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Kentucky Windage, For Science: Using Black Holes To Measure The Universe’s Rate Of Expansion

Hank — Wed, 22 May 2013 20:01:49 +0000

Calibration does not always mean fixing a device, it sometimes means adjusting to solve a problem. In the early years of America, the famous Kentucky longrifles that conquered the frontier (and some British) had fixed sights. Since they couldn't be adjusted, frontiersmen - Kentucky was part of "The West" then - would adjust for wind, elevation and range by experience. If their shot was hitting low and left, they aimed high and right. Inference helped them get a better result.

So You Want To Dance On The Ceiling?

Hank — Mon, 20 May 2013 22:51:40 +0000

Fred Astaire is, of course, beyond compare. As a dancer, he had already set the bar for everyone and then he set it a lot higher when he appeared in 1951's "Royal Wedding" at age 52. Echoing a Voodoo shaman, he animated what most of us regard as inanimate and poked a little fun at younger competitor Gene Kelly in the process when he danced with a hat rack the way only a genius can.(1)

But he blew minds when he danced on the ceiling in that same movie, to the tune "You're All The World To Me", written by "Brigadoon" lyricist Alan Jay Lerner.

Like all great illusions, it relies on our grounding in science. Gravity works, people don't dance on the ceiling. Audiences raved over it.

European Farmers Ignore Science In Favor Of Superstition – Or So They Want Us To Believe

Hank — Mon, 20 May 2013 19:31:08 +0000

Next month, the US and Europe would like to make some progress in tearing down trade barriers, an archaic notion left over from the Colonial period in history.(1)

Special trade agreements with blocs, like The Hanseatic League of the 12th century, were always common, but restrictions enjoyed a popularity boom after the collapse of the East India Trade Company in 1799 became the poster child for the perils of free trade - 18th century globalization hysteria.

9th Circuit Court Of Appeals Denies Claim That GM Alfalfa Is A ‘Plant Pest’

Hank — Fri, 17 May 2013 23:08:59 +0000

If you live in California, you can never get too amazed by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. If there is a progressive position that an activist court can take, they usually take it.

If you can't go to a national chain store and get your eyes checked and buy glasses, the 9th is why - they ruled that is medical care and health care is not interstate in America. Sure, we can mandate health care and force people to pay for it under the Commerce clause, but for some reason we can't let people buy prescription glasses from an out-of-state company.

Investment Banking On Wall Street Is Less Competitive Than The LHC

Hank — Thu, 16 May 2013 17:46:11 +0000

If you are a particle physicist, and not French, your career at Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire - CERN, The European Organization for Nuclear Research and the world's largest physics laboratory - may be rather limited, it seems.

On Sea Level Rise, The IPCC Is Right – And That’s Good For Us

Hank — Wed, 15 May 2013 17:06:42 +0000

Some people believe the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is a small, unified body composed of the best scientists who make proclamations on lots of things.

That isn't really true. The actual IPCC is a tiny UN group, around a dozen people, but the bulk of the data is compiled by unpaid (well, unpaid by the UN) scientists who participate in working groups that argue over the science - it is not without some flaws. They use geographical and gender parameters for participation so a working group may not have the best scientists in the world, some will have been chosen because they needed to meet a cultural quota - and they still get to be heard.

Let Them Eat Bugs

Hank — Tue, 14 May 2013 13:26:31 +0000

There are some places where food is easy to grow and some where it is not. Nature is not fair.

Expecting companies in countries with food to ship it everywhere for free is not practical and the poorest people don't have the money to import food, so they are stuck in a hunger Catch-22. There are differing schools of thought on how to solve the problem.

The positive approach - science - is to make it possible for food to grow in areas where food cannot grow now. Plants can be optimized scientifically to thrive in areas where they ordinarily would not. Then there is a less positive approach; tell poor people to eat bugs.

This Emissions Amp Goes To 11 – Coal Linked To Suicide

Hank — Mon, 13 May 2013 21:44:12 +0000

Not getting the message that emissions are bad? A new paper claims that air pollution and emissions from coal-fired electricity plants are associated with higher suicide rates right along with psychiatric conditions.

Forget Science, Fracking Must Go

Hank — Mon, 13 May 2013 15:48:49 +0000

Responsible energy production would seem to have an obvious positive roadmap; have energy companies include environmental groups in guiding pollution standards and participating in studies about natural gas extraction.

But for entrenched constituencies, that is unacceptable.

Civil War CSI: Did Stonewall Jackson Die From Pneumonia?

Hank — Sat, 11 May 2013 16:43:11 +0000

Legendary Confederate fighter Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson died 150 years ago but the actual cause of his death has been a subject of debate. And it was again at the 20th annual Historical Clinicopathological Conference in Maryland.

Jackson got the nickname "Stonewall" from Confederate General Barnard E. Bee, when he moved an artillery battery up to support Bee's troops as they retreated at the First Battle of Bull Run (called First Manassas by Confederate troops)(1). Bee said of the mostly unheralded Colonel, "There is Jackson standing like a stone wall. Let us determine to die here, and we will conquer. Rally behind the Virginians."