The Beauty of Justice

The Beauty of Justice

The Beauty of Justice Some celebrities use their status to promote the most idiotic ideas. Fortunately, there are many more, who use that status to help make the world a better place.   In…
The Virtue (?) of Selfishness

The Virtue (?) of Selfishness

In exploring some of the biological issues surrounding selfishness and altruism, invariably the philosophical issue of selfishness surfaces. Ayn Rand has argued that selfishness is a virtue because…
A Grammar of Questions.

A Grammar of Questions.

A Grammar of Questions. Quistic grammar is based on what I believe to be the biological basis of language in the brain: a set of models of our internal and external environment, specifically…
Mummy's Little Grammatical genius

Mummy's Little Grammatical genius

Mummy's Little Grammatical genius How babies learn to use language. A special note of caution to students.  My description of how a baby probably acquires language is speculative and is not a…
Elsevier published *six* fake journals.

Elsevier published *six* fake journals.

Last week we found out that Merck paid Elsevier to publish a fake peer-reviewed journal.  This week we found out that Elsevier produced five other pay-for-publication journals.  The …
The Borg Builders

The Borg Builders

The Borg Builders Human language evolved to serve human purposes.  For most people, that purpose is to just get on with life, to be happy, to work, to play, to provide for tomorrow and to leave…
We Have Ways of Making You Conform

We Have Ways of Making You Conform

We Have Ways of Making You Conform Language is both a product and a process of evolution.  It has mechanisms by which its continuing evolution is kept from running out of control.  Those…
Merck Publishes Fake Peer-Reviewed Journal

Merck Publishes Fake Peer-Reviewed Journal

According to The Scientist,  Merck paid Elsevier to publish Merck's own "peer-reviewed" fan-zine, Australasian Journal of Bone and Joint Medicine, in 2003.  Its articles don't show up in…