Thinking Unenslaved

Last week, we concluded our discussion of Secular Humanism in Western Society. Unfortunately (and as is often the case), the discussion really got going just as the show was ending. Ryan (@NewYorkCreator) joined in with Zach, Paul and myself in a conversation that actually extended well past the end of the show.

So, at Ryan and Zach’s request, we’re going to have another Round Table this week, but a slightly different format. As many of us co-hosts as are available are going to dial in Wednesday night, along with Ryan (and hopefully @AntitheistAngie). We’re going to cover a lot of hot-button topics for between us, and may or may not take callers as time permits. I’m hoping that Zach, Ryan and I can somewhat replicate our post-show discussion from last week. It got pretty interesting.

Some things we’re planning on discussing include, but are in no way limited to:

• Anti-abortion politics
• Intelligent Design education
• Free speech versus verbal masturbation
• Draw Muhammad Day
• Atheist Morality

The last topic there is a segue to next week’s show. I’m setting up an interview with Martin Pribble in regards to a recent poll on about.com which he was leading until it got pharyngulated. The poll results are now meaningless, as they do not inherently reflect the about.com readership, nor do they necessarily accurately reflect the beliefs of those who take the poll as much as they reflect the ability of poll-takers to submit the voting form several times just to make PZ Myers look more popular than he really is. Don’t get me wrong, I have much respect for the man and even consider myself a fan of his. And while online polls are inherently flawed in concept, there’s no benefit for us to prey upon each other even in the most innocuous of forms.

It’s funny how it goes sometimes. During the week, between broadcasts, if you asked me how the last show went, at any given time, you might get a positive or a negative response. That’s partly because I’m my own worst critic, and partly because given whatever else is going on in my head at the time, I may or may not immediately be able to recall how good the show felt.

Last week’s show, however, was a definite “good.” Even despite Kile’s absence (and Kile, I sincerely hope your girlfriend is feeling better, and kudos to you for placing her well-being first), we had an engaging, informative show which included a lot of great discussion. I was a little tapped for resources by the end of it, which I attributed at the time to the showing lacking Kile’s input and the time such would have naturally consumed, but really, I think it was because Paul, Zach and I gave the general, overall topic of “Secularism and Humanism in Western Society a fairly decent spin.” Having Kile’s scholarly input would have been great, sure, but the rest of us are by no means slackers when it comes to being able to think and being able to discuss our thoughts.

It was truly an enjoyable time.

Towards the end of the show, Ryan (@NewYorkCreator) joined us on the air, and we started discussing several things that had to be cut off short as our allotted time ended. In fact, Ryan, Zach and I talked for almost another half-hour until Skype kicked me off again. I may take up my cable provider on the offer to “bundle” my services, including a VOIP line, for even less than what I’m currently paying. It’s funny how they work their prices, but that’s another story.

Anyway, after our post-show conversation, I’m looking to have an “enhanced” round table discussion on some very interesting topics—controversial topics, even. I’m hopeful that @AntitheistAngie can also join us next week, if she’s feeling better, because we’re going to start with Abortion Politics, and move through several other hot-button topics until we conclude with a recap on last year’s “Draw Mohammed Day”. Wouldn’t it be nice if it could be a large Round Table?

I think so.

Because, yeah, it’s getting kinda fun, and I really wouldn’t mind a little issue-advocating/vocal activism going on via the show. Nope, I wouldn’t mind that at all.

By the way, the song excerpt with which I started the show, and woefully neglected to inform my listeners about was from Civil Twilight‘s “You Will Leave a Mark.” Buy their album. They’re good kids.

Please join us again next week, 10pm Eastern, over at my site on BlogTalkRadio. Next week will be a very good time.

By the way, I’ve submitted the show to iTunes, but it has still not been approved. If you search iTunes under the name “Synthaetica”, you’ll find the old TalkShoe versions of the old ThinkAtheist Radio Show, but Thinking Unenslaved still doesn’t come up there or under its own name yet. Apple doesn’t give a clear way to make inquiries about the approval status, so I guess I have to wait a while. Sigh.

The most recent show streams are below.

Last week’s show wasn’t too bad, I don’t think, despite the fact you heard a lot more from me than you did from our guests. I greatly appreciated the contributions via links and chat from Martin Pribble, and I think Paul Fidalgo’s contributions were totally relevant. This show was a good example about how what I do (and what WE do) as human beings isn’t at all relegated to our atheism, and I do believe the tenor of this show, and all our shows, makes it clear that we’re by no means perpetually angry atheists, too.

Big thanks to Kyle and Paul who closed out the show for me after Skype died on me. Sorry to leave you guys with the landing. I was not amused, to say the least, but we’ve been pretty lucky that Skype hasn’t done this previously, anyway. Thanks for hanging in there.

The most recent show streams are below.

This week, I’ve planned a “solo” show, which is actually designed to elicit callers-in. Yeah, I’m sneaky like that! You’re stuck with me, in other words, but you’re not really just stuck with me. Luckily, though, thanks to the not-so-mysterious workings of my brain, my famously notorious co-hosts will probably be dialing in anyway. That’s because I’m focusing the show recent articles by some of my favorite bloggers, a couple of whom are, guess what….Paul and Kile!

As I set up the show, I have selected recent contributions from Paul Fidalgo ( http://bit.ly/fpRvbO ), Martin Pribble ( http://bit.ly/gGE4Va ), and Kile Jones ( http://gawd.us/hEl7Lx ). I’ve asked these contributors to dial in while I’m discussing their content. Martin may not be able to join us since he’s in Australia, though.

A good portion of the show will be a follow-up to the end of last week’s show, which we didn’t get enough time to spend on. I’m working on cleaning up the “management” portion of what I do, but in the mean-time, I felt the combined topics of Raising Hellions and Atheist Evangelism (under the general umbrella of Teaching Atheism) were worthy of more formative discussion. The articles I’ve selected play heavily into this topic.

Please join me at 10pm EST this Wednesday for a healthy discussion of these topics!

This week, I’ve planned a “solo” show, which is actually designed to elicit callers-in. Yeah, I’m sneaky like that! You’re stuck with me, in other words, but you’re not really just stuck with me.

Thinking Unenslaved: Blog Talking

Luckily, though, thanks to the not-so-mysterious workings of my brain, my famously notorious co-hosts will probably be dialing in anyway. That’s because I’m focusing the show recent articles by some of my favorite bloggers, a couple of whom are, guess what….Paul and Kile!

As I set up the show, I have selected recent contributions from Paul Fidalgo, Martin Pribble, and Kile Jones, plus a recent YouTube video from Antitheist Angie. I’ve asked these contributors to dial in while I’m discussing their content. Martin may not be able to join us since he’s in Australia, though.

(I’m at work right now and can’t get to the locations of all the links I need to put into here. I’ll edit this post this evening with the links ~ sorry! ~ dg)

A good portion of the show will be a follow-up to the end of last week’s show, which we didn’t get enough time to spend on. I’m working on cleaning up the “management” portion of what I do, but in the mean-time, I felt the combined topics of Raising Hellions and Atheist Evangelism (under the general umbrella of Teaching Atheism) were worthy of more formative discussion. The articles I’ve selected play heavily into this topic.

Please join me at 10pm EST this Wednesday for a healthy discussion of these topics!

Last week’s show was a great trial run of our round-table format. I think everyone really enjoyed it, and even though we didn’t keep strictly to time constraints, we learned a lot from Kile, and had a great set of discussions. I’m really looking forward to having more round-table discussions in the future.

The most recent show streams are below.

Tonight, we’ll have our first round-table discussion with Paul and Kile. Zach will be with us as well, riffing off my chosen topic, which can pretty well insert itself anywhere in the conversation. This format is a bit different from previous shows, and it’s the first time we’re doing it this way, so expect anomalies! I’m looking forward to a great conversation with Zach, Paul, and Kile tonight, and we’re hoping for some callers of disparate points of view to join us as well.

From the show page:

Kile will start with “secularism and religion in a liberal democracy” and how that works within the framework of the Establishment Clause and Free Enterprise. This should lead to some lively discussion between the panelists, and segue’s nicely into an anecdotal discussion on the “theification” of American and British politics at all levels of government (and its accompanying deification of conservative politicians), presented by yours truly. From there, we’ll get into Paul’s topic of “teaching atheism” from the parental perspective, which will probably naturally transition on its own into any of several directions.

I hope you’ll join us for a fun and informational time tonight!

Who: Dawnne Gee (@Synthaetica), Paul Fidalgo (@PaulFidalgo), Kile Jones, @Zachsmind

When: 10pm EST, Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Where: BlogTalkRadio.com/Synthaetica

What: Round Table: Theificationisms

Ah, it’s good to be back! I apologize for the long hiatus, but I had to work my way through some things, most of which had to do with doing too much. In the week before the show, I’ll be frantically working on getting some things together (like a piece of intro music and some interstitial stuff that I’ve been threatening to do for the past fiscal quarter), but to be quite honest, the simple act of the getting the show scheduled for next Wednesday is a cathartic act in and of itself. I’m truly looking forward to it.

Wednesday is the day after the first Day of Ones for this eleventy-ish year (if you ignore the glaring “20″), which I suppose makes it fitting for a solo show with some very special guests. We’ll do some one-on-one conversations with persons whom I feel are influential in our world, taking on subject matter that is currently pertinent to the Atheist, Humanist, and Secularist communities. I’ll update this description with details when they’re solidified with my guests: I hope to have @Zachsmind, Paul Fidalgo, and Kile Jones with me, which, I suppose, means I should probably invite them!

Please note: “Thinking Unenslaved” is now an hour earlier: 10pm Eastern, and after a recent split vote on whether to continue on Wednesdays or switch to Sundays, I cast the tie-breaker and decided for Wednesdays. I pulled it back by an hour because I no longer dedicate Wednesday afternoons to my kids: we get to see each other frequently throughout the week, now.

this job/contract-hunting scene drives me nuts. this little voice that has hung around me for 40-odd years tells me i should have been more patient where i was at and taken the woefully lose-lose situation i was in as some sort of challenge to improve myself or some shit.

amazingly, i do manage to refrain from bashing myself in the head.

my best lead right now involves waiting to replace the guy who’s currently fucking up that position right and left. he apparently needs one more major screw-up, then the two people over there i’ve spoken to will push me in front of their senior vp of professional services. i’m not normally one to root for someone else’s failure—not even in sports!—but it’s a dog-eat-dog world, and from where i’m sitting, there just ain’t enough dogs.

that’s a quote from somewhere, i forget where. meh.

read more: focusing the unfocused

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“Hey looky! He finally gets it right!”

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But seriously, using a woman to cast dispersions upon your enemy’s manhood is considered a smart thing to do in international politics? d r i f t g l a s s, as usual, nails it on the head (pardon the pun). To put it succinctly, on the sixth anniversary of the murder of thousands of Americans, King George the Worst could only think to dickslap their murderer and basically call him a faggot. Well, that’s not entirely true. He wasn’t man enough to do it himself, so he had Fran Townsend do it for him. Yup, if it wasn’t clear before, we gots us a smart one in the White House, don’t we?

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photo credit: Reuters/APEC 2007 taskforce/Handout

For those of you who are interested….

One of the main reasons I wanted to move over to my own servers here was so that I could take advantage of the All-In-One SEO Pack. This is a great WordPress plugin that allows for the direct management of how a blog is presented to the public in terms of the all-important “META” information. If I had been using SEO when I wrote some of the rice-bowling stuff, the former incarnation of the otherwhirled might well have been entirely overwhelmed with visitors searching for nude photos of Condoleezza Rice. But getting hits isn’t the only reason to use the All-In-One SEO Pack. Helping channel users to the exact content they’re looking for is actually a good thing. What could be more annoying than doing a search on black women in politics and winding up getting a suggestive photoshop hack of Condoleezza in a bathtub? eek!

Well, okay, a lot of things could be worse than that, but I’m sure you get the point.

I also wanted better control of the format of links to comments and trackbacks, which I’m using the aptly-named Get Recent Comments plugin for. And which I’ll probably be tweaking over the next few weeks, lol.

And then there was server space. I’m an ambitious bastard, and even though I had only used 12% of my 50Mb allotment on the public WordPress, I could easily read the writing on the wall.

There are some other plugins I’ve been itching to try. I tried a few, and they were unfortunately programmed in such a way that made the site run slower than molasses in January with its shoes tied together. I mean, like, I could write over-bloated ColdFusion code that runs faster. So, I’ll spare you such as those and leave the experimentation to late at night so that I won’t impact anyone.

The snarkery will resume this afternoon. Peace to you all.

~d~

Previous Search Engine Shenanigans:

• III
• II
• I

I’m always amused by simple things. In this case, it’s the words being used to find this here little blog thingy. Forthwith:

As has become customary, I am dispensing with the searches on various spellings of Condoleezza Rice, nude or clothed, spelled properly or not. I truly worry about some of you. I am pleased to say, however, that of late, searches on our lovely Madame Secretary from Hell have been down-trending. Searches by photographer name are way up, however, which I always find interesting.

• assured way to find rockhopper ~ this links SES III, and i am pleased to announce that in a google search, the otherwhirled comes in at an unexpected third. not bad!
• biguns ~ okay, i quit looking after the fifth page. let’s face it: if you’re on the Intertubes searching for “biguns” and you haven’t had your fill in five or more pages of search results, you seriously need to put down the Mountain Dew and exit your parents’ basement.
• lovedoll laura soft ~ i thought that said “laura croft” for a minute there, and i was like “SCHWEEET”, but alas….again, however, i feel i should point out that if you’re on the Intertubes searching for “love dolls” and you haven’t had your fill in five or more pages of search results, please immediately shove as many cheetos as possible into every available orifice.
• sailing takes me away ~ ah, my diabolical plan to hijack one legitimate web search seems to have worked. oooh….and actually, i hijacked three! w00t!
• Theocratic Law ~ my curiosity petered out after the ninth page, but this obviously goes to my Blog Against Theocracy stuff.
• diamondbacks logo ~ i’ve never posted one, so that’s kind of weird, but i did long ago snark on a Diamondbacks player, so i assume that’s what comes up for this one….somewhere after the tenth page of search results.
• perverts are us ~ yeah, well…go figure. they must really be looking for Dr. von Monkerstein. him and those adopted actresses….
• MANE, SEARCH ENGINES ~ surprisingly, i come up at the top of the second page on this one. better than i would have thought!
• intelligence is relative ~ w00t! another third-place posting. i wonder if this searcher realizes that relatives are not necessarily intelligent, though?
• lolcons ~ yeah, i know they annoy some people. they annoy me when overdone as well. that’s why i try not to overdo them. i place fourth here, unless you count the return for the wordpress lolcons tag, at which point i’m numero tres! again!
• ginzo of tokyo knives ~ oi….vey. fourth? eesh.
• Men who look crazy ~ Bing! Quit searching for yourself! you know where you are! (you too, Crow!) however, it should be noted that i am apparently number one among men who look crazy! w00-h00!!!
• ya’ll politics. ~ that’s a good way to put it. third place!
• ah m ~ i’ll happily take 5th place here behind Dependable Renegade.
• dementia test, humor ~ i couldn’t find it. whatever.
• the ironoclast ~ yes, yes our littlest chimperator certainly is! at least i’m on the first page with this one!
• She was a good ship ~ yeah but could you row her? oddly, i’m numero uno here, too!
• the other whirled ~ somebody (apparently two people or one person twice) loves me. i’m sure the extra space is just for flavor. naturally, i am number one here, too!

fun, fun, fun. thought i’d throw in the search rankings this time instead of cross-linking posts that i have to go delete all the ping-backs for. so, there you have it: a few things that bring people to the otherwhirled. i don’t know what brings you to the otherwhirled, but thanks for stopping by!

o, by the way, the new domain name has been secured. i would imagine that you can imagine what it’ll be. i’ll hopefully be moving off next week already!

And he apparently could give a shit less.

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photo credit: John Gress/Reuters

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“as long as you can mix a good drink, you’re always welcome to visit us!”

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photo credit: Jim Bourg/Reuters

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“If I have to separate you two, I will, Hillary and Obama.”

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Photo credit: Mario Anzuoni/Reuters

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“Ah’ll be home soon.”

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Ms. Etheridge: I’m sorry. It was just too convenient to pass up.

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Photo credit: Mario Anzuoni/Reuters

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{YAWN!} Is this guy done yet?

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Yes. Yes, he is. Go home, “Senator”.

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photo credit: Eric Thayer/Reuters

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…I thought this venue was for serious contenders. Who let this guy in here?

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photo credit: Joshua Lott/Reuters

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The photograph on the left was taken on the morning that Harriet Meiers handed King George the Worst the intelligence memo on Bin Laden. There is, of course, speculation that the paperwork shown here is even that memo. But you remember the memo, right? You know, the one mysteriously titled “Bin Laden Determined To Attack Inside the United States”, or “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in the US” (depending on which account you read), which was apparently so confusing that the president and his Secretary of State failed to understand its meaning?

Yeah, that one.

Six long years ago today, that was.

Imagine for a moment how different the world would be today, if that memo was taken a bit more seriously six years ago.

We might have, oh…say…somewhere around 2,973 people still working at the World Trade Center or otherwise alive instead of dead as a result of the attacks. If, of course, you believe those attacks were actually perpetrated by Bin Laden’s group in the first place.

We might have, oh…say…3,670 more Americans and goodness knows how ever many others alive who didn’t die in armed conflicts in Iraq or as the result of the growing civil war which is continually fueled by the “coalition” presence there.

We might have had more government assistance, and dare I say some of it even deployed in a timely fashion, for Gulf Coast States in response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

There would likely have been more government-subsidized funding available for infrastructure improvements that might have minimized or forestalled incidents such as the I-35W bridge collapse.

We might have more personal freedoms, and the Office of the President might not have been allowed to be turned into a regency with virtually unlimited powers, and we might not be represented by a bunch of weak-willed sycophants willing to wipe their asses on the Bill of Rights as a matter of political expediency.

And that is just to name a very, very few.

This date: August 6, 2001, is just as important and September 11, 2001, folks. Because this is the day that the events of 9/11 were given their power. The simple act of setting aside that memo and dismissing it as (in Madame Secretary’s own words) “historical information based on old reporting” sparked not only the unwarranted and likely illegal invasion of two foreign countries, but also tolled the death of the American system of democracy.

If you voted Republican in the 2000, 2004, and/or 2006 elections, hang your head in shame. And if you voted for one of these 41 buffoons, please help make sure they don’t come back to “serve” us again by casting your vote for these Blue America candidates.

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Photo Credit: Reuters/Jason Reed. Graphic Design: Tengrain of Mock, Paper, Scissors

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pdb blogswarm

A military guy in the ‘politics’ photos section at Yahoo News. Why, I never would have imagined in all my life that military leaders were politicized! Whodathunkit!?!?!

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photo credit: Larry Downing/Reuters

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To be honest, I’m no longer certain which one should be billed first on the campaign ticket, but…what a team! It’s great to see a spouse so intimately involved in a campaign as opposed to just tagging along and waving at the crowds. Awesome stuff! A Reuters editor says it quite well below.

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Reuters Caption: Elizabeth Edwards, wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, answers a question from the audience at Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester, New Hampshire, April 30, 2007. Elizabeth Edwards has emerged as an outspoken, tenacious partner in her husband’s White House bid, an illustration of what experts predict will be a growing trend of spouses taking active, autonomous and even combative roles in campaign politics.

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photo credit: Brian Snyder/Reuters

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“…to pull my finger!”

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photo credit: Chris Keane/Reuters

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Indeed.

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photo credit: Tami Chappell/Reuters

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“Terrorists! 9/11! Boo! I’ll save you!”

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photo credit: Brian Snyder/Reuters

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“…please get the hell out of politics in general?”

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free bonus caption of the day: “Boo-hoo-hoo, my campaign is falling apart and nobody likes my fundamentalist rhetoric anymore. Woe is me, woe is me. Bomb Iran!!!

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photo credit: Jason Reed/Reuters

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