Slowly being seduced by Portugal 22 Apr 2009 I gave my talk today on tree thinking at the local science museum for kids and the general public, which is amazingly popular. The Portuguese seem to hold science and knowledge in high esteem. Which is great. The Ciências Viva helped pay for my ticket, so I hope they liked my presentation. It will be online as a podcast, and they apparently simulcast it at the time, too. I didn’t let you know that because I want to check it before I tell my loyal readers about it. Oops… I am overwhelmed by the hospitality and food here. If I could learn another language, or they all spoke English, I’d happily live here. I have to thank Nathalie Gontier of the Faculdade de Ciências of the Universidade de Lisboa, who has gone above and beyond the call of hosting visiting Australians. I hope she gets well from her unfortunate dose of flu, which I deny having brought with me. Administrative History
Ecology and Biodiversity The origins of “speciation” 29 Mar 20145 Apr 2014 As I do some research on the history of speciation theories, I came across this, which is perhaps the original coining of the term: Evolution is a process of organic change and development, universal and continuous, and due to causes resident in species. Speciation, to give the other process a… Read More
Administrative Travel Diary 7 17 Oct 2009 So yesterday was a full day. I attended a talk by Tony Coady, coincidentally of my alma mater Melbourne, on whether religion is a danger. He argued, well, I thought, that it was no more a danger than any other human activity. However, one of the ways he did that… Read More
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… Read More
So did you have to speak through an interpreter? And are there many Portuguese interpreters who speak Strine?
So did you have to speak through an interpreter? And are there many Portuguese interpreters who speak Strine?
So did you have to speak through an interpreter? And are there many Portuguese interpreters who speak Strine?
So did you have to speak through an interpreter? And are there many Portuguese interpreters who speak Strine?
So did you have to speak through an interpreter? And are there many Portuguese interpreters who speak Strine?
So did you have to speak through an interpreter? And are there many Portuguese interpreters who speak Strine?
We are submonoglots. Thank you John for giving me the best laugh to start the day for a long, long time 😉
We are submonoglots. Thank you John for giving me the best laugh to start the day for a long, long time 😉
We are submonoglots. Thank you John for giving me the best laugh to start the day for a long, long time 😉
or they all spoke English IME they do, for values of ‘all’ such that you can always find someone who does. The first time we visited Lisbon, we walked past a picket line outside a factory and, being nosy, wondered what was up. So I spent about five minutes researching my phrase book and came up with something which I hoped meant “Excuse me, do you speak English or French?” I tried this out on the shop steward. He replied in perfect BBC accents, “Certainly, which would you prefer?” What a great country.