Have you ever wondered just how bad the devastation would be if the Moon (or a Moon-sized object) were to graze the Earth? How big the crater would be, how tall the tsunami if it hit the ocean, how far from the impact point you’d have to be to avoid being instantly ejected into space… [Read more…]
November 5, 2010
There appears to be two main narratives circulating about the cause of the widespread Democratic losses in the elections on November 2nd. The first is that the Democrats earned it because their actions over the last two years de-energized the Democrats who voted for hope and change in 2008. The second is that the Democrats… [Read more…]
November 2, 2010
There’s a big difference between what I expect to happen during today’s elections and what I hope will happen, with most of my expectations focused on the federal elections and my hopes on the local and state elections here in Colorado. Here’s a quick rundown. Feel free to add your own hopes in the comments.
October 28, 2010
I’ve been listening to news about Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DADT) ever since a federal judge in California overturned it and subsequently had her ruling stayed by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. I’ve heard about generals who are arguing against it, claiming that allowing openly homosexual servicemen and women will damage the military’s readiness… [Read more…]
October 19, 2010
I’ve been struck repeatedly over the last few years by how fundamentally non-skeptical many self-proclaimed “climate change skeptics” actually are. Skepticism has a definition after all, and while I’ll have more to say on this later, today I want to introduce an analogy that I use to differentiate between a climate disruption skeptic and a… [Read more…]
September 30, 2010
There are a number of problems with science journalism today, and they tend to feed on each other. Decades ago, when the newspaper industry had advertising-driven profit margins in the 10-25% range, newspaper companies were bought by conglomerates that wanted those sky-high profits. Advertising revenues have since plummeted largely as a result of web advertising,… [Read more…]
September 24, 2010
On May 6, 2010, Christopher Monckton, Viscount of Brenchley, was invited by the Republican members of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming to present testimony that contradicted over 100 years of established chemistry, physics, and climatology. Monckton, a non-scientist who has a long history of making erroneous claims, was seated as… [Read more…]
September 20, 2010
I read via the AP today that the two conservative groups founded by Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie, American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS, have raked in so much money from donors that this midterm election will likely be the most expensive yet. According to the AP, the two groups combined have raised about $32 million… [Read more…]
September 15, 2010
A liberal friend of mine visited a Tea Party rally in her county over the weekend. She told me that, all in all, the rally wasn’t the collection of right-wing nutjobs (my word, not hers) that the media portrays Tea Party members to be. Instead, the rally she attended was mostly attended by people who… [Read more…]
August 30, 2010
I used to run my own website for this blog, but decided that I had better things to do with the money. I’ll be posting here eventually (I hope), starting with a short story I self-published a few years back. This post is a placeholder until I get other content up and posted.
S&R
November 8, 2010
3