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The U.S. has 484 *discovered* cases of the new coronavirus, it clearly has several thousand people who are infected
This is exactly right, from a Harvard epidemiologist: "Media: you need to stop reporting on new cases in the US. They are newly discovered. I know you don't mean to but by saying the literal case numbers you are playing into the false narrative that things are under control in the US." ADDENDUM: This study…
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From a doctor in Italy, on the frontline of the epidemic there
This is in Italian, but Google translate will give you the feel for it. As he says: this is not just a "bad flu." It' makes for gripping reading.
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Harvard adopts significant travel restrictions
Here; an excerpt: International All University-related international travel is prohibited. All personal international travel is strongly discouraged. Domestic All University-related non-essential domestic air travel is prohibited. We strongly urge extreme caution and judgment for your personal domestic travel. We strongly encourage you to consider alternative methods to communicate and hold meetings, such as teleconferencing.…
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In Memoriam: Terence Penelhum (1929-2020)
MOVING TO FRONT FROM MARCH 2–UPDATED Emeritus at the University of Calgary, Professor Penelhum was well-known for his work on Hume, personal identity, and philosophy of religion. I will add links to memorial notices as they appear. (Thanks to Christopher Williams for the information about his passing.) UPDATE: Reader Rev. Bruce Foster shares a nice…
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Great moments in obscure rock ‘n’ roll: Rhinoceros, “Apricot Brandy,” 1969
Elektra Records created this band through auditions in 1967, but it never achieved much success, despite releasing a number of singles and albums. This instrumental, released as a single, isn't bad:
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Trump and Kudlow should both be moved into the Kirkland, Washington Life Care Center…
…for the duration of this fiasco they helped create.
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International Society for Nietzsche Studies has cancelled its annual meeting, slated for Oxford in late June 2020
Announcement here. ISNS will meet again next year in Oxford, on dates still to be determined. We decided to act early because (a) the writing is on the wall, and (b) we don't want folks buying plane tickets.
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Useful summary of findings from the W.H.O. team’s visit to China about coronavirus
Here (earlier coverage).
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Kramnick on Kelsky (and her ilk): “a war profiteer of the collapsing job market”
Great line from philosophically-minded English professor Jonathan Kramnick (Yale) on Karen Kelsky, whom we noted the other day: Jonathan Kramnick, a tenured professor who has led job-placement efforts for three English departments over almost 20 years, calls her "a war profiteer of the collapsing job market." "Her client base is anxious and captive," says Kramnick,…
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What is it like to be a philosopher? Kathleen Higgins edition
Here, courtesy of Clifford Sosis as always.
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Human rights and “membership rights”
Will Kymlicka (Queen's/Canada) comments.
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The “quirky silliness” (QS) rankings of philosophy departments are back
And, as usual, it's garbage, outside of the top four (and Pitt, in the top four, is not better than several programs ranked much lower–this is the first year, however, in which Pitt hasn't been #1). QS does not disclose the geographic distribution of survey respondents, even though that determines most of the results. …
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“The Professor is in,” aka, Karen Kelsky
People occasionally ask whether her services are worth it. I'm skeptical based on what I've heard (and even putting aside that she's a nut). You can see some reactions from her paying clients recounted here. A few excerpts from different individuals: (1) I paid $150 for cover letter editing. She offered to read and comment…
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Coronavirus on Twitter
I follow this epidemiologist, who is generally quite informative and links to useful resources. Note his alarm about the situation in Seattle, also his criticism of the W.H.O.'s idiotic announcement of a fatality rate of more than 3% for the virus. In dysfunctional countries, like Iran and the U.S., which aren't doing enough testing, the…
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“Super Tuesday” post-mortem
Biden is back. Massive African-American support throughout the South was crucial, but he also did well with the "suburban women" demographic (take a look at Virginia, where Sanders was crushed by Biden) and working class voters. Biden may have enough delgates to get the nomination without the intervention of super delegates. One can only hope…
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How incompetent is the CDC?
See for yourself. Could we please put South Korea in charge? ADDENDUM: Or maybe China? Locking down cities was not the most important thing they did; instead, it was contact tracing, aggressive testing, and cancelling public gatherings. This is also striking: You look at the big, long lists of all the cases and identify those…
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Consulting Marcus Aurelius in the face of grief
A nicely done essay.
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Bristol newspaper names and shames adult men threatening Greta Thunberg on social media
What a collection of winners!
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UC Santa Cruz fires striking TAs
What a disgrace–straight from the Reagan playbook.
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Blast from the past: the swine flu pandemic in 2009…
…which turned out not to be too bad (but we didn't know that in Spring 2009). Since one of my kids has asthma, I followed that one fairly closely as well.
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Lao-Tzu, Plato and the movie “Parasite”
Political theorist David Lay Williams (DePaul) comments.
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South Korea has drive-through coronavirus testing…
…why doesn't the U.S.? From what I'm reading, it seems clear that the virus is already widespread in certain communities, but because the CDC has been so hopelessly incompetent at testing, we don't know how widespread or where. The Johns Hopkins COVID-19 tracker is a useful resource; I expect that now that testing is becoming…
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Great moments in obscure rock ‘n’ roll: Fat, “The Shape I’m In,” 1970
Another great number (earlier ones here and here) from the Western Massachusetts band that deserved to be far more successful than they were:
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The U.S. election and the coronavirus
It seems clear the coronavirus pandemic is going to trigger a recession in the U.S. and probably globally, barring a sudden change in the course of its spread. As we know from Achen and Bartels, voters often hold incumbents responsible for bad events, especially if there is any narrative supporting such responsibility (and sometimes even…
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“Nietzsche’s Moral and Political Philosophy,” revised at SEP
This is the third revision I've done since the entry first appeared in 2004. This revision was more substantial than the last one, with a lot of new bibliographical entries and refinements of discussions in several sections, especially sections 1.2, 2, 3 and 4.
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Pembroke (Oxford) philosophy tutor Peter King pleads guilty to producing “indecent” photographs of a child
This is creepy. (Do NOT confuse this creepy "Peter King" with the distinguished historian of medieval philosophy at the University of Toronto with the same name.)
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Five senior hires for Edinburgh
All are coming in as Senior Lecturers; they are: Mahrad Almotahari (metaphysics, philosophy of language), currently Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Illinois, Chicago; Mazviita Chirimuuta (philosophy of neuroscience & perception), Associate Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh; Barry Maguire (moral & politcal philosophy), Assistant Professor of…
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“Teens for Mayor Pete”
This satirical site captures his vacuity well; an excerpt: POLICIES: Policies are vital to any candidate. In fact, policies are the cornerstone of a Democracy and Democracy is what makes America the country it is today. Health Care In the U.S. some have Health Care, while others do not. Some believe Health Care should be…
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Blast from the past: when a Routledge Companion editor dropped a contributor for alleged wrongdoing
Back in 2016. It's striking that so many of the bad actors in the profession are clustered in the LEMMing areas.
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In Memoriam: Jack Macintosh (1934-2020)
MOVING TO FRONT FROM FEBRUARY 17–UPDATED A longtime member of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Calgary (which he joined in 1966), he was best-known for his work in the history of philosophy and science, especially on Robert Boyle. I will add links to memorial notices as they appear. (Thanks to Mohan Matthen…
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While the fascist Modi and the instinctive fascist Trump schmooze…
…religious riots break out, a clear result of Modi's anti-Muslim animus. (Thanks to Ruchira Paul for the pointer.)
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In Memoriam: Mario Bunge (1919-2020)
A longtime member of the philosophy faculty at McGill University (although originally a physics professor in Argentina), Professor Bunge wrote widely in philosophy of science An obituary from a newspaper in his native Argentina is here (in Spanish). I will add links to other memorial notices as they appear. (Thanks to Marcos Picchio for the…
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Ruling class media v. Bernie Sanders
This is a pretty good video: ADDENDUM: By the way, that's Mimi Rocah who said Bernie "makes her skin crawl" and she doesn't know why. I have an idea: maybe she's an anti-semite? They do tend to have that reaction to gruff, assertive Jews like Bernie.
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Senator Sanders speaks the truth about AIPAC…
…and, of course, AIPAC goes crazy. UPDATE: Senators Warren and Klobuchar, as well as Mayor Pete, are also taking a pass on AIPAC. Remarkable and wonderful!
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Is morality necessary?
Philosophers Jason McKenzie Alexander (LSE), Barry Smith (London), and Justin Smith (Paris-Diderot) discuss.
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Democratic primaries and the general election
So even the mainstream media has acknowledged that Sanders is the clear front-runner. I gave money initially to Warren, but once it became clear she isn't registering with enough voters, I'm now giving only to Sanders. I still expect this to come down to Sanders and Bloomberg, with the only real uncertainty being whether Sanders…
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If much of the interest of high-quality papers lies between the lines—in the metaphorical fire that a paper lights in…
I would also recommend that potential grad students make inquiries into how far the compensation package actually goes towards cost…
It’s a mix. I’m still in the UAE with my family, and we feel safe. But some students and faculty…
In the above comment, Michel wrote: “As an aside, every once in a while I check out how the chatbots…
I could imagine LLMs having saved me a *ton* of time in graduate school–e.g., by having supplied reasonable answers to…
The McMaster Department of Philosophy has now put together the following notice commemorating Barry: Barry Allen: A Philosophical Life Barry…
My former colleagues at another university in Middle East have also been moved to online teaching indefinitely, with the students…