What to do when there's a glut of atheist blogs

I've been wondering for awhile what to do with this blog.

There are a plethora of atheist blogs out there, most of which all discuss the same topics, and try to drum up indignant outrage or mockery at something or other the Christians are doing in the media.  Or they just rehash all the arguments for and against god.

I'm over all that.  That's part of why I haven't posted since January.

But I also don't want to stop the blog.  I find it's useful to get my thoughts on the page.  Plus I've made some friends and I don't want to break up with them, lol.

[aside:  I'm distracted because I'm currently watching Be Kind Rewind - it started off pretty underwhelming, but is getting pretty good now].

So I predict tht my blog, if it is going to survive, will evolve.  Not into the lame ego-driven laundry list of "things I did today".  But it will probably become more random; I'll post on whatever topics are on my mind at the moment, whether a full entry or only a few sentences.  I'm always fascinated with fringe culture; I'll probably muse on those things.
  Of course, it will continue from the atheist/skeptical perspective. 

Umm, so yeah. 

overwork and tooth fairies

I cannot kill myself with school next semester like I did last semester. I ignored too many things in my personal life that help keep me sane.

Part of the problem is that I have had a great many wonderful ideas that I can use to help teach students math from different perspectives. However, I pushed myself to develop too many of them too quickly, which not only didn't work, but made me neglect my personal life. That sucks.


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My niece is becoming one of my favorite people. She is five years old, and has already figured out that there is no Easter Bunny. She told her dad (my brother) that she knows the Easter Bunny isn't real because she has never seen a rabbit that big anywhere.

She also knows Santa Claus isn't real, but likes to still pretend he is.

But my favorite thing about her is her approach to the Tooth Fairy. She is very suspicious about the Tooth Fairy's existence, even though she hasn't lost a tooth yet. She has a great train of logic for a 5-year old: She knows that fairies aren't real, and she knows that the Tooth Fairy is, well, a fairy. So she has devised an experiment: her hypothesis is that the tooth fairy is really just parents. So she has given her dad instructions - when she loses her tooth, he is not allowed to put money under her pillow. Then, if money still appears, the tooth fairy is real. If money doesn't appear, then the tooth fairy doesn't exist. She is very serious about this, and has reminded her dad several times to make sure he doesn't put money under her pillow.

Her dad is torn about how to respond. He wants to respect her experiment, but he also wants her to have the experience of the Tooth Fairy.

Royalties Results

So at the end of September I got my first royalty check for my book.

I sold a grand total of 51 copies of my book. My royalty check was $61.25.
I figure I'll wait for one more check before I retire.

So after hearing the rumors online that my publisher rips people off, I have no way of telling that. I can account for about 25 copies of the book that I know family and friends (and myself) bought. And that's only half of the copies sold. There was even one person in England that ordered it.

I have a friend in Los Angeles that said he randomly saw a coworker reading my book one day, so I know it's drifting out there somewhere.

And since it has been seen in Los Angeles, I hope Will Smith sees and and wants to star in the movie.

filling the hole.

damn, I sure didn't expect to be gone this long!

This school year I set myself the professional goal of going paperless, and dramatically increasing the use of technology in the classroom. I mean, we are a school district that just gave every single student Apple laptops, but students (and teachers) are really only using them to write reports and check email. I'm teaching myself how to use the various programs in iLife and iWork. Then I'm constructing my own tutorials for students.

The internet is little more than useless at school, since the content filters are positively draconian. But of course, like any censored population, we find ways around it. I'm an active member in the proxy underground with students.

So anyway, I bought a nice scanner and now scan all work by students into the computer. I grade it on the computer and then email it back to them.

I'm taking a topology course as my semester master's degree class.

And all this stuff takes up so damn much of my time that I don't do much else. Seriously, I've played video games one time since September. Those that know me will be concerned about that.

And I kept putting off blogging. Until now.

I finally gave in and got a Twitter account. If you Twitter, you can follow me @ uncertainwonder.

Our President is Still at the Olympics

Here, our Commander in Chief is representing Christian America in classy ways by supporting the US Olympic swimming efforts:

Our president at the Olympics

So President Bush went to China and gave a speech the day before the opening ceremony criticizing their government for repressive rule over human rights and religious freedom.  He said,

Change in China will arrive on its own terms and in keeping with its own history and its own traditions.  Yet change will arrive. And it will be clear for all to see that those who aspire to speak their conscience and worship their God are no threat to the future of China.

The Chinese government got pissed off and told him to mind his own business.

Anyway, after letting the Chinese government know that Christianity is cool, he went and hung out with the Olympic women's volleyball team.

Hater's Corner: Movie Review

(If this is the first time you've read Hater's Corner, read this)

I'm not sure how many people saw the Will Smith superhero flick Hancock this summer. The critics were split on this one, but I really liked it.

Anyway, tooling through the scummy underbelly of the web, I came across this review of Hancock from a person known charmingly as "Reaper for the Reich". Just so you know, he goes through the whole plot of the movie, so there are spoilers if you haven't seen it yet.

Um, enjoy... or something.

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Hancock

What a pile of negro loving trash this film is.

I knew it as soon as I saw the trailers. Some negro superhero movie. I refused to give it a dime or my time. However the “Whites” at work were raving about how great it was so curiosity pressed me and I wanted to know what the deal was. I didn’t give it a cent but I did waste my time watching it. Anyone who knows about the net knows how to get movies for free. So that’s what I did.

The movie stars:
Will Smith (rap negro)
Charlize Theron (one of the most beautiful White actresses in Hollywood)
Jason Bateman (a no talent Hollywood jew actor)

The film starts out well enough with Hancock (Will Smith) being a drunken foul-mouthed ebonics speaking negroid with “superpowers”. He goes on a few jaunts stopping criminals and flies around town like a bum with a liquor bottle in his hand reminding me of “Handy Man” from the TV show In Living Color. Finally he rescues some jew carpetbagger (Jason Bateman) from getting hit by a train who is trying to peddle a sham heart icon to corporations in the name of charity. Jew boy sees Hancock as a new moneymaking opportunity and P.R. tool and invites him home for “meatballs”.

As soon as jew boy brings negro Hancock home his wife (Charlize Theron) immediately begins giving Hancock the “F*#k me” eyes. Which continues for the rest of the film. The sexual tension between the two is extremely blatant. This culminates with Charlize and Hancock sharing a kiss that reveals her super power, and that they were married some 80 years before. But jew boy (Jason Bateman) is cool with the love affair between his negro pet Hancock and his Aryan wife (Charlize) and takes it all in stride because he knows he would get his ass kicked if he said anything and he has profit on his mind.

However it turns out that some goofy White criminal who looks like a casting call bank robber reject from the movie Heat has it out for Hancock and when Hancock and (Charlize) are together they are no longer immortal. The bank robber and his gang attack Hancock and (Charlize) while they are together and what one suffers the other does as well. When Hancock gets shot Charlize suffers it as well and she is on the verge of dying until her husband (jew boy Jason Bateman) disposes of the bank robber ringleader. But Charlize is still on the verge of death so Hancock starts doing what he does best. He jumps over busses and cars and finally to the moon. Somehow this restarts the heart of Charlize and he saves her life.

It ends with Hancock perched atop a skyscraper with a “blue toof” on his ear letting jew boy and Charlize know that they will change the world. Charlize then longingly stares at the moon as if she misses and can’t wait for that big black Hancock to come back to her.

This is probably one of the worst movies I have ever seen. The story and content are absolutely repulsive, the cgi is terrible, and it is about the most ant-white movie I have ever seen.