It’s about time someone reviled 12-step programs. Go say hello to Matt Dillahunty, who is apparently doing the same thing I am…prepping for the Texas Freethought Convention.
There was one in Indianopolis, and snarky people attended. I would think that at best they’d have a succession of people standing up at a lectern, looking shamefaced and confused before shrugging and sitting down with nothing to say, but apparently it went on for days.
This description of one speaker illuminates the process.
I have to say he did not disappoint. It really seemed to be two halves of non-related speeches spliced together. The first half of the speech was talking about how terrible American Society has become since 1963 when the Supreme Court ruled to take God out of schools. He began rambling statistics like unwed pregnancy in 10-14 year olds has gone up 553% since 1963 and violent crime up 998% or something like that. My jaw was on the floor and he didn’t bother to cite a source. The next half of his speech was about the Great Flood and how Pangaea split with the tower of Babel. He went on about how God gave all nations some sort of specialty and that’s why great scientist and geniuses come out of Europe. He was tracking the lineage of Peleg and Ham. Turns out Peleg isn’t related to Pele nor did he have a peg leg. Also, Ham’s offspring were not called bacon. He did let us know that AIDS came from having sex with monkeys and baboons. At least this year he didn’t blame AIDS on the gays.
Now I understand. When you don’t have evidence, make some up.
I do like the image of plate tectonics explained by god smiting a tower in Mesopotamia and sending North America skittering westward to create the Atlantic Ocean. And the idea that Pangaea could be found on earth roughly, according to YEC chronology, in 600BCE is hilarious.
(Also on Sb)
This post from Scienceblogs has been nominated for The Open Laboratory 2011, so I thought I’d repost it here on the new site, just in case it gets accepted.
Ken Ham is crowing over fooling a child. A young girl visited a moon rock display from NASA, and bravely went up to the docent and asked the standard question Ham coaches kids to ask — and she’s quite proud of herself.
I went to a NASA display of a moon rock and a lady said, “This Moon-rock is 3.75 billion years old!” Guess what I asked for the first time ever?
“Um, may I ask a question?”
And she said, “Of course.”
I said, in my most polite voice, “Were you there?”
Love, Emma B
Ken Ham is also quite proud of himself. He’s also pleased with the fact that many people will be dismayed at the miseducation he delivers.
Each time I give examples in my blog posts of children who have been influenced by AiG, the atheists go ballistic on their blogs. They hate to read of instances like this. They want to teach these children there is no God and they are just animals in this hopeless and meaningless struggle of this purposeless existence.
I am angry at Ken Ham, but in this case, I mainly feel sad for Emma B, who is being manipulated and harmed by a delusion. So I thought what I would do is write a letter to her — a letter which I wouldn’t send, because I’m not going to intrude on a family with the actual science, but because this is what I would say if Emma actually asked me.
No. No you are not, and I’m not talkin’ to you, either, ’cause we aim to push the magic button on the electronic submission form and get this grant out of my life and the lives of my long-suffering collaborators in the grants office this afternoon, and everything else is hanging in the ether until that is done.
If you really want to bother me, go here:
Look at that lineup: you might not want to talk to me because you’re too busy talkin’ to everyone else. That’s OK, though, because this time I’m bringing my wife with me to keep me out of trouble.
But until then, I’ll just go quietly insane all by myself over here.
Seriously, half the time I don’t know where I am. I got a call last night from this madman, Scooter of KPFT, asking if I’d be available to do a radio show in Houston on Thursday, and I said, “Thursday? I’m not going to be in Texas this week, am I?” and he says, “Yes, you are” and I go “Huh? Whuh? I thought that was later this month!” But yes, he’s right, a hard-partying wildman of a radio DJ knows better where I’m going than I do.
This week, it’s time for the Texas Freethought Convention!
I’ll be there, I promise. I had my plane reservations and everything. Well, everything except my talk, which isn’t done, but last night after Scooter’s phone call, when I went to bed, my brain did nothing but dream about “Mutants!“, which is the title, and I laid out the entire thing in my sleep. I just have to slap it down in Keynote now, and I’ll be ready. Easy peasy. I think I have three minutes free in my schedule Tuesday night.
I just looked at the schedule, and woo-hoo, I’m the first talk on the opening day of the conference! I hope people are ready for a science-heavy talk to start the day. I also notice that Richard Dawkins has the last slot of the weekend — so it’s going to be like a great big science sandwich.
(Also on Sb)
Alan Lightman is an excellent writer — I’ve enjoyed his fiction, like Einstein’s Dreams and his nonfiction, like Great Ideas in Physics. I’m afraid my interest has waned a bit with his recent offerings, though, because although beautifully written, they’ve become increasingly soft-focused and fuzzy and gentle, too absorbed in trying to be very delicately lyrical and thereby losing a lot of their edge. Lightman is openly atheist himself, but he’s wafting wispily into faitheism. If you haven’t read him, here’s a short sample: he has a new piece in Salon titled Does God exist?, and it’s a fine example of the faitheist oeuvre, simultaneously insisting that science and religion need to be reconciled and rebuking that philistine, Dawkins.
On 1 September, we added another wave of bloggers to Freethoughtblogs.
It is now 1 October. Like clockwork, we have yet another wave incoming. I’ve organized them geographically, to help you realize how we’re closing in on you.
You should fear us. The awesomeness is rising, right on schedule. You now realize that you must visit the Freethoughtblogs home page every day, and then…not bother to leave.
Hmmm. Are there any other worthy godless blogs out there to which we should extend a pseudopod prior to absorption?
I suppose you could all celebrate Blasphemy Day, but it’s not such a big deal for me. As far as I’m concerned, every day is Blasphemy Day.
All right, Rebecca Watson does a good job of getting into the spirit of Blasphemy Day.
I’ll try to do my part. I’m out here in Cleveland tonight (“Hellooooo CLEVELAND!”) to talk to some humanists, and looking over my speech, I just realized it is pretty damned blasphemous. I sort of took it for granted, so I just noticed. Let’s hope I’m not arrested — Ohio doesn’t have one of those laws, does it?
Rebecca Watson takes a moment to vent about the internet bile aimed at her, and it’s a depressing read. Who would have imagined a mild admonition to “guys, don’t do that” would turn into months of seething hatred and demonization? As she documents, there are whole sites and ongoing threads dedicated to trashing her and anyone associated with her. I took a quick look at some of her links, and found this treasure on one thread committed to hatin’ everything Watson:
“freethoughtblogs” has become a spiteful ghetto built on a river of bile for insecure gutter-fascists.
That is supernova-grade irony.
Rebecca Watson has my support as an appreciated and valuable member of the skeptical community, who has made many contributions and has also been an entertaining and informative face for skepticism.
The saddest part of this whole contemptible witch-hunt, though, is that several of the people who are still spittle-spewing ranters against the Skepchicks were also appreciated members of the skeptical community, who have unfortunately done a fine job of isolating themselves with their obsessive hate-mongering and slander. Let it go, people. Grow up, move on, shed the misogyny. And make no mistake, you have exposed yourselves as irrational misogynists.
Wait a minute here…this cartoon is from 1903?
And it prompted this comment?
And I have realized that C.C. Moore was reincarnated as PZ Myers.
I feel weirded out by the comparison, but I did go ahead and order the collected writings. We’ll have to see if I experience deja vu and start having flashbacks or mysterious dreams of my past life.
Mainly, right now I want my own Whip of Ridicule and Sword of Cold Facts. I think I’ll pass on the funny hat with the candle.
(via Camels With Hammers)
