I’m going to be tied up in work and meetings most of today, yet there are all these new people still flooding the site, begging for entertainment and objects to rage against. Since many of them can’t seem to get beyond the first article at the top of the page, and since, judging by my most recent email (come on, people…do you have to stoop to insulting my mother?) we’re getting down to the dregs, I think we need some more distractions for them. So here’s a little collection of past articles that will serve to infuriate and enlighten. Have fun!

Idiot America

Planet of the Hats

The proper reverence due those who have gone before

Niobrara

Why the wingnuts hate Plan B

What should a scientist think about religion?

A godless ramble against the ditherings of theologians

The Wall: A Sunday morning story

We stand awed at the heights our people have achieved

The hopeless inanity of Egnor

Sanctimonious monsters

Theology is a deceitful strategy

The Courtier’s Reply

The Geoffrey Simmons “debate”

Tune in to Atheists Talk radio this morning at 9am Central — the ever-entertaining Robert Price will be on to talk about pop mysticism. If you will it, it will be so.

In a great big ugly oops, the A/V geeks at TAM6 were not true geeks in that they screwed up and lost all the audio of an entire day’s worth of recordings at the meeting. This is bad, because it means all the clever slams and insults given to Phil Plait will not be passed down to posterity. If you’ve got recordings of the event, contact the skeptics and help them out.

(I suppose we could all just call in and make fresh new jokes at Phil’s expense, but they wouldn’t sync with our lip movements as well.)

A major institution supporting the conflation of ‘spirituality’ and science, the Templeton Foundation, has lost its founder. Sir John Templeton is now cooling meat, his mind stilled, his ‘spirit’, whatever the heck that is, missing. This is a sad event, since from all I’ve heard from those who met him, he was a very nice fellow. It’s just too bad that he threw so much money away into a fruitless and pointless endeavor that does nothing but prop up belief in unreality.

Now the question becomes one of the direction the Templeton Foundation will take in the future. I’ve also heard that his son and successor is not such a nice fellow, and leans more towards evangelical Christianity than to spiritual nebulosity.

Next week at this time I’ll be in lovely downtown Atlanta, staying at the Renaissance Atlanta Hotel. If we’re going to have a Pharyngufest, probably the best time would be Saturday, 12 July, and somewhere not too far away from the hotel. Anyone interested? Any locals want to make suggestions for good meeting places? We need something that isn’t too noisy, that serves good refreshments, and offers exemplary Southern hospitality, ’cause that’s what I expect when I go to Georgia. If nothing else, the hotel has two bars, and I suppose we could hit one of those.

If anyone wants to suggest better days, I could probably make it either Sunday the 13th or Tuesday the 15th.

Those words look vaguely familiar. It’s a little odd, especially since I was just working on a major expansion and revision of that essay.

(I’m also curious to see if that title survives translation here.)

Those words look vaguely familiar. It’s a little odd, especially since I was just working on a major expansion and revision of that essay.

(I’m also curious to see if that title survives translation here.)

D.J. Grothe and I tussled again in this week’s Point of Inquiry podcast, in a continuation of last week’s episode.

I’m never this organized, so I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I’m going to be in Denver on 3-4 July, and we’re actually getting it together to plan a meetup at the RockBottom Restaurant on 16th and Curtis in downtown Denver. I’ll be there around 5ish on Thursday, 3 July, and I’ll leave when you stop buying me beer.

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We have changed the location to Wynkoop Brewing Company. Don’t get lost!

Mark your calendars!

Jeff, the Blue Collar Scientist, has just been diagnosed with liver cancer. Pay him a virtual visit and let him know that we expect him to get well soon and are quite pleased that modern science gives him good prospects for a long, productive, and happy life.