I just started a new class today, and I was studying hard for almost half of it. I know you'll understand the sometimes exhausting demands of higher education. Official school picture below the fold (click to embiggen): … [Read more...]
Blue Collar Atheist: Non Sequitur
September 9, 2012 By 11 Comments
This is a little nothing, just a bit of me that bubbled up in my head this morning. Maybe it’s a birthday wish for myself. There’s this bird. Well, I should tell you about where and when I saw it, first, so you’ll know why it matters to me. I lived, as some of you know, in the mountains in central California, the High Sierra. I was on the east slope, not far from where California and Nevada butt together, and about midway up the range, not far south of Yosemite National Park. … [Read more...]
60th Birthday Whale Watching Tour a Success!
September 7, 2012 By 20 Comments
I done seen whales! But you don't get to see them unless you click below the fold. The pictures are so awesome, so breathtaking, that I fear you will be awed and breath-taked to the point that you'll pass out and fall onto a smaller, less massive bystander — possibly a child or a dog. Meanwhile, content yourself with this picture of an extremely rare bird known as a "sea gull." (Click to embiggen.) … [Read more...]
I’m Away for a Day or So
September 5, 2012 By 28 Comments
I'm turning 60 on Thursday. I've been planning to go on a whale-watching tour near Boston, but a surprising number of obstacles have fallen in my way. I still MIGHT get to do it, but I have to wake up at 5 a.m., rent a car and drive for about 4.5 hours to get there. After the whale tour (several hours, I imagine), I'll most likely be driving for another 4.5 hours to get home and sleep in my own bed. Argh. Pretty arduous 60th birthday. But still ... whales! When I get back, I have a lot more … [Read more...]
And can anyone tell me …
September 3, 2012 By 11 Comments
Why has my old post Calvin & Hobbes Epilog — Extra Bacon!, from July 22, gotten so many hits today? My stats page has it about equally popular with my two recent Beta Culture posts. Where are all these people coming from? How are they finding this more-than-a-month-old post? An epilog to Calvin and Hobbes is definitely worth looking at, but hey ... I'm tryna change dah woild heah! Show some respect. … [Read more...]
Thoughts On My Upcoming 60th (!) Birthday
August 29, 2012 By 19 Comments
Okay, fuck it. I’ve decided to celebrate. To explain why I actually had to decide that: I had a thing happen a few weeks back. Was at a dinner party and a close friend happened to mention the date of my birth right out in public. I was peeved at him for several minutes. For years now, I haven’t liked people knowing my birthday. I’ll tell you why. It’s a glitch left over from childhood, but apparently I’m still carrying it around. (I’ve just apologized to my good friend, who puts … [Read more...]
First Person Revolutionary — Part 3
August 22, 2012 By 5 Comments
[ Read Part 1 and Part 2 ] The fatal flaw of atheism? Actually, it's a challenge atheism shares with religion. The difference between the two is that religion has found a solution. So let's talk about religion: The weedy form of religion, superstition, arises automatically in each mind all on its own, simply by virtue of our need to create private theories – often wildly personified due to our ability to detect “person-ness” in everything from smiley faces to wind in the trees – about … [Read more...]
First Person Revolutionary — Part 2
August 19, 2012 By 8 Comments
[ Read Part 1 first. ] Atheism (more broadly, freethought) isn’t new, of course. Just in this country alone, it’s as old as Thomas Paine (although Paine was a deist, he was widely accused of being an atheist, and I'm confident he would've been one of us if he lived in a society in which it was possible to actually think about such things), and has had its bright sparks all along the way, right up to Carl Sagan, who published The Demon Haunted World only 15 years ago. … [Read more...]
No, I’m Not At WKRP in Cincinnati
August 17, 2012 By 34 Comments
Baby, if you've ever wondered, Wondered whatever became of me, I'm living on the air in Cincinnati, Cincinnati, WKRP. Apologies if you've been expecting the second part of First Person Revolutionary, or wondering where I've been. Haven't been feeling my best lately. My doctor has informed me I need to have a sort-0f-minor, sort-of-major surgery. I have a consultation coming up with the prospective surgeon next week — at which meeting I'm assuming we'll set a date for the cutting. Argh. That … [Read more...]
First Person Revolutionary — Part 1
August 2, 2012 By 16 Comments
Ever think about the revolutions in your life? The things that change, and change greatly, and then affect everything that comes after? Boy, I do. I’ll tell you a little one first, and then a big one, and then a maybe one. The Little One The little one – well, it might be a big one to you – is about music. … [Read more...]
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