Pip pip, ladies and lords! I’m in England, getting ready for TAM London! That starts tomorrow, though there are some festivities tonight (George Hrab in concert!). My hotel charges as much for internet as my last hotel room in the States cost in total, so I’m sitting in a cafe across from my hotel to use their wifi, and drinking so much espresso to make up for it that I might fly home without an airplane.
I have already had a fun adventure or two, and will be blogging about all this and uploading photos as I can. I’ve been told the wireless at the Mermaid Centre (the venue for TAML) is good, so I’ll be live tweeting the whole thing as I can as well.
And if you’re in the UK/London area, there are still tickets available. Go to the TAM London site and come see us!
October 2nd, 2009 at 8:02 am
I’m jealous! Looking forward to hearing the stories and seeing the pictures. Have fun on the aircraft carrier in the Atlantic.
(That last bit is just for Ivan!
)
October 2nd, 2009 at 8:07 am
Hey, Phil, welcome back to Blighty.
I could get picky about your use of the … erm … vernacular (for want of a better word), but that would be rather missing the spirit of things.
I had hoped to attend TAM London but (for various reasons, not least of which are fiscal) cannot. So I wish you an enjoyable and sceptical time.
Oh, yes, now you’re in England you’ll have to use British spelling until you leave. But don’t forget to try some British cuisine (by which I mean curry) and proper beer (given where you are, London Pride or any of the Shepherd’s Neame beers should be readily available in any good pub or bar).
October 2nd, 2009 at 8:11 am
@ Larian (1) -
That joke comes from (IIRC) about 1985. After the Lockerbie bombing (PanAm flight 103), when Reagan ordered Libya bombed by aircraft stationed in bases in the UK.
Q: What’s the largest aircraft carrier in the US fleet?
A: Great Britain.
October 2nd, 2009 at 8:17 am
I have a friend in the UK named John. Please say “hi” for me when you bump into him. Thanks.
October 2nd, 2009 at 8:25 am
will be there tomorrow … can’t wait … there’s an amazing line-up of great people!
October 2nd, 2009 at 8:27 am
Sounds like a great meeting.
I probably won’t be able to come since we have a friend coming in from the US this weekend, but I put a blurb on Secular Cafe to see whether any of our London-area members can make it.
October 2nd, 2009 at 8:54 am
You made a step into a better world — oh, sorry, couldn’t resist. Btw: Be happy that you needn’t pay 10Euro (or pounds) for coming in…..
Have fun!
October 2nd, 2009 at 9:06 am
Wetherspoons pubs generally have free wifi (other pubs/chains do). There’s quite a few around and you can find individual ones here: http://www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk
They can be a bit hit and miss though and I’d recommend not using the one in Elephant & Castle, if you’re in that area.
October 2nd, 2009 at 9:08 am
If we’d realised you were coming, we could have rounded up some area sceptics and sciencey folks to meet you. At least you would have got some free beers out of the deal, and you wouldn’t have to be drinking overpriced coffee on your own.
I think most Wetherspoons pubs still have free WiFi, and their coffee and beers are cheap. Check one out.
October 2nd, 2009 at 10:25 am
Back in 2006, I used to have access to free Wi-Fi broadband for about six months — until my damn neighbour put a bloody lock on it!
October 2nd, 2009 at 10:41 am
Tickets available?
I thought the thing sold out months ago.
October 2nd, 2009 at 11:03 am
I live in London and from my house there are 4 unsecured networks I could connect to. I wouldn’t do such a thing of course, except that time we had a power cut… London is strange in that way sometimes you can have a power cut, but you are still within range of someone who doesn’t and has an unsecured network, cool! My brother though he was in the gobi desert.
October 2nd, 2009 at 12:09 pm
Tickets WERE available, you mean. I wonder how many minutes they lasted?
October 2nd, 2009 at 12:28 pm
@Nigel, While that joke may have had a resurgence from Operation El Dorado Canyon, its genesis is from WWII I believe.
October 2nd, 2009 at 12:40 pm
@ Larian LeQuella and @ Nigel Depledge,
Unsinkable aircraft carrier
October 2nd, 2009 at 2:32 pm
Remember in WW II (the Second World War, for the uneducated) the RAF (Royal Air Force) did their best to defend Great Britain from the Luftwaffe (German Air Force).
Later the RAF mounted heavy bomber raids in to German occupied territory, and to Berlin (the capital of Germany).
In fact the bombing of Berlin saved Great Britain. As Hitler (the supreme leader of Germany) got so incensed that he ordered the Luftwaffe to bomb civilian areas of London and other British cities. This meant that there were much fewer attacks on British radar stations, RAF air bases and other British miltary installations. This was hard on civilians, but it meant that the British military could then build up and eventually overwelm the Luftwaffe.
So towards the end of WW II, the bulk of the RAF, and aircraft from the American Air Force, based in Great Britain could hammer German tagets.
Probably at this latter stage, the Americans began to call Great Britain an ‘unsinkable aircraft carrier’.
October 2nd, 2009 at 2:39 pm
TheBritish radar satuons were used to detect the incoming German bombers, and were vunerable to attack themselves, even though they were defended.
October 2nd, 2009 at 4:15 pm
I’m extremely jealous that you’re in London and at TAM. I very much wanted to go, but it didn’t work out this year. You all are going to do this again next year, right? Hopefully, I’ll have better luck then.
October 2nd, 2009 at 4:44 pm
Speaking of Britain and scepticism, Derren Brown has just launched a website that sort-of ties in with his Channel 4 pyschological/magic show thing, exposing the tricks behind “psychic” abilities and so on.
http://www.scienceofscams.com/
October 2nd, 2009 at 6:46 pm
“Pip, pip, ladies and lords”???
Presumeably, when you touch down back in the states, the first thing you’ll say is “Yeee-haw! Yippee-ki-yay! Yee-haw!”, spit your chewing tabacco into the nearby spittoon, fire off a few shots from your pearl-handed revolvers into the air, adjust your ten-gallon hat and complain about the horse ride from the airport being a problem due to “savage in’jun” attacks?
[joke in fun - national stereotypes of the 18th century seem wierd]
But welcome back, hope you enjoy this stay too
October 3rd, 2009 at 1:41 am
A visit to the John Snow Pub should be a job-related addition to the itinerary for any skeptic. You could join The John Snow Society. They ought to be having their annual Pumphandle Lecture about now.
October 3rd, 2009 at 3:47 am
[...] London Calling Part 1 | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine [...]
October 4th, 2009 at 2:38 am
Great that you got into the country OK, seems we Brits are a little discriminating in who we allow entry…
http://timescolumns.typepad.com/gledhill/2009/10/the-one-miracle-he-couldnt-perform-the-british-home-office.html#more.
October 5th, 2009 at 5:42 am
@ Ivan3man (14) -
Well, hey, you learn something new every day.
October 6th, 2009 at 8:07 am
Nice article on TAML from today’s BBC webpage.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8291688.stm
November 5th, 2009 at 10:09 pm
[...] . more [...]