It’s another easy one.
Elsewhere…
There have been vigils all across Ireland. A doctor weighs in. You knew it wouldn’t be long before Irish authorities started making excuses: there’s no evidence it was a Catholic ethos behind her death, and please, everyone, let’s not use the FUCKING DEATH OF A PREGNANT WOMAN to argue for reproductive rights, the bastards.
This is an easy one.
Ed Brayton is at Skepticon.
PZ Myers is at Skepticon.
Greta Christina made a virtual appearance at Skepticon.
Stephanie Zvan is at Skepticon.
Jen McCreight is at Skepticon.
Matt Dillahunty is at Skepticon.
Richard Carrier is at Skepticon.
Brianne Bilyeu is at Skepticon.
Kate Donovan is at Skepticon.
Aron Ra is at Skepticon.
So…where are you? There will be a Freethoughtblogs party at the Farmer’s Gastropub in Springfield, Missouri tonight, stop by and say hello.
Oh, you aren’t in Missouri? You can watch the live stream instead.
I’ll be heading off to my local polling place shortly, and then sinking into a long day of labs and classes. Fortunately, there’s no dearth of good stuff to keep you entertained while I’m occupied.
Avicenna recognizes a Catholic bigot.
Black Skeptics have a set of voting recommendations for California ballot measures.
Digital Cuttlefish wants you to vote. Yes, please do.
Ed Brayton has all the election predictions. Must have been a lot of Magic 8-Balls sold this year.
Greta Christina explains why voting isn’t a waste of time.
Jason Thibeault has a story on Microsoft cracking down on on-line sexism in gaming. Cue denialists claiming it’s not a problem, and that if women would just shut up it would all go away.
Maryam Namazie writes about art and fear.
Mano Singham cites a really stupid endorsement for Romney.
Taslima Nasrin writes about Yaseen — a boy murdered by his mother for failing to memorize the Quran.
Kylie Sturgess presents a very entertaining short history of genetics. It’s got Dara O Briain’s name on it, but I don’t know why.
Zinnia Jones gives her first public speech! At a conference with a distinct lack of PZ!
But the same event had a distinct presence of Aron Ra. That should compensate, right?
How was everyone’s Halloween? I had to work late and missed prime trick-or-treating time, so I had no kids stop by. Now I have these bags of candy that I’m sure not going to eat. I’ll dig into the goody bag of FtB, instead.
Stephanie Zvan was at CSICon, and she thinks they did a good job on social justice issues.
Kate Donovan revisits Harrison Bergeron and the ableist fallacy.
Brianne Bilyeu displays the post-Halloween aftermath. It’s not pretty.
Sikivu Hutchinson discusses the sport of Black Women Bashing. Don’t tell the Olympic committee.
Ophelia Benson has to remind us of the Montreal Massacre. I remember that, vividly: “I hate feminists!” has a peculiar resonance to those of us who followed events on that day.
Richard Carrier explains that the Gospel of Jesus’ Wife, which was all over the news a while back, is a forgery.
Ian Cromwell has a guest post from Jamie James on abortion. No punches are pulled.
Digital Cuttlefish discovers something amazing: the Romney Mega Prayer. Did you know that scientists have proven that group prayer works?
Dana Hunter can sew? What does that have to do with geology?
Greta Christina is getting better!
Jason Thibeault hosts an epic rap battle. Lincoln won, naturally.
Maryam Namazie tells us that her body isn’t obscene, veiling it is.
Natalie Reed finds that the trans community is broken. Every community is broken in its own special way; can we fix them?
Reasonable Doubts is all about the depraved babies. Sick, morally corrupt, evil babies.
Taslima Nasrin catalogs errors and contradictions in the Quran.
As you know, NonStampCollector has joined Freethoughtblogs. Check out the responses to his latest video—angry people are unsubscribing from his youtube channel because a) PZ Myers is an evil dictator, b) they refuse to contribute to PZ Myers’ profits, c) they’re all evil feminists at FtB, d) they banned Matt Dillahunty! and e) PZ Myers will have total control over what NSC can post.
Not only are these totally irrelevant to NSC’s video, but they’re all wrong. a) I don’t control FtB; Ed Brayton holds the purse strings, b) Profits from advertising are all split up by percentage of total traffic, so visiting NSC’s site puts money in his pocket, not mine, c) we’re all good feminists, like all decent human beings should be, d) we haven’t banned Dillahunty (look, here he is!), and e) all of our bloggers are completely independent, and they can write whatever they want. We took on NSC because we talked to him and learned that he’s not a total asshat, unlike some previous, poorly vetted admissions, so we trust him to be rational and reasonable.
I think he’s better off with the cretins unsubscribing, since it means the quality of his comment stream will take a great leap upwards. It will also improve because all of you will head over to youtube and subscribe.
We have now secured NonStampCollector as a blogger on FtB, in addition to Token Skeptic: two down, twenty-two million to go. I’m sure the rest of the continent will tumble into our grasp soon.
Yowza, Avicenna has joined FtB. In case you weren’t already following him, he’s a godless British Indian medical student, so we get the combination of a science-based perspective and outrage at the absurdity of religious propositions. Go forth and read!
UPDATE: Greta says people have responded so generously that she doesn’t need more donations. But go wish her well if you haven’t already.
Our friend and colleague Greta Christina, on the heels of losing her father, just got handed some scary bad news:
The bad news is that I was just diagnosed with endometrial cancer. I got the initial biopsy results Saturday, and met with the oncologist Tuesday.
The good news about the bad news: To the degree that there is a “good” kind of cancer, this is the good kind: well-differentiated cells, Class 1, in a body part that I have no great need of and am fine with having removed. But it’s still, you know, cancer.
Greta is one of those people who’s always looking out for other folks; since I’ve started reading her I’ve seen her lend her voice to help a number of people who are having tough times. (I was one of those people this year, dealing with misfortune not even in the same league as what’s Greta’s been handed, but she helped me anyway.)
It’s her turn now. At her blog, she spells out a few ways people can help her get through the next couple of months. But if you’re in a hurry, here’s the shortcut: you can toss her some cash you’re not using here, or sign up for a year’s worth of monthly $5.00 donations here. PayPal links aren’t working due to session data, it would seem, but you can get there via Greta’s post.
And as long as I have the microphone in my hand, knowing that with this readership chances are high that someone else reading this is facing something similar, here’s something to read on surviving cancer that’s helped quite a few people I know when they needed some calm reason and math.
I need the html version of a gel ink pen. Anyone got one?
Brianne Bilyeu reminds me that I completely missed Ada Lovelace Day! Not surprising, I’m forgetting everything every day.
Frederick Sparks discusses the case of a murderous paranoid schizophrenic who has been sentenced to death rather than mental health care. Amusingly, the reason his plea of insanity was dismissed was because the killer claims to be “the ‘Prince of God’ and will be resurrected with Jesus in the afterlife”, which the judge found to be a normal Christian belief.
Ophelia Benson reveals that Reddit favors “free speech” over taste and legality and respect for individuals. It’s the Libertoonian version of free speech, of course, which translates as “I get to do whatever I want, no matter who it hurts.”
Ian Cromwell leaps on the ‘binder’ meme. So does the Republican party. Why? I don’t know.
Digital Cuttlefish is deep in grading — I feel his pain — but takes a moment to notice the curious adoration of the undecided voter.
Dana Hunter flaunts an image of a slumping, collapsing mess. I’ve been there, literally.
Maryam Namazie highlights Muslims shaming the Taliban.
Natalie Reed dissects yet another transphobic article. Sadly, that’s a niche that will always be there.
Chris Rodda notes that Mikey Weinstein has been threatened with imprecatory prayer. I’m sure he’s trembling in his army boots at the prospect of magic curses.
Taslima Nasreen looks at some women leaders. Guess what? They can endorse misogynistic policies, too!
Steven Andrew reports the discovery of an earth-sized planet orbiting Alpha Centauri. My retirement plans might be firming up.
Zinnia Jones is working on her signature. I definitely need to get some glittery gel pens.
C0nc0rdance has put up a video berating me for shutting down my youtube comments. It might be more interesting if it weren’t so full of speculation about my motives…motives that I understand very well, while he doesn’t have a clue.
It’s simpler than he thinks. I set up my youtube account to have all comments sent directly to my email account; I read them all. And I was appalled.
