I don’t like the whole “April Fool’s Day” nonsense. So, there will be none of that crap here at Affinity, and if you’re someone who just loves it, I’ll thank you to indulge elsewhere. I have enough to do already, without having to track down even more deliberate bullshit.
So, if you love your pranks, jokes, whatever, please keep them off Affinity, and we can get through the day with a modicum of sanity. Thanks.
The Mad Artist has been in her lab all night, and may or may not be around, depending on whether or not she can manage to drag her arse out of bed sometime today. Remember that The Endless Thread is always open!
© C. Ford.
but it wouldn’t have been much of a party without all you wonderful people who bother to read and comment here. You are what keeps me going, and you have provided a great deal of support through many dark days. You have also provided me with a wealth of content, my profuse thanks for that, too! So…
And Happy Anniversary to us all!
Don’t mind me, just having problems. Testing, testing. Still can’t get videos to display at the right size. Effety.
NOTE: this post is stickied, there is new content!
© C. Ford. All rights reserved.
There will be no politics here today. No reporting of ugly people doing ugly things. No evil assholes. Today, I’m going to ignore reality, and dive into all the good things, art, photography, cool stuff, neat science, the whimsical, geeky, fun, and informative, all that. If you’re paying attention to reality today, and need a break, I’ll do my best to provide one, all day long.
The Drain the Swamp? thread is being used as a link repository, for all things pertinent to the election and state of government. I can’t cover everything, so check there now and then, to see what’s up. Also for open discussion on current affairs, so bookmark it, and when you need to grumble or panic, you have the place. There’s a thread link on the sidebar.
If your answer is yes, you do have something to say, consider saying it on FTB. We are actively seeking applications now. Here’s what you do:
send an email to ftbapplications@googlegroups.
Name:
Contact email:
Do you want your email public?:
Twitter account, if any:
Link for donations, if any:
Links to your current blog, any biographical material, or best examples of your writing in comments or forums or other media:
Why do you want to write for us?
As someone who is privileged to read the applications, personally, I’d like to hear a bit about your particular point of view, say as a person of colour, or queer nation member, a woman, military, educator, parent, artist, crafter, and so on. Whatever it is that drives your particular perspective on issues. That’s not a requirement at all, just a wish of mine, so you can ignore me with no consequence. Group blogs are happily considered and accepted, you just need to have one person who will consent to being the ‘head’ of the blog, meaning they get all the headaches, and the job of dividing up all the pennies. Give it a bit of thought, and if you have something to say, send it our way. I look forward to seeing all manner of bright, shiny people here.
Urban Threads.
I just rescued a comment (by parrothead) out of the spam filter. There was nothing wrong with it at all, but my comments at other FTB blogs have been swallowed by the spam filter too, so it seems Akismet may have a bit of a problem right now. If you comment, and notice it doesn’t show up, please don’t hesitate to let me know, and I’ll go looking for it. Email address is linked on the sidebar. My apologies to parrothead, I don’t keep a sharp enough eye out for that kind of thing. I’ll do better.
The FtB Ethics Committee has released an official statement on the departure of Richard Carrier from our network.
Freethought Blogs unequivocally condemns any behavior that threatens the safety of atheist community members, including particularly marginalized groups. Freethought Blogs also recognizes the role of sexual harassment as one of numerous barriers for women that limits access to and participation within atheist conferences and spaces.
When the recent allegations against Richard Carrier were made public, Freethought Blogs initiated a process to investigate these claims and formalize its policy concerning the conduct of its members. The FtB Ethics Committee received several reports of Carrier’s behavior and was in the process of reviewing them when Carrier chose to leave the network. A thorough review of the allegations against Carrier cannot be completed by Freethought Blogs without his cooperation.
As part of our commitment to equitable access to freethinking spaces for all, Freethought Blogs members who violate our commitment to social justice by creating or maintaining barriers to participation will be removed from the network as a matter of policy. All reports submitted to us in furtherance of this policy will be kept in the strictest of confidence, unless the accusation was made publicly or in the event we have express permission to reproduce the complaint.
-The FtB Ethics Committee
ETA: For those just wondering why this post has not gone up on every blog? Two things: posting was not made mandatory, and time zones, how do they work?
Comments
Are
Back
To
Normal.
Yay!
No one is in [purposeful] moderation. After the network being down, apparently, Akismet has gone a bit haywire. All comments are being fed into moderation. I’m approving as I get notices, no idea of when it will all get fixed. Sorry about that.
File this one under: FFS. My apologies to PZ, for pestering him unnecessarily. I’ve had to change things in my studio lately, to accommodate all the ratlets, and didn’t realize the rats could get up on the computer station. Even more stupidly, I left an admin page open, and left my keyboard on. In their usual mysterious way, they hit a perfect storm of keys, and borked everything here. It’s all fixed up now, so all you wonderful people who commented today, you’ll have to do it again, I can’t figure out how to move comments (if it’s even possible – the rats could probably do it.) For your trouble, here’s Ville, one of Violette’s boys, named after Ville Valo, because of the wicked cute.
Welcome to Affinity. The emphasis here is on the social. We’re social critters, and it’s important to connect with one another, to share our lives, experiences, and perspectives. This will be a heavily visual blog, featuring much photography and other arts. This is not a place for me to simply showcase my stuff. I want the readership, fellow bloggers, and commentariats to join in the fun, too. Have a photograph you’d like to share? Or artwork, craft, or similar? There’s an email link on the sidebar for submissions, and I’d ask you keep photos to a maximum of 12oo px at the longest side (if you prefer I resize, that’s fine too). If you’d also like to say something to go with your photo or other work, add that too.
There will be some regular features. For my fellow dinosaur watchers, Wednesday Wings, and I’d be thrilled to have bird photos submitted, because as much as I love watching them and photographing them, there isn’t a great deal of diversity, and I love seeing birds from all over the world. There might be Raturdays. There will be an ongoing, open thread, The Never-ending Thread (starting on the 22nd), so there will be continuity, and people can socialize and talk about anything at all.
Rules will evolve as needed. The primary rule: don’t be an asshole. Who defines asshole? I do. And the moderators* will also have that ability. If you decide to push things on the asshole front, or think it would be cute to argue the definition of asshole, you’ll most likely find yourself summarily wished into the cornfield. I would ask that you use people’s nyms, as they have them for a reason.
Now that’s out of the way, how about the most conventional start ever? Tell me, how’s your weather?
