Oh, how I wish I were going to Dragon*Con this year! But I can’t; I’m cruising to Alaska with James Randi instead. Tough world (seriously, it was a very tough choice). But to make it worse, Derek Colanduno from Skepticality has posted a list of skeptical activities at D*C, and it’s a killer schedule. If you’re a skeptic in the Atlanta area you should get your critical brain to Derek and Swoopy’s panels! Michael Shermer will be there, Benjamin Radford, Jeff Wagg from Randi’s org (he’s flying out to go on the cruise the next day!), Mike Stackpole, the fantabulous George Hrab, Pamela Gay, an old friend and half of the Astronomy Cast team — it’s a great list of folks.
And of course, you see stuff like this:
But only stuff like that, since I won’t be there. Sigh.
July 29th, 2007 at 5:59 pm
You look uncomfortable in that picture. I hope everything was OK.
July 29th, 2007 at 6:22 pm
Of course he’s uncomfortable, he’s being touched by Poison Ivy.
Phil, doesn’t look like there will be any of the Browncoats there this year, but aton of cool other guests.
July 29th, 2007 at 7:58 pm
Kevin,
Oh, yes. There will be Browncoats.
Mark Sheppard - Badger
Ron Glass - Book
And a large smattering (oxymoron?) of Browncoat fans.
Then there’s the crew of The Signal (disclosure - I’m one of ‘em), which is doing a “Signal Live” event on Saturday night.
We’ll miss you at D*C, BA, but if I had the choice, I’d probably do Alaska, too…
July 29th, 2007 at 9:11 pm
Wow Phil, you don’t look really happy about standing next to the beautiful woman in the skimpy outfit holding your book.
July 29th, 2007 at 10:30 pm
He had to look like that, Mrs BA was taking the photo
July 30th, 2007 at 12:04 am
He was trying to look smug.
Here are pictures he took of the 2006 convention. I seem to recognize Buddy Christ, Chewbacca, “Fifth Element”, Batboy, Flying Spaghetti Monster, Ghost Busters, et al.
photos
July 30th, 2007 at 2:43 am
That’s not a wet patch on your fly is it? You lucky guy. The trip I’m referring to.
July 30th, 2007 at 4:52 am
Great Hair,,,er,,,not you, Phil.
So, I guess this must be in ATLANTA this year, eh? Dang, I am SOOOO behind the curve,,,
Gary 7
July 30th, 2007 at 5:06 am
Phil, about the blog layout: The big left-floating picture breaks the layout, moving footer, the next post or the first comments to the side of the picture. You should add “clear: both” to “.post .socialnetworks” and “.singlepage_bottomad” in your style.css. (Or use left/right for small images only.)
July 30th, 2007 at 5:14 am
Addendum: That is, as long as I disable Google ads or don’t enable JavaScript for this site – it will still happen, though, on the main page as soon as this post gets older and moves downwards where there are no ads between posts.
July 30th, 2007 at 7:08 am
Ok Phil,
How do you do this?
How do you get a kitchen-pass for all the things you do?
Do Mrs. Bad Astronomer and the Bad Astonoets come with you?
I know that you’re an Astronomer extraordinaire, a celebrity in some circles, but how do you get to go to go to out of town meetings, Dragon Con, Sail To Alaska, and do all the stuff you do without Mrs. Bad Astronomer ripping you a new Black hole?
July 30th, 2007 at 7:53 am
That dress on the woman in the pic looked *very* short. I hope she was wearing shorts or something similar underneath it!
July 30th, 2007 at 8:38 am
Hey! How come my copy of Bad Astronomy didn’t come with one of those??
July 30th, 2007 at 8:54 am
Yes, you’re right Nigel. That outfit DOES look fun to wear!
July 30th, 2007 at 9:53 am
And over next door, the space and astronomy track will be steaming along, including a panel on the moon hoax theories, faces on Mars, and so on. That one just won’t be the same without you! We will also be trying to do some “live astronomy” sessions via internet if the weather in Arizona cooperates. For some reason, my wife didn’t come up with the idea of getting me a similar publicity shot for one of my books… probably just as well! She did run off and get me a cute and cuddly Cthulhu plush toy after noticing how much I admired Frazer’s. Did you know they also came in Christmas versions with red hat and bells on the tentacles?
July 30th, 2007 at 11:20 am
I’d like to thank cimwwdc for finding a small bug in my code that was messing up my layout in Safari. It was subtle, but he found it! So thank you very much!
July 30th, 2007 at 11:27 am
… and as for permission (”kitchen pass”) to do stuff like this, it doesn’t work like that. Mrs. BA and I talk over upcoming stuff and try to work out what I can do and not do depending on timing, cost, etc, just like anything else.
As far as the cruise goes, it helps that I’m taking her too.
July 30th, 2007 at 11:33 am
We’ll miss you, Phil. We’ll make sure to post many photos so you know just what you’re missing.
July 30th, 2007 at 2:02 pm
Phil,
I am not happy you will not be at Dragon*Con this year. My nephew in California (Hi Daniel) told me about BA and keeps me up to speed on developments. But for those of you BA afficianados who will be at Dragon*Con 2007, I hope you will find time to come by either the Exhibit Halls or the Dealers’ Room and say hi. I will be the old fat man in suspenders tearing out what little left of his sanity.
And Phil, we want to see you back in 2008 along with everyone who follows Bad Astronomy. We will see if we can arrange for some as-attractive floral designs to be available for you to pose with.
Fingerman
Dragon*Con 2007
Director, Vendor Relations
July 30th, 2007 at 6:36 pm
Too bad I can’t make it this year. At least I saw posted a debate between the Skeptic track and the X-track. I keep forgetting things like that get included under “Science Fiction”. While the “fiction” part seems appropo, the rest of the moniker seems wrong.
Of course, they should probably avoid having a cross with the Wrestling track. “Smackdown” indeed.
July 30th, 2007 at 9:09 pm
Phil, you’ll be missed at D*C this year.
I’m actually having to pay to go this year for the first time in the 21st century.
Do I recognize the wall of they Hyatt behind you?
Anyone who’s going to D*C this year, go see Rocky Horror on Sunday night, it’s my old cast and they rock.
July 30th, 2007 at 10:00 pm
“I’m cruising to Alaska with James Randi instead.”
Strictly speaking, Vancouver to Vancouver is sailing by Alaska, or through Alaska, but not to (which is forbidden by obscure international shipping laws).
Aw, I’m just jealous ’cause I’ve lived in Alaska for 25 years and I’ve never been to the Panhandle.