* Bonnie Kent, On the Track of Lust: Luxuria, Ockham, and the Scientists (PDF)
* The Dogs Playing Poker Code (HT: Another Think) All it needs to be complete are references to the Templars and the evil machinations of Opus Dei in trying to keep the Code secret. And Rolfes is just a little bit too sane to convey the fullness of what Umberto Eco fittingly called the psychosis of resemblances, the pathology at the root of it all.
* Monty Python's International Philosophy Match. The best part of all is when the Germans dispute the goal:
Hegel is arguing that the reality is merely an a priori adjunct of non-naturalistic ethics, Kant via the categorical imperative is holding that ontologically it exists only in the imagination, and Marx is claiming it was offside. But Confucius has answered them with the final whistle! It's all over! Germany, having trounced England's famous midfield trio of Bentham, Locke and Hobbes in the semi-final, have been beaten by the odd goal, and let's see it again.
(HT: prosthesis)
* "Earmarks in Early Modern Culture" has a post on the maternal connection account of heredity, which was very popular in the early modern period (and well into the nineteenth century, despite rejection by occasional greats like Nicholas Steno). I've posted on this briefly in connection with Malebranche.
* Rebecca has a nice post up on Eternality.
* Clark discusses volitional belief. The old discussion of the subject he links to is also worth re-reading.
* Oppressed, poor, facing economic collapse, the people of Zimbabwe find some strength in their sense of humor. (HT: Magic Statistics)
* La Bandera de las Estrellas: The 1919 Spanish edition of the U.S. national anthem. They did a surprisingly good job. The last stanza:
¡Oh asi sea siempre, en lealtad defendamos
Nuestra tierra natal contra el torpe invasor!
A Dios quien nos dio paz, la libertad, y honor,
Nos mantuvo nacion, con fervor bendigamos.
Nuestra causa es el bien, y por eso triumfamos,
Siempre fue nuestro lema: "¡En Dios confiamos!"
!Y desplegara asi su hermosura estrellada,
Sobre tierra de libres, la bandera sagrada!
It's interesting that it is much less cautious than the English original, which pulls some of its punches with conditionals (e.g., the Spanish version says, "Our cause is good, and because of this we triumph" whereas the English says "Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just," which is similar in meaning, but much less certain and more qualified, since it leaves open the possbility that our cause won't always be just. (HT: Rhine River)
* UPDATE: Anyone of my generation will appreciate the humor of this. (HT: Cnytr)
