By way of public-spirited duty, rather than public reprimand, I’d like to warn the following "paying" SIG members that their SIG balances (at least as of 17th November last) are running dangerously low and that they risk being struck off. Please don’t forget that if you are a paying member and your balance falls below 60p you will stop receiving the newsletter after one reminder :-
Thanks to all of you who’ve contributed to this issue of Commensal. Thanks for your patience to those of you who wrote to me some weeks back and have had to await C90 to receive a reply.
As we’ve been going for a year now, and it’s that "time of year" anyway, we’ll take a few moments to ponder the successes & failures of the last year. Firstly, thanks to you all for your contributions in 1997. Mostly conducted in an intelligent, imaginative and temperate spirit, I think. I was a bit rude to PL-L last time - it’s unusual not to hear from you, Philip, so I hope you aren’t upset. New joiners have outnumbered jumpers-ship by 39 to 1 (we had our first departure last month, reasons unknown ... the chap had never been in correspondence). I think we’re a fairly active SIG percentage-wise. We’ve had 28 SIG members submit articles in 1997, all of which appeared in Commensal. Interestingly, 3/4 of these contributors were new members. We now have 80 members who receive Commensal. Those of you who remember C84 will see that this is the same number we thought we had when we started. Well, closer inspection of the membership list when it arrived revealed that this figure was really 65, of whom 23 "members" had either left Mensa or were delinquent "paying" members of the SIG, so the real figure was 42 ! Thus, we’ve nearly doubled in the last year, in real terms, which isn’t that bad, I suppose. Even so, it’s a shame that a Hi-Q organisation with approximately 35,000 members can’t summon up more than 80 (0.2%) with an interest in philosophy.
Before I forget, some of you may have read in December’s Mensa Magazine that Colin Wagstaff was trying to find an owner for Physics SIG - otherwise he’d merge it with Space SIG. I did mention last time that I was applying, but the note was somewhat hidden away in a reply to Rick Street. Anyway, I’ve got the job and issued my first, content-free, newsletter. The idea, where possible, is to direct any purely Physics-related matters from Space SIG (or PDG) to Physics SIG. It looks as though it’s going to be more of an up-hill struggle than has been the case with PDG. On the positive side, there were 78 members who receive the newsletter Phi-SIGma left over from when PhySIG was last active a few years back, though two of these left on being reminded that they were still members ! Only 3 of us are members of PDG as well as PhySIG. However, it’s more difficult to write articles that have some likelihood of being both accessible and interesting on Physics than on Philosophy. Opinionated new members therefore welcome !
Let me just sing the praises of Philosophy Now one more time. Any of you out there who don’t subscribe want your heads examining. It costs £2.80 per quarterly copy, though you can subscribe at £8 for 4 issues or £11.50 for 6.
Address : Philosophy Now Subscriptions, Kelvin House, Grays Road, Westerham, Kent TN16 2JB.
E-mail : rick.lewis@philosophynow.demon.co.uk.
Website : www.philosophynow.org.The Winter 1997/8 edition (issue 19) included an analysis of Pulp Fiction, an article on the philosophy of mathematics, another on the morality of killing a fly, one on religion & Pascal’s Wager, another on Hempel’s Raven Paradox and much else besides. Most of the articles are very accessible and often written with a racy wit reminiscent of Bill Bryson. The one on insecticide is a laugh a sentence.
Talking of Web sites, what are your collective views on the idea of putting Commensal on the Web? I’ve mocked up C89 in HTML, so I could lob it (and this & previous issues, when I get round to them) on to my home page (when I’ve finished constructing it !). One good thing is that the hypertext links would make cross referring to previous articles easier - it would be possible to follow a thread without rummaging through previous issues on paper. A bit of a slog to set up, but I’m hopeful of being able to bribe my 11-year-old son into doing the donkey-work. Also, it would be good publicity (well, publicity) for the SIG and for Mensa. Of course, the SIG Secretary’s Manual forbids any such thing, for reasons that strike me as being entirely specious. It is almost axiomatic that anything remotely forward-looking or exciting will be forbidden by any self-respecting rule book. If we’re collectively keen to proceed, I will pursue the matter with the authorities. Even if the Web posting remains verboten, the HTML document might be a useful resource that could be e-mailed or posted to those with a Web browser. What think ye?
I’ve taken the liberty of including a piece of my own stuff this time round. It’s in response to an article in October 1997’s edition of Philosophy. Please see the end of this newsletter for details (including an exhortation to join the Royal Institute of Philosophy). I’ve sent this off to Professor Anthony O’Hear, the editor of Philosophy, for forwarding to Professor Oswald Hanfling, who wrote the original piece. I’ve also put out feelers for us having a philosophical Mentor from Academia. I’ll keep you posted as the rejection slips roll in ! Maybe I should have discussed the Mentor idea with you in Commensal first, but it won’t necessarily come to anything, anyway. Any views ?
Given the time taken by the above, my comments on your contributions are less copious than previously. This is no reflection, of course, on the quality or fascination of the material received.
As you will have guessed, the closing date for submissions to the March 1998 edition of Commensal (C91) is 15th February 1998.
Finally, Rev. Ann Tarper has written to me suggesting that SIG members might benefit from a tour of Turkey "In the Steps of Apostles John & Paul". It’s from 15th - 26th May 1998 & costs in the order of £1,000 per person. Further details can be obtained from Ann at 2 Torrance Grove, Uttoxeter, Staffs ST14 5NU.
Here’s a view of the Library of Celsus at Ephesus.
Best wishes & happy New Year,