).

Not sure where you're getting your data from, but there are no officially incorporated towns called cedar or cedar bluffs in Iowa. I do know of an unincorporated village called cedar.

Having grown up on the county line between Cedar and Muscatine counties I can tell you the name for all of these comes from the Cedar River running through much of the state, which yes, is named after the cedar trees that line it.

As for the state tree, it's officially just the oak tree, no specific species was named. And the oak tree is pretty prevalent throughout the state. Iowa has the towns Charter Oak, Red Oak, Oakland, Oakland Acres and Oakville.

So to recap, only two towns with "cedar" in the name, named after the river running through them, and at least 5 with "oak" in the name.

I graduated from Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls. It's a charming campus and town and I had a great time there studying biology. They were in the process of building a new wing on the biology and chemistry building when I was there from 1998-2003. We used to walk to "the hill" for a good time.

This is off topic, but. . .PZ! This calls for your action!!! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dana-ullman/the-case-for-homeopathic_b_45…
I've already seen that many of his sources are questionable, and I find his argument that " [skeptics can't explain] homeopathy's notable successes in treating epidemics of cholera, yellow fever, scarlet fever, typhoid, pneumonia, or influenza." to be a lot suspect. What say you??!!!

Arrrrgh! One of the few times you venture down to my state and I have to miss it. I hope you come down to Ames sometime. The atheist group on campus would love to have you. And I'd buy you a beer.

Murgadroid

Hey, maybe I'll come to Iowa and get gay married to you, PZ! Oh wait, that's right, you're already married. No worries, they already legalized gay marriage so polygamy should be legalized any day now. And then once they legalize marriage to animals, we can marry the squid of our dreams. One day...

@#4: We got about a millimeter of rain today. Sigh, the tribulations of living in Phoenix. I used to live in Des Moines and at this time of the year, wild horses on their bended knees couldn't make me go back there.

@MAJeff, OM

I'm thinking he flew into Cedar Rapids and is driving to Cedar Falls. Sometimes it's hard to get a flight into Waterloo.

I attended UNI for a year before moving to Minnesota. I miss that school.

Then again, I guess driving Morris to Cedar Falls isn't out of the question. I just saw the post that PZ is done with his world tour and home (I've been busy the past few days).

I grew up in northern MN and only once went to Iowa. I thought the scenery was pretty boring until we got to the tree.

Stranded in Iowa. Manfred Mann.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi_5G_rKKTE

That HuffPost article referenced by #31 is utterly appalling! What the hell is wrong with these so-called 'progressives' over there?? One of their defenders actually used a 'quantum vs newtonian' argument - about as ignorant, brainless and homeopathetic as it gets.

Does anyone know our dearly beloved anti-vaxer Bill Maher's opinion of homeopathy?

Hey! I used to live in one of the Cedars in Many Places (when I was very young, so I don't recall which one now). And for that matter, in Santa Cruz, where Pee Zed was a few weeks ago, and in Dublin, where the poopyhead was last week… If we're establishing a pattern here, then the poopyhead also needs to go to Caltech, and to Bristol (England), and to Montpellier (France), amongst other places… And right now, a small village on the south coast of France…

...about as ignorant, brainless and homeopathetic as it gets.

"Homeopathetic" should succeed "sniny" as Pharyngula's latest contribution to the English language.

That HuffPo piece ends with a quote by Twain. I find it fascinating that many, MANY homeopathic sites love to quote it, yet when you read the full quote, in context or not, you immediately see how scornful Twain was of homeopathy. An excellent article about this, with Twain's more complete quote, is here:

http://www.annals.org/content/126/2/157.full

=================================

Even as Twain ridiculed the unscientific approaches taken by practitioners of hydrotherapy and homeopathy, he continued to defend the importance of medical freedom of choice. He particularly recognized the importance of the competing systems in pressuring allopathic medicine to evolve into a new scientific discipline far removed from its noxious origins as a sect based on bloodletting and remedies such as Aqua Limacum (a concoction containing herbs, snails, earthworms, “Goose Dung,” “Sheep Dung,” “Strong Ale,” and “Shavings of Hartshorn” [11].
“When you reflect that your own father had to take such medicines as the above, and that you would be taking them to-day yourself but for the introduction of homeopathy, which forced the old-school doctor to stir around and learn something of a rational nature about his business, you may honestly feel grateful that homeopathy survived the attempts of the allopathists to destroy it, even though you may never employ any physician but an allopathist while you live.”

#26:

Curse you pz you are in my hometown (cedar rapids) and i'm in bloody Portland Oregon. Please pz come to Portland the woo here is strong and hard to combat. Then again it wasn't much better in Iowa...

Portland? Shoggoths.

Why has no one invited PZ to Michigan?

He was in Grand Rapids last March.

OK, the shout-outs to Field of Dreams are just waaaay too easy. What I want to know, PZ, is this: Was there anything halfway about the way they greeted you? If they greeted you, which they may not have done at all.

I really enjoyed PZ's lecture last night on Evo-Devo. (though I have to admit most of the chemistry goes right over my head)

I wonder if the media will follow its usual pattern and completely misinterpret Evo-Devo with articles stating that Lamarck was right.

Hey! I used to live in one of the Cedars in Many Places … Santa Cruz … Dublin …. If we're establishing a pattern here, then the poopyhead also needs to go to … a small village on the south coast of France…

… where it is now fecking snowing! Not much (not yet anyways), just the light dusty coating on cars that melts almost everyone else, but still… This is not the sort of pattern I had in mind. Bloody poopyheadedpatterns.