My decision about joining Patheos

January 7, 2015 • 2:53 pm

The short answer: I’m staying here. A few hours ago I sent this email to Leo Brunnick, the founder of Patheos, and to Dale McGowan, who runs the “atheist channel” at the site:

Hi guys,

I’m sorry to say that, after a ton of consideration when I was in India, I decided to remain independent and not join Patheos. While my readers were overwhelmingly against the move, that was not the deciding factor. The factor was, in fact, threefold, none of the reasons reflecting any bad opinion I have of your site.  The deciding issues included the presence of ads, which I simply cannot abide and do not have on my site (I pay to avoid them!); the fact that with increased readership I could not retain my personal monitoring of comments, which I don’t want to outsource; and the fact that Patheos really was founded as a religious website, “hosting the conversation on faith:  “atheism” is, unaccountably, listed as a “faith channel,” but of course atheism is not a faith at all and doesn’t belong with any of the other conventional faiths.  All told, I guess I would like to remain independent, sans ads, and not be part of a network that touts all kinds of religious delusions on other channels.

But I was honored to be invited, for I know you wouldn’t have done so had you not thought I’d contribute something to your site. And it was very tempting to have an opportunity to increase my readership, which I’m certain would have happened had I moved. I like many of the atheist sites (and some not so much!), but your overall effort on the Atheist Channel has been admirable. I wish you the best of luck with your site!

Best,

Jerry

Leo wrote back a nice note saying that they regretted my decision but that some of the issues I raised will be addressed in the near future. But for the time being I will remain The Cat That Walked by Himself.

I have to say that a few of the readers struck me as a bit selfish about this, wishing to keep the smallish community of people (many who know each other) with whom they regularly interact. But I was heartened by most readers’ avowal that although they wished me to remain independent, they’d continue to read the site if it moved.

I should also add that the promise of increased readership, which almost certainly would have happened had I moved to Patheos, was tempting. Let’s face it: nobody wants to write publicly if nobody reads them, and the more readership the better. It certainly would have been useful in helping me find readers for my new book.  The money from Patheos would have been a bonus (probably several tens of thousands of dollars per year), but, as I said, dollars were never my main concern.

Given that I’m abandoning both dosh and readers, and in fact providing content for free (I pay a nominal fee to host the site and keep it free of ads) I’d like to ask the many of you who urged me to stay to do me two small favors. First, buy Faith versus Fact (link above); you can pre-order it now though it doesn’t come out till May 19. If every subscriber bought a book, it would produce an initial sale of 30,000+ copies, a very good number, and one that Viking would appreciate since they want their advance recouped. I can say that I don’t think you’ll consider this investment wasted. Second, recommend the book and this website to your friends if you think they’d enjoy them.  I’m asking for your help since I’ve given up the increased sales of the book that would likely have come by joining Patheos.

And I plan no changes here in the near future, though I’ll probably add a link at the top right for the new book, giving information about it and where you can order it.  As General Patton said in his famous speech to the Third Army, “you’ll know what to do.”

funny-cat-picture-im-not-going-anywhere-and-neither-is-the-box

Reader’s wildlife photographs

January 7, 2015 • 1:12 pm

Reader Pete Moulton used to supply us with some of the best wildlife photos here, but then he went AWOL. After I saw some great photos he posted on Facebook, I begged him to let us have some of them, and he kindly obliged. Here’s a new batch from Pete with his captions:

Here are some recent wildlife photographs. These are from Bosque del Apache NWR in New Mexico during the last week of November. Bosque is widely known for its large wintering numbers of white geese (Snow Chen caerulescens and Ross’ C. rossii) and Sandhill Cranes Grus canadensis, so I guess we’d better have some of those.
First, a crane flying into the sunrise in search of some breakfast [JAC: I think this is a sandhill crane, Grus canadensis, but I don’t know from birds]:
Crane
Next, a white goose, one of many, as you can see. There are so many geese on the refuge, and they’re so gregarious, that isolating subjects ranges from tricky to impossible. This one’s an adult Ross’ Goose [Chen rossii], most likely a gander, given the size and extent of bluish caruncles on its bill:
White goose
And a Common Raven, Corvus corax, just to show that geese and cranes aren’t the only attractions. I’m fond of the Corvidae, largely because of their high intelligence, which is clearly indicated by the look on this guy’s face:
Raven
An adult white-striped White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis), a bird that’s doubtless very familiar to you, but one that’s very scarce in Arizona. They’re surprisingly common along the Rio Grande in New Mexico.
Sparrow
And finally for this batch, a m*mm*l, which was the high point of the trip for me, a Long-tailed Weasel, Mustela frenata:
 Long-tailed Weasel_11-26-14_BdA_8184

 

An appropriate cartoon

January 7, 2015 • 10:05 am

This drawing, published today by Australian cartoonist David Pope, was reproduced by Mathieu Sol in a comment on the post below, but deserves to be above the fold. Here it is:

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If they determine the killers were Muslim extremists, let us then hear the “moderate” Muslims throughout the world decry this brutality. And Ben Affleck: are these murders the fault of Western colonialism, or religious extremism per se?

Unknown gunmen kill twelve at “Charlie Hebdo” offices in Paris; may be related to the paper’s satires on Islam. BBC and Telegraph censor the “offending” cartoons.

January 7, 2015 • 7:27 am

According to many papers, including the New York Times,  masked gunmen have attacked the offices of “Charlie Hebdo,” a French satirical newspaper, killing 12 and wounding five more. The paper had been previously attacked for publishing cartoons (as did a Danish paper) mocking Muhammad.  It doesn’t take much to inspire murder among Muslim thug terrorists: look what the paper was firebombed for three years ago:

The newspaper, Charlie Hebdo, has been attacked in the past for satirizing Islam and the Prophet Muhammad. Its offices were firebombed in 2011 after publishing a cartoon of the prophet on its cover promising “100 lashes if you don’t die laughing!”

The latest attack is likely the work of Muslim terrorists as well: the Torygraph gives a video of the attack and reports

“In the footage filmed by a man taking refuge on a nearby rooftop, the men can be heard shouting ‘Allahu Akbar” (God is great) between rounds of heavy arms fire. . .”

All the killers escaped and none have yet been identified. The Telegraph gives a useful live-updated timeline of the attacks and their aftermath, with many photos and live video.

What is bizarre and cowardly about the journalists reporting this horrible episode is that, in its original report, the Telegraph apparently pixillated the cartoon of Muhammad that may have brought on these murders.  Or so says a tw**t from James Bloodworth, which shows a photo that now seems to have been removed form the Telegraph site). (Note below that the BBC has also censored the “offending” issue.) Here’s the Telegraph’s earlier pixillation:

Screen shot 2015-01-07 at 7.20.33 AMThis is a cowardly capitulation to the murderers. Now is not the time to fulminate about the timorousness of the press or the successes of extreme Islamists in suppressing sarcasm and criticism, but pixillating that image is reprehensible. Yes, publishing such things may inspire terrorism, but we cannot be cowed by thugs from expressing our distaste for and criticism of the dictates of religion.

UPDATES: Reader Alberto wrote a criticism of Muslim-cartoon censorship, “We are many but they are legion” on his website The Functional Art and reproduces some of their anti-religious cartoons, though not the one at issue (the paper doesn’t discriminate against religions):

1cartoons

Alberto also notes that the BBC News, to its shame, has also censored the cover at issue. Here’s their picture:

Screen Shot 2015-01-07 at 9.05.40 AM

Professor Ceiling Cat, however, will reproduce the entire cover. They can come at me if they want:

momo1web
Come at me, bros!

What craven cowardliness on the part of you British journalists. Afraid of Muslim wrath, are you?

Finally, from Salman Rushdie, who had his own well-known troubles with censorship and threats:

Screen Shot 2015-01-07 at 9.18.33 AM

Here’s Rushdie’s statement:

Religion, a mediaeval form of unreason, when combined with modern weaponry becomes a real threat to our freedoms. This religious totalitarianism has caused a deadly mutation in the heart of Islam and we see the tragic consequences in Paris today. I stand with Charlie Hebdo, as we all must, to defend the art of satire, which has always been a force for liberty and against tyranny, dishonesty and stupidity. ‘Respect for religion’ has become a code phrase meaning ‘fear of religion.’ Religions, like all other ideas, deserve criticism, satire, and, yes, our fearless disrespect.

If any of you have websites or use Twi**er, please publish or tw**t the original and entire Charlie Hebdo Muhammad cartoon, which you can take from this post. The more often it’s reproduced, the better. If you do, weigh in below with the link. 

h/t: Matthew Cobb

 

Wednesday: Hili dialogue

January 7, 2015 • 6:54 am

After 42 hours without sleep, Professor Ceiling Cat crashed at 8 pm last night and woke up at the ungodly late hour of 6:30. Believe me, I needed the sleep! It’s back to work, and normal writing on this site should begin tomorrow. Many, many thanks to Matthew, Greg, and especially Grania, who held down the site, posted a lot to keep it going, and moderated the comments.

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili has a dilemma, for she knows that “freedom” equals cold weather, and has not yet found the Door to Summer:

Hili: I escaped from freedom and now I’m longing for it.
A: So you can go back.
Hili Maybe later.

P1020176 (1)

In Polish:

Hili: Uciekłam od wolności i teraz do niej tęsknię.
Ja: To możesz do niej wrócić.
Hili: Może później.

PCC is back and a panda’s first sight of snow

January 6, 2015 • 4:43 pm

I have returned to Chicago to find it bloody cold and covered with snow. And to think it was a warm 21° C in Dehli the day I left.  But while I don’t rejoice at the snow, panda Bao Bao, a sixteen-month old at the National Zoo, had a high old time playing in it. Check out this one-minute video and then tell me that animals don’t have fun, and fun in a way that isn’t just practicing for adult skills.

By Thursday the regular program will have resumed.

h/t: Matthew Cobb