WWJTD

JT and JTs Videogameathonapalooza!

Brianne Bilyeu, , , , , , , , , 1,060 Comments

The first game system I played was the Atari 2600. I have memories of playing E.T., Berzerk, Pitfall, Asteroid, Space-Invaders, Frogger and DigDug.  I still remember the pain of Atari Thumb.

Breakout was my favorite game for a long time.

Remember this bad boy? And unlike some of the other games, this one used the paddle rather than the joystick controller.

After Atari my parents picked us up a Nintendo (NES), and then we upgraded to Super Nintendo when I was in Junior High. I was a HUGE Mario fan. We conquered Super Mario Bros. 1, 2 and 3. I even got the cheat guide for Super Mario 3 so I could find all of the hidden flutes, learn the trick behind scoring five 1-ups at the end of every three levels, and memorize the grids of the memory cards bonus levels.

My other favorite game was Trog! Frickin’ green Trogs were the worst. This was the heyday of my video gaming; we played Duck Hunt, California Games, TMNT, Contra Force, Legend of Zelda, MegaMan, Kid Icarus, Paperboy, Donkey Kong, Tennis and Q*bert. My mom kicked all of our asses in Dr. Mario and Tetris, and my dad and I liked to play one of the casino games, Bases Loaded and Black Bass. The Nintendo was downstairs in our unfinished basement, so often times we would drag over the space heater and play Nintendo while we did laundry.

I completely missed Sega and didn’t pick up a console again until Thanksgiving 2011 when I bought a WII. I rock the new Mario Kart, the Hubby and I like to hunt each other down in Goldeneye 007, and I’m smitten with this one diving game called Endless Ocean. But one of the first things I did when I plugged in the system was download the old SNES Super Mario Bros and Dr. Mario.

Ah memories.

And do you know what starts in, like, NOW? Jason Thibeault and JT Eberhard’s 24 hour Gamers For Godlessness Gameathonapalooza! They’re going to be playing all sorts of retro videogames. For CHARITY.

I KNOW, RIGHT?!

GO HERE TO START WATCHING THE LIVESTREAM

What’s a gameathonapalooza? I’ll let JT explain:

Jason Thibeault from the Lousy Canuck blog and I are going to be playing retro games for 24 straight freaking hours on Saturday!  We’ll be live-streaming our lovely faces along with our games.  We’ll be talking about all kinds of interesting stuff from atheism to politics to gaming history, and we’ll be taking call-ins, email questions, etc.  We’re doing this to raise money for Camp Quest and theWomen in Secularism conference.

 They’ve got all sorts of crazy challenges, stunts and guests – including me at 10pm EST – set up for today and tomorrow.12PM EST today through 12pm EST tomorrow (Sunday). Check out this post by JT for some last minute updates. It’s also the thread for comments, questions and challenges at Chez WWJTD. Click that link/visit that blog post at lot, because JT’s donating all of the money from hits to that post to the cause.

The hashtag for the event is #GDLS

See you over there!

JT and JTs Videogameathonapalooza!
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Two Steps From Hell

Brianne Bilyeu, , , 251 Comments

Awwww yeah. I needed a little of this right now. I think JT introduced me to to this video. Thanks, man. This is saving my ass right now. I may listen to this on repeat for the next three hours.

Now let’s go write about activism!

This is post 43 of 49 in the SSAweek Biodork Blogathon. Donate to the SSA today! Read more about my reader challenges here.

Two Steps From Hell

What are the other bloggers up to?

Brianne Bilyeu, , , , , 161 Comments

Let’s see…

Ellen Lundgren over at Skeptic Freethought is more than halfway done! She’s put out 14 of her planned 24 blog posts! Her most recent post is called How to Convert an Atheist. She’s discussed cute animals, freedom of and from religion, reddit, crochet Cthulhu and FSM, her local CFI group, and of course her Tree Naming Contest.

Christina Stephens over at What Would JT Do is also going strong. She’s posted 18 of her 24 blog posts – she’s almost finished! Her most recent posts have been about faith’s role in rehabilitation (it’s not good), the ridiculousness of the Stand Up for Religious Freedom Rally, polyamory and American Sign Language.

My fellow SSA fundraisin’ blogathonin’ peeps are awesome and an inspiration. Hang in there, you two!

Oh, and don’t tell anyone, but I’ve lined up an honest to goodness interview for around the 9-9:30-10pm timeframe!

This is post 23 of 49 in the SSAweek Biodork Blogathon. Donate to the SSA today! Read more about my reader challenges here.

What are the other bloggers up to?

FTF1 JT Eberhard – Why the Arguments for God Fail

Brianne Bilyeu, , , , 561 Comments

This entry is a  recap and review of JT Eberhard’s Freethought Festival 2012 presentation as observed by me as an audience member. Shitty writing or misinterpretation of the presenter’s material is completely my fault. If you see any egregious errors or you think I got something wrong, please let me know in the comments or feel free to email me at bio_dork(at)hotmail(dot)com.  

With a level of maturity rarely seen in presentations refuting the existence of God, JT Eberhard from What Would JT Do? presented somber, respectful counter-arguments to claims often made by proponents of religion:

Edit: Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! JT just pointed out that this slide is actually from PZ Myers’ presentation. But it fits so perfectly here, so just pretend okay? It’ll make another appearance when I blog about PZ’s talk. It’s going to do double work. Because it’s awesome. And who doesn’t want to see God tweaking Eve’s nipple again? Not me, I’m telling you that.

NOT.

The claims made by proponents of religion are often ridiculous and offensive, and one of the ways to address them is to laugh at them and call them out, demand that we see them for how stupid they can be. JT does this well.

Continue reading “FTF1 JT Eberhard – Why the Arguments for God Fail” →

FTF1 JT Eberhard – Why the Arguments for God Fail

Patient Zero Rocks!

Brianne Bilyeu, , , , , 364 Comments

Yesterday JT posted about an Android app called Patient Zero. As a fan of both virology and social media, I immediately downloaded it and started playing. It’s a very passive “game”. Once you sign up, you just sit back and wait to infect or be infected. You can increase your infecting ability by traveling. Or by taking your phone to areas where lots of traveling occurs…I’m looking at you Minneapolis airport!

Continue reading “Patient Zero Rocks!” →

Patient Zero Rocks!

Exciting Atheist Speakers in Minneapolis!

Brianne Bilyeu, , , , , , , , 518 Comments

There are a couple of exciting events coming up, especially if you’re in the Twin Cities and interested in atheism and science.

TONIGHT JT Eberhard from FreeThought Blogs WWJTD will be speaking at the University of Minnesota for the student group CASH – Campus Atheists, Skeptics and Humanists. He’ll be giving a talk called “Activism and Why Atheism Rocks!”. Tonight, 7pm at Smith Hall, Room 231, 207 Pleasant Street SE, Minneapolis, MN. There’s talk of pizza and karaoke at nearby Campus Pizza afterwards.

SUNDAY I’m hosting the Atheists Talk radio show and podcast and we’re interview some guy who’s going to be talking about some stuff, which would be pretty meh except the guy is fricking Dr. LAWRENCE KRAUSS and the stuff he’ll be talking about are the wild ideas in his newest book The Universe from Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather Than Nothing. You can read my write-up for the event at the Minnesota Atheists Atheists Talk radio web page. And if you’re not local, the website will also tell you how to stream the interview and call or email with questions during Dr. Krauss’s visit.

And this one’s a bit farther out, but another FreeThought Blogger, Jen McCreight, the author of Blag Hag will be speaking at the March public meeting of Minnesota Atheists on March 18th. She’ll be giving her talk “God’s Lady Problem”. More details like time, location, etc. can be found at the Minnesota Atheists Meetup page for this event.

 

Exciting Atheist Speakers in Minneapolis!