Larry has posted the latest edition of Carnival of the Liberals over at A Revolution Of One, this time with a new media theme. A very nice mix of contemplative posts in this one. Oh, and while you're checking Edition #62 out, do give the post a Digg if you can. It not only helps Larry, but it helps increase the visibility of Carnival of the Liberals which helps everyone out with more readers. Thanks everyone for being patient while Larry put together this biweek's carnival.

Edition #63 will be on April 23rd at Vagabond Scholar's place courtesy of Batocchio. The theme for this edition is "human rights". You'll want to give the call-for-submissions post a read to see exactly what Batocchio has in mind.

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Just got a message from Eugenie Scott via Facebook asking everyone to link to Expelled Exposed, the National Center for Science Education’s debunking (that should read, “pummeling with facts”) of the fraudulent documentary Expelled hosted by pseudo-intellectual Ben Stein. The idea is to spread the word, and the links, so that whenever someone googles “expelled” they’ll end up with Expelled Exposed at the top of their listings. There’s already a wealth of information at the Expelled Exposed website already but Eugenie says we can expect even more on April 15th. 

tng's blog | 2 comments

Wow. I haven't had to post a reminder for Carnival of the Liberals in quite a while. Unfortunately though, we've only had seven submissions to date for CotL #62 which is scheduled to run this Wednesday, April 9th.

I'm hoping that's because people have been intimidated by this week's theme of "new media". So I'm going to postpone the carnival until Friday, April 11th and extend the submissions deadline through Wednesday to give everyone a chance to get their posts in.

You can get all the facts on this biweek's theme at A Revolution Of One, but in a nutshell all posts should either include "new media" or be about "new media". What's "new media" mean? Easy. It's simply any media content created by people and not large centralized content providers. It's you vs. Time-Warner, CBS, NBC, et. al. And while there's certainly a wealth of it about these days it also brings up a lot of issues. Should citizen media creators be more or as trusted than the networks? What about net neutrality and how it fosters the creation and distribution of new media?

Whether you create it, distribute it, consume it, or just write about it, please get your submissions in by the end of this Wednesday. As always, the blogcarnival.com link is your friend. It's things like these special themed editions, and the amazing loyalty and dedication to quality of our bloggers, that make Carnival of the Liberals much more than just a once-every-other-week link-fest.

tng's blog

As you might know, I was on Hans Meyer's Situation Awareness radio program this past Saturday talking about Carnival of the Liberals. If you couldn't tune in you can listen to the show on the Free World Radio Network's site or (hopefully if the embedding works) with the widget to the left.

As always, I really enjoy doing these sorts of things, and besides, it got Hans to volunteer to host Carnival of the Liberals! I think I'm becoming more comfortable talking extemporaneonously although I've got to relax more (if only to get rid of that high pitched edge to my voice). Perhaps in the future, if I ever get my act together, I'll start my own skepticism podcast. Although, I've got to say, Brian Dunning's Skeptoid would be hard to beat.

In any case, thanks go to Hans, FWRN, and Blogtalk Radio. I look forward to doing the show again sometime.

tng's blog

I'm beginning to think that Carnival of the Liberals should come with a warning sticker. Something like: WARNING: HOSTING COTL WILL CAUSE WAR, DISEASE, PESTILENCE AND RUPTURING OF THE SPACE-TIME CONTINUUM. Well, maybe that's a little bit hyperbolic but it does seem like our hosts have had more than their fair share of troubles this year. In any case, Alicia has recovered from her computer woes and posted the 61st edition of CotL over at Last Left Turn Before Hooterville. Lots of really smart, thought-provoking posts this time around so go give it a read before your hard drive crashes.

Up next is A Revolution Of One on April 9th. This is a themed edition focusing on new media. Check the call for submissions post at the link for the details but basically the host is looking for posts that either incorporate or talk about new media. This is a great idea I think and I just know we're going to get a ton of incredible submissions for this one.

Also, I'll be Hans Meyer's guest on Situation Awareness (part of the Free World Radio Network) this Saturday, March 29th at 10AM EST talking about all things Carnival of the Liberals. From what I understand, it's a call-in show so if you've got a question about CotL, give the show a call and we can chat directly.

One more thing before I let you go... I'd like to do a special edition devoted to skepticism and critical thinking in American politics on May 21st. Of particular interest to me are instances where skepticism and critical thinking have given way to irrationality and how those instances have shaped politics. Conspiracy theories, anti-intellectualism, global warming (and other forms of) denialism, and reactionary populism all fall under this general rubrick and there are plenty of examples both historical and current. I realize this isn't an area most of you write about every day so I wanted to give everybody who is interested in participating a heads up and hopefully we can expand the range of blogs contributing to Carnival of the Liberals.read more »

tng's blog

I know it's been quite a while since I've written anything here, though I know you can forgive me. I just haven't thought of anything fantastic to write (though if you look at my previous posts, you'll see quite clearly that I have some rather crummy standards for what counts as fantastic). I am still around, though. Most of my computer time has been eaten up with moderating over at DU (FSM, I hate primary season). Aside from that, I have also been busy with the LSAT and getting my applications into law school. In the end, though, that all paid off. I've been accepted into law school and will begin in the fall, assuming I can figure out some way of paying for it.

All that being said, my interests are shifting in other directions. I guess that's a bit unfair to say - I am still interested in theology, religion, politics, medicine, and pseudoscience. It's just that these days I spend most of my time reading and researching law and policy. I'm not exactly sure where posts on such matters will fit in here on NG - but I guess we'll find out! I promise to try to come up with something good to write soon, but in lieu of that I just wanted to let whomever might read this that I'm still kicking.

varkam's blog | 4 comments

Couldn't miss the opportunity to promote everybody's favorite transcendental number on this day devoted to the most amazing ratio of all. Happy Pi Day everyone.

tng's blog | 2 comments

Mike at Tangled Up In Blue Guy may have declared Carnival of the Liberals #60 the Dance of Death but don't let the downer of monicker stop you from reading some great liberal blogging. While it's doubtful that any of us are unfamiliar with any of the topics covered in this edition it's important to be reminded of how strange and macbre things have become over the past years. So go give TUIB Guy some respect and see what has your fellow bloggers bummed.

It looks like this is a busy week for Mike. In addition to this edition of CotL, he's doing Tangled Bank this week and he'll be hosting the Minnesota Atheists radio show next Sunday at 9AM. You can listen in via the magic of the web. In other news, I'll be Hans Meyer's guest on Situation Awareness (part of the Free World Radio Network) on March 29th at 10AM EST talking about all things Carnival of the Liberals.

Next up on Carnival of the Liberals is Alicia who can be found just beyond the Last Left Turn Before Hooterville. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting Alicia this past November at Americans United For Separation Of Church And State's national meeting in DC. You'll definitely want to get a copy of her book The Price Of Right wherein she neatly dispenses with the myths the right wing has used to sell Conservatism to the American public.

One more thing before I let you go... I'd like to do a special edition devoted to skepticism and critical thinking in American politics on May 21st. Of particular interest to me are instances where skepticism and critical thinking have given way to irrationality and how those instances have shaped politics. Conspiracy theories, anti-intellectualism, global warming (and other forms of) denialism, and reactionary populism all fall under this general rubrick and there are plenty of examples both historical and current. I realize this isn't an area most of you write about every day so I wanted to give everybody who is interested in participating a heads up and hopefully we can expand the range of blogs contributing to Carnival of the Liberals.read more »

tng's blog | 1 comment

I've been taking a break from blogging lately because I contracted a nasty case of writer's block. However I haven't been twiddling my thumbs all this time. One thing I've been doing is working on a new and improved version of Neural Gourmet as well as doing a lot of reading about writing plus catching up on some books I've been meaning to read for a long time.

But I couldn't stay away from blogging entirely. So recently my sweetheart and I started a blog devoted to one of our favorite things -- food! You won't find just recipes there though. We plan to cover everything from restaurant, grocery and product reviews to news and commentary about food. There'll be an added emphasis on our adopted home town, Fort Wayne, Indiana.

So if you like to eat, or haven't yet mastered breatharianism, then check out Food In The Fort.

And look for Neural Gourmet to come back stronger and better than ever before real soon now.

tng's blog

Manila Ryce posted Carnival of the Liberals #59 early this morning over at The Largest Minority and boy did we have a bunch of contentious submissions this time around. Fitting as it should be for the liberal opposition to the conservative status quo. Won't it be grand when we can get somebody, anybody back into the White House and steer the conversation back to talking about ideas and progress rather than just how much everybody in power sucks? Even if that somebody isn't our personal somebody? Anyhow, go give this fine batch of liberal blogging a read.

Next up is Tangled Up In Blue Guy on March 12th, but before I let you get back to your dinners let me give a couple of shoutouts. First, big thanks to Hans at Free World Radio Network for helping support Carnival of the Liberals. Secondly, props to everyone at Freethought Fort Wayne, the finest bunch of atheists and agnostics you're likely to meet in Fort Wayne, Indiana aka The City Of Churches. Freethought Fort Wayne is organized under Center For Inquiry Indiana.

tng's blog

Well, we may have had that little tiff a couple of hundred years or so back but that little thing wouldn't stop Carnival of the Liberals. And so the 58th edition and second Anglo-American edition of Carnival of the Liberals is up at Liberal England. 10 posts from us Yanks, and 10 posts from our British friends. Would have been up sooner, but Jonathan had to have his tea before he finished.

The Largest Minority is up next time on February 27th but Carnival of the Liberals needs hosts. In fact, we pretty much need to fill every slot from April 9th onward. If you'd like to host, check the schedule and then hit the volunteer form or shoot me an e-mail. While the wonderful submissions we continue to get, almost unbidden, are the heart and soul of Carnival of the Liberals we wouldn't exist if it weren't for our hosts. So if you've contributed to CotL before but have never hosted, why not give it a shot? It's fun!

tng's blog

Ballads For The Age Of Science: Two covers from Hy Zaret and Lou Singer's late 1950s/early 1960s six album series of science songs for kids.Back at the dawn of the Space Age it seemed like everybody was trying to turn kids onto science in every conceivable way. After all, everyone knew that if our kids didn't grow up to be scientists and engineers then those darn Ruskies would colonize the Moon and Mars and who wanted that? And what better way to popularize science with kids than by setting it to music? Oh, and if you can get the guy who wrote On Top Of Spagetti to perform them, then you might have thought you had a gold record in the making. Or maybe not. Who knows?

Whatever Hy Zaret and Lou Singer's motivations might have been, I'm sure thousands of kids must have been turned onto science and nature by recordings of their Ballads For The Age Of Science. Kids like Jef Pozkazner who found his old LPs in his parents' basement and graciously ripped them to MP3 format so a whole new generation of kids can enjoy them, or in the case of us old farts big kids, enjoy them again. There you'll find all six albums (although I agree with Jef that the first three are the best) free for downloading. At the very least, you'll want to give a listen for the sheer novelty and innocence of these recordings. Listen to The Ballad Of Sir Isaac Newton below.

Hat tip: Retro Thing.

tng's blog

Karl over at World Wide Webers posted the latest installment of Carnival of the Liberals earlier today. There's something for everyone from iPods to porn (sort of), so don't forget to catch up on this biweek's best liberal blogging.

Next up is Liberal England in two weeks on February 13th. Just like the last time, this will be an Anglo-American edition of Carnival of the Liberals with posts from both sides of the Atlantic. Keep on sending that great liberal blogging!

Also, Carnival of the Liberals needs you! In particular we need a February 27th host but the schedule is wide open from March through the end of the year. So head on over to the CotL site and volunteer today.

tng's blog

Fran at Blue Gal posted the latest edition of Carnival of the Liberals earlier today. Carnival of the Liberals has resumed its normal bi-weekly schedule with the next edition on January 30th at the World Wide Webers. Keep on sending that great liberal blogging!

tng's blog

Karen at The Greenbelt posted the latest edition of Carnival of the Liberals earlier today. Despite it being an odd week for CotL due to the scheduling change we still had a good number of excellent posts sent in.

Carnival of the Liberals #56 is next week, Wednesday, January 16th over at Blue Gal's place after which CotL resumes its normal schedule on January 30th at the World Wide Webers. Keep on sending that great liberal blogging!

tng's blog

Ron Paul won’t win the presidential election, or come anywhere near it. He will continue to be a Texas Congressman. I will continue to live in England, thousands of miles away from him. So why should I worry about him?

Some quotations from his own website indicate some of the serious problems with his views, from a progressive perspective:

Psychobabbler's blog | 3 comments