Random Thoughts

Rumor has it that Scienceblogs.com, the blogging network owned by SEED Media, has finally been sold.   I told people here in 2009 that it was in play and anyone would want to acquire Prof. P.Z. Myers on their network so certainly people would have talked to Adam Bly about it, but it doesn't take long to figure out you could instead hand Myers a suitcase full of money and some equity and save the millions Bly felt like the entire thing deserved.   But Sciencblogs languished while SEED circled the drain and, after the PepsiGate incident, it looked bad.   What media company wants…

Dear earnest wingnut, Thank you for sending me a copy of your 20-page monograph containing your brilliant new paradigm which The Physics Establishment are seeking to squelch,  Having been squashed at times by the T.P.E., I can heartily sympathize. I am writing back to you because you don't seem as crazy or scary as most.  Also, your paper had good spelling and grammer.  Your elementary English teacher told the truth-- spelling matters.  So I read the thing.  And by 'read' I mean I fully read the first page and the conclusion, but sort of skimmed the middle.  It'…

In Texas, you've no doubt heard, wildfires rage, and hundreds of thousands of acres have been burned. The smoke from nearby fires leave the sky hazy and the smell of it invades lungs and causes coughing. We've been lucky where I live with fires in the neighboring counties, but none here. We've had hot, hot weather with near 100 degree days.  With all that's going on, it's nice to stop and appreciate the pockets of beauty.

You may not know this, but the fourth most popular sport in Scotland, behind head-butting people and kicking them when they are on the ground, golf and caber-tossing, is skiing. Skiing is so popular in Scotland a University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) climatologist believes they need to cover snow there in bubble wrap to make the skiing last longer - because there is so little sunshine.  And all the rain makes snow melt faster. Aside: Seriously, why does anyone live there again?   There is a reason my ancestors left 150 years ago. Naturally, it is all related to global…

The US national debt is now at 100% of Gross National Product, in other words equal to what we produce in a year. Forty cents of every dollar the US government spends is borrowed. Horrible, cry the pundits! The government should behave more like a family with a budget, should know when to stop spending! Let’s consider, though, that the average home-owning family takes on a mortgage equal to two or three times its annual earnings. (Before the crash, this number was five, not two or three.) In the US, it’s common for this family to spend 40% of its monthly income servicing the mortgage debt. So…

Actually Paul died in November of 1966 due to a fatal car accident after leaving the Abbey Road recording studios. The evidence for this claim are clues that exist throughout the songs recorded by the Beatles.  However, a brief synopsis of the events indicates that Paul McCartney apparently left Abbey Road Studios after an argument, during which he crashed his car into a lamppost.  The cause of the crash was due to his being distracted by a pretty meter maid.  After his death, apparently MI5 (British Secret Service) was concerned that this news would result in mass suicides by…

C.S.I. Gloucestershire County In today's thrilling episode, our intrepid police officers detect a serious crime and respond with eight officers and a helicopter.  Yes, friends.  Gloucestershire County Police are doing their bit to keep this world free of those lefty pinko tree-hugging planet-loving garbage-recycling weirdos. A scrap of consumerism history A little known principle of common law was established in 18291, re-confirmed in 18922 and fully endorsed and adopted in 19023.  The principle is a rethink of the notion that things should be built to last.  It states…

I say: O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days, Thou whose years endure throughout all generations. Of old Thou didst lay the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the work of Thy hands. They shall perish, but Thou shalt endure; yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt Thou change them, and they shall pass away; Three sources have recently drawn my attention to the likely state of our world in 100 billion years’ time.  First of these is the mini-series Everything – and Nothing by Jim Al-Khalili, where he presents our galaxy…

Successful Revolutions and Unsuccessful rebellions follow a common pattern: those who hold the heavy armored weapons and aircraft usually win in the street.  This is one major reason why the participation of elements of the military are very often critical in revolutions, and why the Egyptian revolution succeeded in the way that it did while other attempts at revolutions such as the 1989 Tienanmen square attempt failed, the Shiite uprising in 1991 failed, and the Iranian Green movement also failed. Kudos to the administration for demonstrating how the US military should be deployed --…

President Obama's recent actions have set a clear black line which repressive governments now cannot cross.  By targeting and destroying Qaddafi's heavy weapons, navy and air-force, in the timely and precise way the US military is specialized to do, it shows when, and what the United States is willing to do to enforce international humanitarian norms, while also limiting the roles the US is willing to play in such enforcement, if NATO and other countries will step up and affirm their obligation to international norms of human rights.  This line is crossed when dictators…