Marking time… 10 Mar 201221 Jun 2018 It’s been a busy week (and a painful one: I advise my students to avoiding being old if they can and gout is one reason why – right: gout. This past fortnight has been extremely unpleasant). We are in what we can only hope is the final phase of negotiating the contracts that will give me work for a year. Since the negotiating body is the the US military, things move slowly. It’s only been six months since they announced the grant. We hope to start things shortly. I have had two papers and a book chapter take another step, one being published, and two accepted. Of course, I am still trying to finish my damned book on classification. But it is difficult when every step is like nail being driven through your foot. So I am marking time and trying to get things sorted. This is a post to alert you to my continued existence, and to thank the following generous donors to the ET fund: Filippo Salustri Kevin Zelnio David Winter Steven Hamblin Patrick Linehan Susan Silberstein Bora Zivkovic Keith Elias Gerdina de Jong and John Danaher Each of you take a measure of dharma out of the petty fate tin (right: Dharma being measured). You have all been extremely generous and I have paid the hosting, domain and internet costs for another couple of months. Now all I have to do is write something useful. Hmm… I’m applying for numerous philosophy jobs, and I understand I have a shot at one. If you would all sacrifice a virgin, or a goat, or a virgin goat (left: a virgin goat, really), to the philosophy gods, I would be appreciative. Administrative
Administrative Well, there goes my academic career 25 Sep 2007 Over the past three years or so I have been trying to get an academic career going, at the tender age of (then) 49 (now 51). I have applied for a number of positions while working as a postdoc at the University of Queensland, and tried now twice to get… Read More
Administrative Wow, I’m a finalist at 3QD! 13 Sep 201122 Jun 2018 I made the cut! I’d like to thank the Academy… Read More
Administrative More roundup 15 Sep 2008 Mohan Matthen, a philosopher of biology, has a very nice takedown of Thomas Nagel’s qualified support for teaching creationism on his blog. Hat tip Leiter. Richard Losick has an excellent piece on the problems of using cultured lab strains when studying microbes, at Small Things Considered. A new blog on… Read More
Yeah, virgin goats are in short supply over here, given the Republican primary race. They keep sacrificing them to appease their more rational followers … the goats that stay virgins that long, at least. Feel better soon!
Not that sympathy is worth a huge hell of a lot, but you certainly have mine for whatever it’s worth. I had a single attack of gout a quarter of a century ago, though mine was brought on as a side effect of a medicine I was taking at the time and I’ve never had a recurrence. I still remember the pain, however. When somebody opened the door of my room, the breath of wind would set off my big toe. Uric acid crystals are really, really sharp.
There have been a slew of TV ads for gout meds recently and we have been making jokes about them. Now, we may stop. In the U.S., when promoting drugs in print, on TV and the radio, advertisers are required to include warnings and disclaimers like, “In the rare event of an erection lasting more than 4 hours, seek immediate medical help to avoid long-term injury.” We like to make up our own. The current favorite is, “Tell your doctor if you have a history of sudden death.”