I’ve had this website for quite a while. But I can’t afford to keep it anymore. At least not with the same host. So expect Atheist Geek News to disappear early next month. 🙁 I just can’t justify spending so much money on what is, basically, a hobby right now. So if there are any stories you enjoyed or found useful, you might want to copy and paste them somewhere. I suppose they will continue to exist in the Wayback Machine or services like that too.
I started the blog for a variety of reasons. At the time, I was struggling with work and fighting debilitating migraines that made it hard to sit and do the one thing I really wanted to do: to write. The website gave me a chance to do a little writing in small chunks despite the discomfort and pain it brought me to sit and do it. The migraines have improved to some degree over the years, but jobs and money haven’t improved by a whole lot. I can’t justify spending all that money on a hobby when there are more important things that need the money first.
I may transfer the site to another (cheaper) host some day. But for right now, it looks like this is the end for the foreseeable future.
I’ve been enjoying PineCreek, Doug’s YouTube channel, for a while now. Doug’s channel offers up interesting conversations without a lot of mockery or arguing, which allows his most of his guests to give honest answers instead of being on the defensive. Doug finds people – sometimes well known people like Richard Carrier, Paul from Paulogia, Greg Locke and James White (whose comments were prerecorded in answer to questions from Doug) – and has satisfying conversations about their beliefs. Sometimes it’s about religion, sometimes it’s about the shape of the Earth. Doug challenges his guests in ways that allow them to give different responses than you would usually hear. And he answers comments. So do some of his guests (you’ve been warned). If you catch his videos live, you can even participate in live chats with him and his guests. He’s started a podcast which you can find here.
Doug is a former Mennonite turned atheist and married to someone who still believes in God (just as I am). He was born in Canada, but lives in Arizona now. Note what it says on his Twitter account:
I believe doubt is a virtue that can lead to humility and certainty can lead to arrogance.
I tend to agree.
Doug’s videos can run more than two hours. So I often take them in pieces, not always listening to them in full at one sitting. It’s totally worth it. They can also be half-an-hour or less. He goes through some of his longer videos and breaks them down into chapters, which you can advance through by using links in the description below his videos. This makes it easy to go back and listen to parts of them again if you need to.
This is the video pictured at the top of the page. Doug has had both guests on before (links below). Both are Christians. One is a scientist who believes evolution is true (he promotes this web site in one of his other interviews with Doug). The other is a pastor (with his own YouTube channel) who doesn’t buy it. A lot of good stuff in this one.
Randy Isaac is the scientist interviewed in the first link above. Both he and Mary are scientists who also happen to be Christians. Doug respectfully talks to them about their beliefs and about how they reconcile their faith with the knowledge of science.
This is another one with Mike Winger, the Pastor from the first video. Mike’s points were good enough that I had to start thinking about and weigh the specific merits of skepticism. It isn’t that often when a believer presents ideas that I haven’t heard before. This is also the basis of his first podcast.
I won’t lie to you. This one was tough. So much so that I finally started commenting myself. Mike Brown is a PhD candidate with a B.S. in history. When Doug asks him some challenging questions about his views on the historicity of Jesus and his views on the Bible as an authoritative source, Mike refuses to answer one or more of Doug’s questions. This got a lot of us riled up, as you’ll see in the comments, where I accused him of being evasive and disingenuous with his answers and his refusal to answer. Mike responds to many of our criticisms in the comments. Doug interviews Mike again here, and Mike talks a bit about his refusal to answer one of Doug’s question. One word: Dragons.
Despite the challenging nature of these videos, both are still worth a watch. Especially if you’re a Mythicist.
Finally, we have a video where Doug talks with several flat-earthers. Their views are unconventional, as you might expect, and they don’t always agree with one another.
Given all the controversy and bad reviews that are floating around for this one, I’m just going to come out and say it: Marvel’s Iron Fist does not suck IMO. Dare ye…um…not oppose me! I’m not saying that Marvel’s Iron Fist is the greatest show ever or that it is on par with the other Marvel TV shows that have made it to Netflix. It isn’t. But it’s a decent show, one that gets better as the first season progresses. Some reviews of the Marvel / Netflix series appear to spend a good deal of time on the white washing issue, which seems – to me – to have marred the series in the eyes of many, perhaps generating even harsher reviews than the show deserves. For me, this is a separate issue from whether the show is any good or not.
There are good things and bad things about the show worth talking about. Brace yourself for spoilers, kids.
I’ve had this website for quite a while. But I can’t afford to keep it anymore. At least not with the same host. So expect Atheist Geek News to disappear early next month. 🙁 I just can’t justify spending so much money on what is, basically, a hobby right now. So if there are any stories you enjoyed or found useful, you might want to copy and paste them somewhere. I suppose they will continue to exist in the Wayback Machine or services like that too.
Given all the controversy and bad reviews that are floating around for this one, I’m just going to come out and say it: