Gretchen On the news this morning I listened to a report about a new virus discovered in Saudi Arabia. But after talking about how scary and disturbing that is, it was mentioned that it has infected a total of two people and is believed to be only transmissable from non-human animals to humans, so it probably … Read more
If you had to vote for one of two hypothetical candidates for president, and one was a liberal Christian and the other was a conservative atheist, and that’s all you knew about them…who would you vote for? This question, originally posed at Atheist Revolution, has been labeled a stupid question and an easy question by … Read more
I’ve taken the ISideWith quiz before with similar results, but that time I basically zipped through it and this time I actually expanded all of the questions using the “see more” function on each one, and then decided from all possible answers. And this was the result: Generally speaking, I vote. I don’t consider it … Read more
https://www.facebook.com/events/440034722701608/ Blasphemy. Noun: The act or offense of speaking sacrilegiously about God or sacred things; profane talk. In other words, the act or offense of speaking about religion as though you are not religious. Speaking about a religion as if you are not an adherent of it. And all of us are at least non-adherents … Read more
Yesterday some Jehovah’s Witnesses came to the door. I was not available, but fortunately they left a pamphlet curled under the door handle. I say “fortunately” because while I would rather wash a battleship with a kitchen sponge than engage in five minutes’ worth of theological debate with any sort of evangelist, I do appreciate … Read more
She should show up at the next public appearance buck naked. So should William, holding her hand.
So, I’m going. Registered, got a hotel room, time off work scheduled, etc. Haven’t been since 2010, and I’m sure a great deal has changed since then, well beyond a good portion of the speakers. It should be really interesting and a lot of fun…hopefully things like sleep and wifi will be included rather than … Read more
At Dispatches, Ed mocks Washington Post writer Jennifer Rubin for being aghast at an image of Barack Obama sitting on the desk in the Oval Office, conferring with a denim-clad staff adviser: There are few things more ridiculous in politics than when some right wing shill cues up the righteous indignation machine over something utterly meaningless. … Read more
Recently I finished listening to Jesse Bering’s book Why is the Penis Shaped Like That? And Other Reflections on Being Human. The book is a compilation of his essays posted at Scientific American so it ranges in subject all over the place, but his introduction states an interest that essentially ties all of them together– … Read more
…is my term for the collective group of idiots who contributed to Jen McCreight deciding that blogging is no longer worth the harassment she has faced on a daily basis. I wish they would form their own organization already. As soon as they hold a conference, the organizers of all other secular conferences could examine … Read more