I was surprised that your holiday is for celebrating Francis rather than Roger. Francis was more politician than scientist and, for the most part, didn't recognize good science when he saw it. Also, his scientific methodology is impossible to follow (even in principle), while Roger made genuine progress in logic, science, and methodology. On the other hand, his Idols of the Mind concept in the Novum Organum seems like a primitive attempt at categorizing cognitive bias, which, IMO, is pretty damn cool.
True, but Roger is a more complicated figure, who fewer have heard of and some might hesitate to lionize, compared to Francis. Also, I hadn't yet heard of Roger Bacon in late 2009 when I first had the idea.
On the other hand, his Idols of the Mind concept in the Novum Organum seems like a primitive attempt at categorizing cognitive bias, which, IMO, is pretty damn cool.
Agreed!
The Gist: I started this blog to get people excited about a science-themed holiday. I want your suggestions before I advertise it to everyone I know!
Two years ago, I came up with the idea of celebrating Sir Francis Bacon's birthday (Jan. 22) as a festive science-themed holiday called Baconmas. (The name has the additional bonus that it's easy to convince people to come to a party if there will be bacon there.) I had a good Baconmas party in 2010 and a better one in 2011, and now I want to let other people in on the fun.
So I made a website.
It's currently "in beta"; I wrote a couple of preparatory things, but haven't yet shown it to the vast majority of my friends. I want to maximize the chance that it goes a bit viral when I do, because a science-themed holiday really needs to exist. So I'd like any suggestions you have, before I go "alpha" with it. So as to not cause anchoring, I'll put down in the first comment the things I already plan to do- if you could make all your original suggestions first, then read those plans and others' comments, then add more suggestions, that should maximize the good ideas. Thanks!
(Oh, and it goes without saying that you should celebrate Baconmas if at all possible. It's been a lot of fun for me.)