The Weekly Smörgåsbord #10
Posted by Darin Hayton on 05/09 at 10:57 PM
The dearth of history of science post continues. So this week’s Smöråsbord is a bit short. Nonetheless, here are few interesting posts from the past week:
- Singular Optics: Light Chasing its Own Tail — If you have any interest in optics, you must read Skulls in the Stars (or if you have an interest in science fiction).
- What a Shoddy Piece of Work is Man — Another post about science and religion along with some evaluations about the “success” of evolution.
- The Call for the Elimination and Destruction of the Beggar and Tramp Classes, 1926 — A nice post over at Ptak Science Books on eugenic fears of beggars and tramps.
- Married Physicist Couples — Will Thomas at Ether Wave Propaganda combs through his database “Array of Contemporary American Physicists” (ACAP) for married couples. He comes up with some interesting examples.
- Tyndall on Prayer — Picking up one of Tyndall’s suggestions, The Dispersal of Darwin wonders if we could take advantage of the “National Day of Prayer” to test the efficacy of prayer. Sadly, I think we missed the chance. Oh well, maybe next year.
- Was Jesus a Philosopher and the response Damned if you Don’t and then the reply to the response Jesus a Philosopher, part 2 — A civil exchange between John Wilkins at Evolving Thoughts and Chris Schoen at Underverse that wonders if Jesus was, well, a philosopher. No spoiler here—go read the post to find out. Also note, among other things, the correct use of the expression “begs the question” (though anticipates people not understanding it and adds a preemptive footnote).