I’ve been away on hols, and I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t give this blog a second's thought. But I also resolved that there could be no half measures, and so, hard as it was, I managed to stick to a no-blogging rule. That said, some things cried out to be shared.

Like a delightful moment du...

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There’s a delightful piece in the latest Science (Daniel S. Greenberg (2007) On the Road to Academic Greatness--A Parable, Science 317: 1328-9) charting the recent history of the University of Avarice and the remarkable role played by U Av’s President, Grant Swinger, in its meteoric rise. Reader...

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I like blog carnivals. They expose me to stuff I might not otherwise see, and they expose people who might not see it to my stuff. Win-win. (Apart, if I’m permitted a niggle, from what seems to be a complete absence of carnivals devoted to agriculture. Is there any demand?) Anyway, the latest Mende...

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A baby Maasai giraffe

I was at a zoo shindig last week, and one of my companions grew visibly excited by the announcement that a pregnant giraffe had just delivered herself of a little girafflette, all eyes and eyelashes and wobbly long legs. "How cute," she cooed. "I bet a lot of people will come and bring their kids...

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I wasn't planning to say anything about Homer Simpson and the Cerne Abbas giant (and if you've no idea what I'm talking about, there's plenty of background out there). Anyway, the Pagans were mightily offended. Ann Bryn-Evans, joint Wessex district manager for the Pagan Federation told one reporter...

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