The Rob Ford mess

Angry drunk fires chief of staff. Rob Ford tosses another staffer overboard.

Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town: The Census

Germany has discovered that it has fewer people than estimated, because people forget to notify the government when they move away.

That inevitably reminded me of Stephen Leacock’s explanation of population fluctuations in the little town of Mariposa:

In point of population, if one must come down to figures, the Canadian census puts the numbers every time at something round five thousand. But it is very generally understood in Mariposa that the census is largely the outcome of malicious jealousy. It is usual that after the census the editor of the Mariposa Newspacket makes a careful reestimate (based on the data of relative non-payment of subscriptions), and brings the population up to 6,000. After that the Mariposa Times-Herald makes an estimate that runs the figures up to 6,500. Then Mr. Gingham, the undertaker, who collects the vital statistics for the provincial government, makes an estimate from the number of what he calls the “demised” as compared with the less interesting persons who are still alive, and brings the population to 7,000. After that somebody else works it out that it’s 7,500; then the man behind the bar of the Mariposa House offers to bet the whole room that there are 9,000 people in Mariposa. That settles it, and the population is well on the way to 10,000, when down swoops the federal census taker on his next round and the town has to begin all over again.

True love!

Love that lasts for decades is inspiring.

“What my mother taught me about feminism and fear”

Haley B. Elkins writes about her mother, who conducted a one-woman underground railroad to help abused women. We should all be as brave and compassionate as Haley’s mother.

…the fact that my mother was not “of” the community was what made her safe, safe for women who barely even knew her.

The unbelievers: New Atheism and the Old Boys’ Club

The unbelievers: New Atheism and the Old Boys’ Club

Bitch Magazine points out

“From Madalyn Murray O’Hair, the founder of American Atheists, whose 1963 Supreme Court lawsuit brought an end to prayer in public schools, to Sergeant Kathleen Johnson, who started an organization for atheists in the United States military, to Debbie Goddard, founder of African Americans for Humanism, countless women have worked as successful atheist activists.”

It goes even further back. Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were atheists, pointing out that God made a perfect enforcer for men’s prejudices.

The dearth of women in the secular movement

Susan Jacoby has a very interesting article, “A Woman’s Place?” She recounts some of the famous founders and forgotten original thinkers in the secular movement who were women and considers why women are so outnumbered in contemporary groups.

Ms. Jacoby is the author of several books on history.

What war on men?

Somebody has things backwards! Read “Atheist, feminism, and the so-called war on men.”