Carnival of Curiosity: Science Fiction and Social Justice

On Saturday, 26 September, we’re going to have a stellar discussion with a stellar bunch of panelists on the collision of science fiction with social justice, and how it made the field better. You’ll want to tune in to this one!

Featuring the minds of:

Abe Drayton
PZ Myers
Steve Shives
Joe Stevenson
TD Walker

And remember, this is a fundraiser.

Carnival of Curiosity: the Matinee…of PAIN

Unaccountably, multiple people suggested this for our fundraiser: make me sit through some awful, atrocious bit of media while everyone watches me. The form was vague, I think the appeal was entirely in making me weep.

I’ve scheduled it, but we have to get the details down now, and I have questions.

  • OK, what media? I suspect no one was thinking of an Attenborough documentary. Make suggestions! The constraints are that it’s got to be something accessible, so a YouTube something or other, or Netflix. Something by Ray Comfort (boring!), Pureflix (too easy),a horror movie (I might enjoy it), a superhero thingie (I’d probably hate it)? Name things in the comments.

  • Am I supposed to do this alone? Anyone else you’d like to drag down to hell with me? Company might make it more entertaining.

  • How? It should be streamed to YouTube for the greatest reach, but I could set up something with OBS and/or Discord, or even Zoom. Give me ideas!

This is definitely a rough work in progress, but here’s where you can watch whatever abomination we cobble together.

And remember, this is a fundraiser.

Hmmm. Maybe I should auction off the right to name the media, or to share a spot in the matinee with me?

Never drive in either of the Dakotas

It’s too dangerous. There are wild legislators driving madly with little regard for traffic laws on those long empty highways. Several years ago there was a politician whose name I forget who made the papers with his frequent reckless drives…now they’ve got Jason Ravnsborg on the prowl.

South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg said in a statement late Monday that he realized he had struck and killed a man walking along a rural stretch of highway only after returning to the scene the next day and discovering the body.

The state’s top law enforcement officer said he initially thought he hit a deer while driving home from a Republican fundraiser on Saturday night. He is under investigation by the South Dakota Highway Patrol.

How do you do that? How do you mistake a person for a deer? I’ve encountered many deer while driving — I never hit any, fortunately — and they tend to bound out of ditches and cover and race with startling speed across the road, something people don’t generally do (I haven’t hit any of them, either). There’s hooves and antlers and long skinny legs on one of them, too. I know the state of zoological knowledge in the general public is woeful, but big slow ape vs. swift herbivore?

Ravnsborg has a history of speeding and other traffic violations, which seems to be a matter of course over there across Minnesota’s western border. It makes me reluctant to drive there — you never know when the governor or the whole dang state senate might show up, Mad Max style, and take you out.

Carnival of Curiosity: Parade of Bloggers, part II

The second event in our September fundraiser is scheduled on YouTube now: The Parade of Bloggers, part II!

This is a continuation of our Friday night event, scheduled for a more convenient time for our European colleagues. It will be just as exciting!

This is all about raising money for FtB, so as will be my custom, I’ll be routinely suggesting where you can send donations:

Carnival of Curiosity: Parade of Bloggers, part I

In ten days, the first event in our September fundraiser fires up: The Parade of Bloggers, part I!

Any of the FtB bloggers who want to show up (consent is our middle name, so this is entirely voluntary) will make an appearance, tell you about their blog, and plug any of the events they’ll be participating in. If you’ve got any favorite bloggers here you’d like to see, go ahead, comment on their blog and let them know. While we’re all about voluntary participation, we don’t mind using a little social encouragement.

This is all about raising money for FtB, so as will be my custom, I’ll be routinely suggesting where you can send donations:

Note also that during a YouTube livestream, you can use superchats to make donations and get our attention. Treat it like one of those call-in reality shows — when your fave blogger shows up, hit that superchat button!

We’re doing a fundraiser at the end of this month!

You know I’ve got this Patreon that I’m using to slowly pay off our legal debt for the Richard Carrier debacle (we won, don’t forget!), but “slowly” is the main term there — it’s going to take about four years to pay it off, four years of abstemious living, and I’m here in the prime of my life when I ought to be wildly partying, dancing naked in the streets, living in a non-stop bacchanal! So we’re going to try to take some steps to accelerate that process.

So we’re putting on a carnival!

On the top left of every single page here you’ll find a big bold badge that says “Carnival of Curiosity”. Click on it and it takes you to our fundraising page that lists some events we have scheduled for 25-27 September — online panels on YouTube, game shows, blog posts, and a memorial to Ed Brayton — all coupled to requests for donations. Join in if you want! We’ve got other ideas in the wings that we might bring out, but this is our start. Check it out! Also look on the sidebar — various bloggers will be announcing their activities, setting up auctions, telling you about their own plans. Links will be added to the fundraising page to lead you to their work.

I’ll be posting notices here periodically. And it may never end: we plan to have similar fundraisers at the end of every month. We won’t stop until FtB is debt-free once again!

You can help with donations to several sites. Pick your favorite!

#slimedidnocrime

YouTube/Google stuck their ugly racist necks out to ban this video, apparently because it pointed out the sleazy hypocrisy of the right wing nutsacks and Big Media.

Youtube have YET AGAIN caved in to a right-wing false flagging campaign. This time they have allowed Steven Crowder fanbois to flag down Thought Slime’s great video. However, on this occasion it is even more egregious than usual, considering the topic of the video is how youtube allows Steven Crowder and other rightist bullies to silence opponents.
This is obviously unjust and so I’ve mirrored the video, and encourage others to do the same.
You can also go give Thought Slime support on the links here:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrr7y8rEXb7_RiVniwvzk9w

https://www.twitch.tv/thoughtslime
https://twitter.com/ThoughtSlime

Building up to a fundraiser

Remember FtBCon, the online conference we did before virtual conferencing was the only way to hold a conference? We’re going to be doing something similar, but different, at the end of this month — we are plotting some video events, some twitch streams, some auctions, some targeted blogging, all that sort of thing, all geared to provide content while we ask you all for donations to our legal fund. If you look at the top left of the window here, you’ll see some text saying “COMING SOON: FTB’S SEPTEMBER FUNDRAISER”, and if you click on that, it will take you to a page listing a schedule of events. Well, it will…it doesn’t yet. We’re working on it. We aim to have that list up next week, and then we’ll start spamming you with mentions of the fundraiser itself, which will be over the weekend of 26 September. We’ve got some ideas ready right now, but the purpose of this post is to ask you for suggestions. What would you like to see?

For example, for me we’re considering forcing me to watch some ghastly video, while you chortle at my reactions. Maybe we could let people bid for a seat at the viewing so you can react too? I’m thinking of some niche science blogging (that is, spiders) with donation requests in the post. I may also do a live video/Q&A of my macrophotography and photomicroscopy toys, with real time video from my cameras/microscopes — would you chip in a bit to watch that? There are some other ideas floating around here that we’re whipping into shape, but please, do make suggestions for what you’d like to see and do.

It’s not just me, either. We’re going to ask lots of other FtB bloggers to join in. Who’s your favorite blogger, and what would you like them to do for a few extra dollars?

All donations will end up in our GoFundMe or our new PayPal donation site, paypal.me/freethoughtblogs. Look for more information next week!

My mermaid pedigree?

I haven’t told anyone else this, yet, but my sister is a mermaid. She assures me that it’s true, but I’ve never had a really good sit-down conversation with her about this, because as you might guess, this fact raises a great many deep questions in the mind of a biologist. I’m not going to dismiss it out of hand, though, since I’ve had my own strange obsessions with creatures of the vasty deep that might be indicative of some familial affinities. If she can be half fish, I want to be half kraken.

Anyway, I heard from her about a museum in Westport, Washington, The Mermaid Museum. While I have my doubts about the likelihood of a human-fish chimera, the place is part of the Westport Winery and Resort, and I think it would be a good idea, once this pandemic is over, for us all to get together and discuss the finer points of mermaid biology over a few glasses of wine.

I’m pretty sure that once I was a couple of bottles deep I might start conceding the possibilities. Ply me with seafood and I become very charitable.