Help a godless nerdy Seattleite!

You may remember my friend Jason, better known as his musical persona Three Ninjas. I’ve linked to his music before, since he frequently does nerd-core rap with skeptical, godless themes. That’s in addition to electronica and…hell if I know what to call it, I’m not a music person. But it’s badass.
How badass is it? It’s so badass that 20/20 is coming to Seattle to film him doing a show Wednesday night. And it would be awesome if his show was filled with other skeptical, godless nerds. So if you’re not doing anything, come to the Skylark Cafe in West Seattle at 9pm. I’ll be there!

Here are some of my favorite Three Ninja songs! See if you can catch my cameos:

<a href=”http://threeninjas.net/track/skeptical-featuring-jen-mccreight”>Skeptical (featuring Jen McCreight) by Three Ninjas</a>

<a href=”http://threeninjas.net/track/my-dick-is-kind-of-big-featuring-jen-mccreight”>My Dick Is Kind of Big (featuring Jen McCreight) by Three Ninjas</a>

<a href=”http://threeninjas.net/track/wallingford”>Wallingford by Three Ninjas</a>

Our Flying Spaghetti Monster parade float

Today was the Fremont Solstice Parade, and the Seattle Atheists walked with their Flying Spaghetti Monster float. And I was one of the pirates operating his noodley appendage! Here are some fun photos from the event.

Photo by LeeLeFever

Photo by Philaros

Photo by decidedlyodd

And the cutest pirate of the day was:
Other than marching, the best part of the event was the naked bikeride, with all the people riding by in creative body paint. The two people painted up like Mormon missionaries (NSFW) were my favorite.

I hate American Airlines

I want to preemptively state: #firstworldproblems

Now that that’s out of the way…I hate American Airlines.

My flight from Chicago to Seattle was supposed to leave at 8:35 pm. We boarded the plane at the right time – and then sat at the gate for an hour and a half. We had no idea what was going on for the first hour, until finally someone made an announcement that the maintenance crew was checking something on the plane before we could go. At 10pm they said we flunked the maintenance check, and had us all get off the plane and head to another gate for a new plane. We finally took off at 11pm.

Now, I understand that shit happens. I’d rather be on a functioning plane then shuffled out on a malfunctioning one. And I won’t bitch about the three hour delay in my flight from Seattle to Chicago, since that was due to weather and out of the airline’s control.

But you’d think American would try to do something to make us a little less cranky, right? I mean, people are missing connections and getting home in the middle of the night. I had to shell out $58 for a taxi because all of the public transportation ($0 for me) was closed by the time we finally landed. I’m easy to placate. Maybe a free drink, or some pretzels. Maybe a coupon code for the ridiculously overpriced in-flight internet ($12? Really, gogoinflight? Fuck you, I don’t need to blog that badly).

We got complimentary head phones if we wanted them. Whoop-di–doo. Who doesn’t have their own headphones already?

Oh well. I made it back to Seattle in one piece eventually. And I sat next to the Mayor of Tukwila on the plane, which was kind of neat. At least this happened when I was just coming home and not in a particular rush, instead of when I’m running off to speak somewhere. …And good thing I don’t believe in jinxing things.

I have rotten timing

I’m going to miss seeing this rotten-smelling flower:

The corpse flower unfurled its stately bloom at the UW Botany greenhouse tonight and was in full splendor by 10 p.m.


The stench was just starting to stoke up — the flower attracts pollinating insects by smelling like carrion — and had not yet reached its full power. Said to make the eyes water, it should reach full power in the middle of the night tonight. The greenhouse is open til 11 tonight, and reopens for visitors at 8 a.m. tomorrow, when the flower will still be stinky. The scent will fade, but the bloom still be well worth a visit all week.

And is it ever. A line of admirers snaked out the door to see the flower, with people waiting half and hour and longer for their chance to come in the steamy greenhouse, and climb a step ladder to peer inside the depths of the flower’s giant bloom. It’s that big.

Its outlandish, Alice in Wonderland appearance is the draw, figures Doug Ewing, who with a team of greenhouse techs at the greenhouse coaxed the flower into bloom after two and a half years of dormancy.

It could be years before the flower blooms again, so see it now!


Boooooooo! I literally work right next to this greenhouse, but I’m out of town for a week! Curse my timing. And opportunity to be a geeky biologist, lost.

Omfg Tim Minchin!

Yesterday I went to the Sasquatch music festival out in Eastern Washington. It’s held at the Gorge Amphitheater, which is a ridiculously beautiful venue.
Photo of concert stage in front of mountainsThough I shortly nicknamed it “The Gouge.” Seriously, $5.25 for a coke? $10.00 for a beer?! The worst part was you were stuck buying bottled water even if you brought a water bottle, because the only drinking water station constantly had a line of 100 people. And there were no signs indicating the hand washing water was actually recycled water, so tons of people were unwittingly drinking water people had rinsed their peed-on hands in. Ewwww.

I’m not going to lie – while I also wanted to see Flogging Molly, The Flaming Lips, and Modest Mouse, the thing that really motivated me to go was Tim Minchin. And I was in the front row!

Tim Minchin playing the piano He was absolutely hilarious and charming, like always. He played a mindblowingly witty new song, but I don’t want to ruin it for any of you who are going to see him play live when he’s touring the US next month. Speaking of which, I have tickets to see him in June, and I don’t regret buying them at all. Especially since he only played for 45 minutes, which is not enough Minchin for me.

Close up of Tim MinchinThis photo is just to rub in how close I was.

The rest of Sasquatch was hit or miss. I had never seen Reggie Watts or Mad Rad before, but they were both very entertaining. The Flaming Lips were fucking horrible. I was so disappointed, since they’re one of my favorite bands. They picked one of their most subdued old albums to played from, had way too much dialog and set up between (or even during) songs, and had to resort to constant begging to get the audience to cheer. Everyone was falling asleep, and you could watch hundreds of people leaving. The lead singer couldn’t even hold a note that night. Eventually we left too – it wasn’t worth sitting through that horrible show to make it to Modest Mouse.

To make matters worse, apparently The Flaming Lips inspires everyone to light up a joint, so I was sitting downwind of a nasty stream of marijuana smoke. Ugh.

And good god, THE HIPSTERS! I don’t think I saw anyone who wasn’t a white 18 – 25 year old dressed in ironic 80s clothing with neon Native American facepaint and feathers in their hair. Are you kidding me? Though I quickly learned the only thing worse than hipsters are drunk and high hipsters, which was pretty much everyone at Sasquatch except me. Thank you, drunk hipster chick who elbowed me in the face during Mad Rad. Maybe it would have been more enjoyable if I was willing to blow a day’s paycheck on beer.

…I’ve officially become an adult, haven’t I?*

Oh well. Tim Minchin! Squeeeeeeeeee!

*Not true. I would have found all of this annoying even at age 18.

Squeeeee

I gave Dan a chance to recover from my skeptical evisceration before taking this photo:You can hardly see the tears!

Joking aside, I had a fantastic time. I’m so happy that I got to be a part of one of my favorite shows! Though I think that’s all I can say without spoiling the magic of the Savage Lovecast – or before a Tech Savvy At Risk Youth assassinates me for spilling secrets.

The episode with me will be out May 31st – yes, you have to wait a little over a week, sorry. But it will be worth it – we talk about a lot of cool stuff. I was a bit nervous in the beginning and I think it shows, but overall I think it went really well. I’ll remind you guys when it’s out!

Until then I will agonize over all the things I wish I said. Or more realistically, get so distracted by the end of the semester that I’ll forget about the podcast. Eek.

Dan Savage invited me to slap him in person

Verbally, of course.
I’ll be recording an interview for the podcast with him on Wednesday, where we’ll talk about what went horribly wrong in the previous interview. Hooray for getting to geek out about skepticism on the Savage Lovecast! To say I’m excited is a vast understatement.

I have to give it to Dan – he does a good job at admitting when something has gone wrong. A lot of people would just sweep a bad interview under the rug, instead of having someone come on and tsk-tsk at them.

If you hear an annoying high pitched sound, that would be me perpetually squeeing. Sorry about that.

Atheists to the rescue post-rapture!

By now you certainly know the Rapture is scheduled for May 21st. I hope all of you godless heathens have found a bomb shelter and stored some bottles of water in preparation for the destruction that’s about to wrack the earth – because let’s face us, none of us are getting into heaven.

But if you’re unprepared, Seattle Atheists are here to help with their Rapture Relief program! (Is that not the best logo ever? Seriously, I’m proud of my group’s design skills)

“While the world is tortured in this terrible Apocalypse, who better to help the world than atheists? Elite squads of godless heathens, who already live all over the Puget Sound, will help bring people out of the rubble and rebuild their lives. The Post-Apocalyptic Pony Express will help restore communication service by carrying letters across the tattered remains of civilization, giving humanity hope with the sight of the cutest ponies money can buy.
Of course, it’s always possible that these religious zealots are wasting enormous amounts of money, time and life with a gigantic fearmongering campaign. It’s happened before. On the off chance that they are completely wrong, Jesus doesn’t come back, and life continues as normal, we will do our part to help the next generation avoid getting into this heartbreaking situation themselves.
If there is a universe left after all this, Camp Quest West, which teaches children critical thinking and science, will receive a check. Why, you ask? Because when children know how to think for themselves, they don’t get taken in by every terrible idea that comes across their desk.”


Isn’t this a fabulous idea? Though I have to admit, now I’m kind of hoping the Rapture does happen, if it means getting my own pony.

You can donate here. Buy Jen a pony if the rapture happens, help freethinking children if it doesn’t. It’s a win-win situation!

I am such a hermit

“Hmmm, I should really go buy some groceries today. *walks outside* Oh wow, it’s beautiful out! I don’t even need a jacket. Holy crap, a blue sky! Mountains! *reads car thermometer* 67 degrees?! This is a great day. Man, I should really do something outside to enjoy it, since it’ll probably rain for a month straight again. Hmmm… … …what do people do outside for fun? It’s too late to go hiking somewhere. I don’t really feel like walking around alone… …If only my laptop got here, then I could at least sit outside on the internet. …Meh, back to the basement. I wish it was this nice the only time I do go outside.*”

*That would be traveling to and from work. Yes, I am a pathetic nerd.

Let’s hope this is a non-issue…

But I’m wary. Every time I say that about someone’s personal religious beliefs, they end up becoming an issue. The newest potential cause for drama? The University of Washington (where I go to school) finally decided on it’s new President – Michael K. Young. The thing that set off red flags? He’s a graduate of Brigham Young University and devout Mormon (which is probably redundant to say).

Now, I know it’s entirely possible to be religious and not let your beliefs interfere with your job at a secular university. I don’t expect his first act as university president to be increasing the number of Mormon missionaries that hunt you down on Red Square, or to expand the campus LDS center that’s right by my building.

But when I read stuff like the following, I get a little worried:

In order to understand genuinely the world and all the things that we learn from secular sources, we should start the inquiry first from the perspective of the gospel and its basic truths. The rest of the world then begins to make much more sense. It isn’t so much that secular learning necessarily confirms the truth of the gospel in every instance, though I am frequently surprised with just how often it does exactly that, but rather that we much better understand the world and everything in it when we put the secular learning in a gospel context. In other words, if one first seeks the light of Christ and inspiration from the Lord, then inquiries about matters of science, politics, economics, history, indeed, society in general, are not only entirely acceptable, but likely to lead to a better understanding of the gospel and a stronger, not weaker, testimony. If we seek first the kingdom of God, then indeed all things will be added unto it.

Ah yes…the world makes so much more sense when you start with Mormon!Jesus. I’m sure all the non-Mormon researchers certainly appreciate that sentiment.

Please let the next 4 years be perfectly boring and free of blog fodder.