Huh? They’re at it again. Refusing to do their research on what’s already been done, then declaring something I learned in grade school or junior high as “news.” Piffle… https://phys.org/news/2024-07-cloud-ground-lightning-generated-blocks.html Synopsis: in the early Earth environment (say 4.5 billion years ago maybe, as current guessed), the atmosphere would have been Read more…
Isn’t it interesting that in the old Star Trek series (the original, back in the late 60s, for you youngsters out there) that the main power of the Enterprise came from the use of “dilithium crystals” and today… what do we mostly use for batteries and power? Lithium. Lithium is Read more…
The opposite of science is not religion as too many science-ists and too many relgion-ists would try to tell you. (Do try to tell you.) The opposite of science is superstition. Superstition can have an overlap with Religion. It can also have an overlap with Science. Science is merely how things Read more…
Today I found a very strange article addressing in great and accurate detail new facts about how rapidly the major ice flows (Greenland and Antarctica) are melting. You can find it at the link below. It’s not required reading for this article, though it should be required reading for ALL LEGISLATORS Read more…
Almost no one out there in the Wide World — or at least the world touched by Mass Media — understands what “Science” is. I promise you, it’s not what most people think it is, not what you were taught in grade school, either. Ours is an Authoritarian culture. We Read more…
I’ll let Linus speak this one… it’s pretty self-explanatory, and 100% correct, besides. Always… ask why? Ask how? Ask how come? Ask in what ways the data *might* be wrong? Who might have a vested interest in the “results” turning out that way? Ask, ask, ask. When you stop asking, Read more…
I just received another “update” from the Powers That Be in my county [“county” not “country”], update on CoVid. As with the previous posting inspired by a previous such report, I don’t see that these “daily briefings” can possibly do anything except inflame the population over an issue they understand Read more…
I have had it… just totally had it. I just sent a message to my state representative (imagine that?) over some thing important to me, trying to ensure that it’s important to him as well. (Or at least that he’s aware of it; the best that can be done most Read more…
In my county (or some county, at least) there is a regular email that goes out reporting on the local status of COVID. Here’s a section of the heart of the latest (as I write this) report: * There were 27 new COVID-19 cases reported Wednesday and Thursday for a total Read more…
I just caught word of NASA’s new mission to the moon whose sole purpose is to scout for water. Excellent. However… the article I read (and I *hope* it’s the author, and not NASA making this statement) suggests that water is important as drinking water and as rocket fuel. Please… Read more…
There’s a “hoity-toity” thing that goes on among some Tea drinkers: that the water should be brought almost to boiling, but not all the way there. Full boil is called “burning the tea.” Turns out they may be right, but for the most unlikely reason rather than the accepted explanation of Read more…
I don’t normally spend a lot of time deeply analyzing 30+ year old movies, but I was sitting some place the other day where the Schwarzenegger movie Total Recall (1) was playing and a few things struck me. Been a while since I’d seen it, so I was looking with Read more…
Ok… one more on climate change then I’ll leave it alone… for now. 🙂 I’ve been watching the climate change debate for many years… longer than most people would believe it’s even been going on. So what? I’ve done my part to reduce my personal waste energy, and some Read more…
On the subject of climate change, I get a little irritated (to put it mildly) at folks who still insist it doesn’t exist or that it’s a “liberal conspiracy” or some other silliness. I’ve been watching it happen all my life. Any one who looks out the window now and Read more…
I just (really, just now) read a new scientific study suggesting that sodas might be bad for your health. Gosh, what an idea. [That’s sarcasm…] Let me see: Carbonation leaches calcium from your body, leading to osteoporosis and various other conditions. The grotesque amount of sugar in them is damaging to Read more…
I want to propose a word that almost perfectly describes the actions of government bureaus and most government officials and an increasing percentage of so-called professionals: Specious Apparently good or right though lacking any real merit. Superficially pleasing only; no true content. A marvelous word, really, though a shame that Read more…
Mostly in Star Trek, but in other Hollywood-style sci-fi as well, there is a very common, very persistent, extremely ignorant error that crops up. Out in deep space, away from any star, our intrepid heroes encounter a “rogue comet” and that comet, out in deep space away from any star, Read more…
Looks like Mars is positively a-swim. (Sort of.) Take a look here(1) if you haven’t heard to news. Well… okay. Not “a-swim” not when compared to its closest neighbor (us) whose surface area is 70% free-standing water, not merely a (probably) frozen lake and some ‘puddles’ a mile under the surface(2) Read more…