Tag: philosophy

Good Tidings
March 22, 2013 0

Good Tidings

By News Desk

Back at the beginning of time, well, to be honest Rabett Run, but did anything exist before, Eli had two excellent rants ( Rant I and Rant II ) about textbook prices and the machinations of the publishers. As you may have noticed in the US when your kid goes to college, the price of General Chemistry textbooks has shattered the $200 barrier.  On the other hand, in markets where students are free to buy their own books, the price is much lower. For example, the International paperback edition (you can only get the hardcover in the US) costs ~$80 list and you can get it discounted.  It is even less expensive in less expensive countries, which brings Eli to the law.

Caution
January 4, 2013 0

Caution

By News Desk

Caution Thomas Midgley Jr. is well known for having "more impact on the atmosphere than any other single organism in Earth’s history".  Midgley’s team was responsible for CFC refrigerants, and the introduction of tetraethyl lead as an antiknock agent in gasoline.  The CFCs have had both good and bad effects, the identification of the bad ones, ozone depletion, and the calculus is irrelevant at this point with the Montreal Protocols and the availability of adequate substitutes.  Tetraethyl lead is another story and a report in Mother Jones today provides a useful platform from which to view the introduction of GMO technology. The Weasel has posed seven questions, but even he admits that there are two core ones 4: Can we really be sure that GM crops are safe — for our fellow creatures in the environment at large; or for consumers – whether livestock or people

Death Penalty
July 22, 2012 0

Death Penalty

By News Desk

Eli, as some have noted, is an ancient professor, an academic if you will.  He has followed the collapse of governance at Penn State with the interest of a bunny watching a disaster unveiled, and recently saw much back and forth about the NCAA (the folks who profit from and do the pompous on intercollegiate athletics in the US) imposing the death penalty on football at PSU. Folks, that ain’t the death penalty Penn State has to worry about.  Accreditation at US institutions of higher learning runs through cooperative associations of colleges and universities, who certify to the US Department of Education.  That ain’t whiffle ball because all federal funding, student loans, research grants and more depend on that certification