Under Construction

Whateverville is no more! For a long time, I've been worried that my blog title was too close to the title of science fiction author John Scalzi's much more popular blog "Whatever." I was unaware of his blog when I named my blog "Whateverville," and, since he probably gets 1000 hits for every 1 I get, I didn't want people to think I was trying to leach off his glory.

There is already at least one blog with the title "Jawbone of an Ass," but it updates only once every few months, so I doubt I'll be accused of trying to steal his readers.

Why "Jawbone of an Ass?" First, I like the image of Samson standing in the middle of 1000 philistines, smiting them with a donkey-bone. Occasionally on this blog, I rail against forces that outnumber me by an insane ratio. I write about atheism in the midst of a nation that thinks of itself as Christian. I write Liberterian manifestos in a nation where the Libertarian party routinely draws under 1% of the popular vote. I feel like the fabled lone voice crying in the wilderness. And yet... I still believe in the power of words. Despite much evidence to the contrary, I still hold out hope that words can change the world for the better. I may be surrounded by Philistines, but I intend to keep swinging.

Second, well, I can be something of an ass, and I like to use my jawbone. I don't go out of my way to be polite. I may occasionally use derogatory terms like "idiot," "inbred," and "Republican."

I'll be making several changes to this blog and soon to be announced companion blogs over the coming weeks. There's a lot of stuff I need to update. For the rest of the month, consider this site under construction.