Friday, April 17, 2015

Links of Note

* Philosopher's Carnival #174 at "Aesthetics for Birds"

* Whewell's Gazette #43 at "Whewell's Ghost"

* An amusing article showing a law professor's sense of humor:

In 2011, Chief Justice Roberts commented that if you "pick up a copy of any law review that you see," "the first article is likely to be, you know, the influence of Immanuel Kant on evidentiary approaches in 18th-century Bulgaria, or something, which I'm sure was of great interest to the academic that wrote it, but isn't of much help to the bar.” No such article exists, of course -- until now. This short essay explains why, in all likelihood, Kant’s influence on evidentiary approaches in 18th-century Bulgaria was none.

* Sharman Apt Russel on citizen science.

* The puzzle of how late medieval cartographers made portolan maps that were so accurate.

* Patrick Toner, The Low Standards of Norman Rockwell's Critics. Toner also has a blog on Rockwell's art.

* Oscar Wilde in America.

* A post on the harrowing of Hell at "A Clerk of Oxford"

* James Parker reflects on the campaign for beatifying G. K. Chesterton.

* Charles Babbage's obituary in Nature.

* Old Style and New Style: Thony Christie discusses the common confusions arising over the date of Newton's death, due to the change of calendars.

He also has a good post discussing the problems with talking about 'Greek science'.

* The history of Harlequin Romance novels, and how they came to shape a genre.