Administrative:
Thanks to the editor of Trends in Ecology and Evolution, and the permissions department of Elsevier, my scientific blogging article is up again in Portuguese. At no cost! Thanks folks. João Carlos at Chi vó, non pó, translated it...
Posted on August 14, 2008 8:09 PM • 3 Comments •
Our Seed Overlords have bling to give away. All you have to do is take a survey and they might give you an iPhone 3G, a MacBook Air and a 40GB Apple TV. Keep the Air and give me the...
Posted on August 12, 2008 8:29 AM • 9 Comments •
A blog post by the incredibly multilingual John Wilkins (who knew he spoke French, Portuguese and Spanish? OK, it's by proxy, but it's nearly as good as actually speaking it) is now available in Spanish. Gee but he looks...
Posted on August 4, 2008 1:39 AM • 4 Comments •
It is an odd thing seeing one's words in another language. Joao Carlos at Chí Vó, Non Pó has translated my TREE article into Portuguese (I think). Without my permission, though, and probably not the editor's. Joao, you'd better...
Posted on August 3, 2008 9:43 AM • 10 Comments •
Those who are getting very agitated, missing out on their Usenet fix of the group talk.origins, which has been dormant for the past few days, should know that Steps Are Being Taken. Stop emailing me. I don't know any...
Posted on July 28, 2008 8:28 PM • 4 Comments •
I've been uncommonly productive in the last few days - first the book went off (and then I find that one chapter needs a complete rewrite, but hey), then I sent off a paper based on the talk I...
Posted on July 23, 2008 9:14 AM • 10 Comments •
Today I got my manuscript off to the publisher. Heaven knows what the editors will do with it; I expect a sympathetic treatment as the publisher's editorial board are quite keen. But it's like having a ten year boil...
Read on »
Posted on July 21, 2008 9:27 AM • 10 Comments •
John Hawks has an excellent essay up (I don't know how correct it is, never having been on a tenure track) on the merits and problems of being an academic blogger. Do read it....
Posted on July 20, 2008 8:54 PM • 1 Comments •
Not the Simon and Garfunkel song, this: Just seeing if it works....
Posted on July 15, 2008 2:29 AM • 3 Comments •
My paper in TREE is now available as an in-press corrected proof. It is titled "The roles, reasons and restrictions of science blogs", so thanks to you guys (and Bob O'Hara in particular) for the raw material and opportunities....
Posted on July 12, 2008 1:12 AM • 8 Comments •
Well I have done my talk at the AAP conference, and survived with ego intact (as if there was any doubt). All I need to do now is sleep for eight straight days. Sorry but I don't have the...
Posted on July 10, 2008 8:00 AM • 2 Comments •
Hi folks. It's conference time again, and of course we have organised to have the Australasian Association of Philosophy/Australasian Association for the History Philosophy and Social Studies of Science (AAP/AAHPSSS) conferences in the coldest place on the mainland -...
Read on »
Posted on July 3, 2008 4:38 AM • 17 Comments •
Few things make me very angry: injustices perpetrated by the powerful against the weak, good science fiction series being canned by network executives, and people who think they can say whatever they like without regard for their audience. I...
Read on »
Posted on June 9, 2008 11:27 AM • 69 Comments •
The snivelling little boy, Mats Envall, who thinks that walking into someone's living room and pissing on the floor is acceptable behaviour, has forced me to make comments require my manual authentication. I am sorry for the rest of...
Posted on June 2, 2008 8:54 AM • 8 Comments •
So we managed to attract 5 local PZombies (Craig, you are in trouble for not turning up!) on a wet Brisbane night. We had some interesting discussions (which I fear means that others listened to me nonstop) over beer....
Posted on May 30, 2008 9:22 PM • 7 Comments •
One of the things about having one's own blog is that one gets to say what sorts of behaviours are acceptable by commenters. My commenters are generally a pretty nice bunch of people, often clever (hey, they read me)...
Posted on May 26, 2008 6:21 AM • 20 Comments •
Nothing is more excruciating to me than to see myself and hear myself. It's even worse when I'm up against someone who presents so much better than I do. So watch Paul Myers (I think that's how they spell...
Posted on May 24, 2008 9:09 PM • 15 Comments •
OK, so it seems there are several readers of PZ Maggle who live in or around Brisbane. Some are even on or near the UQ St Lucia campus. So we should meet and pay homage to the Great Tentacled...
Posted on May 21, 2008 12:36 AM • 21 Comments •
So much has been happening in the world while I was giving a talk on the adaptiveness of religion in Sydney. The Platypus thing was one item I'd have blogged on if the rest of the blogosphere hadn't beaten...
Posted on May 9, 2008 8:33 PM • 8 Comments •
Sometime over tonight, this blog will pass the half a million visits mark. Say it out loud with me: half...a...million! Now I know this is because the six regular readers routinely and obsessively visit me every fifteen seconds, and...
Posted on May 9, 2008 5:49 AM • 19 Comments •
... Wilkins turns green with envy. There's a special sort of immortality for those who work in paleontology which clearly outweighs the total lack of jobs and remuneration: having a species named after you. My friend and accredited geologist...
Read on »
Posted on April 28, 2008 8:16 PM • 7 Comments •
Like Lynch, here is "the top 106 books most often marked as "unread" by LibraryThing’s users." So what I’ve read is in italics, what I never finished is struck through:...
Read on »
Posted on April 26, 2008 12:52 AM • 23 Comments •
Have a look at the title bar at the top of this page. If it doesn't say "Scienceblogs" or "Evolving Thoughts", then you are reading it via a leech site that does nothing but steal the words I and...
Posted on April 24, 2008 3:29 AM • 3 Comments •
John Lynch took me to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum yesterday, and made me walk. Naturally I forgot my camera, so I can't show you the really cool hummingbirds, or the cougar/puma (it has a split personality) or the bighorn...
Read on »
Posted on March 11, 2008 3:32 AM • 11 Comments •
Yesterday John Lynch (he of the Stranger Fruit) took me to see the Arizona Museum of Natural History in Mesa, which had some truly excellent displays of the feathered dinosaurs from China (they wouldn't let me photograph them, though,...
Posted on March 10, 2008 12:31 PM • 18 Comments •
Yeah, yeah, OK, I know I've been absent except on the comments, but I'm traveling, all right? Everything I have worth saying gets said over beer or whiskey, tonight to Jim Lippard and John Lynch, the latter of whom...
Posted on March 9, 2008 3:21 AM • 3 Comments •
So I'm here, and after a long sleep I got to see some marvellous AZ scenery before the camera died. I'm staying with my mate Malte, who was a costudent of Gareth Nelson with me some years back, Tomorrow...
Posted on March 3, 2008 2:20 AM • 0 Comments •
Janet asks what others have asked - what is science blogging all about, after a bully in the schoolyard taunted us Sciencebloggers. Her questions (and her answers) are very like mine, so I will steal them, below the fold....
Read on »
Posted on February 28, 2008 11:56 PM • 7 Comments •
Well, actually the weather in Tempe, Arizona, seems to be very much like the weather here in Brisbane, but that's where I'm going. For a couple of weeks. Also in Salt Lake City. So blogging shall be sparse unless...
Posted on February 27, 2008 8:40 AM • 1 Comments •
Have you ever noticed that there are occasionally periods in which things just work, particularly with computers? I find that there is a confluence of coherence about every four years. I'm not sure if it's just because the vendors...
Posted on February 13, 2008 8:53 PM • 8 Comments •
For a long time, I thought that animals were pretty much as Descartes thought - largely unreasoning organic machines. This morning, my teacher on animal communications died. Her name was Chesh, and she was 17 and a half. She...
Posted on January 30, 2008 6:23 PM • 21 Comments •
A passing reference to Language Log has introduced me to an excellent blog. For instance, this well-balanced post on hate speech. Why didn't someone notify me of it before?...
Posted on January 25, 2008 5:08 AM • 9 Comments •
We got delicioused, for the Basic Concepts Post, and wow, scores of links and (I hope) new readers. Some of the referrals [UPDATED]:...
Read on »
Posted on January 24, 2008 1:55 PM • 4 Comments •
So, I just found out that I'm teaching this semester, which is a comfort (money will come in, and we can eat) and a pain (I am going to Arizona in March, so we will have to sort out...
Read on »
Posted on January 21, 2008 3:42 PM • 12 Comments •
I am blogging lightly while I write madly in Real World™ conditions - some deadlines approach, such as grant deadlines, paper deadlines, book review deadlines and editing deadlines. That said, I will pop up for a bit occasionally, but...
Posted on January 12, 2008 11:08 PM • 8 Comments •
Today I received my copy of COSMOS (not Cosmo, you perves!) in which my article appeared. I have to say (and not just because they showed the good taste to print me) that this is one of the better...
Posted on January 1, 2008 10:42 PM • 7 Comments •
It is midnight on January 1 here in Australia. There's a loud party next door (young folks, heh). So I hope you all have a good year and thanks for reading me in 2007....
Posted on December 31, 2007 9:00 AM • 27 Comments •
Philosophy isn't one of those things that makes great breakthroughs that are recognised at the time. Generally something is thought of as a significant development much later, after it becomes obvious that people are engaging with it, like the...
Read on »
Posted on December 21, 2007 1:28 AM • 2 Comments •
I received an email telling me I'm number 20 on the list of influential science blogs, according to Wikio, a European site that ranks according to links and readership, I gather. The irony of a philosopher being a high...
Posted on December 18, 2007 9:57 PM • 11 Comments •
The sole reason that I have any Microsoft products on my machine at all, is compatibility with Endnote. Once upon a time, Endnote was equally capable with a number of word and document processors, but now it only works...
Posted on December 8, 2007 9:35 PM • 17 Comments •
Anyone who has access to COSMOS magazine, published in Australia, will be able to find an article of mine on what good philosophers of science are for science. If you have a copy, scan it and send it to...
Posted on December 7, 2007 8:03 AM • 6 Comments •
Unlike PZ Moorsch, I don't get much abusive email, because I'm so much more mild mannered than he is. But I got this gem from an Australian using his cousin's South African email account: your feedback on the one...
Posted on November 25, 2007 2:52 AM • 13 Comments •
You may have spotted that I have created a new category called, expressively, "Book". This is primarily for when I review books, which I am going to do more, but also when a book raises issues I want to...
Posted on November 18, 2007 1:43 AM • 0 Comments •
If you really liked one of my posts in the last 12 months, please nominate it for the Open Laboratory anthology for 2007. See the little icon at the left side of the screen? Bora is taking final submissions now....
Posted on November 12, 2007 10:24 PM • 5 Comments •
Some things that piqued my interest without triggering a full post:...
Read on »
Posted on November 8, 2007 8:16 PM • 4 Comments •
The above are icons to be used when blogging on actual peer-reviewed research (as opposed to popular reports or kookery). I had a marginal involvement in this (I made some passing comments early on) so it is with great...
Posted on October 29, 2007 10:29 PM • 6 Comments •
Today was the final lecture in my Introduction to Cognitive Science course. Thank the fates it is over. I started this having no real idea of the topic, never having taught what Americans are pleased to call "freshmen" and...
Posted on October 22, 2007 2:22 AM • 2 Comments •
This is a meme started by PZ Mackers. I will exact retribution upon him later. In the meantime, I have been tagged...
Read on »
Posted on October 21, 2007 11:08 AM • 8 Comments •
I gave a lecture yesterday on animal minds, and in the course of it tried to show some YouTube videos in Keynote by linking to the pages (tool using crows, by the way, and the excerpt from Life of...
Posted on October 15, 2007 8:07 PM • 3 Comments •
My mate Ian Musgrave, Astroblogger and expert in several fields of science, and his lovely family, are up visiting rellies in Queensland from the arid wasteland that is Adelaide. We all went on a bushwalk and while we were...
Posted on October 12, 2007 7:34 AM • 3 Comments •
Does anyone who reads this blog have access to JFP from the American Philosophical Association? None of the locals or my usual contacts do, and by the time I can get a subscription going, I'm likely to have missed...
Posted on October 7, 2007 3:30 AM • 3 Comments •
I do these things to (a) impress you all (if I can), (b) get a crossbearing on whether I'm actually part of this culture I find myself inside of, and (c) see if there are any other books I...
Read on »
Posted on October 3, 2007 1:57 AM • 27 Comments •
Stay tuned after the break as we will be showing the following specials, rated R for Reason. Suitable for 15 years and over......
Read on »
Posted on September 28, 2007 9:41 AM • 4 Comments •
I keep forgetting to check the "unpublished" list. If you put a link in, or use certain terms, the spam filters will hold it for approval. I am forgetful, and haven't checked for a while, so apologies to those...
Posted on September 28, 2007 12:56 AM • 0 Comments •
Over the past three years or so I have been trying to get an academic career going, at the tender age of (then) 49 (now 51). I have applied for a number of positions while working as a postdoc...
Read on »
Posted on September 25, 2007 9:30 PM • 36 Comments •
... an email archiver that sorts through the several tens of thousands of emails I have received in the past fifteen years and makes it all a nice searchable archive. If it would automatically archive from the current folders,...
Posted on September 23, 2007 11:49 PM • 18 Comments •
Eagle-eyed readers will note a new tab above this post (and all others if I have done it properly) which list the very best of Evolving Thoughts - the meaty posts that will have long term value (as much...
Posted on September 14, 2007 4:00 AM • 7 Comments •
I have, I must confess, started a number of projects here that I haven't finished. Teaching is getting the better of me (and no, I'm not going to put my lectures down on cognitive science, as I do them...
Posted on September 6, 2007 11:54 PM • 5 Comments •
If you're reading this on "Science Blog", be aware that the site is stealing, copying without proper attribution, and generally parasitising real blogs, including mine. Go to the real Science Blogs site for information on the actual blogs. Although...
Posted on September 1, 2007 11:27 PM • 0 Comments •
... I'm teaching. First years. Cognitive science. It turns out that a lot of what I thought was common knowledge isn't common at all. And what I count as a simple introduction leaves a lot of folk behind. Now...
Posted on August 21, 2007 11:00 PM • 15 Comments •
Dear readers, Dave Munger of Cognitive Daily has suggested that we have a universally available icon to indicate that the blogger is blogging about peer reviewed research, and he has created a discussion blog at BPR3. Please go make...
Posted on August 15, 2007 9:23 PM • 3 Comments •
I had to. They made me do it. Yes, I'm smoking again, but I'll give up soon, I promise. The grumpy expression is because I'm teaching......
Posted on August 12, 2007 9:53 PM • 8 Comments •
So I'm home from Ish, and the front part of my brain is giddy and tired while the rest has just shut down. I don't travel well, I'm afraid. One thing that I came back fired up over are...
Posted on August 3, 2007 10:19 AM • 20 Comments •
So the ISHPSSB Conference is done, and here I sit in the University of Exeter Library getting some internetting done for the first time in a week. Great conference. I got to meet Scibling John Lynch and his colleagues...
Posted on July 30, 2007 6:49 AM • 2 Comments •
So, I finally have access to the internet. For the past few days I've been either in London, on planes, trains or in Exeter, where I am now for the ISHPSSB biennial conference of philosophers and historians (and some...
Posted on July 25, 2007 11:14 AM • 7 Comments •
So I'm off to the Mother Country on Saturday my time. Anyone in London who wants to meet for dinner on Sunday or Monday nights, drop me an email before I fly off......
Posted on July 19, 2007 12:59 AM • 28 Comments •
People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.... At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
Read on »
Posted on July 6, 2007 10:20 PM • 2 Comments •
OK, so while the vandals are playing some weird game on another thread, I suppose I better tell the rest of you what's happening. 1. I'm applying for a real job, and another postdoc. 2. I have two conference...
Posted on June 26, 2007 2:44 AM • 17 Comments •
... as I attend to a bunch of administrative, career and professional duties. Please be patient. Your thoughts are important to us, and the next trained monkeyoperator will attend as soon as possible......
Posted on June 21, 2007 1:37 AM • 18 Comments •
Everyone else is noting the pulse of migration to the SEED stable that occurred here a year ago. Oddly, my ecto links tell me I first posted here on the 25th of June, not the 9th, but who cares....
Read on »
Posted on June 10, 2007 1:10 AM • 3 Comments •
Before I do, I'd like to note that Paul Griffiths and I had a wonderful time last night talking to the Philosophy Students Association about Dawkins' The God Delusion.... That's nothing new - but this one doesn't divide the chloroplast, but one of the daughters acquires a new one from a free living algal cell...
Read on »
Posted on May 10, 2007 9:39 AM • 6 Comments •
John Wilkins is an aged, eternal student, who thinks philosophy of biology is at least as interesting as politics or sport and twice as important. He has a PhD from the University of Melbourne and a position as a 
