A warm welcome to Canada

Hey, remember how I just said I’d be going to Canada for a lovely godless conference? Well, the same atheist group sponsoring the event had some bus ads in the area – evil, evil signs saying stuff like “There’s probably no god. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.” Bus drivers refused to drive the buses featuring the ads, and the spokeswoman for the organization announced that any vandalized ads would be removed and not replaced. You know, just so everyone knows that. Wink nudge.

Unsurprisingly, the bus ads are now down – but not because someone took a magic marker to them. They mysteriously disappeared from all of the buses while locked in a guarded area, and look to have been removed professionally rather than ripped off. And of course, the bus company refuses to replace them.

Man, if religious people are that afraid of atheists saying “There’s probably no god,” we better bring the smelling salts for this conference. I’m sure they’ll love my talk about how “God” is a misogynistic, abusive asshole. Hopefully I don’t disappear in the middle of the night too.

Back to Canada!

Tomorrow I’ll be leaving for Kamloops, British Columbia to speak at the Imagine No Religion Conference. It should be a lot of fun! It’s a smaller group than a big national conference, but still has awesome speakers like PZ, Mr. Deity, and Nate Phelps. And some blogger chick who’s going to rant about misogyny in religion, or something like that.

I’m not sure if I have any Canadian tradition I forgot to check out when I spoke in Vancouver. I mean, I ate poutine and learned about Canadian politics – what more is there do to? Though I hear I probably shouldn’t bring up Canadian politics right now, ahem… Hey, at least your conservatives aren’t as bad as ours, right?

Anyway, I apologize that I haven’t been producing as many substantial posts lately. The end of the quarter is approaching, which means things are a little crazy on my end. Have a presentation next week, need to finish my research, then make a presentation for that, then choose a lab that I’ll be in for the next four years… Just a tad bit busy. But fear not, my real posts will return soon!

My diversity panel from AHA

I’m currently in Going Insane with Grad School Work mode, so here’s something to tide you over until I have time to write real posts. It’s long, but what’s better than listening to me, Debbie Goddard, and Greta Christina talk about diversity within the atheist movement?

It’s long, but I think the panel went really well, so it’s worth the watch. I certainly learned new things!

I am such a hermit

“Hmmm, I should really go buy some groceries today. *walks outside* Oh wow, it’s beautiful out! I don’t even need a jacket. Holy crap, a blue sky! Mountains! *reads car thermometer* 67 degrees?! This is a great day. Man, I should really do something outside to enjoy it, since it’ll probably rain for a month straight again. Hmmm… … …what do people do outside for fun? It’s too late to go hiking somewhere. I don’t really feel like walking around alone… …If only my laptop got here, then I could at least sit outside on the internet. …Meh, back to the basement. I wish it was this nice the only time I do go outside.*”

*That would be traveling to and from work. Yes, I am a pathetic nerd.

Are you an SSA member?

Don’t forget that the Secular Student Alliance board elections are tomorrow! You have until 5pm EST on April 30th to get your ballot in. And if you’re still not sure who to vote for, a chat with all of the candidates and current board members will be going on from 3 to 5pm EST. Just click the “Voting” tab after you log in for a link to the chatroom!

Regardless if you’re a member or not…what sort of things would you like to see the SSA focus on in the future? Feel free to discuss below.

I must crush PZ…for the children!

Come on, you know you’re Team GHJJ – root for the underdogs!

Five awesome atheist bloggers are competing to see who can raise the most money to support Camp Quest!

Since one of those bloggers is the indomitable PZ Myers of Pharyngula, we have made two teams in order to make this competition more fair.

Team 1: Greta Christina of Greta Christina’s Blog, Hemant Mehta of Friendly Atheist, Jen McCreight of Blag Hag, and JT Eberhard of Zerowing21.

Team 2: PZ Myers of Pharyngula.

The first team to raise $5,000 for Camp Quest, or the team that has raised the most by June 1, 2011 will win!

What will the winning team receive? Bragging rights. Pure and simple.

You can help your favorite team win by donating through ChipIn to support the team of your choice. Early reports think PZ has this sewn up, so if you like underdogs, give to this ChipIn and help his competition. Or you can make help make the pharyngulation complete by supporting PZ’s ChipIn.

All contestants and contributors receive: the knowledge that they have supported a fantastic program for freethinking families and their children.

Read more in the post below about why you should support Camp Quest!

Camp Quest is an absolutely fabulous program for the children of freethinkers. If you want to help the future of secularism (and give me bragging rights), please consider a donation!