“a day that will live in inframey”

I unashamedly stole that title from Warren—it was just too good to pass up.

If I was an opponent of framing before, I’m afraid my views have now hardened far more: one Framer thinks Al Gore, winner of the Nobel, is a flop. What does a person have to do to convince the framing crowd that they’re communicating science? That they’re opening up the public discussion? That they’re making people think? We already know that writing a best-selling book doesn’t do it, and now we learn that winning the acknowledgment of the world community with a Nobel prize isn’t significant, either. “Framing” seems to alienate atheists and evolutionary biologists, and now it’s dissing the environmentalist movement.

I mean, come on. The guy just won a Nobel Peace Prize, and your response — from the perspective of someone who claims to be an expert in communication — is that Gore just might be hindering the discussion that the global community just lauded him for advancing.

“Framing” has gone beyond annoying to insane. I wash my hands of it.

Travelin’ again

As you read this, the Trophy Wife™ and I are zooming down I94, on our way to a pleasant weekend together in Madison for the Freedom from Religion Convention. Our hotel does have wi-fi, so have no fear — I won’t be out of touch. And perhaps I’ll have tales of Julia Sweeney and Christopher Hitchens to share with you all.

If you’re in Madison, too, don’t forget: Saturday, 12-2, at Brocach is the IIDB/Pharynguloid meetup.

Congratulations, Al

Al Gore and the IPCC have won the 2007 Nobel Peace prize “for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change”.

Now run for president, Al — we need someone with the respect of the international community to repair all that our current chief nitwit has broken.

Freethinkers for education

Now you must donate to my DonorsChoose challenge. For the honor of the godless.

One of those pathetic appeasers has made this an issue of the charity of atheists, has accused us of being “cheap bastards”, and claims that his weak-kneed, wobbly camp of wooly-headed apologists for delusion are more generous than we are, and more interested in promoting science education. We know he’s wrong, of course, but hey, when they let theologians use them for a doormat, it’s understandable that they might be burdened with lots of foolish ideas.

I gave them a 10 day head start. Now this means we have to fire up and give him a good kick in the ass as we pass him by.

Let’s donate now. Every penny sent to these teachers is now a symbol of the moral superiority of freethinkers.

By the way, you can also win prizes, like an iPod and Seed subscriptions for your donations. But we don’t care. We’re going to donate simply because we’re good people.

Help the kids with DonorsChoose

I must be the last one to hop on this bandwagon — only because I had to give everyone else a chance first, you know, I wouldn’t want to drain all the donors* — but now it’s about time I joined in. Scienceblogs is working to raise money for teachers, and we need you all to chip in and donate to DonorsChoose. Go ahead and donate to any of the projects on the Scienceblogs leaderboard, or you can donate to the
specific projects in the Pharyngula challenge. It’s all a good deal, because Seed will match funds, up to $15000.

So come on, dig into your pockets, and hand over a little cash to the deserving cause of science education.

*Actual reason: because I suck. But you all knew that.