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Google+
LiveJournal was my public space on the Internet for a while. Now it's Google+. If you're on Google +, you can follow me by clicking on this link. If you're not on Google+, you can get an account by following this link.
Joining Google+ inspired me to start a proper blog. It's called Atheist Sunday School. It offers an atheist perspective on the sorts ( Read more... ) -
evolution: theory or fact?
In Kentucky, State Representative Tim Moore has introduced a bill to question evolution in public schools. He says, "Our kids are being presented theories as though they are facts." If he's right, then there really is a problem. Evolution is way more important than any mere fact. In science, a theory is a broad explanation for many facts, something ( Read more... ) -
the "mystery" of priest sex abuse
Pope Benedict XVI has summoned 24 bishops from Ireland so they can explain to him how the decades systematic sex abuse and cover ups in the Irish church came to be. What doesn't the Pope understand? The Church gives people power over other people, and that power gets abused. That's what people sometimes do with power that they have over others. ( Read more... ) -
Hurray! We caught the crotch bomber.
When Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab failed to blow up Flight 253, it was a victory for the West. High fives all around! We caught a would-be terrorist red-handed! Our security measures are working. Our enemies are forced to use bogus, unreliable methods when they try to bomb us. In fact, if our security were tighter, Abdulmutallab might never have even ( Read more... ) -
post-Christian Christmas pageants
It's Christmas time again, and lots of my fellow non-Christians are celebrating Christmas. Those of you with young kids might like to find your way to a Christmas pageant. Where else would your kid get to be a shepherd or a sheep or an angel? They don't put on nativity pageants in public schools any more. So where can a non-Christian kid get to ( Read more... ) -
spend smart for Christmas
Here's the speech that I wish Obama or the pope would make ( Read more... ) -
evolution foot poll
These are the topics and issues that I prepared for the evolution foot polls I ran at Burning Man. The game was that I, acting as emcee, would have the players move right or left to indicate their stance on various topics related to evolution. In addition to straight dichotomies, I would sometimes run a poll on two axes. Players would move left or ( Read more... ) -
how to doubt yourself
The Livejournal post that, in recent memory, has stuck with me the most is mylescorcoran 's post about how to doubt yourself. It refers to an experiment that says you can reduce how much your guess errs by if you average your guess with the guess of an imaginary other guy. It's a sign of the advance of modernity that scientists are studying how people can best ( Read more... ) -
dead robin
As the owner of a big yard in the suburbs, I see a lot of nature, and nature is pretty much evenly split between happy growing things and and sad dying things. The advantage is pretty plants and the occasional racoon. The drawbacks include dead birds and doomed ones.
I found this dead cock robin on the ramp under the cedar.
( Read more... )
