“If we are to have another contest in our national existence I predict that the dividing line will not be Mason and Dixons, but between patriotism & intelligence on the one side, & superstition, ambition, & ignorance on the other [...] Resolve that either the state or Nation, or both combined, shall support institutions of learning [...] sufficient to afford to every child growing up in the land the opportunity of a good common school education.
[...] Leave the matter of religion to the family altar, the church, and private schools entirely supported by private contributions. Keep the church and state forever separate.”

– Ulysses S. Grant, 1822 – 1885, 18th president of the United States of America

(via spacegirl)

“You can safely assume that you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.”
- Anne Lamott

Die bayrische Regierungskoalition aus CSU und FDP hat entschieden, die Studiengebühren in Bayern abzuschaffen, die Teil des Koalitionsvertrages zwischen FDP und CSU waren. Die CSU hat ihre Position geändert, nachdem das Volksbegehren gegen Studiengebühren im Januar 2013 (Wahljahr!) positiv ausgefallen ist. Die FDP hingegen hatte sich standhaft und lauthals geweigert, mitzuziehen, mehrere Monate lang auf den Koalitionsvertrag hingewiesen und sogar mit einem Bruch der Koalition gedroht.

Heute sind sie umgeschwenkt, und der bayrische FDP Fraktionschef Thomas Hacker erklärt im bayrischen Rundfunk, wieso:

“Studienbeiträge sind unserer Meinung nach sozial gerechtfertigt, damit sind wir allerdings in der bayrischen Politik alleingelassen mit dieser Position. Deswegen, um auch vernünftiges Regierungshandeln zu zeigen ist es jetzt wichtig den Weg in die Zukunft zu zeigen. Die FDP hat die Bildungsinvestitition immer vorangetrieben, auch heute.”

Popcorn (mit Video!).

(in English: there are no study fees any longer in Bavaria!! Booya.)

From the amazing Sam Brown:

In a long-awaited leap forward for open access, the US government said today that publications from taxpayer-funded research should be made free to read after a year’s delay – expanding a policy which until now has only applied to biomedical science …
With both the US and Europe supporting delayed-access to publications, the UK government looks increasingly isolated in its preference for immediate open access. That policy is due to come in from 1 April, but the details are not yet clear.

Go, Britain! Also, of course a 1-year delay in open access is not what we want eventually, but it’s so much better than the current system that it deserves some celebration.

Source: blogs.nature.com

A CALL FOR FUNNY PRESENTATIONS
for the world’s first
FESTIVAL OF BAD AD HOC HYPOTHESES

What is it?
The Festival of Bad Ad Hoc Hypotheses (BAH!) is a celebration of well-argued and thoroughly researched but completely incorrect evolutionary theory. It is put on by Zach Weinersmith (cartoonist of SMBC) and breadpig (publishers of SMBC and XKCD), and sponsored by EvoS Consortium and “This View of Life”magazine (Editor-in-Chief David Sloan Wilson). It will be held on the MIT campus on the evening of April 20th, 2013.

Do I need to be a scientist to submit?
Absolutely not. However, you do need to be able to talk in a scientific manner and speak well.

Are there things I can’t say?
It’s evolution, so there’ll no doubt be plenty of talk of sex. However, since we’d like a large potential audience, we’d prefer you not do anything too grotesque or horrifying.

Details at: link

Inspiring 10 minutes about philosophy of thought and language:

“I believe one learns to talk well only when one has renounced life for a while. Speech is another life from when one does not speak.”

“To live in speech one must pass through the death of life without speech.”

“A subtle lie is little different from an error.”

“Love is a solution on the condition that it is true.”

Link of the day: wtf evolution

My two favorite entries of the first page:

(1)

(2)

“A parasitic louse that crawls into your mouth, vampirizes your tongue, then clamps itself onto the withered stub so it can ride around inside you and drink your mucus for the rest of your mutual lives? Why, yes. It’s called symbiosis and it’s beautiful.

What? Relax. It’s going to be fine. This isn’t going to hurt. You won’t even miss your tongue—once the louse is latched onto the muscle, you can simply use its body as a tongue instead. These are exactly the kind of details that evolution has worked out for you, because evolution loves you and it wants you to be all right.

The main reason I am still using winamp on my machine at home … a skin I found around 2005.