Archive for December, 2008
It’s a holly, bloggy xmas
Posted by CyberLizard in Blogging on December 17, 2008
I have a great deal of admiration for those that can write in verse. I, myself, am generally poetry-impaired. Luckily for me (and now you too) one of my readers has summarized my last blog post in song. I just had to share. Go check out what the Perky Skeptic has created to celebrate the holiday season!!!
tis the season
Posted by CyberLizard in Atheism, Blogging, Me, Religion on December 17, 2008
I’m crazy busy trying to get ready for a trip that I should be ready for already. Yay procrastination 
Friday I board a plane for Colorado so I can spend the waning days of 2008 in sub-zero comfort. So in the absence of any insightful or humorous commentary, I’ll simply provide you with links to all the stuff that I’ve found recently that I either wanted to comment on or blog about. Poor substitute for my usual witty reparte, but it will have to do until I clear out the mental clutter and can focus on what’s really important: teh intertubes!
Dammit, there goes my theme for my next party: What’s the difference between a mad scientist and a terrorist?
PZ speculating on the motivations of legislators: Maybe they’re protecting us from the threat of the Grinch
’cause it’s a total no-brainer –
How Britain learnt to love the Pill
Two connected pieces from Greta Christina:
Being an Atheist in the Queer Community
and
How To Be An Ally with Atheists
US Army: Soldiers of god – Ed Brayton has a piece revealing some scary evangelism in the military: MRFF’s Latest Discovery
In the “c’mon, seriously?” category: Burglar: I Was Held Captive By Ghost For 3 Days
and
Cake request for 3-year-old Hitler namesake denied
The Atheist Revolution reveals the true origin of “Happy Holidays” and the supposed “War on Christmas”: “Happy Holidays” – Deal With It
An oldie but a goodie: 10 myths—and 10 Truths—About Atheism
Chalk one more up for freedom from religion
Posted by CyberLizard in Politics, Religion on December 11, 2008
Federal Judge Blocks Issuance Of ‘I Believe’ Automobile Tag Featuring Cross And Stained-Glass Church Window
We almost had this fight here in Florida earlier in the year. I’m almost glad that it went to court because now we have a precedent. Not that it should have needed one. It seems quite clear that allowing this would be an obvious violation of the separation of church and state.
Interestingly, the lawsuit was brought on behalf of four clergy members. It’s nice to see that both atheists and religious folks can agree that the government is no place to drag religion into.
A federal judge today ruled that the state of South Carolina may not issue a special “Christian” license plate featuring a cross, a stained-glass window and the words “I Believe.”Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which sponsored the litigation to stop issuance of the plate, hailed the decision.
“The ‘I Believe’ license plate is a clear example of government favoritism toward one religion,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. “The court drove home an important point: South Carolina officials have no business meddling in religious matters.”
U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie today issued a preliminary injunction forbidding the state to issue or manufacture the plates. She also ordered the state to inform people who requested the plates that they will not be available and to remove information about the plates from the state Web site. Currie will release a written opinion on Monday.
Americans United brought the Summers v. Adams legal challenge on behalf of four local clergy the Rev. Dr. Thomas A. Summers, Rabbi Sanford T. Marcus, the Rev. Dr. Robert M. Knight and the Rev. Dr. Neal Jones as well as the Hindu American Foundation and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.
In legal briefs, AU asserted that the “I Believe” license plate was unlike other specialty tags offered by the state. The measure authorizing the special plates was passed unanimously by both houses of the legislature, with the active support of Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer.
Americans United also pointed out that some legislators openly admitted that they would not vote for similar plates for minority faiths.
Asked by a reporter if he would support a license plate for Islam, Rep. Bill Sandifer replied, “Absolutely and positively no…. I would not because of my personal belief, and because I believe that wouldn’t be the wish of the majority of the constituency in this house district.”
Said AU Legal Director Ayesha N. Khan, “The ‘I Believe’ license plate sends the message that South Carolina has a favored religion. That’s one message the state is not permitted to transmit.”
Khan argued the case in Columbia before Judge Currie, assisted by AU Madison Fellow Elizabeth J. Stevens. Aaron J. Kozloski of Capitol Counsel, a Columbia, S.C. law firm, served as local counsel.
A year of CyberLizardy goodness
Posted by CyberLizard in Blogging, Me on December 11, 2008
I can’t believe I missed this. Actually, I can believe it, this is me we’re talking about. What were we talking about? Oh, yeah, my blogiversary! My foray into blogging began on 15 November 2007. I’ve maintained a site since 1999, mostly to host various programming projects I was working on and to put up pictures and stuff. But I made a decision to start blogging last year, got myself a Blogger account, and went at it. And now, here we are.
There is a year-in-review kind of meme in teh blogosphere. The only rule is to “post the link and first sentence from the first blog entry for each month of the past year.” Mine will actually go all the way back to last November in order to get 12 entries because I didn’t post anything during a couple of the months last year (don’t worry, it won’t happen again).
So enjoy this recap of the mad mad mad mad world of the CyberLizard.
- November 2007
I suppose that it’s about time I actually started dumping this crap out of my head and out onto the net.
- December
The final battle of Beowulf.
- January 2008
While staring at bag after bag of crumpled wrapping paper that inevitably follows the xmas blitz, I began to wonder about the possibilities of recycling.
- March
Not only have I actually put together a LEGO MOC, photographed it, and published it, but I submitted it for a contest.
- May
So chalk this one up to the same strange impulse that causes humans to crane their necks to view an accident scene or watch auto racing with the secret hope that someone will crash.
- June
It’s a sad day.
- July
You can have my garden when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers
- August
Once again, one of my pictures has been selected to appear on Insect Picture of the Day.
- September
This is starting to get scary.
- October
Congrats to the Rev. for his winning the August Molly award over on Pharyngula!
- November
Oh, boy, here we go.
- December
Wow, that’s the longest I’ve gone without blogging anything for a while now.
No comments for you!
Posted by CyberLizard in Blogging on December 11, 2008
Actually, you can make comments, just not with the new fancy thingy I was playing with. I’ll mess with it some other time. Continue about your business, nothing more to see here.
Playing around with comments
Posted by CyberLizard in Blogging on December 11, 2008
I’m currently messing with the commenting system. I’m trying out a replacement for Blogger’s built-in comments. It’s called IntenseDebate. The only problem is that I think I’ll lose all existing comments, and I really don’t want to do that.
So for now, if you see a weird comment thingy that doesn’t look right, just know that I’m playing with it. I’ll let y’all know if/when I complete the switch.
Has the media gotten it right about vaccines and autism?
Posted by CyberLizard in Science on December 11, 2008
It’s a relief to hear an article from the mainstream media that makes Jenny McCarthy sound like the frickin’ idiot that she is. NPR had a piece on Morning Edition today; an entirely factual piece that makes no concessions to the whackaloonery spouted by the likes of Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey. In his intro, Steve Inskeep basically starts off by saying that there is no connection between vaccines and autism. The following article actually uses the phrase fear-mongering with regard to the coverage of the supposed controversy surrounding vaccines. The only frustrating thing is that the only thing that makes them take notice is that the “pro-vaccine forces” now have their own celebrity, in the form of Amanda Peete. One of the best things she does as a celebrity spokesperson is to explicitly say that she is not and expert and if people want to know about science, they should talk to a scientist. In this vein, she has teamed up with Dr. Paul Offit, author of Autism’s False Prophets, who provides some great commentary in this article.
I suggest you listen to the actual article, the text on the website appears to be a paraphrasing of the audio.
For some background on this whole subject, ScienceBlogs recently held a book club around Dr. Offit’s book, in which I was fortunate enough to participate. It’s a terrific source of factual information about the manufactuversy surrounding the vaccine-autism “debate”.
I’m hoping that this means that we have turned a corner and are starting to put the wingnuts like McCarthy back out on the fringes where they belong. It’s about time that the MSM has begun to embrace fact over fiction in this area. Let’s see if it’s catching.
Halfway in or halfway out?
Posted by CyberLizard in Stuff on December 9, 2008
PZ visits the nation’s wang!
Posted by CyberLizard in Atheism, Local & State on December 7, 2008
I had a terrific experience last night! No, not that kind of experience. Get your minds out of the gutter 
I went to hear PZ Myers speak at Rollins College last night. His talk was on the intersection of science and religion in the classroom. The main thrust of it was that it is imperative that the classroom remain secular; religion has absolutely no place there, especially in the science classroom. He also covered some of his personal experiences of being a militant atheist. Hearing about his being “expelled” from the movie Expelled first hand was great. PZ also offered advice for we atheists in our continuing struggle to retain equal rights as godless citizens of the United States. It was actually quite inspirational. I can’t tell you how uplifting it was to be physically gathered with other freethinkers and engage in intelligent discussions.
Unfortunately we didn’t have any protesters like they did the night before at UCF. But the Dean of the Chapel did raise a stink about PZ’s visit. Apparently he has a problem with blasphemers. He was probably referring to the cracker incident. For the life of me, I can’t figure out why that would bother someone, but some people have weird fetishes. To each their own.
Afterward, we adjourned to Fiddler’s Green and continued the conversation. I was fortunate enough to have been seated directly across from PZ, and so I used the opportunity to totally babble like a complete fanboi discuss deep philisophical topics in a rational manner. I totally impressed him with my erudite manner and thoughtful insights on a number of topics (yeah, right). In reality, it was quite pleasant just to engage in conversation with a “famous” person, chatting about such random topics as the weather in Minnesota, the state of the educational system in the USA and parenthood. I did begin to feel a little old, however, with all the college kids around. I didn’t even get carded 
All in all, it was a fantastic evening of deep thought, lite conversation and drinking cider on draught (damn near impossible to find in regular bars).
Many thanks, PZ, for the inspirational talk and the great conversation.
Full of November WIN
Posted by CyberLizard in LEGO on December 5, 2008
November was a fantastic month. Not only did it contain the birthdays of the CyberLizard and his Mrs., but it was also the first NoVVember, a tribute to the awesome Vic Viper. The Brothers Brick interviewed Nnenn, the driving force behind the project. Now that NoVVember is over, he has put together an awesome poster of all the contributions. If you look closely, you’ll even see a couple from little old me. It’s the closest I’ve ever come to being featured on the Brothers Brick
It’s totally worth the clickthrough to see the enormous original size.
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