Moving to FTB!

Today I am freezing my Blogger account and moving my blog to Freethought Blogs, a prominent all-atheist venture. This move will help me earn an income doing what I do, and give my work a higher profile so it will do more good. To make my life manageable I won't be posting here anymore, nor accepting any new comments on posts archived here, but I will keep this account open in order to keep its archives up for reference and posterity. (Transferring the archives to FTB proved too complicated.)

Everyone who is on my blogspot email list will still get announcements as always (you'll just be pointed to the new URL from here on out). But everyone who has been following me on feeds, will need to subscribe to a feed of my new blog at FTB. And as I am freezing all commenting here, if you want to pick up any discussion on any blog post I've made here, please comment on my inaugural post at FTB, which I will leave open as a catch-all, where anything I've blogged here can be discussed in perpetuity there.

Party on!

Back to Amazon

Just FYI to all my fans and friends and others curious to know: California blinked and acquiesced in letting Amazon pay no sales tax in the state. So just as I said I would back in July, I've gone back to the Amazon Storefront and links, because Amazon is thousands of times superior to Barnes & Noble in quality, service, and functionality.

Atheists in Foxholes

As a veteran I was asked to join the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers and I agreed wholeheartedly. This is an excellent outfit that anyone who is a nonbeliever and a veteran or in service should join, so the MAAF can have numbers to cite and a network of resources and eyes-on-the-ground to tap. They represent you, and your fellow godless servicemen and women, and with an increasingly evangelized military, they need your support. You can explore their website for more on why, and what they are doing, and how you can help.

I was also asked to join their roster of Atheists in Foxholes. Check that out. Of course, "literal" foxholes aren't meant, but any condition of hunkering down under conditions of real risk to life and limb. You know, those conditions under which we supposedly all secretly turn to God and whine to him to save us (even though his track record is worse on that than any of our mortal service mates). Though I didn't see combat, I did see conditions like that. And yet no one I saw in them ever bet on God. Anyway, the standard application for A in F went like this, and I have filled it out as follows:

Coast Guard Petty Officer Third Class Richard Carrier 

Dates of service: September 1990 to August 1992.

Decorations: (1) National Defense Service Medal, (2) USCG Marksman’s Ribbon.

Honors: Navy Letter of Commendation, Honorman Certificate for Scholastic Achievement and Proven Leadership, Duty Gunner’s Mate Certification, Flight Deck Fire Fighter Certification, Division Damage Control Petty Officer Certification, LAMPS Aviation Ordnance Team Qualification.

Tours of duty, with dates: Training Center Cape May (New Jersey), Security Clearances Division (1990); Fleet Antisubmarine Warfare Training Center Pacific (FLEASWTRACENPAC) San Diego (California) (1990-2991); USCGC Sherman (WHEC 720) Pacific Northwest Patrol (1991-1992).

Specialty: Sonar (operation, maintenance, and repair of all sonar and torpedo systems); Duty Gunner's Mate; Flight Deck Firefighter.
 

"Please also provide other comments relating to hazardous duty, what you believe about prayer in combat, and any experiences you have had relating to religious tolerance/discrimination in the military..."

Amazon Dumps Us

Now that California has signed into law a tax reform that counts internet business associations as establishing legal "nexus" for state taxes to apply, Amazon has dumped all of its California internet sales associates. That means I can no longer earn a commission on referring you to Amazon to buy my books, or other books that I think are worth reading (which I had been doing in my Richard Carrier Recommends Amazon store, with my top recommendations in history and philosophy, as well as my favorite films and novels). This isn't because it costs Amazon anything (sales taxes are paid by the customer, not Amazon), but solely because Amazon wants to maintain it's edge in price competition with other vendors (like Barnes & Noble, which, having brick-and-mortar stores in California, already had nexus and thus was already paying California sales taxes on its internet sales).

New Podcast & Vids

I recently did an interview for the Think Atheist podcast, which is now available. We discuss historical method generally, how historians work and what makes their work logically valid, including discussion of Bayes' Theorem and the philosophy of history, and the completion schedule of my four books currently in progress (one of which is completed and now under contract at a publisher and in the stage of formal academic peer review).

Video of my St. Louis gigs has also gone online now: Carrier-McKay Debate (atheist vs. atheist: Goal Theory vs. Desire Utilitarianism); From Robots to the Moon (ancient science and technology; this was in a pub, so the video and audio quality is not fabulous); Ancient Christian Hostility to Science (how the church fathers of the first three centuries reacted to all that science and technology; this was also in conditions not conducive to producing quality a/v).

Still waiting for the Carrier-Holding debate video.

NOE on DVD

Breaking News: The Nature of Existence is now available on DVD. In fact, there is an affordable two-disc set available that has 80 minutes of additional material (which possibly includes more footage of Roger's interview with me), and a seven-disc companion set that does what I had hoped for (and asked for in my review of the film in The Skeptical Inquirer): explore all the questions that the film by itself didn't get to (like "Why do you believe that!?"). I haven't seen those companion discs yet, but I'll blog about them if and when I do. I'm sure there is more footage of me in there (as I'll be the one stumping for naturalism).

If you want to buy any of these editions and finally see this interesting movie (or stock it in your library, or give it to religious friends, or what have you), just visit NOE's official website. Oh, and if you forgot what this film is about, take a look back at my past blogs on it (June 2010 and October 2009 and February 2009).

Essentials in Politics

I have added a new section to my Richard Carrier Recommends Amazon storefront. For those who might not remember (see earlier blog about this) my Amazon Storefront is a place where you can buy books from Amazon and I get a cut of Amazon's profits. It's a nice way to help support me, and get some great books that have been influential on me, and that I think are essential reading these days. I already had essentials in philosophy, ancient science, and origins of Christianity, plus my favorite fiction and films and TV, and those lists are still there, and updated.

Well, I've just added an Essentials in Politics. It's superb and important stuff, IMO. Check it out. Read them all if you can. They are all entertaining or engaging in one way or another, so they won't make dull reading. And you'll know so much more after having read each one than you ever thought possible. I've also added a new page with just my own books (since there are getting to be quite a lot of them).

Just FYI, I'll be blogging on politics in a few days, but forgot this post has been sitting in the queue for a month now. I wrote it before I even knew I was going to start the next one. So it will soon be accidentally relevant!

News Pleas

Today I'd like to send out three quick pleas for your support of other folk trying to fight the good fight for reason and science.

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Help Skepticon III: They are getting so many reservations to attend that they are just about past their current venue size of 500, and reservations are accelerating, so projecting forward they are likely to have 1000 or so attending this year, which means they need to hire a much larger venue, which is much more expensive. They promised to make attendance free and will stand by that. But to keep that promise and rent a venue (it'll run them nearly ten thousand dollars altogether), they need more financial support. Every little bit adds up, so anything you can do will be a boon to the Bible Belt. Go to their official skepticon donations page to give.

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Help the Tai Solarin Organisation: There are a lot of weird things about me people don't expect. Like the fact that I'm actually known in Africa for an essay I wrote in 1995 summarizing the achievements of the most famous outspoken atheist activist and reformer in the history of that continent (see "Tai Solarin: His Life, Ideas, and Accomplishments"). Because of this, I'm often sent news from atheist organizations in Africa. Needless to say, they don't have it easy there. And one such organization, the Tai Solarin society, needs funding to continue its annual lecture series. Based on past years, they were supposed to have had the 2010 lecture by now, and maybe they have (or will in a matter of weeks). But even if they have, they'll no doubt need money to recoup losses, and contribute toward the cost of next year's event. A lot goes a long way there. So if you want to help out, here's the appeal from Bayo Adenubi, Chairman of the Tai Solarin Organisation.

Tai Solarin Organisation (TSO) needs your help to convene this year's memorial lecture. Founded in 2003 to promote the ideals of Nigeria's late humanist and educator, Tai Solarin, TSO organizes a lecture every year to commemorate the life and legacy of the late sage. To organize these lectures, TSO Board members receive financial contributions and solicit donations from individuals and corporate bodies. But this year, our regular donors have not been forthcoming and our lecture is just a few months away. Hence we are making this urgent appeal for financial support. We are asking you to consider making some donations to TSO to enable us organize this event and continue to keep Tai Solarin's legacy alive. Please donate today, TSO needs your help. All donors will be acknowledged in our reports. They will receive copies of the lecture, annual report of activities and the financial report. If you wish to make a donation please contact us by email taisolarinorganisation@yahoo.com, or bayoadenubi@yahoo.com.

Contact them right away if you are interested, as contact by email can take several days (power and communications are sometimes unreliable there), and the event is supposed to happen now. I have not corresponded with this organization very much, so I cannot vouch for them personally, so if you have any concerns feel free to vet their credentials or sincerity however possible when you contact them.

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Help the Skeptical Inquirer: Prices of materials have gone up, funding has dropped, and subscribership is actually shrinking. SI might go under if trends don't reverse. I don't want you to donate to their cause. I want you to subscribe to their magazine. And when you see how awesome it is (and you will), I want you to tell everyone you know about it, and persuade them to subscribe to this excellent periodical. Give them the patronage they deserve.

I hate piling up magazines, and most I can't stand (Newsweek sucks; Time could bore a rock to death). So the ones I do subscribe to make a very select list. Apart from trade periodicals, only four make the cut: The Week (best news weekly...ever), Science News (required reading, IMO), The Skeptic (Shermer's baby, broadly focused and usually well-sourced, I actually shelve the issues like books) and the Skeptical Inquirer. SI is very well produced and edited, interesting on nearly every page, full of leading news in skepticism, and packs many feature articles in every issue (they deal mainly with religion and the paranormal but often venture into other subjects like global warming or polygraphs...check out their website for an idea of their range). I always learn a lot from every issue I read. You will too. And you'll enjoy reading it. Give them a try!

Book Updates

I've been very busy of late, almost underground working furiously away, but I finally found a hiatus to blog some news. I have a hodgepodge of things to mention. Two items today...

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First big news is that Sense and Goodness Without God: A Defense of Metaphysical Naturalism is now available as an eBook. You can buy it in various places, but most obviously on Amazon.com (click for Kindle edition). Not the Impossible Faith has always been available as a PDF download and now is available in other formats, too (click for Lulu edition as a PDF download; and click here for Kindle edition). And The Christian Delusion: Why Faith Fails is also now available in e-format (click for Kindle edition), as is The Empty Tomb: Jesus Beyond The Grave (click for Kindle edition).

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And second is a status update on my book On the Historicity of Jesus Christ. Donors to the project have already received a full report, but for the general public the latest news is that I've solved the problem of cutting material down by seeking publication as two volumes, the first on method and the second on results, though the first volume includes one major section of results. That volume is completed. I am seeking a private peer review from a number of respected scholars, and shopping for a publisher. Meanwhile, I'm hard at work on volume two, some of which donors have already seen, but there's even better stuff to come.

The first volume has the current working title Bayes' Theorem and Historical Method: The Invalidity of Current Historicity Criteria in the Study of Jesus and Their Replacement. The subtitle actually isn't the controversial bit. I discuss all the leading scholarship on those criteria, and all of it comes to the same conclusion I do. The main title will actually be the controversial part, and the bulk of the book is devoted to answering all the arguments against applying Bayes' Theorem to history, while explaining in easy-to-understand terms what that theorem is, how it works, and how we can employ it as historians. Donors and scholars who have been reviewing the work up to this point have given me very valuable criticisms and advice that has made this volume into something I'm quite proud of. It rocks now. I'm confident the second volume will be as good.

Appearing in Walnut Creek

I apologize to anyone who has been wondering where I am. I've been incommuni- cado for many weeks due to Jen and I having just purchased a home. It's our first owned home in fifteen years of marriage. Being poor, we bought a fixer. And boy has it been. Like a voluntary labor camp I've been working 12 hour days seven days a week (even forgetting when weekends were passing) making the house livable (repairing doors, refinishing floors, figuring out our house's eighty-year-old wiring, taming the yard, cleaning the filth left everywhere by the previous tenants, and endless other tasks, including of course packing, moving and unpacking, which was a herculean task in itself).

I didn't even have a working internet for two weeks. Then I barely found time to access it. I'm close to getting back on my regular track and will then only do a few repair and renovation jobs a week. So if it seems odd that I went totally silent and off the grid for so long, now you know why. I'll catch up comments on my blog here in a week or two.

Due to the daunting tasks required by this new purchase I wasn't going to schedule any more gigs (I already had some locked in for the end of the year, starting in October, but I'll blog about those when time nears). But as a favor to a local atheist leader, I'm taking time out to visit a gated community in Walnut Creek, California, for Atheists and Agnostics of Rossmoor, where I'll reprise my talk Why Everyone Says Medieval Christians Invented Science (for an abstract see my April entry for my previous delivery in Berkeley). There will be Q and A, and I'll be selling and signing copies of The Christian Delusion afterward, as well as my other books as usual.

This will take place Thursday afternoon, next week, at 3pm on May 20 (2010), in the Del Valle Clubhouse on 1751 Tice Creek Drive in
Walnut Creek, CA 94595. It's in the gated community of Rossmoor, so if you want to attend you need to know how to get in: enter in a visitor lane and tell them you are attending the Atheists and Agnostics meeting. I'm assured this is never a problem. The access gate appears to be on Rossmoor Parkway, after which you take the next right on Golden Rain Road, and the next right is Tice Creek Drive and it takes you right to the clubhouse parking lot. You get to Rossmoor Parkway via Tice Valley Boulevard, turning south onto Rossmoor. All just south of the 680 and 24 freeways.

Interview for Arabic Freethinkers

A group of UK freethinkers who maintain an Arabic website interviewed me a few months ago. That interview is now online. See tabee3i Interview with Dr. Richard Carrier. In it I discuss (counter-intuitively) why naturalism is a stronger position than mere atheism, how I think closet atheists and doubters under oppressive Islamic regimes should cope with their situation (and how godless parents should raise their kids in comparably oppressive religious societies like America's Bible Belt), and what I would do if I were elected President of the United States (as if we all fell into some bizarre parallel universe where that would be possible). Plus (more briefly) a few other things, including a bit about my life and loves.

Vids, Letter, Article

First, I still haven't seen The Nature of Existence, but it's supporting website now has extras on it, including a few extended bits I suppose were not included in the final film, some of which include material from Nygard's interview with me (sprinkled in amidst material from other interviews). Use the the film website's People link (or click here), and wait fifty years for the page to load, then find me listed on that page, and under that entry will be a link to "Videos" that include me. Although I've gotten in once or twice, most of the time their server will fail before you even get to the first step of this process. So basically, you have to be lucky to ever see these clips. So, good luck with that.

Second, I wrote a letter to the editor of American Atheist Magazine which they published (in the September issue of 2008, p. 6.), on Pigliucci's  critique of Dawkins in the preceding issue. I agree with Pigliucci except on two points where I defend Dawkins: contrary to Pigliucci, Dawkins is right to criticize the apathetic liberal and moderate wings of Christianity for their failure to stand up to the right, and Pigliucci is wrong to claim the God hypothesis is not a scientific hypothesis that can be be refuted scientifically. I defend both points with facts and arguments in a full-page letter.

Third, the University of La Verne Campus Times published an article about my talk there on my historicity of Jesus work earlier this year, but it's not very good. Their quotations of me are often inaccurate (sometimes egregiously so, yet they didn't call me to fact check them or, evidently, even fact check them against the video I know they have access to), and what I said in the talk is often not correctly described. But if you want to see a completely inaccurate news article about the event for some reason, click here.

OEN Interview

Ben Dench at the liberal-progressive OEN (OpEdNews) web news service conducted and published an extended interview of me on a variety of topics. It's now available online. We discuss the future of Christianity, the role of secularism in improving society, my beefs with professional philosophy, and my proposal that a lottery for congress would be superior to the current election process. And a few other things besides.

Richard Carrier Recommends

Amazon has a new program that allows associates to build their own mini-storefronts to promote their favorite books and videos. We get a commission on everything sold there, even stuff you add to the shopping cart from your own wishlist while you're there, or the Amazon automated and listmania recommendations that pop up. I've updated my Support page to explain this and more.

To check out my storefront, and see my top recommen-dations in fiction, movies, philosophy, origins of Chris-tianity, and ancient science, visit Richard Carrier Recommends. If you find it interesting, it's well worth a bookmark. And if you want to help, spread the news. Although it has fewer features, and the content is limited to my recommendations and what Amazon thinks is related, I find this stripped-down mini-store cleaner and less noisy than the usual Amazon interface.

I also get a commission on anything bought through a link on this blog (from now on; past links won't do this) or my website (www.richardcarrier.info). None of this costs you any more than it usually would at Amazon. They just give me a cut of their profits for turning business their way. Since I think Amazon is a superb service, I'm quite happy to recommend buying from them. And you'll get a glimpse of what I think are important readings, sometimes even essential readings, or just my favorite picks, in each category there.

Musica Hauntica Nostalgica

Welcome to the fourth installment of my occasional blogging on music (to follow the trail back to the others, and the philosophy behind all this, start with More Music of Late). I figured it was time. Since my last post, my music library has grown by over a hundred tunes. Here's a survey of the best finds in the lot...

Craig Debate Wrap

The Carrier-Craig resurrection debate went down the night before last. I'm finally home and rested. Here's just a quick report on what went down.

The Nature of Existence

I'm going to be in another movie. Sort of.
I first became acquainted with Roger Nygard from his films Trekkies and Trekkies 2. Trekkies was superb--funny, informative, moving, yet with a real love of his subject. Trek fans only come off looking as silly as they actually are, and it's all humor in good fun (with an underlying message of humanism that's actually very Trekkie itself). Watching the first one inspired Jen and I to rent Trekkies 2, and we actually loved that one even more. It takes the same theme worldwide, looking at Star Trek fans in other countries. Which was actually the more amazing and moving. When you watch Bosnian Trek fans explaining why they love Star Trek's vision of a future golden age of peace and prosperity among all mankind, as a philosophy and vision for their own troubled times, it kind of means a lot more than when you hear it from some American suburbanite. I just can't recommend both films more. If you haven't seen them, you should.

Anyway, Nygard has turned his brilliant and funny eye from the life of Star Trek trivia to the biggest of big topics: the meaning of life. With his new film--many years in the making, spanning the globe--he brings you The Nature of Existence. Roger actually interviewed me for this (last year I think), and shot a lot of footage, but alas I'm told I get only one line in the film (though Roger assures me it's a good one, I don't really know). It's possible more of my interview will appear in something like web or DVD extras, but no guarantees, and anyway it's a long way from those formats yet. It's still a film in the can, and it premiers at the Cinequest Festival in San Jose, California in a couple of weeks (Sunday, March 8, 2009), "at the palatial California Theatre," where there will be a screening and closing night gala starting at 7:30 p.m.

Roger didn't want me to tell anyone he was making this movie until it was done, which is why I haven't said anything until now (besides a hint not too long ago). Since I haven't seen it, I don't know how good it is, but I think the probability is very high that it will not only be good, but almost certainly better than Religulous (which I had some issues with). Unfortunately I'll be in Southern California that day, so I can't make the premiere. I hope some fans will, and report back on it in comments here.

Follow the links above for more details, trailers, and so on.

Amherst Conference

In my previous blog about The Jesus Project I promised a two-parter, the first on the Project in general, the next on December's conference specifically (it's been more than a week, I know, but a lot's being going on of late). This time my remarks will be rather long, as quite a lot went on, spanning the whole weekend. But all this was newsworthy, IMO.

The Jesus Project

I've finally collated all my notes and correspondence from the Jesus Project conference held earlier this month in Amherst, New York. Titled "Sources of the Jesus Tradition: An Inquiry," it's goal was to work out (through discussing problems with the sources) what the exact aims of the Jesus Project should be and whether it's principal objective was viable: determining, with sound objective methods, what facts (if any) can be known about the historical Jesus. I've already outlined the administrative basics in my previous entry. Today I'll talk about the philosophy of the conference. Next week I'll talk about what actually went on there.

Vote Vetrazzo II

In September I wrote about my Jen's work for Vetrazzo and asked for votes to help them win a Forbes competition for a big cool grant. If you missed that or need a refresher, please hop back and take a look at why I think it's worth your time to do this (Vote Vetrazzo). They have an awesome recycled product, and an even more awesome management philosophy and work environment. They definitely deserve a leg up. They made it through the semi-finals voting round and now there are just five companies competing for the grant. In part thanks to all of you, Vetrazzo is one of them. Now they need your vote one last time. The deadline for voting is November 30.

If you go to the Forbes.com Vetrazzo page, after a short ad (just wait it through) you'll end up on a page with lots of details about Vetrazzo and what they'll do with the grant and why they deserve it (jazzed up since last time I think), while a video plays of the company president (James Sheppard) making a long but very interesting pitch for Vetrazzo to the Forbes team. At the bottom of that page is the online ballot to vote for Vetrazzo, just like last time (if you want to skip everything and go straight to that spot on the page click here). This will generate a verification email that will be sent to you, and all you have to do is click the verification link in that email (or copy and paste it into a browser and hit go) and your vote will be counted.

James won the privilege to go to New York and do this new video because Vetrazzo made that top five, and those five companies got to make their pitch to a panel of experts in New York. Your votes this time count for 50% of the final score, while the panel's own votes count for the other 50%. In the new video James is speaking before that panel, with a slide show, and goes into a lot of detail, but I actually found the whole thing very engaging, and ended up watching it all despite its length (which is saying something, busy as I am). I recommend it if you have the time. Lots of info there about world and national economics, the surfaces industry, technology, how to run a green factory (using solar power, natural lighting, recycling their own water), and of course all things Vetrazzo. The second half of the video is a very on-point Q&A session. The panel knows their stuff, they ask some good, probing questions, and James totally nails it. It's almost like watching an athlete perform a perfect round of mind-Judo.

Whether you want to stay and watch or read all that, or just go right to the task, please vote Vetrazzo one more time!