Debut of new blogging group
It’s Freethought blogs. There’s a Facebook post about it. It starts August 1. It will be “led by” (I’m not sure what that means) PZ Myers of Pharyngula and Ed Brayton of Dispatches from the Culture Wars. There will also be The Digital Cuttlefish, This Week in Christian Nationalism, and Zingularity.
http://freethoughtblogs.com
It’s apparently going to be the place. You know, THE place. Everyone will be there. Anyone who is anyone. It will be so important that you will have to submit an avatar with at the very least a tie. That includes women too (no sexism there).
It may be just me, but I’m not very good at being herded. When I read that somewhere is going to be THE place, I back away slowly. I don’t wear ties either.
Wow. I am so there.
Excited to see your work appearing there too =D
I see on the Facebook comment page that Ed Brayton says he and PZ will be keeping their blogs on Scienceblogs (and perhaps National Geographic, when they complete the buyout?) but only posting about science over there.
I’m not crazy about that idea, frankly; I think PZ’s science material and his atheism material complement each other very strongly. The same by-and-large goes for Ed’s commentary about creationism. It’ll be interesting to see how that works.
Looks like more fun than a barrel full of monkeys. I’ll check it out.
Ophelia, I saw your exchange with Ed Bryton on Facebook. I hope you are NOT moving B&W entirely to the new place.
I’ll just second Mike’s comment above. I’m presuming the ‘freethought’ place will be something of a group blog, while B&W will remain as is (and where it is). At least, I hope so!
Unfamiliar with the Pope quotation, I just read about the Catherine Wheel on Wikipedia…….the brutality of mankind knows no end and is no less brutal for being judicial in this case. I more fully understand the clause regarding “cruel and unusual punishment”.
Interesting to see Ed and PZ make the move together, since they have feuded in the past. I remember at one point trying to post a link to an article by Ed in a Pharyngula comment, and having it blocked.
Hmm. My comment vanished — I’ll try again.
“led by” just means Ed & I are going first. We’re not going to have any control over what people say ib their individual blogs, other than in the initial selection of who gets a slot. Seriously, we’re committed to hands off — if an atheist sets up a blog, later find Jesus and tubs it into an evangelical blog, he won’t be kicked out.
Ah right, that kind of “led by.” I never really thought it meant you two would be da bosses, I just wasn’t quite sure what it did mean.
Dennis – yes. Some time ago – a year? Maybe more? – Jerry Coyne posted about a museum of torture he visited somewhere in South America. (I don’t think it was the Colombia trip, but I don’t remember where it was.) He posted a lot of graphic pictures of The Instruments. Absolutely nightmarish. I’m glad I don’t remember the details…
Oh wait, yes I do. Dammit. There was one that sliced a body in half slowly starting at the bottom. Slowly.
I feel like I am still recovering from that Coyne article.
Mike and Skep – no I certainly won’t be moving all of B&W anywhere. I don’t know if it will be possible to move the blog while still keeping the title and link and teaser on the front page here; if it’s not I doubt that I’ll move.
The way I understand it though it’s not a group blog, it’s a site where blogs are collected – like Science blogs or Discover blogs. Big difference.
I wouldn’t mind joining a congenial group blog if one asked, but that would be in addition, not a move. I was invited to join one once – Cliopatria – but then it added a hyper-theist blogger who promptly started posting hyper-theist posts and I felt acutely out of place and left in a cloud of sulphur.
Steve – ya. It was a brilliant, necessary article. Recent quarrels aside, all credit to Jerry for doing stuff like that. (The instruments belonged to The Inquisition, of course – it wasn’t royalist torture, it was theist torture.)
If you’re interested, Ophelia, I’ll suggest offering a spot to you to the other people at FtB. I mentioned your name there earlier, but thought you had such a strong online identity at B&W that you wouldn’t be interested. But you know if you hosted the ‘notes’ part of your site at FtB but kept B&W the same otherwise, it might work.
It would be a coup for us to have you there, too!
Thanks PZ; I’m interested! Ed said the same thing at FB yesterday. It’s true about the strong identity but if I can have the best of both worlds (she said entitledly) then it would be cool.
Wow! I knew about PZ and Ed (and Jen from Blag Hag IIRC?) getting together, but add in Cuttlefish and, hopefully, Ophelia… The awesome is getting dangerously close to critical mass, here! ;)
Looks like I was wrong, even in jest.
Wrong about what, Steve?
I was wrong, it was the Colombia trip.
The one about slicing a person in half from the bottom isn’t an instrument, it’s a picture of it being done; the instrument is just a two-handed saw. The picture is horrendous.
Most things that make claims in advance about their status tend to underwhelm.
(There’s also something rather un-British about such self-promotion. But what they heck, this isn’t British!)
Oh yes, the British never go in for self-promotion, I’m always noticing it. The royal wedding was a delightfully modest little affair. Americans, on the other hand, are thoroughly vulgar and conceited, every last one of them.
Sorry, Steve, but I got a bellyfull of that kind of roundabout boasting over the past few years. The British aren’t any better at irony or self-deprecation than anyone else, but some of them think they are, and are constantly boasting about it. Which is ironic….
Ah, Ophelia, you do realise that we Brits hang our Oxbridge testamurs in the downstairs loo for a reason… it’s called being appropriately modest, but also ensuring that all visitors are aware of our achievements :)
BTW, I’ve sent you a message via Facebook in which you may have an interest.
Quite so, skep. :- b
Oh good!
You have? I don’t see no message.
Damn, it must not have sent. I’ll try again. It was a private message, BTW.
Right, but I don’t see it there. You can just email me; via the contact page if you don’t know my address; but perhaps you don’t want to use yours.
I’ve attempted to send it again to your msn email address… hope that works.
Oh, that one! That’s…oh.
I’ve just used the B&W contact address; it’s from my Oxford alumni address, so you can recognise it. Apologies for this faffing around.
This isn’t going to require me joining Facebook, is it?
No! Nothing to do with Facebook.
Good. I can’t do Facebook.
Now, if only they could get Sastra to blog too, life would be complete.
And there it is, live.
Well, Opening Day has flopped. According to PZ, the hosting company crapped out on them.
Clearly God doesn’t want this website getting off the ground.
I think it was initial demand at the stated hour of 8 a.m. that was unanticipated. It seems to be going fine now – with PZ in the clear lead on comments, already heading towards a thousand over the five or so open threads. Perhaps when PZ migrates the Endless Thread there we’ll see whether the new bloggy can stand uppy.
New Blog: looks interesting. I’m totally wasted from working non-stop on the debt ceiling crisis, emailing, calling, and posting (yes, there are progressive activists, we just don’t carry guns!). Unfortunately, the outcome was not what we desired, and the Tea Party Jihadists won on their manufactured issue.
Cheers to all.