The Best of the Blogging World This Week

I know it may sound like I'm being a lazy blogger with this post, but there truly has been so many great blog posts out there from fellow bloggers.

 I would like to highlight a few of them, so many great posts on everything from a great conclusion to a great series on leaving Christianity, to a blog post about Ken Ham (the founder of the Creation Museum/Answers in Genesis), and how his plans for theme park have gone down in flames.

Ken Ham and his disastrous "Ark Park" experiment:

Bruce Gerencser in his great blog, The Way Forward, wrote recently about Ken Ham wanting to expand his Creation Museum (which is already starting to struggle financially), by building a theme park based on the Old Testament and its stories. Ken Ham is struggling to come up with funding, and he is scrambling, trying to get the state of Kentucky, as well as the nearby town of Williamstown to cough up the cash to support him with direct funding and bond issuing.

Besides the problem of church/state separation, it will be a disaster if Kentucky and Williamstown go along with this, because much of his plans hinge on the financial success of this endeavor. In order for it to be successful, it will require 1 million people a year to be paying visitors, and he can only get about 400,000 people a year to visit his Creation Museum.

Read more at The Way Forward

Politicians Forced to Take Random Blood Test:

Guest Post: 20 Things God Wants You To Know About Him

 Yahweh, Lord Almighty, took a few minutes out of his busy day and compiled this list so that you can worship Him that much better:

1. I hate the gays, but love their porn.
2. Jesus, I think he could’ve done better while he was on Earth. Maybe more card tricks.
3. I hate Chik-fil A. Their food is terrible.

5. I’m a compulsive cleaner (the real reason for The Flood).

My Pathetic Attempt At Humor

That's the self deprecating title of my (hopefully) humorous guest post at Laughing in Purgatory. I'm sure regular readers of the blog (or my Google + page) will be familiar with Andrew Hall's sharp sense of humor and parody. If not, I think this recent post of his, Neil DeGrasse Tyson Unveils NASA's New Scratch Ticket should give you an idea, or some of his great memes, like this one:

Well, I know my attempt at humor on Laughing in Purgatory won't be anywhere as good as Andrew's comedy, but if you still want to read it anyway, here it goes, check it out.

Always remember that I accept guest posts here at Ramblings of Sheldonl, if you have an idea for a guest post, e-mail me at ramblingsofsheldon@gmail.com.

Evangelicals are Excited that Science is Wrong Again!

Andromeda or just another satanic trick?

Milky Way Galaxy May be Less Massive than Originally Thought, and Evangelicals are Exuberant

Antioch, Arkansas New research from the University of California  suggests that  the Milky Way Galaxy may possess substantially less mass than  previously thought.  The Scientific School  for Theologically Universal Presuppositional Intellectual Discoveries (SSTUPID) immediately issued a policy statement regarding this dramatic  change in secular scientific dogma. Here is their statement in its entirety.

*****

Science has once again proven itself just another error prone, sin-based mistake Man has made. Man’s scientific system thought that the Milky Way had much more stuff in it, and now due to recent findings everything is up in the air.  Black is white,  cats are chasing dogs, and the mass of  our galaxy is now only  500 billion  to a trillion times that of our own sun. Next thing they’ll tell you will be that galaxies don’t even exist and we’re all just hanging around the Waffle House on a Sunday.

It's Been A Wild Ride For Me As A Blogger This Week

This week has been a wild one for the blog, with plenty of surprises, ups and downs, and there's been a lot for me to keep with. A guest post of mine was published, I've received a guest post submission, a request for an interview, and some backlash to a post I wrote several weeks ago.

All that in just 3 day's time.....

First, I'll start out with the published guest post. Jonny Scaramanga of the popular blog Leaving Fundamentalism, published a guest post I submitted. It was much the typical fare that you would come to expect on my blog.

 I went more in detail about the private school I attended that was a part of the Independent Fundamental Baptist network. I must have forgotten to include my title when I e-mailed it to him, I had originally titled it "Jumping On Cassettes", after a bizarre experience with the pastor who owned the school (read more about that in the guest post. It was a "life story" post that continued on with more about my home schooling past, and about the road that led me to become an agnostic.

 It was a great honor to write for his blog, he was raised up with the same fundamentalist curriculum I was, Accelerated Christian Education. If you have the time, I would highly encourage you to read a guest post he wrote for my blog, about his own personal experience with this system. It was a great guest post, and a great insight into this awful curriculum.

That very same morning (Monday). I also got a big surprise. I had wrote a guest post for Laughing In Purgatory that was a response to an article by Libby Anne of the Patheos blog Love Joy Feminism. Well, Libby Anne found that post of mine, and responded to it on her blog Monday.

A few things I learned from that experience:

1. Always beware of the tone of anything you write, my post took a somewhat accusatory tone towards Libby Anne, which wasn't what I intended.

2. When talking about a controversial topic, even if the post is meant to be a rant/discuss your personal feelings, always back up the post with links/quotes, people will expect it, even though you just intended for the post to be a rant.

3. Be prepared for backlash. The response wasn't as bad as I expected it to be, and Libby Anne, much to her credit, was rather civil, both in the post, and in a conversation I had with her by e-mail (I respect that about her and her writing, her blog is one of my favorite blogs).

Speaking of Laughing In Purgatory, which is where that original post of mine was posted, the author of that blog, Andrew Hall is back to bring some of his great satire to my blog. I've just received a new proposed guest post from him, I'm reading it now, and it will probably be published on Friday or Saturday.

The last time he sent in a guest post for this blog, it was a great success, and well received by readers. Read that post, Scholar Awarded Templeton Prize for Proving Jesus' Virgin Birth. There were some hidden jokes in that post, for instance, do you know who the man in the picture of "Dr. Mountebank", actually is?

Finally, I've been invited to be a part of the atheist blogger interview series on the blog Deity Shmeity. The blog author, "Grundy", has some great bloggers in that series that have responded to his request for interviews, blogger i have a lot of  respect for, like Vjack of Atheist Revolution, and Hermant Metha of The Friendly Atheist.

I'm honored to be invited to be a part of this project. I can't say for sure when this will be published, it all depends in part, on how soon I can get around to writing my responses to his questions (I've already received them in an e-mail).

It's been a wild week, for sure, it's the most excitement I've had as a blogger in quite a long time...

Marriage, Family, and Social Norms in the US (part 2)

This is part two of a two part series, I recommend you read part 1, which I wrote as a guest post for Laughing In Purgatory, before proceeding to read this post

In part 1, I responded to an article by Libby Anne of the Patheos blog Love Joy Feminism about gender roles, and gave my own views about the US views on gender and the way US divorce courts are ran. Today, I have a rant, related to family, and US society, but the focus will be in a different direction this time

I can not tell you how many times I have been hearing complaints in recent years from families about their adult children who have just dropped out of life entirely.

They won't get a job (and won't seriously search for one), won't make plans for their life, still live at home, and have no intention of ever leaving.

Their parents gripe and complain about this endlessly, and it probably is frustrating, but many of these same parents don't even realize that they have created this very situation, or at least are enabling it.

This Guest Post May Cause A Riot.....Or Not

I have been more anxious about this guest post than any I have ever done before. I have been invited to be a guest poster on Laughing In Purgatory yet again, this post is drastically different  than any other I have done, and it could be controversial.

Not that comedy blogger Andrew Hall shies away from controversy, anyone who is a regular reader of this blog is probably familiar with his brilliant, yet sharp sense of humor, and if you aren't familiar with him, the meme on the left here should give you an idea of what it is like. (Yes, I "stole" it from his blog).


I have spent some time talking back and forth with Andrew on refining the guest post, trying to clarify more what I was trying to say, because with as serious of a topic I wrote about, I didn't want any room for misinterpretation, be it deliberate or accidental.

The conversation started yesterday via e-mail, and continued off and on into today via e-mail and chat on Google +, which resulted in one of the funniest out of context quotes I have ever read. This is what Andrew had to say about some of my revisions:

"One of the first lessons I learned about blogging is that I keep my arguments tight and well supported. Yeah, I know, it's weird hearing that from a guy who writes shtick about a fictitious chimp masterbating"

If you don't get the reference to the chimp, it's referring to a parody on recent news events that he wrote for the blog Atheist Pig, see the announcement on his blog for a link to the article.

Anyway, as I said earlier, this post is far different from what you have ever read before by me, either on this blog, or in guest posts. Not only is the topic controversial, and something I have never talked about before, but this post is a little bolder than what you may be used to. As the title here says, it may cause a riot...or not.

I'm nervous about what public reaction to it will be like. I don't know if it will be considered highly controversial, or if the reception to it will be much better than I expect, either way it's likely going to start a lot of conversations.

Read the post over at Laughing in Purgatory, Marriage, Family, and Societal Norms in the US

Post-Holiday Doldrums

Well, Thanksgiving, Christmas, as well as some other lesser celebrated holidays have come and gone, and I have noticed a sense of weariness among people. Everyone seems to be just going through the motions, senses slightly dulled, tired, but there's a lingering hostility under the surface too. It's as tough people are just frustrated with life anymore, but too tired or content to do anything about it.


I have noticed that blog readership is down dramatically (and two other bloggers have also told me that they have seen the same happen to their blogs). It seems as though people are tired of discussions,except for about guns, that is, it seems like that's the one release valve where everyone is venting their frustrations at the world, I had a discussion yesterday on guns that went over 300 comments, and went on long after I went offline yesterday afternoon, lasting all night long.

Having Some Fun for a Change

I figured my blog could use some humor, the tone here has been to depressing, and this has been a very depressing and tragic week in the US. I figured some comic relief was in order.

I'm not good at writing great satire like the comedy blogger Andrew Hall, so I'll restrict myself to memes.

 My neighbor is an obnoxious hoosier who has no respect for anyone around her. It's been miserable living next to her, her bratty kids and her loudmouth husband. Which is why when she started falling on some hard times financially due to her own poor decisions, I had a hard time feeling sorry for her (but did feel a little guilty for laughing about the whole situation):

 

This is how I feel when I don't understand a joke someone makes when I'm around. I have a hard time understanding people when they speak sometimes, context and emotion in sentences can be hard for me to grasp. I have had people tell me before that I show many signs for having OCD and/or high functioning autism. I really need to get formally tested.....

 

This is my frustration with people who support the Drug War in the US, especially people who oppose medical marijuana, their attitudes and beliefs are often inconsistent.....

Hope you enjoy my attempts at humor.

Celebrating The Blog's Great Success Recently

It constantly amazes me how the blog keeps growing, it's something I would have never excepted back in August when I started it as just a way to get my opinions out there, I didn't expect many people to read it (if any), and that I would still be blogging now, it was just an experiment for me.

Now, here I am in the last few weeks looking at how fast it's grown. In the last 3 weeks I have went from a 400 reader a week average, to now breaking the 1,000 mark this weekend.


My blog has gotten recognition from some popular people in the atheist/skeptic blogging world, starting about 3 weeks ago

First, the blog went from 400 to 700 readers a week after a guest post at the blog Confessions of a Heretic Husband, then the biggest spikes in readership come after some honors the blog received this week:

Jack Vance added me to the blogroll at his hugely popular blog Atheist Revolution, which has lead to a sustained increase of people stopping by.

Blogger Reason Being wrote a blog post where linked to a blog post of mine, saying he agreed with it and expanded his thoughts on the topic further.

Andrew Hall of Laughing in Purgatory invited me to take part in a campaign to boycott the Boy Scouts, a list of all the blogs that participated was posted on many of the over two dozen blogs that joined in, bringing readers and other great bloggers over to Ramblings of Sheldon. That wasn't all, he also gave me the opportunity to write a guest post for his blog.

I'm grateful for the honors that I have received from other bloggers, and if you are a new reader here, I welcome you, please stay around and keep reading. If you are a fellow atheist/skeptic blogger, let me know, and I'll check out your blog, I'll be open to the possibility of writing a guest post for your blog, or you writing for this blog.

Thanks to all who are reading this blog, and to those who have helped make it a success!

Read My Guest Post At Laughing In Purgatory

I have the honor today of having a guest post up at the blog of comedy writer Andrew Hall. I have been a big fan of his blog Laughing In Purgatory, for some time now, and I'm happy to be a guest poster.

Andrew Hall has also been a supporter of my blog, stopping by to comment, writing a satirical guest post, and helping to get me involved in the recent campaign to call to boycott the Boy Scouts.

I can't match his sharp wit, or his great news parody posts, which remind me often of the website The Onion, I'm a little too cerebral to write good comedy.  My guest post is about being a closeted agnostic, and what it was like to come out to two of my friends, Sam and Rose (not their actual names).

View my guest post on his blog, here, pay him a visit.

Thanks for the opportunity to be a guest poster, Andrew! 

Scholar Awarded Templeton Prize for Proving Jesus' Virgin Birth

The Templeton Prize Awarded to Dr. Deepak Oz Mountebank

 Dr Mountebank

The Templeton Prize, the annual award given to one who has “made an exceptional contribution to affirming life’s spiritual dimension,” was awarded to Dr. Deepak Oz Mountebank today for his groundbreaking work in facultative Parthenogenesis. Dr. Mountebank awoke this morning by the Templeton Prize team holding a gratuitously large check for 1,100,000 sterling (approximately 1.8 million US dollars). The researcher quickly placed his spectacles on and surveyed the smiling faces and camera crew. “At first I feared for my life,” stated Dr Mountebank. “Then I saw the check, and knew I hit the proverbial pay dirt.” 

Dr Mountebank’s paper, Facultative Parthenogenesis and the Virgin Birth of Jesus, took the faith-based science world by storm earlier this year. It was first printed in the religiously-reviewed Journal of Speculative Biology. Since then a host of other periodicals such as The Metaphysical Review, The International Apologetics Society and Theoretical and Applied Dogma have confirmed Dr Mountebank’s central thesis: Jesus Christ was born of a virgin via the well know biological process known as facultative Parthenogenesis.

Facultative Parthenogenesis, broadly speaking, is when a captive female of the species produces an embryo from an egg with no input from a male. While the process is not uncommon in the plant world and in some invertebrates, there are some examples of Parthenogenesis happening with creatures of the higher orders. For instance, scientists have discovered through genetic testing that some female wild snakes have been found to produce offspring without the aid from a counterpart. Even the common barnyard chicken can produce viable eggs without a cock-a-doodle-doo.  – Dr Mountebank

The granting of the award created quite a stir amongst those who follow the Templeton Prize. March is the traditional time that the august honor is given, but the committee thought that an important paper such as Facultative Parthenogenesis and the Virgin Birth of Jesus warranted an extra prize this year. Dr Mountebank humbly agreed with them.

On the matter of how Dr Mountebank came to the conclusion that Jesus’ birth was caused by this biological process the researcher stated, “I prayed about it, and the Holy Spirit ministered to me.” Indeed, the other researchers who corroborated the findings also found that the Holy Spirit revealed the mystery to them after a few minutes of intense reflection.

Sheldon's note: The above post is a guest post by Andrew Hall of the blog Laughing In Purgatory, and is a work of satire. I have enjoyed reading his blog for several months now, it reminds me of an atheist version of The Onion. I'm honored to have him write a guest post for Ramblings of Sheldon. Pay his blog and Google + page a visit, you won't regret it.....