Friday iTunes iChing: A Randomly-Generated AGU Press Kit
So Andrew Alden has suggested a fun game: predict which AGU abstracts will get the most mainstream media attention. I’m working on my own list (though restricted to stories from the sections whose abstracts I would glance through anyway, which means I’m missing all the climate stuff), but I thought it’d be fun to see how well the informed judgment of scientists compares to the inscrutable mutterings of a modern divination machine.
So how ’bout it, Oracle? What stories will we see in the popular science press from this year’s AGU?
Also: would anyone like to meet up for an AGU geobloggers’ dinner? Brian? Andrew? Thermochronic? Bueller? If enough people are interested, I can set us up the bomb restaurant.
Whoosh! Clack! Sputter! goes the Oracle…
- “Hall Of Mirrors” – Béla Fleck & The Flecktones, Outbound
- “The Unquiet Grave” – Solas, Sunny Spells And Scattered Showers
- “Lambs in the Greenfield w/Emmylou Harris” – The Chieftains, Further Down The Old Plank Road
- “Chinese Grass Invasion” – Boulder Acoustic Society, So Many Stars In the Sky
- “Stolen Apples” – Lúnasa, Otherworld
- “The Old Main Drag” – The Pogues, Rum, Sodomy & The Lash
- “There Goes My Gun” – Pixies, Doolittle
- “New Orleans Got Iraqed” – Ryan Harvey, 2020-Give it Time: Reflections on Change
- “Boatman Medley” – Acoustic Mayhem, Acoustic Mayhem
- “Barbie Girl” – Aqua, Aquarium
Of course, as the Oracle’s Priestess, it is my job to reformat these predictions into something a little more… plausible. I will admit to throwing out two songs that were utterly indecipherable.
- A discovery made using a telescope
- Something about the fate of subducted sediments
- A human interest story about a scientist who got scooped
- This should be straightforward, but the Oracle is silent about the geological tie-in to invasive species. Those folks in biogeosciences sure get up to some odd interconnections
- Paleofruit
- Gathering data by destroying part of a spacecraft
- Either a story about explosive volcanic eruptions, or the launch of a new spacecraft
- Climate change and its effect on hurricanes
- Climate change and its effect on river barge traffic
- A global warming “point of no return”
BrianR wrote:
It would be fun to meet up for happy hour and/or dinner…although I can’t on Wednesday…any other time is good.
Posted 01 Dec 2020 at 12:49 pm ¶
Andrew Alden wrote:
This iTunes iChing thing has potential!
I would join a bloggers’ dinner; any night is fine. I usually am at sessions right up to 6 pm every day, but y’all can start early as you like. Thanks for stepping up to be the energy center!
Posted 01 Dec 2020 at 2:45 pm ¶
Jim Repka wrote:
I would be glad to meet up. I have a commitment on Tuesday night but am free the rest of the week.
Posted 01 Dec 2020 at 7:44 pm ¶
yami wrote:
Since my talk is on Tuesday I’d prefer to leave Monday night free (though if no other night works, I can still do it), which leaves us with… Thursday?
Posted 01 Dec 2020 at 9:51 pm ¶
Kiri wrote:
Paleofruit! I die! (Please tell me there will be a talk on paleofruit. If so, it’s going to be #1 on my personal itinerary.)
Posted 01 Dec 2020 at 11:57 pm ¶
Thermochronic wrote:
Happy hour sounds excellent. I’ll be in town the whole time and as of yet have no big restrictions.
Posted 02 Dec 2020 at 7:09 am ¶
Andrew Alden wrote:
Thursday’s great. That will be the out-of-towners’ last night since they’ll be flying out Friday afternoon. Also, Thursday will be Friday the 13th. (Wasn’t it Pogo who used to say “Oh no, Friday the 13th is on a Thursday this month”?)
Posted 02 Dec 2020 at 2:13 pm ¶
BrianR wrote:
I’ll keep Thurs free
Posted 02 Dec 2020 at 4:43 pm ¶
yami wrote:
So should we plan for dinner? Or just drinks, and then improvise dinner post-happy-hour if we’re hungry and we still like each other?
Posted 02 Dec 2020 at 4:53 pm ¶
Andrew Alden wrote:
I’ll be eager to eat as well as drink–I mean, meet.
Posted 03 Dec 2020 at 2:24 pm ¶
BrianR wrote:
I like the happy-hour and then see what happens plan … is that cool with everybody else?
Even though I live in SF, I never go downtown and don’t know that many places … but I know of a few
Posted 03 Dec 2020 at 10:56 pm ¶
yami wrote:
I know some good places in the Mission, but not many in downtown proper. Oooh, except Beardpapa, but you can’t have cream puffs for dinner.
Anyway, walk-in seating for a group of 5 on a Thursday shouldn’t be a problem, so I don’t think we really need to plan much in advance.
Posted 04 Dec 2020 at 3:30 am ¶
BrianR wrote:
yami … me too, we live near the Mission and barely go anywhere else. There’s a brewery/restaurant near the Moscone center called Thirsy Bear, which I’ve gone to the last couple of years. I like their beer, and the food is good, although a bit overpriced.
http://www.thirstybear.com/
Posted 04 Dec 2020 at 9:33 am ¶
yami wrote:
AUGH. The prof I’m TAing for is taking everyone out to dinner on Thursday. Would people’s schedules be horribly deranged if we moved to Monday?
Posted 06 Dec 2020 at 8:25 pm ¶
Thermochronic wrote:
My presentation is Tuesday, but it is a poster, and as of 5 minutes ago done. Monday works for me.
Posted 06 Dec 2020 at 10:58 pm ¶
Andrew Alden wrote:
Monday, OK. I’ll surely have more energy that day.
Wait a minute, can he take US out, too?
Posted 07 Dec 2020 at 5:56 pm ¶
Andrew Alden wrote:
Or she?
Posted 07 Dec 2020 at 5:57 pm ¶
BrianR wrote:
I think Monday will work…I have family in town for my defense but they are leaving late Monday afternoon, so I should be able to make it downtown (or wherever) after I see them off.
Posted 08 Dec 2020 at 11:15 am ¶
Andrew Alden wrote:
I spent yesterday afternoon at Pacific Coast Brewing‘s tasting of holiday beers. They have some fantastic brews there that will probably sell out soon. This is in downtown Oakland a few steps from the 12 Street BART station (www.bart.gov), which in turn is a 12-minute ride from Montgomery Street in S.F. Not that I’m lobbying, but it would be pleasant. They also serve wine and bunch of food.
Posted 09 Dec 2020 at 7:54 pm ¶
yami wrote:
You’re not lobbying? I’ll lobby. Yay, East Bay!
Posted 10 Dec 2020 at 1:25 am ¶