I just received a big ol’ mailing tube in the division office. The office staff made a little joke about how they’d rather I didn’t open it there, just in case (the Catholics will be so happy — they’ve managed to instill fear in uninvolved innocents), so they missed out — it was a beautiful print, all for me.
Thank you!
I also received another present, a wonderfully warm hoodie with an exceptionally cute bit of art on the front. He’s squinking hearts! And aren’t I adorable in it?
No name was on the package, and there was just a note that revealed that the source was from France. C’est magnifique! Un grand merci!
I remember the image that the dendrite-like tentacles are based on. Did we ever figure out if it was developmental, or due to injury?
omg omg omg sweatshirt is CUTE!!
prolly that negen troper guy
Far too awesome!
C’est chouette!
Sweet, you got the print! I was a little concerned you might think some angry person might have gotten their hands on a very small missile and stuffed it in the mailing tube, but it didn’t weight enough for that.
Glad you like it!
Ghaa! Hearts! Bleach! I HATE the awful “heart” symbol. My students are banned from using it in either art or design in my classes. Still, I guess the sentiment is there…. but… Blah!
Really, whenever I get packages of any size any more, people draw back in trepidation, despite the fact that nothing awful has happened. Yet.
PZ, shouldn’t opening suspicious packages fall under the duties of a TA?
Dahan, UMM is an undergraduate university. No TA’s. That’s why PZ gets grumpy at grading time.
That does it! I’m going to start a blog that features weekly pictures of diamonds, precious metals, etc., and just wait for the gifts to roll in. ;-)
Serious present envy here. I need to get me one of those fanbase/following things.
Er, are you sure that’s a print of a squid and not a mat for praying to the Great Cthulhu? And they sent you a prayer shawl to go with it. If your campus sinks into the sea, don’t come crying to me.
I’ve seen that design before. It’s from amorphia apparel. They have a lot of pretty sweet designs, though not many cephalopods sadly.
The print looks great, Renee! I had no idea you read pharyngula.
Sometimes, he doesn’t even bother to wait until grading time.
That octopus needs conditioner. Split ends.
Renee,
That was very nice of you. Er… are all the cephalopods in France as… anatomically interesting as those two?
Well, Randy, have you seen the Orangina commercial?
PZ, don’t you have any post-docs or someone to get to pass a bit of work off on?
Wait, Wait, Wait.
“Squinking?”
What’s the word for that; when people use intimidation to further their political goals? You know, so that folks are too terrified to go about their normal everyday duty of opening mail? What’s the word for the sort of person that evokes that kind of terror in fellow human beings?
Oh, there’s a word… it’s right on the tip of my tongue…
Oh, there’s a word… it’s right on the tip of my tongue…
Of course, the Department of Homeland Security expressly forbids you from utilizing that word as any kind of descriptor for a US citizen.
good thing you didn’t actually say it.
:p
My bad, I should have remembered that. Hmmm, well, I know I don’t believe in giving extra-credit at the collegiate level, but if he did…
Ah, c’est ci chere!
You get the best prezzies, PZ. :)
Squink = squid + ink?
Well, I’m jealous. I need to start destroying holy objects and talking about cephalopods. Or maybe carnivorous plants.
I think the beautiful print is actually PZ’s family tree!
Ah yes the joys of suspicious packages. Over here in the UK we are used to such things from the animal rights lobby. However this vigilance can have false positives. At a previous lab an unmarked large cardboard box was found on the reception counter in the foyer.
We were all required to vacate to ‘safer’ areas of the building which meant no work got done for some time. The bomb squad was summoned and the package was just about to undergo a controlled explosion when the ‘perpetrator’ revealed the truth (they had popped out then come back). Said package had arrived in their lab and had not been ordered so was taken to reception, noone there, so just left. It contained laboratory plastic ware, screw top plastic test tubes in essence.
Over here if that tube of yours had no return address on it then it would have been automatically quarantined and x-rayed in the university mail room. Put return adresses on things people if you want them to get through intact.
Ahh, the thrill of dA print tubes. . . Very nice!
PZ, this CD cover art and title has you written all over it:
http://www.amazon.com/Exterminate-Everything-Around-Restricts-Master/dp/B000VDDBIY/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-4764672-9241442?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1191901156&sr=8-1
What a great poster! Does anyone else, besides me, think this wonderful cephalopod looks God-like? Indeed, I wonder if we should not start such a religion. It could compete with the Flying Spaghetti Monster sect and probably do better. This could be the poster child, our “CephaloGod”
“Squinking”? Love it!
The trouble with mailing you stuff is that if it comes direct from the company, there’s not really anyway to put on return details or warn you.
Dan posted:
Does anyone else, besides me, think this wonderful cephalopod looks God-like? Indeed, I wonder if we should not start such a religion.
Been done: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cthulhu
Cthlulhu in 2008! Why choose the lesser evil?
No kings,
Robert
Hah glad to see you like the hoodie PZ, seeing as you hadn’t said anything about it I feared either it’d been lost or (worse) you didn’t like it.
J’étais certain que le pull plairait, je suis heureux de ne pas m’être trompé.
May it help you against cold weathers.