68th Philosophers’ Carnival

MQPhil hosts the 68th edition of Philosophers’ Carnival (here). This carnival called for posts about “open source” philosophy. Only one post is about “open source.” And although I had virtually no idea what “open source” philosophy was, a post by Brad Frederiksen helped me along in trying to figure it out (here).
Other posts are noteworthy, [...]

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Should employers be cautious of social networking sites?

Today’s Washington Post has a story on how social networking websites have adversely affected some D.C. area teachers (here). According to the story, several teachers with social networking sites (like Facebook or MySpace) have been suspended, threatened with their job, or fired because their sites are crude, racy, or defamatory.
Ought employers be careful of firing [...]

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Recognizing genuine and fake smiles

The BBC Science and Nature page has published a test of recognizing genuine and fake smiles. Any interested readers may check it out here. HT: Cognitive Daily. The experiment is Paul Ekman’s, of the University of California at Berkeley. Semi-spoiler below the fold.

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Near miss: oughtn’t more technology be added to on-board avionics?

**Updated: 25 April 2008 @ 22:30** An article appearing on the left column of the frontpage of today’s New York Times (here) reports that runway incursions seem to present the greatest danger to aviation safety. The last commercial airline crash in the U.S. was the result of runway incursion. The crash occurred when a Canadair [...]

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Around the horn…

Some great posts in bloggerland that I’d like to point out for your enjoyment:
First, in local color (and not related to philosophy), Curmudgeon & company continue to take on “the man” in their latest post on the “Ice Tower,” or what the contributors of the blog like to call “the Fortress of Mayoral Ego.” Sometimes [...]

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Does belief in free will affect behavior?

Cognitive Daily has a post on research associated with the question here. A recent study by Vohs and Schooler (“The Value of Believing in Free Will” Encouraging Belief in Determinism Increases Cheating,” Psychological Science 19(1) 2008, 49-54) has revealed that students are more likely to cheat when they read determinism statements.
A couple of comments. First, [...]

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Engine power loss in ice crystal conditions

Commercial aviation companies have been scrutinized by FAA and DOT recently since it has come to light that many airlines have not maintained their fleets properly. Most of the American Airlines’s fleet was grounded at the end of March because the airline had not inspected its MD-80s for faulty wiring, in accordance with an FAA’s [...]

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Speedy delivery…

Mr. McFeely, the “Speedy delivery” guy, of Mister Rogers neighborhood would not have approved of how this letter arrived from Oxford, England.

I’ve done nothing to doctor this photograph. The package arrived as you see it (but there was an elastic band around it holding the contents of the package in what remained of the manila [...]

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Godfrey extorting Ogden: fact or propaganda?

Today’s Standard Examiner (here) has an unusual report on a so-called “deal” Mayor Matthew Godfrey is trying to make for a new Ice Tower. The story seems to be an indirect malicious attack on Godfrey because it implies that he is openly extorting funds for his plan to build an Ice Tower in the new [...]

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FrontRunner will solve all of Northern Utah’s ills… NOT

Curmudgeon (or Rudizink; it’s not clear from the post) of The Weber County Forum blog has opined that the new FrontRunner train (here) will soon reveal the “transformative” power commuter rail service may provide for the ailing “Stockade” district of Salt Lake and for the newly established “Junction” square in Ogden. To suggest that FrontRunner [...]

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