Category Archives: Completely Different

Gawker, Guy Scratches Own Back, Finds Knife Blade Someone Stuck In There Three Years Ago.

Note this is not from the Onion, in which case I would have expected it to be about Obama.

I got 50% on the Prof or Hobo? Quiz, a score that equals what I could have expected from guessing randomly. No doubt readers can do better.

Update: I do somewhat better, however, on arXiv vs. snarXiv in which one is asked to guess which are the real titles of physics papers. Not that this is easy.

The gizoogle version of Jotwell is really quite something. The gizzogle version of Discourse.net has its own virtues.

Is this another sign of Ali G’s comeback?

A disappointed right-winger writes:

"The Right can’t field a better candidate. We put up an impressive, mainstream guy with super credentials, who made few gaffes, did well in the debates, and was amply funded. The result? A repeat of 2008, basically. If I’d known it would turn out like this, I would have backed a Gingrich-Palin ticket. More fun, less expensive — same result."

via Brad DeLong

The announcement states that the New Zealand government seeks to hire a Senior Epistemologist :

Your role will be to brief the Prime Minister and other senior Cabinet Ministers on the uncertainty underpinning all of human existence, especially the uncertainty of managing departments and being accountable for their performance in a universe that cannot be proved to be real.

As Senior Epistemologist you will have responsibilities across – but not limited to – the following areas:

• Did unemployment rise in the last quarter? How can anyone prove it did, and if they can, doesn’t that proof require an additional proof, and so on into infinity? You will play a key role in communicating the meaninglessness of negative economic statistics to the New Zealand public.

…

• You will co-ordinate junior epistemologists and other communications staff to disprove the existence of various events, statements, official reports, statistical findings and scientific facts as the role requires.

Sadly, it’s just a joke. But the more you think of it, the more you can see a place for such people not just in government, but major media.

Spotted via Leiter.