Brief Blog Break/ Open Thread/ Shameless Self-Promotion Opportunity

Ingrid and I are going to be of town for a few days for the holiday weekend. Our neighbors will be looking after our apartment and our cats, but I may be too busy to look after the blog much. I’ll check in to make sure there’s no horrible trolling, and I’ll post a piece or two and reply to comments if I have time; but if you don’t see me back here until Tuesday or Wednesday, don’t be surprised.

In the meantime, consider this both an open thread and a shameless self-promotion spot. If you have a blog and want to link to a post you’ve done — or if you’re doing something neat and want to tell us about it — go ahead and do it here. Obvious plugs for commercial products will be deleted, but if you have a book or a show or an art project or something, let us know about it.

So talk amongst yourselves. I’ll give you a topic. “Firefly” is neither a fire nor a fly. Discuss. Have a happy Labor Day, think kind thoughts about the labor movement, and I’ll see y’all when I get back!

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Brief Blog Break/ Open Thread/ Shameless Self-Promotion Opportunity
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20 thoughts on “Brief Blog Break/ Open Thread/ Shameless Self-Promotion Opportunity

  1. 2

    What Aaron said. And more to the point, because really cool TV shows get to have names that make only an indirect sort of sense.
    On the self-promotion front, after slacking for a few weeks I’m going to try to be better about regular posting on my blog:
    http://uncrediblehallq.net/blog/
    That’s all you really need to know about it, since it was already included in Greta’s “Good Stuff” carnival, right? Er, the reason for that was a series of posts exploring a range of issues in philosophy, including religion, ethics, and political theory, with stuff on the nature of humans and science and truth down the pipe. Also, expect occasional bits on religious stupidity.

  2. 3

    My very own Firefly theory which I didn’t steal, honest:
    The various members of the ship’s crew can be seen as aspects of Mal’s character. Zoe the good soldier, Wash the regular guy, Jayne the mercenary, and Kaylee the naive idealist.
    My HG Wells blog – atheism and all – is at:
    http://myhgwellsblog.blogspot.com/

  3. 4

    Mal: “Ship like this, be with ya ’til the day you die.
    Zoe: “Cause it’s a deathtrap.
    Never let it be said I missed an opportunity for cheap self-promotion:
    Transitional Forms (mercifully brief, at least).
    .
    Wash: “ I hope she does the soup thing. It’s always a hoot, and we don’t all die from it.

  4. 5

    Self promotion: this month I’ve been blogging about topics in evolution that might interest some readers of this blog (link is in my name), eg. debunking popular misconceptions about group selection, the good of the species etc. Next month — religious quirks you might not have known about.

  5. 6

    Thanks for including your site here, Michael. Thanks for the shameless self-promotion and happy labor day, Greta and Ingrid.
    Chris – I like your writing, but the theme at your site is hard to read for an old guy’s eyes.

  6. 7

    More shameless self promotion: I’m a landscape painter and I put new paintings and occasional woodblock prints up at my blog. No possible connection to atheism or sex aside from the fact that I’m interested in both. Thanks for the opportunity to spread the word Greta!

  7. 9

    Shameless self-promotion:
    I’m basically doing what amounts to a Bible study at my religious blog Sowing Seeds in Winter in an attempt to deal with some lingering guilt issues about being an atheist after all those years as a fundamentalist Christian (in the academic sense of the word). Christians always tell you that reading the Bible should make you believe, so… let’s test that theory. I’m attempting to approach the Bible as tabula rasa as possible, with neither the assumption that God doesn’t exist nor that God does exist.
    I’m only in the middle of Genesis so far, but I’ve already had a series of revelations, such as: Apparently, reading the Bible isn’t enough for Christians. You have to be a believer in order to understand the Bible properly, which means that the Bible isn’t good enough on its own merits. So what they really mean when they say to read the Bible is to become a True Believer, then read it. Unless you’re a True Believer, it’s impossible for you to read it right. I can’t read the Bible unless I become a believer, but I can’t be a believer unless I read the Bible. … Yeah.
    Sorry, the rant was well-needed.

  8. 10

    Unfortunately, I’ve seen a total of three episodes of Firefly. so I can’t say much about it. It’s on my list of things to watch, though.
    Shameless self-promotion:
    After reading Greta’s post about how all writers need blogs, I started a blog, and I’m totally new to it, so if anyone finds it in their heart to go read the blog and comment and critique and let me know how to do it better, please do. The link is probably in my name, but just in case: http://the-leaky-pen.blogspot.com

  9. 11

    First for the discussion. Firefly can also be photuris pennsylvanica. Also known as the lightning bug. Photuris pennsylvanica is actually a beetle, not a fly. It also produces light through a bio-chemical process, not by fire. Photuris pennsylvanica is also just one species, there are many more species of firefly. It’s just the most common in the U.S.
    Next, the shameless self-promotion.
    I am an atheist in northern Arkansas. I work as a quality control technician at a fiberglass factory. I have a blog in which I criticize the bible and religion. I also post my artwork which consists primarily of coloring sheets, which you can download, print and color yourselves.
    http://superstitionfree.blogspot.com
    Pleeeeeeeeeease visit my blog!

  10. 14

    In a way I was glad Firefly never lived long enough to jump the shark and become a cranky old man. But I still miss it.
    Shameless self-promotion:
    I recently pondered on the ways in which religion causes divisions between people and why this might be. Then I went off on a tangent and spoilt everything.
    Hope you have a good break.

  11. 15

    Shameless self-promotion: well, you can get to my blog by clicking on my name below … and please buy my novel. It’s published by Random House, it’s a literary thriller about werewolves, and you’ll love it, promise. My new book comes out in March, too. You are feeling sleepy … buy lots of copies of my book…
    And thanks for the opportunity, Greta. 🙂 Hope you have a great weekend.

  12. 17

    1. I loved Firefly – why did they cancel it?
    1.2 I never saw fireflies until I moved to the east coast for college. I love them – I still get a kick out of seeing them.
    2. shameless self promotion. I am an atheist, but I blog mostly about history, writing and occasionally television science fiction.

  13. 18

    Firefly: Only sci-fi show on TV ever worth watching. Also cool glowie beetles.
    Shameless self-promotion – My name links to the blog. Touches on atheism a little, and on sex a little, and on whatever random bits of the universe seem interesting at the time. The first post explains what it’s all about, but the most recent two are the best, I think. It’s new enough you can read though all of it in an evening if that matters at all to you.
    Firefly again: How did they manage to cram so many pretty people on one little boat? That’s the real accomplishment of the show. Ten tons of sexy in a boat only rated to hold 500lbs.

  14. 19

    Firefly is absolutely in my top three for all-time favorite sci-fi shows, not least because of it’s routinely great dialogue.
    Shameless self-promotion? Well, I have been keeping a blog that often discusses issues of critical thinking/religion/science/atheism that Greta Christina does (in fact, I found Great Christina when folks who saw what I had been writing directed me to her), and also sometimes features short fictional essays, and also discusses my career as a professional archaeologist.
    It’s at http://www.anthroslug.blogspot.com

  15. 20

    I’ve inaugurated my blogging career just this week with a critical response to Greta’s “Angry Atheist” piece, so readers of this blog may be interested. On the agenda for future blogs: Why Christians need to pay more attention to a largely dead religion (Zoroastrianism), from which many Christian ideas (heaven and hell, an apocalyptic view of history) are derived. My new blog can be reached by clicking on my name.

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