First of all, thank one or more Gods — and more probably none — it’s Friday (Stole it from Futurama), and that it’s a holiday weekend here in the states! A decent day for meta, and since this is the first here, it will be the beta. No doubt as part of the beta some will insist this be alpha. Speaking of which, if I don’t get some new computers soon, it may be my omega.
There’s an interesting diary on the reclist at Daily Kos about education and climate change. The author, screen name lawyernerd, complains his or her child’s science teacher has willfully joined the walking brainless dead by dissing climate change.
I am so mad I can’t hardly see straight. My kid came home from school yesterday and said that the science teacher for the middle school says that global warming is a myth. She is also going to have all of the 7th and 8th graders do a “lab” which “proves” global warming is a myth. she also told them that it is a lie made up by scientists to keep getting money for research.
I’m not sure what it is about thermometers that these clowns haven’t grasped yet. It’s a simple invention by today’s standards, anyone who knows how to count can use one, I’m willing to bet if a single cheap thermometer indicated that teacher’s own cute little baby was running a few degrees above normal they’d take it damn seriously. But thousands of ultra precise thermometers all over the world monitored by experts 24/7, backed up by optical and infrared satellites and sensitive proxy data going back as far as one wishes to study? No, the silly scientists must have it all wrong or be making it up.
Anyway, an interesting thing happened in that Daily Kos diary: the author found support and information via comments that helped them pursue an effective and proactive course of action to address the issue. Yay science, yay community.
FreeThoughtBlogs could soon become a thriving online community the way things are going. Here’s a thought to stir your noodle over the long weekend: How could we encourage that process? Does it just have to happen, or are there steps which might help?
One thing I’ve suggested that seemed to be implemented for a few days, then abandoned is something I learned over at Dailykos (where I’m unjustifiably proud of my four-digit UID…)
The part about NOT putting “obscene” words where they’ll land on the front page, so the mindless scanners behind high-school filtering software. I’d hate for a misplaced “fuck” to keep some questioning highschooler from seeing the blogs at all. It doesn’t mean not using the Heavy Seven, it means not spelling them out in headlines and first paragraphs.
I would love for FTB to become the atheist version of Dailykos. I really think with the recent expansion that we’ve got a chance at something big, even getting together to support skeptical and (god willing) atheist political candidates.
Lost a word there. The bots that scan pages to determine which ones are unhealthy for elementary and high-school students reportedly look for “bad words” on the front page of a website and grade accordingly but don’t check further than the homepage. It’s stupid–as is the concept of shielding kids from the kind of language they themselves use on the playground–but apparently real.
I don’t know much about marketing blogs. The others I’ve seen appeared to do it by getting an ad on a webcomic, webfiction or another blog. My impression is that’s not usually very expensive. Not sure if it’s the right market for this but that’s largely because I have no idea what the right market would be. Getting disgusted by having bad religion shoved down your throat or thinking past dogma isn’t a demographic I know where to look for (outside of here anyway).