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Janet D. Stemwedel (whose nom de blog is Dr. Free-Ride) is an assistant professor of philosophy at San Jose State University. Before becoming a philosopher, she earned a Ph.D. in physical chemistry. Email her at dr.freeride@gmail.com.

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Social issues:

Do jokes reveal something about who you're talking to?

On April Fool's Day, our local Socrates Café had an interesting discussion around the question of what makes something funny. One observation that came up repeatedly was that most jokes seem aimed at particular audiences -- at people who share...

Sustainability starts with sustainable habits.

Another Earth Day rolls around, and I still have major qualms about the typical American approach to it (which seems to boil down to "Consumer choices will save the world!"). Possibly, viewing ourselves and each other primarily as consumers explains...

Noticing class privilege.

Via Bint Alshamsa, this is a version of a "social class awareness experience" used in the residence halls (and possibly also classrooms?) at Indiana State University by Will Barratt et al. In the classroom, students are asked to take a...

Raising money for classroom projects to create a more scientifically literate society (DonorsChoose Blogger Challenge 2007)

Maybe you remember that fund-raiser we did for DonorsChoose last June. We're kicking off another today. But this time, it's not just ScienceBlogs bloggers -- partners like Google, Yahoo!, Six Apart, and Federated Media are watching the efforts across the...

Facebook needs to hire the ghost of Potter Stewart.

I know obscenity when I see it. Facebook is confused.

Some of our language needs an update.

So, there's some amount of Harry Potter mania out there in the world this weekend, what with a new movie and the last book in the series being released. (To show you how disconnected I am from the mania, I...

Book review: Never Let Me Go.

Last May, on my way back from a mini-conference in Stockholm, I had a long layover in Munich. Since major airports are now essentially shopping malls with parking for commercial jets, I used a little bit of that time...

Who's in the club? Why does it matter?

How much does it matter that certain groups (like women) are under-represented in the tribe of science?

Resisting scientific ideas.

In the May 18th issue of Science, there's a nice review by Paul Bloom and Deena Skolnick Weisberg [1] of the literature from developmental psychology that bears on the question of why adults in the U.S. are stubbornly resistant to...

What they said at the panel on the future of higher education.

Since many of you were kind enough to suggest questions to ask of Margaret Spellings at SJSU's Founders Day "The Future of Higher Education" panel last Friday, I thought I should report back on that session. First, the bad (but...

Separating the public and private spheres.

Depending on your blog reading habits, you may already have heard the news that feels almost like cosmic justice that a law firm has rescinded an offer of employment from a third year law student whose online activities the firm...

Dissent in professional communities.

This is another piece in the discussion currently raging about the latitude members of a profession ought to have to follow conscience over the dictates of the profession. Professions are communities of a sort. What unites them is that the...

Personal integrity and professsional integrity.

On Abel's post on conscience clauses, Bob Koepp left this comment: It's a pretty warped understanding of professionalism that would require professionals to violate their own sincere ethical beliefs. After all, someone lacking personal integrity probably isn't going to be...

Personal conscience versus professional duties.

A "classic" post on conscience clauses for pharmacists.

Gender profiling at the wine bar.

Razib tossed off a post expressing amazement that a very attractive wine bar hostess was making science fiction recommendations. The noteworthy feature, apparently, was "the intersection of science fiction & female physical hotitude." Predictably, others have commented on this post,...

Graduate school with kids: views from around the blogosphere.

It started when someone asked Dr. B. for advice about starting a Ph.D. program with three kids in tow. Since then, the question has been bouncing around the academic blogosphere, with posts you should read at Academom and Geeky Mom....

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