If things get quiet around here for a while, it’s not because I’ve received a letter bomb…it’s just not a good week. Lots of teaching piling up; lots of committee meetings; I’m trying to apply for a sabbatical, which in a small department means lots of work to make accommodations on workload; the family is a bit disrupted, with my father-in-law suffering a severe illness (the whole family, except for me, is about to fly back to Washington state for a while); writing deadlines are flying by and I’m scrabbling frantically for time to finish up; and I’m doing all this traveling and speechifying that’s eating up lots of time. So I’m a little bit stressed right now.
What to do? Well, of course: we’re having Greg & PZ’s Excellent Party tonight! Party on, dudes! Join us at the Black Forest Inn tonight, around 7, and help me forget my worries for a little while. I expect you all to show up and make me very happy — I’m going to be looking for you, personally, and if I don’t see your face I’m going to die a little inside. Do you feel the guilt yet?
Aferwards, I’m going to crawl into a cheap motel somewhere and put in a few hours of writing. Then, Friday, I drive to lovely Madison, Wisconsin.
Here are details of my talk there, but we haven’t worked out any post-babbling events yet. I suggest that if you want to get together with me, show up at the talk or after the talk, and we’ll figure out some nearby place where you Wisconsinites can drag me to cheer me up some more. The party tonight will not be sufficient, you know: it’s going to take a lot of work to haul me up out of this slough of despond.
Now…off to meetings and another quiet writing session before departure.
Sorry to hear about your father-in-law, and good luck on the sabbatical request!
A letter bomb?! As in the kind that kills people and not an offensive letter? What are the police doing to find the terrorist that sent the letter?
Sympathies to your family regarding your father in law’s illness. I hope his health starts looking up quickly.
Don’t get too stressed out, PZed – you’re obviously a very energetic individual, but even Giant Squids need rest!
And remember – the PZMinions did a bang-up job last time you had to be away for a bit – call ’em back in!
No, no — I have NOT received a letter bomb. All is well in the hate mail front — they just send threats, they don’t act on them.
I planned on making it, but completely forgot I have school tonight.
See, evolution and atheism lead to stress.
Hey, it’s as good as anything out of the CSC.
Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/2kxyc7
Sorry, I don’t do guilt any longer. I’m finally over my 12 years of Catholic school. But I feel bad about missing it – for me.
Wish I could be there there tonight PZ. What’s the emoticon for a cyber beer belch?
Sorry to hear about your father-in-law PZ. Give the trophy wife a hug.
Don’t worry about us, PeeZed. We’re already spoiled for choice (and I for one can barely keep up as it is).
Noöne is going to have a problem with you taking some time off to focus on your family.
I hope the best for you FiL (for what it’s worth). Do remember to take care of yourself too. I’ve heard too many stories of stress-induced breakdowns and bloodclots today.
Same problem. For some reason my employer wants me to show up for work tomorrow. I’ll hoist a beer from home while the party is going though.
Hmm…Way too far away for the party tonight, but Madison is pretty close. Maybe we’ll see you there.
Darn you for not speaking on Saturday, when I’ll actually be in Madison!
Otherwise, best wishes for your father in law and good luck with the sabbatical!
I was wondering why I hadn’t received a reply to my e-mail. As long as you’re letting us know when you’re busy, PZ, let us know when you’re free so we can bombard you with more wild and crazy shit from Jesusland.
Count me there in spirit, but a personal appearance is impossible due to (1) Distance (2) I am busily working on my OWN new explanation of gravity which is based on (a) combining the resonant-healing properties of copper bracelets (b) reverse-radiation-ion-induced magnetism, and (c) multiply-polarized water (which doubles its memory as well as explaining how all the scientific explanations of gravity are wrong.
By the way, I use my old e-mail for comment authentication. The e-mail came from my main account. I’ll leave this comment and authenticate with that one if you have time to go find the e-mail.
OT but close to pharyngula interests. Things are going wrong for lots of people. PZ should do a post or two on the financial collapse and stock market massacres.
Roughly 1/2 of US households used to have money in the stock markets, directly or through 401K and other pension plans. Their savings are getting wiped out.
Hearing some real horror stories in the last few days, disturbing emails and so on. This is all part of Bushcos and the Death Cultists 8 year old plan to destroy the USA and head on back to the Dark Ages. It is actually quite clever. If you just kill them, then they are gone. But if you impoverish them, they will be around to suffer and whine for years.
Quite a legacy to hand to McCain and Palin. Who are actually almost certainly going to be far worse than Bushco.
PS Even brain damaged Ben Stein caught on. Last night he called Bush and McCain idiots.
“I expect you all to show up and make me very happy — I’m going to be looking for you, personally, and if I don’t see your face I’m going to die a little inside. Do you feel the guilt yet?”
You aren’t quite up to the standards of the Catholic church I attended for a few months. You need to work harder.
BTW, I love your blog PZ, it is a source of constant wit and humor. This is my first time posting, but I have been reading for a while now. I plan on attending tonight with my wife and a buddy of mine, hope to see you there.
Greg & PZ party goers: Party hearty for those who can’t make it. We’ll live vicariously through your recaps of said festivities.
If you are in a blog lull, go over to Digital Cuttlefish and read his ode to the priapic chalk giant restoration.
Varlo, you idiot, any explanation of gravity that leaves out ‘intelligent falling’ is a tool of the devil!
Sorry, reading too many examples of Poe’s law…must be rubbing off on me.
You know, PZ, you’re mighty sociable for an “angry, grumpy, uncharismatic male loner.”
Don’t scare people like that! I saw “letter bomb” and thought “some religious nutcase tried to kill him”! I’ll try not to be so literal, but I hope you’ll understand my confusion.
Sorry to hear that PZ, I wish you the best!
And I thought studying for my quals was hard. Hang in there PZ. Many happy squidy thoughts are being sent your way. I’ll have a drink tonight wishing I were at the Excellent Party.
PZ, Thought you might enjoy some Paul Provenza to get you amped up for your Excellent gig.
As the late, great Douglas Adams once said:
More woe for PZ – *News Flash* from Free Thought Radio. It’s against the law to sleep naked in Minnesota.
He’s gonna get really grumpy now. ;o)
Wishing you well, PZ. Stay cool.
See you in a few!
Paul, i it really wise to give the details of what you are doing to do?
You need to remember that you got dangerous Christians after you. They could read up and basically wait for you to kill you, beat you up or who knows. These are Religious people, They are very dangerous, Its the same ones that prevented us from evolving and kept us in the middle ages for hundreds of years, murdering anyone pointing out facts. Fly into buildings, torture people in guantanamobay, murdering innocent men woman and children in the middle east.
These are dangerous people, you need to be careful Paul.
I’m going to try to make it to the lecture in Madison, but if I don’t make it there I plan on meeting up at the post-lecture party.
Friday nights in Madison – especially during the school year – are pretty crazy. Bars on the Capitol Square are good for a lively discussion to go with a beer or three, but State St. is where it’s at for going all out.
Google “Scott Van Pelt/Madison” for an audio clip or transcript for a good description of what Madison is all about.
“I’m going to die a little inside. Do you feel the guilt yet?”
PZ, please, please, forgive me! I just don’t know how I can make it to Black Forest Inn from Novosibirsk in time.
Don’t let little things detract from your conscious connection to the “positive flow” of psychic energy than transcends and transform your life into one big magnet for drawing the positively-charged quarks to your happiness flow. Be happy. Don’t worry. Like attracts like.
Brought to you by the Esalen Fairies, LLC, departed and floating.
Raven:
You’re losing it, man.
“Hearing some real horror stories in the last few days, disturbing emails and so on. This is all part of Bushcos and the Death Cultists 8 year old plan to destroy the USA and head on back to the Dark Ages.”
The Bush administration is to blame for the disaster of the credit industry? Really? I’m skeptical of that claim. How does this help McCain/Palin get elected? (Just to be clear, I plan on voting for Obama. I’m no fan of McCain and especially not Palin, but I’m neither am I a fan of conspiracy theories and uncritical thinking.)
I would think economic turmoil helps Barack Obama’s campaign, especially when he can take McCain’s statements like “the fundamentals of our economy are strong”* and use them in ads that make McCain look ignorant and unconcerned for the economic well-being of the American people.
The turmoil in the financial sector and in the housing market is complicated and has a number of causes, some of which almost certainly are a product of the failure of our government. Fannie and Freddie allowed investors in the private sector to see the rewards of high return/high risk investments without fully absorbing the risk. This isn’t a failure caused by the private sector; it’s a failure caused by public intervention in the free market.
I’m no expert on the current crisis, but I’m pretty certain that the Bush Administration did not purposely cause Lehman, AIG, and Bear Stearns to collapse two months before the presidential election.
In the interest of full disclosure, I bought Lehman Bros. when it was at $59 per share. It’s currently at 7 cents per share.
*by the way, the American economy grew at a annual rate of 3.3% (adjusted for inflation) last quarter, which is nearly the exact average growth rate for our country since the Great Depression.
Hang in there PZ.
Here’s a nice little inspirational link that always make me feel better.
http://dingo.care2.com/cards/flash/5409/galaxy.swf
Cheers!
Don’t any of you Yanks ever, ever, ever, give us any crap about King George and oppression ever, ever, ever again. Can it. We put those puritans on boats – leaky boats – for a reason. We can sleep stark bollock naked and no one gives a flyer. Land of the free my (soon to be bare naked sleeping) arse.
Enjoy the party. Sounds like you need some rousing Yorkshire folk music sending, and I mean rousing. Some Kate Rusby and Waterson/Carthy for you, PZ, I think.
PZ: I’m sorry to hear about your father-in-law’s poor health. I’m afraid that much of my last year has revolved around the declining health of my father-in-law, so believe me when I say you have my sympathies…Scott
Ah – missed the guilttrip.
Sorry – can’t be there in the spirit, but you promised to bring me in the plush, anyway.
Have fun! Please.
Thanks to Robt Thille #20 for suppling the missing piece. I will share my Nobel prize with you. Or is that athe Bumble Prize?
Hope your father-in-law regains his health soon.
I plan to show up tonight and I’ve been looking at the Black Forest menu. Last time I ate there was when I was a student at Minneapolis Community College. I remember the apple strudel with fondness.
They also have potato pancakes which I recommend you try once if you have never had them.
Of course Bushco is responsible for the “Greatest Financial Crisis” since the great depression. That term BTW was the headline today in the mainstream media.
Think man. Who else was in charge for the last 8 years? The easter bunny?
For a year now, I’ve said Bushco, the Death Cultists, and the theothuglicans would wreck the USA. This means that:
1. Raven has had too much to drink and gone crackpot
or
2. Raven is spot on correct.
Well, here we are wrecking with no end in sight. If you really want to harm a country go after their economy. Social stability and military power are based on means of production. Ask the Germans or Soviets how that worked.
Whether anyone buys the analysis or not is immaterial. We went turtle/survivalist long ago and it is just painful to watch people getting hammered. Laidoff, lost medical insurance, pensions disappearing, kids moving back home, dead friends in Iraq, and on and on.
Qwerty: I’ve had the potato pancakes at the Black Forest quite recently and they are excellent.
To back up Peter Mc @#36
Mr Shrek is a Geordie and I don’t think he even owns a pair of PJ’s. I had to go buy a pair of boxer shorts and damn near have an argument to get him to wear them when we take the kids to grandmas and stay over.
I fact I think in a reversal of the Minnesotan position (boom boom-intentional pun) it actually may be illegal for Poms to sleep other than naked.
Back on topic though, please get some well needed rest PZ. We’ll miss you but we’ll live- your health and your family life is more important.
“deadlines are flying by and I’m scrabbling frantically for time to finish up”
Made me think of one of my favorite quotes:
“I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.”
-Douglas Adams
:-o
Show me.
I got your point, and agree with it… just… evolution is descent with heritable modification. If you mean “progressing”, just say so.
Doh! Looks like Lambic beat me to it…
HAI GUISE, more information.
There are several good bars in the area which aren’t icky drunken bars and which are good for all attendees (I’m 20, so there are some establishments I can’t go to yet) – the Great Dane brew pub is probably the most well-known in the city and it’s not far from campus; there’s the Nitty Gritty, which is a slightly more studenty establishment but is very nice and has good brats; there’s a LOAD of good places on State St. (but avoid State Street Brats, it’s not a nice enough place – there are a few nice bars and restaurants on State Street, though most of them are closer to the Capitol).
I’d suggest the Great Dane.
Something needs to be done to free Minnesota from stark bollocks naked oppression!
To David M:
My source was second hand. Larry King show last night. Here is what dailykos said.
Ben Stein writes a wall street column. He has been wrong since the collapse started over 1 year ago. Me thinks he and his buddies have lost a lot of money and aren’t happy.
Don’t blame him, but as the excerpt says, too late, the plague of locusts has come and gone.
rest professor rest. the world can get by without their dose of you for a week or two. consider it a challenge to not succumb to the opiate of the internet.
PZ, stop channeling my mother. :P
I hope your Father in law is feeling better soon. I’m down in Oregon, so I’ll be missing the date.
Take care of yourself and your family. This is the only life we have to live. I’m glad we have a voice like you to speak out against the evils of anti-science, but I’d wait patiently for that voice while you care for your loved ones.
Raven- #1 is the correct answer.
Suggestions for Madison: I’ll go ahead and second the Great Dane as the place in Madison for the pharyngulites to gather. They brew their own, and have just about whatever type of beer you could possibly want. It’s probably a good 20-25 minute walk from the Biotech building, but it’s worth it. I don’t know how strictly they card at the Great Dane; maybe Katharine can provide an answer.
One of causes of Wall Street’s problems is directly attributable to Dubya Bush. Financing an extremely expensive war on the national credit card is coming home to roost.
At least we know you’re human, PZ. Get some rest, go outside and walk around, breathe in the incredible air of Minnesota, think about its history and yeah, its geologic, paleontologic, and biologic history, as well. You’re the only person I know who could or would do this, besides perhaps …E.O Wilson or Dawkins.
Then get back to work, dammit.
and give your wife a hug, for the rest of us. Don’t know what is going on with your FIL, but I can identify with you, personal experience. This is a tough time for your family and you, too.
Our hearts are with you here.
Hang in there the best you can with respect to your FIL. The Redhead and I have parents pushing 80, so phone calls at late hours can be very disturbing even if it is one of her friends. You have a huge support group here. I hope things go well.
Not a whole lot of thought or knowledge in that insult. About zero.
Don’t even bother to try analyzing anything. You obviously aren’t very good at it.
All the best PZ.
#49 raven
But the subprime collapse was all just a media hoax wasn’t it?
“After all, on Sir Larry Kudlow’s show, Stein
suggested that the mortgage lenders will “end up
fine,” and he concluded that the subprime mess is a
media hoax in an attempt to “talk America into a
panic.”
http://www.thestreet.com/markets/activetraderupdate/10374378.html
I too think maybe Ben and some of his lemmings may have lost a bit.
I know Ben and his friends did. He said so last night.
The Lehman collapse took a lot of wealthy people down. Happens every crash. One guy I know lost 2.5 million USD during the dotcom meltdown. It was everything he had. This time around only one family I know has lost their house so far. Quite a few more have lost their jobs.
PZ, these things can be tough. I don’t know how ill your father in law is, but I’ve been there.
The old grouches father was killed by a drunk driver years ago, sudden and awful. It’s hard to know what to do, even when you’ve been married for years. Hang in there.
Patricia in #27: *News Flash* from Free Thought Radio. It’s against the law to sleep naked in Minnesota.
Uh-oh. I myself have slept naked in Minnesota. So has Somebody I Don’t Have to Incriminate. I wonder what the statute of limitations is for that one; this was in 1980.
This stuff is tough, PZ, but you know that already. FWIW, our thoughts are with you and your family.
Sorry to read about your Father-in-Law… I do hope he gets well!
Best wishes to your family. I hope you manage to spend time together in this tough situation.
PZ – best wishes to you and your family. I would have loved to come to the party, but couldn’t get out to MN from the east coast and still arrive at work today.
Fannie and Freddie allowed investors in the private sector to see the rewards of high return/high risk investments without fully absorbing the risk. – Corey S.
Of course – that’s a good description of capitalism. Privatise the profits, socialise the losses. The “free market” stuff is just prolefeed. Never was such a thing, never could be: all markets function as parts of larger institutional systems, which in all capitalist societies has included what is, in historical terms, a very strong state.
Best wishes to you and your family, P.Z.
I hope everything starts to get better soon. Best wishes to you all.
Sorry to hear about your father-in-law, PZ. I hope your stress level comes back down soon!
Hello PZ, and greetings to the PZ family as well. I am sorry I couldn’t make the party – some time or another I hope that I can! Your in-laws are in my thoughts, as are you. My best, Ctenotrish.