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The COVID-19 Pandemic Created a New Addiction: Maskaholics

The COVID-19 Pandemic Created a New Addiction: Maskaholics

Apr 20 2022 | comment(s)

When a judge declared the Biden administration's attempt to extend the mandate of masks on airplanes unlawful, the Biden administration walked away from that effort. That, to me, was a sign that they knew the science was not on their side but they were placating their constituents who do not really trust vaccines.

Wait, aren't the Republicans the ones who don't trust vaccines? Only for the last year, and only for political reasons. California, which once had more vaccine deniers than the entire rest of the US combined, suddenly claimed to be pro-vaccine. Except weird places like San Francisco told people they needed four shots. And to wear masks outside. 

That is not pro-science, it means you don't trust it at all. Just as always.
The Biden Administration Continues To Engage In Behavior Not Justified While Claiming Science Is On Their Side

The Biden Administration Continues To Engage In Behavior Not Justified While Claiming Science Is On Their Side

Apr 19 2022 | comment(s)

Does the CDC dictate property law in the United States? The Biden administration claimed it did, and that was only one of the bizarre efforts to use government agencies to legislate around Congress.

The White House hoped to stretch "Chevron deference", a flawed Supreme Court interpretation which found that government agencies could create rules that act like laws without needing Congress as long as it was in their regulatory mandate, beyond recognition.
The Biden Administration Agreed Courts Could Not Block A Trump Water Rule - Then Wanted SCOTUS To Side Against It Anyway

The Biden Administration Agreed Courts Could Not Block A Trump Water Rule - Then Wanted SCOTUS To Side Against It Anyway

Apr 06 2022 | comment(s)

In the 'politics makes strange bedfellows' department, the Biden administration conceded that a California judge appointed by Democrats had no legal authority to block a rule denying what Southern states tried to do to keep slavery - say that states rights were supreme over the US.
Would You Buy Vitalized Minerals in 2022? Then You Shouldn't Buy Vitamins Either

Would You Buy Vitalized Minerals in 2022? Then You Shouldn't Buy Vitamins Either

Mar 23 2022 | comment(s)

I got an email from a PR agent for a vitamin company criticizing other vitamin companies for doing a questionnaire for visitors to their website and then recommending up to 8 vitamins based on their health goals and current self-reported state in this material plane. Others got it down to 2 pills a day. Still too many, they said!

The two doctors behind this company did the exact same thing, except the big news was they got it down to 1 pill. In other words, they paid someone to promote the big breakthrough that they created a multivitamin. Multivitamins have existed since 1943. Even during World War II, with sugar and meat rationed, someone found a way to be a grifter and call it science.
Activists Oppose Vaccines, Agriculture And Now...Vegetarians?

Activists Oppose Vaccines, Agriculture And Now...Vegetarians?

Mar 17 2022 | comment(s)

The pandemic changed a lot of political landscaping when it comes to science. The anti-vaccine movement was once squarely centered inside the left but now lots of right-wing people have done their best to make Republicans look just as stupid. 

Prior to 2021, environmental activists were not only comfortable with anti-vaccine conspiracy theorists under their umbrella, they embraced them, because they were overwhelmingly their wealthy donors. Now even Brooklyn hipsters and their shoulder cats say they are on Team Science again but the kookier members of the progressive movement remain opposed to nearly all applied science. They are even turning on vegetarians.
Erika Girardi, Wife Of Discredited 'Erin Brockovich' Lawyer, Named In New $2.1 Million Lawsuit For 'Aiding and Abetting'

Erika Girardi, Wife Of Discredited 'Erin Brockovich' Lawyer, Named In New $2.1 Million Lawsuit For 'Aiding and Abetting'

Feb 18 2022 | comment(s)

Erika Girardi, a "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star, has been sued in a new $2.1 million complaint claiming she "aided and abetted" Tom in his law firm Girardi&Keese's alleged financial wrongdoings. They are being sued by the people who represented because he would get settlements and he kept the money, it is claimed.
Unless You're The Hulk, You Can't Open A Plane Door During Flight

Unless You're The Hulk, You Can't Open A Plane Door During Flight

Feb 17 2022 | comment(s)

In the outstanding "Charlie's Angels" film of 2000, a spectacular opening sequence is just that; one of our heroines (in disguise as LL Cool J in disguise as...an African prince? It's never said who "Mr. Jones" is supposed to be, other than awesome) pops the emergency exit door on the very large airplane with her elbow to carry a terrorist wearing a bomb vest into the open air and save everyone.

Drew Barrymore, the heroine in that scene, is about 5'4" and maybe 120 lbs. soaking wet. She couldn't have done that. At 6'2" and 100 lbs. heavier, neither could I. It's great cinema but terrible physics.
Fukushima And How Germany Doomed Itself To Russian Influence By Choosing Nuclear Hysteria Over Science

Fukushima And How Germany Doomed Itself To Russian Influence By Choosing Nuclear Hysteria Over Science

Feb 09 2022 | comment(s)

If you were an environmental activist or a politician looking to use any world event to gain cultural traction against nuclear science after slowly losing ground due to concerns about climate change, Fukushima was manna from heaven. The prospect of a nuclear meltdown is just what you hoped for to get the most viable clean energy source banned.
Vegan Nonsense: New York City Mayor Eric Adams Thinks Heroin Addict Brains Act The Same As People Who Like Cheese

Vegan Nonsense: New York City Mayor Eric Adams Thinks Heroin Addict Brains Act The Same As People Who Like Cheese

Feb 07 2022 | comment(s)

It's easy not to be sympathetic to heroin junkies. They are self-victimizing lifestyle addicts and the Obama administration CDC's efforts to blame Big Pharma for a recreational opioid addiction look ridiculous when the same Big Pharma is now saving the world from COVID-19.

But people addicted to heroin are not the same as those who eat too much cheese. There are limits to how we should let politicians diminish the plight of addicts. 
White House Investigation Finds OSTP Director Eric Lander, Biden's

White House Investigation Finds OSTP Director Eric Lander, Biden's "Science Czar", Created A Hostile Work Environment For Women

Feb 07 2022 | comment(s)

In 2010, during the California governor race, the Jerry Brown campaign called his Republican opponent Meg Whitman a "whore." Democrats not only had no issue with that, the National Organization for Women even rushed to endorse him to prevent criticism of him, with the rationalization that she 'was kind of a whore.'

A lot has changed since then. Democrats are no longer calling it The Monica Lewinsky Scandal or vilifying her to protect President Clinton, and George Soros can no longer get away with blaming fellow Democrat and current Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand for Al Franken being forced to resign for his behavior.
San Francisco Pushing A 4th Vaccine Shot Is A Sign Their Distrust Of Science Goes On

San Francisco Pushing A 4th Vaccine Shot Is A Sign Their Distrust Of Science Goes On

Feb 01 2022 | comment(s)

San Francisco once tried to ban Happy Meals and golf. Their residents and political leaders overwhelmingly believed vaccines were causing autism.

All of those were backed by science, they said. They loved science. Science was on their side.

Reality was quite different. Instead of accepting science, they were picking a lone study or fringe finding and embracing it. No differently than how people who believe in astrology or that a vaccine does not create "natural" immunity only read things that support their confirmation bias.
If The James Webb Space Telescope Works, No One Will Be More Surprised Than NASA

If The James Webb Space Telescope Works, No One Will Be More Surprised Than NASA

Jan 27 2022 | comment(s)

With the James Webb Space Telescope reaching its final orbit in space, people are starting to express their belief, and even disbelief, that everything has worked so far. 

No one will be more surprised than NASA. When this project began as a successor to Hubble, the joint confidence level was only 50%. They got funding from Congress in 1996 claiming they could do it but to impartial experts it was a coin flip.
Neil Young Is Not 'Leveraging' His Power, He Gave It Away For Money And The Corporation Took His Side

Neil Young Is Not 'Leveraging' His Power, He Gave It Away For Money And The Corporation Took His Side

Jan 27 2022 | comment(s)

Neil Young has never been a favorite of mine so I won't miss not playing him on Spotify. Throughout his career he has simply shown an ability to easily pivot from things like breezy bigotry ("Southern Man") to anti-science posturing ("The Monsanto Years") and I always assumed it was for one of two reasons; he is misinformed and therefore easily exploited as one of the "useful" idiots that smart groups exploit, or he is just greedy and makes music he knows can sell.

Either way, he has hundreds of millions of dollars in his bank account and I do not. The free market has spoken. 
China Wants Food Security, And Called On Genetic Modification To Make It Happen

China Wants Food Security, And Called On Genetic Modification To Make It Happen

Jan 27 2022 | comment(s)

Germany is now paralyzed when it comes to dealing with a belligerent Russia. They are reliant on the former Soviet Union country for both food and energy and can't really protest if Russia invades Ukraine again. They even asked for a new pipeline to bypass Ukraine after the last invasion so they could ignore the problem NATO would want to address.

China has become increasingly aware that food security is important. Like energy, it is not just a basic need, but a strategic one. To feed over a billion people, they are embracing science internally while exporting all of the "organic" food that they can throw stickers on.
The Irony Of Neil Young Protesting Disinformation: He Is One Of Pop Culture's Biggest Science Deniers

The Irony Of Neil Young Protesting Disinformation: He Is One Of Pop Culture's Biggest Science Deniers

Jan 26 2022 | comment(s)

Prior to 2021, the demographic that overwhelmingly included vaccine deniers was Neil Young's political tribe. Find a Whole Foods, and you found deniers of vaccines and medicine and nuclear power. They were all corporate conspiracies.

So there is a certain irony that Neil Young pulled his music from Spotify(1) because they didn't get rid of contrarian pundit Joe Rogan when critics of COVID-19 vaccines use the same language and "precautionary principle" veneer against science Young and his ilk used until this year.
Politicization of Science: Germany Scuttled Nuclear And Bet On Solar, Which Made Them Reliant On Russia

Politicization of Science: Germany Scuttled Nuclear And Bet On Solar, Which Made Them Reliant On Russia

Jan 26 2022 | comment(s)

When Germany abandoned nuclear energy and declared they were going "green", the sensible world knew what it meant. They were going to be buying a lot more gas from Russia. And Russia was going to sell it to them because they know when people in another country are reliant on you to keep their kids from freezing, their politicians will turn a blind eye to anything you do.
L2: James Webb Telescope Reached Its Final Orbit Around The Second Sun-Earth Lagrange Point

L2: James Webb Telescope Reached Its Final Orbit Around The Second Sun-Earth Lagrange Point

Jan 24 2022 | comment(s)

The moon is over 238,000 miles from earth and we haven't been back there in nearly 40 years. The James Webb Space Telescope, long-delayed successor to Hubble, is nearly 4X as far away, so if anything goes wrong it can't be fixed. Everything must go right. And so far, it has. 

After a mid-course correction that lasted about 5 minutes, Webb is at its final orbit around L2, the second Sun-Earth Lagrange point.

Lagrangian points allow a spacecraft to "hover" in space, because gravitational forces and the orbital motion of a body can be in balance. L2 is behind our planet if we look from the sun and in that spot JWST orbits the Sun at the same rate as the Earth so it is stable.
Democrats in Academia Believe POTUS Biden Has Already Been Great For Science But The Evidence Isn't There

Democrats in Academia Believe POTUS Biden Has Already Been Great For Science But The Evidence Isn't There

Jan 21 2022 | comment(s)

A new opinion piece in Nature says that President Joe Biden has mostly followed the science and he is a lot better than President Trump - but how much of that is filtered through the reality that one is in their political tribe and the other guy a Republican muddles the issue. Academics said the same thing about Obama over Bush and it was so clearly partisan (and scientifically wrong) we wrote a whole book on it.
UK Rolls Back Restrictions On Neonics Based On

UK Rolls Back Restrictions On Neonics Based On "Robust Scientific Assessment"

Jan 19 2022 | comment(s)

Late last spring, Sri Lanka listened to anti-science activists who claimed organic food was viable right now and less progressive countries simply lacked the political will to stand up to large corporations and banned all processes but organic.

Within a few short months crops had failed, GDP was in freefall, people were hoarding food, the black market became rampant, and the government was forced to roll back their bans.

Lesson learned. Yet the UK, home of both the anti-GMO and the modern anti-vaccine movement, keeps repeating these same lessons and never seems to learn from the same mistakes. 
Worry That Scientific Debate Of Possible SARS-CoV-2 Lab Leak Would Annoy China Was Real

Worry That Scientific Debate Of Possible SARS-CoV-2 Lab Leak Would Annoy China Was Real

Jan 12 2022 | comment(s)

China has no problem blaming other countries for SARS-CoV-2 - they tried to blame the US for it, claiming it was brought into China in frozen food and the hand-picked World Health Organisation panel said nothing - but their willingness to retaliate is clear. So clear that a panel of experts worried that even discussing the possibility of an accidental leak was cautioned against because it might risk "international harmony."

A Wellcome Trust email from Dr. Jeremy Farrar, current director of the Wellcome Trust and former Oxford professor, stated on February 2 2020 that a likely explanation for the virus behind the COVID-19 pandemic that erupted in the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market was a leak from one of the nearby labs in Wuhan.