We’ve had some server issues, but we’re back up now. Bear with the minimalist layout and such as we work out the bugs.

Please resume the blasphemy.

Like the rest of you, I was shocked and saddened by Sean’s death. And my deepest condolences go out to Bob and the rest of his family and friends in real life. I’ve had a lot of dealings with Sean over the past year as I passed the running of GifS over to him, and have very direct experience of his energy and enthusiasm, and also of the amount of work he put into building this site into what it is now.

Although Sean will be missed here more than I can say, GifS will continue. As the Old GifS Guy, let me just let you all know that the admin stuff is still being taken care of, and the bills are still being paid. And it’s my hope that this site has a rich future that helps to pay some small tribute to Sean’s memory.

I’m not exactly sure how to say this, but I’ll try my best…

Sean was found dead in his bed in a sleeping position in his San Francisco apartment on Friday, 10/6, two weeks to the day after the death of his father.

He had not been well for some time, and people were trying to convince him to seek medical attention. Sean, always the optimist, most likely thought that his body would bounce-back from whatever was ailing him at the time — since it had, in all honesty, bounced-back from more crap than most human bodies could ever handle.

As a person, Sean was simply incredible. He tried to overcome all the stuff that happened to him throughout his life, and this made him an extremely sensitive individual. He would often just give money and help to complete strangers without hesitation (sometimes to his detriment), and he always had a social conscience. The pain, suffering, and injustice of others moved him tremendously.

He also had a knack for coming up with very creative solutions. With his amazing knowledge of the internet and web design, he used his social awareness to create websites that challenged conformity and established prejudices (i.e., in addition to this one, which he did with Ron). He won several awards for his work, and I was constantly amazed at his abilities. When he talked to me about the stuff he wanted to create, I would just listen and smile, because I had no idea how the hell anyone could ever make anything like that. But I always knew that he could.

Sean also used his creativity to make movies, comic books, and comedy skits. He was a producer, editor, screenwriter, and director. And, there was his drawing talent as well. He created a comedy team that cut a CD way back in the day, and the skits were hilarious. He also wrote a novel and a number of short stories.

His humor was always complex, dry, witty, and filled with all of those great 70s and 80s references (”I mean, whenever she changed into Wonder Woman somewhere, there’s always, like, this huge explosion — and no one ever fucking hears anything? Give me a break!”).

And I always loved making him laugh. I used to make him laugh so hard sometimes that he’d actually roar — especially over the phone. I always loved hearing that, and now I’ll always miss it.

I could go on, but I won’t. You get the idea.

There is a simple reason why I’m writing all of this: Sean’s attitude toward this blog. It’s very difficult to overemphasize how much Sean loved GIFS, and how much pride he felt from both the purpose of this site, and how much it has progressed.

When this site started (way back), it was just a little blog with only a few people posting. Now, of course, we have all of these amazing people sharing all of their experiences (with all these cool pictures!) — and our numbers continue to amaze me. Sean used to tell me that the numbers were so good for this site that they left his (very public) work website in the dust — and he even wondered (I’m sure only half-jokingly) if he should leave work and just do GIFS full-time! His active recruitment of people will always be appreciated.

This post has gone through several drafts, and I hope I did him justice. But, in any case, please feel free to add anything that comes to mind.

And since this is my post, I guess I’ll take the first shot: Sean, I loved you like a brother, you asshole. And I can’t believe you’re gone, you sonofabitch. But I’ll always love you and what you gave me. So, sleep, my brother. We’ll take it from here.

Hey, gang. Nobody likes a braggart, but I was just talking to Bob today and it occurred to both of us that most people have no idea how this site has grown in traffic in the past year. You have seen the comment boards explode, but I thought it would make some of you — especially our amazing mods — proud to see what the numbers actually look like.

From Alexa.

Fucking cool, huh? To put our ranking in perspective, there are millions of web sites on the internet. You don’t even get ranked by Alexa if you are too low. And we’re a site about the reviled subject of atheism. I think we are doin’ okay.

(Pay no attention to the three-month recent downage… Take it from a pro: it’s summer. Watch what happens when the cold weather comes back.)

… Stop me before I categorize again! (You realize I am paraphrasing the Boston Strangler there, huh? Scaaaary.)

No, but this one was a long time coming, and I don’t think we can ignore it on a site about religion, superstition, science, mythology and criticial thinking. As JJR said in a recent post:

“I think Neil Postman is right to emphasize the importance of knowing history as a grand template for understanding nearly everything else.”

And I agree. So don’t give me too much shit. I’ve seen blogs with thirty categories or more! I swear we’ll never get that bad.

But herewith, the new History category.

A friend of mine who is a regular reader of GifS made a valid observation: we spend a lot of time here making the same arguments about things that are painfully obvious to the educated (self-educated or otherwise)… evolution, logical fallacies, talking fucking snakes.

His suggestion was, of course, writing up a Frequently Asked Questions page, which we have discussed many times. That way, as soon as some ignat flat-earther troll brings up a subject we have refuted dozens of times, we just link them to that item in the FAQ and be done with it. Thing is, I am still burnt out from the redesign and various and sundry personal projects; family needs; time for sex, masturbation and other types of self-reflection. Just can’t do it right now.

A thought: what if we culled our temporary FAQ from our past comments? You know, just a series of quotes from the board that lay out the issue clearly and succinctly? We certainly have enough of those, and it would be killing two Grendels with the same pile driver for the time-being. Rather than rewrite what we have already said, we just point to the previous comment. Maybe even, rather than copying and pasting this stuff into a new page, we just make a page that has a series of topics:

Evolution
Link to where we have slam-dunked this aspect of the issue
Another link to where we have slam-dunked another aspect of the issue
Another link to where we have slam-dunked another aspect of the issue

Logic
Link to where we have slam-dunked this aspect of the issue
Another link to where we have slam-dunked another aspect of the issue
Another link to where we have slam-dunked another aspect of the issue

Talking Fucking Snakes
You gotta be fucking kidding, right?

You get the picture.

What think you?

Maybe we can even solve our resources problem by making this a group effort. Here’s my suggestion. Post to this thread links to comments elsewhere in the history of GifS in which we clearly refuted an issue. Our search now searches all comments and posts. And, if you are really clever, and want to do a more complex keyword search, hit Google with the words and names you remember from the post and just include God is for Suckers among your search terms.

Hell, link off-site if there is a better version. Just name the topic and sub-topic in your comment and post the link. We’ll see about consolidating it into an FAQ-like document based on how much we accumulate.

That’s my one bright idea for the weekend. I am sick of Israel, Palestine, Hiz- and Herz- bollah, flat-earthers and closet ophiophiliacs. Time to go for a walk.

I asked Brent over at Carnival of the Godless if we could host an upcoming COTG… But I wanted a special one.

He kindly gave us the Christmas Eve edition. Bwahahaha! So get ready this coming Xmas for more of that good ol’ non-existent “war on Christmas” bull our martyred theist friends love to cling to — plus lots of other good readings, too, I’m sure.

Okay. For once I am not opening the mailbag to expose some other crazed flat-earther ranting about talking snakes or some shit. The mail is coming so fast and furious that I’ve decided I’m just going to post some of what people are writing in as a single entry. I won’t be able to do this every day, but will do so when I have enough good stuff — or another idiot flat-earther stumbles in who needs a healthy garroting.

Don’t know if you’ve seen this before/posted about it before, but one of my profs from university emailed me this link today and I thought it was a great essay on the question of intelligent design.
http://www.physlink…

Lisa
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Most people realize that they will never know the truth, if there is a God or not. They would rather be happy than right. Ignorance is bliss, the suckers are the ones fighting it. Or, let me guess, those that disagree with you.

- Brad

[Ed: Explain, please.]

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Yee haw! Wonderful victory for scientific truth/Buh-bye, Connie…

from today’s NYTimes.

August 2, 2006
Evolution Opponents Lose Kansas Board Majority
By RALPH BLUMENTHAL

Kansas voters on Tuesday handed power back to moderates on the State Board of Education, setting the stage for a return of science teaching that broadly accepts the theory of evolution, according to preliminary election results.

With just 6 districts of 1,990 yet to report as of 8 a.m. Central time today, two conservatives — including incumbent Connie Morris, a former west Kansas teacher and author who had described evolution as “a nice bedtime story” — appear to have been defeated decisively by two moderates in the Republican primary elections. One moderate incumbent, Janet Waugh from the Kansas City area, held on to her seat in the Democratic primary.

If her fellow moderates prevailed, Ms. Waugh said last week, “we need to revisit the minutes and every decision that was 6-4, re-vote.”

Ms. Morris lost to Sally Cauble, a teacher from Liberal, who has favored a return to traditional science standards.

- Cathie

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Hey guys,

I see loads of stories worth linking you to but this one just seems extra special. Levels of hypocracy = amazingly sky high.

(A Priest on the Isle of Man has been importing slave labour…)

http://news.indepe…

No sweat if you don’t wanna use it but just in case.
xMJ

………………………………………………………..

HI,

I read your blog all the time and love it. Thought you might enjoy my
latest comic on the supposed coming rature.
http://www.ma…

Later,
Matt