Apparently, we were hijacked by some spam-originator, which resulted in trouble with the host for the Brief … and what with one thing and another, it took most of the weekend to get it straightened out. As if having to empty out a ton of spam every couple of days, now they’ve added injury to… More »
There is a sucker born every moment, and who else should have known better, but the shameless old huckster? Even though it’s most probably one of his competitors who actually voiced that deathless observation, PT is the one that we remember today. Fleecing the credulous for a living is not a game which was thought… More »
Or is it just hidden? There’s some interesting stuff going on over in Italy, related to discovering artworks that have been painted over. Technology continues to amaze me (I’m easily amazed, but even so…). Seems that once upon a time, DaVinci began a mural – a battle scene. For centuries, common wisdom was that he’d… More »
There are a good few reasons besides sheer contrariness that I am standing off to the side, pointing and snickering at the antics of the “global warming” warming crowd. One of them is that I have been to the “omigod-it-could-be-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it” rodeo before. Several times, actually; when I was in junior high school the panic-du-jour was… More »
NASA Not Just Aiming For The Moon… It Plans To Stay There Tue, 05 Dec ’06 Agency Announces Plan For Lunar Base By 2020 It’s no secret NASA plans to return to the moon sometime in the next decade… but what it plans to do there is VERY interesting. Officials with the space agency announced… More »
Cool. First Invisibility Cloak Tested Successfully, Scientists Say Sean Markey for National Geographic News October 19, 2006 Researchers announced today that they’ve built the world’s first invisibility cloak, although the fine print may disappoint science- fiction fans. The device works only in two dimensions and only on microwaves. Still, the experiment proves that a theoretical… More »
Ya knew a critter would get him someday, but I figured it would be a Croc, not a stingray. I’m suprised at how sad I am. I loved watching him do stuff that most folks wouldn’t think of doing.
I don’t give much thought to grackles; as I mentioned last summer, they aren’t a big problem here: Here in California, we thankfully experience these loud, annoying birds only occasionally. But, when they move in, they seem to displace about every other bird in the area – save for the equally aggressive seagulls, and the… More »
Philip Chaston at Samizdata blogs on a new IVF clinic in Britain, offering genetic screening for congenital diseases: The £5 million centre will bring pioneering embryo screening techniques for the creation of “saviour siblings” to Britain. In addition, it will offer testing for up to 100 inherited gene disorders such as muscular dystrophy and cystic… More »
This is from Roger Pielke, Jr., Director of the University of Colorado’s Center for Science and Technology Policy Research: In the 20 February 2006 issue of The New Republic, John B. Judis has an article about how the issue of hurricanes and global warming has been handled by NOAA. Judis is engaging in scientific McCarthyism… More »
On the heals of the successful Stardust mission, Leah Hoffmann at Forbes is dreaming of mining outer space: Theoretically, mining and collecting solar energy in space for use on earth hold tremendous potential. Solar energy can, of course, be gathered on earth, but only about half of the sun’s radiation ever makes it to the… More »
This from BusinessWeek: Cytori Therapeutics thinks your fat can save your life. The San Diego biotechnology company has come up with a method for isolating stem cells from a patient’s fat so they can be reinjected and grow into healthy tissue. Cytori’s groundbreaking Celution System, expected to begin clinical trials in humans next year, could… More »
We recieved this extended comment yesterday to my post: “House Members Want Info On Military’s Human Guinea Pigs.” As it has fallen off the front page, I thought I’d repost it here. SHADY SHAD SHELLGAME? The U.S. Army’s Project 112 and its Navy component, Project SHAD, started in 1961 when Robert McNamara and JFK allotted… More »
For the past several weeks, I have been watching the Discovery Channel’s reissue of Carl Sagan’s Cosmos. And I am impressed by how well this has held up over the decades. And I am so amazed at the way he ties the Abyss to the Infinite. This is classic. I mean, this is all remedial… More »
Today dogs – tomorrow, the battlefield: Scientists at Pitt’s Safar Center for Resuscitation Research in Oakland announced at the meeting last week that they have found a way to revive dogs three hours after clinical death — an hour longer than in previous experiments, said the center’s director, Dr. Patrick Kochanek. [...] Soldiers in combat… More »
Dr. Pat Santy, a psychiatrist out of Ann Arbor, MI, gives us some insite into the minds of the Bush-haters: What makes Bush Hatred completely insane however, is the almost delusional degree of unremitting certitude of Bush’s evil; while simultaneously believing that the TRUE perpetrators of evil in the world are somehow good and decent… More »
This from CNN: WASHINGTON (CNN) — The United States should establish a commission to identify and learn the fate of people exposed during the military’s secret testing of chemical and biological materials in the 1960s and ’70s, two House lawmakers declared Tuesday. “We cannot be afraid to identify the problem,” said Montana Republican Denny Rehberg,… More »
After my Sideways post, I was reflecting on the statement, “the essence of wine tasting is not so much in the palate, as the bouquet.” And I was thinking that it’s pretty much common knowledge, that our ability to discern the flavor of wine – or anything else for that matter – relied principally upon… More »
Here I was, just complaining about the quality of programming on contemporary cable/satellite TV. And, by-and-large, that still holds true. But there are some bright spots. For instance, I just watched episode 1 of Men of Iron, on the Discovery Science Channel, which focused on Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Thomas Telford – two rather “interesting”… More »
Go here to see some pictures of the elusive Giant Squid “in the wild.” Nobody’s ever photographed live ones before. Squid are such way-cool bizarro animals. But I think they’d make bad pets. Hat tip: Professor Bainbridge
None other than Arthur C. Clarke himself chimes in on NASA’s further plans for space: In 1969, the giant multistage rocket, discarded piecemeal after a single mission, was the only way of doing the job. That the job should be done was a political decision, made by a handful of men. (I have only recently… More »
Today at Tech Central Station, Glenn Reynolds is skeptical about NASA’s plans to go to the Moon: The problem is that this NASA approach looks like more of the same. Oh, it’s better than some earlier efforts: The program emphasizes astronauts learning to “live off the land” via lunar resources, an approach that seemed quite… More »
I’m currently watching some dreck-science show on the Discovery Science channel. And they are talking about the collapse of our Local Group. And they go into this bit about the Milky Way colliding with Andromeda. And they are talking about “the streets of New York” being ripped asunder, Oh, give me a fucking break. Do… More »
In today’s NYT, Glenn Reynolds lists five thought-provoking, and telling, questions he would like to see asked of Supreme Court Nominee John Roberts. My favorite is this: 3. Could a human-like artificial intelligence constitute a “person” for purposes of protection under the 14th Amendment, or is such protection limited, by the 14th Amendment’s language, to… More »
Some interesting developments in stem cell research: The technique uses laboratory-grown human embryonic stem cells — such as the ones that President Bush has already approved for use by federally funded researchers — to “reprogram” the genes in a person’s skin cell, turning that skin cell into an embryonic stem cell itself. The approach —… More »
From Air Force Space Command News Service: CAPE CANAVERAL AFS, Fla. – What took years to build took seconds to knock down Aug. 6 when 171 pounds of strategically placed explosives were detonated, toppling the historic 179-foot mobile service tower at Launch Complex 13 here. The 1,300-ton structure was used to launch Atlas/Agena space launch… More »
I don’t know and neither do you. These people are sure they’re right. So are these folks. Faith is sure one way…science is pretty sure the other. Nobody really knows and at most it’s kind of fun to talk bout it but let’s get serious shall we?