I Can Deal With This

Apparently...

I write like
Johathan Swift

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

I have to disagree, but I'm flattered.

The Single Gratest Meta-Thread Ever,

Just sayin'.

Seems Matthew Stucky May Be My Ticket to Fame

I keep this blog mostly as a place to vent. I get nearly zero traffic, but then, that doesn't bother me much: I'm pretty much just hollering off a cliff and I know it. But like most boon dock bloggers, every once in a while I write a post that catches someones eye and gets itself linked in a high traffic area. Such was the case with the Stucky post. My traffic went from 4 visitors a day to a whopping 60 after I was linked to a forum called The Fighting Fundamentalist Forums. 60 hits in one day! WIN!

Careful, PZ, I'm hot on your tail.

Thoreau on Living in California

Over at UO, a funny:

Every year during California’s fire season we inevitably get crap from people who want to know why Californians would build in fire-prone areas. What they don’t get is that we do it because we know the fires can only burn for so long. In a few weeks the rains will come and mudslide season will start, and then all those people who criticized us for building in fire-prone canyons will have egg on their faces, won’t they?

One of the reasons I love that blog. And two why I wouldn't want to live in CA.

Margaret and Helen: My Newest, Bestest, Favoritest Blog!

Read it. NOW.

A Belated Happy Blogoversary

To Digital Cuttlefish, poet laureate of the science blogosphere. Check his site out: it's worth reading.

My Latest Daily Read: Eunomia

Gotta Hand it to David Larison at The American Conservative. There are precious few conservative bloggers who hold to the tradition of considered, reasoned discourse. He's worth a regular stop.

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Update: Oops: Larison, not Larson.

Skippy's List: A Must-Read For Anyone Needing a Laugh

I remember coming accross this blog once before, I know I've seen the Cephalopod Surprize story: but I lost track of it until just recently. Skippy's List is an hysterical look at life in the millitary (and elsewhere). The crew that posts there looks like quality. Highly recommended as a regular stop.

On Fundamentalists and Anonymous Blogging

Anyone familiar with the blog Atheist in a Minivan (aka Possummomma) knows that someone who admits to an absence of religious faith on the internet can draw some pretty intense and unsettling attention from the God-botherer crowd. The blogger, Possummomma, has been harassed by email and at her home, had her daughter stalked by a preacher on her way to and from school, and been subjected to other "spreading of the good news" which she is understandably reluctant to discuss. This, of course, is entirely irrespective of the endless parade of religious whackaloons who traipse through her blog and try to reclaim her for the Zombie Messiah. She is not alone in this: others, such as Prof. PZ Myers, have received death threats.

A few weeks before this post was written, an atheist blogger who had been going by the name William J. Isom revealed himself as Craig A. James and issued a call for others to "come out". He states in essence that previous civil movements promoting equality for minorities succeeded because of people who stood up and rattled the cages of the established powers that be.

While I'm entirely in agreement that this was appropriate in the case of the womens' and civil rights movements, I'm not sure I buy his argument as it applies to non-believers. The rights movements of the 20th century were able to succeed because the mistreatment was based on factors which the abused did not consciously choose: you are born female or black. Those of us who abandon religion, however, do so out of choice. This does not carry the potential for empathy which physical factors beyond one's control can draw out. In essence, the populace at large doesn't give a damn about non-believers, because our situation is seen as one of our own making. This is, I think, a big reason why abuse of atheists and agnostics does not make the news: no one really gives a shit. Non-believers are on their own.

Hell, look at what society does to homosexuals, because of the FALSE perception that being gay is a "lifestyle choice". Our decision is TRULY a choice: what fucking chance do we have?

So, I think I will remain anonymous, thank you very much. While I have no fear for my own safety (I actively practice my second amendment rights), I don't trust that some well-intended but bat-shit insane god-botherer from the boonies won't shine around and harass my family to try to use them as leverage to "bring me back to Christ".

Well, Now I've Put My Foot In It

Don't get me wrong: I'm honored to be on Cuttlefish's blogroll. But that means that now I have to actually start posting quality material. Damn. I'll do my best.

Leaving to do some tromping around in the north woods tomorrow AM: I'll attempt to use that for some inspiration.

The Genius of Cuttlefish

Anyone who has spent time on Evo v ID blogs out there has probably come across Cuttlefish, an anonymous poster of incredible improvisational verse. Cuttle's posts are often eagerly awaited in the blog sphere, and are always good for a laugh.

S/He has a blog now: I'm not sure how long it's been up, but it's definitely worth a regular visit.