What you thought you knew

December 28, Asheville, NC

Here it is, the start of another tour. While it’s exciting to be back on the road (there’s little I like more than traveling), the pressure of getting a new show up and running is particularly pressing this time. Eight days to get a show from ground zero to performance ready–a little stressful to say the least.

The people are really enjoyable to work with, however–from actors to directors to office personnel. It’s a much better situation than last year’s tour. The people at Poetry Alive really seem to be working not only for the company but for the actors as well. Which brings me to the title of this post.

Ftk washes Salvadore Cordova’s back!

I think that one of the major obstacles in the ID / Evolution weirdness that is going on in a tiny fraction of the world’s population is that of moral turpitude. One of the loudest voices in the pro-ID movement is a soccer mom from Kansas. She goes by the name of Ftk (For the Kids). Her biggest gripe is that scientists are atheists and therefor wrong, because they have no moral code.

Well, it has finally come out that Ftk has no moral code either. In fact, as seen from the following quote which she spoke to a fellow ID supporter, her own moral compass is a little askew. We now have evidence that ID supporters themselves can be adulterers, being friendly with whomever they choose, as long as the team is together!

Ftk:

God be with you, brother. I’ll wash your back…

That says it all.

I found something on my birthday trip

Well, a couple of people (yes, I believe that is the correct small number) have been wondering why A Clown in the Middle has been gathering cobwebs.

Short answer? My interests lie outside of writing–tangential, related, but ultimately moving toward different endpoints. On the road with the tour, this blog was a good way of spouting off about things without having to annoy Janell. It was also a good way to catalog some of the places and things I wanted to remember. However, now that I’m back at home and working in town, the blog fairly far out of mind. I like to be on stage, not behind the keyboard or pencil all that much.

However, I’m on the road again now. Only for the weekend, but it is very reminiscent of the tour. I traveled 380 miles to Garden City, Kansas to perform in the Tumbleweed Festival with StoneLion Puppet Theatre. We’re doing 3 shows this weekend, teaching a workshop, and doing some roving entertainment.

If you’re near Garden City, come out and see the festival–plenty of things for adults and kids alike. If you make it out, I’ll buy you a beer (I find it very unlikely that anyone is close to Garden City).

This being my birthday, combined with the similarity of my tour, I thought this would be a good next entry point. Thanks to those few who have checked in now and again–I can’t promise a lot of content in the future, but I’ll try harder.

Anyone know a good counsellor for DaveScot?

Yes. Dave has eplied again. I think it is interesting to note the issues he addresses and the ones he does not. Violence is a big issue for Dave, maybe someone should look in on him before he hurts someone? His latest communication in two parts. The first is about the meeting. For those of you who just want a funny look inside the mind of a true moron, read the second part about his diet, bodytype, and powerlifting abilities. GO TEXAS!!!

DaveScot’s last email:

It’s Official: DaveScot is a weak excuse for a human being

So. DaveScot one invited me to look him up anytime I was in Austin–ostensibly so he could kill me with a chainsaw. Why would he want to do such a thing? Well, because I disagree with him about scientific issues and that’s how science is decided–chainsaws.

To Austin we trip…

…in order to trip in Austin.

No, not like that. The total mental disconnect will be even greater, however. DaveScot, the blog czar at Uncommon Descent, once invited me to look him up whenever I was in Austin. He also threatened to kill me with chainsaws–looking forward to it.

So, after many months of touring the country the opportunity has presented itself. I will be in Austin, TX on May 12 and 13. I’m sure we will talk about the wonders of Intelligent Design, how exactly he violates the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics by typing, why gravity is the strongest force in the universe, and why every Tom, Dick and Harry should be allowed to decide school curriculum.

Actually, I expect that we won’t discuss any of these things because DaveTard will be conveniently absent. We’ll see; the improbable does sometimes occur.

It seems I may have another tour booked talking to crackpots. Here and here.

If you have any questions that you would like me to ask DaveScot, post them here or at the original thread.

Amongst the Living Again

No, I did not die, though some may have been wondering. Through a series of events: hotels with no or bad wireless networks, hideous driving times, actual work being done, personal fun being had, and blogger’s lethargy–I have neglected A Clown in the Middle.

I have 3 things to say to the few dozen people that have stopped by almost daily for the past 2 weeks.

1. Thanks for contuing to check in; I appreciate it.
2. What the hell’s wrong with you; don’t you have better things to do?
3. Just because I have been silent doesn’t mean I’ve not been thinking.

Upcoming posts in the next couple of days:

A. My upcoming meeting with Tard Supreme Commander, DaveScot in Austin, TX.
B. A review of a really cool popular science book on information theory that I finished.
C. A band you should listen to.
D. Discussion of wine country in Washington and Idaho (yes, Idaho).
E. The niftiness of Sacramento and a possible thearical job there.

Once again, thanks for stopping by and please continue to do so.

Blipey uses the Batman Logic

A couple of weeks ago I wondered why there was a phone in my hotel bathroom. I was assured that it wasn’t just that I was in Kansas.

Well today, in Utah, I walked into my hotel bathroom and discovered a phone.

Some people may let this situation throw them. I remembered a scene from Batman (1966) and this really helped me out. My thought process:

1. Kansas starts with “K”
2. Utah starts with “U”
3. Taken in chronological order, this spells “KU”
4. KU is populated with Jayhawks
5. Jayhawkers are strange, at best
6. Phones in bathrooms are strange
7. Holy Alexander Bell, Batman, a degree from KU qualifies you to install phones in hotel bathrooms!

Where Blipey has been the last 2 weeks

That’s from the top of Loveland Pass, Colorado, elevation 11,990 ft.
I haven’t posted any photos of the tour in quite some time, so I thought I’d fix that. The last two weeks have been spent in Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah. Below the fold are a few more of the very cool things I’ve seen.

I-70: Western Run, this game rated X, for extreme

Driving Interstate 70 in Utah between Green River and Salina is much like a video game. At any time one or more of the following may decide to spontaneously cross the roadway: deer, elk, rabbits, boulders. While driving at night, you may want to get the best view of possible “Frogger obstacles” ahead by turning on your brights. Don’t do this. The ridiculous amount of dust and/or sand in the air (you are in a desert after all) causes the brights to fuzz out all view ahead.

Just after figuring out the lights thing, and after seeing my first roadside elk, was when I noticed the cool sign: Slippery When Wet. While I was in a desert, this didn’t increase my confidence in the surface of the road. Maybe this was also because the road looked like a pretzel even though it was an interstate (Eisenhower would be saddened) and was never banked in any way.

Summing up: You can be travelling at the speed limit of 75 mph along a really curvey road, when all of a sudden you must avoid a falling boulder and 3 deer sprinting across the road. While beginning evasive manuevers, you hit a slick patch in the non-banked road, causing you to careen over the ledge onto the canyon floor 200 feet below. Wii has nothing on I-70.