Is this what they mean by “the harder the fall”?:
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| [unsourced] |
Then again, one could argue that a more empirically accurate graph would feature naught but a flat line at “zero”.
(via Pharyngula)
Tags: God • Yahweh • Christianity • Bible • Old Testament • New Testament
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It’s been a hell of a couple of weeks since my long-beloved embedded audio player (the Google Reader podcast player) suddenly up and died on me. But after a couple of tentative and deeply imperfect solutions, I’ve finally, exasperatedly, arrived at what I dearly hope is the last solution I’ll be making in a long while.
Long story short, I was able to find a copy of the source code for the original Google Reader player, and after re-uploading it to FileDen, I now have a fully functional audio player that works perfectly across all modern major browsers (I’ve tried it in Firefox, Chrome and Internet Explorer – because people apparently still use that one). You can see it in glorious action right here!
By the by, if I sound anything less than totally excited right now, that’s probably because I now need to go and manually revamp all 50 of my music posts. Again. Again.
Seriously, the things I do for you people. Bah! Will update here when done.
UPDATE: 08/20/12 6:37 PM ET —
Okay, that went rather faster than expected, given that I didn’t need to upload and convert and reupload and reorganize and link several dozen files this time around. All song posts are finalized. And I’m officially done with this player stuff for a while.
Tags: Google Reader • audio players
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It’s no secret to anyone who deems themself part of the atheist movement that our ranks have been suffering through several (and no longer facetiously named) Deep RiftsTM over the past couple of years. More and more godless activists and bloggers are taking up the mantle of social justice issues, including that bugaboo of far too many so-called peers, feminism. An increasing number of women (and male allies) are daring to speak up about such controversial subjects as the need for anti-sexual harassment policies at major conferences and the importance of keeping in mind how one shouldn’t allow their carnal desires to affect anyone else’s public experience. Because, as we’ve all seen, merely asking people to display a modicum of respect and consideration for others is now cause for years’ worth of arguments, broken alliances, and death threats.
There’s a staggering amount more to be said about the matter, but it’s all pretty much been discussed, debated and (for some) settled by people far more involved and pertinent than myself, so I shall abstain. But in the meantime, these Rifts continue to grow, with some people declaring that secular activists should limit their focus to purely atheism-related matters and ignore anything else regarding diversity and inequality, and ever-more who passionately disagree. At this, I command you to read Jen McCreight’s utterly brilliant post on the matter, and why it’s time to let those Deep Rifts continue to spread and form our own, grander, healthier movement:
I don’t want good causes like secularism and skepticism to die because they’re infested with people who see issues of equality as mission drift. I want Deep Rifts. I want to be able to truthfully say that I feel safe in this movement. I want the misogynists, racists, homophobes, transphobes, and downright trolls out of the movement for the same reason I wouldn’t invite them over for dinner or to play Mario Kart: because they’re not good people. We throw up billboards claiming we’re Good Without God, but how are we proving that as a movement? Litter clean-ups and blood drives can only say so much when you’re simultaneously threatening your fellow activists with rape and death.
It’s time for a new wave of atheism, just like there were different waves of feminism. I’d argue that it’s already happened before. The “first wave” of atheism were the traditional philosophers, freethinkers, and academics. Then came the second wave of “New Atheists” like Dawkins and Hitchens, whose trademark was their unabashed public criticism of religion. Now it’s time for a third wave – a wave that isn’t just a bunch of “middle-class, white, cisgender, heterosexual, able-bodied men” patting themselves on the back for debunking homeopathy for the 983258th time or thinking up yet another great zinger to use against Young Earth Creationists. It’s time for a wave that cares about how religion affects everyone and that applies skepticism to everything, including social issues like sexism, racism, politics, poverty, and crime. We can criticize religion and irrational thinking just as unabashedly and just as publicly, but we need to stop exempting ourselves from that criticism.
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I haz returned! Sadly, I do not come bearing gifts, if only because of pesky laws of physics making it astonishingly difficult to transmit physical objects through computer screens. But I do have a few links I was able to save up over the last week, along with a few individual posts I’m saving up for a little later, so enjoy:
I know insurance companies are assholes, but it takes a special kind of soullessness to defend in court a man who killed a woman after running a red light to try and avoid paying her full insurance policy. Fuck you forever indeed, Progressive. [pictured]
(via @pattonoswalt; RT: @ebertchicago)
Fitting: Christian revisionist David Barton will re-release his bullshit-ridden and recently yanked book The Jefferson Lies through Glenn Beck’s publishing company.
Former Michigan assistant AG Andrew Shirvell finally ordered to pay damages for his ludicrously bigoted campaign against gay U-M student body president Chris Armstrong.
(via Wonkette)
In which top geek John Scalzi encounters the bottomless pit of charm and entertainment that is Vox Day.
Awesomeness: A brand-new (ie. less-than-three-year-old) Martian impact crater.
And finally, those sounds you just heard were Bill Donohue, Pam Geller and other Islamophobes popping a few aneurysms:
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If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.
Tags: Progressive • insurance companies • Matt Fisher • Katie Fisher • David Barton • The Jefferson Lies • Mercury Ink • Christian dominionism • Christian nationalism • U.S. Founding Fathers • Thomas Jefferson • Thomas Nelson • Andrew Shirvell • Chris Armstrong • University of Michigan • homophobia • Chris Armstrong • Chris Armstrong Watch • Vox Day • Theodore Beale • John Scalzi • misogyny • Mars • impact events • Ramadan • Islam • Muslims • Empire State Building
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I’m still on vacation (though it’s over in a few days – nooooo …), but I’ve managed to kidnap my computer back from my Facebook-addicted friend just long enough to notice how crappy the recently revamped music player I updated my music posts with really is. It turns out it doesn’t work at all on Chrome (at least from what I’ve heard and tried), and only a few specific plugins even allowed it to work with Firefox at all. In addition, it automatically buffers the entire audio file on each page load, which practically overwhelms my already limited monthly bandwidth allowance from FileDen.
So, after a bit more searching and tinkering around, I’ve arrived at the HTML5 <audio> element, which is the most promising so far. It boasts cross-browser compatibility (so no more being left out for you poor Chromians) thanks to the ability to swap between audio sources (MP3 or OGG), a relatively decent interface (though the Firefox version oddly lacks any volume level controls), and (particularly important on my end) the ability to prevent it from auto-loading the audio before clicking ‘play’. Here’s a little comparison (though note that the Firefox player I’ve seen doesn’t have the empty ‘X’ space above the control bar):
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So, yet again, I am to spend the following few hours slowly and tediously converting all my MP3 files to OGG, then slowly and tediously uploading all my songs to FileDen (and re-uploading the ones that inexplicably fail to load the first or second or third time(s) around), then slowly and tediously revising every one of my 50-or-so music posts, then (slightly less) slowly and tediously testing them out to make sure they actually work this time around. Expect some major stability issues with the song posts until this is all sorted out.
Aren’t my vacations just the best?
UPDATE: 08/18/12 1:43 AM ET —
Okay, so that took even longer than I expected. But I did manage to safely upload all my tunes and update my song posts accordingly with the shiny new HTML5 <audio> with surprisingly few complications (at least for now). The only problem – because of course there’s a hitch somewhere – is that the player interface doesn’t appear to agree with my Firefox (v14.0.1) and has a nasty tendency to simply disappear the second I click “play”. At least, that’s what it does on the random songs I try it on.
So, yeah, instead of screwing over Chromians, looks like I’ve now kicked Firefoxers, instead. W00t.
Tags: HTML5 • HTML5 audio • music players
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So, here’s how the last ten hours or so went down:
Yesterday afternoon. Friend tries to use PayPal to pay for Delta airline tickets to fly over for a visit.
Delta gives him some generic “transfer could not be processed” error. No tickets.
Friend checks his PayPal balance. Payment went through. Still no tickets on Delta’s end.
Cue frantic and increasingly irate phone-calls to typically useless customer service representatives. Arrive at a stalemate.
Skip forward to 3:30 AM (1.5 hours ago at this writing). Friend receives email from Delta: Payment finally, very belatedly, went through. He has tickets.
Departure set for 6:40 AM. Today.
Looks at the time.
Cue maniacal laughter.
So, yeah. From today ’til Sunday the 19th, consider me temporarily AWOL. (Or whatever the version with official leave is.) Some blogging may still take place, but don’t count on it. I’ll mostly be active on Twitter (to some extent) and saving up more important links for when I return.
Arrivederci!
(The Preliator 2012 Survey is still live, however. I’ve already received more responses than last year’s sad little 12, so wouldn’t it be so totally awesome if you fine folks saw fit to welcome me back in a week’s time with another response or two to finally push it over 2010’s record?)
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| Stephen Baldwin |
The Catholic League’s Bill Donohue truly is a pathetic spectacle.
Failed actor’s [pictured] publicist praises his “heroism” for praying at seizing epileptic woman’s side while trained medical professional revived her.
(via Mommiest)
And finally, Cracked.com presents OMG I WANT ALL OF THESE PETS RIGHT NOW (starting with these domesticated Russian foxes):
If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.
Tags: Stephen Baldwin • The Catholic League • Bill Donohue • Latin • corpus delicti • Vatican • Catholic Church • epilepsy • seizures • Brad Taylor • Peninsula Hotel • foxes • silver foxes • savannah cat • Pixie-bob • Legend Cats • Dmitry Belyaev • Siberian Fox • zonkey • camas • Saarloos Wolfhound
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New WikiLeaks [pictured] whopper: Leaked emails expose TrapWire, secret U.S.-wide surveillance system that monitors everyone, anytime, anyplace, for “persons of interest”.
Welcome to Meridian, Mississippi, where (predominately Black) schoolchildren are sent directly to prison for skipping class, improper clothes, and “disrespect”.
(via @ebertchicago)
Give up, NOM: You know you’re tanking hard when you resort to passing your own paid staffers for supporters.
(via Joe. My. God.)
If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.
Tags: TrapWire • WikiLeaks • surveillance • United States of America • USA • Meridian, MS • DoJ • U.S. Justice Department • Lauderdale County Youth Court • Meridian Police Department • Mississippi Division of Youth Services • Civil Rights Division • due process • National Organization for Marriage • NOM • Minnesota for Marriage
RETRACTION: 08/13/12 3:21 PM ET —
This appears to have been a misunderstanding, as the petition’s author, Jim Harper, tweeted that it was not cut short:
It expired on time. MT
— Jim Harper (@Jim_Harper) August 12, 2012@arossp: Did WH illegitimately remove@jim_harper’s TSA petition? Or did it just expire at its scheduled time?
— Jim Harper (@Jim_Harper) August 12, 2012
@arossp EPIC put up a page saying WH "unexpectedly cut short" petition. I would have loved longer, but I don't think that's accurate.
I apologize for the error. Consider the below post retracted (though the points about prior criticism concerning the “We the People” website still stand).
(via @radleybalko)
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As if we needed any more evidence that the “We the People” petition area at the official White House website is nothing but a pathetic joke:
At approximately 11:30 am EDT [08/09/12], the White House removed a petition about the TSA airport screening procedures from the White House "We the People" website. About 22,500 of the 25,000 signatures necessary for a response from the Administration were obtained when the White House unexpectedly cut short the time period for the petition. The site also went down for "maintenance" following an article in Wired that sought support for the campaign.
It’s somewhat fitting how the the Obama administration’s handling of their own petitioning system mirrors their government’s evolution in other walks of politics: from the early promise of much-needed reform to gradual disappointment at the lack of meaningful progress, disenchantment with the thinly cloaked hypocrisy, and finally, outright subterfuge and even attempts at revisionism. Few have failed to notice how even the most relevant and necessary petitions at the site have received little more than trite and placatory boilerplate for a response, to the inspiration of numerous parodies.
Is it any wonder how a baldfaced stooge like Mitt Romney (and now with his running mate, Rep. Paul “Ayn Rand is my hero” Ryan) can tail Obama so closely in the polls? That’s the picture of disillusionment. If the administration isn’t even willing to respond to growing concerns about their own increasingly blatant violations of the law, then how can there be any hope at all?
(via @radleybalko)
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| Phil “Thunderf00t” Mason |
Phil Mason/“Thunderf00t” [pictured] escalates his vindictive obsession with Freethought Blogs from scorned twerpishness into raging, possibly criminal assholery. Fitting that his excuses amount to, “Okay, I broke into your house and stole your bank account and credit card info, and I told a few people what your balance is, but how dare you imply that I might steal your money?!”
13-year-old boy who tried to sell hot dogs to help his disabled parents before being shut down by a city ordinance is now homeless.
(via @radleybalko)
Old gem: “You are 8 times more likely to be killed by a police officer than by a terrorist”
(via @normative; RT: @radleybalko)
And finally, a handy flowchart to help determine whether your belief that gays shouldn’t be allowed to marry is well-founded:
(via Joe. My. God.)
If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.
Tags: Thunderf00t • Phil Mason • Freethought Blogs • listservs • Nathan Duszynski • Lynette Johnson • Doug Johnson • food carts • Holland, MI • terrorists • National Safety Council • flowcharts • gay marriage • same-sex marriage • Christianity • Bible • Old Testament • New Testament
There’s a new WIN-Gallup survey out on global religious adherence, and the news for atheists is predictably (but nonetheless reassuringly) good, as this excerpt from the 2012 Global Atheism Index reveals:
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That’s right: Not only are more and more people becoming (or feeling safe to out themselves as) atheists all around the world – thus entailing that religion’s grip on society is conversely loosening, slowly but quite surely – but Canada still whoops the U.S.’s butt! Knew we were the best.
(Wait – 12th still counts as “the best”, right?)
Tags: United States of America • USA • Canada • atheists • Global Index of Religion and Atheism • RedC
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The North American Mission Board, a missionary branch of the Southern Baptists, wants the Sikh community to know that they’ll do anything in their power to help out following the recent Wisconsin temple massacre. Specifically, by trying to brainwash them into their own religion:
In the wake of one of the greatest tragedies to hit the Sikh community in North America, Southern Baptists have an unprecedented opportunity to reach out to their Sikh neighbors with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, says Aslam Masih, North American Mission Board’s (NAMB) national coordinator for Muslim people groups and South Asians.
Masih’s comments come after a man entered a Sikh temple near Milwaukee on Sunday (Aug. 5) and killed seven people, including himself, turning the nation’s attention to a religion of more than 20 million people worldwide.
“We have an opportunity now to turn this very sad situation into a life-changing encounter with the Gospel for Sikhs throughout North America,” Masih said.
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I’m happy in the certainty that I’ll never know what it’s like to see grieving victims of horrific tragedies and to immediately think about converting them to another religion. And the worst part is that these blind ghouls undoubtedly sincerely believe – as evidenced by this comment – that they’re actually doing these Sikhs a service by using their suffering as an opportunity to proselytize.
There really are just no words.
(via Friendly Atheist)
![Joé McKen (18) [taken 07/13/10]](http://i.imgur.com/2wvlR.jpg "Joé McKen (18) [taken 07/13/10]")
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I’m a liberal skeptic, rationalist & third-wave atheist stuck in a rut in Québec, Canada and who spends his time composing, writing, drawing, harboring a layman’s passion for science and technology, getting angry at social injustices, and most of all, jabbing cretins and trolls with sharp pointy sticks. (Oh, and blogging.) Proud owner of a Nize Hat!, an indomitable SIWOTI syndrome and an itchy snark finger.
You can find all my musical, literary and artistic works at my art blog, Creativitas.
![There is probably no [superstition]. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life](http://i933.photobucket.com/albums/ad171/crispianjago/Probably-No.gif "There is probably no [superstition]. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life")
