The Sunday Philosophy Club
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The Scottish author Alexander McCall Smith has become enormously popular for his string of short, comfy novels about the No. 1 Ladies&#39; Detective Agency of Botswana - and for public appearances featuring his
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In response to this recent article from the Hiveminds website, Marco Tabini has a few choice words about some of the topics they cover in the article, and cover incorrectly.   Over the last few years, I've made it a point of trying to respond to at least some of the "PHP is dead"-type articles that crop up on the Net from time to time. The latest one comes from Hiveminds and reveals a complete misunderstanding of almost every point it covers.   He notes that though the article seems to be a coherent whole for why PHP is dwindling, it's "based on nothing more than a string of misinformed concepts cobbled together to give the appearance that the author knows what he or she is talking about". Marco comes back against each of the points made in the article, setting things right and eliminating some of the FUD (fear, uncertainly, and doubt) that the Hiveminds article spreads.
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An invitation to a conference on the politics of waste leads to thoughts on the relationship of dirt and technology -- thoughts that lead inexorably to the trash-can icon on personal computers. Commentary by Momus.
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Tycho:  He came into work yesterday with a prescription for something that will alter his brain chemistry, which I thought was a big step for the man who refuses to take aspirin.  We've long canonized our respective lunacies, believing it is like some artistic sacrament that makes our bizarre endeavor possible.  We have relied upon them.  Or, at any rate, we did.
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Ligaya Turmelle over at PHPWomen has posted on their 1st birthday.  In that one year we have set up this site, been to 2 conferences sending 2 people who would not of normally been able to go, handed out t-shirts at those conferences, grown a member list of 250+ strong and made some really strong connections to the PHP Community as a whole.  She continues to give thanks to many of the PHPWomen contributors, members, and supporters that have helped in these past twelve months. Happy Birthday PHPWomen!
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Tycho:  If my earlier experiences with the co-operative campaign had not endured so, there would be no question - fifteen dollars is quite simply not a value that men of reason would associate with the GRAW Map Pack.  But, drawing on that idea, let us move forward as though the powerful fraternal bonds forged in Campaign One were sufficient to assuage price related suffering to some degree.  I realize that this moves our narrative into the realm of fiction.
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LA DISCUSSIONE                                                  Il ruolo del socialismo nella societÃ  ingiusta                                                                                                  di FAUSTO BERTINOTTI
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Over the ages, philosophy has offered valuable guidance on profound questions of truth, beauty and existence, yet still unresolved is the conundrum of how to respond to a bad book review.
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Tycho:   One of the questions during a a panel at PAX had to do with the italicised line at the end of each day's post.  They're almost always song lyrics, and back before we were paying for bandwidth (and before RIAA rape gangs were prowling the web) these lines used to link directly to the MP3.  I maintained the practice afterward because it's sort of like a song of the day, and I like the idea that someone might be struck by a strange turn of phrase and seek out a piece of music.  It also serves as a gauge of my mental state at the moment.  Today's song, for example, is Stan Rodgers' incredible live version of the sea shanty "Rolling Down To Old Maui," which Pandora kicked out after about a week of tuning the station.  I've listened to it about thirty times today.    The person who asked the question at the con complimented my musical tastes, and I accepted the compliment, but I'm almost always late to the scene.  I just bought Interpol's "Turn On The Bright Lights," for chrissakes.  I'm mostly lucky to know people who do have unique library.  I told him I would mention a few of my favorite bands on the site, but then I forgot.  Essentially, it's music that cool people were listening to a decade ago (where applicable).  I am a musical carrion bird.    He wanted me to list off a few bands, and I said I would last week, but then I forgot.  These are the first ten albums I could think of.    "Starless" by Shiner
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Tycho:  When we were working on our first serious comic project, a comic about angels in high-school that would probably have made us wealthy beyond mortal imaginings, we got into our first real fight about religion.  Shaking with rage, he essentially threw me out of his house.  He called me up a few hours later to play Duke, but still.  We never talked about the comic again.  We try never to discuss anything of substance if we can help it, though we do allow an annual fracas as a gift to one another.  Oh, and here's a Gabe tip:  never end the Lord's Prayer with "Psyche."  Never.
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Decision: Blogs vs. New York Times. For the last couple of weeks I've been emailing with people from the LongNow Foundation and Martin Nisenholtz of the NY Times, to determine who won the bet.  Ultimately we asked the foundation to consider all the argument and make the decision. They published their decision today. It's well worth reading because it answers some of the questions raised by the bet, for example, what is a blog, and how does Wikipedia relate to blogging. I don't agree with everything in the decision, but I do like the result -- we won.  The beneficiary of the bet? The World Wide Web Consortium. I chose them as the charity to receive the proceeds if I won the bet because web standards are what make it all work and the W3C is central to standards on the web.
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Episode 38 Happy thoughts in the comms room
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Tycho:  We'll return to those two in a moment - for now, let's get a look at our supposed protagonists.  What are they doing?  Let's find out.  Did they make any new friends?
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Tycho: Some of you have probably already heard it, since I put it up yesterday - but we're trying new hosting for the podcast, and I wanted to make sure everything made sense before I dropped it on the front page. The podcast is for Wednesday's strip, "The Ungift, Part Two." You can download it here, or subscribe to the feed here. The levels are a little crazy in a couple spots, for which I apologize. I think we've got those ironed out, now. (CW)TB
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Tycho: And so, our own pilgrimage comes to a close.  Thank you!  I think we all had fun.  I should stress that "we" refers to your cruel hosts, Gabriel and myself, who over the last eight years have tormented you thus with such dedication and enthusiasm.
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Children as young as four are being taught philosophy in nursery in a bid to encourage good thinking.
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By Edited by Katie Stirling  THANKS to Claire Collins, of Ayr, who wins my weekly tenner with this daft picture.  If you have a funny internet image, why not share it with us? Please include your full postal address.  (c) 2006 Sunday Mail; Glasgow (UK).