The Belated Epilogue to Scio'11

So where does that leave #scio11? That leaves Science Online 2011 in an awesome place. We went, those among us (the vast majority) of age drank here and there (I was and still am not of age), and then there was unconferencing about meta science.

The focus this year, as many are probably well aware, was books and their authors. This left us with books to take home, and that was so awesome. It also led to a dinner with Scott fucking Rosenberg, who's apparently a pretty decent author. My dad wanted to sit with him, and I look forward to reading his stuff. Food in North Carolina is wonderful, if you know where to go. It's probably just wonderful everywhere. THE FOOD WAS SO GOOD

I, personally, was somehow jetlagged almost the entire time from a short flight inside of our timezone. It was admittedly kind of a haze until maybe later Sunday, when I actually started talking here and there. People, as always, were incredibly nice. I cannot imagine another conference full of... people abounding with so much niceness. People sit around and talk, and there were a couple hundred of us. There was discussion, insight, and I didn't even see one outburst (which kinda sort of happened once last year or the year before; it was still fairly civil).

There was a comedian who was so goddamn funny. His name was Brian Malow, and he was funny (TIME PARTS!?) There were also other wonderful speakers (who unfortunately were not professional comedians, and hence harder for my wonderful attention span to include in name), the organizers Bora and Anton at their best, and segments about blogging. I admit I didn't attend any until the last with Bora because I felt slightly bored with the subject, but still expected something new and interesting from the God-King of the Science Blogosphere. The prodigal children of the prodigal teacher were there too, and they were also fascinating individuals! The main message I received was that it's a brave new world of blogging out there, and the current mess of transformation truly is a significant upheaval; although in the modern age of around now, a time of stability seems to me completely unimaginable (on the scale of, say, five years or so). And I'm friggin under 20 (although almost 18! can almost vote! and drink in Quebec, w00t).