So drop on by and tell him the Bastard sent you. I’m sure he’d appreciate the attention.

I am so tired of hearing ‘what is wrong with my opponent and the opposite party’.  I want to hear that the leaders of this country are aware that people are losing their homes, that not every citizen was able to get a degree in a job that is left in this country, That milk cost as much as gasoline, that people are getting sicker and even dying due to lack of descent health care.  I have sat through let us make fuel out of corn and then hearing that converting it is expensive.  Not to mention what do we eat when this is an accepted method for fuel.  How long will crops like beans, peas, tomatoes, cucumbers, etc. be grown when corn is the ‘cash crop’?

When do we stop hearing about the noise the wind generators make and the dangers they may present when we need all the alternative energy sources we can find.  What happened to using flowing water to generate electricity.  Surely every river, stream, or source of water has not dried up in this nation.

We seem to be the target of ‘make them run scared and you can lead them like sheep’.  Well I’m not a sheep!  I want my right to privacy, my right to make a living and pay my bills, to raise my children to respect other people rights and property.  To lead this country you have to have people who will take a chance, change an accepted way, yet still look back on the ideas that built this country. 

That’s my mom and I couldn’t be prouder.

Hubris, the belief that great men dare greatly, and that should disaster fall, those great men should be rescued at the expense of others, set back on their feet, and allowed to try again.

And Hubris, my friends, is exactly what brings us to the current disaster unfolding in the United States financial sector today.

Just like with the Titanic, prideful greedy men set on us a course for disaster. Those captains of Wall Street, in their pride and arrogance, deliberately ignored the lessons of history, 1929, the S&L crash of the 70’s, the Dot Com bust of the 90’s, and all the rest of it. They ordered the boilers lit and the throttles pushed hard to the stops, in order to line their own pockets and to advance their own hubris, and they took all of us down here in steerage along for the ride.

And when we slammed head on at full speed into the iceberg, those arrogant bastards were the first ones to the lifeboats, - or the golden parachutes, choose your own analogy here - demanding safe passage from the crew, or in this case, the government, as they believe is their right.

And, just exactly like the pride of White Star Lines, there’s not enough lifeboats to go around, and a lot of us are going to be left to sink or swim in the icy wine dark water.

OK, I’ve pushed the Titanic analogy to the breaking point - but the comparison is apt.

Now that’s terms I can wrap my head around. Jim goes on to explain the why of why we need to bail out Wall Street even though it would be more satisfying to let it crash and burn. Jim doesn’t have a lot of solutions, but then, like me, he’s not an economics expert. He does have an excellent grasp of the situation and why it’s a problem and why we need to do something about it and how anything we do is going to be far from a perfect solution. All of which helps me to put it into sharper perspective myself. It’s a good read. I’ll be adding Jim to my blogroll.

...and then got distracted by a shiny object and totally forgot about it.

Now some two months from when we were given the award I’m just getting around to mentioning it publicly and again thanking Paul. Hopefully he’s not too offended by the fact that I let it slip my mind because I really did appreciate getting it to begin with. As you can see from the sidebar we’re not exactly overflowing with accolades here at SEB so the fact that Paul went through the trouble to make a special graphic and all was really cool. It doesn’t hurt that we were in the top 10 on the list either.

So stop on by Momma’s Corner and wish her a Happy Blogiversary!

Try this little experiment. Pick a public place, a grocery store, a bar, maybe a mall. Stand there with a clip board and ask random strangers what their favorite lolcat is. Ask them if they know that longcat is looonnnggg. See if they know who Anonymous is locked in battle against.

We have this weird disconnect with the world these days. The internet has provided us with such a detailed method of social interaction and we have formed amazing communities around it. Places where we interact with hundreds, even thousands of people. We spend so much time there, that it’s easy to forget that most of the people around us in real life, well, don’t.

And when we start saying things like “Jesus Christ, it’s a lion, get in the car”, they just sort of stare at us blankly. It’s a situation I’ve become adjusted to and even enjoy. I like those blank stares. I like being in on the joke, no matter how stupid the joke may be.

I’d never really sat down and thought about this before, but it’s definitely true because I’m often trying to explain to other people why something stupid I just said is actually really, really funny. Often it’s my Mom who has the typical reaction of shaking her head at me and deciding it’s not worth asking for a better explanation. My wife, while not as well versed as I am, is immersed enough in Internet and gaming culture because of her association with me that she’ll often toss out a meme or joke just as readily only to have me be the only person in the room who picks up on it. At which point we try explaining it, usually to my Mom, who shakes her head at both of us and tries to be satisfied that at least we’re a happy, if somewhat deranged, couple. Even so my mom and, oddly enough, my dad are both immersed enough to at least know what LOLCats are. Hell, my dad actually reads Cute Overload regularly and shares what he finds with me.

There’s so much of that stuff on the Net, though, that it can be difficult keeping up. In the examples given above by KPG I was already familiar with LOLCats, Long Cats, and who the hell Anonymous are (is?), but I wasn’t particularly familiar with “Jesus Christ, it’s a lion, get in the car!“ So I did what I do when I need to edumacate myself and Googled it. Turns out its likely origins is with a LOLCat picture, one that I’ve actually seen before and forgot about. It’s also said that it’s what is known as a Rogue Punchline, which is a form of humor I’ve practiced for years without ever even realizing it. I ended up spending a half hour going through various Wikipedia and Uncyclopedia articles learning about the various types of memes and jokes to be found on the Net. Many I am already familiar with, but there were more than a few I wasn’t.

The appeal, for me anyway, is the subversive nature of that kind of humor. The first time you use it around someone they’ll look at you like you’re an idiot, but if you continue to use it repeatedly around said person they’ll slowly start to understand it and find it actually funny. One of the people I worked with at the job I just quit was a fellow by the name of Nate who is a walking treasure trove of memes and jokes of this sort. I knew I had found a fellow Internet Geek when one day he tossed out the classic: My Pokemons, let me show you them, which is easily modified to “My X, let me show you them” where you replace X with whatever the hell you want to show someone.  He would use these jokes with wild abandon in his conversations and half the time I was the only person giggling his ass off over them. Which just goes back to what KPG was saying in his entry. It was kind of fun being one of the few people in the group to know what the hell Nate was prattling on about and I reciprocated in kind probably just as often.

Having gotten this far into this entry I suddenly realize that I don’t really have a point to all of this other than to give KPG some link-loving for helping me with another paradigm shift. Chalk it up to having gotten up way too early this morning without actually firing up the brain first.

There is a rich, deep kind of irony that must be shared. I’m blogging this from the Apple store in the Mall of America, because I’m too amused to want to wait until I get back to my hotel room.

I went to attend a screening of the creationist propaganda movie, Expelled, a few minutes ago. Well, I tried … but I was Expelled! It was kind of weird — I was standing in line, hadn’t even gotten to the point where I had to sign in and show ID, and a policeman pulled me out of line and told me I could not go in.

I’m still laughing though. You don’t know how hilarious this is. Not only is it the extreme hypocrisy of being expelled from their Expelled movie, but there’s another layer of amusement. Deep, belly laugh funny. Yeah, I’d be rolling around on the floor right now, if I weren’t so dang dignified.

The real surprise is in the full posting: Expelled! at Pharyngula.

Read more: here and here and even here.

90DayJane was meant to mirror the tragic figure, Christine Chubbuck. Newscaster Christine Chubbuck committed suicide in 1974 by shooting herself in the head live on air. She was very vocal about her depression to those around her and gave every indication of her exact intentions leading up to the event. Sadly, no one reacted or helped Christine and those left behind could only ask “why”.

Her story both inspired and terrified me because I can truly empathize with her rage and even her isolation. I wondered how Christine’s life and subsequent suicide would play out in our time. Would the internet be yet another place of isolation to her or an escape? If she remained vocal about her intentions would anyone bother asking “why” or even noticing before the fact? Would the reaction (if any) of the public change her intentions?

I thought this mirror might reflect the isolation everyday people feel and the lack of true human connection on the internet.

It is my feeling that the internet is the best and worst example of human interaction. This was painfully proven to me by reading every comment and every email. I believe I owed that to everyone. I know we all saw the dark side of the reactions in the blog comments. There was so much hate, immaturity and apathy. But, I truly wish everyone could see the beauty and honesty in the emails; many people feel like Jane (me). People have been more real and heartfelt than I thought was possible. I owe them a debt of gratitude for showing me the difference between people’s reactions and their true feelings. I understand.

I have to admit that “art pieces” like this always leave me with the realization of why I’m not an artist. I just don’t understand how this is art. Social experiment? Sure, I can see that. But art? OK, whatever.

I am amused at her not realizing how likely something like this was to explode in terms of the attention it would garner. Welcome to the Internet, “Jane.“

Original entry follows:

The atheist blogs are humming with commentary over a blog called 90 Day Jane. Here’s why:

I am going to kill myself in 90 days. What else should i say? This blog is not a cry for help or even to get attention. It’s simply a public record of my last 90 days in existence. I’m not depressed and nothing extremely horrible has lead me to this decision. But, does it really have to? I mean, as an atheist I feel life has no greater purpose. My generation has had no great depression, no great war and our biggest obstacle is beating Halo 3. So, if I feel like saying “game over”, why can’t I?

Well it’s certainly a novel idea for a blog I suppose, but it seems a bit of a pointless exercise for someone who claims they’re not looking for attention and has already made up their mind. Speculation has run the gamut from it being a social experiment of some sort to an effort by some religious group to attract converts. Shnakepup of the blog “Salt on Everything” seems to feel it’s the latter option:

Expect “Jane” to start laying the nihilism and hedonism on thick, all the while spouting off about how pointless it all is. Then, closer to the due date, we’ll see more and more posts featuring Jane reconsidering her godless, wasteful existence , and pondering if maybe there’s something more. Cue religious friend who sets her straight on the lie of atheism, and who tells her all the church has to offer in it’s place. Instead of killing herself on Day 90, we’ll see her changing her mind and deciding to live her life with Jesus! Warm fuzzy music plays and everybody learns a valuable lesson.

And there’s some decent reasons put forward for thinking this is the case, but I have to admit that I haven’t a clue if it’s real or fake myself though I would tend to be skeptical. Still in this day and age with Emo kids offing themselves just so their friends will set up memorial websites about them it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if this turned out to be authentic.

I’m not interested so much in whether it’s a hoax as much as I am in the reaction it’s garnering from the people that visit the site. Comments on the various entries has ranged from the expected “life is too worth living” pleas to abandon the plan to some seriously thoughtful comments on what “Jane” should spend her last 90 days doing along with how to do the deed itself. Combined, of course, with a whole bunch of Internet assholes leaving nasty comments just because the anonymity allows them to be complete douche bags without fear of retribution. I never cease to be amazed at the assholes who always seem to be able to sink lower than the one that posted just before them.

As to ‘90 Day Jane’ herself, well, I don’t know her well enough to have an emotional investment in whether she lives or dies and while I can put forth arguments as to why I’m not interested in suicide at this point in my life those arguments apply mainly to me and aren’t necessarily good ones for anyone else. I think it’d be a waste if she were to go through with it, but I’m not going to sit here and tell her she shouldn’t if that’s what she really wants. We each have to find our own purpose in life even if it is sometimes as simple as seeing what the next day will bring, or even just finishing Halo 3. If it turns out to be a church out-reach kind of thing, well, you know what kind of church it is for engaging in deceptive recruiting efforts. If it’s a social experiment then it’ll be interesting to see what conclusions are drawn from it.

Then it hit me that I’m always on the lookout for new and interesting blogs to read, particularly those written from an atheist perspective (though not necessarily devoted solely to atheism). So I thought I’d start an entry asking you guys to list off your favorite atheist authored blogs in the comments. In particular I’m interested in hearing about sites you think are deserving of a boost in traffic and I encourage you guys to check out each other’s links. I’ll also be updating my own blogroll to include some that I’ve been reading in Google Reader regularly, but haven’t gotten around to listing in the side bar yet. Of course I’d recommend any of the blogs that are in my sidebar already.

It’s possible that the anti-comment spam we’re using might moderate some comments with lots of links in them so if you see that your post doesn’t show up immediately that may be why. If you’re a registered SEB member it shouldn’t be a problem.

So let me know what your must-reads are. Let’s get a little link lovin’ going on.