I’m going to be driving, driving, driving today, and then I’m going to spend a couple of days in a hotel, so I’m going to be semi-unreachable for a while. I will be checking in periodically, though, because the trolls just love my days away from home.
One other thing I’m going to be missing is the start of our big legal fundraiser. Skepticon will be putting out a call later today, as will The Orbit, because we just got a big bill from our lawyer, and let me tell you, my heart stopped when I saw all those zeroes, and then it tried to crawl up my throat, muttering threats and imprecations against that petty weasel, Richard Carrier. I think it was ready to bounce all the way to Ohio and choke an unemployed bible scholar, but I told it I needed it and wrestled it back into my chest, where it now rests sullenly. Carrier can thank my cardio-pulmonary needs that there isn’t a small, black, grisly lump of meat pounding on his door right now. Trick or treat, m_____f_____.
Anyway, I’ll check back in now and then with updates on our legal requests. Until then, you can donate directly to Skepticon to help with their payments, which, as a non-profit, is tax-deductible. Unfortunately, that doesn’t help out with my share of the legal fees, or those of Amy Frank-Skiba, Stephanie Zvan, or me, so it would be nice if you could also donate to our legal fund.
There are a lot of expenses ahead of us, but fortunately, they’re shared among a group of people, and in addition, we’re counting on a large body of supporters to help distribute the load.
I know it’s Halloween, but I don’t think our lawyer will accept bags of candy, so please send money. If enough of us help out, it doesn’t have to be a lot, every scrap will help.
Happy Halloween right back at you and everyone.
Fundie xians don’t have holidays.
They have wars on holidays.
The main one has always been the War on Halloween.
They hate Halloween because…well, I don’t really know.
Maybe they think all the literature and cartoon characters like Vampires, Werewolves, Star Wars characters, Disney characters, etc.. are real or something.
The fundie xian War on Halloween has been fizzling out lately though.
They still babble on about demons, witches, satan, scientists, and Democrats this time of year but no one but them seems to be paying attention any more.
I even put the War on Halloween into Google and didn’t come up with much but a cooking show.
The normal people just go on about their lives and have fun on Halloween any way they can.
For the first time in many years, I even went to a Halloween party on the weekend.
Live music and it was a huge amount of fun.
I don’t normally celebrate Samhain, but since we had some spare marrows of unusual size going to waste I decided to carve faces on them along with quotes from classic authors whose names I can make into puns. We now have Christopher Marrowe and Publius Vergilius Marrow in the window, announcing to the world our participation in the general effort of this festival of gothic vegetable sculpture.
Marrow Shelley and Clarence Marrow are in preparation as I write.
Carto
Will photos be forthcoming?
I’ve always wanted to see a marrow in a toga: a togarrow??
Happy Halloween! :)
PZ, I saw this video on YouTube today from gothic musician Voltaire that may be relevant to your interests: cephalapod taxidermy!