Science The Beginning.

Skipping ahead to "Near Death Experience"

and Science says ...

Richard Dawkins On Stage . 1. Two computer scientists say they proved that there is a holy supreme force after confirming the equations. 2 "God and Science" I haven't yet listened to all of "Two computer scientists ...," but I have listened to Robert Spitzer's God and Science several times. Since most of the atheists I know seem to be scientifically gifted (I am not), I suspect they'll find more in this than I.  BTW, Fr. Spitzer appears to be blind, but carries on quite well.

5 steps ...

Five steps President Trump can take to stop us from doing harm... in the developing world’s quest for the better and longer life that reliable electric power can bring. Watts Up ... Generate Power: Instruct U.S. representatives at the World Bank and the regional development banks, as well as officials of the Agency for International Development (the State Department’s foreign aid office) to support rather than oppose, as we currently do, loans and grants for power plants that rely on coal, gas, or oil. By helping countries build modern, efficient plants outfitted with “scrubbers” we can dramatically cut emissions of sulfur dioxide and other particulates. Unlike carbon dioxide, which is a beneficial trace gas that increases crop yields as a fertilizer, these are real pollutants, and need to be controlled. Support the Grid: The Obama administration’s Power Africa campaign is biased in favor of “off-grid” solutions such as small-scale, local wind and solar farms. This is colonialist to the core in a continent that is still “under-developing” by exporting raw materials to its former masters in return for imports of finished goods. Africa needs to have consistent power for factories and offices, or it will never be able to compete in the global economy. The only way to have consistent power is with a modern grid. Period. The grid can develop slowly, so that it can be maintained, but in the long run, as the success of China shows, you can’t get there without it. Aid only sustainable infrastructure projects: Developing countries, and African ones in particular, are littered with abandoned “White Elephants” – high-technology factories, dams, processing plants, wells, and tractors provided by well-meaning foreign aid donors. They fell into disuse because recipient governments lacked the political will and the economic environment needed to sustain them. Bringing technology in from a different country that is at a different stage of economic development is tricky in the best of circumstances. It is a waste of money and time if the recipient government is undemocratic, corrupt, or repressive. American diplomats and foreign aid officials need to be rewarded rather than punished, as they inevitably are in the foreign aid game, for properly assessing the likelihood of sustainability and cancelling projects. Most economic development comes when the local conditions permit it. Foreign aid can do little when dictatorship and corruption prevail, as they do in most African countries. End biofuel requirements: “Biofuel starvation” is what Africans call it when companies from developed countries take over villages’ crop lands so they can make a profit meeting “green” fuel requirements. The Trump administration should drop our own ethanol minimums, and make it a principal point of trade and diplomacy talks with European countries to get them to drop theirs. Oppose “carbon-content” rules: In their never-ending quest to find phony “carbon off-sets” that allow them to claim reductions in carbon dioxide without closing their own power plants, European countries have made a mess out of the simple act of importing goods from developing countries. Flowers from Kenya, for example, pay a carbon tax because they are transported on airplanes, which use more fossil-fuel per flower than a slower ship. As part of an international consortium on air travel, the United States can object to and reverse such rules, leading to more trade, and jobs, in developing countries. Congress enacted legislation in 2011 that blocked the consortium’s scheme to place a carbon tax on all air travel. As we protect our travel rights we should also look out for those of exporters in developing countries. To achieve these changes, and to make them stick, Trump should make it clear that the paradigm of fossil-fueled climate catastrophe is being rejected. Under Obama nearly every department of government created empires of staff whose primary purpose appears to have been to spend taxpayer dollars demonizing greenhouse gasses. While it is possible simply to ignore, as many countries hypocritically have, the 2015 Paris Agreement and its voluntary “economy-wide absolute emission reduction targets” and the 1992 UN Framework Treaty and its reporting requirements, Trump should announce our withdrawal from them as a way to shock our domestic bureaucracy into doing less harm. Presidents have the power to withdraw from agreements and treaties, as Carter did from our treaty with Taiwan in order to improve relations with China, Reagan did from the compulsory jurisdiction of the World Court to avoid losing a case about our war on Nicaragua, and George W. Bush did from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. The technical withdrawal will take a few years, because of the terms of those accords, but the announcement itself would put a stop to the gravy train of “climate finance” and climate reparations” that waste billions of dollars of foreign aid. [FULL WUWT] I was looking for "Charge Al Gore with crimes against humanity."  Sigh. Maybe Trump can add that to the list.

Eat Me IRS!

REPENT One of the things I've been focusing on are earth's tectonic plates. My study is conclusive.  Sometime in the next 12 months our planet's tectonic plate fundament will shift (not for the first time), likety-split.  Most everyone will have necks broken by the sheer torque of it all. We in the USA, who survive, will find ourselves  wearing smart summer linen —in Antarctica—and freeze to death. So who gives a rat's ass about Hillary and ISIS?  So, there's that to consider.  Sorry.

Math

Real Science and AGW Science

and other lying  bastards

“ Scientists abandon highly publicized claim about cosmic find Brian Keating-Real Scientist NEW YORK- Scientists who made headlines last March by announcing that they'd found long-sought evidence about the early universe are now abandoning that claim. "It's disappointing," he said in a telephone interview Friday after the European Space Agency publicized the results. "It's like finding out there's no Santa Claus. But it's important to know the truth." That signal is what the researchers claimed they had found in observations of the sky taken from the South Pole, in a project called BICEP2. But now, in a new paper submitted for publication, "we are effectively retracting the claim," said Brian Keating of the University of California, San Diego, a member of the BICEP2 team. Read more here: “ Phony climate scientists trade empirical processes for cash and communism. Phony scientist Michael Mann and another liar Climategate Files Climate Fail Files Climate Liar Files Climate Reference Files ” ”

HAND OF GOD SUDDENLY REVEALED?

It's Scientific  Gary Larsen

“ 'Everything we think we know about our universe is wrong?' In the late 1800s, Albert A. Michelson, the first American to win the Nobel Prize in the sciences, devised an experiment to prove the Earth is moving through space, through a medium for bearing light called the “aether.” If he could show that light was slowed down by being fired into an aether headwind, like a swimmer swimming against a stream, Michelson reasoned, it would prove the Earth’s motion through space. But the experiment didn’t work the way he expected. In fact, it proved the opposite. The world of science was baffled. Was the Earth not moving? Eventually, however, another Albert, with the last name of Einstein, developed a theory called special relativity to explain Michelson’s results. It wouldn’t be the last time, a startling new documentary called “The Principle” suggests, that scientists had to scramble to make their theories about space fit observable facts and experiments that didn’t jive with their prevalent understandings. Increasingly, bizarre and unproven theories such as the mysterious “dark matter,” “dark energy,” “multiverses” and the creation of “everything from nothing,” the moviemakers claim, have been thought up to try to make the hard data fit with an underlying assumption science has accepted since the 16th century. But what if instead of dreaming up wild theories to explain away inconsistencies, the moviemakers suggest, scientists allowed the facts to challenge the underlying assumption itself? What if everything science believes about space … is wrong? “The Principle,” which is opening now in select cities around the U.S., boldly challenges the widely accepted Copernican Principle, named after Renaissance astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus. He famously argued Earth revolves around the sun and went further to suggest Earth is in no central or favored place in the universe. We inhabit, in famous cosmologist Carl Sagan’s words, “an insignificant planet of a humdrum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people.” Hogwash, the makers of “The Principle” say. “Everything we think we know about our universe is wrong,” the movie’s trailer asserts. Citing Isaac Newton, various current astronomers, Einstein himself and even defenders of the Copernican Principle, the documentary makes the case that the data science is discovering indicate the entire known universe is pointing directly at Earth. “We are in a special place,” argues one of the voices quoted in the documentary. “I do believe that the universe was created by God.” Rick DeLano, writer and producer of “The Principle,” declares the “question of our place in the cosmos is the greatest scientific detective story in all of history.” “The world has been shaped by two great assertions: One places us in the center of it all, and the other one relegates us to utter insignificance. Amazingly, ‘The Principle’ is the first documentary to examine this persistent puzzle at the heart of modern science.” The film traces the “persistent puzzle” from the ancient astronomer Ptolemy, centuries before Copernicus, to today. But rather than assuming science is at odds with religious faith, as in Galileo’s day, “The Principle” assumes the two dovetail. “I have great respect for science,” DeLano said. “Where I become offended is when people ignore the evidence. They haven’t proven that something can come from nothing. “Strong evidence shows there is a special direction in the cosmos, and it points toward Earth. This is a serious claim that could indicate that perhaps the Bible was true in its account of creation … and they’re ignoring it,” he continued. “Experimentation is supposed to be the acid test of an assumption. Experiment trumps all. In the universe, we are told there are no special places – no up, no down, no left, no right. But every experiment tells us we are indeed in a special place, which the scientific community sees as impossible. “For them to even remotely consider that the Bible could be true is a laughable joke. It’s beyond ignorant,” DeLano said. “The arrogance of the scientific atheist is unbelievable. But as the Bible says, ‘Pride [goeth] before a fall.’ “What they don’t understand is that science and theology have the same author: ‘In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth,’” DeLano concluded. “We have the distinct advantage of having the truth on our side.” “The Principle” opened Oct. 24 in select theaters in Chicago with plans to expand to Los Angeles and then to various theaters around the country. Those interested in the film can learn more at its website, ThePrincipleMovie.com. WND Your mileage may differ, but I've long felt that the nutrition, earth and cosmos sciences are like women's fashion; changing with the weather.  Plus, I believe in God.  ”

Ice Tsuami

GREEN NAZIS                                     “ ICE IS PISSED! It could be a scene out of a 1950s horror film - an unstoppable 'ice tsunami' gradually moving ashore, destroying everything in its path. But this footage actually shows the weather phenomenon known as ice floe in action in Minnesota, north America, over the weekend.   Read more: Ice Tsunami, an extraordinary phenomenon I'd never heard of.  But, I know what this is.  Ice is furious with Al Gore and his  AGW thugs for dissing her (yes, ice is a she, natch) with unfounded rumors and lies about her melting away like, well, a snowman in August.    Minnesotans have only themselves to blame.  They regularly elect Green Liar henchman, giving Gore's followers access to enabling public funds, and a facade of legitimacy they don't deserve.  I am not making this up.  You don't see this happening in Texas or Florida do you? ”

Amazing Math

Gary Larsen                                                                                 NUMBERS Perhaps after seeing yesterday's godawful example of educational malpractice (Common Core Math), the erstwhile vocalist in my band, The Chestnuts, Guy du Francois, sent me this Amazing Mathematics.  Pretty quick into I it I thought satirically, "Oh, another Darwin evolution."  Turns out that was the point, so Darwinists may want to skip this one and avoid the angst, and cut me from thier travel list.  Sigh.   If we must, boys and girls, deviate from tried and true basic math education, here is a damned good example of stuff that works, and would appeal to kid's desire to one-up their parents.  I truly wish Sister Margaret Eleanor had pulled this out of her habit in my way back.  I love it.

Jon Stewart-What theFracking Hell?

“

Three hours of Waterboarding With Jon Stewart “I knew that the Daily Show is a comedy show masquerading as a news program. My peers told me horror stories of how the show had treated others whose views didn’t mesh with those of Jon Stewart—not that the guests were personally abused, but that the final product didn’t represent what was really said during the taping. ”  On Thursday, February 27, I received an email that said: “I’m a producer at the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. We’re working on a segment about fracking & I wanted to reach out to see if you’d be interested in participating. I read your column in Town Hall a few months ago & it’s just what we’re looking for—we’d like to have someone dispel a lot of the myths & untruths about fracking.” I responded that, yes, I was interested. After doing my research, I agreed to participate. On March 6, I flew to New York City for a taping on March 7. I knew that the Daily Show is a comedy show masquerading as a news program. My peers told me horror stories of how the show had treated others whose views didn’t mesh with those of Jon Stewart—not that the guests were personally abused, but that the final product didn’t represent what was really said during the taping. I weighed the pro and cons and decided to take the risk. I figured that no matter how good I might be, I was unlikely to change the opinions of the young audience that watches the Daily Show and thinks it is real news. Additionally, my audience doesn’t generally watch it—and if they do, they’ll know my comments were heavily edited, as my views are well known. What really pushed me to accept the invitation was the fact that the following week, March 10-13, I was scheduled to be in Southern California speaking on college campuses and my Daily Show taping would enhance my “street-cred” with the potential audiences. I knew I was not the first person to whom they had reached out. Others had turned them down. If I said “no,” they’d continue down some list until they found someone who’d say yes. I figured it might as well be me because I know that I know my topic. I know I will represent it accurately. The next person on the list might not be as well informed. I expected that they’d try to spring something on me and make me look foolish. Based on the pre-taping interviews, I felt that I had a sense of where the interview would go. They had a few questions about which I was unsure. I sent an email to the several thousand people on my enewsletter list asking for input on specific questions. Many sent me helpful information that I read on the plane on the way to New York. I talked to industry experts. I studied up as if I was heading in for a final exam. I wanted to be sure they couldn’t trip me up. When I walked into the offices of the Daily Show, I felt that I was ready. I told them: “I know your job is to make me look bad, but mine is to be sure I look good.” I wore a favorite red silk blouse with gold jewelry. The team was very kind to me. They shot some “B roll” of Aasif, the correspondent who’d be doing the interview, and me walking toward the room where the taping would take place and some of me working at a computer. I was escorted to a dark, dreary-looking room with camera and sound guys, and Jena, the producer. It is not really about fracking. It is about fossil fuels—and hating them. The average person doesn’t have a clear understanding of the role that energy plays in their lives The interview started straight enough. They asked one of the questions they’d asked via telephone: “Why do environmentalists hate fracking?” I explained that I didn’t think it was really about fracking, as thousands, if not millions, of wells had been drilled using hydraulic fracturing since modern techniques were developed in 1949. I pointed out that a primitive form of fracking was done in the late 1800s when a nitro glycerin torpedo was dropped down a well hole. Despite this long, safe, and prosperous history the frack attacks had started in October 2007—shortly after the technologies of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling were successfully combined and began to unleash America’s new energy abundance. I continued: It is not really about fracking. It is about fossil fuels—and hating them. The average person doesn’t have a clear understanding of the role that energy plays in their lives (which is why I do what I do). All most people know about energy is the price of gasoline and they know “drill, baby, drill.” They know that increased production of oil translates to lower prices at the pump. So the anti-fossil fuel crowd can’t come out with an anti-drilling campaign, but they can use a term that sounds scary and that people do not understand: fracking—the vernacular for hydraulic fracturing. To prove my point, I told about driving through Starbuck’s two days earlier. I’d bantered with Jason, the young man selling me my Café Mocha. I told him I was going to New York for the Daily Show to talk about fracking; that they’d have a pro-fracking guest and an anti-fracking guest; that I was the pro-fracking guest. He replied: “Whatever that is.” Because people, like Jason, do not know what fracking is, the antis can give it whatever definition they want and use fear, uncertainty, and doubt to turn people against the proven technology that is almost singly responsible for creating millions of jobs in America and bringing us closer to energy independence than previously ever thought possible. In a recent Fracking by the Numbers report, on page 6, Environment America offers a definition that basically covers the entire drilling process from permitting to production—including “to deliver the gas or oil produced from that well to market.” Once they had scared people, those against fracking set out to stop the procedure—with the ultimate goal of banning it all together. Since 96-98% of all oil-and-gas wells drilled in the U.S. today are stimulated using hydraulic fracturing, banning fracking essentially bans oil-and-gas production. I backed up my opinions by citing the November 2013 elections where four towns in Colorado and three in Ohio had fracking bans on the ballot. All passed in Colorado and one in Ohio. Earlier in 2013, the commissioners in the little county of Mora, NM, voted to ban all oil-and-gas drilling outright—not just fracking (however, the Los Angeles Times coverage of the Mora County story called it a fracking ban—illustrating how the two concepts, drilling and fracking, have become interchangeable). Even though some of the communities voting to ban fracking have no potential oil-and-gas drilling, the wins provide momentum for a national movement. In a press release celebrating the Mora County vote—which also calls it a fracking ban—the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, the group fomenting opposition in Mora County, said: “Mora County joins over 150 communities across the country which have asserted their right to local self-governance through the adoption of local laws that seek to control corporate activities within their municipality.” In January, 2014, left-wing advocacy group MoveOn.org heralded its “#FrackingFighter” campaign in which it calls for “grassroots organizing and people power to beat back big industry in town after town and county after county.” They declare: “now it’s time to double down on our strategy.” Aasif asked about fracking accidents. I asserted that there were none that I was aware of and cited the fact that three leading Obama Administration secretaries—hardly fossil-fuel fans—had declared fracking to be safe: former Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, former Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, and current Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz. Now, in hour three of what I told the crew was like three hours of waterboarding where they kept throwing stuff at me in hopes I’d give something up, the tone changed. Suddenly, Aasif repeatedly asked me about pizza and whether it was appropriate compensation for a “fraccident.” I stopped and told them: “I will not say that word.” Since I was not aware of any fracking accidents, I wasn’t going to let them get me on camera saying “fraccident.” He pushed on anyway and carried on about how wonderful New York pizza was. Surely, it would be appropriate compensation for a “fraccident” that caused a four-day fire and killed one person. No, it wouldn’t. I offered: “The courts have established damages for loss of life and loss of property.” He continued with the pizza theme. Somewhere in there, he mentioned Chevron. Frustrated, I finally said something to the effect of: “If the person who’d received the damages wanted pizza, then yes, it would be appropriate.” When we were about to wrap, they thanked me and, on camera, gave me a pizza. Later I received an email from the producer who’d invited me saying: “Thanks again for coming out for this interview. I hope it wasn’t too silly! Aasif & Jena thought you were great, though.” On the plane on the way home, I reflected on the experience and deduced what they were up to. I sent the producer a follow up email: “I am glad that Aasif and Jena thought I was great. I told them it felt like three hours of waterboarding. I can’t wait to see what you all do with it. I am assuming that you are going to do a fake news story on a fracking/drilling accident that results in a four-day fire and one death and the evil oil company offers pizza as compensation. You will have me saying that there has never been a fracking accident that I know of. Then you have me saying, yes, I watch the news…” Once I was back at my desk, I did a search on Chevron, accident, and pizza. The story came up. It wasn’t a fake accident, but it also wasn’t a “fraccident.” While the exact cause of the Greene County, PA, well fire is still under investigation, the local news reported: “Chevron had previously completed drilling and hydraulically fracturing, or fracking, the well and was in the final stages of using steel pipe to hook it up to a pipeline distribution network for production.”  The Pennsylvania Depart of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) Scott Perry stated: “the problem may have come from a defect in the wellhead itself. Chevron’s wellheads are ringed with collars that have set pins running horizontally through them.” Perry says one of the pins may have blown out of the collar, releasing the gas. Apparently, according to the DEP the “gas well explosion is the first serious Marcellus shale well blowout in our region.” Houston-based Wild Well Control, which responded to the Greene County accident, says in the past year it responded to five-surface well blowouts accompanied by fires. The statistics suggest major fires are relatively rare. The accident referenced by the Daily Show, took place in a rural area and no homes were endangered. But Chevron realized that the increased truck traffic and other activities inconvenienced the folks of Bobtown. In an effort to be a “good partner” in the community, Chevron offered vouchers to the only eatery within 80 miles. While the locals aren’t upset with Chevron for the gesture, saying: “The whole issue was blown out of proportion,” comedians have had a field day with it and the anti-fossil fuel crowd is using it for messaging. A petition has been started at MoveOn.org (surprise) demanding that Chevron apologize for the free pizza—calling it “an insult.” There are currently 1200+ signatures, mostly from distant locales, but none from Bobtown. Local resident Gloria Garnek commented on the contrived controversy and the coupons: “People here, you know, we were kind of overwhelmed a little bit with all the publicity and people coming in. So I think it’s a nice thing.” Thank you, Daily Show, for flying me to New York and taking good care of me while I was in town. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to talk about hydraulic fracturing and alerting me to Bobtown Pizza. Without the March 7 taping, I wouldn’t have told the story of the anti-fossil fuel crowd’s efforts to ban fracking and exploit the good people of Bobtown. While it felt like three hours of waterboarding, I believe I’ve been able to make some good come from the experience. I can’t wait to see how they turn three hours of recording into a 3-5 minute segment when it airs in late March or early April. Story and Links HERE Brains and due diligence prevail.  Unfortunately, her audience are largely—you know.

”

Cataract Ops-

Gary Larsen                                                                                  SCIENCE “ Me Me Me              Eye Eye Eye Final cataract report (OS) Left eye - 20/15 vision;  (RD 20/20).  Most incredibly, I can read small print without glasses.  How?  The optho said "it's magic."  I cannot imagine what the $3000 lens, that's  supposed to mimic the original lens for adjusting long and near vision would do better than this $1000 deal.  FWIW he used Alcon AcrySof IQ lenses (PDF).  In case you want to see how this is done ”

The McCollough Effect

SCIENCE             Gary Larsen                                                                                 The McCollough Effect: “ I am not making this up (Video) ”

Space Lab Up Close

Departing Space Station Commander Provides Tour of Orbital Laboratory “ Very hi-quality clip.  When you got about half an hour to kill, get a cuppa and some cookies and go full screen. Found myself getting a little claustrophobic 'cause it's so clear and in-your-face. Highly informative for people with no direct experience in ships or planes and especially close quarters. Good for kids to watch if you can get 'em away from their smart fones, iPads, and PlayStations. Metzler ”

Sex Magnet

Oh My
FWIW

Albert Einstein was deep, man

—   you berks.    aL gORE Moments in History BTW, this Einstein documentry is quite interesting.  Did you know that Albert bribed his wife into giving him a divorce by telling her that he would surely win the Nobel one day, and would give her all the money, and did?  Or  that when he did win the Nobel years later,  it would not be for  E = MC2?  Or, that he was bedding his ugly cousin?  That rascal! Of course, and much later, nobody saw this comimg.  Not even Al Gore.

Salt Science - small people trying to understand big things

            cuzzin ricky

Connections

Gary Larsen                                                                                  SCIENCE Connections “ Science historian James Burke's series, Connections,  used to be a staple on early Hitler cable channels,  and I loved it.  So much so that I finally went searching for it on NetFlix; not carried. But, Lo! The series has it's own You Tube channel.  For them what like that kind of stuff. ”

Muscle regeneration

Gary Larsen                                                                                  SCIENCE No, Not That Muscle (besides—it's not really a muscle you berk.) “ sigh ”

Truily Random Numbers

Gary Larsen                                                                                  SCIENCE TRULY RANDOM NUMBERS “ Having once toiled as a spreadsheet designer (engineer my card read), I can appreciate the significance of this- if not entirely understand it. Random numbers are invaluable. They’re used in the encryption that makes online banking secure. Economists, physicists, pollsters, and casinos rely on them. Yet until recently, producing large sets of truly random digits has been hard to do. [...] The age of computers solved all of this, right? Wrong. The best that CPUs can generate are pseudo-random numbers, churned out by running a seed number through a complex algorithm, then running the solution through the same operation over and over again. However, anyone who uncovers the algorithm and seed can generate the same sequence of number. [Here's the WTF part] But now scientists at the Australian National University have introduced a technique for generating 5.7 billion truly random values per second. They do it by harnessing the fundamental uncertainty of the universe. Their technique measures quantum phenomena in a box completely devoid of photons, where ghostly virtual particles randomly burble in and out of existence 24/7. “God does not play dice,” Einstein famously quipped in response to evidence that randomness rules the cosmos. Luckily, he was wrong. [Full] ”

Scientists Resurrect 500-Million-Year-Old Gene

SCIENCE               Scientists Resurrect 500-Million-Year-Old Gene Inside Modern Organism Then, what the hell, they sprayed some hippies with it “ An anonymous reader writes with news that researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have taken a gene from 500-million-year-old bacteria and inserted it into modern E. coli bacteria. They then allowed the bacteria to evolve over the course of a thousand generations to see whether it would resemble its original 'evolutionary trajectory.' From the  article: ”

When you get down to it, irresponsible play-babies scientists, working off gummint grants, will be the death of us.