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Oil Kept Congo From Starving - Western Academics Don't Seem To Like That

If even a wealthy like Germany has to lie about emissions to placate government-funded environmentalists...

China Sells Western Progressives Solar Panels While Switching To Nuclear Power

China has quietly overtaken France to become the world's second-largest producer of nuclear energy. ...

If You Care About Earth Day, Stop Buying Organic, Fair Trade And Other Junk Stickers On Products

As Lenin's Birthday Earth Day approaches, all of media are pillaged by public relations flaks being...

If A Weedkiller Turned You Gay, We'd Like To Interview You

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a lawyer who leveraged a name that was essentially beatified by Democrats...

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Baldos II - Support Swedish Students By Getting 357 MPG In Your Car

Baldos II - Support Swedish Students By Getting 357 MPG In Your Car

Aug 22 2010 | comment(s)

Should you happen to be in Washington, D.C. in October and at House of Sweden, the Swedish Embassy, you will get a chance to see a fireball red colored car that delighted Europeans who like tiny red cars earlier this year.

It's called the Baldos II and it is a hybrid auto built by engineering students at Luleå University of Technology in Sweden.    So what?

The fuel tests show it can run 152.2 kilometers on a liter of fuel, whatever that means - in Sweden, they use some primitive system invented during the French Revolution to stick it to the English, so I am not certain but that sounds like 357 MPG.   Or approximately 12X my tiny convertible's mileage!
Science Fiction For The Weekend:

Science Fiction For The Weekend: "Tin Man"

Aug 21 2010 | comment(s)

It's been a good decade for "The Wizard of Oz" - much better than the Oz books merit but in that one story there is the kernel of something terrific that has resonated with people for decades.   There was a time when it was less cool - anyone watching "The Wiz" had to wonder what they were thinking but re-tellings of the story in more recent years have been terrific.

"Wicked", for example, tells the story of the Wicked Witch and she ends up being a lot more sympathetic.   The core storyline of "The Wizard of Oz" pops in and out but it is her story - and the musical is terrific. 
After The Singularity, Music Quality Will Be Even Crappier Than It Is Now

After The Singularity, Music Quality Will Be Even Crappier Than It Is Now

Aug 20 2010 | comment(s)

I took a moment to look at Ray Kurzweil's response to PZ Myers' second-hand dissection of his talk at the Singularity Summit(1) I attended last weekend (see The Singularity Stole My ATM Card) because Andrea Kuszewki is on the case and trying to keep things on track (like, can we reverse engineer the brain?
The Science Of The Root Beer Float

The Science Of The Root Beer Float

Aug 19 2010 | comment(s)

A few days ago, while talking about mundane business issues, I learned that today, August 19th, was the birthday of that famous childhood delight, the 'black cow', what would later be called a root beer float.

If you are not up on your carbonated beverage lore, root beer hails from the root of the sassafras tree or the sarsaparilla vine.  When the root mixture is mixed with water, sugar and yeast, it is sweetened and the yeast generates carbon dioxide and carbonates the water.
Evolutionary Psychologists Sex Up Maslow's Hierarchy Of Needs

Evolutionary Psychologists Sex Up Maslow's Hierarchy Of Needs

Aug 19 2010 | comment(s)

Despite being one of psychology's most memorable concepts and a genuinely good idea, Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs, immortalized in his 1943 paper "A Theory of Human Motivation" and later Motivation and Personality, needs a makeover, say some researchers.  

Maslow's hierarchy says humans will fulfill basic needs before moving on to higher level ones.    If you're unemployed and losing your house because fuzzy 'jobs saved or created' statistics have no real value to you, for example, global warming will not be your biggest concern.   
An Anthropological Account of World of Warcraft

An Anthropological Account of World of Warcraft

Aug 18 2010 | comment(s)

Anthropology rules!   

If a physicist tried to do a research study playing "World of Warcraft" for 3 years his peers would say, "Don't try to church it up, Tommaso, you're just playing World of Warcraft" but when an ethnographer does it, they get funding from the National Science Foundation, Intel, and write a book about it.