Thinking Unenslaved

It’s the last Wednesday of the month, which means we’re holding a small contest for blog submissions on the topics noted below. This month is a little different, in that I’ll be going to be soliciting some of the big-name atheist, humanist, secularist, and/or liberal bloggers for permission to reference some of their material. Where relevant, each segment of the show will lead off with such content.

In addition to those authors, our panel will read (excerpts of) the entries aloud and discuss (no, not necessarily eviscerate if we don’t agree) them on the air in our Round Table format. We’ll choose one or two recent blog posts from each of the following categories:

Submission Categories:

1. Atheism or Agnosticism (note the change from last month)
2. (Secular) Humanism
3. Religion
4. Sociology
5. Philosophy

Minimum Requirements for Consideration:

1. Article is “recent” (within the past three months ~ exception might be made in deference to kick-ass authorship)
2. Article is comprised of at least 600 words
3. Article contents contain at least 75% unquoted content

Pretty simple, huh?

Authors of the selected articles will be asked to come on the show for a brief interview and to read and discuss their articles. Show participation is not mandatory. There is no monetary award for being chosen.

Submission Guidelines and Deadline:

1. Submit link(s) to blog post(s) in the comments below
2. Maximum of 5 links per contestant
3. Deadline is 10pm EDT April 26, 2011.
4. Selections will be announced by 10am EDT on April 27, 2011 via unenslaved.com and @Synthaetica (twitter).

Join us Wednesday, April 27, 2011 at 10pm EDT for some unique and dynamic show content from great authors around the Internet!

It’s the last Wednesday of the month, which means we’re holding a small contest for blog submissions on the topics noted below. Our panel will read (excerpts of) the entries aloud and discuss (no, not necessarily eviscerate if we don’t agree) them on the air in our Round Table format. We’ll choose up to three recent blog post from each of the following categories:

Submission Categories:

1. Atheism (note: this category is not open to Agnosticism)
2. (Secular) Humanism
3. Religion
4. Sociology
5. Philosophy

Minimum Requirements for Consideration:

1. Article is “recent” (within the past three months ~ exception might be made in deference to kick-ass authorship)
2. Article is comprised of at least 600 words
3. Article contents contain at least 75% unquoted content

Pretty simple, huh?

Authors of the selected articles will be asked to come on the show for a brief interview and to read and discuss their articles. Show participation is not mandatory. There is no monetary award for being chosen.

Submission Guidelines and Deadline:

1. Submit link(s) to blog post(s) in the comments below
2. Maximum of 5 links per contestant
3. Deadline is 10pm EST on the day before the show airs.
4. Selections will be announced by 10am EST on the show date via unenslaved.com and @Synthaetica (twitter).

Join us Wednesday, March 23, 2011 at 10pm EST for some unique and dynamic show content from great authors around the Internet!

On next Wednesday’s segment of Thinking Unenslaved, I’m holding a small contest for blog submissions on the topics noted below. Our panel will read the entries aloud and discuss (no, not necessarily eviscerate if we don’t agree) them on the air in our Round Table format. We’ll choose one (possibly two if it’s too close to decide) recent blog post from the following categories:

Submission Categories:

• Atheism (note: this category is not open to Agnosticism)
• (Secular) Humanism
• Religion
• Sociology
• Philosophy

Minimum Requirements for Consideration:

• Article is “recent” (December 1, 2010 or later ~ exception might be made in deference to kick-ass authorship)
• Article is comprised of at least 600 words
• Article contents contain at least 75% unquoted content

Pretty simple, huh? Authors of the blogs chosen will be asked to come on the show. Show participation is not mandatory. There is no monetary award for being chosen. Submission Guidelines and Deadline:

• Submit link(s) to blog post(s) in the comments on the Segment Website
• Maximum of 5 links per contestant
• Deadline Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 10pm EST.
• Selections will be announced Wednesday, February 23, 2011 by 10am EST.

Join us Wednesday night for some unique and dynamic show content

Greetings, twitterholics, blogheads, twittervillains, and blogophiles!

O, was that redundant? O well….

On next Wednesday’s segment of Thinking Unenslaved, I’m holding a small contest for blog submissions on the topics noted below. Our panel will read the entries aloud and discuss (no, not necessarily eviscerate if we don’t agree) them on the air in our Round Table format. We’ll choose one (possibly two if it’s too close to decide) recent blog post from the following categories:

Submission Categories:

1. Atheism (note: this category is not open to Agnosticism)
2. (Secular) Humanism
3. Religion
4. Sociology
5. Philosophy

Minimum Requirements for Consideration:

1. Article is “recent” (December 1, 2010 or later ~ exception might be made in deference to kick-ass authorship)
2. Article is comprised of at least 600 words
3. Article contents contain at least 75% unquoted content

Pretty simple, huh?

Authors of the blogs chosen will be asked to come on the show. Show participation is not mandatory. There is no monetary award for being chosen.

Submission Guidelines and Deadline:

1. Submit link(s) to blog post(s) in the comments below
2. Maximum of 5 links per contestant
3. Deadline Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 10pm EST.
4. Selections will be announced Wednesday, February 23, 2011 by 10am EST.

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, our Round Table discussion was largely devoted to this same subject, but there were several questions/scenarios I’d left on another computer and sadly didn’t bring to the discussion. As well, this is a fairly broad subject with far-reaching implications, and the 47 minutes or so we spent on it last week really didn’t do the topic justice. So, this week, Kile and I will talk about this some more.

Some of the sub-topics we’ll discuss tonight include a) Moving beyond the impact of religion on the Arts, b) Social services without religion (or, uncompelled social services), c) Is it possible to teach strict humanism in education when historical examples mostly involve religious motivation d) Is not Secular Humanism just as likely to fall victim to the vagaries of human character as religion.

The list above is by no means everything we intend to discuss. Zach and Paul will join us if they can, and may well have their own questions for Kile, too.

Please join us for another interesting and dynamic segment of our ongoing discussion on secularism, humanism and atheism in society at 10pm Eastern Standard Time this Wednesday, February 9th here on BlogTalkRadio.

yeah, okay, so using the show to get me posting more frequently was kind of a lame idea when all I do is post about the show, huh. okay, so i suck and i admit it. carry on.

it’s not that i don’t enjoy writing, it’s just that i always have an excuse to do something else, not the least of which is spending time with my lady. but her school has started back up, so maybe…just maybe…i’ll make some additional time to sit down and write.

anyway, i have a show coming up this wednesday. here’s the run-down.

Secularism & Humanism in Western Society Revisited

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

When: 10pm EST, Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Where: BlogTalkRadio.com/Synthaetica

What: Secularism & Humanism in Western Society Revisited

See you there!

(the most recent episode will play below. so for the week after the show, this link will be relevant!)

Well, I screwed up in setting up tonight’s show, managing to actually set it up for March 2. I luckily got that straightened out in time to kick off the show when I actually wanted it, but changing the time screwed up the show link. I’m a dork, I guess. Shoot me.

Kile, Zach, Paul and I had a lively discussion tonight that ranged from Secularism in Western Society through to the Atheist Agenda’s “Smut for Smut” program at the University of Texas at San Antonio. We had a great time, as usual, and I think the subject matter involving secularism was pretty enlightening. A big thanks to Kile, Paul, and Zach for participating in another great show.

I note, however, that I sound a little like Kermit the Freakin Frog through my headset. Unfortunately, I’ve had massive problems getting a “Real Microphone” (condenser mic) to work in this place. I’m apparently bombarded by AM frequency bleed-over. Meh.

The revised show link is Round Table: Secularism in Western Society

The most recent show streams are below.

Tonight’s show is another round table with Kile, Paul, Zach and myself. The general theme is Secularism in Western Society: I’m hopeful that we can … er … “faithfully” represent the European perspective and not make the mistake of equating “western society” with “the silly stuff we Americans do.” Perhaps we’ll get lucky and have one of our European friends dial into the live show.

I’ll be twitter-begging for participants throughout the next couple of days. Other topics we may also address include: the problem with religious-based public education, and relationships between theists and non-theists. Please listen in for a lively discussion of pertinent topics this Wednesday night at 10pm EST. We’d love to take questions and comments from persons of alternative points of view, so don’t be bashful! Give as a call and join in the discussion!

Wednesday’s show will be another round table with Kile, Paul, Zach and myself. The general theme is Secularism in Western Society: I’m hopeful that we can … er … “faithfully” represent the European perspective and not make the mistake of equating “western society” with “the silly stuff we Americans do.”

Perhaps we’ll get lucky and have one of our European friends dial into the live show. I’ll be twitter-begging for participants throughout the next couple of days. Other topics we may also address include: the problem with religious-based public education, and relationships between theists and non-theists.

Please listen in for a lively discussion of pertinent topics this Wednesday night at 10pm EST. We’d love to take questions and comments from persons of alternative points of view, so don’t be bashful! Give as a call and join in the discussion!

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

When: 10pm EST, Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Where: BlogTalkRadio.com/Synthaetica

What: Round Table: Theificationisms

See you there!

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

Good morning, everyone.

I had a great time last night with Paul, Zach, and Kile. No, it’s not what you think, you silly perverts. We had a good (re)introductory show and talked about a few topics of interest. We didn’t really get down-and-dirty into things, but we did address some current events that were important to us. Next week, since we’re past the introductions, we’ll dig in and really get into things.

The most recent show streams are below.

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.

Some of you know there was a bit of an incident a couple of nights ago between myself and another outspoken Atheist, who also promotes herself as a Humanist. This happened on Twitter, in the public stream. It was highly unproductive, and rather unfortunate. But it was the proverbial “last straw” for me in terms of accepting as “directive” what I feel to be a highly destructive approach to ourselves as Atheists when interacting with Theists, and if my inability to let that subject go makes me immature and/or intolerant in some people’s eyes, then more people than the handful who unfollowed me due to that event need to unfollow me.

The situation with that person goes far deeper than what was exemplified on Twitter, and it has thus been difficult for me to let it go on that level as well. I’m not going to bring that in the discussion tonight, but since that little confluence of actions has led to a minor separation between some of us on Twitter, I think that ideological separation is a valid subject to broach here.

Luckily, I’d already invited Kile Jones on tonight’s show. I can’t think of a better, more thoughtful and considerate person with whom to discuss these matters. So, following on a little bit from last week’s show on Humanism, Secularism, and Atheism, Kile and I will be discussing the potential dangers in all three of those philosophical approaches, and hopefully, we’ll talk about some strategies for those of us with different approaches to our interactions with Theists and Religionists. My discussions with Kile are always insightful, and I dare say even inspirational. I’ve managed to swing all the way from being a bit reticent to do a show tonight, to being completely stoked. I look forward to a great time with Kile, and those of you who choose to dial in!

Please join me tonight at 11PM EDT/10 CDT/8 PDT for “Thinking Freely: Overrated By Some” with Kile Jones.

Featuring content from thinkatheist.com, discussing humanism, and a little bit about atheist parenting.

LISTEN TO THE THE LIVE SHOW. This episode will air July 7, 2010 at 11pm EDT.

listen to the most recent ThinkAtheist Radio Show

Here in America, we’ve been a country for quite a while: around 234 years or so. I think it’s worth repeating, the great gift our founding fathers, many of whom were devout theists, gave us in this secular nation in which we live. They fought and died so that smaller minded people living today could turn the tables on their foresight with repeated attempts to undo the greatest gift that we were given.

We’ll talk about atheists in foxholes, too.

My guest for this episode is Ryan Hoffman, who also goes around under the name of NewYorkComic. He’s a funny guy, a great thinker, and a frequent contributor to the shenanigans going on in the chat room which distract me from doing the show.

If Wednesday night’s show was any indication, this one should be quite entertaining. I’m definitely looking forward to it! Join Ryan and me for a somewhat humorous take on the things that the the blowhards among us take far, far too seriously.

LISTEN TO THE PATRIOT EDITION ON BLOGTALKRADIO. This episode will air July 4, 2010 at 10pm EDT.

listen to the most recent ThinkAtheist Radio Show

Tonight’s show will feature content from the members of ThinkAtheist.com. I’ll be talking about some of the various blog postings, forum discussions, videos, etc, contributed by our membership. A little ad-hoc and free-form, but I think this may become a Wednesday night feature. Somewhat relatedly, starting tomorrow, those who purchased the 2010 ThinkAtheist Men’s Calendar will be inflicted with my mug for 31 days, so I figured the least I could do was give SOMETHING back to our community. See you at 11PM EDT!

LISTEN IN ON BLOGTALKRADIO

listen to the most recent episode

from the show description: “Tonight we have a return visit from Kile Jones which I’m very much looking forward to. We’re planning on discussing some select topics which will include dealing with the problem of practicality in the purely academic pursuit of philosophy, and we’ll also take on the application of humanism in education and in society as a whole.”

HEAR THIS EPISODE ON BLOGTALKRADIO

Participate in the ThinkAtheist Radio Show Group.

Visit ThinkAtheist.com

listen to the most recent episode:

ok, so you know i spend practically all my “free time” on twitter. actually, that’s not quite true. since i took this job back in October, i can’t tweet much during the day, draft blog posts at all, or do any of the coordination that i’d love to be doing for collaborations, and with soccer and taekwondo atop the work gig, plus spending at least some time each week with my kids, leaves me very little time for playing in the online world.

that having been said, i set this blog back up to at least serve as a reference point for our radio shows over at thinkatheist.com. so, throughout this weekend, i’ll be linking up individual shows from our new digs at blogtalkradio.com. i’ll also be seeing what i can do to preserve the old shows that we did over at talkshoe.com, either importing that RSS feed or something so that they’ll still be available after iTunes drops them for lack of input. and speaking of iTunes, i’ll be looking into what i can do to get our new radio show registered with iTunes as well.

fyi, i’ll be posting show links with the embedded show streams under the dates the shows were aired, so all previous shows will come up as prior to this date. after i’m done with all that, i’ll try to get some other content up on here, related to some of our….shenanigans….on twitter.

peace.

from the show description: “We have a couple of ‘maybes’ for guests tonight. I’ve prepared some other material, following up on the general concept of “atheist parenting,” something which, you should be forewarned, I consider to be an oxymoron. We’ll talk about that and other things of interest to humanists, secularists, agnostics and atheists alike tonight, guests or not!”

HEAR THIS EPISODE ON BLOGTALKRADIO

Participate in the ThinkAtheist Radio Show Group.

Visit ThinkAtheist.com

listen to the most recent episode: