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When Coyotes Danced

It was hot, the day the coyotes danced.

It was about 1990, and I was ranch-sitting at a friend’s ranch in Bishop, California. The owner was up in the mountains all summer, but there were cattle at the ranch, and somebody needed to be there to look after them.

In this particular case, ranch-sitting was a minimalist job. The cattle were out in a pasture with plenty of water and grass, and cattle don’t need much more than that. Really, all I had to do was walk the pastures once a day and make sure nobody was sick or injured or dead. Continue reading “When Coyotes Danced”

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Ha. Good One.

Cure Faith lists “7 reasons why becoming an atheist sucks.”

Best part is here:

7. You dumb.

You have to admit you were horribly deluded. You might just have to dissect your lost faith inside and out, and maybe start a blog to lure others into the bleak reality you have discovered. What’s worse is that all the faithful are exposed as the infected they have always been. Like waking from your stupor amongst the flesh eating zombie hoard, you are not in a better place!


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Name Dropping: Carl Buell Rocks! And I Know Him!

I have a good friend who paints dinosaurs. (And other critters.)

This is not “just some guy” who does it in his spare time, but a serious natural history illustrator who has worked for museums all over the world, whose paintings have, just within the past year or so, opened exhibits in Beijing; Paris; Pisa, Italy; and Washington, D.C.

He’s had illustrations in four of science writer Carl Zimmer’s books, including a fantastic cover illustration for a book coming in Fall of 2012. Continue reading “Name Dropping: Carl Buell Rocks! And I Know Him!”

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Ten Thousand Years of Speed Bumps

I’ve said many times that the cost of religion is something none of us can estimate. Even those of us willing to come out and say we don’t believe it, and perhaps even actively dislike it, usually don’t see it as very damaging.

But ask yourself, anytime a person gets in the news as opposing some aspect of medical science, who is it likely to be? And what source are they using for their opposition?

Right. Religious people, and the Bible. Continue reading “Ten Thousand Years of Speed Bumps”

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Dang.

I’m writing a piece called “10,000 years of speed bumps,” and I accidentally clicked the Publish button midway through it, and then kept writing.

So if you were one of the 46 people who apparently read it … ahem. I have no idea what you read, but it wasn’t finished. Pretend you never saw it, and I’ll post the completed piece soon. Sorry about that.

(I’m just glad I didn’t write a piece on Dick Cheney, and accidentally post it before I’d edited out the several dozen f-bombs.)

 

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New Design

One of the cool things about WordPress, and CSS, is that the content of a web site is separate from the formatting instructions. Which means you can change the site layout in seconds, simply by dropping in a new format — called a “theme.”

You’re seeing it here in FreeThought Blogs’ airy new appearance. The left sidebar has vanished, and a few new things are happening on the right sidebar.

One thing to notice is the tabbed boxes in the right column. Comments and Archives now share a box with Recent Posts, via tabs on the top. You can alternate between FTB Recent Posts and FTB Most Active in the same way.

The Comments sections have a neat new look too.

To tell you the truth, I’m still exploring it all myself, so that’s about everything I know right now, but if I discover anything especially fantastic — like a coffee cup holder that extrudes from your screen, or a one-on-one chat window with Jeri Ryan that opens anytime you visit the site — I’ll let you know.

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Here’s a Church I’d Go To

The New Welcome Baptist Church in Mobile, Alabama, is WAY more exciting than any church I ever went to!

“The mayhem erupted when the Rev. Darryl Riley told minister of music Simone Moore that he was no longer needed and gave him a final paycheck, the Sheriff’s Office reported.

“Moore disagreed with the amount of the check and an argument broke out, in which Moore wielded a Taser gun, according to the account given to deputies.”

The brawl spread among the godly congregation, and the music minister’s mother even suffered a slashing requiring surgery after Deacon Harvey Hunt reportedly leaped into the fray with a pocket knife. In all, six parishioners wound up at the hospital.

Tasers! Knife slashings! Blood spatters! That there is some kick-ass Sunday services.

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Erosion: Chardy At The End of His Life

[This is from a few years back.]

It’s spring in the High Sierra, and I’m on vacation from New York. I’ve come back to walk old trails again, trails both of terrain and of memory, and I’m out doing one of my favorite things in the world – taking a dog for a hike out along Convict Creek.

My dog-friends Ranger the Valiant Warrior and Tito the Mighty Hunter can’t be with me, but I do have Chardonnay along, a happy-airhead golden retriever.

I stopped by to pick him up a short time before, and I was shocked at his appearance. He looks like an anatomical study: Canine Skeleton. Continue reading “Erosion: Chardy At The End of His Life”