5 Silly Questions: PZ Myers

PZ Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris. For almost three years he's been blogging on culture, politics, and most notably, the evolution/Intelligent Design debate at Pharyngula. It's the resurgence of the debate over evolution and Myers's intelligent, humorous, and, at times, incendiary commentary on the subject that quickly made his blog a popular destination. His being a biologist and a professor, I thought it necessary to send PZ five really stupid questions to get his thoughts on subjects ranging from Tony Danza to dogs and monkeys fighting. Here's what PZ had to say...

 

1. If you could have anyone in history on your Pictionary team, who would it be?
Gary Larson. And I would hope that many of the questions would involve cows. I suppose my team would be saying, "I don't get it" a lot, but it would still be worth it.

2. Who's luckier - those Powerball-winning meat packers or Tony Danza?
Don't meat packers use really nifty power tools on large dead animals, scooping out piles of entrails and splattering walls with blood, playing with very sharp knives and hacking and sawing through bone and tendon? Who cares about this Powerball thing... I'd rather do that than be Tony Danza.

3. If PZ Myers fell in the woods, and no one was around to hear him, would he make a noise?
Oh, I've done that. It was a lovely Spring day in the Hoh rain forest; it was drizzling -- it's almost always raining there, of course -- and I slipped while clambering over a slick and mossy fallen tree. There was a soft squelch and a kind of soggy crunch as the rotted wood gave way, against a background of hissing rain and soughing wind and the burbling of the river nearby. There was also a delightful scent of cedar. It was a glorious sensory experience which, unfortunately, you missed... because you weren't there. Don't you regret asking, now? There was a moment in time which you did not share, a small, perfect event which no one but I witnessed, and the rest of the universe must lament missing.

4. You're an animal guy, if a dog and a monkey got into a fight, who would win? The monkey, easy. The dog would have some dignity, while the monkey would fight dirty. Real dirty. You'd feel filthy and ashamed just watching it. You ought to feel embarrassed for even proposing it. Do you hate puppy dogs or something?

5. If you could drive 500 miles in any direction from Morris, where would you prefer to end up?
Dang. I had to look it up on a map to see what was 500 miles away from me. It looks like that would put me in Rockford, IL, or northern Missouri, or in Rapid City, SD, or somewhere in the howling wilderness 150 miles north of Winnipeg. Can I just stay home?

Feeling filthy and ashamed reminds me I'm still alive, PZ! Thanks for answering these silly questions! Read PZ everyday at Pharyngula and check out Mike Mosedale's cover story on Myers here.