Monthly Archives: June 2009
Bright flash on Australian mountain
A bright flash has occurred near Gin Gin in Queensland, followed by a fire on the mountain. Authorities are not saying what it was, but the locals have come up with the most likely explanation: space junk, rubbish that has … Continue reading
Filed under General Science
Nominate me for something
I put a lot of work into some of my posts. I’d really love it if readers would nominate them for either Open Laboratory (see button to the side), or for a Carnival or something. I never get carnivaled and … Continue reading
Filed under Administrative
This is what happens if you resist a Wilkins
Hat tip to Chris Elliot, and see Super Punch.
Filed under Humor
Linnaeus: the founder of databases
A couple of years ago I was in Exeter, and was chatting to Staffan Müller-Wille, who is an expert in the history of biology specialising in Linnaean taxonomy. He mentioned to me that Linnaeus had invented the index card in … Continue reading
Filed under Epistemology, History, Philosophy, Science, Species and systematics, Systematics
Join the Pirate Party now!
As Pastafarians know, global warming is inversely related to the number of pirates in the world. But slightly more seriously, the Pirate Party in Sweden has gained a seat in the EU Parliament. They stand against the encroachment on individual … Continue reading
Filed under Censorship, Freedom, Politics
The US loses academic freedom?
Since we’re talking about law, here’s an interesting piece at Crooked Timber on the chilling effect on academic free speech a couple of recent court decisions, Garcetti v. Ceballos and Hong v. Grant may end up having. Although the courts … Continue reading
Evolution and the law
A new paper by Brian Leiter and Michael Weisberg entitled “Why Evolutionary Biology Is (So Far) Irrelevant To Legal Regulation” argues that evolution does not provide the legal system with any useful rules or guidance. Here’s the abstract: Evolutionary biology … Continue reading
Filed under Ecology and Biodiversity, Freedom, Politics, Race and politics, Social evolution
The Demon Spencer
When I first started to read philosophy and history I heard about this demon. His name was Herbert Spencer, and he was famous for three things: 1. Incomprehensible prose 2. Coining “Survival of the Fittest”, and 3. Coming up with … Continue reading
