http://profron.net Ron McClamrock's vaguely academic web home Wed, 27 Aug 2008 19:01:54 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Nice illustration of a good illusion: http://profron.net/2008/06/17/the-rubber-hand-illusion/ http://profron.net/2008/06/17/where-do-you-sit-in-class/ The folks at the Sci-Fi news site io9 have a cute poll about Poll: What Happens When You Kill Your Own Grandfather As A Baby? http://profron.net/2008/06/14/resolve-the-grandfather-paradox-with-your-vote/ As I'll be teaching Philosophy in Science Fiction in the Fall, you'll be getting more of these. Chaospet has a nice little bit on Trek-style transporters and worries about personal identity here. http://profron.net/2008/06/02/transporters-and-identity/ You know I like illusions. Especially when I'm teaching Phenomenology, I'm the prop philosopher, with all sorts of illusions and other perceptual phenomena to show. So how can I resist this frenetic and funny presentation of 10 optical illusions in 2 minutes? http://profron.net/2008/05/18/10-optical-illusions-in-2-minutes/ Again, PHD Comics captures the essence of grad school in Going Green: http://profron.net/2008/05/08/going-green/ OK, I'm not quite convinced the "the number of undergraduate philosophy majors is ballooning"; but I suppose it doesn't hurt to have the NYTimes act like studying philosophy is the thing to do: In a New Generation of College Students, Many Opt for the Life Examined. http://profron.net/2008/04/06/is-philosophy-hot/ There's some talk that's swirling around in popular linguistics about the question of whether 'yo' is emerging as the new gender-neutral pronoun. See the issue at Language Log here: Yo. As I've noted before (hey, read the "Recently Viewed" links to the right), I think we already have a gender-neutral ... http://profron.net/2008/03/30/yo/ Just a nice little bit on attention and what we don't notice. http://profron.net/2008/03/21/what-you-dont-see/ Unfortunately, these excellent buttons are currently sold out. http://profron.net/2008/02/26/liar-paradox-buttons/