Greetings, folks! I’m Paul, the one referred to in the nice banner up there. I’d been putting a lot of thought into what I might say in my first post here at Freethought Blogs, and then I put in too much, and now I have precious little to say. But let’s be honest — it’s a better idea to simply let the blog speak for itself, right?
Good then. I’ll just give a quick idea of what the heck is going on here, and then we’ll be off.
Near-Earth Object is, as that really nicely-done banner says, a blog of overlapping magisteria. That is to say that this is not a one-topic blog by any stretch of the imagination. Yes, there is a foundation shared among the writers at this network, a shared embrace of secularism and skepticism, and of course I’m very much in line with all of that. What I wouldn’t count on from me is a litany of atheism posts, since a) I already work for a secularist organization, for which I do plenty of atheistic writing and b) I also contribute occasionally to Friendly Atheist, helping Hemant cover the politics and world affairs beats. So I get to scratch my godless itch plenty in other forums. (Wow, that sounds pretty yucky now that I’ve written it. No time to edit, though! This is the blogosphere!)
What I do write about is broad: Politics, culture, technology, music, parenting, and you’ll also likely find things like book reviews, gadget reviews, arbitrary musings on my surroundings, and the odd disembodied blockquote, Tumblr-style, peppered throughout the place. My atheism and skepticism inform almost all of this, but they will not likely be the focus of most of my posts.
Or maybe they will be! I reserve the right to have all of the above be totally untrue at any time, without notice.
I’m honored to be here at Freethought Blogs, really. Kylie and Ian were, to my knowledge, fairly instrumental in bringing me on board, and I am very much appreciative. And my thanks to Ed for taking the chance, and my advance apologies for all the ways in which I will embarrass both myself and the rest of the crew here. I’m really looking forward to this entire experience.
Some housekeeping:
Near-Earth Object has existed in several previous iterations, most recently at Tumblr, and I’ve begun the process of moving content over to this site. As you can imagine, that is never a smooth process, and while I’ve already gotten started on the triage work, some things like self-referential links and whatnot will likely still be broken. I hope to get most of that cleaned up sooner than later.
Since it was Tumblr, I also took advantage of its quoting feature, which posts quotations without giving them blog post headlines. Lots of those are now here on this site, and while I’ve given most of the recent ones provisional headlines, many remain decapitated. This may or may not change.
That most excellent banner I keep going on about? Designed by my friend/nemesis Justin Sapp. I’d point you to his website, but he’s still getting that together. So if you want him to design something for you, I’ll put you in touch. Oh, and the stars in the banner? Drawn by Galileo. Not even kidding.
This one is important: I work for a pretty important skepto-atheist organization, proudly, and there is nothing on this blog that is in any way endorsed by, vetted by, approved by, dating, or flirted with by that organization. My opinions are my own, blah blah, etcetera.
Okay, enough of that. I hope you’ll browse the archive and stick around to see what damage I do here. I know I’m looking forward to it.
33 comments
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Bruce Everett
November 30, 2012 at 10:31 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Am looking forward to more. Hope it all takes off smoothly. :D
Rodney Nelson
November 30, 2012 at 11:02 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Welcome. I’ve looked at some of your archived stuff and I like what I see.
michaeld
November 30, 2012 at 11:03 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Welcome to the network ^.^
Stephanie Zvan
November 30, 2012 at 11:05 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Original music? Is there anything you don’t do?
Oh, also, welcome. We’ll do our best to embarrass you too.
paulfidalgo
November 30, 2012 at 11:06 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Well, I’m no good at sportsball. Or human interaction. So there’s that.
Stephanie Zvan
November 30, 2012 at 11:09 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
No, sorry, I’ve seen otherwise. (Is that embarrassing enough?)
kenkennedy
December 1, 2012 at 10:56 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Not just original music…*amazing* original music! Bussard Collector? Genius! http://soundcloud.com/paulfidalgo/01-bussard-collector
chrisho-stuart
November 30, 2012 at 11:27 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
[subscribed!]
Dan J
November 30, 2012 at 11:30 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Great to see you here, Paul. :)
Xanthë
November 30, 2012 at 11:37 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Welcome to FTB! Have to say, I love your avatar, it regularly cracks me up when I see you quoted on Twitter. I’m looking forward to catching up on your blog.
Psst, you’ll have a few visits from Pharyngula-type people as PZ has just publicised your blog here. :)
paulfidalgo
November 30, 2012 at 11:38 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Uh oh.
mikel
November 30, 2012 at 11:45 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
So, what’s your position on eating babies; pro or con?
thebookofdave
December 1, 2012 at 1:21 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
kittehs or cephalopods:
You must choose. But choose wisely.
John Morales
November 30, 2012 at 11:47 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Huh. I’ll try not to hold that against you.
StevoR
December 1, 2012 at 12:15 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Welcome aboard paulfidalgo – looking forward to reading & commenting here.
Any major commenting rules or swearing /anti-swearing policy we’d benefit from knowing about? Can we include links in comments and, if so, how many?
Not astronomy focused and especially near Earth objects asteroids and comets as the blogs name would suggest then? (/Disappointed.)
I take it we’re talking about *the* man surnamed Galilei and not the eponymous robotic spaceprobe sent to Jupiter back in the 1990′s then? What’s the story with that and do you happen to know which stars – or maybe even planets since Galileo Galilei famously sketched Jupiter’s largest moons and included, unknowingly, Neptune in the field as well.
StevoR
December 1, 2012 at 12:17 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
See story here :
http://www.space.com/6941-theory-galileo-discovered-neptune.html
and seeing if links work here..
paulfidalgo
December 1, 2012 at 7:39 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I’m going to have to feel things out before I get all dictatorial. Thanks!
Kate Donovan
December 1, 2012 at 1:57 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Welcome! :D
davidmc
December 1, 2012 at 3:07 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Hello, love the pic.
Dana Hunter
December 1, 2012 at 4:41 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Hello and welcome! I’d say something devastatingly clever and funny, but I haven’t thought of it yet. I’m just glad Patheos already sort of has you so they won’t take you away after we’ve become attached.
rq
December 1, 2012 at 10:28 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Must Patheos have their fingers in everything? *sigh*
And welcome to you, Paul. :)
Giliell, Approved Straight Chorus
December 1, 2012 at 5:38 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Welcome!
I’m looking forward to reading something you wrote that’s longer than 140 characters :)
thorgolucky
December 1, 2012 at 10:15 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Hi and welcome. {waves paw}
Sastra
December 1, 2012 at 1:49 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Welcome! Sounds like it (you and the blog, that is) will be interesting.
Brianne Bilyeu
December 1, 2012 at 2:00 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Welcome, Paul! It’s great to have you on the network!
MG Myers
December 1, 2012 at 2:47 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I look forward to reading your blog here! FTB just keeps getting better and better.
Stacy
December 1, 2012 at 8:05 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Welcome!
blindrobin
December 2, 2012 at 6:37 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Yeah! Someone who writes in the English of my fathers. On FtB!
abb3w
December 2, 2012 at 12:34 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Yet another “welcome aboard”.
saltmoon
December 2, 2012 at 1:27 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Hey, I remember you! You were my director some seven or eight years ago. Welcome; it’s an excellent surprise to see you around here.
Paul
December 2, 2012 at 1:27 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I was? Must have been awful!
mikel
December 2, 2012 at 8:48 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
You might want to talk to Ed Brayton. Your blog isn’t showing up on the FTB main page or the blog lists to the right on individual blogs.
Paul
December 2, 2012 at 8:55 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Yeah we’re all aware. Some kind of technical glitch. So they tell me.
Linked Miscellanea | NonProphet Status
December 3, 2012 at 9:31 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
[...] toddler-raiser and eminent compiler of links at The Morning Heresy, recently sold his soul to join the Freethought Blogs network. So far he’s busted into verse and grown to accept ebooks, so he seems to be off to a good [...]