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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13477 Posts |
 Posted - 06/18/2008 : 11:27:54
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So here's the deal. I will be flying to Vegas for TAM6 tomorrow morning. This time I am taking a macbook along. Perhaps I can check in from time to time with updates and maybe some almost real time observations about the event. We'll see. There are planned events even for the night time, and depending if I go to those, and what my condition will be afterwards (most having something to do with good company and the drinking of alcoholic beverages) perhaps I will be able to get the time in for sitting down at the computer and not drooling or sleeping on it while doing that.
I will, as always, take a camera.
As I understand it, it was 106 degrees outside yesterday at noon. I do not plan to leave the comfort of the very air-conditioned Flamingo hotel, but you never know…
Anyhow, there it is. If I am able, this is the thread I will report to.
Oh, for those who care, I will be in chat tonight...
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Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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Ricky
SFN Die Hard
USA
4907 Posts |
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13477 Posts |
 Posted - 06/18/2008 : 11:55:05 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Ricky
It would be really cool if you could use a webcam.
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Ummmm... problem is I don't know how. There is a camera on the computer. Maybe I can figure it out...
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Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
 Posted - 06/18/2008 : 13:11:48 [Permalink]
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Looking forward to hearing all about it.
Um, be careful with all that fermented vegetable matter. It can give you serious morning regrets.....
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13477 Posts |
Posted - 06/18/2008 : 13:22:13 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by filthy
Looking forward to hearing all about it.
Um, be careful with all that fermented vegetable matter. It can give you serious morning regrets.....
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Oh, I learned that lesson at TAM4. Up until 3 AM, drinking free tequila. I had to be up later that morning at 7 AM. I risked caffein poisoning trying to stay awake and alert. The older you get, the harder you fall... |
Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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Chippewa
SFN Regular
USA
1496 Posts |
Posted - 06/18/2008 : 15:53:20 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Kil
Originally posted by Ricky
It would be really cool if you could use a webcam.
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Ummmm... problem is I don't know how. There is a camera on the computer. Maybe I can figure it out...
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Check the little instruction book that comes with your Macbook.*
*(This advice comes to you from someone who purchased a Mac with camera in the lid 5 months ago and has never activated the camera yet, proving once again that advice is cheap.)
(Don't forget to plug in the Mac at night to charge it in case you take it to presentations, etc.)  |
Diversity, independence, innovation and imagination are progressive concepts ultimately alien to the conservative mind.
"TAX AND SPEND" IS GOOD! (TAX: Wealthy corporations who won't go poor even after taxes. SPEND: On public works programs, education, the environment, improvements.) |
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Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
Posted - 06/18/2008 : 18:44:32 [Permalink]
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So... can we expect a report sooner than 10 months from now?
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Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson
"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin
Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth |
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Cuneiformist
The Imperfectionist
USA
4955 Posts |
Posted - 06/18/2008 : 20:36:17 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Dude
So... can we expect a report sooner than 10 months from now?
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Yeah-- is this TAM 5 or 6? |
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13477 Posts |
Posted - 06/18/2008 : 21:28:37 [Permalink]
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| Sigh... |
Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13477 Posts |
Posted - 06/19/2008 : 08:55:58 [Permalink]
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Okay, I'm leaving in about ten minutes. I will try to report back later in the afternoon.
As always, I am sure I am forgetting something... |
Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13477 Posts |
Posted - 06/19/2008 : 14:41:23 [Permalink]
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Just arrived. It's freaking hot in Vegas, and the shuttle ride over was lacking air-conditioning.
This is a big place. I have yet to run into anyone I know. Hell, even in my room I don't really know where I am.
Great view though.
Looks like my only access to the internet is from my room which cost 13 dollars a day. I'll pay it...
Anyhow, I'm going to go exploring now and get the lay of the land. Figure out where I need to be at certian times and stuff like that.
I'll check in later.
Thanks. |
Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13477 Posts |
Posted - 06/19/2008 : 17:25:51 [Permalink]
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Okay, this is how it seems to be. There are separate elevators to the TAM area. I ran into Derek and Swoopy. They seemed to be staying put in the TAM area because, as Swoopy said, it's easier that way. Getting lost here is the order of the day. Hell, I walked out of the Flamingo unknowingly because the Jimmy Buffet restaurant is inside the same building, and I was looking for a place to eat.
Anyhow, I'm registered now and looking forward to the reception. Along with my name on the tag, there is also my screen name which should help identify me to some people. Oh, and a Hal Bidlack for congress sticker that I placed on my tag since he was handing them out.
I need some coffe so I'm gonna trudge on down into the maze again looking for a wake me up... |
Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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Cuneiformist
The Imperfectionist
USA
4955 Posts |
Posted - 06/19/2008 : 17:47:40 [Permalink]
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Glad to hear you made it! Your wireless rate seems to be about the going rate now for big city hotels, sadly.
I'm sure we all look forward to hearing how it goes. Be sure to plug SFN-- and if anyone asks, "isn't that the place where that guy Cune posts those brilliant comments?" you can be proud to say "oh yeah"...  |
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13477 Posts |
Posted - 06/19/2008 : 23:13:23 [Permalink]
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On my way to the reception, I ran into Jeff Wagg who greeted me and said the forum picture was being taken. We, me Jeff and a few others, ran downstairs to the “park” and as it turned out, the picture was for the Colorado skeptics. Ah well. Back upstairs to the reception.
The reception room was hard to find. Go figure. But everyone made it. I was kind of alone in there. Sadly for me, the jref forum folks are friendly but perhaps a bit cliquish. (They know each other and don't really know me. So in a way I suppose it's understandable. It did make me wish Michelle had come along though.) So I found myself sitting by myself for a while. A fellow joined me and we talked about construction. Sigh…
I had a brief conversation with Hal Bidlack on my way in. He was pretty busy minding the door but promised that we would meet up later for a photo. (He did and with much humor. Bidlack is a sincerely funny man.) He also apologized for not getting it together and doing chat as a guest. Now that he is running for congress, I will leave him alone on that request. He really is busy.
In the meantime, Randi was making the rounds and having a great time. He posed with people and even did a magic trick, though I couldn't see what it was he did from where I was sitting.
After I finished eating, I made the rounds and again ran in to Derek, Swoopy and Susan, Derek's wife. We had a fun talk even though Swoopy was in demand and had to stop our little chat several times to talk to other people she knew.
On my way out an amazing thing happened. Neil deGrasse Tyson was near the door posing for pictures with people. Not to let a chance like that go by, I asked if he would pose with me. No problem. Then he asked where I was from.
“Santa Monica.”
“Oh, too bad. That is where Apophis might hit the earth, just outside of Santa Monica in 2036 creating a series of Tsunamis.“ As it turns out, the chances are slim.
One of the folks listening said with such slim chances why worry?
“Well, the odds of it happening are significantly greater than winning the lottery” was his reply.
Then he grabbed my arm. My arm represented Apophis . He plucked a straw from a woman's glass who was listening to this and demonstrated how it could be diverted using the gravitation of an object that we could send up to meet it. "Only problem" he said, "is no one wants to spend the money on the technology to do that."
My arm was used some more as an example of the nearness of the possible hit. This went on for a bit while we asked him questions about it.
So I was at the center, as a device, of this learning experience. During this little impromptu lesson on Apophis, he was so animated and excited about the subject, you could see the joy in him just in the sharing of that information. A born teacher using whatever was available to him makes his point. In this case, my arm and a straw…
Folks. That was the single most exhilarating several minutes I have experienced at any TAM I have been to. It was almost too cool for words.
Since I will be away from my computer for much longer time tomorrow, I doubt that I will be able to share too much of the day's event. But who knows. Depends on my condition. Perhaps what I am writing will wind up in a kil report. Or perhaps we should consider this my blog of the events. We shall see…
There are details that I have left out that may be of interest to the reader. I dunno…
Edited. |
Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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Chippewa
SFN Regular
USA
1496 Posts |
Posted - 06/20/2008 : 00:42:33 [Permalink]
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That is really cool that you got you meet Neil deGrasse Tyson, (and even became a prop for his explanation on diverting Apophis!) Whenever I see him on TV, usually on the Science Channel, History or sometimes PBS, I know whatever it is, its going to be good. He's a really great communicator for science.
Phil Plait the "Bad Astronomer" is there too. If you get a chance, let us know if you meet him. |
Diversity, independence, innovation and imagination are progressive concepts ultimately alien to the conservative mind.
"TAX AND SPEND" IS GOOD! (TAX: Wealthy corporations who won't go poor even after taxes. SPEND: On public works programs, education, the environment, improvements.) |
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9688 Posts |
Posted - 06/20/2008 : 04:27:17 [Permalink]
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Don't forget to say "Hi" from me to Derek and Swoopy!
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Dr. Mabuse - "When the going gets tough, the tough get Duct-tape..."
Dr. Mabuse whisper.mp3
"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse
Support American Troops in Iraq:
Send them unarmed civilians for target practice..
Collateralmurder. |
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