Posts from — September 2006

Is God an Accident?:
As predicted, when asked about biological properties, the children appreciated the effects of death: no need for bathroom breaks; the ears don’t work, and neither does the brain. The mouse’s body is gone. But when asked about the psychological properties, more than half the children said that these would continue: the dead mouse can feel hunger, think thoughts, and have desires. The soul survives. And children believe this more than adults do, suggesting that although we have to learn which specific afterlife people in our culture believe in (heaven, reincarnation, a spirit world, and so on), the notion that life after death is possible is not learned at all. It is a by-product of how we naturally think about the world.

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so you believe in religion… that’s ok said the apologist… it’s natural.

Many people have always ask what I’m doing these days with my time, so i’ve decided to make public my ‘projects’ list so that people might see, that yes… I’m one busy bloke.

In order of priority:

1)Dissertation

A. I have to finish this.

2)Teaching

A. Projects in Digital Archives

B. Library 2.0

3)Research and Publishing

A. Dach Paper (Accepted)

B. Jensen Paper (in draft)

C. International Handbook of Internet Research

I. Contracted

II. authors in order

a. need to contact authors with update

D. Learning Inquiry

I. first issue in development

E. Transdisciplinary Studies

I. first two books contracted

F. Interpretation in Policy Studies conference panel/proposal

G. Bowker Review

H. Museums and the Web proposal

I. Other

Human Affairs Paper?

Aera Proposal (submitted)

4s Proposal (Accepted)

Earli Proposal

MIT proposal

Political Economy of the Internet (on hold)

Social Software in the Academy (on hold)

Information for Social Change Paper (on hold)

Chandos Press proposal (in draft) (on hold)

Artefact paper (on hold)

4)Organizational work

D. ACRO

I. work on codebase

II. Maintain server

E. Ethics In Second Life group

F. E-Science (on hold)

G. Global Learners project (on hold)

5. Other

Richard Morin – When Malls Stay Open on Sundays, the Pious Party – washingtonpost.com:
Gruber and Hungerman found that when states eliminated blue laws, church attendance declined while drinking and drug use increased significantly among young adults. Even more striking, the biggest change in bad behavior mostly occurred among those who frequently attended religious services, they report in a working paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, “The Church vs. the Mall: What Happens When Religion Faces Increased Secular Competition?”
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this is unsurprising. what it likely means though.. is that far more of these frequent attenders, will claim that the bible endorses war and giving your money to some random bloke to build glass churches.

Internet research 7.0 Conference Program:

The conference program is available here, in PDF format.

Prejudice and fear surrounding sexual pleasure makes me weep:
You’ve seen the bumper sticker: “You think education is expensive? Try ignorance.” The costs of sexual ignorance are far, far greater than the costs of honest sexual education.
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knowledge in this case is necessary, to keep someone in ignorance because of personal embarassment seems to be antithetical to the spirit of education.

Belfast Telegraph:
Isn’t it contradictory to ascribe human-based rights to animals? Surely
it is absurd to apply a purely human concept to an animal who has no hope of ever understanding such a thing?
Zaki Nahaboo, London

Not at all. Anyone who ascribes rights to babies or humans with intellectual disabilities must be willing to attribute rights to beings who can’t understand the concept. It’s the moral agents, the ones who are acting, who need to understand the concept. Those to whom we attribute rights, do not need to understand these concepts.
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He’s a utilitarian, i’m more of a virtue theorist, but unsurprisingly most of his ethical answers are similar to mine.

Google Book Search: Celebrate Your Freedom to Read:
plore Banned Books

For more information about Banned Books Week (September 23rd-30th), visit http://www.ala.org/bbooks.
Is a book being challenged or banned in your community? The ALA can help you
do something about it.

To Kill a Mockingbird. Of Mice and Men. The Great Gatsby. 1984. It’s hard to imagine a world without these extraordinary literary classics, but every year there are hundreds of attempts to remove great books from libraries and schools. In fact, according to the American Library Association, 42 of 100 books recognized by the Radcliffe Publishing Course as the best novels of the 20th century have been challenged or banned.

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banned books week…..

Idéologie has taken over – Jeffrey Hart:
But that was then. Today, the standard-bearer of “conservatism” in the United States is George W. Bush, a man who has taken the positions of an unshakable ideologue: on supply-side economics, on privatization, on Social Security, on the Terri Schiavo case, and, most disastrously, on Iraq. Never before has a United States president consistently adhered to beliefs so disconnected from actuality.
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another conservative pundit speaks out…

And we thought Clinton had no self-control – Joe Scarborough:
This must all be shocking to my Republican friends who still believe our country would be a better place if our party controlled every branch of government as well as every news network, movie studio, and mid-American pulpit. But evidence suggests that divided government may be what Washington needs the most.

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or perhaps just a democratic government…

The Scientist : Are We Training Too Many Scientists? :
After three years of postdoctoral work at the Mayo Clinic, Crystal Icenhour was ready to embrace the life of an independent researcher in a tenure track position. But after more than a year of job searching, and only a couple of job interviews, she was bitterly disappointed. The first job was lost to another more qualified applicant. The second institution was hiring two faculty: one senior, one junior. “I thought I had that one … I was ready to pack my bags because the interview went so well and they asked for start-up requirements,” says Icenhour. But after the senior faculty hire negotiated his compensation, there were insufficient funds for the junior position. “He offered me a postdoc in his lab… I didn’t take it.”

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I don’t think people should take postdocs.. frequently they end up being just another form of underpaid labor. some prestigious postdocs are fine and good institutions, but not all are. postdocs narrow your options and i think, that most cut down on your capacity to seek future employment.