Education Phil Plait destroys the earth 23 Jul 2010 The Bad Astronomer has a TV show! Bad Universe: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiSJ73pckw4] I hope it gets to Australia before the Big One hits. [Why can’t we do a philosophy show like this? Oh, wait…] Continue Reading
Administrative The “who” thread 8 Jul 2010 I am, as they say in The Home Country, gobsmacked. I expected that I would have a few geeks (I’m a Geek! Say it Loud!) who read me because I was sort of interesting. Instead I find Phuds, scientists, philosophers and just plain interesting people. If one is judged by… Continue Reading
Administrative The "who" thread 8 Jul 2010 I am, as they say in The Home Country, gobsmacked. I expected that I would have a few geeks (I’m a Geek! Say it Loud!) who read me because I was sort of interesting. Instead I find Phuds, scientists, philosophers and just plain interesting people. If one is judged by… Continue Reading
Education Darwinism, Philosophy and Society 7 Jul 2010 I’m teaching, for the first time, this subject in the final semester for this year (we have a three semester structure in defiance of all etymology), and as you might expect I’m pretty au fait with it all, except for one: Darwinism and literature. Now, we’re using the Appleman volume… Continue Reading
Education Interdisciplinarity never works 18 Jun 2010 Wait until the psych students convince the physics students that they are just hallucinating their pendulums. The the philosophy students will show them all that it’s just a matter of an error in language and they can all go about getting on with their oof!… where did that come from? Continue Reading
Australian stuff Is creationism about to be taught in Queensland? 31 May 201018 Sep 2017 PZ Mistletoe, under whom atheists get to kiss each other, has accused my home base state Queensland* of introducing creationism into high schools. However, what he is responding to, in the Murdoch press (never a good source of information) is a national draft curriculum for all Australian schools, so it… Continue Reading
Education Ruminations in Oxford 19 May 2010 The conference proceeds apace. I have met some very nice and interesting people: Pat Churchland, Owen Flanagan, Ara Norenzayan, whose paper I ineffectually commented upon, Robin Dunbar, Walter Sinnot-Armstrong, Tony Coady, Janet Radcliffe-Richards, and a number of people who I previously knew but am pleased to reacquaint myself with. One… Continue Reading
Education More on the CT teacher case 8 May 2010 It now appears that the teacher who was forbidden to teach evolution because it was “philosophically unsatisfying” (ORLY?) was done so by the headmaster, Mark Ribbens, alone. Ribbens tried to impugn teacher Mark Tangarone, a teacher in the Talented and Gifted Program (TAG), by falsely claiming he was “a disgruntled… Continue Reading
Censorship A chilling effect 24 Apr 2010 In the judgment in favour of Simon Singh against the British Chiropractic Association’s bogus defamation action, the judge noted that the use of defamation law on scientific discussions had a “chilling effect“, and a movement has resulted to reform libel law, to which all three major parties seem to be… Continue Reading
Education The fourth R: Reasoning 19 Apr 2010 I very much like this attempt, successful so far, it seems, to teach philosophy to school children. But I suspect that it will eventually threaten someone or other. Continue Reading