The Atheist Blogger

My Feeds

I subscribe to quite a few blogs; some technical, some webcomics, most atheist-based. However I do subscribe to a few Christian blogs for various reasons:

“Atheist Central” by Ray Comfort

Ray Comfort’s blog is a great place if you want to have a laugh, or simply want to watch a load of bigoted hatred emerge out of the “love” theists have for our souls. Whether he is busy redefining science or claiming that light is invisible, Ray Comfort always manages to bring a smile to the face of any atheist. Heck, he even has his own bunch of debunkers.

Stuff Christians Like by Prodigal John

This blog is rather atheist-friendly since atheists aren’t actually mentioned, so it is a nice look into the minds of Christians when they aren’t all riled up over our “atheist faith”.

Debunking Atheists by Dan

Debunking Atheists has a special place not only in my feed reader but also in my blog’s blogroll because the author challenged me to put him there after he wrote answers to the Atheist Thirteen for me. Dan (the author in question) has a current series trying to “Debunk Evolution” which is hilarious to read, mainly because he doesn’t understand the fundamentals of the science and simply repeats well-known lies.

Uncommon Descent by William Dembski (originally)

A blog about Intelligent Design, which of course spouts the same rubbish and regurgitated debunked “facts” they’ve been talking about for years. The site logo is still the I.D mascot, the bacterial flagellum, which of course has various explanations for its existence through Evolutionary theory. Still, it’s great fun to read on all the “controversy” surrounding these issues.

So what Christian blogs do you peruse? Why do you do it? Do you actively take part in discussions or just sit in the sidelines?

For those who are interested, I’m tweeting the BBC election coverage. If you have a Twitter client, why not join in and talk? :D

Just in a few minutes ago: BBC has called Kay Hagan’s win over Elizabeth Dole, so well done on ousting one Christian bigot for another (although slightly less intense) Christian bigot. Ah well, we can’t win everything!

Edit: “Tweeting” not “Twitting” according to ChickenGirl. I blame it being 2am and me having no sleep in 24 hours.

We are approaching the end of another year, and those who regularly read the atheist blogosphere can hardly say it wasn’t a busy one! We’ve had propaganda films to fight off, scandals involving crackers, and plenty of anti-atheist bigotry to deal with. The question still remains though:

How much of it can you remember?

The “Big Fat Atheist Quiz Of The Year” will test how much people have been paying attention in regards to the blogosphere and the news. It will consist of an undecided number of multiple choice questions, presented in an online format on 31st December 2008.

Of course due to the nature of the quiz and people’s dishonesty, there won’t be any prizes, but it should be a fun thing to do. People can certainly brag about their scores (whether real or not).

The questions will be compiled over the next 2 months, and this is where I need some help. Obviously I can come up with a load of questions for the quiz, but if anyone can think of some good ones, please submit them using this online form.

Name / email is only neccessary in case I need to contact you. The “Source” should be a link to a webpage that contains the story relating to the question. For example, if you write a question about the PZ Myers “expelled from expelled” controversy, a link to the blog post by PZ Myers might be a good idea :D

The 3 false answers are entirely optional for you to fill in, but they would help me out a bit later on. If you do include false answers, remember make them a bit challenging!

…and naturally, please submit as many questions as you can!

Hemant Mehta of Friendly Atheist recently started a new meme where you listed your last 20 emails and what they say about you. I’m starting a new one, only this time it’s with current browser tabs. The reason? I broke my own record today, with 100 tabs open in Firefox.

Taberrific!

The tabs open were as follows:

• 17 Google Searches.
• 10 Wikipedia Articles.
• 9 Facebook.
• 7 of this site.
• 3 Slashdot.
• 3 Gentoo Wiki Articles.
• 2 YouTube Videos.
• 2 Amazon.co.uk Items
• 2 Problogger Articles
• 2 Chicken Girl
• 2 Atheist Forums
• 2 Discomforting Ignorance
• 2 Amiable Atheist
• 2 Splendid Elles
• 1 RichardDawkins.net
• 1 Google Video
• 1 Atheist Experience
• 1 Barefoot Bum
• 1 Southern Electric
• 1 Least I Could Do
• 1 Joy Of Tech
• 1 ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH…MY EYES!
• 1 xkcd
• 1 Comedy Central
• 1 The Daily Show
• 1 Explosm
• 1 Times Online
• 1 Friendly Atheist
• 1 Pharyngula
• 1 Daily Mail
• 1 Royal Holloway University of London
• 1 Conrad Koppitz
• 1 SSH reference site
• 1 Revver
• 1 Perl Reference Site
• 1 Division By Zero
• 1 Raytractors
• 1 Powers of 10
• 1 Google Android Mobile
• 1 Atheist Stats Site
• 1 Rapture Ready
• 1 Java API
• 1 Dmitry Brant
• 1 Gutenberg.org
• 1 BBC News Article
• 1 My Blog Log
• 1 Sanity Project
• 1 Hot Chicks Dig Smart Men
• 1 Government e-petition

What did I learn?

I use Google, Wikipedia, and Facebook way too often, and I need to learn how to use the “close tab” button on Firefox.

What next?

If you are as geeky as me and use a browser with tabs (sorry I.E 6 users) then write a blog post with your tab list. It was fun to see which sites I visit most, and I get to link to my favourite ones!

Friendly Atheist has got a new meme which involves categorising your last 20 emails and working out what they say about you. Here goes.

My Last 20

5 emails from Second Life stores confirming stuff I bought.

3 messages from the WordPress mailing list.

2 messages from Atheist Nation confirming T-Shirt purchases.

2 messages from the CompSci department of RHUL.

1 person requesting a link exchange (Nico Raj)

1 friend sending me a photoshopped image for the new student newspaper “Atheist Column”.

1 message from my online bank telling me some money has been sent successfully.

1 message from Linux Format magazine with some special offers on courses.

1 message from the Secular Student Alliance.

1 confirmation from 10 Downing Street e-petitions.

1 message from Douglas Whaley thanking me on plugging his book (and telling me he has sent me one for free!)

1 message from the Royal Holloway Humanist Alliance inviting me to a preliminary meeting (which was great fun and we are discussing merging our groups).

What did I expect?

More emails from lecturers possibly. It is the first week after all!

What did I learn?

I spend too much time (and money) on Second Life, I subscribe to a WordPress mailing list that I rarely read, and I’m a geek…oh wait, I knew that ages ago.