Free Book!

I have an extra hardcover copy of The Complete Greek Tragedies, Volume 1: Aeschylus, edited by Grene and Lattimore. This book is the standard edition of Aeschylus' plays. Caveat: The Suppliant Maidens is unreadable in this copy due to pagination/printing errors, but I've read all of the Greek tragedies and, frankly, Suppliants isn't all that great anyway. Otherwise, the book is in great condition. It's worth about $50, but I'll give it away if it'll find a good home. If you think you'd make use of it, leave a comment or email me.

UPDATE: It's gone now. Sorry, folks.

What Is Wrong With Women?

Joss Whedon, the creator of Buffy, asks the question.

Flax Plus

How is it?
It doesn't taste good or bad. It doesn't taste at all, really.
Does the milk help?
No. In fact, the cereal seems to absorb the milk's taste. The whole thing doesn't taste like anything.
So it tastes like nothing?
Hey, maybe the cereal has, like, negative taste. Once it comes into contact with milk, it destroys the milk's taste.
Flax Plus is the antimatter of cereal!

By Means Of A Faculty

In his Critique of Pure Reason, Kant asks, "How is synthetic a priori knowledge possible?" Kant's answer? "By means of a faculty." But, unfortunately, not in five words.

Fans of Nietzsche might recognize this quotation. It's a caricature of Kant, but it's pithy and clever. Turns out Kant isn't the only one it applies to; we can say just about the same thing about scientists today:

We only showed that brains might possess a faculty which free will could potentially be based on.

Actually, unlike Kant, they didn't even show this. Popular science, particularily pop science writing in the mass media, is depressingly terrible, but as a special bonus this article comes chock full of terrible philosophy, too. Almost every paragraph is an irredeemable mess of unfounded assumptions and egregious argumentation. Too bad neither the scientist nor the reporter who wrote the story stuck to a five-word limit.

Lnaugage Werdinses

Isn't it raemrkable taht you can raed this whtiuot too much dfificltuy eevn toghuh the lteters are all mxied up? As lnog as all of the lteters are tehre and as long as the frist and lsat lettres are corecrt, most ppeole can read athinyng, reardgelss of how the ltteers are arngerad wthiin the wrdos thselemves.

Guantanamo Rant

I expect that this won't be up for long, but it's scathing and brilliant. James Spader is one of the finest actors on TV and this clip proves it.

Getting Some Seoul

The free trade agreement between the United States and South Korea hasn't received much attention. It's too bad. It's an important deal for both countries. One of these days I'll have to blog about my support for free trade policies (and outsourcing!). For now, though, suffice it to say that I'd like to see the Conservative government pursue a similar deal for Canada. Actually, you'd expect the Conservatives, particularly Stephen Harper, to be interested in this sort of thing. I see the NDP has already started its anti-trade scare campaign, so maybe there's reason to be hopeful.