#TAM9 – Saturday bytes

And today’s TAM9 live feed can be found here … all done by a couple of folks who are far better at live blogging than I am, so go check it out. As for me, well, I’m back to my collection of tweets and quotes that I, for some bizarre reason, like to filter and collect … as always … enjoy …

Oh, and for all you Pharyngula folks, PZ has announced the meetup at  6pm, in the Garden Buffet tonight.

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#TAM9 – Friday Echo

Tempting as it might be to live-blog, there are folks out there doing a far better job than I ever cold, so I’ll simply point you in their direction ..

  • Friendly Atheist has been live-blogging the sessions here … with some help from some friends, and also some cool pictures as well, plus a link to that Tyson vs Dawkins video.

Twitter has of course been in full swing, to tune in, you can tap the #TAM9 Twitter feed here. But if not bothered, then to help bring back the day, here are a few of the tweets that I liked … enjoy

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#tam9 – Thursday soundbites

There is too much going on, and I’m also in the middle of it all, so I can’t create a generic 30,000 ft view. However, what I can do is attempt to capture a few sound bites that I’ve mined from twitter … enjoy …

  • Dr. Atlantis’ Bad Pun Of The Day: “…your Ogopogo shtick.” – Maria Myrback
  • Only a panel on evolution could wake me up – Jennifer McCreight
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Lowell Observatory

I’ve had the deep privilege of spending last night at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, AZ (Now, least you consider night to be an odd time to be out and about and wonder if they might be open at night … well think telescopes, stars etc … they tend not to do days, that big yellow thing in the sky tends to get in the way a bit).

The actual location is of course ideal, Flagstaff itself is over 7000 ft above sea level, and so perched about the city on Mars hill is the Observatory.  The site is a US National Historic Landmark, for this is the home of historical scientific discoveries. They have a 24-inch (0.61 m) Alvan Clark Telescope (pictured ) which is still in use today for public education. Now don’t misunderstand me, they still do real science, they currently operate four research telescopes at its Anderson Mesa dark sky site, located 20 km (12 miles) southeast of Flagstaff, including the 72-inch (1.8-meter) Perkins Telescope (in partnership with Boston University) and the 42-inch (1.1 m) John S. Hall Telescope. (But for visiting, you want the Flagstaff site).

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