I doubt he would ask for help. In fact, presented with this piece, I expect to hear from him, and I’m about half convinced he will be annoyed or embarrassed and ask me to take down the post. (And then, crap, I will have to decide whether to honor his wishes in what really is a personal matter, or ... you know, help him against his will.) But ... I have this friend. He’s a distant friend, an Internet friend, someone I’ve met in person only once. But he’s a Friend, with a capital-F, … [Read more...]
O Texas, My Texas! Where Did You Go Wrong?
July 1, 2012 By 16 Comments
This is from a document entitled "2012 REPUBLICAN PARTY OF TEXAS / Report of Platform Committee and Rules Committee." Assuming I'm doing this right, you can download a PDF of the thing here: 2012-Platform-Final Believe THIS shit: … [Read more...]
Lifeboat of Knowledge, Dinghy of Power
June 3, 2012 By 13 Comments
A long one, here. Sorry. I’d like to revisit my recent post, Reason Not to Rest, in which I touched on the idea “We won and we can relax now.” I want to expand on that, to look at it from a slightly different angle, and basically reinforce my own conviction that now is definitely NOT the time to relax. So: … [Read more...]
World Ending! Again! This Time for Real! So Get Right With Jesus, Slacker!
May 28, 2012 By 20 Comments
I've got this thing I think about sometimes, an observation about religion and how it really is out in the real world. How it works in people's heads. Not the way Christians think it is, but the way it really is. I think I've mentioned it before — I call it "the 180-degrees thing." (As in '180-degrees-opposite.' Someday I'm going to come up with a cool name for it instead of this kludge.) The basic idea is that, whatever Christians say, astonishingly often, there's something REAL just … [Read more...]
In Which I Brag on My Friend … Again
May 24, 2012 By 7 Comments
If you're in the biological sciences and expect at some point to get published, here's someone you should know: Carl Buell. He's done heaps of illustrations for science author Carl Zimmer as well as cover and interior illos for countless other books and magazines. He has pieces in museums all over the world, and has designed blog headers for PZ Myers, Chris Clarke and a number of others. (And I've probably written about him before, but he's just one of those cool people you can't say enough … [Read more...]
Book Review Love from a Fellow FTBer
May 16, 2012 By 3 Comments
Al Stefanelli of A Voice of Reason says some flattering (and totally true) stuff about my book, Red Neck, Blue Collar, Atheist: Simple Thoughts About Reason, Gods & Faith. Packed into twenty-five chapters is the wisdom of a lifetime and proves you do not have to be a great thinker to think great things. The foreword begins not with a treatise on astrophysics, molecular biology or archaeology. It starts with, “My dog died,” and flows into life in the Eastern Sierra’s of California, … [Read more...]
Kuwait Votes to Murder Blasphemers
May 6, 2012 By 13 Comments
This would qualify as a Monty Python skit if it wasn't real. (Warning: Fairly shocking pic below the fold.) Kuwait’s parliament approved a law that calls for the death penalty for insulting the Prophet Muhammad, his wives and relatives, in a sign of the growing sway of Islamists who triumphed in elections this year. Amnesty International describes the thing as “a massive step backwards” for Kuwait. Jeez, you think? Under the law, any Muslim who, through any form of expression, insults … [Read more...]
Earth Day 2012: Thoughts Like Falling Leaves
April 21, 2012 By 8 Comments
[This is a reprint of a piece I did several years ago, slightly edited for 2012.] Leaf One Con games and sleight-of-hand magic work because, one, we humans only have so much attention to spare at any one moment, and two, they direct that attention deliberately in one direction. If you look at where the finger points, you miss … well, everything else. Like the movie teen backing through a darkened doorway in the serial killer’s lair, we focus intently on one thing while something more … [Read more...]
Reason Rally: The Speech That Didn’t Happen
April 20, 2012 By 10 Comments
This is the speech I would have given, if I’d been asked to speak at the Reason Rally. No, there’s no reason anyone should have asked – I’m not well enough known just yet – but that didn’t stop me from wanting to be up on stage anyway. Saying this: Hank's Reason Rally Speech Just as we still talk about the Enlightenment, or the discovery of fire, a thousand years from now, people will still be talking about this moment. Because this is the moment when civilization left the launch … [Read more...]
Throwing Out Leftovers, Civilization-Wide
April 15, 2012 By 22 Comments
I’m gonna tell you about four things I used to do. Four actions – habits – I picked up when I was a kid and continued at least into my early adult life. First, I used to eat large amounts of ice cream and other rich, fatty foods at every opportunity. Second, I used to actively avoid stepping on cracks in the sidewalk when I was walking. Third, I used to vigorously snap my towel when I stepped out of the shower and pulled it off the towel rack. Fourth, I used to look both ways when I … [Read more...]
Follow Patheos
Atheist: