Monthly Archives: April 2009
Life lessons
I’ve just spent a hilarious few minutes reading this guy’s accounts of the many ways one can injure oneself. It bothers me that I have done so many of them myself (especially the exploding incinerator), and a few he didn’t … Continue reading
Filed under Humor
The disconnect between biology and philosophers
I sometimes worry about the lack of attention philosophers pay to actual biology, settling instead for purely verbal arguments. I am travelling right now so I don’t have time to carefully critique Jerry Fodor’s latest attack on “Darwinism”, but it … Continue reading
Filed under Evolution
Georgia Lee
I don’t know if I’ll be able to post while I’m en route, so here’s a song to listen to while I’m gone, by the great Tom Waits.
Filed under Administrative
A poignant obituary
Geoffrey Midgley’s obit is in the Independent today. A comment online is, I suspect, from one of his sons.
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Filed under Philosophy
Python versus man
Pam Ayers once noted that in car and hedgehog fights, the hedgehog comes off worse, but what about in python and human fights? It seems they reached a standoff in Kenya recently. He bit the snake on the tail while … Continue reading
Filed under Humor, Species and systematics
CIA exemption is the wrong thing to do
Obama’s decision not to prosecute CIA agents who employed torture and illegal rendition is a bad decision. It politicises legal responsibility and does nothing to reinforce the rule of law. Perhaps every single agent who followed orders will be exonerated … Continue reading
Filed under Politics
Finding Q
Elio Schaechter has a nice piece up on the recent success at growing a pure line of Coxellia pathogens, the cause of Q Fever. I have been told that fewer than 10% of all microbes are able to be grown … Continue reading
Filed under Ecology and Biodiversity, Evolution, General Science
Darwin conference at U Chicago
Yes, I know there are thousands of these this year, and by October we’ll all be tired of them, but this one looks like the main game: Darwin/Chicago 2009. I am, of course, upset not to be invited to speak, … Continue reading
If this is Friday, I must be in Sydney
I am briefly back from internetless visits to family in Victoria (my home state), and shortly to fly out to Lisbon where I am to give two talks I have yet to finish writing (of course! Not to worry, I … Continue reading
Filed under Administrative
The first use of a taxonomic tree
Older histories of biology are often full of useful and interesting facts. One of my all-time favourites is Eric Nordenskiöld’s history, but I came across an earlier one by Louis Compton Miall in which I found this text: Bonnet in … Continue reading
Filed under Ecology and Biodiversity, Evolution, History, Species and systematics
