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GR-1 'Anvil' - Arcflash Labs Handheld Railgun Available For Preorder

GR-1 'Anvil' - Arcflash Labs Handheld Railgun Available For Preorder

Dec 04 2021 | comment(s)

A company named Arcflash Labs says they will sell you a Gauss rifle, an actual Railgun that uses electromagnetics to fire bullets.  
The U.S. Navy has been working on this for big ships for a while but this is the first time I've seen a handheld version sold to the public.

It sounds like science fiction but it's entirely plausible. The muzzle speed is low, you can't won't kill anyone with it, but you can shoot anything metal that fits. 


Allyn Walker Researcher of Pedophiles. Authoritarian Ideologues Hate Academics and Big Academic words.

Allyn Walker Researcher of Pedophiles. Authoritarian Ideologues Hate Academics and Big Academic words.

Dec 04 2021 | comment(s)

Big words are scary and express ideas that are not easily understood and are not easy to be logical about. Apparently, the word neurodivergent is woke now. While the woke want to call pedophiles “minor attracted people” and conservatives are outraged by this (for all the wrong reasons). Of course, simple mathematical ideas that one would learn beyond grade school are also woke and therefore bad.

The Beauty Of Grossular

The Beauty Of Grossular

Dec 04 2021 | comment(s)

Old timers of this blog will recall that I am an avid stone collector. In fact, of all experimental sciences I am fond of (Physics, Astronomy, Geology above others) Geology is the one that fascinated me first, as a six or seven year old child. We are talking about almost fifty years ago, when newspaper stands in Italy used to sell small packets containing pictures of soccer players (they were not even adhesive back then: you had to use your own glue to attach them in the proper place within collection albums which were sold separately) . Kids collected those "figurine", and exchanged them with their peer after school hours (or even during school hours). Other collections offered were ones of minerals, fossils, stickers, etcetera.
Black Oxygen Organics Fulvic Care Powder Is Vegan, Non-GMO, And Full Of Arsenic

Black Oxygen Organics Fulvic Care Powder Is Vegan, Non-GMO, And Full Of Arsenic

Dec 03 2021 | comment(s)

The FDA is encouraging consumers who have purchased Black Oxygen Organics fulvic care power or tablets to immediately stop using the products and throw them away. Not because they are ridiculous supplements that the Clinton administration exempted from ethical truth in advertising, but because they contain lead and arsenic. Those are also natural, organic, Non-GMO, and vegan but can kill you or give you brain damage. In return for that, they won't prevent Alzheimer's or anything else hucksters promise.

That is why even in the supplement industry exempted from most oversight, FDA will bring the hammer down on products with those.
100,000 Organic Industry Activists Want The UN FAO To Only Have Big Organic Representation

100,000 Organic Industry Activists Want The UN FAO To Only Have Big Organic Representation

Dec 03 2021 | comment(s)

Organic food is a huge Big Ag market segment, $135,000,000,000, but it is still a tiny fraction of the agriculture business. Feeding 7 billion people takes science and technology while feeding wealthy white people only takes 'think about the children' posturing and reusable bags.

That is why it is important that the UN Food and Agriculture Organization listens to voices from the entire field.
Inflaming The Myths Of COVID-19 Vaccines

Inflaming The Myths Of COVID-19 Vaccines

Dec 02 2021 | comment(s)

Like the phantom heart in Edgar Allan Poe’s short story, “The Tell-Tale Heart”, myths about COVID-19 vaccines and the risks for cardiovascular disease keep on beating.

The latest mythical bogeyman comes in the form of an abstract presented at the American Heart Association's annual meeting, claiming that COVID-19 mRNA vaccines increase the risk of a heart condition called Acute Coronary Syndrome. But a review of the data shows that this study is a tale that even Poe would find horrifying.

There's No Evidence mRNA Vaccines Cause Heart Disease, So Why Did American Heart Association Publish It?

There's No Evidence mRNA Vaccines Cause Heart Disease, So Why Did American Heart Association Publish It?

Dec 01 2021 | comment(s)

An abstract published by the American Heart Association suggests a correlation between mRNA vaccines and heart disease.

They even featured it on November 13th at their AHA Scientific Session 2021.

A Hunter Shot A Buck, Which Turned Out To Be A Doe With Antlers. Here's How

A Hunter Shot A Buck, Which Turned Out To Be A Doe With Antlers. Here's How

Dec 01 2021 | comment(s)

In 2021, there remains some confusion about the distinction between biological sex and gender. The fossil record only shows males and females, it does not show how those people, or even precursors of modern humans, felt about themselves. And fossil records only show what can actually be fossilized. Which is often just skeletal.

Nature can be more complex than that.

I almost always hunt in Pennsylvania and the rules say I can only shoot a buck early in the season. No does. The number of tines may vary each year in a maddening way - good luck seeing three on one side in Pennsylvania woods - but antlers mean a legal buck.

Except they don't always mean a male. 
Dr. Oz Is Running For The Senate, Which Will At Least Get Him Out Of Health Media

Dr. Oz Is Running For The Senate, Which Will At Least Get Him Out Of Health Media

Dec 01 2021 | comment(s)

Dr. Mehmet Oz became famous thanks to a celebrity worship culture that progressives embraced in their desire to believe in alternatives to medicine. Just a few years after President Clinton trashed nuclear science in America, removed supplements from any real FDA oversight, and showed his love for alternatives to vaccines by throwing money that could have gone to science to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine so they could continue to find out placebos can't replace medicine, Oprah Winfrey turned Dr. Oz into a national sensation.
Milder? Wild Omicron ≠ Live Vaccine Engineered As Mild. Opens Door To New Mutations. Vaccines + Masks + DOITALL To End Emergency

Milder? Wild Omicron ≠ Live Vaccine Engineered As Mild. Opens Door To New Mutations. Vaccines + Masks + DOITALL To End Emergency

Nov 30 2021 | comment(s)

Some news stories suggest that if Omicron is mild it is a “blessing in disguise”. Should we just let everyone get it as fast as possible? Well, if Omicron is indeed a little milder, this may reduce pressure on the health system for a few weeks. However, large numbers of cases can still overwhelm us,

Then, longer term this is not a safe strategy because mild variants can revert or evolve to severe. Dr Tedros of the WHO warns that the virus can

Australopithecus Sediba Lower Back Fossils Are The 'Missing Link' Between Climbing And Walking

Australopithecus Sediba Lower Back Fossils Are The 'Missing Link' Between Climbing And Walking

Nov 30 2021 | comment(s)

The ancient relative to modern humans Australopithecus sediba walked like a human, but climbed like an ape, filling in a gap in the fossil record long posited by biologists, finds a new analysis.

The recovery of new lumbar vertebrae from the lower back of a single individual of the human relative, Australopithecus sediba, and portions of other vertebrae of the same female from Malapa, South Africa, together with previously discovered vertebrae, form one of the most complete lower backs ever discovered in the early hominid record and give insight into how this ancient human relative walked and climbed.
Before General Relativity: The Einstein-Besso Manuscript Sells For $13 Million

Before General Relativity: The Einstein-Besso Manuscript Sells For $13 Million

Nov 29 2021 | comment(s)

A 54-page manuscript written jointly by Albert Einstein and Michele Besso just sold for over $13,000,000, quadrupling its pre-sale estimate - a new world auction for any science manuscript.

The Einstein-Besso Manuscript on General Relativity is one of only two surviving manuscripts documenting the genesis of general relativity. The other, known as the Zurich notebook from late 1912/early 1913, is in the Einstein Archive at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

The just-auctioned work provides insight into Einstein's work and documents a crucial stage in the development of the theory of general relativity, which reshaped modern understanding of how the universe works.

Statins Effect On Prostate Cancer Screening Results Revealed

Statins Effect On Prostate Cancer Screening Results Revealed

Nov 29 2021 | comment(s)

In a new epidemiology paper, men taking cholesterol-lowering statin drugs had different  prostate cancer screening results than non-users - in statin users, screening did not increase the incidence of prostate cancer as it did in other men.

The data came from the Finnish Prostate Cancer Screening Trial which started in 1996–1999. A total of about 80,000 men were included in the study, of whom just under 32,000 were screened with the PSA test every four years. 
Critical Race Theory Can Be Misused, Like Anything Else In Science.

Critical Race Theory Can Be Misused, Like Anything Else In Science.

Nov 28 2021 | comment(s)

Critical Race Theory like so much science, even social science, can be used for good or evil. Physics invented the atomic bomb which can destroy the world. Physics invented the nuclear power plant which can generate carbon free energy and help to save the environment. Chemistry and biology invented medicines that can save lives as well as bio toxic and chemical warfare which can take them. Somehow “CRT” is what people want to ban in part due to a total misunderstanding of what it is and what it is not. In the end I will show how I use these ideas to be sure I am being fair to the diverse groups of students I teach math and science to.

Thanksgiving and the Pilgrims A Legacy Hijacked By The Oppressive Puritans.

Thanksgiving and the Pilgrims A Legacy Hijacked By The Oppressive Puritans.

Nov 25 2021 | comment(s)

The Pilgrims were not the same group as the Puritans who many Americans, especially but not only conservatives confuse for them. Many people left right authoritarian, and libertarian have been badly served by the cartoon of history they learned in school lest Baby Boom age parents, stepped in the cold war, be offended to hear that America was not a utopia from the beginning. Here are the facts. The Pilgrims were people who wanted to practice their reformed Christianity and be left alone. They did come to America numbering no more than 2600. They lived in relative peace with their Native American neighbors for decades. The Puritans came later, in tens of thousands.

Science Tips For Managing Stress At Thanksgiving

Science Tips For Managing Stress At Thanksgiving

Nov 24 2021 | comment(s)

Sometimes people ask me if there is an evidence-based way to manage the stress of dealing with difficult relatives at Thanksgiving, and my short answer is "chloroform."

In modern hippie dippie wellness culture, that may not be the response people are seeking, they may want validation of essential oils or an app, but one thing most people don't realize is that stress is not about fads or even other people. We manage stress, we only think it manages us. 
Does Juul Exploit Facebook's Algorithm To Suppress Criticism? Here Is Some Evidence

Does Juul Exploit Facebook's Algorithm To Suppress Criticism? Here Is Some Evidence

Nov 23 2021 | comment(s)

I've long been a supporter of vaping devices because they are an effective smoking cessation and harm reduction tool for cigarette smokers. Juul is a successful company in that space, they came from virtually nowhere and had 75 percent of the market by 2018.

That's a free market success story, but then there were concerns about their marketing, specifically toward "nicotine naïve" - never smoked cigarettes - young people. I never bought into claims they were marketing to kids as strategy, though in a world of individuals some people employed there obviously said and did some dumb things.

But as their market share has plummeted due to controversy, nearly cut in half this year, they have perhaps demonstrated that their marketing efforts were corrupt all along.
In A Pandemic World, Be Thankful For Pesticides

In A Pandemic World, Be Thankful For Pesticides

Nov 23 2021 | comment(s)

This year, you're going to pay 24 percent more for a turkey, a tough bite out of the wallet for poor people and a dose of reality for economists and armchair pundits who claimed prior to today's "stagflation" that higher prices are no concern.

Imagine how much higher prices would be if food suffered the yield losses that occur without modern pesticides. This year I am thankful for my health and my family but also science. Outside my house are signs thanking healthcare workers, delivery people, and farmers - and if they made one for science, including vaccines and pesticides, I'd own it.
Millennials: Pets Are The New Kids, And Plants Are The New Pets

Millennials: Pets Are The New Kids, And Plants Are The New Pets

Nov 22 2021 | comment(s)

A survey of 1,111 Americans who own houseplants wanted to find out which varieties are most popular and how much people spend on the hobby, but they also found out how much they anthropomorphize their leafy little friends.

During the pandemic, 68 percent of Millennials took up a new hobby and nearly as many grew their houseplant collection.

Perhaps that's become part of the new cultural dynamic. 57 said having a houseplant supported their mental health while 81 percent say houseplants are a reasonable substitute if they are far from nature. 


Single In America: What COVID-19 Has Changed About Dating Since 2020

Single In America: What COVID-19 Has Changed About Dating Since 2020

Nov 22 2021 | comment(s)

A demographically representative sample of 5,000 single adults between the ages of 18 and 98 finds a big switch in a post-pandemic world; only 78 percent believe being physically attractive is most important, compared to 90 percent in 2020.

And marriage is back. The number of singles who want a partner desiring marriage jumped from 58 percent  two years ago to 76  percent this year, with men and younger adults leading in the change.  Now, 42 percent of men are ready to find a long-term romantic relationship while women are just at 29 percent.


Not this year, men are leading the charge in heart's desire.