One of the reasons Athanasius Kircher is one of my favourite historical “scientists” (quotation marks absolutely necessary) is because he did things like write a whole book about China without ever going there. Which is […]
150kW One of the problems with CSP, or concentrated solar power, is that it’s investment heavy. The Ivanpah solar power plant on the California-Nevada border, for instance, is three towers surrounded by 173,500 mirrors (heliostats, if we’re […]
In this week’s #FeministFriday post, Elle talks about Dating While Feminist. Read on. *** I’ve mentioned this previously, but it bears repeating: it took a long time for me to call myself a feminist. For […]
From the “I found it at work” and “the history of science is kind of funny” files. *** Athanasius Kircher was a Jesuit polymath from the seventeenth century, and, if we’re being honest, he thought […]
Sometimes you have to give things up to be an honest skeptic. *** Few situations are more trying to a skeptic’s worldview than that of a suffering loved one for whom there is as yet no adequate scientifically-supported […]
Well, yes, actually, they are. *** This recent piece in the Guardian, entitled “Technology has created more jobs than it has destroyed, says 140 years of data,” is an examination of a rather positive analysis of the […]
From the “when it becomes a fad” department, we have the following picture. Now, let’s all understand that for people with coeliac disease, it’s sometimes hard to find things that are gluten-free. Wheat gluten shows […]
No Award The results are in, and the Puppies (Sad and Rabid) have been roundly defeated. I don’t know if you remember the kerfuffle earlier this year about the Hugo Awards — one of the […]
In this week’s #FeministFriday post, Elle muses on the announcement of Marvel’s latest move in the direction of diversity: Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur. *** One of the things that blows my mind about comics […]
The “Forking” of Bitcoin In the past few days, you may have heard, from myself or from others, that Bitcoin “is [or may be] forking.” Just what this means is perhaps a little complicated, but […]