This old atheist found it to be an encouraging day.
- Keith Ellison spoke at an atheist conference despite being a Muslim because he’s committed to religious freedom and plurality. He also never shuts up about rights and freedoms, and Nick Fish, who was interviewing him, had an easy job since you can just wind Ellison up and he keeps going and going and going, saying all the right things.
- I spoke to Debbie Goddard for a bit, and she’s optimistic about the direction American Atheists is taking. They’re listening to the members and volunteers, and those people all want social justice to be a priority, and AA is listening. Hey, I feel less like an isolated weirdo over here.
- Aron Ra’s dog Falcor is a pretty cool dude.
- Do not leave your phone charger in the parking garage across the street. I did, and I was afraid to prowl the building after dark, so I’m going to have to wait for sunrise to get my phone working again.
Shortly, I’m going to retrieve my phone charger, maybe have breakfast, and then go off to a bunch of social justice talks. This should also be a good day.
Also, all these people here really hate Donald Trump.
@ ^ PZ Myers : Good – and good luck to tall thsoe Amercians protesting against him today. See :
Source : https://www.newsweek.com/anti-trump-protests-us-map-list-2061036
really happy to know it’s all going well so far!
Nice to hear positives news, may the rest of your conference maintain the good vibes.
I’m another person who doesn’t understand how an atheist can be anything other than committed to social justice.
Matt G. Perhaps they’re the kind of people who worship what they see in the mirror?
submoron@6- Yeah it seems some atheists really do need nothing to worship, and some substitute themselves (or money, or racial superiority, or male chauvinism, etc.).
P Z Myers @ 1
This is the first test of empathy.
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(OT)
I think PZ would like the robot Mosscap, from Becky Chamber’s SF novel A Psalm For The Wild-Built . It dedicated centuries of study to insects and arachnids.
Matt G @ 7
It has been remarked that an interest in the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence seems to be a stand-in for religion among atheists, from Carl Sagan and onwards. Myself, I have given up the hope (see hundreds of books related to the Fermi Paradox) but if SETI is a religion substitute, it is a very benign one.
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Re @ 8
Becky Chamber’s books belong to the genres Hopepunk, and to the related Solarpunk. Most of her books are good.
A charged power bank belongs in every bag and suitcase. As many Swedes go into the woods ro pick berries, I give away a lot of powerbanks to make sure they have charged phones in case they break a leg.
And do not forget the risk of a car mishap on a desolate road when it is -30°C outside!
You only travel with one phone charger? FYI…if you want good quality, but inexpensive, get a suitable Raspberry Pi branded PSU. And…second birgerjohansson…always carry a powerbank (or two).
You can’t say you met a cool dog, and not post a picture of said dog.
You just can’t.
Oh, look at that, I still have a login!
Debbie is the best. All the secular movement orgs are not created equal, and I’ve been really impressed with the work American Atheists does–and not just because I used to be on staff and still volunteer with them.
It was great to see you and chat briefly about spiders today!
SpiderCon this year directly conflicts with Camp Quest Arizona, so I won’t be able to make it, but I went last time they were in Golden in and it’s a great place to host a big nerdy spider science fest. I even found a solifuge–you should go if you can!
@12 hillaryrettig1
Pictures of Falcor are here:
https://web.archive.org/web/https://www.aronra.com/dog-gone-it
It’s worth the read.
Wow Great Pyrenees are HUGE dogs! It’s awesome that AronRa is putting himself into this dog’s life. I can’t imagine how much food he eats.
Polar bear sounds about right.
The dog, or AronRa?