While I was at TAM London, it seemed that every time I had a 5 minute break someone would stick a microphone in my face and record an interview. Now the Righteous Indignation podcast is up, with an interview with me…but you should listen to it for the lovely Merseyside accents. It was almost like having a conversation with the Beatles.
Michael Voris and his Vortex (of Insanity) have been mentioned here before, but now he’s profiled on AP News. He really is nuts: he runs a YouTube channel and makes these strange videos where he demands that America become a Catholic dictatorship, all with a straight face.
Last time I mentioned him he got pricked by all our incredulous disgust with the Catholic Taliban, so he even made a clip all about us angry atheists, taking care not to link to any of our sites.
I hope this is representative of a tiny minority in the church, but I don’t know…last time I crossed Catholicism I was exposed to all the madness within it, so I’m not so confident that the fascist Voris doesn’t have more support than we expect.
We’re still trying to raise money for science education — donate if you can. We’ve teamed up with Uncertain Principles and The Thoughtful Animal to raise cash for teachers, and together we’ve almost brought in $10,000 so far. My personal goal was $20,000, though, so we need more.
I’m hoping some billionaire will tire of throwing his money away on ID conferences and will instead invest where it can make a difference. But even a dollar or two helps.
We’re off to a late start, but the first meeting of the UMM Freethinkers will be held tomorrow, 25 October, at 7:00pm in the Moccasin Flower Room of the student union. I should add that if you aren’t a student, but are an interested member of the Morris community who would like to get together with fellow infidels on a regular basis, you’re invited, too.
I’m not sure what exactly the meeting will be about, since it’s entirely student run, but I’ll be saying a few words at the event. Come on by and help us plan our imminent takeover of the universe!
I’m seeing the news popping up everywhere now that the Richard Dawkins Foundation is suing Josh Timonen for fraud and embezzlement. The central fact of the story is that Timonen has been accused of diverting 92% of the revenues from the RDF store to his own personal use.
There’s not much that can be said. Richard Dawkins and the RDF are going to be rightly silent on the case. Josh Timonen has unwisely commented, while failing to refute the major facts of the accusation. I’m not going to say much myself, because while I liked Josh personally, the case against him looks awfully damning. But it will have to work its way through the courts before anyone involved can say more.
You can read the full formal complaint for more details. At this point I’m just hoping it can be resolved quickly and efficiently so that the work of the RDF can proceed without distraction.
The good news is that the RDF has an excellent source of revenue on its hands; the facts in the court document suggest that a well-managed continuation of their services will be a great resource for the foundation. And that’s the best spin I can put on an ugly situation all around, and I won’t be writing more about it until the case is closed. May that happen soon and to the advantage of the cause of science and reason.
I know that there’s been a lot of anger and schadenfreude and bitterness about this situation going on in the comments. Feel free to vent, but just be clear: the resolution of this issue is entirely in the hands of the courts right now, and you aren’t going to get any more information out of the principals in the case until it’s over. And I’m feeling kind of cranky myself because I know all of these people and also have a lot of personal interest vested in the success of the RDF.
There is further clarification from the lawyer for the RDF available.
Right now on Discovery…it’s First Life with David Attenborough, which is supposed to be about the origin of life on Earth. There’s a pretty severe metazoan bias, unfortunately, so it’s really about the origin of animals, but still it’s cool stuff about the Cambrian.
Oh yes there are, although I can’t read a word of the Bangladesh atheist website. I can still raise a fist in solidarity, though!
For this instance of the thread prolonged, I include a video that uses a few naughty words. It’s Sunday, though, so you probably won’t play it at work. Play it in church instead.
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