Viva Las Vegas
June 18th, 2008
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Well, I’m on my way to Las Vegas. I neglected to mention this, because I have had some issues with certain parties in the past, and thus I wasn’t 100% sure if I was going to even go, but I’ll be attending The Amazing Meeting, a great event where skeptics, scientists, entertainers and others gather for a meeting of the minds. This year Adam Savage, Penn and Teller, Dr. Neil Tyson, Dr. Phil Plait and many many others will be in attendance and I’m hoping it turns out to be as much fun as it was last year.
I’ll try to post some updates from the meeting and I’ll definitely have stories, information and photos to share. The meeting closes on Sunday, but I’ve added an extra day to my trip and I hope to be able to use it to pay a visit to a few sites, including the Yucca Mountain visitor information center. I actually was hoping to get into a tour of the Nevada Test Site and see the complex first hand, but it looks like that’s not going to be possible as it has to be arranged far ahead of time and only certain dates are avaliable.
Ah consumerism…
And to think it was all made possible by the fact that a lot of people are really bad at math and willing to pour their money into random events which have a probability far out of their favor.
Too bad it’s also powered by this…
This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 18th, 2008 at 1:26 pm and is filed under Bad Science, Education, Events, Good Science, Misc. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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June 18th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
Those tanks look like oil storage tanks.
Man they must be hurting right now.
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June 18th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
metatron said:
Actually that’s a coal fired power plant. However the coal is actually “pumped” from a mine several miles in a pipeline. They break the coal into little pieces and then pump it as a slurry. When it arrives it is dried and then burned.
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June 18th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Have fun and remember not to overvalue pocket jacks!
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June 18th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
Argh, I’m jealous, your going to TAM! Well, have fun, are you any good at counting cards?
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June 18th, 2008 at 6:11 pm
Remember what goes on in Vegas stays in Vegas except the vd.
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June 20th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
Actually Vegas gets 20% of its power from nuke. They don’t have plants in-state, but it comes in through the grid.
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June 23rd, 2008 at 2:07 am
davidlpf said:
You are showing your age here. People don’t get VD, they get STD.
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June 23rd, 2008 at 6:14 am
Paul Studier said:
Many people have endured unfortunate experiences with Subscriber Trunk Dialing.
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June 24th, 2008 at 1:03 am
Any updates or still partying… uh… I mean… furthering the cause and everything important like that?
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June 24th, 2008 at 6:49 pm
Twitter seems to indicate the party is over. Perhaps he is recovering, either by sleeping or at the doctor, hopefully finding out something like “It’s bacterial and we can probably cure this with antibiotics” or something like that.. What happens in Vegas sometimes doesn’t stay there, despite what you may hear. Therefore, if it burns when you pee, best to get it checked out!
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June 24th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
To put any rumors to rest: the science and discussions and meeting of exciting people was more amazing and exciting than anyone could have imagined. It was mind-blowing.
However, the night life, R-rated (or higher), and all that kind of exciting stuff… Well… it was less exciting than everyone seems to imagine. The only way I think I could have gotten an STD when I was there would have been if I had been sedated, taken advantage of and returned to my hotel room without any knowledge. I mean… I know I’m a sexy guy, but I’m not sure anyone would go to those extreme measures.
So everyone can get their minds out of the gutter
Yes, I’m a bit worn out from the event. It was a crazy amount of mental and social stimulation. I have much to say and will be posting about it in the next few days. Now… I need to put my feet up. Been a long long trip. Worth it, but it’s time to recharge my batteries. (Molten sodium-sulfur of course)
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June 25th, 2008 at 1:38 am
So you use the same VD/STD prevention method that I use in Vegas. I keep my pants on, except in private.
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June 25th, 2008 at 2:08 am
Paul Studier said:
Yes, well, it might have turned out differently had a gorgeous and brilliant skepchick started tearing off my clothes. I mean, I just might cave into something like that.
Surprisingly, that didn’t happen.
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June 25th, 2008 at 2:15 am
drbuzz0 said:
Now I’m starting to question your honesty. Are you implying you were not mobbed by sexy women at the conference who were unable to control themselves around you?
That’s pretty hard for me to believe.
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June 27th, 2008 at 11:18 pm
davidlpf said:
This part won’t stay in Vegas – in case anyone was wondering, BUZZ0 wandered around all 4 days with his luggage, because no one would let him stay with them.
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June 28th, 2008 at 12:12 am
Timmy Superhero said:
That’s not exactly true. I got a room every night and I certainly did not wonder around with my lugage, well except for my laptop bag which honestly I should have just left in my room. But anyways I did get a room with someone one of the nights and stayed in another hotel two others. I had not expected the Flamango to be two hundred bucks a night. The Riv was a lot cheaper last year but meh..
I almost was not able to go to TAM because of financial reasons and I had to resort to whatever measures necessary to save money. The first night I stayed at Motel six. Then I stayed at the flamango. That was really expensive and totally not worth it. Thus I tried again to find a roommate, which I did… and split the cost the third night. The fourth night I stayed with the same person and thus I never had my lugage with me that day. The last day I stayed at the Tropicana. I ended up without a room on the last night I was in Vegas because my flight was cancled and I ended up back at the Flamango at 10:00 Pm.. thus I got a room for myself again.
If you must know (and I’m sure you must).. my financial issues as of recently stem from the fact that one of my friends took a lot of money from me. This person has relapsed into a drug problem big time and I’d rather not talk about it any more than that.. those who know me know the situation.
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