You are here: Home / PhilSci Mr. Big Food was an invited lecturer at the School of Ideas in Neuroscience–a week long summer school of sorts. Most of the participants were grad students and post-docs. The organizers had arranged for the group to walk to a joint on the river for beer and supper on the evening of the first day.
Continue reading →

It was a pleasant visit, except for the coming and going (and the taxi drivers which we will come to). Mr. Big Food was occupied all day every day, I think 10 to 5 or so, from Monday through Monday, with a free (hardly) day on Friday. From my travel journal: “Found a nice shaded
Continue reading →
Hard to believe it’s been so long since it was established. Hard to believe it’s been so long since we took the sign down and moved it from Cincinnati to Mississippi. This is the month that we recall what we had to do in order to be able to grill out in March in Cincinnati–which
Continue reading →
Ahh. The olden days. Came across this from September 2019. Made me smile. Here’s the background. As part of his day job, Mr. Big Food and I had been going to the Alabama Philosophical Society annual meetings, held at Pensacola Beach, for a few years. In 2018 he arranged to have a one day session
Continue reading →
This isn’t from all that long ago–September, 2020–but it’s interesting and worth a repost. Tad on the longish side so if you aren’t flush with time, skim through the biography and prairie voles and get to the list of Getz’s major accomplishments. Interesting guy. Someone needs to write his biography. I do not have words
Continue reading →
Years ago a friend and his family were preparing to move to Nashville. They wanted to have a party–a genuine pig pickin’. And so they asked Mr. Big Food for his help. Happy to! It was tremendous fun! Note the time stamps. A real pig pickin’ takes a while. NOTE!! Do not click through if
Continue reading →
Let’s do something different this week, shall we? Rather than focusing on a category of recipes suitable for the summertime, I’m going to dig around Mr. Big Food’s Big Food Manual and Survivalist Flourishing Guide with special attention to food, friends, and flourishing. Today we’ll look at “the smörgåsbord—an old Scandinavian custom—[that] has grown strong
Continue reading →
Commentary below Powerline’s The Week in Pictures Philosophers get picked on a lot by folk who don’t understand what good philosophy is. Yes. I went there with the triple emphasis because there are a lot of philosophers who don’t do good philosophy. In fact, there are some daffy philosophers. See? This is a recent photo
Continue reading →
Today calls for another cool down. From February 2021. Hard to believe we’re coming up on the 25th anniversary of the construction of The Synaptic Jct., isn’t it? The Synaptic Jct. was the outdoor kitchen Mr. Big Food’s graduate students built for him at our home in Cincinnati. Took the sign when we moved to
Continue reading →
Powerline’s The Week in Pictures
There are plenty of serious comments to make about this. Academia Medicine appears to be a legitimate on-line journal, of a certain sort. That said, there’s no conceivable reason for me to have gotten this email. Yes, I subscribed to Academia dot edu (free version) because I needed a paper and this was the only
Continue reading →
“FN I. This point, important as it is, has recently been exaggerated by epistemologists. Note three errors in the following statement: “The difference between history and science is not that history does and science does not employ organizing schemes which go beyond what is given. Both do. The difference has to do with the kind
Continue reading →
For every observable property φ conceived by us to be an objective feature of the world, we must concede the possibility that φ be sensorily detected by means other than the particular means used by us. Paul Churchland, Scientific Realism and the Plasticity of Mind, Cambridge University Press, London, 1979. Looking for something completely different, I
Continue reading →
February 2019 continues to pay for itself. And we haven’t even gotten to Tiger’s misadventure yet! I understand. We weren’t actually together speaking of math, but Rocky & I were, so… . 77 – 29 = 48. A 48 degree drop in temperature from yesterday afternoon to this morning. More layers! And speaking of math–
Continue reading →
We begin with “Organized Innocents: MacDonald, Lewis, and Literature ‘For the Childlike’” by Daniel Gabelman in Informing the Inklings: George MacDonald and the Victorian Roots of Modern Fantasy (George MacDonald Society, 2018) which sets the stage by quoting a bunch of C.S. Lewis which I’ve read many times over, and some things that Locke had
Continue reading →
Good Saturday morning! Chilly but sunny out there. Let’s dive right into my inbox this morning. Color commentary provided by an amateur–me. From Hillsdale College, whose online courses I like and endorse. Dear Ms. Bernstein, Too often, we view the study of philosophy as a special privilege for a scholarly few—too complicated, jargon-filled, and impractical
Continue reading →
To begin, I note that the spring peeper has apparently been reclassified. In the Animal Encyclopedia and in the Complete Field Guide to American Wildlife (Harper and Row, 1959) it is Hydra crucifer. That infallible source says it is Pseudacris crucifer. Hydra is the tree frog genus, Pseudacris is chorus frogs. The two are differentiated
Continue reading →
Thinking about replaying some of the weather posts in anticipation of unknown but surly coming weather events. This one is a good one. From April 2015. Have fun! There’s some math but don’t let that scare you. Math isn’t hard. This is another in April’s Crappy Old Book of the Month series, Instant Weather Forecasting. You
Continue reading →

One last post to wrap up our travels up north a few weeks ago. This one is all about Mr. Big Food in his world. As I mentioned, he’d been invited to give the annual lecture at the Center for Philosophy of Science. First day he met with the fellows and they discussed some of
Continue reading →
Late last year (which would be academic year, so spring) Mr. Big Food was invited to give the Annual Lecture at The Center. In Mr. Big Food’s world–well, you know, the one out there in the Big World as contrasted with his Little Country Mouse World here on The Farm–The Center is short for The
Continue reading →
{"id":null,"mode":"button","open_style":"in_modal","currency_code":"USD","currency_symbol":"$","currency_type":"decimal","blank_flag_url":"https:\/\/www.bigfoodetc.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/tip-jar-wp\/\/assets\/images\/flags\/blank.gif","flag_sprite_url":"https:\/\/www.bigfoodetc.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/tip-jar-wp\/\/assets\/images\/flags\/flags.png","default_amount":1000,"top_media_type":"featured_image","featured_image_url":"https:\/\/www.bigfoodetc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Whats-happening-copy-4-1.jpg","featured_embed":"","header_media":null,"file_download_attachment_data":null,"recurring_options_enabled":true,"recurring_options":{"never":{"selected":true,"after_output":"One time only"},"weekly":{"selected":false,"after_output":"Every week"},"monthly":{"selected":false,"after_output":"Every month"},"yearly":{"selected":false,"after_output":"Every year"}},"strings":{"current_user_email":"","current_user_name":"","link_text":"All current contributions go toward redesigning the cover, and publishing an eBook of Miss Missy's School.","complete_payment_button_error_text":"Check info and try again","payment_verb":"Tip!","payment_request_label":"Big Food, Big Garden, Big Life","form_has_an_error":"Please check and fix the errors above","general_server_error":"Something isn't working right at the moment. Please try again.","form_title":"Big Food, Big Garden, Big Life","form_subtitle":"All contributions go toward cover redesign and eBook publication of Miss Missy's School: Book I A Pack of Farm Dogs Starts a School","currency_search_text":"Country or Currency here","other_payment_option":"Other payment option","manage_payments_button_text":"Manage your payments","thank_you_message":"Thank you for your help and encouragement!","payment_confirmation_title":"Big Food, Big Garden, Big Life","receipt_title":"Your Receipt","print_receipt":"Print Receipt","email_receipt":"Email Receipt","email_receipt_sending":"Sending receipt...","email_receipt_success":"Email receipt successfully sent","email_receipt_failed":"Email receipt failed to send. Please try again.","receipt_payee":"Paid to","receipt_statement_descriptor":"This will show up on your statement as","receipt_date":"Date","receipt_transaction_id":"Transaction ID","receipt_transaction_amount":"Amount","refund_payer":"Refund from","login":"Log in to manage your payments","manage_payments":"Manage Payments","transactions_title":"Your Transactions","transaction_title":"Transaction Receipt","transaction_period":"Plan Period","arrangements_title":"Your Plans","arrangement_title":"Manage Plan","arrangement_details":"Plan Details","arrangement_id_title":"Plan ID","arrangement_payment_method_title":"Payment Method","arrangement_amount_title":"Plan Amount","arrangement_renewal_title":"Next renewal date","arrangement_action_cancel":"Cancel Plan","arrangement_action_cant_cancel":"Cancelling is currently not available.","arrangement_action_cancel_double":"Are you sure you'd like to cancel?","arrangement_cancelling":"Cancelling Plan...","arrangement_cancelled":"Plan Cancelled","arrangement_failed_to_cancel":"Failed to cancel plan","back_to_plans":"\u2190 Back to Plans","update_payment_method_verb":"Update","sca_auth_description":"Your have a pending renewal payment which requires authorization.","sca_auth_verb":"Authorize renewal payment","sca_authing_verb":"Authorizing payment","sca_authed_verb":"Payment successfully authorized!","sca_auth_failed":"Unable to authorize! Please try again.","login_button_text":"Log in","login_form_has_an_error":"Please check and fix the errors above","uppercase_search":"Search","lowercase_search":"search","uppercase_page":"Page","lowercase_page":"page","uppercase_items":"Items","lowercase_items":"items","uppercase_per":"Per","lowercase_per":"per","uppercase_of":"Of","lowercase_of":"of","back":"Back to plans","zip_code_placeholder":"Zip\/Postal Code","download_file_button_text":"Download File","input_field_instructions":{"tip_amount":{"placeholder_text":"How much would you like to tip?","initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"How much would you like to tip? Choose any currency."},"empty":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"How much would you like to tip? Choose any currency."},"invalid_curency":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Please choose a valid currency."}},"recurring":{"placeholder_text":"Recurring","initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"How often would you like to give this?"},"success":{"instruction_type":"success","instruction_message":"How often would you like to give this?"},"empty":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"How often would you like to give this?"}},"name":{"placeholder_text":"Name on Credit Card","initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Enter the name on your card."},"success":{"instruction_type":"success","instruction_message":"Enter the name on your card."},"empty":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Please enter the name on your card."}},"privacy_policy":{"terms_title":"Terms and conditions","terms_body":null,"terms_show_text":"View Terms","terms_hide_text":"Hide Terms","initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"I agree to the terms."},"unchecked":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Please agree to the terms."},"checked":{"instruction_type":"success","instruction_message":"I agree to the terms."}},"email":{"placeholder_text":"Your email address","initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Enter your email address"},"success":{"instruction_type":"success","instruction_message":"Enter your email address"},"blank":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Enter your email address"},"not_an_email_address":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Make sure you have entered a valid email address"}},"note_with_tip":{"placeholder_text":"Your note here...","initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Attach a note to your tip (optional)"},"empty":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Attach a note to your tip (optional)"},"not_empty_initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Attach a note to your tip (optional)"},"saving":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Saving note..."},"success":{"instruction_type":"success","instruction_message":"Note successfully saved!"},"error":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Unable to save note note at this time. Please try again."}},"email_for_login_code":{"placeholder_text":"Your email address","initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Enter your email to log in."},"success":{"instruction_type":"success","instruction_message":"Enter your email to log in."},"blank":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Enter your email to log in."},"empty":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Enter your email to log in."}},"login_code":{"initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Check your email and enter the login code."},"success":{"instruction_type":"success","instruction_message":"Check your email and enter the login code."},"blank":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Check your email and enter the login code."},"empty":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Check your email and enter the login code."}},"stripe_all_in_one":{"initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Enter your credit card details here."},"empty":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Enter your credit card details here."},"success":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Enter your credit card details here."},"invalid_number":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card number is not a valid credit card number."},"invalid_expiry_month":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's expiration month is invalid."},"invalid_expiry_year":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's expiration year is invalid."},"invalid_cvc":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's security code is invalid."},"incorrect_number":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card number is incorrect."},"incomplete_number":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card number is incomplete."},"incomplete_cvc":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's security code is incomplete."},"incomplete_expiry":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's expiration date is incomplete."},"incomplete_zip":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's zip code is incomplete."},"expired_card":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card has expired."},"incorrect_cvc":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's security code is incorrect."},"incorrect_zip":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's zip code failed validation."},"invalid_expiry_year_past":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's expiration year is in the past"},"card_declined":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card was declined."},"missing":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"There is no card on a customer that is being charged."},"processing_error":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"An error occurred while processing the card."},"invalid_request_error":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Unable to process this payment, please try again or use alternative method."},"invalid_sofort_country":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The billing country is not accepted by SOFORT. Please try another country."}}}},"fetched_oembed_html":false}
{"date_format":"F j, Y","time_format":"g:i a","wordpress_permalink_only":"https:\/\/www.bigfoodetc.com\/category\/philsci\/","all_default_visual_states":"inherit","modal_visual_state":false,"user_is_logged_in":false,"stripe_api_key":"pk_live_51H1In9KDLfKHlvGgsliZe4efNchBVkhUvpkfy3DJTf5J6Kumgyzt5CgC0gY8E4J6dsAemyUcNLRf68pdCdkj8ZWn0021C5X4gj","stripe_account_country_code":"US","setup_link":"https:\/\/www.bigfoodetc.com\/wp-admin\/admin.php?page=tip-jar-wp&mpwpadmin1=welcome&mpwpadmin_lightbox=do_wizard_health_check","close_button_url":"https:\/\/www.bigfoodetc.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/tip-jar-wp\/\/assets\/images\/closebtn.png"}