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The Resistance

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trump

 

Did you miss me?

Before I jump into this hot mess we have found ourselves in let me update anyone who is curious.

Tom Raspoptnik lost his attempt to win against me in court (he lost)

Tom Raspotnik and his creepy “wife” are currently defending themselves from a lawsuit claiming they are guilty of copyright violations. Looks like they are going to lose that case too.

To sum it up Tom Raspotnik is still the same loser he has always been…business as usual.

I am currently living in Reno NV. I have a great job which I enjoy very much. I have an apartment I like very much with a great view of the Reno downtown skyline. I have also become a grandpa, my grand-daughter is a very cute and extremely busy little girl. My daughter is a great mother. She has her own apartment and a good job, nice car…I guess I succeeded in raising her. What do you know about that?

Ok enough about me lets discuss what is going on in this great country. I think we should start out by asking one question…

HAVE MILLIONS OF PEOPLE LOST THEIR FUCKING MINDS?!

Yes, I’m afraid they have.

Donald Trump is about to officially become the POTUS. Just typing that scares me. I do not get it, I’ve tried to understand it, really I have. I’ve tried and tried to put myself in the shoes of the people who support Trump. I’ve listened to the explanations for why people support him like

“They feel abandoned by the Democrats”

“They have watched all the jobs leave town and nothing replace them”

“Donald Trump tells it like it is”

“Donald Trump is going to drain the swamp”

Don’t misunderstand me I know how Donald got elected. He snuck in under the radar. Too many people dismissed the possibility of Trump actually getting elected so they didn’t step up to vote against him. They underestimated the number of stupid people who would actually vote for an idiot like Trump. What I can’t understand is why those people have become so stupid that they can support Trump.

The Murderer of Truth

First of all, the guy is a liar. I don’t mean the typical politician who lies to get votes. Trump takes that stereotype and not only embraces it, he gives it steroids, lots of steroids

Check out Politifact. They check out statements made by politicians to see how true they are.

Not only is Trump a huge liar but he seems to have a poor grasp on reality.

One instance stands out to me most. During a rally where Obama was speaking a Trump supporter was being heckled by the crowd. Obama stopped his speech and repeatedly told the crowd to calm down and leave the man alone. He reminded them that in this country it was ok to have a different opinion.

The next day Donald Trump told a crowd at one of his rallies about the incident. He said the president “spent so much time screaming at this protester.” and described Obama’s reaction to the protester as “a disgrace”. Check it out-

It’s one thing to have a different take on a story, that isn’t the case here. Trump’s version is completely wrong. He also consistently denies saying things that are well documented or even recorded on video. It’s very easy to use google and prove Trump said the things he denies ever saying but he continues to stick to his story. It is nothing less than amazing.

The Twilight Zone

When you attempt to point out the obvious lies Trump has been telling to his supporters the usual response from them is to call you “one of those liberals” and to tell you to “get over losing the election and quit whining/crying”

This drives me crazy. How does expecting someone to be honest make me a liberal? Is that the distinction  now? Liberal= honest Conservative= liar

99%… If You Can’t Beat ‘Em Make ‘Em President

Image result for occupy wall streetHow so many working class people came to the conclusion that Donald Trump was the one man who save them from whatever problems they have is another mystery. Remember the “Occupy Wall Street” protests? What the fuck happened to all those people? I guess they just gave up and said “fuck it might as well give in. Not only did they give in the doubled down and let Trump get elected. No protests, no marching, no yelling. I did hear about one group who tried to close down a highway in protest but somebody drove through the human blockade and killed one of them….that pretty much took care of that.

 

 The Resistance

I’ve always believed you should stand up for what you believe in doing whatever you can no matter how small. That is what I will be doing here on an ongoing basis. That mean you should share and support content, do your own podcast, write your own blog, attend protests in your area, if there aren’t any start one. DO SOMETHING or accept whatever Tump does to you with a smile cause you deserve what you get.

To be continued

Up next- The United Corporation of America 

Old School…..arcade games

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arcade

I just came across a disc that I thought I had lost.  It contains what I consider a priceless assortment of files. I thought maybe some of you could appreciate the memories they brought back. I’m gonna post some of my favorites along with comment, facts or tips.  I’ll explain exactly what it was I found at the end of the blog.

During the game three birds will attack all in a line. Let those birds fly all the way to the bottom and start to fly back up. As they are flying up, shoot all three in a row real quick (2 or 3 seconds) and you will get 200, 000 points instead of 200. Phoenix- Just fun. During the game three birds will attack all in a line. Let those birds fly all the way to the bottom and start to fly back up. As they are flying up, shoot all three in a row real quick (2 or 3 seconds) and you will get 200, 000 points instead of 200.

Tapper- Funniest part of the game- The customers were all dicks and the little move the bar tender does when he loses a beer –
There were three versions of Tapper released: Root Beer, Budweiser, and Sun- tary (UK).
The main character in the game (as well as the guy in Domino Man and one of the lumberjacks in Timber) is based on a Marvin Glass employee named Mike Ferris who had the same mustache and bald head and wore a red T-shirt all the time. This game was play tested in a Chicago-area Rush Street bar called the Snuggery with much positive feedback. Digitized belches were going to be used in the game, but they never made it into the final version.

superpac
They called it SUPER PAC-MAN for a reason.
It was written in just a few weeks on Escape From the Planet of the Robot Monsters hardware.
Klax- It was written in just a few weeks on Escape From the Planet of the Robot Monsters hardware. But it  was so good it seemed  like it should have taken years. Unique puzzle game.
If "Continue Game" is turned on, you can keep continuing at a higher level each time. However, you must gain at least one extra man in each continued game to continue that game. This process stops when you reach the 300, 000 point mark. At this point, no matter how high your score gets (i.e. 400, 000, 500, 000 etc.), you will NOT be able to continue your game at a higher score.
Millipede It’s  the kick-ass continuation of centipede. If “Continue Game” is turned on, you can keep continuing at a higher level each time. However, you must gain at least one extra man in each continued game to continue that game. This process stops when you reach the 300, 000 point mark. At this point, no matter how high your score gets (i.e. 400, 000, 500, 000 etc.), you will NOT be able to continue your game at a higher score.
Joust- I will kick your ass at this game, yes I am talking to you.
Early machines had a bug that allowed players to rack up millions of points by standing on the middle plat- form and killing pterodactyls endlessly, or until they got tired and gave up.
Another bug that became a “cut -throat” feature was the ability to belly-flop and squeeze between tight gaps in staggered platforms.
Ghosts and Goblins- One game I could never make it to the end of. I’m still bothered by that fact to this day
Weapon trick – After having defeated a level boss(es), the knight can fire two or three “invisible shots”; if the man is facing the right border of the screen while doing so, the shots will reappear in the following stage. This can be exploited to kill some of the skulls at beginning of level six

gaplus

Gaplus-They were not called stages…they were called parsecs…awesome

Dig-Dug- Probably played this more than any other video game other than Joust. It was fun to blow those little things up

Food Fight was designed for Atari by General Computing as part of a lawsuit settlement for an illegal speedup kit for Missile Command, in which they affixed their copyright. This was one of two games; Quantum was the other. Inspired by the food fight scene in National Lampoon's Animal House.
Food Fight was designed for Atari by General Computing as part of a lawsuit settlement for an illegal speedup kit for Missile Command, in which they affixed their copyright. This was one of two games; Quantum was the other.
Inspired by the food fight scene in National Lampoon’s Animal House.

 

csprint
Championship Sprint Amazing because 4 people could play AT THE SAME TIME!

 

crossbow
Crossbow The creepy sound effects are what made the game and the way your people melted when they got hit only made it more fun.

 

galaga88
Galaga 88 My favorite of the Galaga series
The first coin-op game designed by a woman. A grasshopper was in the original design, but was later removed from the game. Like Pacman, this game has special appeal to women.
Centipede-Cool cause you used a roller ball to control it. The first coin-op game designed by a woman. A grasshopper was in the original design, but was later removed from the game. 

 

In the early stages, try to fly as low as possible - this way the fighters will not shoot you, and you are low enough to shoot the ground targets without being shot. Since this only works when you're in the air, and not when you're on the ground, it only works well on levels 1 and 3.
Choplifter-Sometimes you would accidentally (on purpose shoot the guys you were trying to rescue and they made a funny little shriek. Must have played this one a million times. In the early stages, try to fly as low as possible – this way the fighters will not shoot you, and you are low enough to shoot the ground targets without being shot. Since this only works when you’re in the air, and not when you’re on the ground, it only works well on levels 1 and 3.

 

Originally called Toperoids, this game was originally a 3D Asteroids variant, in which asteroids and other objects fell from the sky, endangering the player. The enemies coming down from the top of the screen was an artifact from the original concept. (Videotopia)
Crystal Castles- One of the first “3-d” video games I ever played. Originally called Toperoids, this game was originally a 3D Asteroids variant, in which asteroids and other objects fell from the sky, endangering the player. The enemies coming down from the top of the screen was an artifact from the original concept.

 

In the second building: when you arrive at the electrical sign, choose the left path. Then put yourself under the electrical wire (rightmost window of the left path) but keep both joysticks pressed. After a few seconds your climber will become red with white hair and electricity won't have effect on it.
Crazy Climber- With the crazy 2 joystick controls. In the second building: when you arrive at the electrical sign, choose the left path. Then put yourself under the electrical wire (rightmost window of the left path) but keep both joysticks pressed. After a few seconds your climber will become red with white hair and electricity won’t have effect on it.

 

"What I was trying to do with Bubbles was come up with a non-violent, clean game, " (no pun intended) says John Kotlarik. One of three games that came in the famous and highly collectable DuraMold cabinet, others being Blaster and Sinistar)
“Bubbles was an attempt to come up with a non-violent, clean game, ” (no pun intended) says programmer John Kotlarik.

 

Burger Time Those little eggs still piss me off.
The original Data East version hardware had a cassette module so games could be converted easily and quickly. Unfortunately, the cassettes were prone to breakage, and the systems were quickly junked. When Bally Midway licensed the game from DECO, they replaced the hardware with a dedicated hardware system.
carnival
Carnival- This was another one of my favorite bowling alley arcade games.
Berzerk was originally designed for the 6809E CPU, until it was discovered that the processor didn't work properly. The board was then redone to run on a Z80. The speech was done using LPC coding, which cost $1, 000 per word to compress at that time. The game also originally had a monochrome monitor; when Defender was released in color, the company re-considered their display approach and re-designed the display using a color overlay board. Evil Otto was named for Dave Otto, who worked for Dave Nutting's Arcade Engineering group as R & D director at the time Alan McNeil did. Each Berzerk unit was "autographed" by the designer. Mr. Peter Bukowski was the first person to die playing a video game, when he died of a heart attack playing Berzerk at the "Friar Tuck Game Room" in Calumet City, Illinois. An interesting quirk: The space between your man's head and body is not technically part of your man, so that shots that pass through this area (your "neck") will not kill you. ’
Berzerk was originally designed for the 6809E CPU, until it was discovered that the processor didn’t work properly. The board was then redone to run on a Z80. The speech was done using LPC coding, which cost $1, 000 per word to compress at that time. The game also originally had a monochrome monitor; when Defender was released in color, the company re-considered their display approach and re-designed the display using a color overlay board.
Evil Otto was named for Dave Otto, who worked for Dave Nutting’s Arcade Engineering group as R & D director at the time Alan McNeil did. Each Berzerk unit was “autographed” by the designer.
Mr. Peter Bukowski was the first person to die playing a video game, when he died of a heart attack playing Berzerk at  the “Friar Tuck Game Room” in Calumet City, Illinois.
An interesting quirk: The space between your man’s head and body is not technically part of your man, so that shots that pass through this area (your “neck”) will not kill you. 
Zookeeper- Round and round you go trying to keep the animals from escaping…round and round and round
sinistar
Sinistar- The thing I remember about this game is when Sinistar  came after you…you were fucked, fast and hard.

There is a project called MAME.

MAME stands for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator. When used in conjunction with images of the original arcade game’s ROM and disk data, MAME attempts to reproduce that game as faithfully as possible on a more modern general-purpose computer. MAME can currently emulate several thousand different classic arcade video games from the late 1970s through the modern era.

The ROMS are available on the net and some have been released for public use. Be careful cause possession of ROMS you don’t have a legal right to is piracy just like any other software. Just cause it’s old and cheesy doesn’t make it free to use. MAME is not difficult to configure with the ability to make basic video adjustments you can set it up.

I’m not sure how many games MAME supports now but years ago when I was messing with emulators there were over 3000 different variations of arcade games supported so go get yourself a computer joystick and take a trip down memory lane.

 

 

 

What’s in a Name? / Where is the Diversity?

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PZ calls the rude inept simpletons who rule his comment section with the swift justice of a sharp rock but with half the intellect “the horde”.

I wondered where PZ came up with the name so I looked it up. Here are some of the results. You might find them interesting.

Is this where PZ got the idea for ‘the horde’?

Okay, yea I can see that.  Really does fit some of the posts I’ve seen and the type I picture expressing themselves in that manner.

Or maybe this-

  • The Horde MC: A national biker gang with a reputation for extreme violence and racial bigotry. One visit to Farmington was a robbery that ended with the culprits arrested by the Strike Team. In season 6, the Horde are mentioned as buying a large shipment of meth. Ronnie goes undercover and this results in the arrest of three of the Horde bikers.

Hmmmm…racial bigotry. Doesn’t really seem to fit. Odd picking a name that has been represented  in this manner. Didn’t PZ bother to check what the name would conjure up in people’s heads when they heard it? Guess not.

Or maybe this-

Thumb_lusty

Seems a bit too sexy for PZ. There is the time he tried to hook up with a woman for sex on stage so maybe …

This looks like it has potential-

 

    Or maybe PZ was thinking of the historical account of Horde –

  •    After founding the Mongol Empire and being proclaimed “Genghis Khan”, he started the Mongol invasions that resulted in the conquest of most of Eurasia. These campaigns were often accompanied by wholesale massacres of the civilian populations. An estimated that 30 million people were killed under the rule of the Mongol Empire

     During the Black Death plague the Mongol army was reportedly withering from the disease, they decided to use the infected corpses as a biological weapon. The corpses were catapulted over city walls, infecting the inhabitants. 

 

Well….that’s not good. Who the hell would name their regular commenters after that fucked-up mess? PZ must not have given much thought to the title. He may as well call them “The Clan”  They were total assholes but at least they didn’t lob infected dead bodies at people.

Nah that name wouldn’t work either. Who would believe such a diverse group of people would call themselves  “The Clan” ?  In order to do that they would have to be all white people and that couldn’t possibly be…. Oh wait…..

Behold the diversity that is "the horde" !!

Behold the diversity that is “the horde” !!

I’m a bit confused…. If a person of color goes into the comment section of PZ’s blog is this the group that is going to tear them to shreds?  I know there have been victims of ‘the horde” who were minorities. What is up with that?  Something about that doesn’t seem right.

Well at least we have the Freethought Bloggers they must be represented by some diversity right?

Well….there are mostly women…. that’s good right? Maybe the FTB bloggers with darker skin just don’t go to conferences or something, I really don’t know  much about how that works at FTB. It would maybe be a good idea to help minorities feel comfortable about attending or maybe they could use some help with the cost. Discount tickets for those who aren’t being paid as well as other people. I’ve heard that happens.  If you are going to talk about it so much then it seems action should follow. Jason Thibeault managed to get his trip paid for with donations didn’t he? Is Canadian a minority?  I’m pretty sure it isn’t.

 

Going Postal On Atheists

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astamp

Time Magazine did a report on a German footwear company that says the packages it sends are taking longer to reach their destination or getting lost completely more often than they should. The company is named Atheist Shoes and uses tape that bears the company name on the packages.

The company did its own test to see if the tape made a difference. While not an official study some of the results were interesting. One package sent to Michigan took 37 days longer to reach its destination than another unmarked package. A package with the ‘atheist’ tape was also more than 10x more likely to be lost.  The company has stopped using the tape and says it’s delivery times have improved.

This could be just a stunt to bring some easy exposure to the show company. Such a story would be noticed mostly by atheists and the company brands itself as for “people who don’t believe in god(s).”

I thought it would be interesting to do my own test and see what came of it. I won’t be able to account for all variables but I think maybe we could see if there are any obvious delays that could call for further research. I’ll be sending envelopes instead of packages and I’ll print something like “ATHEIST INFORMATION” on the envelope.

Anyone who would like to help with this can contact me through  the contact page. I’ll need addresses to send the letters to. Let’s keep em in the US since the company reported no problems with shipping delays in Europe…..figures.

Richard Carrier….rejected

8 Replies

  richardthumbdown

 

So  Richard Carrier gave a talk at the American Atheist convention in Austin….the fallout continues. It is amazing  the severe meltdown and the cutting of the ties to reality Richard Carrier is going through over the downvotes his presentation has acquired on youtube.  Am I being overly dramatic? Look for yourself  Atheism…Plus What?  The first few comments are enough to see what I’m talking about. If you get to Oolon’s comment you have gone one too far. Don’t bother. Since Oolon is the only person on the planet who is blocked from this blog comment section I won’t trash talk him, there is always twitter for that.

Anyway…..The lengths Richard goes to in order to defend his presentation is embarrassing. It’s like when we were kids and we played cops and robbers. There was always that one kid who never went down when he got shot. You would have your finger right up his nose and yell “BANG! YOU’RE DEAD!” and the kid would reply “You missed!” and then run off with the bank’s money like a criminal zombie with a gunshot wound to the head. Over and over Richard has faced fingers pointed right between his eyes and he just keeps yelling “YOU MISSED ME!”

It’s painful to watch. Richard is perfectly childlike in the way he avoids facing the fact he could, dare I say it? Be mistaken???! At the time of this post his video is at 18,129 total views with 654 upvotes and  4338 downvotes. Richard has been pulling out all the stops though. Actually spending time to ‘answer’ some of the commenters. This has not done him any good, in fact it seems to have brought to the surface some personality traits that Richard may want to focus on if he should ever decide to see a therapist.

There is an excellent reply to Richard Carrier by which can be found here

   However, like I said , Richard is having none of it.  After Thunderf00t posts a video explaining some of the problems with Richards presentation the reply to it is  this Is Thunderf00t a Sociopath?

Richard Carrier starts out with the usual character assassination that FTB are now known for and continues to make assumptions through the entire post. Richard Carrier has become just another over dramatic actor in the dispute among skeptics.  Richards attack on Thunderf00t is met with a reply.  If Richard Carrier was really as bright as some people say he is he would shut the hell up and go hide out for a while

   Over and over again Richard has been handed his ass on a platter. Over and over Richard lifts the lid and then slams it back down and starts yelling at his server.

  PZ Myers of course had to put in his $.02 and as usual it is way overvalued, so much so I’m not even going to link it.  PZ Myers is more out of touch than Carrier when it comes to reality and social interaction. PZ also lives in a state that ranks at the bottom third when it comes to diversity so in his bubble of course it’s going to look like minorities are not being included. Maybe he should concentrate on getting his own state to be more welcoming to minorities then he can start bragging about he knows better than anyone else.

  I guess the moral of the story is some people just can’t ever accept they are wrong and PZ Myers is always going to be a dick….Oh and I told you so Richard. Months ago when you first tried to separate the atheists/skeptics with your us vs. them bullshit. Which is EXACTLY what you did so stop telling lies.

 I’ll leave you with one of my latest video replies to the skeptics posers

Adam Lee- Hey Look! There’s Nothing To See Here!

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Adam Lee

Hey everyone! Guess what?!

Adam Lee needs some attention again. Yes, I knew it would happen too…

Adam writes about a radio guest spot he did here

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/daylightatheism/2013/03/my-interview-on-the-jesse-lee-peterson-show/

After reading his blog post I felt a need to tell Adam directly how I felt about a couple of things. Since we all know Adam Lee is not exactly dependable when it comes to comment integrity I figured I would post my comments here where they are safe from any editing or lost as a result of irresponsible comment handling practices. A couple of lines stood out in his blog post.

• “I’ve never met a feminist who didn’t hate men,” he said. I bet the denizens of the Slymepit would find a lot to talk about with this guy.

Adam, honestly you are one of the most not intelligent and dishonest people I have come across in some time.
     Do you realize there are almost 600 members of the slymepit forum. I think it is safe to say that if you make such suggestions  then you can not possibly be speaking from an informed position and are being unfair to those people. Meanwhile you continue to spout off about equal this and respectful that, you are full of shit.
    I just listened to your guest spot on the radio. You will hear more from me on it soon (or see more I should say) I wonder why it is you could go out and shout at the world there is no problem with atheist harassment except for the problem atheists have with harassment.( WTF?!) But you will not engage other atheist over the issue in a public debate. Do you really want the problem solved or not?

  How is that more likely to happen by telling believers about it? Do you think people are not becoming atheists because they are worried about sexual harassment? If they weren’t worried about it before they might be now ..all thanks to you. You’re helping , yay us! We are so lucky to have an inept fella like you on our side.

The other one was this-

• The other caller who said I was the “best-versed atheist [he’d] ever heard”. Thanks! ~Adam ‘gloat’ Lee

I’m guessing Adam didn’t hear the part where the caller points out it was sarcasm and how it applied to his compliment of Adam .  Sorry Adam, maybe next time you do something stupid  you will get a compliment. That makes  for lots of opportunity 🙁

 

Then I get to the podcast of Adam sharing his vast wisdom with a religious radio talk show host. That can be found here

Note: Skip to about 1:26:00: to hear Adam talking if you are so inclined.

 

Now after listening to Adam’s appearance on the show. I will be fair and say he did fine on the usual topics, morality, thoughts etc. They should be easy to knock out.

I do have a problem with Adam and his lack of common sense on other matters which I addressed on his comment section but will repost here for the readers who do not wish to suffer the pain of Adam Lee’s blog.

 

Way to go Adam I love the part where you say there are some racists/sexist people in the atheist community just as there are in any large group of people so you started a petition to let everyone know the the racists are just a small minority. Great work helping get the word out that there are racists but we shouldn’t listen to them. You ever think it would be better to not draw attention to them? Do you realize the number of people who are going to make a connection between atheists and racism/sexism went up as soon as they heard you telling them about it? Do you think the religious listener base of this show is going to hear anything past that? Then you give as an example some prominent atheist women have been attacked by this small minority and we want them to stop. Oh, by the way Adam you forgot to mention this all happened on the internet. I am curious why you would come on a religious program and discuss your little petition when there are much more appropriate topics that could be discussed when your audience is mainly believers.  Even if the host insisted on the subject you could have downplayed the issue. IMO we have enough people hating and judging us on false assumptions. Why would you not only offer another reason to dislike atheists but validate it and present it as enough of a problem to need a petition to stop it? I should also note you feel it is productive to bring sexual harassment by atheists up as a topic on a radio show with mostly religious listeners but you won’t discuss the problem with the people you think comprise the problem?  Is this the best you could think of? Don’t answer that. you obviously are more interested in attention and getting compliments dripping with sarcasm.

I bet you think that takes care of Adam’s junkie-like need for attention, don’t you? Well you are incorrect. Thanks for coming on the show. We have some lovely parting gifts for you.That will include another blog on Adam Lee being irresponsible and more!

Stay tuned….

 

 

 

 

 

Ophelia ‘boredom’ Benson

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Ophelia2

The following is an email correspondence between Thaumas Themelios and Ophelia Benson regarding a deleted comment on Ophelia’s blog (http://www.butterfliesandwheels.org/2011/focus/), which was later re-posted here: http://gnuatheism.wikispaces.com/Elevator+Guy+Kerfuffle

    The purpose of publishing this correspondence is to document Ophelia’s stated reasons for deleting the post, at the time the deletion occurred, to allow for accurate commentary and criticism in relation to ongoing discussions regarding the origins and development of several major controversies related to atheist and skeptical communities, of which this discussion is a recent example: http://www.michaelnugent.com/2013/03/15/eight-choices-we-can-make-to-help-move-beyond-the-rifts-in-the-atheist-and-skeptical-communities/

     The publishing of this information is protected under the Fair Use (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use) limitation and exception of United States copyright law, which states that: “the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.”

Unnecessary identifying information has been removed to protect individuals’ privacy.

Correspondence follows, in chronological order:

 

Date: Wed, 13 Jul 2011 15:16:07 -0400
From: Thaumas Themelios
Subject: Wonderist stop it.

Hi Ophelia,

If you would be more clear on what’s wrong with my posts, I would
attempt to change how I post. Just telling me to ‘stop it’ doesn’t give
me anything to go on. Stop doing what exactly?

Sometimes they’re long. I’ve got a lot to say and feel the need to be
clear so that I’m not misinterpreted (as happens so frequently in this
particular discussion). But it appears that just length isn’t your
concern, since some long stuff goes through and others get deleted
without warning.

Thaumas

P.S.
Here is a comment I would like to post. I think it addresses important
issues. If you let me know what you object to, I could modify it, or
refrain from posting:

@Godless Heathen

The shitstorm had already started over Rebecca’s comment about the
guy propositioning her in the elevator at 4am. The McGraw stuff
brought that comment to a wider audience. Most of that audience did
NOT listen to the original comment themselves and started going nuts
because they thought they were being told to never hit on women
anywhere, ever or they thought “Oh-My-God-How-Will-I-Ever-Get-Laid
if I can’t ask a woman for “coffee” in an enclosed space at 4
AM????? OHMYGOD, now I’m doomed to be a single, shy, lonely guy
forevar!!!!

I use ‘shitstorm’ to refer to people making unfounded accusations
against one another, leading to largescale vilification, escalation, and
entrenchment on both sides.

The comments on the video were largely anonymous and usually just
expressed a different opinion. Yes, some were over-the-top misogyny, and
others were examples of the escalation pattern I’ve been describing.
It’s of course worth going after the actual misogyny and sexism that
occurred. But this kind of thing has occurred many times before, and it
never got to the point of people Dawkins getting involved and caught up
in the vilification.

This kind of thing would have run its course on its own, probably with
RW unambiguously coming out way ahead. In fact, it had already been
through the blogosphere once (the AronRa video) and didn’t get
Pharyngulated. What gave it extra juice was the McGraw incident, when
several attendees and others took issue with Watson’s treatment of
McGraw. At this point, we have a clear example of the escalation pattern
against someone who states herself that she was grossly misrepresented
and was not in any way supportive of misogyny, nor was she ‘anti-woman’.

This was again escalated with the Naming Names post, et voila, the
shitstorm ensues.

Why was this the beginning of the shitstorm and not before? Because
people (many feminists among them) who spoke up defending McGraw got
tarred with the same brush as the actual misogynists and sexists. In
fact, that’s the brush that McGraw herself got tarred with. This is when
the assuming of malicious intentions got so out of whack that feminists
were attacking feminists as anti-woman, when really it was a matter of
difference of opinion over a hot topic.

The same pattern of vilification is evident with the treatment of
Richard Dawkins. I’ll note that Rebecca Watson has herself been a victim
of such vilification. That is why I’m attempting to leave out my
personal opinion and only report Watson’s actions, rather than speculate
as to her motives. In the end, the motives don’t make much of a
difference, it’s the behaviour that perpetuates the cycle.

From: Ophelia Benson
Subject: RE: Wonderist stop it.
Date: Wed, 13 Jul 2011 13:14:40 -0700

Hi Thaumas,

Maybe there wouldn’t be much wrong with them (though they’d still be too long,
but then so are some others, for my taste) taken independently, but after all
those endless detailed ones about McGraw they’re just too much. Some long stuff
goes through because I don’t like to delete, but the basic reason is just too
much too much. Plus you’re repeating yourself – but then we all are.

I think I’ll just close comments soon.

Ophelia

Date: Wed, 13 Jul 2011 16:27:24 -0400
From: Thaumas Themelios
Subject: Re: Wonderist stop it.

Okay.
In my defence I’ll just say that I only repeated myself when others
repeated the same misunderstandings. However, I take your point.
Also, I kept posting in response to others responding to me. But again,
I take your point.

I’ll just post that one last reply (because it is to a comment directly
in response to me) and will sign off at the end of it. Sorry for taking
up your time.

Thaumas

From: Ophelia Benson
Subject: RE: Wonderist stop it.
Date: Wed, 13 Jul 2011 13:56:21 -0700

No problem. Sorry I was snappish. I get antsy when comments spiral out of
control, as they keep doing on this subject. I hope nothing new happens that
prompts me to bring it up again. Arrrrrgh.

Talking Things Out

11 Replies

   hypocrisy

 

Trigger warning- If you are one of those people that likes to whine about things in life that are unfair or you are paranoid that something is out to get you then this post may not be for you. If you have mental issues that hinder your ability to read things that may be totally random and you can not tell the difference between the threat posed by the written word and a direct threat posed by a real life situation….this post may not  be for you. If you fit one of the previous descriptions you are advised to seek the assistance of a mental health professional and above all DO NOT PROJECT YOUR INABILITY TO DEAL WITH LIFE ISSUES ON OTHER PEOPLE WHILE USING THE INTERNET.

Thank You

A guy named Michael Nugent is in the middle of an exchange of questions with Justin Vacula. Michael has written a blog post where he gives some examples of “nasty pushback”.

Michael asked Justin-

Which of the following specific examples of “nasty pushback” against some feminists on the Internet do you consider to be morally unjustified?

This question is followed by the mandatory trigger warning. Does it bother anyone else that this has become an accepted practice? I can understand a warning for adult content but where do we draw the line when it comes to warning people because they may be offended by foul words?  If a person wants to refrain from offending or disturbing anyone who may for whatever reason be too sensitive to handle certain words (these words could be related to just about anything so it’s impossible to give a good example) then there should be a trigger warning on everything they post.

Michael not only gives the initial warning but then warns everyone again. He acts like everyone reading has a man with a chainsaw standing behind them ready to start choppin’ as soon as anyone lets out  a sound. I wonder what kind of world it is that Michael lives in when you coddle people to this extreme. It’s almost as if he is  codependent.

He then gives 50 examples of quotes he picked from the slymepit. I assume he picked the examples to try and show volume rather than to give specific examples of differing types of comments that could be considered abusive. 50 seems like an unreasonable number of examples to me and could be interpreted as an attempt to single out the slymepit as a den of misogynist, sexist atheists.

There are a couple main reasons why Michael’s examples fail him. First one is that there is no context, no back-story, no explanation as to why his examples were posted. I know for a fact that some were in jest. Others were echoes of things said by members of A+ or FTB and were posted in the slymepit as mocking hypocrisy shown by those people. Several of his examples were exchanges between people who were known to not be offended by such words. Without context it would be difficult if not impossible to give an opinion that was any better than if Michael had just made up all of his examples. Of course some people would say that simply the use of certain words is misogyny or offends people no matter what the context.  Those people are just being silly. Context makes all the difference many times. Michael almost seems to assume Justin has psychic abilities and can get into the minds of the authors and explain what they were thinking and why. To have such expectations would be completely unreasonable. Even if Justin did go through every single example, by the time he was finished much time would have been wasted when it could have been spent on more important matters.

After reading Michael’s question and examples a person would probably get the impression that he was serious about all this gender slur and harmful language stuff. I know that was the impression I got from him….Then Michael posted this.

It is about the Atheist Ireland Forum Moderating Policy. It seems that there were several…actually make that numerous posts in that forum which didn’t meet the social justice standards Michael had set for others. A reader by the name Skepsheik had taken the time to point this out along with many examples.  Those examples were as bad if not worse than what Michael had presented to Justin.

 

I wondered how all these instances had gone unnoticed for such a long period of time in Michael Nugent’s own forum.  Justin wasn’t responsible for moderating the slymepit forum.  If he were to try and moderate he wouldn’t get anywhere because there is not an ‘edit button’ available to members of the slymepit.  Everything is public and forever unless it goes to unacceptable extreme, child porn would be an example of an unacceptable post.  Justin, while a regular contributor to the forum, was not it’s spokesperson either.  The diverse make-up of the slymepit forum made it difficult if not impossible for there to be consensus on almost anything.  Each individual is responsible for themselves. This was not the case with Michael Nugent  and his forum. From what I can tell Michael is an active member and moderator in the Atheist Ireland forum. He was, after all, the one who authored the post explaining the removal of improper content on the forum.

Shortly after the announcement about the removal of unacceptable content on the Atheist Ireland forum Skepsheik again contributes some information. It seems there is much, much more- Pharyngula-style rape torture and murder wishes, sexist language, racism, homophobia, animal rape to name a few. Michael has explained this as a way to protest a law involving blasphemy. He explains it like this-

There is, as you know, a distinction between something being illegal and something being immoral or unethical.

we have left them published on our website to make the point that we do not want blasphemy criminalised, even if we ourselves would not personally agree with all of the blasphemous comments that other people make.

 

While I don’t think it is nessecary to remove any of the content found on the Atheist Ireland forum, I do see an example of hypocrisy poking up from Michael Nugent’s position and his tone towards Justin Vacula when giving the slymepit quotes without any explanation about the circumstances of those posts.

I left the following comments on Michael Nugent’s post

First comment-

     I’m glad to hear this news and the timing is perfect considering the way you are drawing attention to posts on other forums that you consider abusive, shaming and very disturbing. I’ve always thought it better to clean up your own yard before bringing attention to the condition of your neighbors lawn. Good thing Skepsheik brought the issue to your attention or who knows how long those offensive postings would have stayed up considering no one brought them up prior to now. It’s only human to have biases, it’s been brought to your attention and you are addressing it, so everything turns out well.

Follow-up comment

Nevertheless, in the slymepit we make the point that we do not want blasphemy offensive language criminalized, even if we ourselves would not personally agree with all of the blasphemous offensive language comments that other people make.

See how that works Michael? You say blasphemy, we say offensive.
You really do need to figure out where you stand on all this cause after the latest list Skepsheik provided you really don’t have any right to be critical of anyone else. In other words- Your house is still dirty.

 

I don’t want to give the impression that Michael Nugent has no credibility due to his oversight. I do think he should be more aware of what is going on in his forum. I am looking forward to the discussion as a result of this debate. As I have said previously, very few of the FTB bloggers involved in this dispute or A+ members are willing to have an adult discussion about the expectations they have or the tactics they have employed to encourage others to do as they request without question. Michael has been the exception to this. Now if others would stop making childish demands be met or claim that their critics are not able to have a rational exchange and instead follow Michael Nugent’s example then maybe we could see a return to skepticism rather than McCarthyism.

You can find Justin Vacula’s blog here

Michael Nugent’s blog is here

 

 

 

PZ “boo-hoo” Myers and the failed experiment

8 Replies
Science works once again

Science works once again

PZ Myers, the bad boy of atheism. The guy who bans any critics who don’t bow to the will of his commenters (the horde-see below) with a gleeful laugh.  The fella who pissed off Catholics by using a cracker as his prop. The dude who has been screaming misogynist at anyone who opposes his brand of feminism. The dick who publicly posted that I was a racist, sexist, ranting asshole with no credibility and no right to criticize any of his ‘horde’. The list goes on. He has posted a blog that indicates he lives in a bubble (see here) Not only does he live in a bubble but he has something stuffed in his ears and a blindfold on too I guess.

 

PZ says-

I have a blog that ridicules creationism by dismantling their idiotic arguments, and that isn’t even obsessive about that…and definitely isn’t focused exclusively on just a few individuals.

 

Yea, he hits and runs. He doesn’t need to focus on any one person for long cause he bans them.  He does his damage and moves on.  PZ has made any exchange with him difficult if not impossible. You find him talking shit on his blog and twitter, never allowing anyone to answer his bullshit in the same forum as it was originally posted.  “You are free not to read” he says. Yea but everyone else reads it.  Does PZ think people know when he is incorrect?  Does PZ Myers ever admit he is wrong when he makes claims about a person’s character?  Does PZ think no one believes a word he says? I would assume people who read PZ will usually (unless they know better) take his word as accurate and credible.  He may know something about biology, after all he went to school to learn it. He has studied it for years. He can not say the same about the people he has called stupid assholes or idiots. He can not claim the same knowledge about all the members of the slymepit who he has described as misogynists, and evil. No one from the forum is even allowed to comment on PZ’s blog on any level without being banned.

Another way PZ defends his being a dick to people on his blog is by telling people “You are free to create you own blog on blogger or create a youtube channel”. People can then answer to all the ways PZ has been wrong or a jerk. Problem there is the audience that needs to hear it most probably never will. I am lucky because I have an audience for my blog and my podcast has a decent listener base but not everyone has that. I doubt you would hear PZ say I had anyone reading or listening to me. My show is shit according to him. Just like when he said Justin Vacula was no leader in the atheist movement. So PZ claims Justin is a nobody in the movement and then trashes him? How is that fair? Unless PZ is retarded he is well aware that some of the people he trashes could never respond in a way that could reach the same audience.  That is called being a bully, harassing someone who can’t defend themselves in a manner equal to your attack  There is one thing about the internet, once you put something on it, it never goes away completely.  That means you should be responsible when posting anything that could tarnish a person’s reputation or do them harm.  PZ has an ego problem, he thinks he is infallible, he is tragically mistaken.

Pz Myers says

It wasn’t until I annoyed a subset of atheists that the real harassment began. Serious harassment. People who have no lives and think the most important thing to do every day is to pour out their hatred for me, or Rebecca Watson, or Ophelia Benson, or anyone on the Atheism+ forum. I’m not talking principled disagreement or even stupid disagreement: I mean commitment to do any dumbass thing they can to lash out, and being driven by hatred for a few people.

 

I’ve made this point before a long time ago. PZ Myers started fucking with the wrong group of people when he started being a dick to atheists/skeptics.  He is  too dumb to understand the difference between being a dick to people who believe in something that is easy to prove false and being a dick to people because they have a different opinion on social issues. The people he has been talking shit about aren’t wrong just because they don’t agree with him. Most of the people who are critical are critical of his methods not his goals anyways. Why PZ is too stupid to figure this out after all this time I don’t know but it indicates he may be too damn lazy to listen to anyone’s side of things but his. He has a habit of not listening to the opposing view and that results in stupidity, duh PZ.

 

PZ can’t say I didn’t warn him. I told him the push-back grows each day.  The blog posts that are telling the truth about his actions are growing in numbers. The youtube videos are piling up, head high. The number of people  who have been treated like shit by “the horde” (also known as the mighty morons) grows too. People who contribute nothing like Caine and Brownian (Anthony K) are just another aspect of the problem PZ can’t quite grasp. There are people who are killing any productive discussion and they are regulars in his comment section.  He strokes them like they are his pets and they purrrrrrr things like “fuck off you stupid fuck, go die slowly”

horde

OOOOH… SCARY!

I warned him about this fallout but he dismissed my comment, disemvoweled it, then piled some more insults on top.  That’s fine, he can do that and I can address everything he does that is unfair, rude, unproductive, and harmful to the truth, which is what I have been doing.  Some people want to call me obsessed but I’m obsessed with addressing dishonesty, not PZ. It doesn’t matter who it is really. I just consider PZ  Myers to be a priority because he is harmful from the inside and that has the potential to do the most damage to what most atheists and skeptics have been working towards. He has already undermined anything he has contributed. He has made it clear it is his way or no way, that is a stupid and dangerous road to take. He no longer deserves to have a hand on  the wheel and we should all be removing his fingers from it one by one.

Every single person who refuses to discuss differences in opinions is avoiding that conversation for a reason. If people like Stephanie Zvan thought she could win an argument in a public forum she would do it in a minute. She would be stupid not to, why wouldn’t she want to provide evidence that she was correct?  Does she believe in social change or not?  Adam Lee wants to be a household name you would think he would rush to the front of the line but after getting his ass kicked so thoroughly by Al Stefanelli I guess we can give him a pass.  The Lousy Canuck  should be jumping at the chance to shut down any silly opposition to his blog posts or positions.  Instead when invited to do so we hear crickets or childish demands that must be met before any conversation will take place. NEWS FLASH- There is a reason for that. can you guess what it is? Shhhhh. no we don’t want to talk about that either. Let’s listen to the crickets they speak volumes.

Freethought Censorship

2 Replies

 

images.youtube

 

So I was listening to PZ Myers talk about people who disagree with him and allowing comments on his internet posts. PZ made the point that it was in no way censorship, anyone was free to say whatever they wanted on their own blog/website. The obvious flaw in that logic is Joe Normal has no where near the following PZ has. If PZ says something that is untrue maybe(just an example) 5000 people read it. If that untruth is an accusation against your character it’s possible 5000 people have just been convinced you hate feminism and women. Or maybe just half, 2500 read the Pharngula blog post and believe what it says about you being a racist. Does anyone else see the problem with this? Most bloggers would have a tough time reaching the number of people PZ does much less the same people who read the blog. You may never see/meet any of those people but since the people reading are the types of people you associate with online, at conventions, and at local meetup gatherings, there is a stronger likelihood you will. I’m not interested in defending myself from bullshit the inept PZ Myers thinks is true simply because somebody (like rebecca watson) told him so. So we see the same kind of behavior demonstrated by Rush Limbaugh when he called Sandra Fluke a slut. You have a prominent blogger who is attacking a lessor known person who doesn’t have the ability to defend themselves. How many people has PZ or his legion of loons attacked in this manner?
Now, getting back to my original point….PZ tells people to create their own pages, they can then say whatever they want about him cause he doesn’t care.  I posted the video you see below to youtube this week. It was up one day before it was flagged for removal by viewers. I suppose I should mention PZ also blogged to complain about the video and make it sound as if I had some sort of mental illness or obsession. The video is simply my choice of style to disagree with PZ. You may not care for it, that’s fine. You may think it is mean but I don’t agree. It is a parody. The amount of ridicule it projects is appropriate IMO. PZ Myers isn’t interested in correcting his comments about my character, in fact he has continued to pile on more falsehoods. PZ Myers has made it clear he has no interest in discussing anything with slymeballs like me. He should not be surprised when he is mocked then because there is nothing to lose and it’s not as if he has shown an ounce of respect to any of his critics.
While I can’t say it was PZ himself who flagged the video it was surly his supporters. This gives an example of the type of thinking PZ Myers promotes. If you can’t ban ’em, scare ’em, or bully them then censor them whatever way you can.

pzcry
It really is a dangerous and disturbing trend we used to only see in religious believers. Somehow I doubt PZ will be finding fault with the censorship of the video because it was about him. I can already hear him justifying the removal because it was against the TOS as if it is okay. The problem is if the same tactics were used against him the story would not be the same.  As a reaction to the attempt to shut me up I have resolved to post the video on several other video hosting sites and will be making a follow up.  Let it be known that I am not going to be censored , intimidated, or libeled into being quiet.

censor

Notice of TOS violation due to flagging

To whoever did flag the video- Nice job, great way to promote expression and celebrate the freedom we all hold dear. Hopefully no one ever attempts to do the same to you, if that does happen let me know and I will back you up and support your right to free expression.

Here is the video the damn thing just won’t go away…

PZ Myers wraps it up

PZ Myers wraps it up by reapsowradio