To my fellow seculars, skeptics, humanists, and nonbelievers, the political class did not see us coming. For decades, maybe centuries, they’ve been avoiding us, ignoring us, or outright reviling us. And then one day in October, they realized that they couldn’t do that anymore. It’s Time to Represent: Election Day for America’s Seculars and Skeptics – Paul Fidalgo – Center for Inquiry Read more
Many mysteries remain about the origins of the universe; how rapidly it has expanded, and how all the atomic parts fit together. There is a lot left to learn. But not about whether or not the universe was created in seven days. It wasn’t. Rubio is wrong—it is not a dispute for theologians. It is not a dispute at all. There are not two sides to every issue. Some have thirteen sides and others have one. The only thing that... Read more
I have trouble understanding the panic that much of the culture seems to be experiencing over the rise of e-books at the expense of their dead-tree predecessors. I understand that there are charms and benefits that are unique to the physical codex, and there are few who appreciate those more than I do. But there are times I feel that folks who prefer physical books to their electronic brethren are behaving not as though a particular medium for content delivery... Read more
Though I am going to be very deliberate about keeping my work and FtB activities separate, I would be remiss if I did not plug the fact that you can buy coffee mugs emblazoned with the logo of my CFI blog, The Morning Heresy, for the somewhat-reasonable price of $16. I don’t make anything off the sale myself, of course, so this is all about self-promotion and ego inflation. Oh, and supporting the grand project that is fostering a society... Read more
My heart breaks at the news. I just did a post at Friendly Atheist on Alber’s conviction, and here’s a taste: Egypt has struck a major blow to the fundamental human right to freedom of expression, and unjustly stripped an innocent man of his freedom, as Alber Saber, the 27-year-old atheist activist and blogger, was convicted today of blasphemy and sentenced to three years in prison. In a case similar to that of Indonesia’s imprisoned Alexander Aan, Saber was discovered... Read more
Since my previous post in which I sigh resignedly at the further encroachment on our privacy and information, as exemplified by Instagram’s full integration into Facebook and its accompanying policy changes, several folks have commented or tweeted that it really is something to be spooked about. It also seems to be the accepted wisdom of the tech blogosphere. As John Gruber put it, “Just awful.” (Gruber does not use Facebook, for what it’s worth.) Okay, I’ll bite. I am certainly... Read more
As the nation loses its mind over the controversy that is Instagram's new terms of service (Instagate?) it occurred to me to think about why the hell we use Instagram in the first place. The furor over its new policies must have its emotional root in the fact that we use it to such an extent that these changes will affect our lives in some way — we're invested in the service personally. So, why? My only frame of reference... Read more
As 2012 rolls into 2013, I’m beginning a trial of a Nexus 7 tablet as a potential replacement* for my beloved iPad 3. Long wishing for a smaller iPad, but not satisfied by the sub-standard resolution on the iPad mini, I’m trying out the Nexus 7 to see if the form factor (packaging a sufficiently-strong user interface and feature set) is enough to trump the many, many strong suits of the iPad 3, which I’m finding too heavy and unwieldy... Read more
The folks over at Non-Prophet Status are indulging in this secular Lent thing, where they all give up something for 40 days because, well, I don’t know why. They’re weird, what can I say? Maybe they think it’ll make them better people to go without something for so long. Oh, except Chris Stedman, who’s just going to say something really nice to someone different every day. I call bullshit on that one, because if you know Chris, and I barely... Read more
Samsung apparently put on a bizarre, community-theatre extravaganza for its Galaxy S4 introduction last night, and in doing so seems to have staked its claim as the electronics company that is everything Apple isn’t. Cult of Android‘s John Brownlee: . . . tonight, what Samsung showed off was gimmick after gimmick. Features no one will use except in very specific circumstances… so specific, that Samsung actually felt the need to put on small miniature plays illustrating the use of each... Read more
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