What a crazy cool bunch of gifts.Wha?
Well... first off...
I've been reading the JREF's weekly newsletter/web post blog thang (SWIFT) for almost ten years, and just today, they posted an article that I wrote.
I'll say that again.
THE JREF POSTED AN ARTICLE I WROTE.
[squee!]
Go HERE to see for yourself...
I know that I've been involved with the JREF a lot over this last year, but seeing something I wrote, on what FOR YEARS was the exclusive private playground of James Randi, is just kinda mind-numbing. It's like I'm actually a part of a movement or something. I mean... garsh...the list of posters (as opposed to a list of posers) that they have is pretty humbling.
[You've got Randi of course, but there's also the new JREF president and all around incredo-human Phil Plait; Richard Saunders of the Australian Skeptics and the number one TV show down under; über b3 babe herself Alison Smith; ridiculously generous and threateningly intelligent Jeff Wagg; PLUS folks like Joseph Albietz, Brian Dunning, and Harriet Hall. What the hell am I doing with THESE people?]
SWIFT has gone from being something that would be refreshed every Friday, to something that is updated every day (more like a blog, less like a newsletter) and it's really quite a gift to see my words up there.
H.U.M.B.L.E.D.
But wait... there's more...
Here's another cool gift-
The fine folks at the International Year of Astronomy (namely Dr.Pamela Gay) have asked me to perform in California at their opening ceremonies during the American Astronomical Society's yearly conference.
[Yes- you may go HERE to see]
I have won the NERD LOTTO.
...and I could not be more excited.
PLUS-
I grabbed what appeared to be the last PERFECT TREE from my local purveyor of freshly killed holiday greenery.
Nice.
Here it is in its proper atheist/nüovo-pagan/retro-druid setting:
So... just in case you have arrived here from the aforementioned SWIFT article...
this is but a remote outpost of the Geologic Empire.
The brain center/command deck of this particular starship is
THE GEOLOGIC PODCAST
FREE weekly shows are posted every Thursday morning,
with a site featuring an extensive archive and coffee bar.
CDs and individual songs are available for purchase at
iTunes and HERE at the very cool CDBABY
One printed tome entitled NON-COLORING BOOK can be purchased HERE
My website that has some calendrical information and sundry stuff on it is HERE.
...oh and... also... but...
If you're in the mood to see me at my "day job", go HERE to see the schedule of the Philadelphia Funk Authority, and catch me playing drums. Funky.
One last thing...
A good friend of mine noted that I was probably the first person to ever mention both Stephen Hawking and Flavor Flav in a single article.
Now THAT was a cool gift.
Merry and Happy and all that...
3 comments:
Congrats-a-mundo, Geo!
I dig me some SWIFT. Now with more Geo!!
~Dan
http://jazzsick.wordpress.com/
Well written and passionate... but you're kind of wrong?
Hello!
"Why then can’t that same attitude be transferred to occurrences in the universe that are beyond an individual's understanding? "
"The shedding of superstitious thought-ALL superstitious thought..."
Because in some cases (not all) - it's actually beneficial in a positive sense to the individual to behave that way, that's why. It's unreasonable and actually impossible to stamp them all out, nor are people who are superstitious unintelligent or backward.
If you look into fields such as sports, academia, arts, science (shock!), social networking and even (shock!!) music - there's in fact many examples in how superstitious-style reinforcement via tokens, behaviour and ritual is in fact beneficial. The most accessible book is Vyse's 'Believing in Magic: The Psychology of Superstition'.
You might like to check out the posts I have on the topic on my blog - especially the series on women and superstitious behaviour: http://podblack.com/?p=1000
And no - the 'rational' are not exempt: http://podblack.com/?p=800
Hope to hear your views on it more! :)
Geo:
You -BELONG- there on SWIFT! You're one of the beautiful people, one of the heavy hitters, you are one of the ubiquitous "them"! You belong! They'll be [squee!]-ing about being there with you!
And that's frakkin' cool!
Give Donna a big hug from me (and from you) and have a happy Solstice!
Richard Drumm The Astronomy Bum
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