A pointless clarification

That dull, boring, moronic slimepitter ScentedNectar has put out a youtube video (which I will not link to) accusing me of nefarious and underhanded manipulation of the ads on FtB to get an unfair edge in revenues. I’d call it a lie, but it’s clearly a product of her stupidity and incompetence. Just to clarify: 1) I have absolutely no control over the ads here at all. Ed Brayton handles all the accounting and ad placement. I don’t even want to have to deal with ads. 2) All revenue from ads at FtB, without regard to their source, is put into a common pool and shared out to all blogs on the basis of their page views. If I were somehow gaming the system to bring in extra ad money, it would go into the pool and benefit everyone blogging here.

I don’t know why I’m bothering to respond, since she also whines that I’d just lie and make excuses anyway, so she’s not going to care about the facts. But I hate being accused of somehow scamming my colleagues here — this network is about building a cause, not lining my pockets. If I cared about nothing but the money, I would never have left Scienceblogs — their rates are much better!

Around FtB

Who needs to read any other site? Freethoughtblogs has it all.

  • Digital Cuttlefish has a poem about Texas cheerleaders. Don’t worry, it’s not porny at all!

  • Ophelia Benson finds Simon Singh in trouble again, being threatened with a lawsuit by quacks who don’t like him pointing out the duck-like nature of their voices.

  • Dana Hunter is searching for a notorious car — one that survived the eruption of Mt St Helens.

  • Ian Cromwell dissects gay conversion therapy and discovers something completely obvious about its proponents.

  • Sikivu Hutchinson also puts the smack down on the religious fanatics pushing gay conversion therapy.

  • Maryam Namazie notices that women are mysteriously disappearing from the pages of Ikea catalogs in Saudi Arabia. Turns out it’s a Swedish conspiracy.

  • Richard Carrier is going to Skepticon! So am I!

  • Mano Singham reveals the logo of our American drone program. Are we the baddies? Yes, we are.
    It’s not a joke. That’s really their logo.

  • Taslima Nasrin notes a recent archaeological discovery: Bronze Age women worked as metalsmiths. Must have been before the patriarchy took over.

  • Zinnia Jones makes my brain hurt. You MUST watch the video she posted; it’ll make you feel so good and happy. Then you can read the comments from the Religious Right about it, if you want to be whipsawed into fearing a large chunk of humanity. Or if you’d rather just wallow in despair, skip the heart-warming video and go straight to the Commentator Accountability Project.

Around FtB

Hey gang, what’s happening?

  • Lilandra blasphemes. The kitten picture is unforgivable.

  • Martin Wagner talks about the Austin bat cruise, among many other things. I tried, but I just couldn’t make it this year. Next time! I’d like to be shat upon by a bat.

  • Brianne Bilyeu has a report from Louise Kellar about the Creation Evidence Expo in Indianapolis. Guess what? There wasn’t any evidence!

  • Frederick Sparks criticizes the biases of science. Ouch.

  • Ophelia Benson is concerned about the direction SCA is taking, and recounts some events at this past weekend’s HFA conference. Hey, I was there! Also of note: Ellen Beth mentioned that the obsessed clown posting as “ElevatorGate” was specifically excluded from the event.

  • Greta Christina weighs traditional vs. DIY publishing. I can tell you that traditional publishing sure is slower.

  • Jason Thibeault discusses the proper methods of hunting witches.

  • Maryam Namazie features the FEMEN this month in the Nude Photo Revolutionary Calendar.

  • Mano Singham discusses political purity. Is your presidential candidate a perfect paragon? I know mine isn’t.

  • Steven Andrew notes that arctic temperatures are now higher thant they were in the Medieval Warm Period. There goes another denialist excuse!

For the Youtube commenters

I finally had to disable comments on two of my youtube videos, one on Atheism+ and another on the Thunderf00t affair. Why? Because the commenters were just too stupid and far too repetitive. Seriously, if youtube commenters don’t bother to read each others comments, and therefore say exactly the same idiotic comments over and over again, why should I bother to read them myself? And in most of the cases, it was just people reciting their knee-jerk hatred while clearly not even paying any attention to what was actually said in the video (to blame: Thunderf00t linked to those videos, told everyone a distorted version of their content, and then his followers jumped in to regurgitate the Asshole Approved commentary.)

So I finally got bored with the pile of stupid and shut them down. I’m not going to allow comments on any future youtube videos, either — instead, I’ll redirect them to the comments section Pharyngula and let them try to babble here. I’m going to add links to this post to each of the videos; either they’ll ignore it, because it takes too much effort to puke up something on a blog, or we’re about to experience an inundation of inanity. I’m expecting the former; really, these gomers are not the brightest lot.

Around FtB

Since I’m utterly useless these days, you’ll have to get your jollies by browsing elsewhere on the network.

  • Ed Brayton really doesn’t like SE Cupp. Neither do I. He fails to mention one awful moment in that clip: she cites Ayn Rand. Positively.

  • Zinnia Jones suggests that we shouldn’t use religious arguments even in favor of causes we support.

  • Brianne Bilyeu thinks we can acquire a Minnesooota accent just by living here. That settles it, I’ve got to mööve, fer sure.

  • Would you believe that the loons on AVoiceForMen are arguing that middle-class white men are the new “nigger”? “NO WAY,” says Ian Cromwell.

  • Dana Hunter sees birds.

  • Stephanie Zvan announces another Mock The Movie night on Thursday. I have to miss this one, I’m working late and then traveling late. Mock on!

  • Justin Griffith has a love story. Also a tragedy: so many young people are getting maimed in our wars.

Around FtB

While I’ve been flattened by a virus (my guts are still gurgling at me), everyone else on the network has been charging on ahead. It’s too bad I’m only doing a virtual tour, a real one would do a better job of spreading the disease and reducing productivity so I could catch up.

    In which the co-blogger attempts action at a distance

    Dinosaur v. Mammal. Photo taken from my back porch.

    Our fearless leader is down, so it’s time to put on our Sixpak Chopra outfits for a little visualization. Imagine the Audubon’s cottontail in the image as the demons that have possessed PZ’s gastrointestinal system, and the jay as our Waves O’ Healing Energy® preparing to kick the rabbit’s butt. It’s guaranteed infinitely more effective than the most popular homeopathic remedies commonly available.

    Spoiler: half a second after this image was taken, the jay hopped on to the rabbit’s butt, chasing him away from the sunflower seeds.

    Around FtB

    You’re sitting at home, skipping church, and there’s nothing on the TV but right wingers babbling about politics. Fix yourself some pancakes and browse the godless blogs instead.

    Around FtB

    I scan the main page of Freethoughtblogs every day, and here are a few of the stories that caught my eye this time around.

    Needless intrablogular drama-stirring

    I recognize that there are certain aspects of Pharyngula’s corporate culture that are to be trifled with only at the risk of great social peril. I also recognize that Freethought Blogs as a whole might well be leary of new people coming on board and then immediately posting things that run counter to everything the community here stands for. PZ and I have agreed that my participation here is on an “at will” basis for that very reason. It’s a sound and well-justified measure.

    But there are times when a person must say what she or he must.

    [Read more…]