Tribeca Film Festival Beclowns Itself
Andrew Wakefield simply has zero credibility. End of story. I can’t believe he’d compound his sins, or that anyone would give him a serious platform.
Science
Well, Duh
Polynesians made it to the Americas long before Europeans. How could they have covered that much ocean without also hitting the Americas? Unpossible!
William Leitch
Scottish-Canadian scientist William Leitch was the first to describe rocket space flight, easily predating Goddard and Tsiolkovsky. We’re talking 1861! Then in book form a year later. As the article notes, this even predated the science fiction of Verne that inspired the later pioneers.
Reardon Metal
Or something like it, has been created by the State Science Institute Pohang University of Science and Technology in South Korea.
Books, Humor, Science, Technology, World
Got Earthquake?
There’s a story, too, but the impressive part here is the map of damaging earthquake risk. Guess we should move to Texas, if we’re concerned but don’t want to be cold.
Basque Riddle
No relation to Tom Riddle, may finally have been solved. I have long been fascinated by the Basque, since I first learned of them in French decades ago. Merely having a language distinct from those of Indo-European origin, in a see of languages that are, is fascinating.
Religion… Meh
There is positive research on raising religion-free children. This is what we have been doing, and the findings, plus what has long been known in criminology, don’t surprise me. No offense to my religious friends, but to sell a child on a religion, you are encouraging belief in a fantastical story, a set of “facts” that are circularly supported by faith. Morality exists apart from religion. If religion touts some of the same morality, great. You don’t need religion to tell you to be excellent to each other, not to harm people if you wouldn’t want people to harm you, or that certain things are inherently wrong. You don’t have to suspend your rational mind to be a good person, and you might just be less susceptible to behaving as a bad person due to irrationality. At any rate, interesting stuff.
Science Heroes
Who aved the most lives in history? Fascinating list. I tend to think of Borlaug as the biggie, credited with saving perhaps billions, but he is in sixth. Of course, numbers like these are always going to be estimated and conjectured. Still, these are some impressive people. Big Damn Heroes, in fact.
Fracking
This is a great fracking rant. I especially liked:
“Imagine complaining to your electrician when your home’s plumbing leaks.”