Five-fiftysix meme 1 Dec 2008 New: Solutions listed Mike Dunford, who is still trying to get me to pay for that time he put me up in Hawaii when his wife was on active service in Iraq (if I knew what I’d have to pay, both in climbing horrific rainforested slopes to release wallabies, and this meme, I’d never have gone) has tagged me, the bastard. It’s a meme created by Henry Gee (I’ll get even with him later, too). Find ten books, the first ones you see, go to page 56, sentence five and transcribe it. You readers are supposed to guess what they are. [I better keep a note or I’ll be screwed later…] Below the fold: 1. Another odd property of significance tests concerns the way in which they are sensitive to sample size. Evidence and Evolution: The Logic Behind the Science, by Elliot Sober 2. Those favoring materialism continued to believe that perhaps the most basic form of life might be produced directly by nature, and by the end of the century the discovery of the electric current offered them a new force, which, it was hoped, might explain how dead matter could be brought to life. Monkey Trials and Gorilla Sermons: Evolution and Christianity from Darwin to Intelligent Design (New Histories of Science, Technology, and Medicine), by Peter Bowler 3. His other distributions too evened things out this way. Creationism and Its Critics in Antiquity (Sather Classical Lectures) by David Sedley 4. Annette bustles around busily, pointing out angles and timings to the forensics team her head office sent in answer to her call for backup. Accelerando (Singularity) by Charles Stross 5. ‘That’s the sea!’ she said, starting towards the crack. Everville by Clive Barker 6. The belfry movement could play fixed tunes, for example to chime the hours. Anathem by Neal Stephenson 7. Darwin was suddenly very much on the defensive. The Darwin Conspiracy by Roy Davies 8. It was connected to the Library by a covered marble colonnade; inside the Library were ten great halls, lined with shelves and cupboards, all numbered and titled, housing a vast collection of manuscripts. The Naming of Names: The Search for Order in the World of Plants by Anna Pavord 9. Today it would be assumed that they were a lesbian couple, with Jane clearly the “husband” and sweet, retiring Betty the “wife”. Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back by Frank Schaeffer 10. Or, to express the point more precisely, ours is a world of space, whereas Aristotle’s was a world of place. The Beginnings of Western Science: The European Scientific Tradition in Philosophical, Religious, and Institutional Context, Prehistory to A.D. 1450 by David Lindberg Mike gave hints. I won’t. I’m a bastard too. I tag Larry Moran Christopher Taylor Jim Downey Jim Lippard Ian Musgrave and anyone who actually wants to do this. Administrative Book Humor
Humor Only the lonely 24 Feb 2008 Are you a sad nerd, spending more time with your computer than with actual people? Do you think a great night is when you get a debate going in the comments of a Pharyngula post? Would you like to meet other sad people and mingle? Well, apart from the scary… Read More
Humor Why? The beginnings of philosophy 21 Nov 2008 Phil Plait linked to this guy, Louis CK, on why it’s alright for the world to go back into the dark ages, but I rather like this one, in which it becomes clear that philosophers are, after all, just persistent two year olds: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4u2ZsoYWwJA&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&fs=1] Read More
Administrative Competition: copy of my species book 4 Oct 201127 Oct 2011 My book Species: A History of the Idea is soon to be available in paperback. I have a few copies I’d like to share, so put your name in the comments and make sure your email is filled out (it doesn’t get shown publicly) and I will roll some virtual… Read More
Is this no. 10? Sedley, David N. 2007. Creationism and its critics in antiquity. Full disclosure: I read your mild apology from a couple of days ago and made a wild guess…
Mike gave hints. I won’t. I’m a bastard too. Wilkins is only doing this because he knows we have to be nice to him for the next twelve months!
JLT and pubcat, both right. Thony: if you meet a six hundred pound gorilla at any time, I bet you are nice to him…
Just tried it on the Rough Guide to Evolution and the answer is: “In adult life, Charles Darwin stood just less than six feet tall”. So that will help any future victims google the answer!
Just tried it on the Rough Guide to Evolution and the answer is: “In adult life, Charles Darwin stood just less than six feet tall”. So that will help any future victims google the answer!
I think I have two of them: 1. Evidence and Evolution: The Logic Behind the Science by Elliot Sobre 7. The Darwin Conspiracy by Roy Davies
Since I went to the bother of cheating: 5: Everville: The Second Book of the Art by Clive Barker – Fiction – 1999 9: Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right and lived to take all (or almost all) of it back. by Frank Schaeffer – 2008 Google has not yet indexed every word in every book, but they had those two. None of them rang a bell with me.