My name is Mason Porter. I am a Professor in the Department of Mathematics at UCLA. Previously I was Professor of Nonlinear and Complex Systems in the Mathematical Institute at University of Oxford. I was also a Tutorial Fellow of Somerville College.
Saturday, August 05, 2006
Mad props
I'm wearing my "Thank God I'm an atheist" shirt. I go to the same coffeeplace as last night (where I am right now) and sit down. This middle age person sitting nearby, in perfect deadpan, gets my attention with "Excuse me. Do you mind if I talk to you about Jesus?" I start to brush him off and then he starts laughing and he indicated he was joking and couldn't resist doing that after he saw my shirt. He got the deadpan tone right, and I have to give him props for doing this effectively. Maybe in 20 years I should do this to some of you just to see how you'd react?
Indeed.
ReplyDeleteIt turns out that there is slightly more to this story.
ReplyDeleteNow I'm not sure which of the two things was a joke because this guy also gave me a 'Have a blessed day' bit as he left. (I was focused on doing some work and while I heard it, the fact that I was zoned in basically prevented any reaction because the comment was already part of the background.)
Also, there was a band playing at that coffee place while I was there. Eventually, started to notice that many of the songs were quite religious in nature, and it seems that this was a "Christian rock" band. So my shirt may well have offended several of the people there. Oh well. I just wanted some coffee and wireless (and a cool atmosphere, which was prevent even with the band there). I can be awesome sometimes.