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Earthman’s Journey – Part 3 (of 8)

[ Part 1 — 2 — 3 — 4 — 5 — 6 – 7 — 8 ]

 

Cutter

After seasons of proving myself at many of the other chores of branding, on this day, I’m in charge of castrations. After the calf slides to a stop and both the heel rope and the top man are firmly in place, I step forward and kneel down by the calf’s belly. I stretch out the scrotum and slice across the lower third of it with a sharp knife. The testicles usually pop out on their own, but sometimes you have to fish around, pressing here and there, to get them to come free. Pulled out several inches, they’re still connected by silvery-blue cords that have to be either carefully scraped through with a knife or cut through with a pliers-like tool that simultaneously severs and crushes them. Skill comes into play here to prevent excessive bleeding. The scraping technique causes the arteries to spasm and close down and takes considerable care to do right; on the other hand the cutting-crushing tool, an emasculatome, is more foolproof, sealing the arteries by intense pressure, and can be used in full confidence by just about anyone with a bit of grip strength. Continue reading “Earthman’s Journey – Part 3 (of 8)”

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From the Book: “Kind Words”

Quite a lot of what I think about when I think about atheism is non-religious morality.

This is a piece that bears on the subject,a short chapter from my book. It grew out of an essay on an older blog, and it’s titled simply “Kind Words.”

Like so many things, the subject has nothing at all to do with religion, but far too many people think it DOES, and find it impossible to imagine it any other way.

It’s obvious to me that the minute you take up believing in gods, you become less able to really understand what’s good and what’s not. For one thing, you mistakenly imagine a mystical superbeing as the major source of good, and it diminishes the necessity of your own performance. Continue reading “From the Book: “Kind Words””

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American Blood: Why the Atheist Fight is Everybody’s Fight

The story is a month old, so I’m sure you’ve caught the controversy over the mangled-beam cross at the 9/11 memorial site, and the fact that atheists oppose the thing.

You’ve probably also caught the blowback, which includes online death threats to atheists by nice Christians.

Responding to the subject on Facebook, a commenter named Janice D. blamed atheists for the whole thing:

“Yes, the Christians are feeling very threatened in today’s political climate […] Their God IS being kicked out of everywhere in the name of political correctness.”

To which I say … Continue reading “American Blood: Why the Atheist Fight is Everybody’s Fight”

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Earthman’s Journey – Part 2 (of 8)

[ Part 1 — 2 — 3 — 4 — 5 — 6 – 7 — 8 ]

 

Cowboyin’

The early end of the beef industry involves a lot of labor at identifying and altering young bovines from their original, mint-condition wholeness to something more in line with human designs, as they make their first transition from free beasties to hamburger-on-the-hoof. The work can be done in sheer industrial efficiency, with metal chutes and shock prods and unconcerned hourly workers, or it can be done by working cowboys, in tune with a romantic but very real vision of the American West.

On this day, with this herd of calves, I’m one of those cowboys. And though I don’t know it quite yet, I myself am undergoing a transition: I’m on the threshold of a new and grander phase of my life. My hand is on the doorknob and here and now is the moment in which I begin to turn it. Continue reading “Earthman’s Journey – Part 2 (of 8)”

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Earthman’s Journey – Part 1 (of 8)

[ Part 1 — 2 — 3 — 4 — 5 — 6 – 7 — 8 ]

 

Somewhere above all this, all the roiling newness of the growing atheist and progressive community, there’s an overview. I’ve tried very hard to see it.

It may be that there are plenty of people smarter than me, more educated, innately broader of understanding, who already know what it is we’re all working towards. But I have yet to read their books or hear their talks.

I look out and see … pieces. A chopped salad of efforts and understanding that forms no coherent whole.

I don’t feel TOO bad about that. I mean ‘feel bad’ in the sense that there are churchy luddites who oppose positive changes, and we have to be a lot better if we want to win this thing. Because they are chopped up even worse than we are. And though they’ve had power over us for thousands of years, it was the power of bullying and cowardice and lies, rather than some sort of coherent strategy or vision or real knowledge, and that power – in the face of real advances on our side – is waning. Continue reading “Earthman’s Journey – Part 1 (of 8)”

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Don’t know Cuttlefish? You don’t know jack.

Imagine there was once this vital, energetic MAGICAL artform. Something alive and delightful, something that would make you laugh, make you cry, make you think, give you rare insights, make you smarter and better, make you love each other more.

And imagine that you know it once existed, but you don’t think it does anymore because the only examples you’ve ever seen of it were on dusty shelves in the library — dead-boring collections that nobody ever picks up except dry old maids and bookish, anguished, pimply-faced teenagers, or possibly students forced to read them as an assignment little different from a prison sentence.

And then imagine that you found someone who still did it, and not only still did it but did it WELL, did it about REAL stuff, about topics in your life today. And you looked at it and LEARNED stuff, and laughed, and discovered there was still magic in it.

THAT is what it’s like to discover The Digital Cuttlefish.

I’m the “equal and opposite scientist”
And my thinking is outside the box
I’m the one who knows climate is cooling
And I’m willing to say so on Fox

You better trot right over there and check it out. Be ready to bookmark, because you’re gonna want to.

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Score One for Atheist Meetup

Capital Region Atheists & Agnostics scored a win for freethinkers with a story in today’s Times Union, the Albany, New York, daily newspaper.

Rick Martin, one of the founding members of the group — formed in 2007 and now possessing 300 or so members (including me, who manages to get to almost none of the meetings) — was interviewed by the TU’s religion reporter.

The interview questions were neutral, neither supporting nor attacking, and Martin was able to say his piece in a non-adversarial atmosphere. For instance: Continue reading “Score One for Atheist Meetup”