Anne Robinson has no soul, and is history, thank fuck!

[welch]

He Renee, I have an idea for your blog network. A blogless comment section. A few of them actually. Call one of them Fitzpharangula and let it be a place for unmoderated comments on whatever is going on at pharangula that day, and Fitzalmostdiamonds etc. A bit more focused than this place, maybe. Wouldn't it be funny if it became the "comment section of record" for the fftbs. Might cut into their traffic a bit... oh well.

you mean...a forum?

I guess it could be done here, yeah. But I thought that if she's hosting blogs this could be a sideline, since it's blog related, although not to the particular blogs she hosts. Might generate some traffic for the other blogs.

Google is good at that, so is cross-linking, but if they're all on the same site, then Google cares much less.

[welch]

Wow, Zinnia Jones latest blog.

There is room for experimentation here.

So, what could this mean for cis people who don’t believe the sex of their body is important to them? Is there a way for them to put their money where their mouth is? Might we be able to show them, in some small but concretely biological fashion, what it’s like to be trans? Ozy noted that we can’t really go around covertly giving cis men HRT for trans women to see how it affects them. But I think we could circumvent most of these concerns if they agree to it first.

And of course, if you didn't agree, that would show you to be a transphobe.

[LMU]

I had thought Amanda Marcotte couldn't get any worse...

I’ve been watching with interest as Harriet Hall—a doctor, a skeptic and a blogger at Science-Based Medicine—flails around in her very determined but bizarre effort to denounce Women in Secularism (where I’ll be speaking, so come on out!) and all other efforts to improve women’s participation in atheist/skeptic movement stuff: It’s an amusing performance that veers between embracing deterministic arguments (she’s fond of the women-just-aren’t-as-into-that-rationality-thing-and-that’s-just-how-it-is-and-why-question-it argument) while insisting she is too a feminist, and, in the grand tradition of internet rabbit holes, getting into a long, digressive, but admittedly interesting debate about the meanings of words like “gender”, “sex”, “identity”, and “orientation” with Will at Skepchick. Hall has an interesting pedigree as a pioneering pilot and flight surgeon, which has been wielded to exempt her from criticism for her ideas, but to which I say means that it’s important to be even more careful when examining her biases.

See the rest of her shit here

also her tweet about the above article:

http://atheiststoday.com/images/dw_adam ... otte01.png

Amanda Marcotte will always find ways to plumb fresh depths of dishonesty and hostility. I was thinking the other day that if you played a drinking game where you drank every time she said "rape" on Twitter you'd be dead of alcohol poisoning within an afternoon.

Interesting. If being a competent doctor is the "top" of the ladder, then why isn't Marcotte in medical school?

[Tigzy]

I had thought Amanda Marcotte couldn't get any worse...

I’ve been watching with interest as Harriet Hall—a doctor, a skeptic and a blogger at Science-Based Medicine—flails around in her very determined but bizarre effort to denounce Women in Secularism (where I’ll be speaking, so come on out!) and all other efforts to improve women’s participation in atheist/skeptic movement stuff: It’s an amusing performance that veers between embracing deterministic arguments (she’s fond of the women-just-aren’t-as-into-that-rationality-thing-and-that’s-just-how-it-is-and-why-question-it argument) while insisting she is too a feminist, and, in the grand tradition of internet rabbit holes, getting into a long, digressive, but admittedly interesting debate about the meanings of words like “gender”, “sex”, “identity”, and “orientation” with Will at Skepchick. Hall has an interesting pedigree as a pioneering pilot and flight surgeon, which has been wielded to exempt her from criticism for her ideas, but to which I say means that it’s important to be even more careful when examining her biases.

See the rest of her shit here

What the fucking fuck is Marcottage Cheese going on about there?? Harriet Hall doesn't denounce WiS in that article - in fact, Harriet Hall doesn't mention Women in Scepticism once there.

She's lying through her fucking blowhole.

[Lsuoma]

Apropos something or other, I wonder how long it is before unsolicited internet hugs become categorised as sexual assault, since going to a website and reading disagreement of one's opinion is already considered bullying and harrassment?

(((Richard)))

That's why they always preface the hugs with a "hugs if wanted", so they don't trigger anyone.
It's always made me want to post this to someone:

(((FORCIBLE)))

(((COP A FEEL)))

[Tigzy]

Missed from my earlier post: 'Harriet Hall doesn't denounce WiS in that article she linked to'

'Pologies.

[Angry_Drunk]

Apropos something or other, I wonder how long it is before unsolicited internet hugs become categorised as sexual assault, since going to a website and reading disagreement of one's opinion is already considered bullying and harrassment?

(((Richard)))

That's why they always preface the hugs with a "hugs if wanted", so they don't trigger anyone.
It's always made me want to post this to someone:

(((FORCIBLE)))

(((COP A FEEL)))

I don't think parentheses really capture the existential dread of being forced to make virtual contact with someone against your will. Braces are better.

{{{BAD TOUCH}}}

[LMU]

...while trying to search for how to deconvert a social justice warrior I found this:



Those familiar tactics of our FTB friends:



But I can find nothing to, you know, cure the whole thing. Surely there should be some kind of debriefing camps or something like they have for cults.

I would be interested in knowing how to deconvert a SJW too. It might not be possible, in the same way that you can't easily deconvert creationists or any fundamentalist. The best approach might be something similar to how skeptics dealt with creationists: deal with as many of their claims as possible and expose their behavior. Creationists have kind of been done to death, it would be interesting if more skeptics took it upon themselves to deal with SJWs.

[Phil_Giordana_FCD]

I used to run an astrophysics/astronomy blog, but not sure that would be a good fit for Renee's network.

I'd love to join the network! Mostly it would be music and bitching about Merkins.

Yeah, fine, I won't.

[ReneeHendricks]

Phil - I'd love it if you were there as well :D Now my biggest challenge is figuring out which CMS is best for a multiblog setup. Not a huge fan of Wordpress (though, I have that set up for my kids - just 'cuz it's easier for them). Any suggestions all?

[Apples]

What the fucking fuck is Marcottage Cheese going on about there?? Harriet Hall doesn't denounce WiS in that article - in fact, Harriet Hall doesn't mention Women in Scepticism once there.

She's lying through her fucking blowhole.

She's extrapolating from Harriett's suggestion that minority groups' self-segregating is divisive, which she strawmanned this way:

I would point out that Hall is utterly inconsistent in her belief that people should simply squelch their concerns about doing what’s right to join in solidarity with others for mutual goals. To be consistent, Hall should start criticizing the very existence of skeptic and atheist conferences, insisting that we should instead have general interest “people who want good things to happen” conferences, where we can join with all people everywhere for the goal of “good things happening”. It will turn out, of course, that the vast majority of the speakers at the general “people who want good things to happen” conference will be promoting not just religion, but herbal remedies and superstitions and belief in ghosts, because these are all popular beliefs—far more popular than atheism and skepticism.

Because, after all, there's no difference between "being a woman" or other "minority" and having particular beliefs/interests. (After all, being a woman = being a rabid far-left Democrat feminist who loves politicians like John Edwards and believes the Duke lacrosse rapists got away with it).

[free thoughtpolice]

The internet is just crawling with misogynists making personal attacks on feminists. They attack the person rather than their ideas because they know they can't win a fair fight. Right Ophie, Beccy, Amanda?

[AnotherLurkerMkII]

The internet is just crawling with misogynists making personal attacks on feminists. They attack the person rather than their ideas because they know they can't win a fair fight. Right Ophie, Beccy, Amanda?

Don't be silly. Actual mysoginists never go so low as to accuse their targets of being smelly, stinky, dirty women.

[AnotherLurkerMkII]

Sorry, I cannot bring myself to let this go. Ophelia Benson actually thinks that she can win an argument literally telling that her adversary smells bad.

I never thought that Ophelia Benson could have the mentality of a 5-year old boy, but actually that explains so much.

[Apples]

Interesting piece from 2011 about a podcast Marcotte did on evolutionary psychology. Too bad Watson didn't read this before doing her EP speech (not that it necessarily would have made any difference):

http://www.epjournal.net/blog/2011/10/a ... rejudices/

[Tigzy]

@Apples

Extrapolating? Where? Unless Marcottage Cheese takes extrapolating to mean making shit up from vague ambiguities. I mean, if Marcotte is referring to this:

I shouldn’t have to say this, but for the record, I have no objection to minorities joining together in solidarity in any way they choose. I have a personal preference to participate as an integral member of the general body of skeptics, rather than meet with a subset of women skeptics. I would be distressed if the skeptical movement were balkanized into ineffectiveness by creating separate meetings for every conceivable minority group. Do we need a conference devoted to elderly transsexual black Hispanic scientists? OK, so that’s ridiculous; but at what point does it become ridiculous? Think about it for a moment. Be fair. Are you biased against small minorities and willing to treat them differently because of their size? In my opinion it’s more productive to address everyone’s special concerns within the skeptical community as a whole. But that’s only my personal opinion. If any minority group, no matter how small, wants to have their own separate meeting, I certainly wouldn’t try to stop them.

Then she linked to the wrong article, because this is in Hall's second one - where she simply states that she would personally prefer to participate as an integral member of the general body of skeptics, rather than a more specialised body. How the hell this translates to a denouncement of WiS...well, fuck knows.

[bhoytony]

Today I managed to overcome my Chris Mooney gag-reflex in order to listen to Steven Pinker on the Point of Interest podcast. You had all better get ready because Ophelia is going to go apeshit, she's probably writing an angry blog ripping into Pinker right now.
He was discussing violence and said that there wasn't much difference between the sexes when it came to something like a head of state waging war in the defence of their country's best interests. He then said:

"Fights over a parking space, road rage, fights over a pool table, fights over national honour where nothing is at stake except national honour, campaigns of bloodthirsty conquest and insane wars of aggression, it looks like that's more of a guy thing."

After seeing how she went tonto on Shermer I'm pretty sure she's now going to do her dinger with Pinker and demand that he admits that women are violent, bloodthirsty arseholes just like men. Let me know when she posts her blog about this.

[LMU]

This was linked in the JREF thread and I thought it was interesting. Only the abstract of the paper is available unfortunately. http://lifehacker.com/5986087/science-e ... or-you-too

[AbsurdWalls]

Ok - enough interest has been put out there. So, I'm getting things going for a atheist/skeptic blog community. I grabbed http://atheismskepticism.com/ and will be working on a multiple blog CMS setup on my server this weekend (the domain doesn't point properly yet and does nothing at this point, FYI). Thanks for the feedback all! As soon as it's up and ready to go, I'll let you all know.

Neat. Seeing as I think almost every reply you got was from people saying "I would contribute occasionally" my suggestion would be to run it in a way where every "blogger" is a "guest-blogger" and then separate content by topic rather than by author (you could do it with tags e.g. Skepticism, Atheism, Drama). Seeing as the term "blog" usually means "repeated posts by the same author" you might even consider calling it something else, like an "online magazine" or something like that. That way you could treat regular bloggers (such as yourself, I would assume) as one "column" and the guest bloggers on particular topics as another "column".

You could even have a system where there is peer-review/editing by other authors before content gets pushed online. Just a few suggestions.

[Reap]

So then who is the Jew-pitter?

SN?

I have never believed in any gods, right from the time they tried to explain the jewish version to me. I immediately asked, well, if god made everything, then who made god? Still haven't gotten a straight answer to that one.

Even at this late date though, my father would still be pleased as kosher pig shit for me to start seeing a nice jewish boy and maybe pop out a kid before all my eggs dry up. Ain't gonna happen. No jewish-raised (or other types of) grandkiddies from me. I've got a couple of brothers passing along the family genes, and that's good enough for me.

If there is anything similar to excommunication but for jews, I've probably already gotten it. I'm proud to say that I gave all my rabbis nothing but trouble, both in being a brat as well as in asking very uncomfortable questions. Like being 6 or 7 and asking how Cain and Abel had kids, since the only woman created so far was their mother!!! (I knew the basics of reproduction at that age). Or how come god said it's good to kill ____ even though thou shalt not murder? How come you thank god in that prayer for making you a man? Is something wrong with being female? I also made a point of touching the oh so fucking holy torah (which only males are allowed to touch for good luck).

But racially, I'm so fucking pure jewish I'm nearly inbred. Almost 100% Ashkenazi jew. The 'almost' part is a tiny bit from somewhere back to around 500 years ago, when one of my ancestors was not quite in the jewish club. They were either Asian or Native American.

Hey, Melody is a member there too (same one - same pic). Does anyone think I should send an invitation to share genetic info? Heheh.

The cool thing about the Jewish religion is you don't hear about them shunning family members who are atheists as much as christians. They just kinda say "Yea yea you're an atheist. You were born a Jew and you die a Jew so have a nice time being an atheist...Jew." Not a single ex-jew I've talked to has been disowned by their family.

[AbsurdWalls]

Ok - enough interest has been put out there. So, I'm getting things going for a atheist/skeptic blog community. I grabbed http://atheismskepticism.com/ and will be working on a multiple blog CMS setup on my server this weekend (the domain doesn't point properly yet and does nothing at this point, FYI). Thanks for the feedback all! As soon as it's up and ready to go, I'll let you all know.

Neat. Seeing as I think almost every reply you got was from people saying "I would contribute occasionally" my suggestion would be to run it in a way where every "blogger" is a "guest-blogger" and then separate content by topic rather than by author (you could do it with tags e.g. Skepticism, Atheism, Drama). Seeing as the term "blog" usually means "repeated posts by the same author" you might even consider calling it something else, like an "online magazine" or something like that. That way you could treat regular bloggers (such as yourself, I would assume) as one "column" and the guest bloggers on particular topics as another "column".

You could even have a system where there is peer-review/editing by other authors before content gets pushed online. Just a few suggestions.

I would say one advantage of doing it like this means you could get "guest posts" by bloggers who have their own site or who are on another network (and then obviously let them mirror the content on their own site).

[katamari Damassi]

blather

Your argument would sound slightly less vapid if you weren't conflating Canada with the U.S.

You have shown me the error of my ways. All apologies and hugs to you.

[Reap]

He Renee, I have an idea for your blog network. A blogless comment section. A few of them actually. Call one of them Fitzpharangula and let it be a place for unmoderated comments on whatever is going on at pharangula that day, and Fitzalmostdiamonds etc. A bit more focused than this place, maybe. Wouldn't it be funny if it became the "comment section of record" for the fftbs. Might cut into their traffic a bit... oh well.

you mean...a forum?

I guess it could be done here, yeah. But I thought that if she's hosting blogs this could be a sideline, since it's blog related, although not to the particular blogs she hosts. Might generate some traffic for the other blogs.

Google is good at that, so is cross-linking, but if they're all on the same site, then Google cares much less.

Hey Welch what if you are picking up the RSS feed. Does google count that as cross-linking? Or does the link need to be in the text of the blog? What counts as cross-linking I guess is my question

[katamari Damassi]

blather

Your argument would sound slightly less vapid if you weren't conflating Canada with the U.S.

You have shown me the error of my ways. All apologies and hugs to you.

Actually since you(in true FTB style)replaced my quote with "blather," I'm not 100% sure which of my posts you have a problem with. Care to elucidate?

[Angry_Drunk]

blather

Your argument would sound slightly less vapid if you weren't conflating Canada with the U.S.

You have shown me the error of my ways. All apologies and hugs to you.

Actually since you(in true FTB style)replaced my quote with "blather," I'm not 100% sure which of my posts you have a problem with. Care to elucidate?

I dunno, try the one where you list a bunch U.S. and Canadian cities together and attempt to slag off about their "culture".

[ReneeHendricks]

Soooo. A setup where there are guest bloggers rather than a network of separate bloggers?

[katamari Damassi]

blather

Your argument would sound slightly less vapid if you weren't conflating Canada with the U.S.

You have shown me the error of my ways. All apologies and hugs to you.

Actually since you(in true FTB style)replaced my quote with "blather," I'm not 100% sure which of my posts you have a problem with. Care to elucidate?

I dunno, try the one where you list a bunch U.S. and Canadian cities together and attempt to slag off about their "culture".

I was relating to what I see in my own country(in regards to memorial mania) with what is being reported from Vancouver. What's your beef exactly? Did I insult the Vancouverites? If so, then how?

[Submariner]

Soooo. A setup where there are guest bloggers rather than a network of separate bloggers?

I could be a regular blogger. I'd just blog about as often as Christina Rad does on FfTB...

[Angry_Drunk]

Your argument would sound slightly less vapid if you weren't conflating Canada with the U.S.

You have shown me the error of my ways. All apologies and hugs to you.

Actually since you(in true FTB style)replaced my quote with "blather," I'm not 100% sure which of my posts you have a problem with. Care to elucidate?

I dunno, try the one where you list a bunch U.S. and Canadian cities together and attempt to slag off about their "culture".

I was relating to what I see in my own country(in regards to memorial mania) with what is being reported from Vancouver. What's your beef exactly? Did I insult the Vancouverites? If so, then how?

I don't give two shits about Vancouver. I'm just amused by the fact that you don't seem to understand that Canada and the United States of America are, in fact, different countries. And they say us "merkins" are ignorant.

[Submariner]

Angry_Drunk, do you need: (a hug), (a forcible), a (cop a feel), or a {bad touch} ???

[EdwardGemmer]

Soooo. A setup where there are guest bloggers rather than a network of separate bloggers?

I don't know much about blog setups. That may be better - one site with articles rather than a bunch of different sites under a theme. If it is successful and expands and grows, it could always be split up later if some people blog very regularly.

[Apples]

Soooo. A setup where there are guest bloggers rather than a network of separate bloggers?

Good idea.

[katamari Damassi]

I don't give two shits about Vancouver. I'm just amused by the fact that you don't seem to understand that Canada and the United States of America are, in fact, different countries. And they say us "merkins" are ignorant.

I'm well aware of the rather minor differences in culture between the two countries. I grew up in a border town. I think you're seeing things in my post which are not there. Perhaps that's a sign to cut back on the booze? Anywho... happy to provide you with some amusement. I live to amuse.

[EdwardGemmer]

Angry_Drunk, do you need: (a hug), (a forcible), a (cop a feel), or a {bad touch} ???

Please stop blaming the victim.

[AndrewV69]

@Windy,

OK I take it back what I said about Neven Sesardić. Making Sense of Heritability is actually pretty accessible.
http://books.google.ca/books?id=3rinSZN ... &q&f=false

[EdwardGemmer]

I don't give two shits about Vancouver. I'm just amused by the fact that you don't seem to understand that Canada and the United States of America are, in fact, different countries. And they say us "merkins" are ignorant.

I'm well aware of the rather minor differences in culture between the two countries. I grew up in a border town. I think you're seeing things in my post which are not there. Perhaps that's a sign to cut back on the booze? Anywho... happy to provide you with some amusement. I live to amuse.

A border town? What are you some sort of halfbreed?

[Apples]

With luminaries like Rebecca and Carrie Poppy as featured speakers, the Women in Secularism Cons are sure to be milestones in the movement.

http://i.imgur.com/CxKWzwe.jpg

[AbsurdWalls]

Regarding the frequently expressed sentiment that "feminists" only want gender equality in "cushy" types of jobs:

http://www.stopcocks.co.uk/

There will come a time when any girl who wants to become a plumber or work in construction will know she can, as a direct result of the existence of Stopcocks Women Plumbers

[Lapsang Souchong]

Even at this late date though, my father would still be pleased as kosher pig shit for me to start seeing a nice jewish boy and maybe pop out a kid before all my eggs dry up. Ain't gonna happen. No jewish-raised (or other types of) grandkiddies from me. I've got a couple of brothers passing along the family genes, and that's good enough for me.

Good thing your parents weren't like these.

[youtube]UaNRSZ-Ga-w[/youtube]

[AbsurdWalls]

With luminaries like Rebecca and Carrie Poppy as featured speakers, the Women in Secularism Cons are sure to be milestones in the movement.

http://i.imgur.com/CxKWzwe.jpg

[youtube]kNryxZhe7kA[/youtube]

[katamari Damassi]

I don't give two shits about Vancouver. I'm just amused by the fact that you don't seem to understand that Canada and the United States of America are, in fact, different countries. And they say us "merkins" are ignorant.

I'm well aware of the rather minor differences in culture between the two countries. I grew up in a border town. I think you're seeing things in my post which are not there. Perhaps that's a sign to cut back on the booze? Anywho... happy to provide you with some amusement. I live to amuse.

A border town? What are you some sort of halfbreed?

RACIST! I demand apologies and hugs!
I'm from Buffalo, NY.

[EdwardGemmer]

The study that Ophelia Benson posted about bullying struck a chord with me.

http://freethoughtblogs.com/butterflies ... #more-6759

The research found that people who were both bullies and victims of bullying had the most serious psychological problems as kids and also the most as adults. This certainly seems to show itself in our community, as quite a few people simultaneously claim to be (and have been) victims but have no problems verbally abusing other people. They also seem to have a lot of issues and some have stated they deal with mental illness. They tend to be the same people who have a very difficult time distinguishing their emotion from reality. Hmm. Warrants more investigation.

[Apples]

[youtube]kNryxZhe7kA[/youtube]

Like, totally.

[EdwardGemmer]

I don't give two shits about Vancouver. I'm just amused by the fact that you don't seem to understand that Canada and the United States of America are, in fact, different countries. And they say us "merkins" are ignorant.

I'm well aware of the rather minor differences in culture between the two countries. I grew up in a border town. I think you're seeing things in my post which are not there. Perhaps that's a sign to cut back on the booze? Anywho... happy to provide you with some amusement. I live to amuse.

A border town? What are you some sort of halfbreed?

RACIST! I demand apologies and hugs!
I'm from Buffalo, NY.

I cast "Wall of Entitlement." Now you owe me a hug.

[Michael J]

Ok - enough interest has been put out there. So, I'm getting things going for a atheist/skeptic blog community. I grabbed http://atheismskepticism.com/ and will be working on a multiple blog CMS setup on my server this weekend (the domain doesn't point properly yet and does nothing at this point, FYI). Thanks for the feedback all! As soon as it's up and ready to go, I'll let you all know.

Neat. Seeing as I think almost every reply you got was from people saying "I would contribute occasionally" my suggestion would be to run it in a way where every "blogger" is a "guest-blogger" and then separate content by topic rather than by author (you could do it with tags e.g. Skepticism, Atheism, Drama). Seeing as the term "blog" usually means "repeated posts by the same author" you might even consider calling it something else, like an "online magazine" or something like that. That way you could treat regular bloggers (such as yourself, I would assume) as one "column" and the guest bloggers on particular topics as another "column".

You could even have a system where there is peer-review/editing by other authors before content gets pushed online. Just a few suggestions.

Seconded. Nothing worse than a FTB/SKeptic Ink landing page where most of the bloggers haven't contributed for a couple of months

[decius]

Renee, I recently looked into precisely that format (for a bunch of people interested in web publishing) and found that Wordpress has some nifty dedicated magazine-like templates. There's also a plugin which greatly helps with issue-based publication.

On other platforms, web magazines are not so easy to set up.

https://mail.google.com/mail/?source=na ... a666427cea

[AbsurdWalls]

Renee, I recently looked into precisely that format (for a bunch of people interested in web publishing) and found that Wordpress has some nifty dedicated magazine-like templates. There's also a plugin which greatly helps with issue-based publication.

On other platforms, web magazines are not so easy to set up.

https://mail.google.com/mail/?source=na ... a666427cea

That link looks like it's to a search of your email inbox. :?

[decius]

Sorry, I'm tired.

http://issuem.com/

[Gumby]

Ok - enough interest has been put out there. So, I'm getting things going for a atheist/skeptic blog community. I grabbed http://atheismskepticism.com/ and will be working on a multiple blog CMS setup on my server this weekend (the domain doesn't point properly yet and does nothing at this point, FYI). Thanks for the feedback all! As soon as it's up and ready to go, I'll let you all know.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gu1wlAwdunU/T ... ellent.gif

[decius]

Here is a selection of mag templates.



http://vandelaydesign.com/blog/wordpres ... ne-themes/

[katamari Damassi]

I don't give two shits about Vancouver. I'm just amused by the fact that you don't seem to understand that Canada and the United States of America are, in fact, different countries. And they say us "merkins" are ignorant.

I'm well aware of the rather minor differences in culture between the two countries. I grew up in a border town. I think you're seeing things in my post which are not there. Perhaps that's a sign to cut back on the booze? Anywho... happy to provide you with some amusement. I live to amuse.

A border town? What are you some sort of halfbreed?

RACIST! I demand apologies and hugs!
I'm from Buffalo, NY.

(((Edward)))
I cast "Wall of Entitlement." Now you owe me a hug.

[Gumby]

Soooo. A setup where there are guest bloggers rather than a network of separate bloggers?

That sounds like a good idea.

Just remember, there has to be a FTB-style backchannel where we can say vicious things about other bloggers and plot to destroy our enemies.

[Submariner]

Soooo. A setup where there are guest bloggers rather than a network of separate bloggers?

That sounds like a good idea.

Just remember, there has to be a FTB-style backchannel where we can say vicious things about other bloggers and plot to destroy our enemies.

Oh and also a super secret forum for the super slymy commenters.

[Gumby]

You could even have a system where there is peer-review/editing by other authors before content gets pushed online. Just a few suggestions.

Or, hire PZ's editor to do it. We'd have one article published every six years or so.

[Gumby]

Soooo. A setup where there are guest bloggers rather than a network of separate bloggers?

That sounds like a good idea.

Just remember, there has to be a FTB-style backchannel where we can say vicious things about other bloggers and plot to destroy our enemies.

Oh and also a super secret forum for the super slymy commenters.

Yes, unless I'm not a member, in which case I'll expose you all for the secretive cliquish cunts you are.

[welch]

Phil - I'd love it if you were there as well :D Now my biggest challenge is figuring out which CMS is best for a multiblog setup. Not a huge fan of Wordpress (though, I have that set up for my kids - just 'cuz it's easier for them). Any suggestions all?

Movable Type is designed around this, although the install and setup is tedious as fuck.

Once nice thing, by default, all pages are static. So fewer performance issues there. If you're going to do comments, for the love of cthulu, outsource that shit. Disqus is a good option.

[Gumby]

Today I managed to overcome my Chris Mooney gag-reflex in order to listen to Steven Pinker on the Point of Interest podcast. You had all better get ready because Ophelia is going to go apeshit, she's probably writing an angry blog ripping into Pinker right now.
He was discussing violence and said that there wasn't much difference between the sexes when it came to something like a head of state waging war in the defence of their country's best interests. He then said:

"Fights over a parking space, road rage, fights over a pool table, fights over national honour where nothing is at stake except national honour, campaigns of bloodthirsty conquest and insane wars of aggression, it looks like that's more of a guy thing."

After seeing how she went tonto on Shermer I'm pretty sure she's now going to do her dinger with Pinker and demand that he admits that women are violent, bloodthirsty arseholes just like men. Let me know when she posts her blog about this.

Yes, I'm sure she'll blog about that any century now.

Interestingly, when I was a bartender, the most violent fights were always amongst the women.

[welch]

He Renee, I have an idea for your blog network. A blogless comment section. A few of them actually. Call one of them Fitzpharangula and let it be a place for unmoderated comments on whatever is going on at pharangula that day, and Fitzalmostdiamonds etc. A bit more focused than this place, maybe. Wouldn't it be funny if it became the "comment section of record" for the fftbs. Might cut into their traffic a bit... oh well.

you mean...a forum?

I guess it could be done here, yeah. But I thought that if she's hosting blogs this could be a sideline, since it's blog related, although not to the particular blogs she hosts. Might generate some traffic for the other blogs.

Google is good at that, so is cross-linking, but if they're all on the same site, then Google cares much less.

Hey Welch what if you are picking up the RSS feed. Does google count that as cross-linking? Or does the link need to be in the text of the blog? What counts as cross-linking I guess is my question

If you want the most google bang for your buck, aggregation sites are not the way to go. A lot of separate sites that link to each other tend to be better. The more separate sites that link to you and vice-versa, the more google juice you get. (THIS IS HIGHLY SIMPLIFIED! Actual legit SEO is somewhat complicated, but done right, yields great benefits.) This, and other issues are why I tend to not be a big fan of them.

[nippletwister]

Irish monument too ‘phallic’ to share park with Montreal Massacre memorial, opponents say

http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/02/19 ... nents-say/

The problem isn't with the original plans.

http://i.imgur.com/X2SM6zd.jpg

It's to do with the Guinness sponsored version.

http://i.imgur.com/tOBXEW2.jpg

From that article

“Placing the [Ireland Canada Monument] design 80 feet from the women’s monument, which has vulva shapes engraved in the top of each of the 14 sarcophagi forms, is inappropriate and will be seen to be a violation by supporters,” wrote Chris McDowell, an activist and second-generation Irish Canadian who led a seven-year campaign to build the Marker of Change.

Just... What. The. Fuck?! Obsessed with genitalia much? And here I thought reducing people down to their sex was bad?! Apparently it's totes ok if you do it to murder victims though?

Fuck, if I was horribly murdered and some loon decided to build a monument over me and decorate it with a giant cock, and then place it in a public park, I think I'd rise from my grave just to give punch him in his face.

As the last sick twist, judging by the pictures, rainwater tend to pool in the engraved vaginas. Making the monument for Lepine's victims in practice 14 sarcophages with wet vaginas... Just who the hell thought that this monument was a good idea?!

You've got to remember that these are just simple feminists. These are people of the land. The common clay of the new West. You know... morons.

[rayshul]

Wow, Zinnia Jones latest blog.

There is room for experimentation here.

So, what could this mean for cis people who don’t believe the sex of their body is important to them? Is there a way for them to put their money where their mouth is? Might we be able to show them, in some small but concretely biological fashion, what it’s like to be trans? Ozy noted that we can’t really go around covertly giving cis men HRT for trans women to see how it affects them. But I think we could circumvent most of these concerns if they agree to it first.

Theoretically I'd be interested in that - I'm pretty sure my gender's not important to me in the slightest, but I doubt I'd want to be a man because a) I'm 100% certain that women get a better deal out of life in virtually every way and b) I'd be a *short* man, and I just don't think I could accept that. (I'm also a leetle worried because I'm fairly aggressive and swear a lot, and I realise my gender probably lets me get away with a fuck load of behaviour that would not be considered "socially appropriate" from a man.) Of course currently pregnant with twins so it's not like I could do any hormone shit. But I'd be interested in an experiment if one was ever done that involved that sort of thing.