Tuesday, December 18, 2018

Why Not





It’s nothing. They’re just hashing out the details of world domination. … More 

Sunday, December 9, 2018

Wednesday, November 28, 2018

Afterlife

Muff and Thatch discuss the nature of time and existence and stuff. … More

Tuesday, November 20, 2018

Tuesday, October 23, 2018

Monday, October 15, 2018

Wednesday, October 3, 2018

Tuesday, September 25, 2018

Wednesday, September 19, 2018

Tuesday, September 4, 2018

Rendering Malfunction

The long-awaited meeting between Thatch and Muff is delayed on account of technical difficulties. … More

Monday, August 13, 2018

Sunday, July 22, 2018

Tuesday, July 17, 2018

Tuesday, June 26, 2018

Crash

Has anybody seen my chicken? Thatch has gone missing (mostly). More...

Sunday, June 17, 2018

Enlightenment





Your only hope of enlightenment, eternal salvation, or a place in Paradise is to realize that there is a possibility that you could be wrong. More...


Monday, June 11, 2018

Sunday, May 20, 2018

Free Living Organisms: Vegetables


Do you hesitate to kill things for food? Or is it fine, as long as someone else does the killing? Do chickens care? [See more...]

Sunday, April 29, 2018

Thatch

Free Living Organisms 2018-04-29
Free Living Organisms

The premier. Thatch makes his first appearance in the persona of Li’l Thatch.

Monday, April 23, 2018

Free Living Organisms



I’m sure the best way to introduce a new comic strip is to simply start putting it out there. On the other hand, I don’t think you all want to wait until I have reached comedic perfection. Who knows how long that will take?

So the plan is to let you in on the process as I learn how to create whatever this is going to be. Right now I have a lot of ideas for the action and the characters. What I need is to learn my way around Blender, the program I have chosen for putting it all together. It will take some time, but I will show my progress along the way. We will see if this old dog can learn new tricks. [Read more...]

Thursday, April 5, 2018

Cartooning


Free Living Organisms

I am putting myself through school, again. I am transforming my talent for analysis and synthesis, together with my weird sense of humor, into a comic strip I call "Free Living Organisms." Don't worry, what you see there is not the finished product, yet. I want you to be able to follow along as I build up a set of characters and their personalities, and watch them get into odd situations.

[Read more...]

Monday, March 5, 2018

Art Speaks






I met Dan Stallsworth in 1974. I had trouble understanding him, his speech distorted by the random muscle twitches and spasms symptomatic of his disability. His whole life has entailed a struggle to communicate. In his first few days at the United Cerebral Palsy Center (a school and sheltered workshop), he was placed into the “trainable” class. At his first opportunity, he crawled, pulling himself along by his elbows, across the hall into the advanced class. His determination was rewarded. I mean, what were they going to do, drag him back out? (Continue reading...)

Chiefy's Climate Review


I’ve decided to expand my annual Arctic sea ice review to include a general climate summary, and do it in January so I can include end of year data. After a record low maximum sea ice extent last winter, the Arctic saw a low minimum ice volume in September, but not a record. It was the fourth smallest volume on record, thanks to cool summer temperatures and mild weather.

Globally, 2017 was in fact the second warmest year since 1880, according to NASA... (Continue reading...)

Sunday, January 14, 2018

This World is Home







“This world is not my home,” says the old gospel song,* “I’m just a-passin’ through.” So is that right? Is this world real, or is it just a prelude to something else, something more real than what we call reality? Let’s explore that concept.

The Simulation Hypothesis.

Suppose we make a computer dedicated to one task... Continue reading at Living Faith-Free

Honesty


There are two kinds of people: those who lie only when the occasion calls for it, and those who tell the truth only when it suits their purposes. Those who always tell the truth, no matter what, because that wins them the favor of a god, or their mother, or whatever, are in the latter... Continue reading at Living Faith-Free

Free Speech Cake



How is refusing to sell cakes for same-sex weddings different from refusing to serve mixed-race couples? The petitioners in Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd, v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission would have us believe that creating a wedding cake can be an expression of free speech, and as such is constitutionally protected. In other words, the cake creator cannot... Read more...

Winning With Constructive Dialogue


Winning


Sometimes the universe throws coincidences in our paths. I have been reorganizing the blog and refocusing on finding more constructive ways of approaching the issues that divide us. Then this past week, almost as if by design, I encountered two interesting sources (for which I will provide links) that show how we can defuse... Read more...