Ed Does Science

These Phoenomena being well understood and duly considered do sufficiently evince, That the whole magnetical System is by one or perhaps more Motions translated, whether Eastwards of Westwards I shall anon discuss ; that this moving thing is very grate, as extending its effects from Pole to Pole ; and that the Motion thereof is not per saltum, but a gradual and regular Motion.


Now considering the structure of our Terraqueous Globe, it cannot be well supposed that a very great part thereof can move within it, without notably changing its Centre of Gravity and the Equilibre of its parts, which would produce very wonderful Effects in changing the Axis of Diurnal Rotation, and occasion strange alteration in the Sea's Surface, by Inundations and Recesses thereof, such as History never yet mentioned. Besides, the solid parts of the Earth are not to be granted permeable by any other fluid substances, of which we know none that are any ways Magnetical. So that the ony way to render this Motion intelligible and possible is, to suppose it to turn about the Centre of the Globe, having its Centre of Gravity fixt and immoveable in the same common Centre of the Earth : And there is yet required that this moving internal Substance be loose and detached from the external parts of the Earth, whereon we live ; for otherwise were it affix'd thereto, the whole must becessarily move together.

So then the External Parts of the Globe may well be reckoned as Shall, and the Internal as a Nucleus or inner Globe included within ours, with a fluid medium between Which having the same common Centre and Axis of diurnal Rotation, may turn about with our Earth each 24 hours ; only this outer Sphere having its turbinating Motion some small matter either swifter or slower than the internal Ball. And a very minute difference in length of time, by many repetitions becoming sensible ; the Internal parts will by degrees recede from the External, and not keeping pace with one another will appear gradually to more either Eastwards of Westwards by the difference of their Motions.

Now supposing such an Internal Sphere having such a Motion, we shall solve the two great difficulties we encountred in my former Hypothesis. For if this exterior Shell of Earth by a Magnet having its Poles at a distance from the Poles of Diurnal Rotation ; and if the Internal Nucleus be likewise a Magent, having its Poles in two other places distant also from the Axis ; and these latter by a gradual and slow Motion change their place in respect to the External ; we may then give a reasonable account of the four Magnetical Poles I presume to have demonstrated in No. 148 of these Transactions; as likewise of the changes of the Needles Variations, which till now hath been unattempted.

An Account of the cause of the Change of the Variation of the Magnetical Needle, with an Hypothesis of the Structure of the Internal parts of the Earth: as it was proposed to the Royal Society in one of their late Meetings. By Edm. Halley. Philosophical Transactions, no. 195, 1692.

Scraps in Stacks 2: Calfo's Auto-Diagnostic-

Found in Robert J. Mayhew's Enlightenment Geography: The Politial Languages of British Geography, 1650-1850, (London, 2000), 259. Hillman Library.

Godwin's Happy Nazis

As everyone knows, the internet truly came of age the day that Godwin's Law didn't have to be explained to anyone. The law says that "Usenet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1." Of course, no one uses Usenet anymore, but there are still plenty of arguments to be had online, and Godwin's Law has assumed an important role in the self-moderation of internet discussions. The corrollary of the Law, which is often taken to be the law itself, is that the first person to make such an analogy automatically concedes the argument. This corrollary is useful because it furnishes discursive boundaries, and promotes civility in an environment which is notoriously lawless. It would probably appeal to someone like Habermas, whose totally ahistorical public sphere was similarly a self-regulating space in which criticism and debate could take place with relative neutrality, moderated by its participants, rather than self-appointed powers-that-be. Once everyone accepts certain principles (in this case, thou-shalt-not-make-comparisons-to-Nazis) the logic goes, debates can proceed much more easily. A particularly good example of this self-moderating environment is Public Address System, a discussion forum in which every participant has a Masters degree, works in the public sector, and is so highly attuned to the principles of good argument and the pitfalls that the whole thing seems, to the untrained eye, like a bunch of chardonnay socialists agreeing with each other.


But why am I explaining this to you, when you already know what Godwin's Law is, and have always already internalised an elaborate code of conduct like a good little disciplinarian internet user? Well, mainly because I'm procrastinating, but also because Godwin's Happy Nazis was to be a blog which, over time, demonstrated how these various codes of conduct function on different online forums; a kind of a first stab at the entire new sociological subfield of online discussion moderation that I intend to invent when I can be bothered.

Actually, Godwin's Happy Nazis was meant to come up with clever ways in which Nazi comparisons could be made to be perfectly valid in almost any context -- 'It's okay to call John Key Hitler over the whole Keisha Castle-Hughes wants a tea party who gives a fuck about whales? thing because Hitler at one point refused to meet with someone to discuss the fate of something and called her a bint'. That kind of thing. Lots of specious reasoning, obscure historical examples, and general probing away at the limits of bourgeoise 'tolerance' because I can. But then in writing this post I thought that the 'discussing the various ways in which these discussion work structurally' would actually be a much more interesting proposition. And I'm probably right about that, but we'll never know, because I lost interest.

I had another idea

When I was on the plane, I had another idea for a post. Stand by for elaboration.

Sorry, Lady!

The other day I was driving the mean streets of Auckland City during rush hour, attempting to return to the haven that is the North Shore. My international readers and Giovanni will be interested to know that, of all of Auckland's badly planned and worsely executed infrastructure, the piece of resistance is Spaghetti Junction, a tangle of motorway on- and off-ramps right next to the centre of the city. To go north from this marvel of civil engineering, one must negotiate a badly designed intersection which, unless one wants to wait behind a bunch of traffic waiting to turn right for ages, usually necessitates changing lanes in the middle of said intersection. On this particular evening I attempted to make this lane change, only to discover that there was no space on the other side for me to change into before the cut off point that would prevent me from getting onto the motorway. Whoops.


I slowed down, indicated that I wanted to change into the lane anyway, and, with a look of disgust on her face, the lady in the car behind me let me in. I felt bad about this, because I didn't mean to drive like an arsehole and I'm a good guy really, but when I was the last car through the annoying traffic and she ended up having to wait there for another ten minutes I felt like a right prat.

The Internet is mostly used for complaining about people, saying why you don't like dub step, and anonymously telling people that they shouldn't be writing their blogs in the comment sections of their blogs, but Sorry, Lady! was going to change all that. Designed to be one of those blogs where people from around the world contribute, Sorry, Lady! would have been the place to write in and apologise to the person who you accidentally cut off, or whose place you took in line, or who you in some other way treated badly in an impersonal and anonymous public interaction. It would have been a place of healing. But then I realised that I don't actually drive except when I'm in New Zealand, that most people don't ever think they're wrong, there are better things to do with my time, and I just lost interest.

Post Facto Live Blogging

Another blog I lost interest in was a new genre I invented. Everyone is into live blogging; from concerts to budget lockups to the unveiling of new Apple products, there isn't an event that we can't hear about as it happens through sporadic, impressionistic lines of text written by nerds on their Blackberries.

I am a historian-in-training, however, and events-as-they-happen don't particularly interest me. Hence, post facto live blogging. I invented this genre (and my legendary google fu indicates that I am the only person ever to have thought of it) after the 2009 Superbowl. The next day, I post facto live blogged on Facebook:

First it was like sweet we're winning and then it was oh crap they're gonna score and then WE SCORED and it was awesome then they scored and it kind of sucked and then THEY SCORED AGAIN and it was like oh shit we're gonna lose and THEN WE WON and it was pretty awesome.

That's what it's like watching the superbowl.

I think you'll all agree that that was as enlightening and entertaining as any actual live-blogging, with the added bonus of not having to sit there reading an inane blog whilst a sporting event is taking place on the television. Other topics for live blogging might include watching the first episode of Fringe, which has the added bonus of having screened on NZ TV tonight, even though it first showed in the US ages ago. Post facto live blogging commentary would include comments like 'so, pretty much the X-Files only with not interesting characters' and 'I thought this had Corey Feldman, damnit'. It is the Internet, after all.

I guess, given my historical interests, I could post facto live blog events that are historical, such as the removal of Pepys' gall stone, or the fall of the Berlin Wall, but like all things that involve doing stuff, I got distracted, and went and did something else.

The Campaign To End The Use of Microscopic Plastic Beads In Exfoliating Lotions

Being a soap, shampoo and shaving cream kind of a guy, exfoliating lotions are not a subject that I am usually given to discussing. Nevertheless, my beloved happened to mention that companies such as Dove and Olay are now using microscopic plastic beads in place of natural products to do the exfoliating thing, with obvious consequences for the natural environment.


The details are outlined in this Slate article, but it doesn't take a great scientist to realise that this is bad. Flushing thousands of microscopic plastic beads down the drain so that one can have smooth skin is a patently dumb idea, and marketing such a product is grossly irresponsible. That shit ends up in the sea people.

Those who know me know that I am not more than averagely concerned with the environment, and am holding off on voting Green until they get rid of Sanctimonious Sue Kedgley, but for about five minutes after hearing about this I was going to launch a multi-pronged, international consumer campaign to put a stop to the practice. But I then realised that I have neither the experience nor the time to do such a thing, and that it's really hard to come up with a snappy name for a campaign that involves the words 'exfoliating' and 'microscopic' (seriously, suggestions welcome in the comments), so I lost interest.