Monday, January 28, 2008

The Stermy Awards for January 2008


This month was really tough, you bastards. There was far too much Exemplary Writing in the Atheosphere.

So to help me make my selections, I decided to amend a rule I came up with for the last Stermy ceremony. The original rule was:

  • No blogger may win more than one Stermy in any month, but a blogger may win Stermies in consecutive months. That would really upset my sensibilities, however, so it will happen only rarely, if ever. And the second month's post better be a real doozy.
So, of course, everyone from last month comes up with a real doozy. Thanks a bunch. Combining all the posts into one, it might have been called: A fishy-smelling, bullshitting Bush spins into the middle ground to have brilliant alien-controlled sex in public with iggy and Dick Funk. If anyone can actually write a coherent post with that title, he or she will definitely win a special Stermy next month.

Anyway, the amended rule is:
  • No blogger may win more than one Stermy in any month, but a blogger may win Stermies in consecutive months, provided that both months end in r.
Oh, gosh! Sorry!

Fortunately, there were some other real doozies, too. So here are this month's winners, in the usual alphabetical order:
Heather at Why Don't You Blog?
for Google this
Many are training their students for an imaginary academic career, as it would have been thirty years ago. They feel that students are workshy unless they put in the physical effort to search in libraries, pay large sums for course books and compete with other students for access to obscure library journals. Are these activities assumed to be “educational” by their very nature, just because the lecturers had to do them when they were students? Now, we have instant access to material from all over the world. Finding it quickly, judging its value and how it relates to other bits of information are the skills we need now.

KC at Bligbi
for Pretending to be guilty to please others
As a woman one of the most annoying things I can think of is the social expectation that women pretend to be guilty about something that we may not feel a bit guilty about. Of the things that are on that list, abortion is the most important. A woman who gets an abortion should not behave in a manner that says “I’m fine with this”.

The Lifeguard at The Meme Pool
for time to change: a rant on presidential politics
I'm sick of "change." No, I sure as shit don't want another four years of George W. Bush, but I am plain sick and tired of hearing politicians argue about who can best effectuate change. Tell me what changes you propose. Tell me how you will make better changes. Just don't argue about change as some rhetorical abstraction-- a meaningless marketing ploy you hope to use as a crowbar for separating yourself from the opposition.

ordinary girl at tales of an ordinary girl
for her series on Christian Education (5 posts)
I didn't expect evolution to be part of the curriculum. When I was in school learning under the Beka curriculum we had an English teacher who dared say that she believed evolution was a tool used by God for creation. She was fired for it. And now that I think back on the event I realize it was probably the fault of students like me who found her line of reasoning heretical because I'd been indoctrinated to a point that I couldn't even imagine anything apart from the literal interpretation of the Bible (when it suited the church).

sacred slut at A Whore in the Temple of Reason
for Beside the Point
Yet really, what is the supposed meaning that reunion with God provides? I have never heard anything coherent articulated on this point. If you consider impartially what "point" there is to any of those vaguely-envisioned outcomes - usually entailing some sort of nebulous, disembodied eternal bliss - the process of living seems more important than the end goal anyway.
Once again, I'd like to make my monthly plea reminding everyone to give me a tap on the e-shoulder if you see a post that might be Stermy-worthy. Please, though, if you notice that I've left a comment at that very post, chances are good that I've not only seen it, but that I've actually read it. (This may not always be the case, but it's highly likely.) However, if you stumble across exemplary writing that you think I might have missed, let me know. Thanks.

22 comments:

John Evo said...

Well, first let me say congratulations to all the winners. I've read several, but I have to check out a couple. Without reading, I have NO DOUBT that they are deserving.

That said... ah... FORGET IT!

Anonymous said...

Outstanding selection of posts. It was fun going back and reviewing them too.

Congratulations, all. Well done.

Unknown said...

Thanks, Ex.

See, those roundtable discussions can also spark solo efforts as well. I consider that part of the value.

Anonymous said...

You like me... YOU REALLY LIKE ME!!!

Sincerely, thanks again. I think I've read a good bit of this stuff already, but there are a few new ones I will check out too.

The (Parenthetical) Atheist said...

Excellent roundtable. The only one I had not seen was the one over at Why Don't You Blog (and thanks for introducing that blog, I hadn't seen it before).

Anonymous said...

Incidentally, I'm glad to see you gave OG the award for her whole SERIES on christian education, which I thought was a really great set of posts altogether.

Anonymous said...

Thanks, exterminator. We obviously have the same taste as I've read the others and enjoyed them also, especially Heather's post.

Anonymous said...

Does Evo ever win anything?

Anonymous said...

I would like to say a big thank to God for this amazing honour.

I will of course use the award to end world hunger.

John Evo said...

The WONDERFUL Grumpy Lion said:

Does Evo ever win anything?

EOM

John Evo said...

No. I DO have something else to say.

I LOVE Lifey. I LOVE OG. I consider both more than just "bloggers". And both of them are terrific writers and wrote VERY worthy posts to earn the awards. But I've been living in my own private Atheosphere for 10 times the length of the two of them COMBINED! How about an honorary "Longevity Stermy"?

Don't even old buildings and old prostitutes get some love once they stick around long enough?

The Exterminator said...

grumpy:
Does Evo ever win anything?
You're kind of a trouble-maker, aren't you? Don't come crying to me next time you get a thorn in your paw.

heather:
I will of course use the award to end world hunger.
You can start by passing one of those chocolate biscuits over here.

Evo:
Don't even old buildings and old prostitutes get some love once they stick around long enough?
OK, you've convinced me. Here's your Stermy for best atheistic writing by an old hooker working out of an old building.

JP said...

Are you kidding me?

Trinity's latest post blew me away. Surely she is deserving of such an award.

This system must be fixed.

Bullshit I say, bullshit.

Reason's Whore said...

Don't even old buildings and old prostitutes get some love once they stick around long enough?

Oh, I thought you were talking about me. Evo, stop sobbing in your beer. It's unmanly.

Exterminator, thanks. Gorsh.

And of course I must say: SUCK IT, JESUS! Harder! Harder! Oh yeah!

Sorry, got a little carried away. You know us old whores.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

Anonymous said...

Sacred Slut:
"SUCK IT, JESUS! Harder! Harder! Oh yeah!"

Your awards ceremony was obviously far more stimulating than mine was.

Anonymous said...

If anyone is interested, CL has written an extraordinarily long-winded rebuttal to my "What's Wrong With Religion" post: comment #117. Fair warning, it's pretty incoherent, but it's got some comic moments. Maybe he read Stermy's post on Laughos. :)

If you're interested in perusing it, help yourself. All I ask is that you refrain from responding. I'm really hoping this is his last hurrah at my place.

The Exterminator said...

chappy:

Actually, the guy's pitiable in his obnoxious way. I copied and pasted his whole comment into a Word document just to see how long it is. Over 5,000 words. That's no comment; it's a feature article in a magazine. Perhaps he can sell it to National Geogoofus or Better Trolls and Gardens or Wackmopolitan.

Anonymous said...

JP - Trinity's posts keep getting better and better. I bet she'll win a Stermy next month.

John Evo said...

If Trinity wins a Stermy... ah... forget it!

The Exterminator said...

Evo:
I'd say that Trinity's chances of winning a Stermy are only slightly higher than iggy's. There'd pretty much have to be nothing else on the Internet that month.

chappy:
May I remind everyone that the Stermy is an award for Exemplary Writing in the Atheosphere. That lets Trinity out. Anyway, if she won a Stermy, I'm sure she'd be pissed off -- or whatever devout Christians call that emotion.

Colin Clout said...

Exterminator:

If you are going to attack Christians, you should know that "I believe in the Resurrection of the body" and "And I look for the resurrection of the dead" are lines in the two foundational Christian Creeds. The message of Christ is "Resurrection of the body through the resurrection of Christ." See for instance, I Corinthians 15

The Exterminator said...

Matthew:

You do realize that nobody responding to this post gives a rat's ass what "Christ's message" is, right?

And I hope you're aware that at least a few of the commenters here are probably far better informed about the bible than you are.

But thanks for the information. I'll throw First Corinthians onto my to-read list. Do you recommend the sequel, too, or should I skip it and just go directly to Galatians?