Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Russia's population
Frank pointed to something I meant to post about last week. Russia really looks like it’s in a bad way doesn’t it? I am pasting the whole article for my own archives: IN THE two days since Lisa Petrachkova was born, Russiaâs population has dropped by an estimated 2,000 people. By the time she is…
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Tense EU drive for Turkish deal
Will they, won’t they? In my own humble opinion Europe needs Turkey, there are many good reasons to bring Turkey into the EU fold. Austria has the most reservations it seems. Update: Richard weighs in with pretty much the same view.
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Google Goes Las Vegas
Robert Cringely has a very interesting piece on how Google Adwords might be working. Another reason to think maybe Google are not so nice afterall I have no idea what the heck is happening here, but my friendly reader, who makes his living from this stuff, has a theory. He believes the Google AdWords algorithm…
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Bird flu 'could kill 150m people'
Finally someone is quoting some figures (more reasonable to me anyway) that the inevitable flu pandemic could bring. Foreign Affairs had a special edition a while back on the avian flu threat, and back then I guesstimated a figure of 500 million was more likely than the figure of 20 million being suggested by most…
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On lectures
Caoimhe suggested that having Wifi in lectures could help for making an argument with a lecturer, as the facts are there before you while the lecturer is going on memory. At politics today the lecturer cited Robert Fisk in the course of a discussion about pre-war democracies such as the Weimar Republic or some such.…
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A tankful of sugar, Brazil's ethanol
I never knew that Brazil had previously gone down the road of ethanol based fuel for cars. Prompted by the oil shocks of the 1970s, Brazilian governments used laws and subsidies to promote ethanol-only cars, which had 90% of the market by the late 1980s. But supplies of sugar-based fuel dried up suddenly when planters…
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Empty beds, empty stomachs
Gitmo, as it has become known, still remains in a sort legal limbo. I had wondered what had happened since the Supreme Court ruling in June last year, the Economist clarifies: Earlier this summer, there was talk of Guantánamo being shut down. Patrick Leahy, the senior Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, called it a…
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The end of the affair: Rupert Murdoch in China
So Rupert Murdoch is criticising Yahoo for its policies in China. Speaking at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York during the UN summit, the Economist reports that Murdoch castigated Yahoo: FIERCELY independent media mogul and defender of democracy everywhereâthat was the Rupert Murdoch on display at a Bill Clinton-organised conference in New York on…
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Wifi in lectures
Most of the Boole lecture halls have Wifi, which is handy for checking things during a lecture. Or for blogging 😉
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Shattered
I have so much posting to catch up it’s not funny. I have bookmarked lots of interesting links. And so many things to read. And this DeLay story looks like it could be pretty darn funny. See Steve’s take. Looks like Roy Blunt will be the new majority leader.
Got any book recommendations?