Just FYI to everyone, tomorrow I fly out for the Skepticon conference in Missouri which I am certain will consume me the whole weekend (it always does!), and then immediately after that I’m flying to the UK and spending ten days all over the south of England, so I am also unlikely to find time for much else but all the things I want to do when I’m there (since I normally don’t get to travel abroad much at all). And then immediately upon getting back it’s my birthday.
In consequence, you shouldn’t be surprised if my attendance to comment moderation and blog posting slows down beyond normal until December. Please be patient until I’m back.
P.S. Thank you Ohioans! You went for Obama and saved us all. Now I don’t have to worry about the Supreme Court becoming evil.
For at least four years.
Not a born-native of the state, but I was glad to help keep Ohio blue this time around. You can thank us Ohioans by coming by some time. 🙂
I’ve been. But would love to be by again. Just need a sponsor.
Have a great trip Richard!
While you’re in Missouri, Dr. Carrier, make sure you donate to the Mormon-Jesus-is-a-comin’ foundation!
😉
Hi Richard, I live on the South Coast of England. Are you appearing anywhere apart from Oxford and London?
I did not appear anywhere else. But we did briefly visit Portsmouth (too briefly, IMO; we didn’t realize how much awesome stuff there was to do there). The rest of our time was spent mainly in inland rural areas in Wiltshire, Dartmoor, and New Forrest.
Your presentation at skepticon was great! My gf and I talked about for hours on the way home.
Thanks for saying. Always good to know!
I vote that when you come back, you write a think-piece on climate change. Upon searching through your old blog and this one, I cannot find a single mention of it by you, which I find surprising, given that you are a philosopher who cares about the issues.
It would be very interesting to hear your thoughts; climate change is one of the greatest threats that human civilization has ever had to face, and radical measures must be taken if we are to avert disaster.
I disagree with the “radical measures” claim. But yes, global warming is happening, and we caused it, and it would be better if we dialed back on that.
However, earth’s biosphere has thrived at far higher temps than we will ever achieve. So no, disaster is not in the cards. Human civilization will experience a plethora of localized disasters until it gets with the program and takes smarter measures to deal with the effects of global warming (which cannot now be averted by any radical plan, even were one likely ever to be implemented, and none are), and people’s fortunes will shift (wealth will migrate from equatorial to northern regions) and that’s going to suck for a lot of people (though be a windfall for others). And we could greatly mitigate all of these things with smarter policies (a plan to reduce fossil fuels and increase dependency on renewable energy and recycle greenhouse gases from all sources and spend more, and more smartly, on water conservation and production technologies and coastal cities and habitats, and so on), and so that’s where we need to focus our votes.
But this has all been said already. I don’t really have much new to contribute. Others are far more up to speed on tackling deniers and irrationalists in this area and are doing a fine job of it. If I ever think I have something to add, I will. But so far, nothing has come up. Similarly, I don’t tackle on my blog creationism vs. evolution very much, or church-state separation very much, not because those aren’t important, but because they just aren’t my thing. Others on FTB and elsewhere have that covered better than I can at present.
mojo and Richard,
One of the two big reasons I wrote my book about the coverup of other saviors in the New Testament (“The Bible says ‘Saviors’ -Obadiah 1:21”) is that all true mystic Masters (John the B and James, for example) were, and still are (Baba Gurinder Singh, RSSB) vegetarian. This is EXTREMELY important — not just from a spiritual (karmic) standpoint, personally, but as on its effect on climate change, and animal abuse. The contribution of animal husbandry to global greenhouse emissions is enormous. It may not rival fossil fuel burning, but it is major. Methane from cows is 25 times as bad as CO2. The details are easy to find, like at Vegsource.com.
That’s off topic here. The modern science I already address elsewhere and as to the ancient facts, I don’t know how you know John the B “was” a vegetarian (and citing a reincarnation claimant for that is pseudoscientific baloney). Our only source on his diet says J the B ate bugs and bug spit, and he killed cows to wear their skin as a belt (Mt. 3:4 and Mk. 1:6). Otherwise only a late legendary source claims James was a vegetarian. The same source that reports loads of patent nonsense. But granted, there were Christian vegetarians (Romans 14:1-2). Their reasons were not scientific, but superstitious.
I read this headline as ‘blogging SHOWdown’ and had to look!! At any rate, I think we are all grateful to the Ohioans who stood in those long cold lines waiting to exercise their Constitutional rights, in spite of the roadblocks thrown in by the Republican Government of the state. I think the shenanigans only riled up the democratic determination.
Are you attending any events, gatherings, or such the like in southern England?
I just did the Oxford and London gigs announced ahead of my trip. I asked if people in southern England wanted to meet up on the latter half of my trip, but I only got a couple of maybes, and they were too far out of out way unfortunately.